The Way To Growth In Christlikeness - Part 7

So we're continuing our study now in the Sermon on the Mount. Our title is Growth in Christlikeness and we first considered in Matthew 5 verses 1 to 16 nine right attitudes and now we've been in the last few weeks we've been considering nine wrong attitudes and the first wrong attitude we saw was anger in Matthew 5 verse 21 onwards and the second wrong attitude we saw was sinful sexual lust verse 27 onwards which included divorce and the third wrong attitude we saw was lying verse 33 to 37 and the fourth one we saw last Sunday was vengeance which we saw from verse 38 downwards and I just want to say one thing in clarification there there's nothing wrong in asking for justice we don't take revenge but it's perfectly proper to ask for justice and we have the example of Jesus there and you know we need to understand what exactly did Jesus mean when he say in verse 39 if someone slaps you on one cheek turn the other but when you look at Jesus own example because when he was before the high priest it says people did slap him in Matthew 18 22 the officer standing there slapped him saying is that how you answer the high priest and Jesus didn't turn the other cheek you need to understand the spirit in which Jesus spoke those words if I have spoken wrongly he told them testify of the wrong but if rightly why do you strike me that was his reply so we are not to understand turn the other cheek in a literal way when Jesus said cut off your right hand he didn't mean it literally when he said plug out your right eye he didn't mean it literally we need to understand the figure of speech Jesus was using there and here we find Jesus asking for justice if I've spoken wrongfully sure give a testimony and say that I had said something wrong Matthew 18 John 18 23 but if right why do you strike me he was asking for justice but when they just slapped him again and sent him off to the high priest he just kept quiet so we see there the example of Christ you know we've often said the new covenant letter can kill just like the old covenant letter we need to recognize that in an old covenant it was the letter in the new covenant is the word made flesh so Jesus is our dictionary Jesus the word made flesh is the one where we see the answer to difficult questions and how to interpret even Jesus own words otherwise you know if you take the literal interpretation of Jesus words you'll be another new covenant pharisee which can be worse than an old covenant pharisee I give you that warning because people many people pursuing holiness in this day who think they agree with us in our preaching holiness and I say I don't agree with you because your spirit is the spirit of a new covenant pharisee which is to me 10 times worse than the old covenant pharisee so Jesus is our example now we go on to the fifth wrong attitude from Matthew 5 verse 43 onwards which I call selectedness in love and in the old covenant it was there was a command you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy now there wasn't a command like that it was Jesus said you heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor that part is the command but and hate your enemy that was something they interpreted from the command for example that God told the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites who were their enemies so it's from that they imply that statement but we need to understand why the Lord told them to wipe out the Canaanites it's because they did not have the ability to overcome idolatry which was the predominance among sin among the Canaanites and if God was to preserve a pure testimony for his name through which one day in the nation of Israel the son of God could come as a man and die for the sins of the earth that was God's ultimate goal in preparing a nation and giving them his laws and it took 1500 years to prepare that nation to receive Jesus Christ it wasn't an easy thing it was not something the Lord made a nation and the next week he'd send Christ to earth no they wouldn't have understood what it was all about and the word of God could not have been proclaimed as it was by the apostles who've been grounded in the law so we need to understand this that in order to prepare that nation to receive Christ God had to give them certain laws and they did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them so it was very difficult to keep them from idolatry and you see how often in spite of the prophets in spite of the laws they kept on going back to adultery again and again and again for a thousand years after the time of Moses again and again and again for 900 years until they went into the Babylonian captivity they were going back to idols and that was some prophet would take them out of it again some king would take them out again they'd go back to idolatry and it was to preserve that nation that the Lord said you've got to wipe out all these idol worshipers otherwise he they'll pollute you you don't have the strength to overcome their the satanic power that's operating through them there was no way to overcome satan in the old testament and on satan operating through the idol worshipers of that time because the Jewish people did not have the Holy Spirit so that's why he said the only way is to eliminate I mean to use an example it's like if a man's got a infected leg infected foot let's say which is developed what's called gangrene gangrene is something that's so bad that if you don't treat it it'll destroy your whole body it'll kill you so do you know what the doctors do they cut off that foot now if you saw through a window in a surgery a doctor cutting off somebody's foot you'd think that man hates him no he loves him it's because he loves him that he cuts off that foot so that the rest of the body is can live so something cutting off the Canaanites and the killing them was something equivalent to that many people who read the old testament say has God changed his mind in the new covenant and why was he like that see when you don't know God you have all these wrong ideas when you read the bible the bible can be understood only by one who has first received the Holy Spirit and who gets to know God through the Holy Spirit if you try to understand the bible intellectually you will have all types of questions not only in the old testament but in the new testament as well so that is what they were saying hate the enemy but in the new covenant the Lord was saying I say to you love your enemies now you can't do that unless you're filled with the Holy Spirit see the ultimate answer to keeping the Sermon on the Mount the commands in the Sermon on the Mount is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and if you read the Sermon on the Mount and you read it like the law of Moses you'll just say it's impossible impossible impossible I mean the old covenant law was impossible imagine this and that's why a lot of people say that and there are believe it or not there are some Christians in certain groups I don't want to mention their names they teach that this is not for Christians this is for the Jewish people and it's not for us they call that the I call it the Jewish waste paper basket whatever you don't like you put in the Jewish waste paper basket that's what somebody else used that expression very good expression but what is the answer to keeping the Sermon on the Mount I believe it's what finally Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount ask Matthew 7 7 and it'll be given to you what should you ask for good gifts and what are the good gifts you compare this with Luke chapter 11 verse 13 it's the Holy Spirit so when you compare Matthew 7 these first seven verses no so verse 7 to 12 with Luke 11 and verse 13 you find that it's the gift of the Holy Spirit that the Lord's telling you to ask for if you want to keep the Sermon on the Mount otherwise you just can't do it forget about it I mean if you're trying to keep this on your own strength brother I'd say don't even try I'll tell you right now you'll fail love your enemies we have to love every if you've got 10 enemies and you love nine of them you have disobeyed the word of God if there are 10 people who are your enemies that means not that you're the enemies they are your enemies a true Christian has no enemies except the devil we read in Ephesians 6 verse 10 to 12 we have we wrestle not with flesh and blood we wrestle with principalities and powers and evil forces if you're a true disciple of Jesus you have from your heart you have no earthly enemy but hundreds of people may be your enemies because you're a disciple of Christ and the more fervent your disciple you are the more you proclaim the truth without compromise the more enemies you're going to have Jesus had the maximum number they hated him so much they killed him but he loved them all every single one of them he loved them even that soldier he came to capture him who came to capture him when Peter cut off his ear Jesus immediately picked up that year and put him back and healed him what a demonstration of love and love is what wins people's hearts and I believe that my conviction is that servant Malchus whose ear was healed will be in heaven I can't imagine a man who's being healed by somebody he went to capture and not being convicted by that and he'll be there in heaven thanking Peter for cutting out his ear he said God turned that for good and here I am in heaven Peter because how the Lord turned that evil to good love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you can you think of people who've been troubling you maybe in your office maybe your relatives maybe your mother-in-law maybe some anti-christian person you know making life difficult for you in your place of work because you're a witness for Christ do you pray for them otherwise you're not obeying God's commands Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments pray for those who persecute you pray for those who have troubled you in some way pray that they'll be saved that's the best thing we can we can pray for a few months ago some burglars got into my home that was being locked for some time and in India and well they didn't find anything of value there they looked for gold and cash and there was neither of those there no jewelry nothing my wife never wears jewelry in any case and they found nothing of value and they were disappointed but I prayed for them you know when I heard that I said Lord I want to see one of them at least I don't know how many people went in but at least one of them I want to them to be convicted and to be born again I pray and many times since that time in these past few months I prayed that the Lord would bring one of them to Christ in some way somewhere the Lord knows who they are and one of them oh Lord lay hold of that person help me hear the gospel so that one day when I meet him in heaven I can he embraces me and says you know Zach I burgled your house because of that I got saved wow that would thrill my heart and if I can meet him on earth itself that'll be even greater pray for those who persecute you and so that you may be sons of your father who's in heaven see this is not the way to become a child of God no don't misunderstand to become a child of God is John 1 verse 12 as many as received him to them he gave the authority to be children of God which is the accurate translation as in the NASB in some other versions it's not translated correctly that's the way to be a child of God we repent of our sins and receive Jesus Christ as our savior who forgives our past sins and we are born from above into God's kingdom not of the will of the flesh not of the will of man but by the power of God but a child is a baby but child must grow up and become a son and here it says if you want to be a son if you want to grow up then you must love your enemies and you must pray for those who persecute you and treat nicely those who despitefully use you love those who hate you so the purpose is that we might thereby demonstrate that we are sons of the father and in fact not only demonstrate that is the proof that you're growing up now if you don't love your enemies i'm not saying you're not born again i'm saying you're an immature child and if you keep on like that well i don't know where you'll end up to tell you honestly you could lose your salvation because hatred is from the devil an unmerciful attitude is not from God God is full of mercy the one place in the universe where there is no mercy is hell and if you have a lack of mercy towards someone who's treated you badly face up to it you got a little bit of hell in your heart and you know the number of believers who got a little bit of hell in their heart they've got a lack of mercy towards someone who did something wrong to them there's some husbands who are not even merciful to their wives and particularly daughters-in-law mothers-in-law what a lot of lack of mercy there is among christians they've got a little bit of hell in their hearts because hell is the only place in the universe where there's no mercy and wherever there is on the earth here and there you do find mercy here and there different people but God's children are here and there but hell is a place without mercy at all and heaven is a place full of mercy so when heaven comes into our heart through the holy spirit he makes us merciful no he doesn't say we don't pretend that that chap never did me any wrong no sure he did me wrong we don't pretend that nobody killed Jesus Christ that wasn't evil it was very evil but Jesus was merciful father forgive them but they don't know what they're doing what did they not know doesn't everybody know that to kill a human being is wrong but they did not know who they were killing it was the son of God and when people treat me badly i say the same thing father they don't know who i am they don't know i'm a son of God they don't know what they're doing you think i'm another human being i'm not i'm a child of God and if you're born again so are you and they don't realize that they are poking the eye of God like it says in Zechariah chapter 2 verse 5 and verse 8 he who touches you touches the apple of my eye they don't realize that they are touching the apple of God's eye father forgive them they don't know what they're doing and so we have to be merciful love our enemies do good to those who do evil to you in the in James version this is an there is expanded beyond what it says you love your enemies do good to those who do evil to you and pray for those who persecute you and despitefully use you we got to do good to those who hate us and it says here that because then you're a son of your father you've got the nature of your father what is the nature of your father you know you sons are supposed to look like their father just like physically you look at somebody and says hey boy he's a spitting image of his father and that's what people should be saying about us spiritually in our life the way we live what a challenge that is but the people who look at your life and mind should be saved boy that's a real image of his father in heaven how is that because he treats evil people in the same way he treats good people the father verse 45 makes his son the s-u-n to rise on the good and the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous there's no difference here's a evil farmer who says there's no god is all rubbish and treats people badly and he's very unmerciful to his servants and here next door to him is a good god-fearing farmer who's kind to everybody but god sends the rain equally on both farms it looks a bit unfair you know why does god treat that atheist farmer the same way he treats his godly child of his he makes the sun you know farm needs both sun and rain and the sunrise sun shines equally on both farms that's that's god's way that's god's nature you cannot make god hate anyone he judges people he hates sin and he will punish one day he will judge people fairly and in love for the humanity he will send some people to hell they're just like even on earth people put people in prison because they love the rest of human beings so hell is like a eternal prison that's all there is to it so this god loves everyone and he's equal in his treatment of all he doesn't have a grudge in his heart against anyone and that's a wonderful thing to have you see if god were for example let me use an example supposing it was not like this there's another reason why god sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous and makes the sun to rise equally on the good and the evil if god sent rain and blessings only on righteous people and all the others suffer because they're unrighteous a lot of people would choose righteousness because they want the blessing upon their farm because they want the blessing upon their life if godly people are wealthy and ungodly people are all poor and beggarly people would choose christianity for the sake of money god doesn't want that god doesn't want that so he allows equal distribution of rain and sun and even wealth some of the richest people not some most of the richest people in the world are not godly christians at all far from them far from it and so i know there's a false gospel called the prosperity gospel that is being preached today by people who don't know god who claim themselves to be christians and claim to be quoting the bible and they're mostly quoting deuteronomy chapter 28 and not luke chapter 6 there's a lot of difference between quoting luke 6 and deuteronomy 28 and they preach that if you follow the lord you'll be prosperous they say if you pay your tithes god will bless you they're going to the old testament in the new testament there's not a word about that that's a false gospel because god blesses people equally whether they are good or evil did you understand did you read this clearly you don't become prosperous by being righteous because the most prosperous people in the world are crooks and ungodly people what does that prove and people who worship false gods and idols are multi-millionaires and billionaires when it's very rare to write a christian billionaire that itself disproves this entire prosperity gospel so god sends his rain equally on the righteous and the unrighteous thanks to sunshine and the good and the evil because he does not want anyone to come to him because of material blessing of prosperity i wish everyone in the prosperity gospel preachers would read this and understand it you'd be a son of your father proclaim that truth and be like that be good towards people to everyone that's how god is otherwise it's foolish to say you're growing up spiritually you can't say you're growing up spiritually you're not growing in love for the people who hate you and despise you and so it's it's it's not enough to just hear this right now and say yeah i want to do that no we must keep an account take an account book like you keep an account of your money and here you say now who are the people who have done harm to me who are the people who have treated me badly persecuted me cheated me done all types of things wrong to me borrowed money from me and never returned it a whole lot of people and did harm to my family which is worse treated my son or daughter badly maybe your boss in the office or somebody the teacher in school or something like that or is your brother-in-law cheated you of your property or your mother-in-law treated you badly whatever it is make a list of it my brother sister if you're serious about your christianity and go through that list one by one and ask yourself do you love them first of all do you treat them nicely do you have good thoughts about them or do you have grudge a grudge in your heart against them well you're definitely not a mature son or daughter definitely not but sometimes i would even question whether you're born again because you're not even trying to keep this command of god i mean if you're trying to climb this mountain and you see i'm still struggling you're on the right track ask god to help you with the holy spirit to love every single person who's your enemy to pray for every single person who despitefully used you or persecuted you to do good to every single person who hates you you may not have the opportunity but a lot of people you know i'm a son of the lord and so i'm a target of the devil so a lot of people hate me and have done harm to me and i've really prayed to god lord give me the opportunity to do good to every one of them if i get an opportunity i will do good if i find them lying on the road i'll pick them up and take them to hospital and do whatever i can to save their life i will do whatever i can to help them and their children i do not hate them i cannot hate them i'm not going to be super spiritual and do what jesus did not do the word made flesh is my example so when he said jesus loved the pharisees of course he was willing to die for them but he didn't go visiting the pharisees houses with gifts and say hey i love you fellows so much i know you spoke badly about me but here are some gifts to show you my love that is superficial nonsense jesus did not do that so don't go beyond uh try to be more righteous than jesus himself be wise so to love someone does not mean i have to go around visiting the houses of those who hate me and because the bible also says pursue peace with all men there's a command like that pursue peace with all men hebrews chapter 12 and i've discovered through the years and i'll give you this advice in some cases the cases of people who hate you and don't like your face and don't want to see you the best way to pursue peace with them is avoid meeting them try your best to avoid meeting them don't visit their homes why because you want to pursue peace with all men because you know they are the quarrelsome type of people you go there they'll start a quarrel so we need to always make jesus our example to explain these difficult verses so if you look at a scripture and try to follow that even this scripture you can go astray but the bible says let us run the race not looking at the verses in the bible but looking on to jesus so when you read a verse in the bible look on to jesus and see how he did it and then you won't go wrong these are very important particularly in these verses because i found some people who have a wrong way of fulfilling these verses bless those who curse you and do good to those who hate you and they try to be more spiritual than jesus and make a mess of everything and create more strife then jesus went on to say if you love only those who love you verse 46 what reward do you have because even the tax collectors do the same and if you greet only your brothers what more you're doing than others even the gentiles do that so i'm supposed to greet people who want to avoid me i mean again remember what i said earlier jesus didn't go around out of his way to shake hands with the pharisees to greet them he uh he wasn't avoiding them but he wasn't particularly keen on going seeing people who were only out to start a fight or argue and there are people like that who you know the only whenever you meet them they're out to start a fight with you argue about some doctrine or something that happened i avoid them i mean i would really avoid them i wouldn't go trying to shake their hands to show my love or anything like that and but i want to be like the sun that i'm an son jesus said the father makes his sun son shine on everybody equally then you can be an son that's what i want to be you know just be warm and good and the sun doesn't go out of the way to go and shine on people just continue shining because that's how we are to be and so there's no reward if you do good to those who do good to you for example you look at your church and you say well i'm such a nice person i help so many people but who do you help you have the people who are helping you examine your life you're good to those who are good to you somebody did some good to you and you do good to them you know what it says here you have no reward verse 46 did you do some good to somebody who did good to you let me tell you what you got verse 46 no reward i'm not saying you shouldn't do that by all means let's do good to one another in fact galatians 6 says let us do good to all men especially to the household of faith we have an obligation to bless and help our brothers and sisters that's that's a mark of a true christian but you shouldn't be doing that for a reward no what reward have you got for doing that because he is even the sinful people in the world non-christian idol worshipers also help those who help them but how much do you love those who don't love you i'm not saying you go and give to them let me emphasize that again and then this verse verse 48 you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect now a lot of people misquote this they say jesus says he will make you perfect is that what he says here no read carefully you must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect it is not a promised blessing it's a command to be obeyed now you say how in the world can i be perfect like god he's perfect in wisdom and knowledge and power he's not asking you to be perfect in wisdom and knowledge and power always read a verse in its context you know when you study the bible read a verse in its context in what context is he saying you must be perfect as your father it is in your attitude toward people who are unmerciful towards you be merciful to them and good to them and the other way we can know the truth is by comparing scripture with scripture so this sermon on the mount is also repeated in luke chapter 6 and there we read the same thing luke 6 and verse 35 luke 6 and verse 35 this is the sermon on the mount again starting in verse 20 luke 6 20 onwards and all the way up to verse 49 it's a sort of a compressed sermon on the mount what is in three chapters in matthew is in half a chapter in luke 6 and here it's written like this verse 31 treat others the way you want others to treat you if you love those who love you what credit is that was luke 6 33 if you do good to those who do good to you what credit is that if you lend from those you expect to receive verse 34 what credit is that and but verse 35 love your enemies do good and lend expecting nothing in return and you will be the seal reward to be great you'll see you will be the sons of the most high and then this phrase which we read in matthew 5 is be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect compare scripture with scripture here it is luke 6 36 be merciful as your father in heaven is merciful so when you compare what is written in matthew 5 with what is also written in matthew 6 we realize that the lord is asking us to be perfect in mercy don't go by one scripture it is written be perfect as your father is heaven is perfect matthew 5 48 he is also written in luke 35 luke 6 36 be merciful as your father is merciful so that's the one area where i can be perfect in mercy i can't be perfect in wisdom and knowledge and power no never not even in eternity but i can be perfect in mercy right now what does that mean if 10 people hate me i can love all 10 if i love nine of them i'm not perfect what does it mean in a examination to get 10 out of 10 or 100 out of 100 that's perfect that's a perfect score you can't beat it so if you've got 10 enemies and you love all 10 you you're perfect if you love only nine of them you're not perfect that's all it means be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect in its context i want to say something here in passing and that is don't have this habit that so many christians have they come across a difficult verse like that and say oh that's impossible it's not impossible but you misunderstood what he's saying you compare scripture to scripture what what it needs in your part is a little diligence to study scripture with scripture to find what exactly it means i mean god didn't give me this as a revelation from heaven no i just studied the scripture carefully and when i came to luke chapter 6 and saw the same thing hey i said this is the same in the sermon on the mount i spent a little time this is not recent i'm talking about 55 years ago i compared scripture with scripture and i said hey i'm only supposed to be perfect in mercy that that i can understand if i want to be merciful i can be perfect in mercy and i wanted to show you also luke uh here in 635 how he expresses how the sun shines on the good and evil it says in verse 35 the last part god is kind to ungrateful and evil men that's a good thing to read we are surrounded by a world full of evil and ungrateful people it's a perfect expression of the world ungrateful and evil people there are christians who are ungrateful you do good to them and they forget about it oh i've had that experience numerous times you do such a lot of good to them a few years later they don't even remember it they forget all about the good you did to them ungrateful and evil men how should i treat them says here god is kind luke 635 to ungrateful and evil men you want to be like your heavenly father you want to be a son of your heavenly father then be like the sun who shines on evil ungrateful people just like he shines on the grateful people okay that's selectiveness in love wrong attitude number five now we go to the next one which is chapter 6 and verses 1 to 18 matthew chapter 6 verses 1 to 18 which is another wrong attitude which is seeking man's honor there are three different areas he speaks about here one is giving and the other is praying and the other is fasting and in all three areas he speaks about seeking man's honor now again here is here are areas where we find christians don't take this seriously at all for example in giving it says here when you give don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing matthew 6 verse 3 beware of practicing your righteousness before men verse 1 now it's not that like it says here the pharisees blow a trumpet and then give no no no no we don't do it like that it's you need to understand the spirit in which you're saying that in some subtle way you may want to make it known what you have done as a very subtle way in a clever way you want to get honor for the good that you have done now you know in the old testament there was no law like this there was no law which said when you give your money or do good don't let anybody see it don't let anybody know what i mean that was god's heart but when they didn't have the holy spirit he couldn't enforce it so you know for example when they pay the tithe they brought their grain or their sheep which is their tithe or if they converted it to money and brought money to the gave it to the levites in the temple they could make a big show of it hey fellas do you see how much i'm giving god's blessed me immensely and here is my 10 in fact i decided to give 11 today they can boast about it and they did not sin because they obeyed the law which says pay your 10 and the other offerings as well but in the new covenant you can't do that in the new covenant it's not a question how much you give but why you give what is the motive and whose glory were you seeking not only in giving and praying and fasting and everything you know this verse in 1 corinthians 10 31 is all inclusive 1 corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31 is an amazing verse 1 corinthians 10 and verse 31 what whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of god now eating and drinking is the most ordinary thing that we do every single day of our life so jesus took that most ordinary thing and that includes all the other things we do and he said do it all for the glory of god so if i'm doing anything for the glory of myself for example to get some glory or honor for myself even if it just show you know how disciplined i am in my eating i don't eat much you're sinning it's good to be disciplined in reading but when you begin to show off about it or hint about it or try to get some credit for yourself you're committing a sin we need to be what are eating and drinking for the glory of god not to show what a disciplined person you are there's a lot of that in even among christians they do certain things they want to show how disciplined they are and how disciplined they are and how much i exercise and how much i do this how much i do that to show people i'm a very disciplined person dear brother and dear sister let god see it let god see it if you do good try your best sometimes we can't avoid it for example if you want a large gift you want to give a large gift for god's word you have to give it in a check you can't carry bundles of cash but naturally the treasurer of the church will know about it but that's okay you didn't do it wanting him to know about it the point is not whether somebody knew about it no the point is did you want him to know about it that's the question here in other words motive we will discover in the final day when we stand before the lord that the important question will be not what you did but why you did it you know that's why it says in 1 corinthians chapter 4 and verse 1 corinthians chapter 4 and verse 5 don't judge others before the lord comes because that day he will disclose the motives of people's hearts that day you will discover why he did this why he spoke like this why he gave this testimony like this and this other thing that he added in his testimony why he added it you will discover in that day it was to get a little credit for himself that spoiled the whole thing you know you can do a very good work and then you do it advertise it a little bit or do a little bit of it to get some credit for yourself and you've spoiled the whole thing i call it like making a a wonderful dish a very very tasty dish in india say a chicken curry or some whatever dish you eat in your country you make a wonderful tasty dish and then you put a dead lizard inside it and mix it up with it ah you spoiled the whole thing why in the world did you have to go and put a dead lizard inside it it was a first class curry up until then but you went and put a dead lizard inside it now nobody can touch it that's an illustration you did a wonderful work you give sacrificially to the lord but then you spoil the whole thing by putting this dead lizard of advertising that fact to others in a subtle way even if it's a small lizard it ruins that dish dear brother sister don't ruin your offering to god by advertising it that's what jesus saying when you give don't let your left hand know matthew 6 verse 3 what your right hand is doing now think of your left hand right hand they don't have any intelligence right hand doesn't have any intelligence about knowing what the left hand is doing the left hand doesn't know what the right hand it must be referring to the body of christ the body of christ has got a left hand and the right hand and when we think of the left hand and those are the ones that work most closely together in the body we're always doing things together so it's referring to a brother or sister in the body of christ who's very close to you don't let him know don't let her know what you're doing for the lord do it secretly the devil will tempt you all the time come on let somebody know get some credit for it man say no i'm gonna do my best if somebody accidentally discovers it i'm not even hoping somebody will discover it but he discovers it well and good but i'm not gonna do it to get any honor see in matthew chapter 5 it's all talking about the inner life inner attitude inner attitude inner attitude inner attitude in matthew chapter 6 is going one step further to motive what is your motive inner life rather in the first 95 is inner life and in matthew 6 it's your motive so inner life very important motive just as important so they do different things here in matthew 5 and matthew chapter 6 so then it goes on to the subject of prayer when you pray don't be like the hypocrites don't pray in order to be seen by men see that expression in matthew 6 verse 5 to be seen by men again what is the important thing in prayer before he explains the lord's prayer the important thing is motive now i have seen in every christian group particularly those who emphasize being filled with the holy spirit and charismatic pentecostal i find many of them they boast a lot about how long they pray not only them i've seen i've read testimonies of people who it's written in their biographies they prayed for four hours every day or they got up at such and such a time and prayed and they get a reputation for prayer for being men of prayer and when they die they are described as men of prayer and i say how in the world did that happen you know i read i used to read all this as a young christian about these people who spent two hours in prayer and four hours in prayer and i had you accused to discourage me he didn't encourage me discouraged me and i read the bible and i never discouraged because the bible doesn't tell me how many hours jesus prayed every day he just tells me once i i read that he went into all night to pray that happened once so big to find out who are going to be his 12 disciples who are going to you know establish the church for the next 20 centuries definitely he needed to pray all night for that we don't have such 20th century influencing callings in our life so i every christian doesn't know how to pray all night even once but how much did he pray the other times he said the only morning he went to pray when he needed to find god's will about some particular situation but you have to be very careful in all this so are you supposed to tell people that you pray for two hours every day or four hours every day at least how would they write that in your biography unless you make it aware to people well i people ask me sometimes brother zach how long do you pray every day i said do you want me to disobey scripture you are inviting me to disobey scripture as you're inviting me to disobey matthew six verses five to five to eight the lord says don't be like them i'm not going to be like them so i'm not going to answer your prayer your question don't seek for a reputation as a praying man don't seek for reputation anything and being holy before the lord it says here it's wonderful to see what you read here what jesus says here when you pray it's like you're giving if you're giving in secret your father who sees in secret verse four will reward you let your father see in secret how much you gave sacrifice he will reward you and i'll tell you his reward will not only be in heavenly reward you right now with a blessed happy life and a blessed happy ministry in the same way when you pray don't seek to be seen by men because that is their reward there is no reward after that he advertised the fact that he was praying two hours every day or one hour every day he's got his reward already when he stands before the lord the lord says well you never prayed at all say lord i prayed one hour every day yeah you got your reward for that in heaven beyond that nothing imagine hearing that a guy who prayed for four hours every day and he advertised it everywhere and he already got his reward here from people when he told about it finally stands before the lord and the lord says you never prayed at all he said oh yes lord i prayed four hours every day oh you got your reward for that on earth nothing now it says there they have their reward in full did you read that matthew 6 5 there's no reward left in heaven that's tragic i'm not saying we pray in order to get a reward i believe the purpose of prayer is to make us more christ-like to me that is the only reward of prayer for myself lord i want to be more christ-like even when i pray for others that they'll be healed or god will bless them that's what jesus did and i say i want to be like that i i want i'm not even praying for a reward in heaven i'm praying because that's the nature of my savior and the nature of jesus in me makes me want to pray and never tell people about it and to pray for those who are needy etc so always your motive if if matthew chapter 5 was speaking about the inner life matthew 6 is talking about your motive in giving your motive in praying why are you praying is more important than how long you prayed or what you prayed for is when the motive is wrong the whole thing is corrupt it's a dead lizard in that wonderful dish you cooked and then he said when you pray we're six go into your inner room and close your door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who is in sick who sees what is done in secret will reward you so what does that mean you know i i think the old testament tabernacle the old testament tabernacle there were three compartments well the tent itself was two compartments but the whole tabernacle was a big compound surrounded with a curtain there was one gate and the others people were outside and the all the jewish people could come inside the outer court it was called the outer court that's the picture outside is the world inside you come through the gate you come to the altar of sacrifice the picture of calvary and the labor full of water picture of water baptism calvary and water baptism and that's where all the believers gathered then there are two more compartments which are covered with a curtain tent that tent there was a holy place and the most holy place so in the outer court we can say we're all the believers all the jews were there but in the holy place only the priests went that's a picture of the lord's servants the leaders and in the most holy place in the in those days nobody could go god dwelt there god didn't dwell in the outer court of the holy place in the most holy place the fire of god rested over that most holy place and that was blocked off in the old covenant it's opened up when jesus died in the new covenant so think of these three pictures so there are people who come into the outer court and they want honor from one another whether it's praying or giving and they want honor from one another they're sinning then there are people who say i don't want honor from any of these people i pray and i'll give in secret i'll pray in secret i'll give in secret i'll fast in secret and they enter they come to the next step and the most in the holy place they say i really seek honor from the leaders they don't honor from the believers they move one step further into the second compartment what do the leaders think of me i want them to know i want the elders in the church to know that i'm praying i want the elders in the church to know that i'm giving i want the elders to know where i'm witnessing to people or how many people i've brought to christ i want the elders to know what i've done for the lord here and how i went and helped this person there oh i want i don't want the people to know no no i've gone beyond the outer court i've come to the holy place you haven't come to god yet those who come through to the most holy place they are not interested what the other believers think about them they're not interested what the elders think about them they're not trying to impress the believers they're not trying to impress the elders it's only god that's the true son yeah the others are babies i'm not saying you're not a child of god but you're a baby you're a baby if you're seeking honor from fellow believers you're a baby if you're seeking honor from your leaders and elders the son s-o-n is the one who's finished with all this and say lord it's only your approval i seek in my life i don't seek approval for anybody and so he says here when you pray go into your inner room close your door and pray to your father in secret and you know you can do this even when you're praying in public almost every believer who prays in public seeks honor from others if you don't believe me ask yourself when you pray in public aren't you very conscious so and so is listening so and so is listening is very different from the way you pray when you're alone kneeling by your bed at home very different why all that flowery language and all that you never use when you're alone at home when you're at home and you're praying alone to god you're crying out in need but when you're praying in public you use all this flowery fanciful language and you're quoting verses and this that and the other to impress people you know there's so much of this what shall you do i know when i started praying in public i found i was seeking honor i'd go home repent lord i'm sorry i didn't pray to you i prayed to people i'd come next time to the meeting and pray in public again i would pray to conscious of people i'd go home and repent and it happened again and again for not one or two days for years but i said lord i'm going to get through this battle and be an overcomer this giant of seeking honor in praying in public must be slain and must come under my feet i'm determined to get this giant of seeking honor in public prayer to come under my feet and a day came and it happened it took years and if you are determined to get this giant under your feet it'll happen in your life too it may not happen to need not happen uh take so long for you it took long for me because nobody taught me what i'm teaching you now i wish somebody had taught me this when i was converted at the age of 19. so many things which we shared today with on cfc churches i say lord i wish somebody had taught me all this when i was 19 years old i had to wait till i was 35 to even understand these things you brothers are so lucky you hear it at a very young age battle it from a young age get these giants under your feet and don't get discouraged if you fail just go home and repent it'll be better next time to be able to better better gradually every blow will make that giant weak and one day it'll die that's that's the way it is and so i i see it like this now when i pray i must go into my inner room and close the door and pray so when i'm praying in public and there are hundreds of people around in my mind i shut the door why do we close our eyes we must not only close our eyes because we don't close our eyes because we won't don't want to be distracted there's a door in my mind that i must shut and in my mind these people are they are here but i'm not seeking their honor lord i've come into the most holy place now it's only you and i'm praying to you there are people listening to me i know but i'm before you i'm praying directly to you in heaven otherwise my brother sister you're praying to the walls many prayers are not answered because they were not prayed to god they were prayed to impress people you wonder why god never answered it even when you pray at home don't pray to impress your children or your husband or wife pray to god develop this habit it'll take time to get through and kill this giant of seeking honor but it can come work on it work on it if you're serious about your christian life jesus said if you hear my words and you don't do it you'll build your house on sand i don't want to build my house on sand i want to take these words of jesus and do them then i'll build my house on a rock and i'll never shake and i found through the years my life becomes more and more unshakable that's god's will for you as well then one more thing before we close and that is matthew 6 and verse 7 when you pray don't use meaningless repetition as the non-jewish gentiles do because they think they'll be heard for their many words don't be like them because your father knows what you need before you ask him matthew 6 verse 7 and 8 so that's the other thing we need to keep in mind don't think that god will hear your prayer because you prayed a long time when elijah and the prophets of baal met on the top of mount carmel they prayed for a long time nothing happened they rolled and shouted and yelled and all that and you look at elijah's prayer it was less than a minute less than one minute and the fire fell don't think god hears you because you prayed for a long time you prayed all night brother you might as well have gone to sleep you you were trying to accomplish a feat you know when i was young as i said nobody taught me this so i said oh well i hear other people having all night prayer you know what i did i was on a ship and i had a cabin to myself in the ship so i could be alone and i decided i'm going to pray all night and i knelt down beside my bed and i started praying i said i'm gonna get through all night it was like a marathon i was trying to run and i don't know what time i started maybe nine o'clock i pray and pray and pray and pray and said boy it must be morning now hey holy 9 30 wow and i continue continue continue continue continue once the time 10 30 when's this gonna finish i'm determined i'm on my knees are aching and i'm getting distracted but i'm keeping awake keeping awake finally it was six o'clock in the morning i accomplished it what did i accomplish nothing except yeah i learned something that that type of praying is a waste of time i did learn something sure so it wasn't a waste of time in that way but i i never tried it again i said prayer must come out of a burden if it doesn't come out of a burden doesn't come out of love for the lord doesn't come out of love for people you're wasting your time it's the motive that matters in everything is the motive so never talk about it look at jesus life for 30 years you know how much he prayed do you think he didn't pray he prayed a lot i'm sure look at all the good he did in 30 years do you think he didn't help people in 30 years do you think he didn't fast in 30 years i'm sure he did he prayed he fasted he did good but i turned the pages of the bible and i don't even read anything about it in the last verses of john's gospel he says there are so many other things that jesus did which if it's written here even the world will not be able to contain so many books wow lord what all you did if you read that verse the number of things jesus did which he's not talking about the three and a half years most of that is written down the 30 years of secret she lived before the father and we know he did such a lot of good because and never sought his own glory never advertised it we still don't know it even today but we know that the father looked at those 30 years and said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased that is baptism that is a public certificate at the end of 30 years this son of mine has done a perfect life and never told anybody about it so when you pray it says you don't use meaningless repetition don't believe in long prayers pray as long as you have a burden if you have a burden pray for one hour pray but if you have a burden to pray like elijah only for one minute that's the end the fire can come in one minute sure so i'm not against long prayers i'm saying pray as long as you have a burden the old testament prophets always spoke about a burden the burden of the lord there are two things essential for prayer one is burden and the other is faith if you don't have a burden it's useless if you don't have faith it is useless so ask god to give you a burden and ask god to give you a faith then your prayers will be effective and if it's one minute or one hour that's gene even god but avoid meaningless repetition have you heard people saying hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah first of all they don't even know the meaning of hallelujah it's a hebrew word which means praise the lord you can say it in english you don't have to say it in hebrew for god to understand you can say praise the lord it's exactly the same hallelujah is not more spiritual than praise the lord hallelujah is saying it in hebrew and praise the lord is saying it in english so it's not more advantageous to say hallelujah the only advantage i can see is if you're in the midst of a lot of people who speak different languages from different countries then they can all understand hallelujah because it's become very common among christians other than that i don't see any value in it and don't keep on repeating it to say praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord jesus said don't do it you're actually disobeying jesus when you say that when you keep saying hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah you're actually disobeying jesus i don't know how many people understand that i've seen christians who read these things and they build their house on sand because they hear it and they don't obey it well you heard a lot of things today my brothers and sisters go home listen to this message again and ask god to help you to have the power of the holy spirit to keep it humility is the greatest thing of all seeking god's glory alone let's pray heavenly father we pray in jesus name amen that you will help us to remember all that we've heard the holy spirit will be able to apply all this to our life and speak to each of us individually today tomorrow and this year next year until you come about the areas where we need to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit we pray in jesus name amen