0:01 So we'll continue our study and the sermon on the mount. Let me revise again just the head headings. Sermon on the mount contains nine right [clears throat] attitudes. poverty of spirit, mourning for sin, being meek, hungering and thirsting for 0:20 righteousness, being merciful to others, being pure in heart, becoming peacemakers, being willing to stand for righteousness, and being unashamed to confess Christ. Then the nine wrong attitudes of which we covered anger, 0:37 sexually sinful ways of thinking and lying. [clears throat] And you know we can lie without even opening our mouth. Like Ananas and Safara just came there pretended that they were offering everything just like all the others people were 0:57 offering whatever they sold their house for. And there was no law that they should give all that money to God. But everybody decided we're just going to give everything to God. And Ananas and Safar just came and stood in 1:13 line without saying a word and Ananas dropped dead. And the same way Safara came and she was killed too. What is the reason? The reason was only pretending 1:29 that I am as wholehearted as all these other people standing in line here. Now that you can be like that too. You sit here in the midst of a whole lot of people who are wholeheartedly following the Lord and you can pretend, yeah, I'm 1:45 also as wholehearted as everybody else sitting here. That is the sin of Ananas and Safara. It's pretty serious. Okay, let's move on. In uh Matthew's gospel, 2:04 we consider the seriousness of anger, sexually sinful reasoning, lying, taking revenge, and hatred. And the Lord taught us to be the last verse we saw was Matthew 5:48. You are to be perfect as your heavenly 2:23 father is perfect. And this is one of those verses, you know, where if you take a verse by itself, you can get a wrong understanding. It's very dangerous to take one verse out of context. Supposing you read, you must be perfect 2:38 as your heavenly father is perfect. How in the world can I be perfect as God is perfect? But when you see the context, this is a great example of reading a verse in the context. And the context is being merciful to others. 2:55 You know, don't greet only your brothers, greet others as well and love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. It's talking about being perfect in mercy. There is only one area in our life where we can be perfect. We 3:12 can't be perfect in love. We're pressing onto that. Perfect in holiness, perfect in everything, perfect in preaching or teaching or anything. But one area God wants us to be perfect here on earth and that is perfect in mercy. 3:25 [clears throat] And that only means that there are 10 people who hurt you. [clears throat] If you have forgiven 10 of them, you're perfect. If you forgiven only nine of them, you're not perfect. So it's [clears throat] very simple 3:41 to understand that. So let's move on to chapter six. And here he's talking here about seeking the honor of men in the first 18 verses in the in religious [clears throat] activities like prayer. First of all in our giving, praying and 4:00 fasting. The three areas where the Bible teaches Christians engage in religious activity. One is giving money for God's work and the other is praying. The other is fasting. And [cough and clears throat] 4:18 in all three, the emphasis is don't do this to impress people, but do it [clears throat] before God's face. And he Jesus says, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be 4:37 noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your father who's in heaven." [clears throat] Now if you take that seriously and then he goes on to talk about giving and praying and fasting it's amazing if you look around in 4:52 Christendom the number of people who advertise how much they give to God you know in magazines and different places and uh [clears throat] we have to be very careful that when we give something to the Lord it's not advertised 5:11 in in the world they can do do that if they donate to political parties and all that. It's none of our business. But when you're giving something to the Lord, nobody as far as possible, nobody must know it. And that is why in all of our churches. 5:27 We never pass a bag around. Why is that? Because the person sitting next to you will see that you're giving something. Even if they don't know how much you put inside, they see you are giving something. And so the Bible says beware of that. 5:41 Don't don't let people know that you're giving. Give it secretly where nobody knows how much you gave and nobody knows whether you gave at all. So [clears throat] there's a very important principle there that it's not only in giving money that any type of 5:57 for example you give service to the Lord. If you're giving some service to the Lord which is going preaching or witnessing or doing any other type of work for the Lord, hide it. Hide it. Hide it. Don't let people know about it. 6:11 Don't advertise it. And that's the other reason why in our church through all these 50 years, we've never sent out any prayer letter advertising what we are doing and where we are doing and any of those things because we don't want people to know 6:30 what we've done for the Lord. We say, "Yeah, we have churches and all these places. Please pray for us." Or if we're going to have meetings, please pray for us. But we don't advertise how much we have done for the lord or 6:42 but the important principle is there is that any sacrifice we make must be secret. In the old testament they offered the sacrifice publicly. If they brought a goat or a lamb or anything everybody would see this guy's bringing this but 6:58 it's completely different in the new covenant. And it's an area that we need to ask examine ourselves every one of us. Is there anything in our life which Christian activity or anything that we advertise in a very subtle way? 7:15 And if you want to go deeper than that, one step deeper and you want to follow the Lord more wholeheartedly, you ask yourself this question. Do I want people to know what I have sacrificed? That's a deeper level question. And our 7:30 answer should be no. I don't even want people to know if I have sacrificed anything. I don't want anybody to know what I've sacrificed for the Lord. That is the goal we must. And if you haven't got there immediately, we can press 7:42 towards it. Everything that we read in the sermon on the mount, if you haven't got there, press towards it. Lord, I saw a standard today. I'm not there yet, but I want to reach it where I don't even want people to know anything that I have 7:54 done for the Lord anywhere. [clears throat and cough] I if you want people to pray for you pray for ask God ask people to pray for you but even there there can be a subtle boasting there's a lot of boasting in this area 8:07 of Christian work and Christian giving we have to be extremely careful that we follow this and so he takes the examples of when you give he takes extreme examples when you give to the poor don't sound a trumpet 8:22 before you Jesus used extreme language you a camel cannot go through a needle's eye. I mean it's so obvious but it's an extreme language to emphasize the point. And here it says when you give to the poor no don't sound a trumpet like the hypocrites do. 8:40 Anyone who [clears throat] wants other people to know what he's giving to the Lord or to the poor is a hypocrite according to this verse. He's an actor. He's pretending to be holy when he's not really holy because holiness is in the 8:54 heart. And the other principle here is they in the the reason for this is in the middle of verse two the last part of it they they want to be honored by men. So in Christian work or in even something like coming to the meeting 9:11 regularly or even in our singing there's so much of singing there's honor seeking but you want to know people you want people to know how you sing well or so a lot a lot of singing in public and all Christian churches there's a lot of honor seeking 9:28 and the principle here is the last part of verse two they want to be honored by Amen. That's a little phrase that we need to ask ourselves. Is there anything I do in Christian activity that I do because I want to be honored 9:46 by other people in the church by their seeing me do it or by my testifying of it or by my even hoping that they will discover that I did that. We must have such a passionate desire 10:04 that I don't even want people to discover accidentally that I did that work that I was the one who cleaned the hall or whatever it is. The tremendous emphasis Jesus placed 10:21 there on secrecy in everything we do for the Lord. And the greatest example is Jesus himself. Have you read this verse? You know what's the last verse in the gospels? It's a very important verse. I believe it's referring to the secret life of 10:38 Jesus. The last verse of the gospels, John's gospel in chapter 21. And uh the last verse there says if I were to write all the things that Jesus did, the whole world will not be able to 10:58 contain the books that would be written John 21:25 if everything that Jesus did is written in detail. So the four gospels are very superficial. Where is it that Jesus did so many things? 11:17 You know where it was? Those 30 years in Nazareth. There's nothing written about it except that he submitted to his earthly parents and that's it. So that mean that verse teaches me that Jesus did so much good 11:36 in those 30 years. So much self-denial in the way he lived with his younger brothers and sisters and what all he did for his mother secretly. So many things he did in that home which nobody knows about it and Jesus never 11:54 told anyone about it. And he says there's such a lot that he says the [snorts] world cannot contain the number of books is written. That one verse is the only verse I see which tells me what Jesus did in secret and that's a great 12:08 example for us that we can do a lots and lots of things and know we don't want anybody to know about it. So Jesus practiced what he preached. So he said when you give to the poor verse three don't let [clears throat] your left hand 12:21 know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. I remember once a >> [clears throat and cough] >> The brother told me, he asked me a question. He said, "Brother Zach," it 12:36 was in one of our churches. "Brother Zach, what shall I do? My parents are in great financial need and they have spent so much educating me and I owe a tremendous debt to them because I have a job today because they educated me at great sacrifice and 12:54 they're in need now. But [clears throat and cough] my wife does not permit me to send money to my parents. What shall I do? I said, [clears throat] don't let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. Simple. 13:11 It's perfectly all right. Give secretly to your parents and don't let your wife know about it. Because if she's so evil that she won't let her husband [clears throat] provide for his parents when they have sacrificed so much for him that has 13:28 given him the job he has. She's an evil woman. Why should I allow her to run my life? I still have an obligation. So we have to be wise in all these things. [clears throat] and make sure your giving is in secret 13:46 and your father who sees in secret will reward you. There is a reward for everything that we have done for the Lord in secret. What I get from that verse is there is no reward for what we have done in great sacrifice but which we publicized. 14:05 There may been a tremendous amount of sacrifice in something you did for the Lord and you would have got a great reward for it but you don't get it because you publicized it, you advertised it. It's that serious. He says if you keep it secret then your 14:19 father will reward you. Verse four. And the [clears throat] same thing when you pray, don't pray like the hypocrites because they love to stand and pray in the synagogues, in the street corners, and they want to be seen. 14:38 I say to you, they already got their reward. [clears throat] Now, don't skip through that passage quickly. When you pray, go to your inner room, close your door so that your father who's in secret sees what you do in secret and he'll reward you. 14:57 Now, that applies even in public prayer. Why do we close our eyes when we pray? The purpose is so that I can cut out external distractions and [clears throat] not be disturbed by anything outside but 15:15 also that I'm cutting out the world so that I can be alone with God. That's the purpose of closing our eyes. But in public prayer like in a church if you're leading in prayer even you close your eyes you're conscious that there are 30 40 people 15:32 around us listening. And we can be very conscious when we pray to use language and talk about things that'll impress all the people who hear us and we praying. So what's the solution? The solution is not to keep 15:51 quiet and saying oh but I pray like that every time I do like so I'll stop praying. No that's not the answer because if you stop praying you'll never overcome it. You have to battle it and come to the place where finally you can pray with 16:05 and be completely free from being bothered whether anybody's listening or not listening. I'll tell that was my own experience. I remember as a young person when I first started praying in public in a church meeting, I tried my best not to be conscious, but 16:21 I always ended up being conscious other people are listening and making my words sound like that. and I'd go home and repent before God. I don't know the number of times I did that. Probably hundreds of times. But the result was 16:37 that it got better and better and better till I think I could say I came to the place where it didn't disturb me anymore that I could pray to the father in secret while standing in a meeting. Make that your goal that you will come. It 16:56 may take you a few years to get there. But don't give up. Run the race till you reach the finishing line. The finishing line is in this matter. I want to pray in such a way that it will not bother me one bit if anybody's listening or not 17:10 listening. And I will not add anything in my prayer to impress people. No, you know, some people may add a little tremor in their voice just to sort of act holy and or say an occasional hallelujah. some just to impress people. It must mean nothing of 17:27 that because if you're praying, you're talking to God Almighty or talking to Jesus. And why do you want other people to listen? When do you want to impress other people when you're talking to the Lord? Dear brothers and sisters, take this 17:45 seriously. [clears throat] It'll make a tremendous difference in your life if from today onwards you begin to take this seriously. Lord, I want to come to the place where when I pray, even in public, I'm praying to you. 18:00 I don't care if it takes me 10 years to get there. I'll keep on praying for 10 years till one day I reach that place where I'm completely liberated from the opinions of men. When I pray, I'm praying only to Jesus who said, "Where 18:18 two or three are gathered, I'm in the midst and I'm talking to you." I'll tell you, it'll make a tremendous difference in your spiritual life if you take this one matter seriously from today and say, "Lord, I want to get 18:30 there." Don't expect to reach there tomorrow or next week or next month or perhaps not even next year. But if you work at it and are wholehearted and go home every time and judge yourself, Lord, I'm sorry today also I was praying 18:42 to impress people and do that again and again and again and do it a thousand times if necessary. You'll get there. The important thing is you want to get there. You want to completely be free from the opinions of men and pray only 18:54 to the Lord. It's a very worthwhile exercise. So when you're praying the [clears throat] other thing he said is uh you know when he again the answer this this repetition of your father who sees in secret will reward you. I 19:12 believe a lot of prayers prayed in public by people. [clears throat] A lot of your prayers and mine if we have prayed in public in the past went up to the roof. It never went beyond the roof. Because your father who saw in secret 19:32 saw that you were praying to impress people. Oh, he's my son. He's my daughter. He's just praying to impress people. Okay, forget it. [clears throat] That's really sad. If we continue like that, take it seriously. Lord, I want to 19:50 I want my prayers to go beyond the roof. I don't want to just hit the roof. I'm praying to impress people. It's only within this building. If I wanted to go to heaven, I have to be free from trying to impress people in my prayer. 20:05 Work on it. And [clears throat] the other thing is don't use meaningless repetition. I don't know how seriously you take that, but I feel that many people when they say hallelujah, first of all, they don't even know what 20:22 it means. It's another language. You know, hallelujah is not English. It's Hebrew. And uh if you go into a church where people are singing it and you I get guess that 90% of them won't know what it means unless somebody's explained it. 20:42 I've often explained it in the church that halal means praise and yah is a short for Yhovah, which is the name, Old Testament Jewish name for the Lord. Hal praise who? Yah praise Jehovah. 21:00 But many people just repeat it is a meaningless repetition. They say hallelujah for all types of things which don't deserve a hallelujah. [clears throat] So be careful of meaningless repetition. Be 21:17 careful of saying praise the Lord when there's nothing to praise the Lord there. Perhaps you have to be meaningful when we pray. The Lord is very serious about that. For example, take the matter of conversation. You wouldn't speak to a person in a way 21:36 that you don't mean what you say. We mean everything that we say when we converse with one another. And the Lord is trying to bring us to the place where our prayer is an actual conversation with our heavenly father or with Jesus. 21:52 We're telling him something and we're not telling him to impress other people or listening how I'm talking to him. It's so meaningful. I mean when you think of your conversation with somebody while you're talking to somebody you're not trying to impress X 22:07 Y or Z over there with what you're saying. you're talking to that person. Here's another thing. We have to develop the consciousness of the presence of the Lord when we are saying something to him. And this applies also to singing. 22:21 See, when we sing something, we are singing unto the Lord. I mean, not all songs are singing to the Lord. Some songs are what a friend we have in Jesus. We're not singing to the Lord. We're just singing to one another. What 22:33 a friend. Yeah, folks. What a friend we have in Jesus. Good. But there are other songs we sing directly to the Lord. All to Jesus I surrender. I'm not singing that to you. I'm singing that to the Lord. All to Jesus I surrender. And if 22:46 I'm not surrendered, I shouldn't say take my silver and my gold. Not a might I withhold. Um take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Some sing psalms or sing direct to the Lord. Some we sing to one another. But the songs we 23:02 sing to the Lord, we have to be careful that we are singing it to the Lord. See, for example, if I'm speaking to you and I look over here and I speak to you, that's an insult. I don't insult people like that when I'm talking to them. I look somewhere else. 23:20 I look straight in that person's face when I speak. All of you do that. We need to look straight into Jesus' face when we talk to him. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. All to Jesus. I surrendered 23:39 and many songs like that which are directed to the Lord here again like all these other areas it won't come overnight but if you don't work for your salvation from that being free from people it'll never come even in a 100 years 23:58 and if I had not worked on it I would still be praying to people instead of to the Lord I'll tell you honestly it took took me some years to pray, work on it, work on it, work on it and say, "Lord, I want to sing to you." 24:13 I told you once how I was singing in a church where I think it was in our own CFC in Bangalore in the olden days, we used to have song books before we had projection on the screen. So, we'd sing song number so and so. Everybody had a 24:26 song book and we'd turn to that song and sing. I remember once we went through the whole song and at the end of it, then they moved to another song. They announced another song and I suddenly realized that I had not meant what I 24:41 said in that previous song. I just enjoyed that. I was so familiar with the tune and the song that I didn't even have to look at the book and I just sang it and I suddenly hit me that I didn't it was a song unto the Lord and I hadn't 24:51 talked to the Lord with that about that song. I wasn't speaking to the Lord. I was just singing with everybody else. So what I did when everybody else was singing the next song, I turned back to the old song in the song book and said, 25:04 "Lord, I'm sorry that I didn't say this to you meaningfully. I was just singing along with the crowd, but I want to repent of that and I want to say this to you now meaningfully what I didn't do." And softly, I went through 25:18 that whole song while the others were singing the next song. If you take something seriously like that, it'll make a tremendous difference in your Christian life, in your daily walk with the Lord, because the Lord sees that you're really serious about 25:33 communion with him and fellowship with him. It's a wonderful life when you get there. The Lord brings you to that place. So beware of meaningless repetition. The heathen do that because they think they'll be heard for their 25:46 many words. That's another thing we need to recognize. The heathen think they be heard because they speak for so long. You know like the prophets of Baal when they prayed in against when Elijah was there they prayed for hours from morning 26:00 till the evening they thought oh he'll he'll hear and they shouted and they jumped I mean they were so Pentecostal I would say they were jumping and shouting and screaming and nothing happened. And then Elijah, he didn't jout, jump or 26:18 shout or scream. He just quietly prayed. And you see that prayer is just less than half a minute and the fire fell. That's a tremendous Old Testament example. They're all the shouting and screaming and yelling and jumping and 26:31 all accomplishes nothing. It's just to impress people. And here was a man of God whose heart was right, who were concerned about God's glory, who prayed for half a minute and the fire fell. The important thing is that God listens to our prayer 26:46 and answers, not how long we pray or impressive we pray. That's a great Old Testament example. So I want to encourage you to meditate on that. Don't think they'll be heard your meaningless repetition. Then he gives us the Lord's 27:02 prayer which is a very big subject in itself. We can look at it later. But let me just say briefly about the Lord's prayer in uh he didn't say repeat this prayer. It's okay to repeat it if you mean it. But if you keep on repeating 27:17 it, it'll become automatic. You won't mean it. But if you can slowly pray it, it's a very very good prayer to pray. Teaching us, you know, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on 27:31 earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Have you noticed one thing as you read it? The number one request is not for us. It's not Lord 27:43 give me this, give me that. Like most of our prayers if you examine it, it's Lord give me this, give me that, do this for me. But here it's Lord your name must be hallowed on this earth. I want to have a burden for that. 28:00 your kingdom must come and your will must be done. So what we can learn is for the time being we'll see it more next week God willing is that my primary burden of my heart when I pray it must come from my heart my primary burden must be 28:19 God's name God's kingdom God's will and if I can concentrate on that say Lord make that the burden of my heart then I have learned to pray putting God first burden mouth Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 28:37 help us to learn these lessons and not forget them. The Holy Spirit impress it upon our hearts. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
