Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse five. And we are learning this morning how not to pray. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the street that they may be seen by men. As surely I say to you, they have their reward. Verse six, but you, when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Verse seven, and when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Verse eight, therefore do not be like them. For your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. Our father, we pray for your blessing and the help of your spirit as we study your word Lead us into the way of truth, we pray. Give us understanding. Teach us how to pray properly. I pray that you would be with me as I speak. You would be with all that are here as they listen. Again, may your spirit lead us into the way of truth. And may you come, Father, strengthening your saints and bringing salvation and life to those that do not know you savingly. We ask this in the great name, the blessed name of Christ our Lord. Amen. You may be seated. This morning, we will be working our way through. the Lord's Prayer, but beginning in verse five, this morning it begins that journey over the next number of weeks through the Lord's Prayer, but beginning in verse five, five through eight, we have a type of introduction into this section. And let me begin this morning by saying, by looking at the Lord's Prayer as we walk through it over the next number of weeks, we're reminded that as a church of the things that have a priority, I mean, we truly are what is known as a ordinary means of grace based church. And what we mean by that is that the priorities of the church are to be those things that are grounded in scripture. The focus, we are to focus on the, and accomplishing the things that God has declared in his word to be essential for the spiritual well-being, the growth, and the salvation of his people. And because of that, We are a church that will in somewhat look stripped down, very focused and basic. We want to align ourselves with the teachings of the New Testament and that the focus of our ministry is the Word of God, its reading, its exposition, it being taught, and the sacraments, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. the prayers and prayers. All of these things are central to the life of the early church and for us here today. That's why you see these lined out here before us. Now, when we think of prayer this morning and over the number of weeks, which will be our focus, And I'll talk about what we mean by means of grace eventually. We'll get to that and the importance of the Lord's Prayer in the life of the Christian church historically. But in our passage this morning, Christ gives us some very practical instructions on how not to pray. The focus is actually not to be like the religious leaders For example, the scribes and the Pharisees. What we are about to learn about prayer, in fact, Christ has been walking the disciples through those things that we might think of disciplines of the faith and they were common in the early church and for the Jews in that time period. And they revolved around fasting and giving, giving and Prayer and prayer. And Jesus warns his disciples that when you carry out those disciplines of the faith, don't be like the religious teachers. You're religious leaders like the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, this goes all the way back to chapter five. Look at Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five, verse 20. Matthew five, verse 20. And listen to Jesus. For I say unto you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of who? The scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. So Jesus now will speak to us in our current section of what not to do. Don't be like those religious leaders. and he's gonna remind us and teach us along the way of what and how to pray and what is important. Jesus wants to make sure that as we pray, as we are praying, we are to be praying with the appropriate motivation and from the proper places in our hearts. He actually emphasizes this. as his main point while discussing all three of these acts of piety and discipline. Don't emphasize in glory and how much you are financially giving is basically what he's been saying. Do not pray just to appear religious. Don't make a spectacle of yourself when you fast. He says these things because our Lord is aware of the arrogance and pride that exist in human hearts. There is a great danger in religion, the pride of religion. And practically every setting, in every setting, People find methods to feed their ego and vanity. And one of those is religion. And what better ways to capture the eyes of others, to feed your pride, than trying to be impressive spiritually? That's what Jesus is warning us about. So let's begin. Let's listen to His words of warning, the pitfalls to avoid, as we might say. And let's begin by, first of all, simply noticing His opening words in verse 5, Matthew 6, verse 5. Look at the opening words. And when you pray, First of all, yes, we should pray is what he's saying there. We should pray. In fact, and he says in verse five, look at verse six, but you, when you what? When you pray. Verse seven, and when you what? And when you pray. Jesus assumes that his disciples are a people of prayer. Praying to God, again, was a common practice, whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament covenant or New Testament covenant community. And prayer is to be common, a common practice of every Christian. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, prayer in many ways is the supreme expression of faith in God. Thomas Watson, the Puritan, said, prayer is the soul's breathing itself into the bosom of its Heavenly Father. And so as Christians, we should realize that prayer is a way for us. It's a way for us to acknowledge God's sovereignty and our dependence on him. It's an acknowledgement that he is the source for us as his people of every good thing. Through prayer, we admit that we are powerless without him. And in prayer, we're turning our focus from ourselves to Him. Prayer is a humbling experience that strengthens us and it should prompt us to give thanks to God when we realize who He is and all that He has done in our lives. And prayer is a form of worship. It's a form of worship that exalts God. We're acknowledging him as our heavenly father. We're acknowledging his divine majesty and again, his sovereignty over all things. So we are to pray. The Bible teaches we are to pray. Prayer is, let me say firstly, it's vital. It was vital for the life of the early church. Again, notice the wordings of Luke concerning the life of the early church when he would write in the book of Acts, Acts chapter two, verse 42. Acts two, verse 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and apostles' teaching and the fellowship and the breaking of bread and what? And prayer. and prayer. And secondly, not only we see it was normative, common, it was part of the life of the early church, but if church leadership If church leadership is to be faithful, if we are to be faithful, and if we are to be carrying out the great commission given to us as a church, we must teach, we must disciple. And part of that discipling and teaching process is teaching God's people how to pray, and how to pray according to our Lord's instructions, such as we find here in Matthew's gospel. Again, listen to the teaching and the command of our Lord. Go therefore, Matthew 28, go therefore and make disciples. Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, verse 20, teaching them, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Things like in Matthew chapter six on how to pray. All things I have commanded you, he said. And so that is to be the labor of the church. When it gathers together each Lord's day, it's to be the convictions of church leadership and that which we are promoting and spreading abroad among the nations. And one aspect of that discipleship is learning how to pray. It is fundamental and essential. Again, back to Matthew chapter six, We'll see next week, we'll get to verse nine. Verse nine next week. And there, listen closely, there, there's an imperative, a command. Our Lord Jesus commands his disciples to pray. Look at verse nine. In this manner, therefore pray. Command, imperative. So, to be a prayerless Christian, to not pray, is to be a disobedient Christian. It's sin. It's disobeying the word and the command of our Lord. To neglect prayer is either the result of being untaught or a consequence of pride. Because prayer is the very act of humbling ourselves before God. Listen to the strong words, strong words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon to his church about prayer. Spurgeon said, listen to this. He says, a prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect prayer, he says. Neglect of prayer is the locus which devours the strength of the church, end quote. And then he says again, it is well said that neglected prayer is the place of all evil, end quote. And so this morning, as we consider the ordinary means and life of the church, the church and the New Testament scriptures throughout its history and what we are to be as a church. And its relation to prayer and the importance of prayer. If you find yourself that you are a prayerless individual and thoughtless concerning prayer, Let today be a day that we as a people, as a congregation, as individuals, that we would humble ourselves and repent of that sin. And that we this morning would recommit ourselves to learn how to pray and to listen to the voice of our Lord as He teaches us how to pray over the next number of weeks as we study the Lord's prayer. So will you commit yourself to that? Someone can say amen to that. Thank you, Carol. Next week, we'll see in the beginning in verse nine that Jesus will teach us how to pray properly. But again, this morning in verses five through eight, we have some words from Christ. They do serve as a warning. He's instructing us how not to pray. His basic instructions, they're easy to outline. Don't be like the hypocrites and don't be like the heathen. That's what he says. So as an introduction to the model prayer, the Lord's Prayer, as it's come to be known, we have two negatives, two things to avoid in this introduction. Jesus cautions us and calls upon us to steer clear of these two pitfalls when it comes to prayer, the hypocrisy of religious showmanship, as we might say, and the vain practices of the heathen. That's what he's saying here. So verse five. Again, verse five. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. There it is, our next point. Yes, we are to pray. Secondly, when we do pray, he's telling us, do not be like the hypocrites. Do not be like the hypocrites for they love, they love to pray standing in the synagogue. They love to pray in a religious setting, an assembly. And they like to pray out in the corners of the street, out in the open for all to see them. Notice this, that they may be seen by men, verse five. And Jesus says, do not be like that. Avoid when you pray, he's saying when you pray, avoid being like these hypocrites. Now, it's important for us to understand hypocrite, what he means by that. The word that's found here that we translate hypocrite in the Greek, in the original language, it is, it has the idea of a play actor, a play actor. It's someone that wears a mask. It's someone that has a, not only puts on a mask, but he has a false persona about himself. He pretends to be something that they're not. We might think of a hypocrite as describing a person who says, I believe in one thing, and yet they behave in a contradictory manner. That's a hypocrite. And Jesus says, don't be like that. Don't be a hypocrite. Now, let me say this. It's common for Christians to misunderstand what we mean by hypocrisy. We're living in a time where everything is based on the internal, how I feel. It should drive us nuts when you ask me a question and instead of saying what I think, they say what I feel. It's not how you feel. If you're coming to this and you go, you know, sometimes I just don't feel like praying. And if I don't feel like praying and I pray, isn't that hypocrisy? I know we're supporting missions abroad. There's expenses for the life of the church. The future is being planned. And as faithful Christians, we're to be giving in the life of the church. But sometimes I just don't feel like giving. And if I give, that'll be hypocrisy. Our treasurer will take your hypocritical check. Or you say, I don't feel like coming to church. You know, I just don't feel like, I'm just, I don't, I'm not in the mood for worship. I don't want to be a hypocrite. And if we were to push that to other things, I don't feel like loving my wife today. I don't want to be a hypocrite. We wouldn't dare say that out loud, would we? No. Hypocrisy involves proclaiming one set of beliefs while acting in a way that contradicts those beliefs. Praying, giving, worshiping, loving your wife as you were called to, is not feeling. It's called faithfulness. Faithfulness. Not hypocrisy. That's two different things. You confess your love your wife, love your wife. You say you're a Christian, pray. And I'll add to that that sometimes people feel hypocritical about praying because they're unsure of what they truly believe. They say they feel disconnected. Again, it's not a faithfulness. This is an issue of maturity. Of doing what is right, even when you don't feel like it. That's called growing up. That's called maturity. But avoid, avoid hypocrisy. Avoid hypocrisy, listen, by living in a way that aligns with what you profess in public. Jesus has been teaching this along the way in the Lord's on the Sermon on the Mount concerning how we are to behave and again, avoiding hypocrisy. This is what hypocrisy is concerned with. There in Matthew chapter six, look at verse one. Look at verse one, where he talks about giving. Matthew chapter six, verse one. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds, what? Before men. Before men to what? To be seen by them. Otherwise, Jesus says, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. For the hypocrite, it's not ultimately about obeying and pleasing God, but it's attempting to win the praise of men and of the world. That's what they're doing. Again, in verse five of Matthew six, Again, look, notice what Jesus says. You shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners. That is, they love to be seen before men in a religious assembly, out in public, that they, look at verse five, that they may be seen by men. The false professor, the hypocrite, those laboring to win the praise of men in the world will have their reward, he says. Look what he says at the end of verse five. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. Present tense, they have their reward. You may be asking, well, what is their reward? It is the temporal praise of men. It is the fleeting pleasure of having the approval of the world. I gave, I fasted, I prayed. And I want all the world to know it, that they might approve of it, to see who I am. Again, it's not about obeying and pleasing God. but attempting to win the praise of men and the approval of the world. Again, listen to Jesus later in Matthew's gospel, later in Matthew's gospel, chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16, verse 26. Listen to this, Matthew 16, verse 26. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world? But what? But loses, loses his own soul. That's the danger. So Jesus, if we're to avoid hypocrisy, if we're to labor to please you as our God, to pray by faith and to be diligent, even when I'm weak, even when I don't feel like it, that I pray to be faithful and to be mature as your disciple, how? How do I avoid this pitfall? What are we to do, Jesus? He tells us in verse six, Matthew six, verse six. But you, when you pray, but you, disciples, when you pray, you do pray, right? When you do, don't go out into the street corner. You don't have to do it in the assembly of God's people. But when you pray. Go into your room. To me, your translations will say something like go into your closet, your secret closet. Go into your room and when you shut the door. Pray to your God, pray to your father who's in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will hope will reward you openly. Now, Jesus is not against public prayer. That's not what he's saying. We can find public prayer, Book of Acts. We can find it in the Bible. We can find Jesus publicly praying. There's a difference between publicly praying and praying in public for the praise of men. That's the distinction here. However, the proper way to pray Listen, church, is to always do it with an eye to pleasing God. An eye to pleasing God. Even when others don't see it, even when it's done in secret, when it's done in private, alone in a room, in the secret place, as he calls it. Even when no one knows, You pray with an eye to pleasing God. And though no one else may know, God knows. And He hears. And He says, and your reward will be before all. That is, ultimately, you will receive the heavenly, the eternal reward. You will receive the smile of your Father in heaven. Now notice next what he says. In verses seven and eight, we see that he warns us, not only that he's warned us of the danger of religious hypocrisy, but now he's warning us, in verse seven and eight, of the dangers of the way of the heathen, the way the heathen pray. Matthew 6, verse 7, and this is the third point. He says, yes, you are to pray. Two, do not be like the hypocrites. Three, don't be like or as the heathen or the pagans. And when you pray, verse 7, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them, he says. So here in verse seven, he's warning us of vain repetition. Some of your translations will have empty phrases. Our meaningless repetition is the idea. The Gentiles, the language here, the Gentiles, the heathen, the pagans, his point is that those that are not of the biblical faith, they're known to participate in such practices. You remember Mount Carmel and the priest of Baal? You remember how they would do that? Their vain, empty prayers, babblings to their false god. We can think of this today and think of the prayers of a Buddhist monk. And the prayer wheel, walking by, spinning the wheels as they pray. It's the idea that someone would somehow believe, they would believe that a certain kind of prayer, a certain kind of prayer is like a, it's like a magical incantation. And the danger, the danger for us also as Christians is that there can be as such a way that we pray that it's so overly formalized Christian prayer that we recite it in some kind of mindless rote fashion. When we find ourselves after praying for a meal, reciting the Lord's Prayer together as a congregation, you praying before you lay your head down at night, And you just rattle off some words and it's kind of like, OK, I've prayed. I've done it. I've got it out of the way for the day. I'm done. That's the danger here, and that's not how to pray. God doesn't hear those kind of prayers because they're not a faith. They're not a faith. So when you pray. Do not pray in the vain repetitions as the heathen do. Of words that don't matter, that have no meaning. They think that they will be heard, but they have many words. How do we pray? How do we pray to avoid just not having many words, not having vain repetitions as the heathen do? Well, one, first and foremost, as I've said, it needs to be a prayer of faith, a prayer that you're engaged in from the inner man, from the inner woman, you've paused. I mean, busyness, hurriedness is a death, the prayer, is it not? What's the saying of Luther, I have so much to do today, I must pray the first three hours of the day? Let it be a prayer of the heart, the right motivation, a prayer of faith, a prayer with an eye to God. And let it not be babbling, vain words. Let it be according to truth, to God's words and God's truth. Listen to First John 514, this will not be the first time we'll hear this through this series of messages. First John 514, listen to this. This is how you avoid empty phrases, meaningless repetitions. First John, his first epistle that is, First John 5, 14. Listen to this. Now, this now this is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, what? He hears us. Pray according to his word, by faith. calling him by the proper name of who he is. Do not use the Lord's name in vain, calling upon him with a proper heart and by faith, again, not calling upon him and using his name in vain. That would be a way of using his name in vain. But according to his word and his truth, Now notice something in verse 8. He says, therefore do not be like them. Don't be like the heathen. And that could even go as far back as do not be like the hypocrites. Do not be like them. But he says this, for your father. Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask of Him or ask of Him. For the Christian, whether heathen, maybe begging and crying out to God, turning prayer wheels, somehow trying to say an incantation with vain babblings, trying to get the ear of God, that somehow he might hear us. For the Christian, Jesus is reminding us we have a father in heaven, a father in heaven who knows us, who cares for us, an all-wise father. An omnipotent, omniscient Father, He knows all things for He is God. And He knows our great needs better than we know them for ourselves. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you even ask of Him. Now, let me wrap things up here. In conclusion, what we've seen here, yes, pray. Secondly, do not pray like the hypocrites. Thirdly, do not pray like the heathen. When we pray, when we pray, remember this morning two things. Not only to not pray like the heathen, to be like the hypocrites, but remember, as you pray, keep in mind, you remember those early commandments of the law? No other God, no graven images. Let me just say, if you're praying to another creature, that's idolatry. They can be dead creatures. Canonized creatures. That's idolatry. It's taking the name of God's that's taken the Lord's name in vain. You pray to God. Keep in mind that as we pray, we are talking to God. The God of Holy Scripture. The God, our creator. God, our father. And as we pray to God and we acknowledge his divine majesty and his holiness and his fatherness over us as our father in heaven, recognize also that as we pray to him, he's not simply some servant who exists just to fulfill our every desires. He knows our needs. Cry out to him with them. But as we pray, keep in mind that we are praying to God. Secondly, remember that as we pray, as we obey the Lord's command, Yes, some of you will leave here this morning and maybe with an energized and with a new desire to increase your prayer life, to firm things up. Amen. Remember. When Tuesday gets here. You find yourself stumbling in your prayer life. Remember that we all we are flawed individuals. And we stand in all of God's greatness. And the way that we might even pray may lack reverence. Who he is. But come to him in humility. Come to Him in prayer. And be overwhelmed and be humbled. Be amazed that He has promised to hear your prayer. He knows us, and He knows our needs before we even ask of Him. And He knows the state of our soul, and He knows sometimes the frailties of our attitudes. But we faithfully pray And though our prayers may not be perfect, as sinners, we have an advocate and we have a mediator who helps us as we grow and mature in the faith and in Christ's likeness. Paul would write concerning a prayer in 1 Timothy 2 and 5, for there is one God and there is what? One mediator, there's one mediator. One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And so as we pray to God, as we labor to be faithful, cry out to God for help. Acknowledge to Him your frailties and your faults and your weaknesses and your hypocrisies and ask Him to help. And Christ will perfect your prayer by the Spirit as it goes before the throne of heaven. But we have a faithful mediator and high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, do we not? And this one mediator, again, Paul says there in 1 Timothy 2, the one between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, And then he says, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due times. I'm thankful that when I pray and that when we pray, we go in Christ's name and we go to our father, our holy father in heaven through the mediation of Christ. And that my weak and feeble prayers are perfected by the time they reach the throne of God. Amen. And that my prayers and that I as a sinner, I am washed because I have been ransomed by the blood of Christ. If you're a believer, you've been ransomed by the blood of Christ. And we have a faithful priest who stands in our behalf. This morning as we come to the table, we are reminded of the one who shed his blood for us. God man, his body, his broken body, the Lord Jesus. His shed blood, He died on the cross for our sins to bring us into the family of God and our sins to be washed away. Yeah, in Him, His life. So saints, let us give thanks. Let us be faithful and pray, but let us give thanks that we have a mediator and a priest who intercedes for us. And if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, cry out to God this morning. Cry out to God for help. Call upon his name. Acknowledge you're a sinner and cry out to God to save you. Acknowledge your sins and acknowledge the one who bore on the cross the sins and paid the penalty of sinners like you. and me. Let us pray. you