Okay everybody I'm going to get started so if we can take our seats. And this morning we're going to be in Matthew chapter 6 so you can open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6. We'll be in reading verses 1 to 8. And as you're going there, one thing is for certain. We know that Christians are supposed to be different from the rest of the world, right? We are completely different. And we learned a great deal of this so far on the Sermon on the Mount. We saw how we are to be with the beatitudes, how we are to live and the blessings that come with living in accordance to these ways. And we saw how we are to be useful vessels with the similitudes, right? The last thing you want to do is be a useless vessel as a child of God, right? We are salt and we are light, therefore we are to be salty and we are to be shiny. And we saw what that looks like as we flesh it out, right? Then we saw the roots of some heinous sins such as murder, such as adultery, which again, the root of those sins really is anger and lust. We learned about the importance of godly character by the way that we live, right? Character is extremely important, right? And simply let your yes be yes and let your no be no. And if you are a man of your word, a woman of your word, you don't have to say anything else, right? Then we saw the importance of loving your enemies. It's very easy we can say to love those who aren't our enemies, but the Christian walk, the high standard, is that we are to love even our enemies because we were once enemies of Christ. And even the heathens, we know, love their friends, but God expects his people to love everyone. So this morning, we will see two more specific areas that Jesus calls his people to not be like them. In other words, do not be like... the unbelievers. We are completely new in Christ Jesus. So, if you have your Bibles open, Matthew chapter 6, I'm going to read verses 1 to 8, and then I'll pray, and we will get started. So, Matthew 6, this is what the word of the Lord says, Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, and your father, who is in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. and your father, who sees in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him." Let's pray. Father, we stand before you today, certainly as redeemed, as new creations, We stand here before you as those, though we have all our sins forgiven as far as the east is to the west, we still stand in desperate need of your help, always, to get by this life here on this earth. And we thank you so much that you did not leave us alone. You have given us a helper in the Holy Spirit. He is our guide. He is our teacher. He is the one that brings understanding to us. concerning your good and perfect words. So, Father, we are relying on Him and His power this morning, and we thank you for all that you will do. We thank you on how you will speak to each individual here, and I pray, Lord God, again, that you would be magnified, that you would be glorified, because that is why we exist. And we thank you, and we will praise you in Jesus' most precious name. Amen. Alright, so some verses just to get us started. Anthony, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. Can you read that? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ through the new creation, the old has passed away before the new has come. Very good. Mateo, Ephesians 2.10 please. that we should walk in them. Very good. And Sean, can you read Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 to 24, please? Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality. ready to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learn Christ. Assuming that you have learned, I mean, that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. All right, thank you guys. I appreciate that. So if you look at these verses, if you guys are reading along, what do these verses have in common? We're in Christ, good. What do you think they are referring to? Sincerely. The old nature versus the new nature. Oh, I like it, Brother Dave. You got it. They're referring to our new nature, right? Think about what has been said here. The old has passed away, the new has come. We're His workmanship, that we should walk in this new created way that God has given us. To no longer walk as the Gentiles do, as which we once did walk. We were darkened, we were alienated, we were ignorant, we had a hard heart. They become callous. But that is not the way you learn Christ. We are to put off our old self, which belongs to the old life, and we are to put on the new self, right? So, but it's important to know that if the writers are talking about this new nature, right, it means that the audience, what? What does it mean that the audience have? They have the Holy Spirit, right? They have this new nature. He would not be talking about the new nature to those who do not have it, right? So keeping this in mind, let us not forget who Jesus is speaking to as He is giving this sermon on a mount. So let's look again now at verse 1. It says, So, God wants us to be righteous, doesn't He not? Does He want us to be righteous? Okay? We know we have no righteousness in and of ourselves, but He wants His children to be righteous. He said, Be holy, for I am holy. Right? If you go backtrack in chapter 5, Jesus said the following words, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, and we know they weren't truly righteous, right? They just looked righteous on the outside. He says you will never enter the kingdom of God. And we know he's not talking about salvation by works, he's trying to get us to understand something. And this text that we're in is very much, we can say, an exposition of what that actually means, right? We know that we are to do good works. We know that good works, we can say, are righteous. But what exactly is righteousness? I would say that righteousness is that which is good, that which is holy, and of course, right, right? And we know only God, God alone, is inherently righteous. But righteousness, in the practical sense, would be adherence to what? to what? God's law. God's law, right? And when I say this, I do not mean going through the motions or doing it like the Pharisees did. They outwardly seemed like they were obeying the law, but they really weren't. That's not obeying the law. So when I say that, I mean truly obeying it from the heart. That means the motive is deep love for the Lord and for the people that he has created, the first and the second table of the law. We would not call a citizen of the United States or any country a righteous citizen if he or she was a lawbreaker, right? So a good work would be a work that is righteous Righteous, again, in and of itself And you know I like to use catechisms because I think they're very good And one of the earliest of the reform catechisms is the Heidelberg Catechism And question 91 reads like this, it says, what are good works? And it answers, only those which proceed from a true faith, and who alone has a true faith but what people? Christians, right? are performed according to the law of God and to his glory, not such as are founded on our imaginations or the intentions of men. And I think that is worded very good. That is what a true good work is, right? So it says here again in verse one, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. So, certainly a good work is not a work with the motive to be seen, right? That would certainly not be a good work, and he starts this paragraph by using the word beware, and that's the Greek word proscecho, and it means consider carefully and pay attention to, but I don't know if you've ever taken this word this way, but it's actually an imperative verb. So this is not just, hey, this would be a good thing for you to watch out for. No, Jesus is saying, this is a command, beware, consider and pay attention to this. Do not practice your righteousness in order to be seen by them. Because really, that is not even a righteous act, right? So you will have no reward because there's nothing righteous about what you are doing if you're doing that. And our Father wants to reward His children. He delights in rewarding His children. And I can say this because there are so many verses that speak of God rewarding us for our faithfulness. And even though we are not deserving of this, right? Because that really is our duty being created. Being a creature, we owe everything to Him, but yet God still wants to reward His faithful children. That's a wonderful blessing. So Jesus says to us, beware of practicing righteousness in order to be seen. And He's saying there lies a hidden problem with all of us that we all must be mindful of, even us being new creations in Christ Jesus. And just like when we have a medical problem, if we have a medical problem, we go to the doctor. And we go to the doctor, this is how I want to look at our text this morning. We go to the doctor, and the doctor gives us the diagnosis. And I'm gonna put here in our outline, I'm gonna put the diagnosis and the symptoms, that should probably be first, but I'm gonna put the symptoms second. So if you look at your outline, that's the order I'm gonna go by. So the diagnosis, again, is the sin of self-glory. The sin of self-glory. Verse 2 says, Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. What does he say? What is he telling his people to do? Do not be like the hypocrites. And the word in the original language can be translated actor or pretender. We know that actors aren't demonstrating something that is real. They're playing a role. And essentially what he's saying to us is do not be fake, do not be a hypocrite. But the hypocrites, the Lord has in mind here are, in particular, the scribes and the Pharisees. And we know that the scribes and the Pharisees were not true believers, right? They were not true worshipers of God. They were still in their sins. Jesus rebuked them many times and didn't have very much pleasant things to say concerning them. Right? So the first thing we have to see here is that the Lord is telling us not to be like non-believers. We are to not be, as believers, like non-believers. So though we can all be hypocrites at times, we know that, we're guilty of that, Jesus is using it to refer to the scribes and Pharisees who did not believe. And again, their motive was to be seen and have self-glory. And he lets us know that they do, in a sense, get that self-glory, do they not? It says they receive what they want. they have their reward. In other words, that moment of satisfaction, which is based on a lie, is all they have. Judgment is imminent, right? And that judgment is going to be eternal, and that judgment is going to be severe. It is the same cycle and fate as sin, because it is, in fact, sin, what they're doing. It is sowing to the flesh. Sowing to the flesh. Brother Dan Hubbard, do you want to read Galatians chapter 6, verses 7-8? Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Alright, thanks Dan. We know that all non-believers, all their work is going to lead to eternal destruction. Now for believers, we know that's not the case. We know that we're not going to pay a price for anything in our sins. But if we sow things according to our flesh, And fire tests our work, like it says in Corinthians. All those things where we're sown according to the flesh are going to be what? They're going to be burnt up. They will have absolutely no eternal value. So the things that we want to do as believers, we want to live a life, we want to do works of righteousness under the power of the Spirit that will have eternal value. significance, eternal rewards, and all those things will bring glory and honor to the king. So, that is the diagnosis. The symptom of the problem is very simply selfishness. The symptom of the problem is selfishness. Everything is rooted in the self. Sharon, you want to read 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 1 to 5, please. But understand this. And in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving God, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power, avoid such people. really, right from the time that he came, right? And not much is new under the sun, as we can see. This was true then, and we see this very clearly. It's true of the world that we live in now. You see, the selfless person has a goal, right? And the goal is to satisfy himself. That is his aim in life, self-satisfaction. But the satisfaction we know is temporal. And it's never fulfilling because they are always found looking for more. Right? It's like a drug addict. Okay? What happens, they're always trying to chase that first high. And it's sad when you see it, watch. But it's the same thing with sin. It's the same thing how it is with those who are just a selfish person. And we do not want to be that way. Verse 3 says, But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you." Again, as Paul often does in his letters, so also our Lord is speaking in human terms so that we understand, right? It doesn't mean we can't be overly, woodenly literal here. It doesn't mean that everything is to be done in secret, right? We know that there are many contexts where it shouldn't be that way. But the idea is that regardless of the context, we are not to draw attention to ourselves when we give, as the scribes and as the Pharisees did, and as any other person who is fake will do. They care about their own self-glory. So if the diagnosis is sin of self-glory, the question is, is there a prescription? And I believe that the prescription is a two-step process. A two-step process. Number one, we are to humble ourselves. Right? Humble ourselves. James 4, 6. Mikey, what does that say? James 4, 6? In the outline. But he gives more grace, therefore it says, God who closes the prophet gives grace to the humble. Some of this stuff really is very simple. Sometimes I think as believers we have a tendency to complicate things, right? There's a big problem. There is a prescription. It's a process. Number one, we need to humble ourselves. God gives, he resists the proud. He opposes the proud man, but he gives grace to the humble. And I don't know about you, but I want as much grace as I can possibly get, right? Because I know that that is what is best for me. So the two-step process, first, is to humble yourself. Secondly, it's found in 1 Corinthians 10.31, and Lord Gina, do you want to read that? 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Alright. Secondly, seek the glory of God. A selfish person cares about himself. He wants to magnify himself. He wants to satisfy himself. He is loaded with pride. But God's way is humble yourself. God's way is seek the glory of Him, because no one else should be getting that glory. We know that context is very important, right? Now this last verse in 1 Corinthians certainly had a context, but there are those beautiful verses that I believe are like gems, and they could be taken as an isolated verse, even outside of the context, because they find their support from the whole of Scripture. So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of the Lord is so important. From the rising of the sun to its setting, we are to be single-minded as believers with one purpose. What can I do to please my Lord every morning when we get up? And all this is our love offering to an amazing God. Amen? That is the Christian life. And we need to remind ourselves of this constantly. So then the question is, if we follow the prescription, right? That means we're going to be good patients. We follow the prescription. We have to ask ourselves, what is the prognosis? And I would say that the prognosis is good and it would be eternal reward. Eternal reward. And this means we know everlasting. And the highest aspect of the reward, and I think this is so important, and I think more and more we should get our mind, our mindset, to think in accordance with this. The highest aspect of the reward is, very simply, in the pleasing of our Father. And to be forever in the presence of God, our Creator. That is, what is heaven going to be like? I don't know, but I'm going to be with Jesus face to face. That is enough. And while we're here on this earth, we have that hope. But right now, every time we get up, we have an opportunity in every single thing that we do to put a smile on the Father's face. And nothing should be more satisfying to us than that. That should be the very thing that we seek. And then he now moves on to another area of practice, and that is praying. That is a religious practice, to pray. We know that we are to pray. And verse 5 says, And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. Again, now Paul gives us another example where there can be a display of the flesh. And any display of the flesh, we know, brings disgrace to the Church of the Living God. And again, he is telling us to not be like unbelievers. who are hypocrites, the scribes in particular, and the Pharisees. But you can add any other person that would also qualify if they're a non-believer. And again, their motive is self-glory, and whatever glory they receive is all that they have. So the reality is that they will be condemned forever. So if we go back to their diagnosis, is the sin, again, of self-glory. It has not changed. It's the same thing. It is the sin of self-glory. And the symptom of the problem is also the same. What is the symptom? Selfishness. This is the problem with mankind. And the prescription of the problem, again, is going to be twofold. Let's look at verse six. It says, and when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. Again, he's giving us an example for our understanding. We know that there are times when prayer is open and bold and corporate, but the lesson again is not to draw attention to yourselves, but to God. So, in looking at this, the first thing we need to do is we need to pray for an audience of one, all caps, not one, lowercase. And I hope you understand what I mean when I say that. When I say pray for an audience of one, that means we're praying for the King. We're praying to please Him because our relationship is with Him. The one who's praying so that he can be seen only cares about himself, lowercase, right? So though the hypocrite wants to be seen by others for his own self-glory, he's only, again, concerned with himself. The righteous person cares about the Lord. He prays to him because prayer is communion with his master. Prayer, again, shows his dependence on the master. Prayer, again, is an indicator of the relationship he has with his master. Prayer is extremely important. Therefore, one should have a personal prayer, a personal prayer life, I would say, before having a corporate prayer life. It would be kind of hypocritical for someone who prays all the time corporately, and we know corporate prayer is important, but he is void of having any prayer life himself. That certainly, I think, would not be right, right? So, pray for an audience of one, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you pray, verse seven, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. And the idea here, again, with these empty phrases is meaningless babble. Again, Gentiles here are referring to non-believers, and regardless of their religion and false god, What they do is false and we can learn of the foolishness in it. Again, pagans put emphasis on quantity rather than quality. And sadly for them, there cannot even be any quality because again, their god is non-existent and false. And their mindset was the more they babble, the more they think that they will be heard. As if God can be stimulated by us. God can't be stimulated by anything. He's God. God does not get... He hasn't changed. And also, they think that the more that they speak, the more effective they will be. So secondly here, I would say pray to bring encouragement to the hearers with the goal of edification. pray to bring encouragement to the hearers with the goal of edification. So certainly I'm praying for an audience of one, yes. But when I'm praying in a corporate sense, I need to understand that I have brothers and sisters that are around me, right? I need to pray with clarity. And I want to pray in a way that I would encourage them and build them up in the most holy faith. And in doing this, again, we are bringing honor and glory to the King. You know, the quality of something The quality of something, for instance, that is made or built usually has to do with the materials and the skill and effort of the persons who made it. what makes a good teacher, we can say. A good teacher comes down to the quality of what they are teaching and whether or not their methods are effective, right? So quality always needs to be stressed over quantity. It's not that quantity is bad. No, quantity is good as well, but not at the expense, again, of quality. It is first correct. If it is correct, it can't be apart from the truth, right? So we're not saying quantity, again, is bad. but we do not want quantity without quality. So if there is no encouragement, and if there is no edification, it doesn't really matter how much of something is being said. All it is, is just want, want, want, want, want, and it's doing and accomplishing absolutely nothing. So again, If you follow the prescription here, the question again will arise, what is the prognosis when praying correctly? And I would say that it's very good, and it certainly will lead to present fellowship. present fellowship, and fellowship is so important. But this fellowship, again, again, goes two ways. First, with God, right? We want fellowship with God. And then, secondly, fellowship with each other. Fellowship with each other. When we come together as brothers and sisters, we want to have sweet fellowship, right? And that sweet fellowship is always based on the truth of God's Word. And it's also based on how we love each other and speak to each other the wonderful truths of God that come from God's perfect and holy Word, okay? God wants a relationship with His people. He wants a relationship with the people and he wants his people to dwell together in unity, right? This is what he wants. This is what he desires from us. This is so important. And praying rightly, both personally and corporately, is extremely powerful and effective in bringing fellowship with God and His people. Brother Rob, you want to read 1 John, verses 1-4. Chapter 1, verses 1-4. There's not another Rob in here, right? That's you, that's you. That which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life that was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified it and proclaimed it to you, the eternal life, which was from the Father and was made manifest to us, that which we have seen and heard and proclaimed also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete. You know, the Apostle said in other epistles that there is no greater joy than to hear that his children, his spiritual children, are walking in truth. And he's a mouthpiece for God. This is, he's saying, this is exactly how the Father thinks too. There's no greater joy, I can see, the Father is delighted when His people dwell together in unity. and are obeying the very things that He says they are to do. That makes the Father extremely happy. And again, I say it all the time, that is the whole purpose of why we are here. That is the whole purpose of our salvation. And if we neglect to think that way, we really are thinking very foolish. We are missing everything. Okay? It's just like thinking our salvation is just because we don't go to hell. No, it's so much more than that. Thank God we don't go to hell and that we're going to be with Him together. Our salvation is for His glory and we cannot forget that. So let's finish here. Verse 8 says, Again, do not be like them because they have absolutely no clue. He is not their father, and they do not know the father. They do not desire to know the father. They do not live for the father. They live for themselves. But guess what? We do, right? We do know the father. So we must believe that the father knows what we need and have confidence in that, right? That should like spark a zeal in us. That should, we're struggling with anxiety. That should help to get that anxiety away, and at least help us to take those steps of faith. My Father knows exactly what I need. We must believe that what we need is what is best. Now we think we always want to separate needs and wants, and they're two different things, but I would say it'd be so good if we could make it that our wants are exactly what God says we need. Right? That would be the ideal way to live. So we must believe that what we need He will provide, and that He will provide it perfectly. Perfectly, because everything He does is good and perfect. Now this is so important for the people of God. It's important because we are people of faith, right? We stand by faith, we walk by faith, right? We rest in the truth of the Gospel. We trust and depend on the finished work of Christ for our salvation. And we are to trust Him and be at peace in His will for our lives, whatever that is for us as individuals. We trust and depend on Him knowing what we need in all circumstances, especially when we struggle with knowing what we need ourselves. Any of you guys like me? Because I struggle with that all the time, and yet I know that God knows exactly what I need. So again, what do we do with all this? What do we do with all this as the Church of the Living God? If you look at the focus of this passage, the focus of this passage is on the motives behind our worship, which really determines whether or not our worship is true worship or false worship. And the Lord speaks of two important areas of worship, the practice of giving and the practice of praying. And the thing he wants to express to his people, again, is not to be like them. And we can also say that when Jesus says to not be like them, the non-believers, he's also saying what? Who wants to give it a shot? I'm looking for an answer. I'm sure there's many good answers to this. To be like him. Well, that's definitely a good one. I wrote down to not be like we were before our conversion, okay? But yes, they're both, amen. We are to be like him. That's not like we were, right? So let's look at this in light of two examples that our Lord gave. Number one, do not be like them in your giving. Though it is not the only area that one can display a loving heart. How a person gives can surely be a good indicator of what is going on in the heart, right? It's just like what we see on the outside. How a person looks oftentimes, maybe not all the times on the outside, the way they dress maybe or whatever, is a reflection oftentimes on what's going on on the inside, right? Their example, again, self-glory, praise by men, and fleshly satisfaction, right? Well, look what it says here in Philippians chapter 3, Dan Dan, verses 18 and 19. You want to read that? For many of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even in tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their valley, and they glory in their shame. with minds set on earthly things. All right. So look at what it says here. It says, their God is their belly. Their glory is in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. Right? So if we're not to be like them, because they set their mind on earthly things, we should set our mind on the things that are above. We know false teachers are some of the best examples of this, which Paul was often battling in his epistles. But I would say this, do not be like them in your giving because we can. And I'm not saying because we can because God is giving us permission. I'm saying because we can because we can. We can be hypocrites. He's writing to us, again, he's speaking to his people, telling them not to do this because our tendency still is, because we have this sin nature, is to still do the wrong thing. He's saying don't do this because you can, but we also can walk by the Spirit, right? Obviously we look at the sin of overindulgence, so they can be obviously feeding their eyes and not the actual satisfaction of what you really need. what you keep saying, it's selfishness, because ultimately they're looking towards their self-gratification, their, you know, what is going to get me to the point where I'm satisfied in the moment. And in one sense, because God is not in the picture, because this is all they have, are they doing anything wrong? Well, we know they're doing something wrong because there is a God that exists. Okay, but Paul says we are the most to be pitied because we're living this Christian life. If God doesn't exist, if there's no resurrection, then we are the most to be pitied. We might as well eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. Right? If I didn't have God in my life, that's exactly what I would be doing because I'm going to load myself up with as much sin because this is all I have until I die. But we know that is not the case. Again, we must remember that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Therefore, we must walk by the Spirit. Again, and the Spirit is willing. Remember, Jesus said that to his disciples when he was in the garden. And I think that's twofold. Yeah, God is obviously, the Spirit of God is not willing, but again, Paul talked about in Romans 7, the inner man. Okay? I don't want to do the very things that I find that I'm doing in the old man. But the real man, the new man still wants to honor God. Right? That's the part that is willing. And again, We still can't do it by ourself, but God is giving us this Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is our power to live in the way that God wants us to live. Galatians 5, EJ, verses 16 and 17. Again, I say these verses, I don't think I got every other lesson, I think I refer to these verses because I think it's so important and we can't forget it. What does it say, EJ? Alright. Listen, I have a healthy obsession with these verses. For a reason. Because God is telling me to walk by the Spirit. So I will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Because I can gratify the desires of the flesh as a redeemed saint. I know what it's like to gratify the desires of the flesh. And I know I'm not alone in this room, right? So again, what is the prescription? What are we to do? Walk by the Spirit. We must believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we do that, we can indeed have victory. And that's the way we should be. Remember again, that they cannot, the non-believers, walk by the Spirit. But we can, and we should. Right? So again, do not be like them in their giving. Number two, do not be like them in your praying. Okay, we already saw that prayer is a practice we should have personally. It would be somewhat fake to have a robust prayer life corporately without one personally. But whether personal or corporate prayer, our prayers must be right. They must be correct. Their prayers are selfish and they are void of something, right? And what do you think they are void of? Again, there's many good answers to this question. I'm looking for a certain answer. The Spirit? The Spirit will always promote and speak the what? The truth, right? They are void of the truth. So do not be like them in your praying, again, because we can. We can be just like them if we don't walk by the Spirit of God. But I would also say because we have the truth, and we know the truth. Remember that it is the truth that has set us free. I'm going to read John 8. It's quite a bit of verses, so I'm not going to have anyone else read that. I'll read it, but just listen to these beautiful verses, and I love this. John 8, beginning in verse 31, So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And they answered Him, We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say You will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I've seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works that your father did. And they said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your Father, you would love Me. For I came from God, and I am here. I came down, not of My own accord, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. So I think this is just so fitting because we are not to be like them. They are not of God. And we, though we once were, or at least walked as if we were not of God, we know that we are of God. Because God has delivered us, God has opened up our eyes, and we believe on the only hope in Jesus Christ. We know that He elected us, He chose us, He set us apart from before all creation even was, our names were written in His book. This is the book of righteousness of God's people, and we are to live in accordance to that book, that way, not like the way that the world lives. So again, we have the truth, We know the truth. We are indeed a new creation. Amen. Now, the problem with the examples given was that they were selfish, they cared about self-glory rather than God's glory, and we have been given the greatest of all examples in Christ Jesus, the one who we are to imitate. So I want to close with God's words, because I always love to close with God's words, because God's words are so much better than my words. Because they are living, and because they are powerful. Words, again, from a perfect father to his imperfect children. So if we look at Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 to 11, perfect words to close for today. And it says this, Philippians 2, verses 1-11, So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. And what does he say here? Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, just like these examples that we saw in the Pharisees. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you not look out for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this mind amongst yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And praise God, church, that one day we will bow our knee to the King. But we will bow our knee to the King to enter eternal bliss rather than condemnation. Think of how amazing that is. And that is what we have to look forward to. Again, oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together and keep that mindset as we go into the sanctuary to worship him together again as a family. Because that's what we are, the family of the living God. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. We are no longer the old man and we need to remind ourselves of this. We are no longer that. We are new by His amazing grace and by His divine Word. You are mine. That's what He said. He has declared us to be His. That was our faith. That was our destiny. Think of how amazing that is. Therefore, let's walk in accordance to that destiny. Amen? Let's pray. Father, I thank You so much for Your beautiful, wonderful, amazing Word. I thank you, Lord God, how it is an encouragement to us. It is a light to our path. Lord, I thank you that only we can understand it because your word cannot be understood apart from the Spirit. So, Father, I pray again that your Spirit would fill us this day. We know we have Him. but that he would be the controlling and master and dominant force as we are here worshiping you. We want to give you the worship that you deserve. Help us with any kind of self-righteousness. I ask that you would just put it aside and forgive us when we demonstrate that at times. But Lord God, thank you that we are forgiven as far as the east is to the west. Let us go into the sanctuary now and worship you. rightly for your glory. And we'll thank you in advance, in Jesus' name.