Next week, okay. Oh, gotcha. Okay, next week it is. I'm late. The timer went off and nobody was here. So before you take that advantage or take that opportunity to get back to talking, I'll go ahead and get started. So welcome. Welcome and good morning to Cedar Grove Baptist Church. Glad that everybody can be here. What an honor and privilege it is to be here today to worship in the house of the Lord. For those of you that are new, if there's anybody new here, this is our fifth Sunday. Traditionally, on our fifth Sunday, we get our children and our youth to help us out with our Sunday morning service. So, it's not a show that we put on. We're not trying to do anything cute. We're really trying to get our youth and the next generation of this church really involved and really trying to get them to take some stake in their their home church here and their faith in general, right? So what better way than to get them involved with the services? So today will be just a little bit different than what we're used to, our normal service, but I think it's a great ministry for those young folks here. Announcements. Outdoor pantry, of course, we're always looking for somebody to help keep that stocked. The women's group here is also going to partner with Cedar Grove Elementary to help keep theirs stocked as well, so if you can help out there, that would be great. The sound booth, back in the back, still looking for volunteers to help out with the sound booth. If you're worried about that, if you're worried, I don't know a whole lot about computers, or I don't know a whole lot about sound rooms, don't worry about it. Dave does most of the heavy lifting for you. You just need to get up there and help run the show. Hit a couple buttons, click a couple things. It would really help out a lot. So if you can help do that, see Dave and we'll get you set up there. Fifth Sunday scene tonight, 6 p.m. here at Cedar Grove Baptist. You can make it. Come and enjoy some fellowship, good music, bring some snacks, refreshments, that sort of thing. If you can bring it. Jordan, anything else on A fundraiser. Yes. Oh, that's correct. Yeah, it's going to be a fundraiser going to take up a little love offering for Cedar Grove Christian Academy. So if you can make it to that, bring some refreshments and if you can make a donation to the school, that would be fantastic as well. Again, that's tonight here at Cedar Grove at 6 PM. Also, we are electing messengers for the Kentucky Baptist. KBC, what's the state convention? Convention, there you go. Kentucky Baptist Convention. It's down in Somerset. The announcements in the bulletin have that as today, right after service. We're doing those elections Wednesday. So if you see that in the announcements for today, that's actually Wednesday. And that's it for announcements here, unless there's anything else that I'm forgetting that anybody needs to bring up? All right. Fantastic. Also, it says in here, Pastor Appreciation. We're not trying to shortchange Joe. October just can't hold all the appreciation that we have for our elders here. So it's going to bleed over into November. So we will do that. We will do that next next Monday. All right. And with that, I believe we're doing. Please stand. Alas, and did my Savior bleed and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for sinners such as I? At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace unknown And love beyond degree At the cross, at the cross Where I first saw the light And the burning of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day. But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away. Tis all that I can do. At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day it was there. It was there by faith I received my sight. And now I am happy all the day. Please be seated. Today's scripture reading comes from Roman 12, one through two. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Please stand. Not what my hands have done Can save my guilty soul Not what my toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole Not what I feel or do ♪ Can give me peace with God ♪ Not all my prayers and sighs and tears ♪ Can bear my awful load ♪ Oh, the matchless grace of Jesus ♪ Chasing rebels down and setting prisoners free ♪ Oh, Oh, the strong, strong love of heaven, saving those who hate you to bring them victory. Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace. Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase. No other word but Yours, no other blood will do. No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through. Oh, the matchless grace of Jesus Chasing rebels down and setting prisoners free Oh, the strong, strong love of heaven Saving those who hate you to bring them victory I praise the Christ of God I rest on love divine And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine My Lord has saved my life and freely pardoned gives. I love because he first loved me. I live because he lives. Oh, the matchless grace of Jesus, chasing rebels down and setting prisoners free. Oh, Oh, the strong, strong love of heaven Saving those who hate you to bring them victory Saving those who hate you to bring them victory Spirit of God, descend upon my heart. We knit from earth through all its pulses move. Stoop to my weakness, mighty as the wolf. and make me love thee as I ought to love. I ask no dream, no profit ecstasy, no sudden rending, of the vale of clay. No angel visited, no opening skies, but take the dimness of my soul away. Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King? All Thy known soul, heart, and strength and might I see Thy cross there, teach my heart to cling O let me seek Thee and O let me find Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear To check the rising, doubt the rebel side. Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer. Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love. One holy passion Filling all my frame The baptism of the undescended dove My heart and altar and Thy love The flame Please be seated. When I can read my title clear to mansions in the sky, I'll bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes and wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes. I'll bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes. I'll bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes. Today's scripture recitation comes from 1 John 2.29. Let's stand and say this together, please. Today's sermon text comes. Today's sermon text comes from Matthew 6, 16 through 8. And when you fast, you do not look gloomy. Like the hypocrites before, they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others truly. I say to you, they will receive their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that you are fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. It's the future. It's the future. Let's pray together. Father, let us as we seek after Christ, you've told us to seek. And you've told us we'll find that we seek and we hunger We hunger to find and to know Christ. We hunger to see in your word through the working of your spirit. See a savior in Christ because you have awakened us to the reality of our need. You've wakened us to the reality of our sin. And our sin is more than just our actions. You've shown us the very true nature of our heart. You've shown us the very true nature of our thinking. And you've told us in your word we must be born again. And it's by your grace and by your mercy and by the working of your spirit. Washing of regeneration, the renewal. The Holy Spirit. Paul tells us, whom you poured out on us richly. You didn't hold back. When we're born again, when we're regenerated, you didn't do just half the job and then have to come back later and do the rest. You did it all. You changed all. And I pray as we continue through looking at our Lord's sermon here in Matthew. Father, we want to understand what this means beyond just looking at outward signs of righteousness. We want to understand what he's getting at, what he's trying to say. Because once we see that, then we begin to see very clearly, He is the Savior. We begin to see very clearly that we cannot save ourselves. And so we want to go beyond just outward shows of righteousness, just outward shows of being religious, just outward shows of looking like good moral people and going to church and doing the things that we think church people do or doing the things that we think Christians should do. We don't want to be scribes and Pharisees. We don't want to be like that. We don't want to be whitewashed tombs inside, full of bones, full of death and decay and hearts that have never been changed. We don't want to be hypocrites. We don't want to play that. We don't want to be deceived. Father, we don't want to be deceived into thinking that because we've done some religious duties and performed some religious acts, anywhere from praying prayers to joining church, to being baptized. We don't want to be deceived into thinking that somehow that is a righteous act that you have accepted and that we are saved because of that and that we are right with you because of that. Father, help us to understand the very gospel itself and help us to understand. Because we see so much in certain places today and there's so much confusion and so much has just been pushed to the side because. Well, sometimes we would just want to seem relevant to this culture. Sometimes we don't want to. We don't want to offend this culture. Sometimes we we don't want to press the issues of the gospel because we want to seem loving and friendly and kind and Father, help us to understand it's not a loving thing not to present the truth. It's not a loving thing not to share the complete truth of what you revealed. To hold back part of this. To neglect part of this. Father, to our shame. So shine the light clearly. upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask this in His name. Amen. Well, the text that they read to you in Matthew chapter 6, this is the next section in this part of the sermon where He gives the third illustration. He gives the third example of what he's talking about. He's talked about almsgiving. He's talked about praying. Now, here's the third example, fasting. Now, you know on Tuesday, Tuesday's October the 31st, right? So you know that's traditionally celebrated as Halloween, right? You go trick-or-treating or do whatever else. Maybe you don't know, I'm sure most of you already know that a little over 500 years ago, something else happened on October 31st, 1517. This little German monk walks up to the church door at Wittenberg and he nails 95 statements. That's what his thesis were. They were 95 statements. And what Martin Luther was wanting to do, Martin Luther was wanting a debate. So it'd be like firing off a series of tweets today. posting it in social media, and then having people respond. Well, that's what happened in the day. The Gutenberg printing press had been invented, and it was almost revolutionary, like social media, so that now you could print something and put it in the hands of thousands of people, not at the speed of the internet, but it revolutionized things. And so Luther's 95 Theses are taken, they're printed, and people are reading it, and so forth. So that happens, that happened October 31st. The next day was All Saints Day, November the 1st, a celebration in the Roman Catholic Church. And Luther knew full well what he was doing. And he was wanting a debate. He said, we need to talk about these things. These are things that I've seen that need to be corrected. And so that's what he wanted. Now skip ahead three years to the year 1520. You skip ahead three years, and Luther, in his mind, all this is starting to sort of come together. It's starting to jail for him, and he's coming to an understanding of the gospel. And when you get to the year 1520, in June of 1520, the Pope had finally had enough. Now, Luther, the first debate that he has The first, really the first two debates that he has following 1517 and the posting of the 95 Theses, the argument was the scripture is the final authority. That's what Luther said. The Catholic Church came back with two different individuals and argued, no, the Pope. Luther said, no scripture. No, the Pope. Scripture's fine, tradition's fine, but the argument of the Roman Catholic Church at the time was that the Pope was the authority, essentially. And Luther says, no, it's scripture alone. So that's going on, and by the time you get to 1520, the Pope had had enough of this little monk, and so there was the papal bull, exerge domine, in which Luther is officially, if you don't recant, and they gave him 60 days to recant, if you don't recant, then you're being excommunicated. Now, this happens in June. January of the next year, Luther burns the bull publicly. But before he does that, before he does that, a couple of things happen. So there's the Declaration of the Pope, 60 days recant. Well, Luther's not gonna recant. But in September, so this happens in June, September, October, November. So about this time of year, Luther sits down and he writes three books. Now we read, in the group that's meeting, we read Luther's Bondage of the Will and went through that in our study group a while back. That book doesn't come until five years after this. But during this year, 1520, Luther writes three books. And it sets the world on fire, especially the third one that he writes. But the first one was to the Christian nobility of the German nation. And he's writing the nobles of Germany. He's taking up some of these issues. And then he writes one, The Babylonian Captivity, in which he's arguing that the church is being held captive by Babylon and the pope in the Roman Catholic Church is Babylon. Now, that didn't sit well with the pope. Now, those are interesting, but it's the third one that he writes. It's the third one that he writes in this series in 1520 And the third one that he writes is called The Freedom of the Christian. In The Freedom of the Christian, Luther brings in his understanding and studying scripture and so forth, and it seems like in The Freedom of the Christian, all of a sudden the gospel and the whole issue of justification by faith alone is sort of crystallized in his mind in The Freedom of the Christian. It's fabulous, right? And in it, Luther's going to argue he's going to argue it's faith. And what he's going to say about faith is faith is not a work. Faith is a gift from God. And what he's going to say about the first thing that faith is going to do is show you your sin. You're awakened to your sin. You're awakened to the need for his savior. And then you were joined to the Lord Jesus Christ through faith alone, not of works. But it is faith alone, and he's clear. This is God's work. This is the work of God. This is not a work we do. It is the work of God. Now, when he gets into the he gets into the heart of his argument and freedom of the Christian, he does something very interesting. He's gonna take the wedding. He's gonna take the marriage relationship. between a man and a woman. And he's going to do what the scriptures do with the marriage relationship. Because very clearly, and we talked about this when we went through divorce, in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, God is pictured as the husband, and Israel's the unfaithful wife. And so this relationship, this marriage relationship, is used throughout. And in the New Testament, we see it even clearer with Christ and the church. This relationship, marriage relationship, is used of a relationship between God and his people. Now what Luther does with this is he begins to talk about something that becomes central in the Reformation and becomes even more crystallized in the writing of John Calvin, the other reformer. What he begins to talk about is union with Christ. And what he does with this marriage relationship and freedom of the Christian, to point out justification by faith alone, Because it might be we might think, and we say this, it is not our righteousness, but it's a righteousness given to us by Christ, right? Well, if we're not careful, we may think like, well, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. He's ascended into heaven. And here we are down here. And Jesus shoots down righteousness to us. He just sort of says, Daryl needs a little righteousness. If we're not careful, we think about grace the same way. I'm down here living my life, and I hit a little road bump, and he shoots down a little righteousness. And then to help me through that, he shoots down a little grace. And I get back on the road, and here I go again. And I get off in a ditch, and pshew, pshew. That's a totally false view of the gospel. That's a totally false view of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Luther captures this and freedom of Christian. And what he does when he's talking about this union with Christ, he's talking about it in terms of a marriage relationship. And what he's going to say is this. He's going to say the sovereign king of kings has joined himself and become one flesh with a harlot. Here this heart sits, stands in this relationship, in this ceremony, being united with the king of kings and the lord of lords, the lord of glory. And here she stands, and she has absolutely nothing but harlotry. She can't even possibly become queen. There's nothing in her that she could become queen. And yet the king joins himself. And the ring of faith, the wedding ring of faith, joins this glorious king to this harlot. And you know what's said in the marriage ceremony, don't you? All that I have and all that you have. And in this, Luther goes into detail and talks about the ceremony that takes place. And then he says, This is what it is to be united to the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel and in conversion. It's not that he stays outside of us. It is the language of Paul when he says, Christ in you and you in Christ. There is a union that takes place and with you become one flesh as in the marriage relationship, which is why, when we were looking at divorce, that's why there's no divorce. That's why sexual immorality. That's why there's such a revolution now and an attempt to destroy this image of the relationship between God and his people by going after the sexual revolution, going after and reading. No, no, no, it's none of that. Luther comes back and says, listen, this is what we need to understand. When we come to Christ, and we receive his righteousness, we're not receiving it as if he's outside of us. We're receiving it because we've been joined to him. Now that was revolutionary at the time. And I contend it's probably still revolutionary today in some circles. Because we tend to think And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, okay, then how does this go to fasting? How does this get to the issue of fasting? Here's how. Because the freedom for the Christian, for Luther, was not freedom to do what you want. But once this relationship has happened, by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, based on scripture alone, Once this has happened, then there is a freedom that comes. Faith brings a freedom not to do as you please and live as you please, but faith brings a freedom to obey. Whereas before there was not a freedom to obey. You're enslaved to sin. You obeyed its lust. You obeyed its desires. But in Christ union with Christ, the freedom of the Christian is the freedom to obey. So you see, from freedom to obey, then it's freedom to practice righteousness outside of Christ. In a misunderstanding of the gospel, your practice of righteousness actually enslaves you into a work system in which you can never know when you've done enough, you can never know when you've pleased God, you can never know how much is enough, and there's no assurance at all that you're ever a Christian and you're always continually trying to do more and more and more and more and get God to love you. And sometimes it's so bad, you just don't want him to love you, you just want him to like you. I could just get him to like me. Don't you lust love? Well, Luther blows all that out of the water in freedom of the Christian. It is the freedom to obey. So the freedom now to practice righteousness or we could say this in context of the Sermon on the Mount, it is now freedom to fast as we should fast. Not fast to try to get God to love us and not fast to try to manipulate God but fast as we should fast as Christians, you see? So not to get into union with Christ, why I'm fasting, but to have communion with my Lord. So union with Christ, communion, with him, communion with him, an intimate relationship with him. Fasting doesn't produce the union, but when the union's there, then comes the freedom for me to commune with my Lord Jesus Christ. That's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful understanding of the gospel, and I think we see it throughout the New Testament, particularly with the Gospel of Paul, particularly when you get to the Book of Romans. Now, when we get to fasting, there's two instructions here. We're gonna follow the same thing as we did with praying. There were two instructions about praying, and there's two instructions about fasting here. And they're very simple instructions. The instructions go like this. Don't fast like this. Don't do it like this, but do it like this. And so they're very simple instructions. Now, let me just remind you where we are in the sermon, because, again, this is not going to be a detailed examination of fasting, and how to fast, and all of that. It's not. If you want some, there's some very good literature that's out there. One of the best books, it's an older book, but one of the best books is by Don Whitney in the Spiritual Disciplines and looking at these things and looking at fasting and the different fasts and why fast and how to fast and things like that. When we think fasting, we normally think about food, don't we? We think fasting, man, I can give up food. I was looking for a book on my shelf because I thought I still had it. I had it years ago, years ago when I was First became a Christian. I don't know how I got my hands on this book. I don't know if any of you remember it. I don't know if he's still alive or not. It was a guy by the name of C.S. Lovett. C.S. Lovett wrote a book. It was an autobiography that he did called The Maranatha Man. But then he wrote another book. This is probably back in the 70s sometime. And why I ended up with this book, I don't know. And I'm almost ashamed to say I did this. But C.S. Lovett wrote a book, Help! The Devil Wants Me Fat. And he talked about fasting. And he talked about the discipline of fasting in connection with losing weight. Now, if you know anything about the fads that are going on today, there is a fad about fasting to lose weight, right? There's a fad for anything these days. And so in this, C.S. Lovett is writing about this, and he talked about a 10-day fast, and he talked about going on this 10-day fast and trying to lose weight and not let the devil make you overweight and things like that. And he talked about some things that would happen during the fast. He talked about how after three or four days, then your hunger pains go away. And he talked about possibly seeing visions and things like that during the fast and so forth. It's pretty fascinating to read him talk about fasting and so forth. But I'm not sure that Lovett was talking about the fasting that Jesus is talking about. I'm not sure that he had in his mind, he may have thought this is what fasting was, but I think he missed what fasting really is all about. Now, this is not going to be sort of a detailed exposition of fasting. There are other great books that deal with that. I want to keep fasting just like with prayer. I want to keep fasting in the context of what Jesus is trying to use this illustration, this example to point out. And you have to go all the way back. You have to go back to chapter six and you have to go or back to chapter six, verse one, where he 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. This is his point. You don't practice your righteousness being a religious showoff. This is not about just outward observance. This is not about doing good things and looking like a goody-two-shoes and looking like a really super-duper Christian. Because your heart's nowhere. You're drawing near with your lips, but your heart's far from me. This is what he used to tell these religious leaders. But also in connection with this is where we'll get to, Lord willing, in verse 19, where he says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Don't you practice your righteousness as to be seen before men. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where their thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be. This is the issue. It is the issue of the heart. When he opens the Sermon on the Mount and he starts through in the Beatitudes, he's not giving a moral checklist. Do these things and you'll be okay. Do these things and you'll be alright with God. He's not doing that. What he's doing is he's describing here is who a Christian really is. And he's describing this is who we are. And then when he gets to the issue of the heart and it becomes clear that sin is not just tied to actions. But sin is of our very nature. Sin is in our very heart, our rebellion is deeper. And just my saying. Doing. Our rebellions deep roots of the heart. And this is what he's pointing out. And so, when we get to this section, and he's talking about practicing righteousness, the issue is the heart again. Well, here's the first instruction that he gives. He says, listen, don't fast like this. Keep your finger here. Go to Matthew chapter 9. It's got to come up again, but in a little different context. Matthew chapter 9. John's disciples decide they have a question for him. So chapter 9 verse 14, then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast? This is what we do. But your disciples do not fast. They must have been watching them or something. I don't know how they would know, but your disciples do not fast. And this is what Jesus said. And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. So there will come a day when his followers will be expected to fast. The point he's trying to make is I'm here now, there's no need for that. In verse 16, no one puts a piece of untrunk cloth on an old garment for the patch tears away from the garment and a worse tear is made. He gives that illustration there. But the day will come when you will fast. Let's go back to 6. As with almsgiving, giving, and as with prayer, it is expected. The language that he uses is such that this is expected from his people, from those that follow him. But again, here's the first one. Don't fast like this. And look what he says. And when you fast. See the language? When you do this. The days are coming when you will fast. And when you fast, don't do it like this. Don't be like this. I love what a couple of old writers said about fasting, or when they're looking at fasting, they're trying to give a definition of fasting. I love what one said. He said it's the bending of the soul to God. I love that. There's a sense in which there's a denial of self that's going on, whether it's food or time or television or whatever it may be, computer or Twitter or social media. but there's a denial of self that's going on, and there's a bending of the soul towards God. In other words, as with praying, communion with God, and fasting, it is a communion with God. I don't just skip meals for days at end and go on about my business, whatever it is that I'm skipping, if I decide I'm gonna skip TV computer or whatever, then what I need to do in order to bend the soul to God, I need to replace that with something, either scripture reading or prayer or something. I don't just sit back and do what he's about to say. You see, if I'm going to give up something, and another writer, he said this, it's the bending of the soul to God. Another one said, it's a humbling of the soul. So if I'm going to humble my soul in fasting, then I don't just have an absence of something. Because I promise you this, if you give up something and you don't fill it with something else and pursuing God or Christ, guess who will fill it? Satan will fill it with all kinds of filth. When When you bend your soul to God in the absence or denial of self in something, don't you do it like this. Well, what is it? Don't you do it like the hypocrites? Don't you be an actor in this? Don't you run around and Somebody says, hey, you want to come over for dinner? What are you having? We're having steak, baked potato. No, it's going to be great. Oh, gee, I would love to. But I'm doing this darn fast. What are you fasting for? I'm just hoping God will answer my prayer. Or whatever reason. Don't you do it like that. This is what he says, look. When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. Don't walk around and you're at a men's prayer breakfast one Saturday and there's that beautiful, beautiful biscuits that Frank spends weeks on. There's that wonderful gravy. And those eggs, bacon and sausage, Mike and Ronnie are just, and you walk in and the room smells. Here we go, Mike. How you doing, man? You ready to eat? Yeah, let's eat. You ready? Oh, I can't eat. Why can't you eat? I'm on a fast. I want to sit down and eat those biscuits. I want to sop up that gravy. Why are you looking so gloomy? Because I've been fasting for days. Don't you do it like that? Now we see through that, don't we? We see through that mess and we go, that's crazy, who does that? Well, not so fast. Because if we're not careful, we can play the hypocrite here so subtly. Downcast, gloomy face, sad, depressed. Because then you're turning it all about you. Then it's all about what you are giving up. It's not about God. The humbling of the soul is not inward. The humbling of the soul is to God. So you walk around gloomy and downcast and poor-mouthed about your fasting. It's all about you. It's nothing about God. Not focused on God. No real purpose. No real reason. But then notice what he says. He talks about disfigured faces. He says, Do not look gloomy like the Hipparists, for they disfigure their faces, that their fasting may be seen by others. See, that's the point. That's the whole reason for this. That their fasting may be seen by others. And then he says, Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. So don't be like the hypocrite and don't have the wrong motives, the motive of being seen by others. Jehu in 2 Kings, chapter 10, verse 16, he's gonna deal with Jezebel, he's gonna deal with that whole mess there, and I forget who it was that he was talking about, but in verse 16, he's in his chair, he's going, king, he says, come on up here, see my zeal for the Lord. You walk around parading your fasting like, see my zeal for the Lord, see my love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why, by an outward show of righteousness? Don't you do that? Don't you be that way? If that's your attitude, then I would suspect whether or not God's really changed your heart, whether or not he's really changed you by his grace. You see, as it is with almsgiving, we give and we show acts of mercy. Why? Because we've been shown mercy. We pray in communion with God. And we pray, as he said, this is how we should pray. And we have this communion with God. Why? Because God communes with us. God has condescended and come down and met with us. And he speaks to us in his word, and we speak to him. And then when it comes to fasting and communion with him again, this is about him. So don't you be like the hypocrite. Wrong motives. Not focused on God. Focused on what you're missing. Don't be like that. Look over at Matthew 23. Go over there real quick. One of these years we'll get to this. Matthew chapter 23. Chapter 23, man, he just scolds the religious leaders. This is what he says in verse five. They do all their deeds to be seen by others, but they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feast and the best seats in the synagogues. Greetings in the marketplace and being called rabbi by others. Oh, these guys, when they walk through the marketplace, people say, if anybody's going to get to heaven, that one's going to get to heaven. Why? Look at the way they're dressed. Look at their show of religion. Look at how they carry themselves. Look at what people say about them. Look at this. And in verse 27 of chapter 23, another one of his woes against them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanliness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of what? Hypocrisy. Don't you be the hypocrite when you fast. Full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. So then how do we fast? Well, this is what he takes up next. Here's the second instruction. So don't do it like this, but do it like this. But when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face. This is just the opposite of downcast, disfigured faces. Wash your head. Anoint your head, wash your face. Now it can be taken one of two ways. One way this could be taken is that you go just to the opposite extreme. Luther said you go around like you're on holiday. You go around happy, you go around, you go and it's festive. I'm not so sure that's what he means because see, it could be a fake festive as well. I think what he's getting at is this. I think most of you, at least I hope you do, take a shower once a day or a bath, brush your teeth, comb your hair, unless you have teenage boys. They could go weeks. We had three of them. Right? So I think what he's trying to get at here is just be normal. Just be normal. Your normal routine. And I don't think that what he's going to say here is that, okay, you have to absolutely keep it secret. Somebody may see you fasting. They might. But the purpose is not to be seen fasting, you see? There's a difference. It's the same way with giving. Someone may see you give, but the purpose of the giving and their almsgiving is I don't give blowing the trumpet and say, look at me. The purpose of the fasting is I don't go around saying, look at me, I'm fasting, I'm fasting, I'm fasting. People may see and come to understand or know they're fasting. You ever been around somebody that practiced fasting a lot? They're not blowing the trumpet. They're not. They're just going about their normal business. But if you notice certain signs, you can pick up on it. The people that I've been around like that, I've never gone. Oh, gee, were you fasting? You just pick up on it. And then if you're around somebody who's doing that, don't blow the spotlight on them. Don't do that. Just go about normal business. That's his point here. Just go about normally, because it is expected that when you are fasting, you see, you fast like children of God, to be seen by God, not by men, our Father who is in heaven. So this is what he says, but when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret, who, by the way, is our Father who is in heaven, who has shown us mercy so that we show mercy, who is in heaven, who has revealed himself to us so that we pray to the one who is in heaven, our Father which art where? In heaven. Hallowed be your name. Sanctified your name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. It's this father that sees. It's this sovereign father that sees. Of whom you are now a child of this father. Behold what manner of love the God has bestowed upon us that we should become children of God. This is a family trait. This is a family characteristic, which is a theme, I think, which is flowing through all of the Sermon on the Mount. You've been adopted into his family. This is how things in his family work. We know how things in the devil's family work, don't we? But you've come out of that. And so here's how things work in his family. So this father who is in heaven, to be seen by him, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Will reward you. And I think the ultimate reward here is the communion and the fellowship and the bending of the soul towards God. And the bending and humbling of the soul towards God. Draw near to me and I will what? Draw near to you. I don't fast to lose weight. That's not the reward. I don't fast to have visions and dreams. That's not the reward. You know what the reward is? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ. That's the reward. That's who he gives me. It's Christ that he gives me. Think about heaven, think about, we've been in Revelation on Sunday nights and chapter 11 probably made most of you want to quit last week, but when we get to the end of Revelation, what is the glory and the joy of heaven? It's not golden streets, it's not whatever it is that I think of, it's not my best imaginable dreams to the wildest possible. It's none of that. What is the glory of heaven when you get to the end of the book of Revelation? It is the lamb. He is there. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the light. He is everything. The reward of heaven is Christ. The reward of the communion of the saints in almsgiving, in praying, in fasting, is Christ. Can you see that? Because if you can't, then you're wearing yourself out with these words. And you're missing Christ. These two instructions about fasting. Fasting is this example of practicing righteousness. It is expected that God's people, changed by His grace, changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, changed by being born again, changed, given repentance and faith, and now living a new life with the Holy Spirit. It is expected that we will be different. We will think differently. We will live differently. And people want to throw rocks at that and say, oh no, you're on a work salvation now. No, we're not. It's just a faith that works. That's what it is. It is expected that we practice righteousness. And these three examples, and I've told you before, probably these three examples may very well be because these were sort of seen as three pillars of righteousness and Judaism. And it may be that he picks these three for that reason. But it's clear these examples are pointing to something deeper than just outward observers. And as I've said, we will never understand. We will never, ever, ever understand the practice of righteousness. We will never let me put it in today's language. We will never understand the practice of spiritual disciplines because there's a danger in We will never understand the practice of spiritual disciplines, which we should be doing. And what I mean by that is, let's just take these three, giving, praying, fasting, scripture reading, worship, together and personal. But we will never understand this until we first understand what it means to be right with God. Because if I'm not careful, I take my praying Bible reading devotions and I'm not really seeking Christ. I'm seeking to get something done so that I can fulfill a requirement so that I can then feel good about myself so that then I'm not depressed that day and so that maybe God will do something good for me. You've been there. I'll be the first to raise my hand. Oh, no, not you. You're a preacher. You've been there. The reward is Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll never understand the disciplines. We'll never understand the practice of righteousness until we understand how we're made right or how we are righteous before God. We're not saved because we are disciplined. We are saved so that we can be disciplined. You understand the difference? Let me throw it in the language of Luther and freedom of the Christian. We're not saved so that we can be free to do whatever we want. We are saved so that now we can be free to obey. Faith, repentance are not works of righteousness. They are gracious gifts from God. If we could just get that understanding down, it will change your whole perspective of the gospel. Faith and repentance are not works of righteousness. They're not works of righteousness on our part in which we earn our salvation. They're gracious gifts from God. We're born again. You must be born again. There has to be the work of the Holy Spirit. You're born again, changed, old and old, given a new heart, old heart taken out, stony heart, given a new heart. And then in that comes the gift of repentance and faith. And then in that comes this union with Christ. receiving the Holy Spirit. And then comes the practice of righteousness. Then comes the practice of righteousness, not the practice of unrighteousness. This is the whole language of First John. When John says sometimes it causes us to scratch our head and to think, what does he mean? Those who are born again, they don't sin. It's not that they're perfect. What he's saying is they no longer are practicing unrighteousness anymore. They're pursuing righteousness because of Christ. And it's all through the Lord Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, the life. Here's my point. When we comprehend the love of God, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we truly comprehend what it means to be in Christ and Christ in us, and when we truly understand, begin to realize one flesh union with Christ, When we truly begin to understand that what God does in conversion and what he does in the gospel is not just send me an aid along the way, and that grace is not just some vitamin shot to help me out. But when we begin to understand we're dead in sins and trespasses, and it is the very grace of God that raises me from the dead spiritually. raises me from the dead, changes everything about me, comes repentance and faith, and there's the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is through his grace that I don't unite myself with Christ through praying or acts of righteousness. It is through his grace, he unites me with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in this union, in this marriage, in this one flesh, that his righteousness all of my sin. It's not some external hocus pocus thing going on here. I think that's what he's driving at. When you're the hypocrite in the way that you practice these things, and when you're doing it to be seen by men, you don't understand that. When we comprehend the love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have loved them with the love with which you love me. Chew on that for a while. Can you imagine the Lord Jesus Christ saying to the father, you have loved the same. Comprehend that and the practice of righteousness is not a burden. The practice of righteousness is out of the law. and devotion to a loving and gracious God. Now, if you don't know that, you can know that. And you can know that through Christ and Christ alone. You could be united with him by his grace and mercy. He's the one who died, was buried, raised the third day, and you come to him. You cry out to him, have mercy on me, save me. And you know what he'll do? He'll save you. He will save you right here. He will save you right now. He will save you anywhere. You cry out to him for mercy. He'll save you. And he's the reward. Let's pray together. Father, we wrestle with wrestle with an understanding of what you've done for us in Christ, salvation, grace, mercy, the issue of being justified, the issue of a right standing with you declared righteous, the issue of you what you've done for us in Christ. And then and then we wrestle with the issue of what we call sanctification and growing in our in our in our grace and growing and conformed to the image of Christ, growing more Christlike. Father, through the through your word and through the working of your spirit, help us not confuse these two and help us not cross over into an area where we are actually denying the gospel by the way we practice our righteousness. Don't let us do that. Don't let us do that individually. Don't let us do that as a church. Keep us from that. Father, when we give, let us show mercy because we've been shown mercy. And when we pray, Let us pray to our father in heaven where you are and let us pray the way you've told us here. This is the way you pray because you desire communion with us. And when we fast, father, keep us from the hypocrisy of outward show. As those old writers said, In an act of denial of self, we bend our soul to you. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask this in his name. Amen. Let's stand and sing. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee, swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing Always, only for my King Take my lips and let them be Filled with messages from Thee Filled with messages from Thee Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as Thou shalt choose, every power as Thou shalt choose. Take my will and make it Thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. It shall be thy royal throne. It shall be thy royal throne. It's the heart, isn't it? The heart. Man. We got a gracious God, and we got a wonderful Savior in Christ. Right? Let's go love him, follow him. I don't know what's going to happen in this crazy world. I don't know if we're going to plunge into World War III. I don't know if China's going to blow up, Russia's going to blow up, United States is going to blow up. I don't know any of that. Neither do you, and neither does the news. But I know a sovereign God who sits in heaven. And why do the nations rage? Because they don't know our sovereign God. And if they don't kiss the sun, that his wrath is gonna rain down upon this evil. That's what I know. And that's where my faith and trust is in. That's what we pray. Sanctify your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. That's what we pray. Don't panic. Don't panic. We're gonna be in heaven, so. Tonight, fifth Sunday scene, Six o'clock, come fundraiser for the school, great singing, great fellowship, be a great time tonight, so come be a part of that. Let's say our verse on the wall here, Don. When we say our verse, I'm gonna ask you, if you will, dismiss us in prayer. Let's say our verse. Now, may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times, in every way. The Lord be with you all. Don.