Matthew chapter six and I want to read the first 13 verses.
Matthew chapter six from verse one to verse 13.
And I'm going to be reading from the King James translation
of the scriptures this evening.
Matthew chapter six from verse one.
Take heed that you do not do,
knock your arms before men to be seen of them.
Otherwise ye have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore when thou doest thine arms,
do not sound the trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have glory of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
But when thou doest arms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,
that thine arms may be in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret
himself shall reward thee openly.
And when thou prayest,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are,
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou has shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly.
But when ye pray,
use not vain repetitions as the heathen do,
for they think that they shall be heard
for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them,
for your Father knoweth what things ye have made of
before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye,
our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever.
Amen.
Let's pray together before we hear God's word.
God, our heavenly Father,
we pray now that the words of our mouths
and the meditation of our hearts
may be acceptable in thy sight,
but all that we do may be to thy praise and thy glory.
For we ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I want to share with you this evening
one of the statements from the Lord's prayer,
and you will find it in the beginning of chapter six
and verse 10,
where our Lord says,
thy kingdom come,
thy kingdom come.
I want us to really to spend some time
on thinking about the implications
of what our Lord said in these words.
Of course, when I shared these words
with our folk at home,
we had already done the previous part of the Lord's prayer.
And so just one or two things
by way of introduction to this
that we perhaps should take note of,
and that is the emphasis that there is here
in the Lord's prayer.
You'll notice that if you look
at the number of lines of the Lord's prayer
and divide them up,
you'll see that two thirds of them, at least,
are directed towards our Father in heaven.
And that our Lord, for instance,
has spoken of the Lord's name,
He has spoken of His kingdom,
He has spoken of His will,
and all of these things are the focus
of our Lord's attention and prayer.
And you'll remember, of course,
that this prayer was given to us as a model prayer.
Well, one of the things that impresses itself upon me
as I come to this prayer
is the way in which our heavenly Father
takes precedence over everything else.
And when I look at prayer in the Word of God,
the one thing that prayer is,
is the sincere desire of every born again believer.
Now you know that this morning we spoke,
for those of you who are here,
of what purity in heart meant.
It meant a sincerity of desire before God
towards Him and for Him.
And also it meant that my actions,
to the best of my ability,
coordinated with the desires of my heart.
Well, here in the Lord's prayer,
we have exactly the same thing,
except that the words of my mouth
are to coordinate with the desires of my heart.
And so you see that the prayer that we utter to God
is to be an honest expression of what is there in my heart.
And when I pray as the Lord Jesus prays,
I see that the desire of my heart is to be,
first of all, and foremost,
towards my Father in heaven.
And I'm not only praying to Him,
but I am praying for Him.
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed or honored be thy name.
First desire of the born again Christian heart.
What's the first thing that,
first question of the catechism?
What's the chief end of man?
He may glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
We see it here in the Lord's prayer.
Hallowed be thy name.
And then it goes on from there.
Thy kingdom come.
Now this is what I want us to think about this evening.
The Lord's prayer is pointless
if it is not prayed with real sincerity
and therefore must find its application
in our own hearts and minds before we apply it to others.
The Lord's prayer was never meant, in other words,
merely to be a prayer that we could recite together.
Oh, it can be that.
And it can be used very profitably like that.
But of necessity, it is a prayer that must be personal
before it becomes public or corporate.
So that as we pray it together,
we are really praying the personal desires of our own heart.
And because we are all Christians,
the corporate desires of our hearts
should make up that prayer,
our Father who art in heaven.
And so it becomes a real thing,
a sincere thing when we say it together.
It is never to be regarded, as I say,
as merely as a recital,
but as a model expression of the desires
of the truly born again believer.
It was the deep concern of the prophet Amos
that the people of Israel had more concern, for instance,
of their own luxury than they had for the honor of God
and the spiritual welfare of their country.
Turn with me to Amos in chapter six and verses four to six.
Amos chapter six and verses four to six.
This is quite instructive for us because it says,
those who recline on beds of ivory
and sprawl on their couches and eat lands from the flock
and calves from the midst of the stall,
who improvise to the sound of the harp
and like David have composed songs for themselves,
who drink wine from sacrificial bowls
while they anoint themselves with the finest oil.
Here he is describing the people of Israel
and he might well be describing the people
of New Zealand or Australia.
Here we are, we sit in our fine homes,
we recline upon the best of beds with inner-spun mattresses.
We eat the finest of lands
that can be produced anywhere in the world.
We have the finest beef that anybody could eat.
We have the finest music and things upon,
well, okay, all right, I take that.
And like David can post songs for themselves
but when we speak in the wider church, this is true.
Isn't it not true?
I can remember worshiping with out of tune piano
because we couldn't afford anything else at one time
but today you not only have a piano and an organ
but sometimes you have an whole orchestra
to entertain you while you're at worship.
We have new songs every week,
the best of makeup and the finest of grooming
and yet with all of these things,
Amos says they were not grieved over the ruin of Joseph
and I'll warrant that when these people of Israel
got down to pray.
The thing that exercised their hearts before God
more than anything else
was the luxury of their life and their self-centeredness.
Lord, we've had to buy chops this week
instead of a lamb, a side of lamb.
We're getting hard done by.
Lord, it's six weeks since I bought a new shirt.
It's 18 months ago since I bought a new suit.
Man, I've only got half a dozen pairs of shoes to wear.
And look, that may be extravagant language
but when we start to analyze our prayers
and to get down on our knees before God,
what is it that preoccupies your mind
when you get down to your prayer?
And if your heart is anything like my heart,
after you've said, our Father,
you immediately launch in to the things that concern you
and are concerning you in this life.
And Amos says, this is just like these people were,
their own priorities came first
and they weren't concerned about the ruin of Jacob.
They weren't concerned about the ruin of the church.
They weren't concerned about the body of Christ
or the holiness of his people.
They weren't concerned for the honor of his name.
And they weren't concerned for the reflection
that his church was giving to the world
of that name and that character.
And I ask you tonight, how often,
how often have you got down on your knees
and pleaded with God that his name
might be glorified through his people?
That Christ's body may give a true reflection
of Christ's character to the world around about them.
You see, the result of these people lack of concern
for the glory of God was that they were exiled
from their country and Amos here was speaking
to the northern 10 tribes of Israel.
And those northern 10 tribes were lost to history.
They never returned to their land.
And one of the things that should concern us
as God's people, that as we look back over history,
we see a church in Europe, for instance,
that once held the candle of the reformation.
And today it is a land for missionaries to go to.
They have lost their life and the Lord of the church
has taken their candle out of its candle holder
and given it to somebody else.
And why?
Because they had lost their concern
over the ruin of Christ's body.
You see, prayer is an important thing.
And by sitting down and analyzing my prayers,
I can analyze where my heart really is.
If I just stop for a moment and say,
now, what is it that I have prayed for?
What did I pray for first before I prayed for anything else?
And I'd caution you, my brethren,
that if I find that my concern is my bed of ivory
or my couches or my lambs or my calves
or my music or my sacrificial bowls
or my citrons or my house or whatever else it may be,
then may God have mercy on our souls
and bring us back to that place
where He becomes the object of our desire,
the first thought of our hearts.
We need to remind ourselves
that the Lord desires truth in the innermost being.
And unless our words coincide with our desires
and affections, we can expect no less than exile
from the pleasures and the peace of fellowship with God.
If I may, for just a moment, and aside,
if I was able to, and this was a freer meeting than it is,
and I wasn't preaching, but I was just dialoguing with you,
I'd ask you what you thought spirituality was.
But since I don't feel at liberty to ask you that question,
I'll tell you what I think spirituality is
in the Word of God.
Spirituality is not an other world, Mears.
It's not a sort of extracting myself from this life
and having a sort of mystical experience with God.
Spirituality in the Word of God has to do
with the desires and affections of my heart.
That's what spirituality has to do with.
And so I am able to gauge the desires and affections
of my heart by what comes first in my prayer.
And the Lord Jesus here unequivocally says,
the thing that should come, or the person
that should come first in my prayer
is my heavenly Father, my God.
And so it is my function as a Christian
to see that the desires of my heart are towards God.
Set your desires and affections, Jesus says,
on things above.
Paul says, set them on things above where Christ is.
You see?
For where your heart is, and that where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.
Well, then when we pray, Thy kingdom come,
for what are we praying?
If this is to be one of the foremost desires of our heart
when we pray, when we pray, Thy kingdom come,
what do we mean?
Well, a kingdom is an area or a realm subject to a king,
subject to a ruler.
And so we are speaking here when we're talking
about the kingdom of God of an area or a realm
that is under the rule of God.
The words kingdom of God or their equivalent,
kingdom of heaven, are often found in the gospel.
John the Baptist came calling for repentance.
And the reason that he called for repentance
was because the kingdom of heaven is near.
The kingdom was for John a kingdom of righteousness.
And because it was a kingdom of righteousness,
it was a kingdom that was in stark contrast
with the infidelity and hypocrisy
of the outward form of religion and worship in his day.
He came calling for that purity of worship,
which was righteous.
His message called for conformity
in the personal lives of his hearers
to the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.
And we see this in Matthew and chapter three
and verses seven and eight.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees coming for baptism,
man, wouldn't that be marvelous today?
As pastors and preachers and evangelists today,
if we saw people coming through those doors
and getting into our seats,
we'd be smiling from ear to ear and saying,
welcome, welcome.
When John the Baptist saw them coming,
he looked at them and he saw the scribes
and Pharisees coming for baptism.
And he said to them, you brood of vipers
who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.
Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.
I'm not interested in your religiosity.
I'm not interested in the front that you put on.
But calm in repentance before God
for the kingdom of heaven is near,
the kingdom of righteousness is coming.
And there's no place in that kingdom of righteousness
for hypocrisy or falsehood.
You see, he was a true spokesman of God,
the true mouthpiece of God.
There was no flattery in the heart of John
because lots of people wanted to come and hear him
because God was foremost in his heart.
He wanted to please God before he pleased anybody else.
And I'm not suggesting that as preachers,
we should be offensive to our hearers
just for being offensive safe.
I'm not suggesting that there is merit
or virtue in being offensive.
But the one thing that we're called to do
is to be honest and to be truthful
and not to allow ourselves to be flattered
by the number of people that we have to preach to
or the flatteries of the people that we have to preach to.
We need to be spokesman of God
and honest spokesman as John was.
John's message was preparatory in nature
and in God's wisdom designed like the doctor's
preparatory examination to expose the illness.
You see, John was like the doctor.
He came to Israel and he probed them here
and he probed them there and he pushed them here
and he found out where they said ouch.
It was in the area of hypocrisy that they said ouch.
He diagnosed the illness
and he was preparing men for the coming of Christ.
He was exposing sin and allowing people
to see themselves as they really are.
He was exposing men's helplessness before a righteous God
and judgment was his theme and he held the rule
of God's purity against the sinful pollution
of men's hearts to leave them guilty
and without excuse before God.
He put up the yard measure and demonstrated to them
that at most they were half a yard.
You see, that's what John was doing.
When he was asked by his hearers what to do
the answer was always repentance.
When he spoke to the multitudes
he said forsake your selfishness,
share your clothes, share your food
with those who have need.
When he spoke to the tax gatherers
he told them to collect no more than was due.
When he spoke to soldiers he said don't extort money
by force or accuse falsely, be content with your wages.
You see, that's what repentance is.
Repentance is not just being sorry for your sin.
It's actually putting something else in your sin's place.
And when we go to the New Testament
and Paul talks about repentance and sanctification
you'll see that it's always in the language
of putting off one thing and putting on another.
And so John told these people to take off their hypocrisy
and their selfishness and their sinfulness
to take away their theft and their extortion
and in their place to put something positive
and something good, that's repentance.
So then we learn first of all
that with regard to the kingdom or the rule of God
it is a rule of righteousness that requires men
to have done with their sin
and to put righteousness in its place,
to turn away from the rule of sin
and selfish rebellion against God
and to take up selfless obedience to God.
Now, if John's message was to reveal the kingdom
as a kingdom of righteousness that would judge men's sin
then Jesus' message was to evidence firstly
the reality of the kingdom of God
and then secondly, the realm of God's rule
and thirdly, to show the way of the kingdom,
those three things.
Well, first of all, the reality of the kingdom
is explained in Jesus' answer
to the accusation of the Pharisees
that he cast out demons in the power of the devil.
And here we have a lesson to learn I believe
that is essential in the context in which we live today
and the things that the church is teaching
and so I want you to listen carefully now
to what I tell you about the reality of the kingdom of God.
In Matthew chapter 12 and verse 25 to 29.
And knowing their thoughts after they had accused him
of casting demons only in the name of Beelzebub,
knowing their thoughts he said to them,
any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste
and any city or house divided against itself
shall not stand and if Satan casts out Satan
he is divided against himself.
How then shall his kingdom stand?
And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons
by whom do your sons cast them out?
Consequently, they shall be your judges.
But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God
then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house
and carry off his property
unless he first binds the strong man
and then he will plunder his house.
This is an explanation of Jesus' miracles in effect.
They were evidence of the power of the kingdom of God
over the powers of Satan and sin.
Demonic position for instance
in the people who were demon possessed was overcome.
Jesus cast out demons at his word, at his command.
He came to Lazarus' tomb
and at his word, at his command
someone who was so dead that he stank
came to life
and responded to his call.
We could go through the gospels
relating the miracles of Jesus.
Yet today we live in an age
where these miracles are said to be occurring again
and none of us here I trust tonight
would deny that God is able to do these things.
But in my experience as a pastor
I have seen people put into spiritual purgatory
because of a wrong understanding of the miracles of Jesus.
One of the things through which we put in
people into spiritual purgatories by
is saying to them for instance
when they are suffering from cancer
and we have prayed for them and nothing happened
you haven't got enough faith.
You haven't got enough faith.
If you had more faith then you'd be healed.
Or there's unconfessed sin in your life
that's why you're not being healed.
You need to confess your sin.
Well I want you to look at something tonight
here in these miracles.
You see the miracles of Jesus
did not always depend upon faith.
Not at all.
And this is an important thing for us to understand.
When Jesus said to Lazarus in the tomb,
Lazarus come forth.
There was no faith in Lazarus.
There was a stinking corpse.
There was no faith in his sisters.
They were bewildered at what Jesus was going to do.
You see what we have here is a demonstration
as Jesus says in Matthew 12 of the power of God.
What about just before the cross when Jesus was betrayed?
Do you remember that?
Jesus was betrayed.
Do you remember the occasion
when they came out to get Jesus
and there was Peter with his sword
and as they came to get him old Peter
where he was by hook or by crook
he was going to defend Jesus to the last
and he up with his sword
and he was so good with a sword
that he missed the bloke's head
and he just got his ear.
And I always feel that that's one of the humorous parts
even though it's in the serious part of the gospel.
But I'm sure that Peter was meaning
to take off that fella's head and he missed
and he just got his ear.
And Jesus, when he rebuked Peter for what he was doing
put out his hand, touched the man's ear
and it was made whole.
No faith.
The man was one of his enemies
coming to take him away.
Do you see the implication of this?
Do you see Christ's miracles
and if I could say it in a stronger way I would
Christ's miracles were an expression
of the kingdom of heaven.
They were an expression of God's sovereignty and power.
He said, my glory I don't give to another.
You know, the more I think about it
the more it amazes me.
If I'd have been there I don't know what I'd have done.
Here was a bloke with his ear hanging down
blood all over the place.
One moment he's a cripple as it were
and the next moment after Jesus
it's back there perfect, absolutely perfect.
The power of creation demonstrated before our eyes.
Have you ever stopped to think of Lazarus?
I've tried to portray it to you by saying
that he lay in there so long he'd stank.
If you've ever smelt death,
if you've ever smelt a dead body
you know what it must have been like.
When they wanted to open the tomb
everybody would have taken 10 steps backwards.
And Jesus says Lazarus comes forth.
What power, what power that creation obeys
the word of this man?
It's a demonstration of God's absolute sovereignty.
It's not dependent upon anything in you or me
or in the one upon which it happened.
It was a dead man.
I would to God that we understood this in the church today
and we'd have a lot more less people having ego trips
I'm claiming to be faith healers.
We'd have a lot less of Christians
being put through purgatory
because they've been told they haven't got enough faith.
When the word of God says that if I have faith
the grain of a mustard seed,
that's God will respond to.
And I have not got time to go on further than that.
Jesus said, but if I cast out demons by the spirit of God
then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Do you see what Jesus was demonstrating
and what he was doing?
He was demonstrating the reality of the kingdom of God.
We're not talking about the fables of men,
the imaginations of men, the products of their imaginations.
John said, what my eyes have seen and my hands have handled
of the things of this we declare unto you.
The kingdom of God is real.
The sovereignty of God is absolute.
The best thing I could say to put a full stop to that
is that God is able.
God is able to do far abundantly above anything you
or I could even think or ask.
Do you believe it?
Do you believe it?
Because if you really believe it,
you can't go out of this hall tonight
the same as you came in.
Paul says, having such a hope,
we do, sorry, having such a message,
having such a gospel, we do not lose hope.
The evil effects of sin and its curse were removed.
The lame walked, the blind saw, the dumb spoke,
the dead were raised, sins were forgiven,
the good news was preached to the poor.
All these demonstrated God's power and rule to be real.
And so we learn that God's absolute power and dominion
over all created things is a reality and.