Matthew 6:5-8

I invite you to turn in the scriptures to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 6, as we're continuing in our study of this precious gospel, we'll be looking at verses 5 through 8 this morning.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

All scripture references will be on the wall behind me this morning as well.

Our Lord speaking, He says, And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites.

For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men.

Surely I say to you, they have their reward.

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Would you join me in prayer?

Our gracious God, we come to you this morning and Lord God we ask for your help.

Lord we desire to worship you, Lord we have an audience with the one true living God, the Almighty.

Lord help us to humble our hearts, to bow low before you imposter, Lord, that you might receive the glory and honor that you are so richly deserving of.

And Father we would ask, Lord, for the precious gift of the Holy Spirit to help this morning, Lord, as I preach.

Lord that the words, Lord, these are your words, they are breathed out by God, that they would take root and find home in the hearts of your people.

Lord may you change us, Lord, let us see Christ this morning, let us celebrate Him.

And Father, Lord, help us to have our direction, our attention, our gaze, our worship directed heavenward.

And we'll give the praise for that.

God, once again, we're weak people. Would you meet with us, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

The question I'd like to ask this morning as you think about this is why is prayer so hard?

Why is it so often neglected or perhaps even underused?

I think everyone, if you are a Christian, you would say it is a battle to pray as we should.

Let me just say this personally.

I find it easier to read the Bible than to fervently pray.

But why? Why is it easier for me to read than is to pray?

I think there are many reasons.

Burke Parsons, a pastor of Florida, he said he thinks that we find prayer to be hard because we're too focused on prayer itself rather than focused on God.

Now what does he mean by that?

Sometimes people focus on the form rather than the person to whom we are praying.

Additionally, there are many false views concerning prayer.

For example, I hear this quite a bit and I understand the sentiment, but it's actually a wrong statement.

People will say, well, I believe in the power of prayer.

As Christians, we do not believe in the power of prayer.

We believe in the power of God.

Prayer by itself is unable to do anything.

Rather, God in His love and in His grace has decided in some way that's inscrutable to me to work through prayer.

Additionally, we will find people when someone's going through a hardship, you'll find some people say I'm praying for you and some people say, well, I'm sending you good thoughts.

Let me just say this kindly. Your good thoughts don't do a thing and nor are you sending them.

That is not helpful.

One of the famous pastors, many of you all have read his books, is B. R. A. Tory.

He says, when I realized what real prayer meant, I realized that prayer was having an audience with God,

actually coming into the presence of God and the realization of that fact transformed my prayer life.

Before that, prayer had been a mere duty and sometimes a very irksome duty.

But from that time on, prayer has been not merely a duty, but a privilege, one of the most highly esteemed privileges of my life.

Prayer is hard. It is hard, but we have to understand what it is and why God has ordained it.

It's hard because we're also entering into spiritual warfare.

In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul lays out clearly how the believer is engaged in a war.

You and I are in a war against demonic forces, host of darkness, the Bible says.

And Paul says, if you want to be prepared and you're going to engage in the battle and you're going to be successful in this battle, there's some things you have to know.

And he says in Ephesians 6.13, therefore take up the whole armor of God. And he lays that out.

I'm not going to take the time to do that this morning. That you may be able to withstand an evil day and having done all to stand.

But look at verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.

Be watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplications for all the saints.

I mean, the host of darkness would love nothing more than to keep us from prayer. Why?

Because in prayer we are communicating with the one who has crushed them under his feet.

So it's a battle. We're also fighting against our flesh.

And we're fighting against our pride. Because in prayer, here's what we acknowledge.

The very first thing we acknowledge is that you and I are weak. We don't have what it takes.

And we must enlist and need the help of another. Prayer is a battle between the old man and the new man.

It is a battle between our flesh, our unredeemed humanness, and the spirit of God who now dwells within us.

Jonathan Cruz writes this. He said, drowsiness, daydreaming, and even push notifications are weapons employed by the evil one to keep us from growing in godliness.

Let me just stop there for a moment. And this is not just in a side note. Let me talk to parents of young children or of teenagers.

And I would say to all of us this morning. But that last thing, he says push notifications. Some of you are like, what's a push notification?

This is when you get a social media alert. It's like Facebook, Instagram, whatever, letting you know there's a new message or something's taking place.

I appeal to you as the pastor here. In wisdom, I would say, please do not let your children, your teens, or your college students use their smartphones as their Bible.

It is too distracting. Now, that's not a sin issue. It is a wisdom issue. But I think most of them do not have the self-control to not be engaging in social media while they're listening to a sermon and worshiping God.

They're going to look at those push notifications. So I would just say, I mean, it's not a sin issue, but I really implore you not to.

Now, back to the sermon. Weak, he says, weak flesh must ultimately be combated by a spirit-empowered strong faith, a conviction that the prayer we're about to engage in matters, and it does something.

Another reason prayer is hard because some of the bad theology that you and I have absorbed. Let me give you an example.

Some people will say this, well, since God already knows all things and his will cannot be thwarted, then there really is no need to pray.

Let me just say first and foremost, it is absolutely true that God is absolutely sovereign and his plans cannot be thwarted and they will not be changed.

But scripture also teaches us that within his sovereignty, believers, his children, are urged to call upon him in prayer for guidance, for direction, for wisdom, for even change in circumstances, and for the fulfillment of the plan that he has ordained.

Now, let me give you just one example, and we're going to move on. This is just all background.

You see in the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul, perhaps more than any other New Testament writers, believed in God's sovereignty, read the book of Romans.

But at the end of Romans, in Romans 15, he writes this, and I think this is really helpful.

He says, now I beg you, brothers, I'm begging, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God.

For what, Paul? For me. Why? That I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe.

He's headed back to Israel, he's headed back to Jerusalem, he's going into southern Israel, Judea, and he has a love offering, but he's also got a bounty on his head.

And he knows that. And he says, I want to be delivered. I don't want to fall into the hands of my enemies.

And he continues, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God and may be refreshed together with you.

He's a man who preached powerfully the absolute sovereignty of God, and yet he's begging these Roman believers that they would strive or wrestle in their prayers to God on his behalf.

Why? That he doesn't fall into the hands of his enemies.

Now, some people can say, well, God's already ordained he wouldn't fall into the hands of his enemies, so why pray?

But we don't find that kind of thinking at all in the Scriptures.

Some people knew that God's will was going to be accomplished, yet he's still praying and he's asking others to pray for him specifically that I might be delivered.

He's praying for safety. Because what we see in Scripture, there's a tension in Scripture.

Yes, God is in control of all things. Yes, God is sovereign. And yes, man is responsible for his actions and accountable to God.

We don't find anything other than that. How does that work? I don't know.

It is a mystery to me, and yet it is a mystery that I believe in faith, the same as the two natures of Christ called the hypostatic union, the same as our triune God, one God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I can't explain it, and yet I do believe it. Same thing here.

God is sovereign. He'll accomplish his plan. He will bring to pass what he has determined, yet none of that negates prayer, and our responsibility is to pray that his will will be done.

I love what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 116. He said, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

Now notice what the psalmist is saying. He said, I know that God listens to me. He inclined his ear to me, therefore I'm going to pray all the more. I will call upon him as long as I live, as long as I have breath.

So praying shows our dependency on God. It's strengthening our relationship with God. It is fortifying our faith in God.

And I say all that as background so that you understand you and I need to be people of prayer.

J.C. Ryle, he's an esteemed British Anglican priest, he said, a prayerless person is not a genuine Christian.

It is assumed that all who call themselves disciples of Christ will pray. It is assumed.

And today in our text, now let's go to Matthew 6, we find the Lord instructing his disciples how not to pray.

Not all prayer honors God. Last week we saw the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees in the way that they gave.

Their charity was hypocritical. And today we will see their hypocrisy in prayer.

Now think about it. Prayer is this intimate communion between the believer and God.

So how does sin enter there? How can we make praying sinful?

But I would say this, the more sacred something is, then the more Satan would love to attack and infiltrate it there.

This is hard. This is why prayer is hard.

Now, Martin Lloyd-Jones, he says, we tend to think of sin as we see it in rags and in the gutters of life.

We look at the drunkard and we think, poor fellow, and we say, well, there is sin.

But that's not the essence of sin. To have a real picture and a true understanding of sin, you must look at some great saint,

some usually devout and devoted man. Look at him there on his knees in the very presence of God.

Even their self is intruding itself. And the temptation is for him to think about himself,

to think pleasantly and pleasurably about himself, and to really be worshiping himself rather than God.

This is the warning our Lord gives for us. In the text today, our Lord Jesus warns his people against hypocritical praying.

This is prayer that is directed to the wrong audience.

We're so used to hypocrisy in our culture. We hear politicians espouse family values to find out that they were having an affair the whole time they were in office.

But sadly, it doesn't end there. We've known the ministers and civic leaders and even coaches who were found out to have been leading double lives, people that we once esteemed.

But the hypocrisy that our Lord is warning against is even more diabolical because it involves the holy name of the Almighty God.

See, the religious leaders of Jesus' day, they were purporting to be men of prayer. That's what they wanted you to believe.

They led others to believe that they were communing with God and the entire time they were doing it to be seen by men.

And Jesus gives a warning in verse 5. When you pray, he's talking to us now, don't be like them. Don't be like the hypocrites.

For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by men. I'm telling you right now, he said, they have their reward.

See, during the time of Christ, you have to understand the culture. Faithful Jews would pray at certain times throughout the day. That was not a problem.

For example, a faithful Jew every day would recite morning and evening what was known as the Shema, which is where you see, hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.

They would recite that in the morning, they would recite it in the evening. Another one of the prayers is called the Shemona Esre, and it means 18.

That's what it just means, the number 18. This was embodied 18 prayers that they would use for various occasions.

So faithful Jews every day would wake up and they would pray these prayers normally in the morning around 9 a.m., in the afternoon around noon, and the later afternoon around 3 p.m.

So they had morning, afternoon, and prayer times. So they would stop what they're doing. What would they do? Pray wherever they were.

So it didn't matter if you were in the field, if you were in your house, if you're visiting a friend, or if you're out in the street.

During the time of prayer, you would stop and you would pray. Now, no doubt there were many faithful, pious Jews who offered sincere prayer to God during those times.

That's not the rebuke, but these religious leaders would use these times to call attention to themselves.

They loved to parade how pious they were. Their desire was that people would see them, praise them, and speak highly of them.

Their motive was the glory of self rather than the glory of God, and Jesus saw this as rank hypocrisy because it was.

As I said last week, hypocrisy, a hypocrite, was actually a theatrical term. It was worn, it was used as a stage actor who wore a mask.

So a hypocrite is someone who's wearing a mask. You're pretending to be someone that you're not. It's simply a performance that is seen by man.

These people prayed. They prayed standing. By the way, that was a normal posture for prayer. So there's nothing wrong with standing.

In the Old Testament, you see people might pray kneeling, lying prostrate before God, or standing.

So the posture of prayer is not the attitude here. Where would they pray? In the synagogues.

These were places of worship for those who lived far from the temple. It would be very common for prayers to be offered in the synagogue. That was not a problem.

They also prayed in the street corners. Well, if it was the appropriate hour at the time of the day for the time of prayer, that was fine.

Again, faithful Jews would stop and pray. But listen to what he says. These hypocrites, they would arrange to be at like a major intersection or crowded street at the time of prayer because they wanted to be seen by more people.

Hypocrites love to pray where they have the largest audience. It was not the place of prayer that was so evil. That's not what was so repugnant to our Lord.

It was rather the motive. What was their motive? They wanted to be seen by men. That's their reward. Their pride, their self-inflated ego. Pride that wanted to be noticed.

They wanted to appear righteous. They wanted to look spiritual. And they were none of those things. And Jesus said, okay, you have your reward.

You wanted to be seen by men? Well, you were. And that's the only reward you will ever receive. You want to be seen by man? You get a man's reward. That's it.

And then he says to his disciples, to us, to the church, but you, when you pray, it's emphatic here, go into your room.

I know the King James says closet. It's a small area. There weren't closets in the homes at this time. So this has been a small space.

Go into your room. And when you've shut your doors, go into a small space, shut the door, pray to your father who's in the secret place.

And your father who's in the secret will reward you openly. True prayer is done, first of all, sincerely. It's also done secretly.

Now, let me just give you an aside here. Is Jesus forbidding public prayer? No. He prayed publicly. His apostles prayed publicly.

In the New Testament epistles concerning order in the church, we are commanded to pray in the church. First Timothy 2, 8.

I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doving. And by the way, the context is a local church setting.

We ought to pray in the church. We pray publicly in the church. It's good to do that.

The point of our Lord's rebuke here is not where you're praying, but how you're praying. It's not in the place, but the motive.

That's what he's warning against. He's driving home very sincerely that our prayer must be focused on an audience of one, God alone.

God alone. But these religious leaders know they want to be seen by men.

The true followers of Christ, we desire to be heard by one. That's all we want.

Now notice our Lord does not give a set time or set hour. He simply says when you pray. Not if, but when.

So there's some latitude here, but there's an assumption. The people of God pray.

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of prayer because it's a kingdom of communion with our Lord.

Go into your room. Go to that private place. As I said, homes at that time didn't even have closets.

So this is a private area where you can be alone with God.

I mean you can even be outside. I mean Jesus went up into a top of a mountain on various occasions and prayed by himself.

Shut your door. The emphasis here is on get it as private as you possibly can.

Private communion with God. We go to meet with him.

And the Bible says your father who sees in secret or your father who is in the secret place.

Why do we go to the secret place? Because the secret place is where we can commune with God.

He desires to meet us there. Do you understand that? That blows my mind.

God desires to meet us. And you can go to him with anything and everything that's on your heart.

Unburden yourself if you will. Go to him in the secret place of prayer.

It is good. It is so good to get alone with God and pour out your heart before him.

Do that church. God not only hears our words, but he also sees the intention of our hearts.

The spirit of God is praying for us. There are times when we are so burdened or we're so bewildered we don't even know what we should pray.

And the Bible says the Holy Spirit who searches the heart, he intercedes on our behalf with groans that can't be uttered.

But notice the promise here. He says the God in secret will reward you openly.

Now if you want to be praying to be seen by men, you get your reward. All men may think highly of you, but big deal.

God will reward those who pray with a true and right heart attitude.

Now what's that reward? Just like last week when Jesus promised a reward. We're not told.

He simply said God will reward you. I do know what one of the rewards is because we are informed of this.

One of the rewards of right prayer is answer to our petitions.

First John 5. Now this is the confidence that we have in him.

That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we've asked of him.

There is a blessing and a reward attached to a sincere prayer.

Friends, I think this is apt. We need to, may the Lord help us here.

Not only must our prayer be private, but there must be sincerity. Verse 7.

He says, and when you pray, don't use vain repetitions like the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Who are the heathen? Ethnos, ethnikas in Greek.

Those who don't know God. It's just the ethnic nations outside of Israel, the pagan people.

See, many pagan religions, they also pray. That's why I said prayer doesn't do anything. It's prayer to God.

But many pagan religions, they would use repetitive prayers. You find that even in the Old Testament.

Do you remember when you have Elijah in his battle with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18?

And they said they called on Baal from morning to evening, and they would use many vain repetitions.

They were like, oh, Baal, hear us. Oh, Baal. They kept going through different formulas.

But they thought through their many words, they were going to have God to hear them.

So when Jesus is speaking of vain repetitions, in the Greek it means thoughtless chatter. It's babbling.

What this means is you're trying to make your prayer longer. You're praying lengthy prayers for the sake of length.

Now, why would they do that? Because the pagans believed the longer the prayer, the more likely God would hear it.

He would be impressed. So they would use their vain repetitions to make the prayer longer.

And Jesus said, don't do that. See, God is not concerned with the quantity of our words, but with the quality.

Is it wrong to pray long? No.

Jesus says don't use vain repetitions. Now, many religions will use prayer devices like a prayer wheel.

Some will use beads, and some will use others where you just repeat the same thing.

That's not necessarily wrong. The problem comes when they pray with little thought of what's being said,

so much so that it does become a vain repetition. And maybe you're thinking, oh, I'm so glad we never do this.

What about your prayers before food? I've been guilty of this. I'm so used to praying before food that sometimes I just,

I mean, I don't even give a thought of what I'm praying about. It's just I can tell you.

What about prayer before bed? You ever just get in and have me saying the same thing?

You're not conscious that you're talking to God. It's like a good luck charm, and this is just what we do.

I remember when we played football, our coaches would have the team kneel, and before we'd go out into the field,

we would all kneel and we would pray the Lord's Prayer.

Now, again, that's not necessarily bad, but here's how it was often used as a good luck charm.

See, this is what we're saying. It's not, Jesus is not saying the form. He's not talking about a device that might help you.

It's the intention of our heart. And when you think you're doing this somehow to get God's attention,

I'm going to make this prayer longer. I'm going to use big words. I'm going to say the same formula every time. No.

Now, is repetition wrong? No. I think that you can, and Sandy and I do this with our children daily.

Well, several times a week. We pray the Lord's Prayer. I want them to have it in their heart, thoughtfully, respectfully, meaningfully.

Can you do it every time? Yeah. Can you do it without thinking about anything and just be saying it? Yeah.

See, it is easy to fall into frame repetitions whereby we're just mouthing words.

We're just going through the motions. But the Lord never says repetition is forbidden. He says vain repetitions are forbidden.

So let me ask you this. You ever prayed for something more than once? Of course. What about genuine requests?

In the Garden of Gethsemane, how many times did our Lord go to the Father asking if it was possible to let the cup pass from him?

Three times. In the parable of the Midnight Visit to the Neighbor, remember, the persistent man was praised by Jesus as a model of persistence and prayer.

The King James Jesus word, importunity. Do you know what it means to be importune or importunity? It means to be so persistent you're now annoying.

I think this is like a toddler. Have you ever had a toddler, daddy, I want this, daddy, I want this, daddy, I want this, daddy, I want this?

It's importunity and it's annoying. But let me just say, Jesus said he's commending that person. You keep bugging them until they give you what you want.

That's what he's commending there. What about the same thing with the widow?

She goes to the unjust judge and she kept bringing her requests and bringing her requests and she wore him down.

Jesus praised her for that. See, legitimate needs, honest praise that is repeated before God is not wrong. It is not.

But when we have mindless, indifferent recitation of words that sound spiritual, it's condemned.

Thoughtless prayer, heartless prayer is an offense to God. Your heart's not in it, your thoughts aren't there.

We just read that God is in the secret place. There's nothing more secret than our hearts.

You and I don't even know that our own hearts. The all-knowing God sees the motive of our hearts as we pray.

I quoted Tori earlier, let me quote him one more time here. We should never utter one syllable of prayer, either in public or in private,

until we are definitely conscious that we have come into the presence of God and are actually praying to him.

I say amen. How I've been guilty of this before church. I suspect that you have too.

Let me just say this as an aside and I'll get back to the sermon. I think the same way we went into worship.

Our friends sometimes were so loud and boisterous and chatting about everything and then, praise God from whom all.

We're not ready. That's quite our hearts before him and let's realize the one to whom we're singing, the one to whom we're speaking,

the one with whom we're communing here this morning. Do you believe God is here?

He promises where two or three of those are gathered in his name, he's present. He's here and we do well to give him worship and honor.

It's a true prayer. It's sincere. It's private. It's also done trustingly. Look at that last verse, verse eight.

He said, therefore, don't be like them. Your father, he knows the things you have need of before you ask him and I love this.

Adam Clark says, prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery,

to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope,

to raise his soul from earth to heaven and to put him in mind that there is his father, his country, and his inheritance.

This is one of the things the Lord has to do in my life. A lot of times I can just get the cares of this world just come bogging down upon me

and I have to go and after mine, my country's there, my citizenship's there, my father's there, my inheritance is there.

That's the kingdom I'm living for. That's done in prayer, folks.

So why do we pray? We're not letting God know what's going on in our lives. We're doing it to commune with him.

There's Martin Luther. He said, by our praying, we are instructing ourselves more than we are him.

Prayer nurtures a father-child relationship. Look at this verse.

He says, your father in heaven already knows what you have need of before you ever tell him.

So prayer is not intended as an exchange of information.

I mean, have you ever thought about this? You can inform God of nothing.

He knows all things concerning all people at all times.

So you're not telling him something he doesn't know. So you're saying, well, why pray?

Because God wants to commune with his kids. He is a relational God who desires to hear from us, who desires to be with us.

1 Peter 5, 7 says, casting all your cares upon him. Why? For he cares for you.

You know what that word cares there, casts all your cares upon him. You know what it literally means, casts all your anxieties upon him.

What are you anxious about? You're like, well, why am I going to bring that to the Lord?

Because he cares for you. Because what Christ has done, by dying and rising again,

you and I have now been adopted as beloved children into the eternal family of God.

We're in Advent. And at this time, what do we celebrate? The divine mystery of the incarnation.

God taking on flesh. The Son of God became a man so that man might become a son of God.

The greatest privilege, now listen, and I mean this sincerely, the greatest privilege in all of the world, in our lives,

is the privilege of calling God Almighty Father. There is nothing greater.

I mean there isn't anything that even remotely compares to that.

God, the triune Holy One, is my Father.

Christ came to make his Father our Father. My friends, that relationship is nurtured in prayer.

See, it's an exercise of love between God and his redeemed children. That's what it is.

So he desires to communicate with us more than we desire to commune with him.

So he invites us, and here's what he says, go ahead and come boldly to me.

Come boldly at my throne of grace, and I'll give you mercy and grace to help in your time of need.

This is the second week of Advent, and the focus is on peace.

Hope last week, peace this week. Christ is called the Prince of Peace.

Because of his atoning work, because of his cross work, you and I have objective peace with God.

What do I mean by that? God's wrath has been satisfied and turned away from us

because Christ, the Son of God incarnate, suffered the punishment, do our sins at that cross.

This means, as Paul says in Romans 8.1, you and I will never be condemned.

God is at peace with us. But there's also a subjective peace.

A peace that comes from experiencing God and communing with him.

A peace that knows God as Father, who's going to provide for us, who's going to protect us,

and when we die, who's going to receive us into his kingdom.

This season of Advent is a time for reflection on the wonderful, divine mystery of the incarnation.

Absolutely. But it's also time to celebrate divine love.

To celebrate how much God loves us. Why? Why do you say that?

Because what do we celebrate at this season? That God sent his Son.

Why did he send him? For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son,

whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

God sent his Son into this dark world to redeem his wayward, sinful people.

Paul said this in Galatians 4.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, that's Advent,

born of a woman, born under the law. Why?

To redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, indicative, you are.

God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Therefore, church, you're no longer a slave, you're a son.

And if you are a son, then you are an heir of God through Christ.

Wow. God sent his Son that we might be adopted as sons.

The proof of our adoption is the Holy Spirit that he has sent to us.

And that God has given his Spirit to his children. But what does that Spirit do in your life?

What does it do? Notice the text. It causes you to cry out, Abba, Father.

Where do you cry out, Abba, Father? In prayer.

See, prayer is one of the privileges that was bought by Christ with his blood.

We can come boldly. We pray to him, our Abba, Father, because we're not slaves,

because we are sons of God. Now, let me close this.

You can see the evil of the religious leaders' hypocrisy.

Why was our Lord so angry with these hypocrites?

Because they took what is a wonderful means of grace, and they turned it into a theatrical performance to be seen of men.

That's just dastardly. It's evil.

They missed the opportunity to commune with God in order to be seen by men,

and that is the saddest part of the hypocrisy. What fools. What fools.

Church, listen. God has given to us the unspeakable gift of a son,

so that you and I might have a relationship with him.

And this relationship, it's bathed, it's nourished, it's celebrated in prayer.

I'll say it once more. We're getting ready to go to the table and commune with God.

The greatest blessing of the new covenant, it's not merely heaven.

It's not merely even having your sins forgiven.

The greatest blessing in all of life is the ability to call the Almighty God our Heavenly Father.

And that was purchased by Christ at the cross so that you and I can commune and relate to him in prayer.

What a glorious, glorious church.

I pray that it would sink down into your hearts and that we would become people of prayer.

And maybe you're here today and you don't know Christ.

God is not your father.

And he's not your father because you have never repented of your sins and trusted in the Son.

God is a gracious God. He's a wonderfully kind God.

He's a holy God who judges sin, but today he extends his scepter.

If you understand your sin and you're willing to humble yourself and humble yourself

and repent of your sins and trust Christ, he will receive you.

If you want to know what that looks like or talk more about that, friends, I am here after the service.

We can talk in the middle of the week. It doesn't have to be today. It can be.

But listen, doors open. Today is the day of salvation. Today this offer is extended to you.

Now to the people of God, let us prepare our hearts.

God has given to us a sacred meal where we commune with him by means of his spirit.

Yes, we remember what Christ has done. It's a meal of remembrance. It's also a meal of communion.

The Bible calls it a koinonia, a participation in the body and blood of Christ.

Wow. Let's commune with this God who loves us so much.

Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for your word, the power it has.

Lord, I pray that God that you would encourage us in our walk with you, Lord,

to nourish the things of God in our lives through this gift of prayer.

Lord, I pray for those, there are no doubt there are some in here who don't know you, Lord.

I don't know who they may be. But Father, I pray, God, that you would open their hearts,

open their eyes, soften their hearts, give them faith that they might come to Christ,

grant them repentance, Lord, that they would see the evilness of their sin, and Lord, convert them unto your Son, we pray.

Lord, I pray for the saints here this morning, Lord, who have been called out of darkness and into this marvelous kingdom of light.

God, change us, transform us, sanctify us, Lord, let us grow deeper into the truth.

And Father, thank you for this meal. Thank you for Christ and what he's done.

We celebrate that now as we receive, Lord, this precious gift of communion that we have in Christ.

And it's in his name we pray, amen.