1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:10,640 Our our passage today is Matthew 6 verses 5 through 8. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:16,239 It says, and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,920 for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the 4 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,000 street corners, that they may be seen by others. 5 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:25,960 Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,120 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,720 to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,920 secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap 9 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,840 up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,120 will be heard for their many words. 11 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,320 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need 12 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,320 before you ask him. Now, in case you have never 13 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:55,080 noticed or if you're new here, we always, we always work 14 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:57,360 through our corporate prayers together. 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,720 They're using that ACTS acronym that we just went through 16 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,760 adoration, confession, Thanksgiving and supplication. 17 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,120 And we do that not, not because it's the only way to pray, but 18 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:17,720 we do it because there is purpose behind our prayers. 19 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:21,960 And, and although this isn't necessarily the only right way 20 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,760 to pray, there is a wrong way to pray. 21 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:31,920 Last week, last week, Eric preached through the beginning 22 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:38,440 of Matthew 6, which is still part of the Sermon on the Mount, 23 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:39,680 right, Right in the middle of it. 24 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:41,840 It goes through these three chapters. 25 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,640 And he walked us last week through the first verse of the 26 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,960 chapter that says, excuse me, beware of practicing your 27 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,040 righteousness before other people in order to be seen by 28 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,760 them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is 29 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,400 in heaven. So Jesus lays out this that that 30 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,200 warning there. And then he goes into four more 31 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:06,440 specific areas over the next 18 verses where where our hypocrisy 32 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,320 as Christians can often be on full display. 33 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,720 Last week it was in giving to the needy. 34 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,280 In a few weeks it'll be regarding forgiving others and 35 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:19,880 then fasting. And today's messages is one of 36 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,960 those in that there is hypocrisy in our prayer life when we do it 37 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:29,360 in a a publicity stunt kind of way to garner attention from 38 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,400 other people or when we do it insincerely. 39 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:37,600 And this isn't a new or or unique concept here that's 40 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,400 finally laid out to us by Jesus. This is consistent with with 41 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,760 many other places in Scripture as well, in both the New 42 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,800 Testament and the Old Testament where Jesus tells us not to be 43 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,440 fake in the way that we approach our spiritual life. 44 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,800 His desire is that we would receive our reward from the 45 00:02:57,800 --> 00:02:59,920 Father. And then here's kind of an 46 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:04,720 example in in James 4 verse 8, it says it says come close to 47 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:06,720 God and God will come close to you. 48 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:08,960 Let me read this version. This is the ESV. 49 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,440 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. 50 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,680 Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts. 51 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,840 You double minded. In another version, it says 52 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,160 where you're you're because your loyalty is divided between God 53 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,280 and the world. I bet that that some of us are 54 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:34,200 here today wanting to know how to do just that, how to stop 55 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,920 feeling pulled into the world, yet at the same time yearning to 56 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:44,960 to know more about Jesus Christ. I don't want you to feel divided 57 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,840 and more importantly, Jesus doesn't want you to be divided. 58 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,800 And our So our main point here today, boy, that's really small. 59 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:56,480 Oh no, it's not that one. No, sorry. 60 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:01,560 Our main point is God wants to encourage us to have genuine 61 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,840 private prayer to align our hearts with his, rather than 62 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:09,760 obligatory performative prayer to impress mankind. 63 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,800 So Jesus points this out in our message, reminding us that it is 64 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,440 the attitude of the heart that matters to him, not the the 65 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:23,280 empty, purposeless jumping through hoops to please the 66 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:27,600 world. And and he he, he points this 67 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,080 out so that we can experience that dynamic that we just saw in 68 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,600 that James passage so that we can come close to God and God 69 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,480 will come close to us. So today we're going to look at 70 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,840 some some do's and don'ts that that Jesus tells us regarding 71 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:48,080 our prayer life. And the, the first point here is 72 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:54,320 don't pray like a hypocrite. In Matthew 65, this is our first 73 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:56,200 verse of our passage. It says in when you pray, you 74 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,880 must not be like the hypocrites. And in that passage that's 75 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:03,320 talking about the Pharisees, for they love to stand and pray in 76 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,600 the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by 77 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,520 others. Truly I say to you, they have 78 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:14,240 received their reward. Now let me just start off and 79 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,360 explain that that this is not telling us that we can't do 80 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:22,000 public prayer right? Right after this passage, Jesus 81 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,920 demonstrates a public a public prayer that we call the Lord's 82 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:28,120 Prayer. We're going to study that here 83 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,600 in in a couple of weeks. And then in both Matthew 14 and 84 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,920 in Matthew 15, Jesus play prays publicly before feeding the 85 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,520 multitudes. And the issue at hand here is 86 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,440 not that they were standing to pray in the synagogues or on the 87 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,760 street corners. There's nothing wrong with with 88 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,080 praying in those locations or anything else. 89 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,960 That's not what the issue is. It's the next phrase that 90 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,400 explains the issue. And that was that they may be 91 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:57,840 seen by others. See, it was their motivation 92 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,240 that was suspect here. These hypocrites were were 93 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,960 pretending to be genuine, pretending to ask God for 94 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,440 blessing while praying in a way to receive blessing, whether 95 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,640 that be public praise or attention from other people. 96 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,200 If you remember last week, Eric explained that the Greek word 97 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:22,000 for hypocrite there meant an actor in a play. 98 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,680 So you can imagine he's he's telling us not to not to be 99 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,560 playing a role, not not to be a, a character acting like this is 100 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:31,400 what we're doing, but to be genuine. 101 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:38,240 So these were these were were prayers done specifically for 102 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,520 the purpose of of eliciting acclimation and approval from 103 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,720 people watching. Now, how many of the of us could 104 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:51,440 this be true about? Some of us might love to pray in 105 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,360 front of other people because we can show off our impressive 106 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,800 theological vocabulary, right? Like if you mentioned 107 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:04,200 anthropomorphism or ecclesiologically in your, in 108 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:07,440 your sermon, maybe the pastor is going to, you know, tag you to 109 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,040 be heading up some other ministry position. 110 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,120 Meg's laughing right now because she overheard Eric and I talking 111 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,400 about the hypostatic union one time and she joked that we were 112 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:20,800 talking about the transcontinental railroad. 113 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,040 But so, so some of us might, you know, we might kind of approach 114 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,360 our, our public prayer life that way. 115 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,600 And others of you might be sitting there comfortably 116 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:33,520 saying, oh, good, he's not talking about me. 117 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:35,080 I hate to pray in front of other people. 118 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:42,320 Well, if that's the case, you know, the, the reason why is 119 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,920 because some of us might be nervous or embarrassed about 120 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,040 praying in front of people because we are worried that that 121 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,760 we won't sound impressive to other people. 122 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:55,800 And if that's you, if you don't like praying in front of other 123 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:57,720 people, just understand that's pretty normal. 124 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,680 But let me, let me just be a little bit direct here and say 125 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:05,080 that it would be a whole lot easier for you to do if your 126 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:09,160 heart was truly yearning to be heard by the God of the 127 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,760 universe. And, and if we weren't worrying 128 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:15,120 about other people listening, right? 129 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,720 That's the point of this, right? It's an audience of 1 that we 130 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,280 have when we pray and if we come to it with that, it's, it's not 131 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,800 something that we need to be nervous about or, or proud 132 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:30,400 about. Jesus knows why the the proud 133 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,360 hypocrites do this and he points out that the the reason that 134 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:38,520 they choose to do this is also the reason that they should 135 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,000 avoid it. In the second-half of our of our 136 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,200 verse here in verse 5, it says truly, I say to you that they 137 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,000 have received their reward. It could say they have already 138 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,040 received their reward. In another version, it says 139 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,120 that's all the reward they will ever receive. 140 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:01,320 See when you when you pray this way to get attention and 141 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:08,280 applause from people, you'll get it briefly, but that's all 142 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,400 you'll get. It's a it's a terribly short 143 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:15,600 lived investment. Now next month we're going to 144 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,480 get to Matthew 6, verse 19 that says do not lay up for 145 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,200 yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and 146 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,600 where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves 147 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:32,200 treasures in heaven. That treasure is our is our 148 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:37,440 motivation. It's either temporary earthly 149 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:42,200 reward that we seek, or it's an eternal heavenly reward. 150 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:46,440 And the point that Jesus is making is that we are to be ever 151 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:52,000 vigilant at keeping our eyes heavenward rather than focus on 152 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,440 the things of the world. And don't misunderstand what 153 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,280 this treasure is. That's that I I mentioned in 154 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:00,440 that passage. It's not, it's not like a 155 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,680 tangible treasure. It's not jewels, it's not crowns 156 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,680 or, or, you know, old coins or anything like that. 157 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,640 It's closeness with him. That's that's the treasure. 158 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:17,640 In fact, in in John 17, I didn't include this slide here because 159 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,920 it's the whole passage and I but but if you're taking notes or 160 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:25,320 whatever, write down John 17 and take a look at this later on. 161 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,640 But in fact, so in that John 17, we see what's called the high 162 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:35,040 priestly prayer, where Jesus summarizes his relationship with 163 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,880 the Father as well as the relationship that the that he 164 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:44,280 desires with us or or better that he wants us to desire with 165 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,560 him. And in it, he expresses this 166 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:51,760 important concept that we are to be in the world, not of the 167 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,160 world. And, and that's a similar idea 168 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:59,400 to what we hear Paul say when he's talking about death in 2nd 169 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,680 Corinthians 5, about being absent from the body and present 170 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:05,040 with the Lord. So this example of this high 171 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:09,200 priestly prayer, this is an example of intercessory prayer, 172 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,400 a prayer that's that's done on the on the behalf of someone 173 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:15,320 else. Jesus is praying that his 174 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,480 followers would experience this, the same love in them that the 175 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:23,720 Father demonstrated to the Son at the beginning of the prayer. 176 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,160 Jesus says that He accomplished the work the Father gave him to 177 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,440 do, meaning that Jesus aligned His will with that of the 178 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,680 Father. He is not a hypocrite in his 179 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:37,160 prayer, He is. He's focused on the will of the 180 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:41,560 Father. And although he he gives us this 181 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:45,360 prayer in His word for our benefit, it's not offered to 182 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,680 please us, but to please His Father in heaven. 183 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:55,400 That's where his focus is. And Paul spoke about this 184 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:59,160 dynamic in Galatians 110 and said, for, for am I now seeking 185 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,360 the approval of man or of God, or am I trying to please man? 186 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:08,080 If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of 187 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,880 Christ. And Paul was writing that 188 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:17,640 because the the church had begun to lose focus and was troubled 189 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:21,920 because they were concerning themselves with manipulating the 190 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:27,080 message for the sake of of pleasing people rather than God. 191 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:32,520 But when we do the things that we do specifically in our prayer 192 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:38,760 life and are driven by human praise, we are simply misaligned 193 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:45,040 with our priorities. But besides it being wrong, it, 194 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,600 it also just doesn't work. See, the approval of man is 195 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:50,360 short lived. It's a, it's a terrible 196 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,840 investment strategy. Parents, you can probably 197 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,320 relate. When my kids were, were younger 198 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,640 and they, they were starting to be able to help with things 199 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:01,520 around the house. I, you know, get their help with 200 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,320 something and I might give them a, a dollar or two or whatever 201 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,520 it is to, to do something. And, and undoubtedly once they 202 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:09,720 got that in their hands, they were like, oh man, I have money. 203 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,720 I can go, I can go spend this on something, you know, and 204 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,920 certainly they want to go and buy a doughnut or something. 205 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,680 And I would try to teach them, Hey, we want to we want to 206 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:21,000 invest in something that's going to last longer than than 45 207 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,480 seconds. We want to we want to invest in 208 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:38,200 in long term benefit from this. The approval of man is similar 209 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:43,240 guys that glory it fades right when people are are are 210 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:46,920 applauding you, the applause dies out. 211 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:51,200 People are less impressed with the things that you've that 212 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,800 you've done. But that's our reality when our 213 00:13:54,800 --> 00:14:00,440 focus is on the here and now, on our own, our own interests by 214 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:06,760 our self, our selfish interests. Jesus wants and in fact he 215 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,760 demands our hearts to be in line with his will. 216 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,280 In Philippians 3 verses 13 and 14, it says, but one thing I do, 217 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:18,760 forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies 218 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:23,840 ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward 219 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:29,440 call of God in Christ Jesus. So Paul is talking about looking 220 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,160 straight ahead, right? Focused on Jesus, not the things 221 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:37,040 that that we've we've known before our experiences before 222 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,760 and when we seek to align our hearts and our wills with God, 223 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,000 we experience something significantly different. 224 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,080 We can have victory in Jesus like we just sang about here 225 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:57,120 just a just a few minutes ago in first John chapter 5 verses four 226 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:02,160 and five says for everyone who has been born of God overcomes 227 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:06,160 the world and this is the victory that has overcome the 228 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:07,360 world. Our faith. 229 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,200 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who 230 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,080 believes that Jesus is the son of God. 231 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:18,480 See, it's our faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness 232 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:26,920 of our sins, where we achieve victory and whichever side of 233 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:32,280 that decision that you are currently on or, or perhaps 234 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,960 you're, you're wondering, does God hear everyone's prayers? 235 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,520 Or maybe you're, you're saying to yourself, why doesn't God 236 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:45,440 answer prayers on my time in the way that, in the way that I want 237 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:51,880 him to answer it? On Psalm 139, it says, Oh Lord, 238 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:53,600 you have searched me and known me. 239 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,240 You know, when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my 240 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,000 thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my 241 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,800 lying down and are acquainted with all my ways even before a 242 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,200 word is on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, you know it all 243 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:13,400 together. See, God is omniscient. 244 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,200 He that means that he knows everything. 245 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:23,040 So yes, he can hear all prayers, but the real issue is if he is 246 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:28,600 listening to them or how God intends to answer them. 247 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:34,800 Few weeks back we we learned that that God ignores the 248 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,040 prayers of those who are unrepentant. 249 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:41,680 Proverbs 28 nine says if anyone turns a deaf ear to my 250 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,040 instruction, even their prayers are detestable. 251 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,520 And in Isaiah 115 it says when you spread out your hands, I 252 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,440 will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many 253 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:59,640 prayers, I will not listen. The only prayer guys listen up, 254 00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:04,920 the only prayer that we are guaranteed to have God answer is 255 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,440 a prayer of repentance. And there are dozens of passages 256 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:15,040 in scripture that explain that God is faithful to forgive when 257 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,800 we ask. Since we have been justified by 258 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:23,680 faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 259 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,600 And not to belittle the other things in your life that you 260 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:36,200 pray about, but your your need to pray for forgiveness is the 261 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,800 most important prayer that you will ever OfferUp. 262 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,880 OK but what about your other prayers right? 263 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:51,920 Why are they not being answered? Well, in James 4 verse 3 it says 264 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,480 you ask and do not receive because you asked wrongly. 265 00:17:56,120 --> 00:18:00,360 Just spend it on your passions. In that word wrongly in the in 266 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:02,760 the Greek it means with wrong motives. 267 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:08,840 So you ask with wrong motives. I just told you about Jesus high 268 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:13,320 priestly prayer in John 17 and how it was an example of how to 269 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,520 approach prayer right with with with the right heart. 270 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,440 But we also have another example to look at of what Jesus says 271 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:25,440 not to do here in Luke 18 verses 10 through 14, it says two men 272 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:29,360 went up to the temple to pray. 1A Pharisee and the other a tax 273 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:32,160 collector. Now when we see those phrases in 274 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,960 in scripture like that for tax collector, you, you could talk 275 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,480 about a Sinner, right? Somebody who's society sees as 276 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,160 a, as an obvious Sinner. The Pharisee, you could see is 277 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:45,360 somebody that society sees as as kind of the holiest people 278 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:50,600 around the the the most honored around. 279 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:55,640 And so 1A Pharisee and the other a tax collector, the Pharisee 280 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:59,200 standing by himself prayed thus. God, I thank you that I'm not 281 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,400 like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like 282 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,120 this tax collector. I fast twice a week. 283 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:11,680 I give tithes of all that I get, but the tax collector standing 284 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,800 far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his 285 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:19,320 breath, saying, God be merciful to me, a Sinner. 286 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,320 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather 287 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,680 than the other. For everyone who exalts himself 288 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,880 will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. 289 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,400 So the proud Pharisee, he got a response to his prayer. 290 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,600 Now we might not know what it looked like exactly, but 291 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:45,880 whatever it was, it humbled him. Meanwhile, the humble man this 292 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:50,320 the the sinful tax collector also received an answer says 293 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:55,440 that he was exalted because of his humility and and his genuine 294 00:19:55,440 --> 00:20:01,360 request to be forgiven. So we have discussed what not to 295 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:05,760 do with our prayer life. What should we do then? 296 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:11,920 Well, our second point here is do be intentional about prayer 297 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:13,920 time. And here's what the next verse, 298 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,400 verse 6 in Matthew 6 says. But when you pray, go into your 299 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,920 room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret 300 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,880 and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 301 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,920 Now a big part of this is is intentionality. 302 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:33,440 It's a genuine demonstration that this is important to us. 303 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,160 A friend of mine likes to remind me often, if you don't put it on 304 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:40,800 your calendar, it ain't happening. 305 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:47,080 And, and, and she knows that I'm easily distracted and, and, and 306 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,520 so if I don't write it down, I will forget about it. 307 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,000 And prayer can kind of be like that too, right? 308 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,040 We, we need to sort of put it on the calendar every day. 309 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,840 We need to make our prayer life a priority. 310 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,520 In Deuteronomy 6, we see something called the Shema 311 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,880 prayer. Maybe you're familiar with that. 312 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,480 The Shema prayer was was a prayer that that the Jewish 313 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:15,440 faithful would pray every day that the prayer that that 314 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:21,200 encapsulates what Jesus says in Mark 12 was the most important 315 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,080 commandment. And, and that, and it, and it 316 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,560 says that being in communion with the heart of God should be 317 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,240 done when we wake up and when we go to bed, meaning that it 318 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,480 should be the first thing we do and the last thing we do and all 319 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,600 day throughout. Now, now we don't want to be 320 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,560 legalistic. I'm not saying that it, it's not 321 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,360 sinful if we fall asleep watching the office, but it 322 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:50,080 means that that God should clearly be our daily priority. 323 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:54,920 He should, he should be, he should be such a priority that 324 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,520 we think of him immediately when we got up and we dedicate our, 325 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:03,040 our, our heart and our day and our, our prayer to him and that 326 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,560 and that he's so important to us that at the end of the day we go 327 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,600 to bed also thinking about him and he fills in all these gaps 328 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:15,720 throughout the the day for prayer. 329 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,440 It's about setting aside a time and a place where God gets all 330 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,520 of our attention. Now a passage here says to go 331 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:26,120 away to your room and pray to your father who is in secret. 332 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:32,360 And although public prayer has value, prayer completely away 333 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:37,520 from public view allows a person or or a group to focus more 334 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:42,280 exclusively on God and it so it says go away to to your room. 335 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:46,560 The word used here in the Greek it's tamayon means a store room 336 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:51,000 or a secret vault, right? It's like a a protected place 337 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,560 where your valuables or your your necessities would be kept. 338 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,520 And that makes sense when we get at the heart of what we see in 339 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,920 this passage. The the intentional prioritized 340 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,760 time and and relationship speaking with the King of Kings 341 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:12,280 is immensely valuable and worth protecting and worth setting 342 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:16,480 apart. Jesus demonstrates this 343 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,720 throughout his ministry. We see many examples of him 344 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:23,960 taking time to be alone with the Father in prayer. 345 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:27,840 In Luke 612 it says in in these days he went out to the mountain 346 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:34,840 to pray and all night he continued in prayer to God after 347 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:37,200 John the Baptist was was beheaded. 348 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:42,720 In Matthew 14, we see that Jesus went away to a solitary place. 349 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:47,480 In Mark 14, at the Garden of Gethsemane, hours before Jesus 350 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,920 is arrested and crucified, he he goes away to this quiet garden. 351 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,920 And then scripture says that he even, even once he got there, he 352 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:00,800 went away from his disciples to be alone with God in prayer. 353 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,520 But intentional private prayer like this isn't something that 354 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,440 we do only when we're facing those biggest of obstacles in 355 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:13,960 life. Luke 516 says about Jesus, but 356 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,560 he would withdraw to desolate places and pray in another 357 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,760 version that says that that he would, it says he would often 358 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:26,000 slip away to pray. So this is a this is something 359 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:27,960 that that Jesus did all the time. 360 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:32,720 He, he demonstrated, he exemplified it to, to his 361 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:36,160 disciples. And he didn't just do this to 362 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:41,760 honor God, but also because it exemplified the unity of the 363 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,720 Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the intimacy that 364 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,760 the, that the son has with the Father. 365 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,400 On our Sunday school class, we've been going through 366 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,600 Ephesians 6 talking about the armor of God. 367 00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:01,400 And in that, in verse 18, Paul reminds us to be praying at all 368 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,560 times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. 369 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:10,000 See, prayer is a part of our spiritual armor and we're, we're 370 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,520 told to put that on every day. And the, the thing about it 371 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,120 putting it on like armor is that we wear it like clothes, right? 372 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:22,680 It's it, it encapsulates us. It we're intimately close with 373 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:28,520 this. So that inner room that we're 374 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,280 talking about, that inner room or the secure room, it doesn't 375 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,080 need to be a limited use kind of a place either. 376 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,400 That would be legalistic. That's something that the 377 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,320 Pharisees would probably have done after this is they'd have 378 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,080 probably changed building codes to make it so that, you know, 379 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,760 you have to have a sort of a secure vault in the middle of 380 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,280 your house or, or, or something like that. 381 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,120 But, but really what we're talking about is it's a, it's a 382 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:56,080 place or a situation of prayerful focus that we should 383 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,240 be intentional about, about building in our lives. 384 00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:07,680 For Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley, she 385 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,200 used to, she used to sit in her chair while her kids were were 386 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:12,960 studying and doing different things around the house. 387 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,960 She used to sit in her chair and pull her apron up over her head. 388 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,920 And that was so that she wouldn't be distracted by the 389 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,480 things that her children were doing around her. 390 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:28,120 She was diligent about her focus on her, her time in prayer. 391 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:33,920 For me, my old prayer room was, was my car for a 35 minute drive 392 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,960 to work and, and you know, and, and home where it was, it was 393 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:42,680 just me and, and, and Jesus and I would pray that entire drive. 394 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,960 And I, I, I remember one day when I was driving down the 395 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,120 highway and I had to swerve because I almost hit this great 396 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:54,600 big giant buck deer. And as I was praying and I did 397 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,440 this, I just turned and I said, man, did you see that deer to 398 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:03,400 Jesus sitting next to me? And, and it, it dawned on me at 399 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,640 that moment. And it was, it was such a moment 400 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:13,880 of joy and comfort because I realized how close Jesus was to 401 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,920 me. It was something amazing to, to, 402 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:24,560 to suddenly sort of remind myself of, of the ability that I 403 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,600 have to go directly to the King of kings to drive to work with 404 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:33,160 him every day to talk to him, to pour my heart out to him. 405 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,680 Now, naturally, many of us might wonder why you don't hear from 406 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,000 God, right? Or, or, or what would that even 407 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,520 look like? Well, it's, it's worth pointing 408 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:51,040 out that the intentionality of, of praying, of speaking to God 409 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,440 is also appropriately, appropriately applied to hearing 410 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,800 from God as well. And, and we do that through 411 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:02,320 reading and studying his, his word. 412 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:09,720 In Isaiah 820, Isaiah told the people of of Judah that they had 413 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,880 a responsibility to consult God's instruction and the 414 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:20,280 testimony of warning that is, they were to read the written 415 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,360 word of God that was already delivered to them. 416 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,800 See with in this situation, with judgement on the horizon, the 417 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,360 people were were growing impatient and wanting to know 418 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:33,720 what lay ahead. But the but but the prophet 419 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:37,800 Isaiah reminds them that God has spoken to them through his word. 420 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,560 They just weren't in line with God. 421 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:48,400 Scripture is is fully sufficient to give us the answers that we 422 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,880 meet that we need and that that doesn't mean that we'll get the 423 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,560 kind of answers that we want, though. 424 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:02,360 See, when we understand that that we need to get our hearts 425 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,640 in line with his, we demonstrate, we demonstrate that 426 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,960 in our prayer life by having the right motives, by coming to our 427 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,680 problems with the perspective of Jesus. 428 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:19,480 But God tells us how to shift our perspectives, how to align 429 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:31,440 with him in, in his in his word. See, sometimes when we ask that 430 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:33,480 question, why is God not answering me? 431 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,520 Sometimes the the reality is we we ask it with, you know, an 432 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,120 inch of dust on our Bibles, right? 433 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,440 That's where the answers are. Charles Spurgeon once said a 434 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:50,040 Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who 435 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:56,400 isn't falling apart. So we need to be diligent about 436 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,000 making our study of him a priority as well. 437 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,680 I don't say that so to to guilt anybody. 438 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:03,880 We all go through that that period. 439 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,000 But but we have to be reminded sometimes that's where God gave 440 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,520 us those answers that we're seeking. 441 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,960 The ones that we need are in Scripture. 442 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,840 The ones that we want. I'm not. 443 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:23,520 So we need to be diligent about making that a priority. 444 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:29,240 But you know, our our excuse maybe sometimes is, is I don't 445 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,440 understand what I'm reading though, right? 446 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,160 But guys, that's that's why we study it. 447 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:41,520 Many of us can attest that the the the more that we read 448 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,520 Scripture, the more we glean from it. 449 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,720 It continues to connect with us even when we are already 450 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,480 familiar with it. Sometimes you can have a passage 451 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,000 that you've read, you know, many, many times and you read it 452 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,080 again in the context of your of your study and it enlightens you 453 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,560 even more to the heart of of God. 454 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:09,240 I believe our small kids can learn from reading scripture and 455 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,680 hearing the the preached word. I don't think that we need to 456 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,600 simplify it, but sometimes, you know, when our, our children are 457 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:21,120 small, sometimes we, we might teach them a, a simplified 458 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:26,360 version of Scripture or to walk with them through a recited poem 459 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,440 like prayer. And there's nothing wrong with 460 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,200 that, guys. There's nothing, nothing wrong 461 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,920 with doing that. But as we grow and as we mature 462 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:37,240 in Christ, we want that study of Scripture and we want our prayer 463 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:43,880 life to be more robust and, and organic, to be less canned or 464 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:48,000 less forced, right. But for both our kids and for 465 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,080 ourselves. So what does that look like to 466 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,880 be more organic in our prayer life? 467 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:58,760 Well, that's that's our our next point here, which is to be 468 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:03,480 genuine in your requests, verses 7 and 8 say. 469 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,720 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles 470 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,520 do, for they think that they will be heard for their many 471 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,240 words. Do not be like them. 472 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:16,080 For your Father knows what you need before you even ask him. 473 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,360 The reality is sometimes our prayer life can be approached 474 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,960 kind of like a, a, a checklist. I, I got to start my day off 475 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,160 with, with prayer. I, I do this, I, I say kind of 476 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:30,680 the same things I always say, but at least I can say that I 477 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,960 did it right. We kind of approach it that that 478 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,760 way. I bet you've done it often. 479 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,240 I know I have and I and I know that my heart wasn't in it. 480 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:46,600 And of course, so does God. You can imagine you've probably 481 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,440 seen this many times, you know, a movie star getting up on stage 482 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:54,440 and thanking God and the Academy for, you know, an award. 483 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:57,400 But you know more about this person through tabloids or 484 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,880 whatever. You know that they, they, they 485 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:04,960 live a, a life of sin publicly. Or sometimes we might see, you 486 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,520 know, a football player who kneels in the end zone after a 487 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:12,480 touchdown and and and and demonstrates a a brief prayer. 488 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:18,200 But he maybe is more well known for his off the field hypocrisy, 489 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,480 right? Often times our our prayers that 490 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:26,600 are offered up are just empty words with with no heart for 491 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:28,920 Jesus. It's just more of a a ritual 492 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,960 than anything. Parents, if, if you have kids in 493 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,440 in kids church and if you went through their lesson notes, they 494 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,360 got sent with your sent home with your kids a couple of weeks 495 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:44,920 ago, you'd have read from first Kings 18 about the people of 496 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,760 Israel, how they chanted and they and they sang and they 497 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:50,160 danced and they carried about all day long trying to get a 498 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,200 response from the false God Baal. 499 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:59,680 And nothing happened, right. And as nothing happened, the 500 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,920 passage says that the prophet Elijah mocked them for this. 501 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:08,199 And The thing is, is our phony in genuine word filled prayers 502 00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:14,000 can be similarly treated by God because our prayer isn't just an 503 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,560 empty habit. It's not a custom and it's and 504 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,840 it's not just supposed to be an empty routine either. 505 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:24,760 This isn't done robotically or in a superstitious way. 506 00:34:27,679 --> 00:34:30,120 If any of you guys are college football people, you know that 507 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,920 the Notre Dame football team has a sign in their tunnel before 508 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,120 they go out on the field that they all reach up and touch, 509 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,480 right, that says play like a champion today. 510 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:42,840 And they do that. And if you don't do it, you're 511 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:44,760 going to get sent back in there to do it. 512 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:49,520 Touching that thing doesn't do anything for doesn't make them 513 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:53,639 play like a champion, right? It's just they just do it for 514 00:34:53,639 --> 00:34:59,440 the sake of doing it. Our prayer isn't done just for 515 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:03,320 the sake of doing it. We we are a completely helpless 516 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:08,920 and hopeless people and we need God to intervene in our lives. 517 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,400 We pray because God is our only hope. 518 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:17,680 See, when you understand our our depravity and our hopelessness 519 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:22,240 without God, you understand the heart cry that our prayers 520 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:27,280 should be. If you imagine you're on a on a, 521 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:31,040 on a raft or, or something and you're drifting, you know, off 522 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:36,840 in out to sea and one lonely boat comes sailing past a few 523 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:40,720 100 yards away and you have got to get their attention or you 524 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:44,360 are going to drift out into the open ocean and, and, and 525 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:45,680 certainly die. Right. 526 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,200 Think about that. Would your cry for help in that 527 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,320 situation be disconnected? Would it, would you be easily 528 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:57,960 distracted in that kind of a moment from crying for help, or 529 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,880 would it be a, a guttural, passionate scream from the 530 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:09,600 depths of your soul for help? That's what our our, our prayer 531 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:14,600 is. We know that this is the way to 532 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:19,720 approach it because in Psalm 34, verse 17, it says when the 533 00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:24,280 righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of 534 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:28,520 all of their troubles. If you're reading in your Bible, 535 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:34,320 it, it might say the Lord hears good people when they cry out to 536 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,440 him. Let me just say, come back next 537 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:42,120 week and listen to Eric as he as he talks about how we can never 538 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:47,800 be good enough on on our own. But in this context, righteous, 539 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:53,040 the righteous or or good people means those whose whose contrite 540 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:58,200 humble hearts are aligned with him like that tax collector that 541 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,280 we just saw up here a minute ago, that who was who was humble 542 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,280 and, and, and didn't think that he was owed anything. 543 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:11,320 The humble heart recognizes that it is hopeless and desperately 544 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:14,880 in need of saving. A proud heart sees no need to 545 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:20,160 ask for help. In Psalm 18, verse 6, David 546 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:24,240 writes, in my distress, I called upon the Lord to my God. 547 00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:26,440 I cried for help from his temple. 548 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:31,320 He heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. 549 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:37,400 But in Lamentations, Jeremiah writes it even more succinctly. 550 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:42,040 He says, Arise, cry out in the night. 551 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,680 At the beginning of the night, watches pour out your heart like 552 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:47,800 water before the presence of the Lord. 553 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:52,200 Lift your hands to Him for the lives of your children who faint 554 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,240 for hunger at the head of every street. 555 00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:59,920 See, when we understand what's at stake, we know that our 556 00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:02,560 prayer life is is no trivial matter. 557 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:08,800 When we finally understand that our eternity is either with God 558 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:13,800 in his presence or without God, forbidden from his presence, 559 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:21,120 forbidden from any comfort, from any peace, from any rest, only 560 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:25,760 then can we approach our our our prayer life genuinely and with 561 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:30,600 appropriate desperation. And if you remember our 562 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,440 assurance of of pardon that we read earlier this morning, it 563 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,840 said, since we have been justified by faith, we have 564 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,760 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 565 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:47,680 See then when we understand what's at stake, and then we 566 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:52,440 understand this assurance of pardon, then we can continue to 567 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:58,920 be genuine in our prayer when we pray with boldness, because in 568 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:03,840 Hebrews 416, it says, let us then with confidence draw near 569 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,520 to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace 570 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:13,560 to help in time of need. See, it's that assurance of 571 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:18,200 pardon that that gives us peace. It's what allows us to go to God 572 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:22,680 and ask. We have no right to ask for to 573 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,040 ask for something that he does not owe us. 574 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,960 Now that boldness shouldn't be. Don't misunderstand that for 575 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:33,200 audacity. And when we certainly aren't 576 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:38,920 demanding, no, we, we pray for big things that are in line with 577 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,760 his heart. Our, our bold prayers must never 578 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:46,080 be for things that are contrary to the heart of God. 579 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:53,000 But we can pray for healing and for understanding and for 580 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,600 success. We can we can pray for strength 581 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:59,520 and for wisdom. We can pray for victory. 582 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:06,680 Years ago, I I I was feeling a call to ministry. 583 00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:11,760 And, and I thought that I had it mapped out where I, where, where 584 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:16,520 I wanted to do this and, and I really, really wanted to do 585 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:18,600 this. And I thought that my heart was 586 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:21,600 in line with God because I was willing to go. 587 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:27,600 And I prayed about this passionately all the time. 588 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:33,280 And I, I, I would talk to God about the heartache that I had 589 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:38,880 about what I felt like was God ignoring my prayers that I felt 590 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:41,960 were righteous because I, I, I thought that I was going into 591 00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:45,360 this area of ministry, I thought was a, a righteous thing to ask. 592 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,280 And so I thought that God was ignoring my prayers. 593 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:52,920 But, but the more that I, the more that I did that in, the 594 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,640 more that I read scripture, I, I came to understand that it was 595 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:59,720 actually me ignoring his. No, right. 596 00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:05,080 He was answering my prayer. His answer had been there for me 597 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:10,600 all along in Scripture. He was telling me to be serious 598 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:15,560 about my faith, don't be a hypocrite. 599 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:25,680 Stop playing the part in my in my whole Christian life, but 600 00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:29,280 specifically in my prayer life. I I I came to a place of 601 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:34,800 understanding that I needed to align my heart with Gods when I 602 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:39,760 came to him and it had this big ask and beautifully, 603 00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:51,900 wonderfully, he told me no. Now much of Jesus ministry and 604 00:41:51,900 --> 00:41:55,300 his his life, the things that he talked about with people often 605 00:41:55,300 --> 00:41:59,340 that we see recorded is about the hypocrisy of Christians. 606 00:41:59,780 --> 00:42:04,100 Jesus cares about the way that we pray because he cares about 607 00:42:04,100 --> 00:42:10,560 the reason and our reason and our approach to our prayer life. 608 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,760 At the at the beginning of this I, I said that the main idea 609 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:18,080 here was that God wants to encourage us to have genuine 610 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:22,240 private prayer to align our hearts with his rather than 611 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:26,840 obligatory performative prayer to impress mankind. 612 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,480 Right to, to avoid being hypocrites. 613 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:40,960 Guys, we're all hypocrites, especially me, but thank God for 614 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,280 the gospel of, of, of Jesus Christ that offers us 615 00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:48,520 forgiveness when I don't live up to that standard. 616 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:55,400 Thank God for that grace. I don't deserve forgiveness. 617 00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:59,520 But when I'm reminded of his death on the cross because of 618 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:03,240 the things that I did, it makes me want all the more to, to know 619 00:43:03,240 --> 00:43:08,840 him better, to, to come close to God so that he'll come closer to 620 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,360 me like we saw in that passage earlier. 621 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:18,840 As we go about our, our lives today and we and we go to God in 622 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:24,160 prayer, let's, let's all do our, our diligence to try to make 623 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:28,040 this a priority, right? Let's not check the box of of 624 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:32,720 prayer anymore, but let's come to our prayer life understanding 625 00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:38,200 the the hopelessness that we have without God and seeing him 626 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:42,200 as our only chance. And we are privileged to have 627 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,520 the ear of the King. We can actually reach out and we 628 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,160 can talk with, with God Almighty. 629 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:54,360 And when we approach our prayer life with that, I think our, our 630 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,720 hearts will be humbled when we understand where we are and 631 00:43:57,720 --> 00:44:02,040 where God is and what our relationship with him can be. 632 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:10,280 You guys pray with me, Lord. I think often, Lord, about how 633 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,400 different places in my life. I've checked the box and you 634 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,560 certainly know that Lord, and you've been aware of it every 635 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,840 time that that has happened. And Lord, I'm thankful that you 636 00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:28,080 have put people in my my life that you've given me your word 637 00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:33,200 to read, to be redirected back to a place, Lord, where you are 638 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:37,280 our our number one, where you take the priority over the other 639 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:43,720 things that are so easy for us as as people to, to, to slide up 640 00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:46,000 that list of priorities to that top spot. 641 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,760 Thank you for your grace, Lord, and forgiving us when we when we 642 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,040 do that and when we, when we repent of it. 643 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:56,480 And, and that your, that your word, that the relationship that 644 00:44:56,480 --> 00:45:00,400 we have with you in in prayer and then the the, the answers 645 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:04,200 that we find in Scripture. Thank you that those do such an 646 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:08,680 amazing job of changing of us in creating a new creature. 647 00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:14,280 Lord, it is it is wonderful how you put all of this together for 648 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:17,720 your glory and for our good and we are really truly are thankful 649 00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:20,200 for that. Lord, I hope that this that this 650 00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,880 message has honored you and I hope that the changes that that 651 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:26,680 come about in US and the decisions that we make to 652 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,160 prioritize you first and foremost in our prayer life, 653 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:33,040 Lord would honor you and glorify you and say this in Jesus name, 654 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:33,760 Amen.