And please turn in the back of your Psalter hymnal to page 57, page 57 where you'll find Lord's Day 45, page 57, Lord's Day 45, and after you have found that, please open your Bibles this morning to the Gospel according to Matthew. The Gospel according to Matthew at the very end of chapter 5. I have finally come to the place where I am prepared to proceed with a series through the Lord's Prayer as discussed in our Catechism, which picks up at Lord's Day 45, and this being the first time, I, of course, forgot to put that in the bulletin for you, so from here on, I'll try to remember. Lord's Day 45, we introduce the Lord's Prayer, that which the Lord teaches us to pray, as found in Matthew chapter 6, which we will consider this morning. Before reading and hearing from God's Word, we would read these questions and answers responsibly. Beginning with question 116, why do Christians need to pray? Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us, and also because God gives His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking Him for them. How does God want us to pray so that He will listen to us? First, we must pray from the heart to no other than the one true God who has revealed Himself in His Word, asking for everything He has commanded us to ask for. Second, we must acknowledge our need and misery, hiding nothing, and humble ourselves in his majestic presence. Third, we must rest on this unshakable foundation. Even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. That is what he promised in his word. What did God command us to pray for? Everything we need, spiritually and physically, as embraced in the prayer Christ our Lord himself taught us. And what is that prayer, people of God? Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. You may want to set that aside, but keep it open. We'll come back to that at the end of the sermon. For our focus today will be on the Word of God from Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus does teach us how to pray and how that text in particular undergirds and informs the confessions that we have made here this morning. So picking up in the Word of God now, His perfect, infallible, inspired, and inerrant Word, we pick up at Matthew chapter 5, verse 48, where Jesus says, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, And pray to your Father who is unseen. When your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen. And your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Here ends the reading of God's word. May he bless it to his people this day. Well, this morning if I were to take a poll, I expect that everyone here would have to admit that they are following some form of prescription or another. Some are taking medications prescribed by your doctors. Some are following a diet and exercise regimen you picked up somewhere. And children, you're following the prescription of your parents when you wash your hands and you eat your vegetables and you brush your teeth. We all have prescriptions that we need to follow. And whatever that prescription, the degree to which we follow it, usually is directly related to how much or often how quickly we get the rewards. By nature, we follow those prescriptions that bring rewards quickly, even if they don't last. And we're slow to follow those prescriptions that bring rewards later that will last. There's a reason that diet books sell and gym memberships don't get used. By nature, we want the quick payoff. Well, this morning we encounter a prescription of a different kind. It's not so much designed to enhance our physical well-being as it is to enhance our spiritual well-being. And Jesus announces the goal of this prescription in chapter 5, verse 48, when he says, Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Leading up to this verse, as we have not read this morning, Jesus has revealed that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law have been perpetrating a fraud on God's people. They were looked up as being the most perfect, the most holy, the most righteous of men, and they were peddling a faulty prescription which caused men to chase after good works for the purpose of becoming perfect. Perfect enough that God would let them into heaven. But Jesus announces the worthlessness of their prescription in chapter 5, verse 20, when he says, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. They could not deliver what they told people to follow. But Jesus made this announcement knowing that it was he who would accomplish the perfection of his people. That through his once for all sacrifice on the cross, as we consider from Hebrews chapter 10, he secured their perfection, the perfection of all who will trust in him through faith. Therefore, Jesus offers a prescription this morning that's intended for those who are already made perfect in him. Those who are already sons of God, who are already citizens in the kingdom of heaven. He does it so that as we live our lives as people perfected in Him, that we would more and more display a perfection that's in keeping with who He has called us and is making us to be. We must get this right as we hear this word this morning, or we will fall into the temptation of the Pharisees to think that this is about getting good grace with God. What Jesus prescribes for us this morning is because of the good grace He's already shown us. And he shows us how to live before him, that we would be perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect. And Jesus' prescription, his perfect prescription, warns against earthly pretentiousness. It promotes heavenly righteousness, and it highlights the priority of prayerfulness. Jesus abbreviates his, this is a comprehensive prescription for our lives, that we find applied throughout God's word, wherever we read his law. But Jesus abbreviates his comprehensive prescription into three particular acts of righteousness that are easy for us to see, that were easy to see in the Pharisees, and that comprehend the three key areas of the Christian life. First of all, giving to the needy, which has to do with loving our neighbor. Praying to God, which has to do with our love for Him. And fasting, which is an example of how we deny ourselves in order to enhance our love for God and for our neighbor. Jesus begins His perfect prescription in chapter 6, verse 1, with this stern warning. He says, be careful. Pay attention to how you do your acts of righteousness. Do not do them before men to be seen by them. with these words jesus warns against earthly pretentiousness now we need to bear in mind that jesus said to his disciples in chapter 5 verse 16 that we're to let our light shine before men that they might see our good works and praise our father who is in heaven and when we bear that in mind we can see that what jesus is warning against here is not the doing of good works and not to do any of good works before men, but that we would do our good works before men to be seen by them that they may praise us. This is called pretentiousness. Pretending to be something that we're not in order to impress other people and to gain their praise. Therefore, Jesus warns against pretentiousness to display our righteousness before people for the purpose of earning their praise. In verse 2, we see that he applies this to the hypocrites and how they gave to the needy. He says that when they did so, they would announce it with trumpets in the synagogue and on the streets. They wanted everyone to know how generous they were. They wanted to be honored by men, Jesus says. In the name of showing love to their neighbor, they were more concerned with heralding how other people ought to show them the love and appreciate how good they were. And by this, Jesus warns us against such pretentiousness in our giving. Acting as though we are generally concerned with the needs of others, when in fact we're more concerned about being recognized and rewarded for that act of charity. Whether that reward comes in the form of a tax return, rebate, a tax break, more customers, perhaps an engraved brick or a plaque with your name on it, or even just from words of praise from other people, how good a guy you are. Jesus warns us against showing what appears to be love for our neighbor when really it's all about getting love for ourselves. And in verse 5 we see that when the hypocrites prayed, they loved to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen and perhaps heard by men. And we must know that Jesus is not warning against public prayer in and of itself. He's not warning against private prayer done in public in and of itself. There are countless examples in Scripture of these kind of prayers being offered by righteous men and being honored by God. What Jesus is teaching about here, he teaches more fully in a warning that he gives in the form of a parable in Luke chapter 18. And it's there that he contrasts the prayer of a tax collector who humbled himself before God by standing back from the crowd with downcast eyes as he begged for God's mercy. And he contrasted that to the prayer of the Pharisee who exalted himself by taking a prominent place in the front of the church that all could see and perhaps hear as he commended himself to God for his good works. Instead of showing love for God in his prayer, the Pharisees sought to be loved by men. Jesus warns us against any such pretentiousness in our prayer, deceiving ourselves and others to believe that we are praying and speaking to God when in fact we are speaking to them. This is a very real temptation. And we need to be warned against it, whether we're praying at the kitchen table or praying in a Bible study or praying in the pulpit. It's easy to pray at others when we ought to be praying to God for others. And Jesus warns us to not pray in that way. And in verse 16, we see that when the hypocrites fasted, they did their best to look somber and to distort their faces to show men that they were fasting. He wanted everyone to know how much they were suffering for the sake of righteousness. And in the same name of self-denial, they became walking billboards to have us share their pain that we might commend them for how much they endured for the kingdom of God. Jesus warns against any such pretentiousness in the self-denial we are called to as followers of Christ when we're to take up our cross and follow him, that we're to deny ourselves. Now, we're not much into fasting these days. It's not a bad practice. It's not a commanded practice. But it's a practice that illustrates for us what it means to deny ourselves the pleasures of this life in order to focus our attention and enhance our service to God and others. But even though we don't practice fasting per se, we do practice self-denial in many ways. And how easy it is to complain. And just, of course, that we are suffering for the cause of Christ. When we tell our neighbor that we can't afford a new something because the tuition bills are too high. Or when we complain that we can't watch the Super Bowl because we have to be in worship. You see, those kind of complaints betray a heart that is driven by having to do rather than a heart that wants to do out of gratitude for the price that Christ paid for his people. Jesus summed up the pretentiousness of the Pharisees in Matthew 23, verses 27 and 28 when he declared, Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You're like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Beware, says Jesus, that when you do your acts of righteousness, you don't do it before men to be seen by men. And he attaches a promise to this warning in chapter 6, verse 1. He says, if you do, if you do your acts of righteousness in a pretentious manner, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. And the reason for this is given in verses 2, 5, and 16. He repeats himself in all these examples. Each time he refers to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, he says three times, I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. You see, those who practice pretentiousness in what looks like love to neighbor and what looks like love to God and what looks like self-denial will get exactly what they desire and exactly what they deserve, the praise and the honor of other sinners. And Jesus warns us against seeking after such treasures on earth that are temporary and fleeting because where our treasure is, there is our heart also. But Jesus' perfect prescription is not simply a warning. It also promotes heavenly righteousness. He tells us how to live. Jesus informed his disciples in chapter 5, verse 17, that he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. And in fulfilling the law and the prophets, he not only carried out the penalty that was deserved for our sins, he not only took our sins to the cross that we might be relieved of them, he also established in his humanity the perfection that God requires in our living. The perfection that God imputes to his people through faith in Christ. The perfection that is already ours as people of God, who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. He did that for us. And upon his ascension into heaven, Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to us that he might dwell within us to apply the benefits of his work. Justifying sinners through faith in Christ. Making us right with God. But also working within us for our sanctification. To make us more and more willing and able to obey the law that God has given us out of gratitude. And that's what Jesus calls us to do. And he says it many times. He says it many times, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Of course, we know the summary of that law is found in the Ten Commandments. And we know that Jesus summarized that law in just two, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself. And as we've seen, Jesus exemplifies this love that we are called to show to God and to our neighbor with these three particular acts of righteousness to illustrate, to comprehend for us what our life is to be about. Giving to the needy our love for our neighbor. Praying love for God. And fasting as an example of self-denial for the sake of those others. And notice that when Jesus speaks of them in his words here this morning that he refers to when we do them. When we do them, not if we do them. When you give to the needy. When you pray. When you fast. Therefore Jesus says in verses 3 and 4, When you give to the needy, do it in such a way that your giving may be in secret. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Now that's a very impressive image because we can't, just to make a point, when we give to the needy, we're to give up the memory of it with it. We're to remember it no more. It's done. We're to not remember our giving. We're not to let ourselves know what we're doing in that sense because not only to prevent ourselves from seeking the praise of other men by telling them all about it, but to avoid commending ourselves. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 17 and 18, Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. When you give to the needy, do it in secret and forget about it. And Jesus goes on in verse 6. He says, when you pray, do so in such a way that you shut out the world and give your undivided attention to God. Go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father. And with another vivid image, Jesus drives home the point that when it comes to prayer, we are to do whatever it takes to remove distractions and prevent intrusions that we might spend conscious and focused time with God. Even if that means you have to crawl into a closet and close the door behind you. Whatever it takes. Surely we need to at least get rid of our television sets, our computers, and our cell phones when we want to pray. Whatever it takes. Finally, Jesus says in verses 17 and 18, when you fast, do so as inconspicuously as possible. Put oil on your head and wash your face so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting. For us today, if you were to choose to fast today, do your best to disguise it. Men, that means comb your hair and shave your face. And women, that means fix your hair and put on your public face. You just don't let people know what you're doing. And this serves as an example, as a pattern for how to practice every sort of self-denial that we would do in the service of Christ and his kingdom. So that, for example, when you do have to deny yourself that new something that you really would like to have because of the priorities that you have as a servant in Christ's kingdom, there's no need to tell your children, there's no need to tell your neighbor that you really ever had that desire. do it in such a way that it's not obvious that you're denying for the sake of your Lord. And so across the board, Jesus commands us to do our acts of righteousness in a manner that not only guards against pretentiousness, but also testifies to our faith in the promises of God. You see, unlike the hypocrites who seek for an audience of many, The sons of God are assured that the only audience that counts is an audience of one. And that's our Father, who is in heaven. Three times in verses 4, 6, and 18, Jesus affirms the truth that it is our Father who sees what is done in secret. And twice in verses 6 and 17, he also affirms that our Father is in secret. Now the NIV translates this phrase as he is unseen, and this is true. In his presence, he's unseen. But that's not the point that Jesus is making here. The point is that our Father not only sees what we're doing, even when it's done in secret, he is also present with us in the doing. He not only sees what we're doing, he's present with us in the doing. Read Psalm 139 if you're not convinced. But why is this important? Why does Jesus want us to know this? Because our Father in heaven has promised to reward his people for their good works. He's promised to reward his people for his good works. He says it three times in our text. He assures his disciples that our Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And in contrast, the hypocrites will have no reward from our Father in heaven. Now, as much as you might want it to be, this is not the text from which to discover the nature of the reward. This is not Jesus' point. On the one hand, the Scriptures say that it is a gracious reward. There's nothing we can do that merits it, that deserves it. But on the other hand, Scripture says that it will be apportioned to each one according to what we've done. And I'm not going to solve that for you this morning. But the point of our text with regard to this reward is that it will be given and it will be given in accordance to the infallible first person knowledge of our Father who has been there to see when we have done everything that we do. It will be fair. It will be just. It will be proportionate. And it will be gracious because He knows perfectly everything that we have done. So Jesus exhorts us to store up for yourselves treasure in heaven. For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. But we've heard from Jesus' perfect prescription a warning against earthly pretentiousness and how he has promoted heavenly righteousness. So that now we want to focus on the heart of this passage that will unfold before us in the months ahead and that is how this text highlights the priority of prayerfulness in the Christian life. Jesus does so in several ways, the most obvious being that he addresses prayer in the middle of these three things. In the middle of his prescription between giving to the needy and fasting, he addresses prayer, the focus. And within that focus, he spends more time attending to prayer than he does on the other two combined. And after dealing with prayer in general, as he does with giving to the needy and fasting, after dealing with prayer in general in verses 5 and 6, he proceeds in verses 7 through 13 to emphasize that when you pray, you should pray in a particular way. And that's the pattern of the Lord's Prayer that he sets out for us here. Now we'll be considering the substance of this prayer in the months ahead as we work through the rest of the catechism and its instruction to us about it. But today we are primarily concerned with why and how we are and are not to pray in order to have our prayers heard. That's the focus of our text. That's also the focus of the Lord's Day 45 in our catechism. Why and how it is we are to pray so that we'll be heard. The fact that Jesus highlights the priority of prayerfulness in this text which is undeniable undergirds our confession in question and answer 116 you might want to turn to your catechism now we're going to spend a little time there question and answer 116 where we confess that Christians need to pray because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us this is not exactly what Jesus is saying to us this morning love of others is important Love of God is important. Self-denial is important. But preeminently, love of God and therefore prayer is to be the chief part, the most important part, the most prominent part of our Christian life. And question and answer 116 adds a second reason why Christians need to pray. And that is because God gives his grace and his Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking Him for them. Now this particular reason does not find direct support in our text. But of the many scriptures that do support it, there is one that is directly related to our text and that is in the parallel account from Luke chapter 11 where we find Jesus instructing His disciples to pray. And there, after teaching them this prayer, Jesus concludes with an analogy addressed to earthly fathers in verse 13. He says, If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children when they ask, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? In that setting, Jesus connected the reason that we have in 116 to the praying of the Lord's Prayer. That the Lord is pleased to give His Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The point is that we need to ask him. Now, in verses 7 and 8, Jesus gives a warning that is unique to the righteous act of prayer. In all these three things he's been discussing, he deals each of them generally. And then when it comes to prayer, not only does he give us the Lord's Prayer, he gives us an additional warning, a unique warning. He says, do not pray like the pagans. Do not pray like the pagans who have not heard of or do not believe in the God of the Bible who has revealed himself in his word as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Without true faith in this one true God of the Bible, pagans deceive themselves into believing that their many words will somehow get the attention of or direct the activity of whatever God or gods they have appointed for themselves to serve. Theirs is an exercise in futility, Jesus says. They just babble on. There's no one to hear. Don't be like the pagans. Question and answer 117 of the Catechism asks, how does God want us to pray so that he will listen to us? The first part of the answer is that we must pray from the heart. Where true faith is created in us by the Holy Spirit through the gospel. That we must pray from the heart and not simply with our lips like the pagans do. But more than that, we must pray to none other than the one true God who has revealed himself in his word. The one true God whom a pagan, as long as he be a pagan, can't believe in and can't pray to. We must pray from the heart to the one true God who must not be like the pagans. For all their words are speaking to err. Jesus explains why we do not need to ramble on like pagans in prayer when he says in verse 8 that your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. And because this is true, that the Father knows what we need before we ask Him, and because Jesus knows the mind of the Father, and Jesus is the one teaching us how to pray, Jesus then goes on to teach us how to pray for exactly that which the Father commands us to pray. The Father knows what we need. Jesus knows what we need. Jesus tells us what we need. And this is how we're to pray. As part of Jesus' perfect prescription for our acts of righteousness, he presents to us the perfect prayer. The perfect prayer. Embracing, as we confess in question and answer 118, everything we need. Everything we need, spiritually and physically. William Hendrickson says this in his commentary, I like this quote, it sums up well. He says, the comprehensive nature of these petitions appears from the fact that they bear reference not only to God's glory, but to our needs. Not only to our physical needs, but also our spiritual. And not only to our present needs, but also to our need with reference to the past and even to our future need. And finally in this prayer, the worshiper carries to the throne of grace burdens that are not only his own, but also of his brothers. And all of this, all of this is included in six brief requests. This is indeed the perfect pattern for our prayers. And I couldn't agree more. Therefore, whenever we pray the Lord's Prayer, or we pray according to its pattern, we can be sure that God will listen to us. For as we confess in question and answer 117, we are asking for everything He has commanded us to ask for. He hasn't left us to ourselves, like the pagans, to try to figure out what to say. He knows what we need. He's told us what to ask for. Therefore, we must pray in order to receive that which we need. But not only that. When we guard ourselves from praying like Pharisees or like pagans, remembering and believing that our only audience is the one true God who not only sees in secret but is in secret, then by this prayer we will acknowledge our need and misery, hiding nothing. There's nothing to hide. There's nowhere to hide. And we will humble ourselves in His majestic presence. Prayer is not a long-distance phone call to heaven, friends. The God who sees in secret is a God who is in secret. And whether you've crawled into a closet or are sitting in your favorite chair, you're in the presence of the God who sees. The God who knows what you need before you ask. The God who has revealed to you what you're to ask for. And finally, in question and answer 117, we confess that in order for God to listen to us when we pray, we must rest, that is we must have true faith, solid confidence, certain assurance, in this unshakable foundation, that even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. That is what he has promised us in his word. He has promised that for the sake of Christ, He will listen. And Jesus has said as much, although in a very broad way in this text this morning, he promises in verse 6 that when you pray, your Father will reward you. But he expanded on that promise in what follows the Lord's Prayer, both here in Matthew and in Luke. In Matthew chapter 7, verses 7 through 11, and in Luke chapter 11, immediately on the heels of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus extends this very familiar promise. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. For whoever asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And whoever knocks, the door is opened. That's the firm assurance that we're to have. That when we pray to our God, who sees in secret and who is in secret, asking him of all that he's commanded us to ask for, because he's revealed to us everything that he already knows we need, we can know that for the sake of Christ, he'll answer. Indeed, Jesus has given us the perfect prescription for how to do our acts of righteousness before men, and that's to be seen by God. Therefore, let us heed his warning and put off earthly pretentiousness and put on heavenly righteousness in our acts of love for God and for our neighbor and in our acts of self-denial. all the time giving priority to prayer, no matter what it takes, knowing that our Father who is in secret sees what is done in secret and will reward us for Jesus' sake. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we do indeed rejoice in the promises we've been given this morning. that you will reward us and you will answer us when we approach you in the name of Jesus Christ. And we pray, Father, that we would hear the warning that you give us this morning as your people who are secure in Christ, that we would learn to put away pretentiousness, to seek only for your glory and your honor and to despise it for ourselves and to give priority to prayer. For, Lord, if we admit we give it such small space in our lives and betray hearts that are deceived to believe that we are self-sufficient, self-directed people. Forgive us for that and enable us by your Spirit, Lord, to do whatever it takes to come before you in prayer each day. That we might ask of you those things you've commanded us to ask. That you might give us those things that you know that we need before we ask them. To the praise of your name and to our well-being, both now and forever. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.