Today we're reading some verses from Matthew chapter 6. We'll begin at the verse 5. And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you they have their reward but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet And when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. When we come to Matthew chapter 6 we come to a section of the Sermon on the Mount which I call the Hidden Life. So much of our Saviour's teaching here revolves around Matthew chapter 5 and the verse 20. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. The religion of the Pharisees was one of formality. It was a religion that was geared around being seen of men, what you were publicly. But the Lord exposed the very real hypocrisy of the Pharisee because what he was publicly was not what he was privately and it certainly wasn't what he was in his own heart. heart. Genuine faith is real because it comes from the heart. So this hidden life focuses upon the religion of the heart. Last time we thought about almsgiving, the importance of giving, but giving in a way that is not a show of pride. Let not your right hand know what your left hand doeth. Today we come to prayer. Prayer is the root system of the Christian life. Prayer exposes and reveals what we are before God in private. Yet prayer is not easy. Prayer is difficult. True prayer is a real battle. The real question the Saviour is addressing here is how can we have a successful prayer life? And this is what we're going to think about. We're going to think about three elements of successful prayer that the Lord has to teach us in this place. The first thing we learn about a successful prayer life here is the privacy of prayer. The problem with the Pharisee was that he was consumed with being seen of others. Their prayer lives were about self-advancement. They wanted people to say that they were men of prayer. Christ elsewhere spoke of the Pharisees devouring widows houses with their prayers. He spoke of them receiving the greater damnation. The Lord spoke about the Pharisee in the temple who came forgetting what sin was. He was so preoccupied with himself He looked at the publican who was in prayer and he actually came to God and said, I thank you that I am not like that purr-publican over there. And yet the purr-publican recognised what sin was. The purr-publican smoked his breast and he said, God be merciful to me a sinner. Whereas all the Pharisee could think about was, I'm better than that other person. You see, If we come to God and we're preoccupied with a sense of ourselves, we're occupied with a sense of pride, then we forget what sin is. Prayer is primarily based upon the fact that God is merciful and that we must come before God as sinners. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, sin is ultimately self-worship. Even when we persuade ourselves that we are worshipping God, we are actually worshipping ourselves. We cannot come to God and prayer worshipping ourselves. For prayer to be successful, therefore, there must be privacy. Therefore in verse 6 Christ deals with the importance of the closet. The closet represents the private place where no one can see us. A place alone with God. The closet does not have to represent a place where we are physically alone but it must represent a place where we are spiritually alone. It is the hidden life of the heart that Christ is teaching us here. We can be walking out and yet be alone with God. We can be in the prayer meeting and yet be alone with God. Wherever we are, when we pray we must be alone. If we do not believe that we have an audience with God as we pray, then our prayers are worthless. Prayer is not about our words. Prayer is not about the time we spend. Prayer is not about the tone of our voice. Prayer is about knowing that we are accessing God. This is the reality we need as we seek God. This sense of privacy that we are alone with God. We need a sense of this sacred reality as we pray. But then secondly I want to talk to you about the plainness in prayer. In the verse 7 here Christ spoke against the use of vain repetitions using words for the sake of words and in various religious traditions there is this use of words, use of set words, use of set formality as we pray and sometimes the words can be very good but the meaning is lost amidst the repetition and the individual thinks it's just about the repeating of the words and it's not about the repeating of the words. It's about the meaning that we employ. It's about the faith of our hearts as we use those words. And repetitions can become so vain. If you woke up in the morning and spoke to your wife or your husband and you just went over the same chatter, every single morning, every single day you just went over the same chatter, just repeated the same words, the same phrases, every day with the same tone of voice, what would that say about your relationship? It would be a fairly empty relationship, a fairly monotonous relationship, I would say a fairly meaningless relationship. We need that sense of familiarity with God, reverence but familiarity. an ability to come to God and reveal our hearts and talk to Him about the matters of the day, to have a meaningful relationship, not an empty relationship and vain repetitions rob us of that meaningful relationship. Therefore I would suggest that true prayer requires great plainness of speech. The essence of prayer is simplicity. Christ here is emphasising petitions and needs because ultimately this is where every prayer leads. We need to pray simply and plainly to God, expressing our desires and concerns just as our children would talk to us about our cares. Sometimes we must persevere with a petition. Some prayers can take years to answer but still we must come, we must ask. we must plead. There is a great illustration of this in 1 Samuel 30 verse 6. David was greatly distressed. The enemy had come and the enemy had plundered the city of Ziglag and had carried away the wives and the children of his men. But we are told in that chapter that as his men threatened to mutiny against him, he encouraged himself in the Lord his God and he simply asked the Lord for help. and the Lord gave him help. There was plainness of speech. It was a prayer that was born out of need at a given opportunity. There is another illustration of this in 1 Kings chapter 3. The Lord came to Solomon as he first became king and gave him a blank cheque. Ask what I will give you. Whatever you ask for, I'll give it to you. And Solomon, he didn't ask for riches. He didn't ask for power. He asked for wisdom. It was a very plain thing, a very simple thing. God was pleased. And then in Mark chapter 9 we have the example of a man that had a boy that was consumed with this spirit that would often throw him into the fires and into the waters and the boy's life was at risk. and the father of the child cried out in Mark 9 24 Lord I believe help thou my non-belief it was a prayer born of need we need this plainness of speech as we pray whatever our need is whatever our situation is it's not religious formality we need It's a communication with God. But you can only know this communication with God when you're a Christian. And not everyone is a Christian. Only those that are born again of the Spirit of God are Christians. Only those people are in the family of God. And therefore I appeal to you today, if you don't know Christ as your Saviour, you have a very great need. Your sins need to be forgiven. Therefore you must come to God and cry out for that forgiveness. One third element of prayer I want to share with you. One third element of successful praying are the promises. The promises through prayer. Through prayer pleads the promises of God. Through prayer claims the promises of God. And in verse 6 the Lord said, Thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. God will hear prayer he will never fail and I want you always to remember this that when we come to God he is one that hears he is one that responds he may not answer In our time he may not answer in the way that we expect him to answer but he will work things out according to his glory. Let us learn to go forward with all of our needs and simply trust him. I thank you so much for listening.