If you turn in your copy of God's Word or follow along in the bulletin to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6, and we'll be looking this evening at verses 16 through 18. Matthew chapter 6, 16 through 18. Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites. with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your father who is in the secret place. And your father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. You may be seated. Let's join our hearts together in prayer before the preaching. Our Father in heaven, we so need your help, especially as we can sometimes at this time of day have weary bodies, to give us minds that are focused, and attentive to your most holy word. Please help me preach in demonstration of the spirit of power that our faith might rest in you, the living God in Christ by the spirit. Thank you so much that you want your sheep to be fed well. And so help me please to feed them well by your holy word as you direct my thoughts to be faithful to this text. And we ask that we might know your blessing of your nearness, of your special presence with us as we gather for public worship. In Jesus' name, amen. We've been walking now through the section on the Sermon on the Mount, which is Jesus confronting the hypocritical nature of the righteousness of the Pharisees. He confronted them in their hypocritical ways of giving their charitable deeds and how it was displeasing to God and God rejected it because they were doing it in hypocrisy. We saw that he confronted the hypocritical nature of the hypocrites praying and also the heathen praying with vain repetitions. And he gave us the positive model of how we are to pray of our father in heaven. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And so we saw that model prayer of what biblical praying looks like. And then we saw last Sabbath day that we are to forgive in the same way that God forgives us, that we should have a spirit and a heart that wants to forgive others in the same way that God has forgiven us so that we can pray with a good conscience, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And so we saw last Sabbath day that we are to pray and forgive in the manner in which God forgives us. This Sabbath day, we will see that we are to fast, not as the hypocrites, but in faithfulness. And this is my main point. Fasting, not to be seen by men, but to be seen and rewarded by our Father. It's possible that some of you have never heard a sermon on fasting. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't, I don't know. But maybe some of you have never heard a sermon on biblical fasting. Well, today's the day that you are. We're going to hear a sermon on biblical fasting. And so again, the main point fasting not to be seen by men, but to be seen and rewarded by our Father. My first point is fasting not to be seen by men. fasting not to be seen by men. Verse 16 reads again, Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. What he's saying is the way the hypocrites would fast, the Pharisees in particular, is they would fast with a sad countenance. And what they would do, so you knew they were fasting, they would disfigure their faces, they would look disheveled, and I think I'm pronouncing that word correctly. If I'm not, you'll know the concept of what I'm getting at. They would make themselves look strange or odd to put on display that they are fasting. And they would fast in such a way to appear before men that they were fasting. They were acting and living in such a way that they didn't want to fast in secret because that wasn't good enough for them. They wanted to make sure everyone knew that they were fasting so that they could get praise from men. Similar, they wanted to do their deed, their charitable deeds before men so they would get praise from them. They would pray before men so they would be seen and praised by them. And now, just like with fasting, they would fast in such a way that they would be seen by men. The irony of it is one of the reasons why we ought to fast is to humble ourselves before God. And they took an act, and we'll talk about more why we fast as we go through, but they took an act which was in its essence a humbling endeavor as you come humbly before God in dependence upon Him. And they used something that was supposed to be unto humility as a way to promote their own vainglory. The irony of it is unbelievable. That the reason why we ought to fast, one of the reasons is to humble ourselves, and they use that as a reason to puff themselves up. And even in the text it says, they went about with a sad countenance because fasting and mourning are somewhat connected. But they went about with a sad countenance, not so because they were actually sad in any meaningful sense before God because of their shortcomings and sins, but because they wanted men to think well of them. We heard today in the public reading of the scriptures at Grace and Truth, the account of the Pharisee and the tax collector. One of the things that he emphasizes to God, because he wants to be seen by God and by men, that he fasts twice a week. And so we see there, he is a man who puffed himself up for things that he did before God as a way to seek glory for himself. And this is why, historically, and particularly in the King James Version, this would be called vain glory. It brought the word glory and vanity together. Vain glory. As we seek the approval and praise of men as our ultimate reason for doing things, that is none other than vain glory. And so they sought to do whatever they could. They would disfigure their faces. They would have a sad countenance. And again, the text says that they may appear to men to be fasting. So they did it not for God, not for his glory, not to humble themselves, not to seek his face more devotedly. They did it so men would praise them. And Jesus says to them bluntly and truly, surely, I say to you, they have their reward. The best that you get if you seek the approval of men is that fleeting praise from mere men who are passing away like you are. I think I've said this in my sermon before, but we have a phrase in our culture, 15 seconds of fame. We have that phrase in our culture because the praise of men is so fleeting. It almost feels as if it's 15 seconds of fame. And Jesus says again, assuredly, I say to you, when you fast like this, when they fast like this, they have their reward already. There is no reward that they will receive from God their father, excuse me, I should put it better, God who is father, God isn't their father if they're hypocrites in this way. The Pharisees didn't have God as their father, their father was the devil, Jesus says in John 8. Not that they couldn't be truly converted and saved, but the people he's describing didn't know God and were not converted. And so the only reward that they could get was from mere men. But then Jesus says, but you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face. My second point, fasting, to be seen and rewarded by our Father. And so if we are not to fast in that way, to be seen by men, to get glory from men, to receive vain glory, we will see the way we are to fast. But before we go into that, I just want to take a few minutes of just talking through and preaching on what are the biblical reasons to fast. Because I believe fasting, even in my own life, has been an undervalued means of grace in growing in personal piety before the Lord. I think in the Christian church, fasting is a undervalued means of grace in growing in personal piety. But we see here, Jesus assumes his disciples are gonna fast. He doesn't say, but you, if you fast, but when you do it, this is how you're supposed to do it. The assumption is you are gonna fast. And so when you do it, this is the spirit in which it should be done. Brother Paul Washer, many of you know, has a workbook on understanding the discipline of fasting. I haven't finished it, but I've worked through much of it, or at least some of it, I should say. Very, very helpful. Very, very helpful. One of my favorite brothers, Pastor Jeff Pollard, he has the book on Christian modesty. He says this about the book, quote, study this book prayerfully, apply it carefully and live it wholeheartedly for the glory of Christ. You cannot do so without profiting your soul, end quotes. And Brother Washer in here gives five reasons, and there's others, but five key reasons why a person might devote themselves to fasting. Fasting is primarily, not exclusively, but giving up food for the purpose of giving more devoted time to seeking God. Giving up food or possibly other temporal pleasures that are lawful, giving those things up for the purpose of more devoted and earnest seeking of God. So that's the overarching principle of why we fast. We set aside things not for fasting sake, but so that we can seek God in more of a devoted experience. Also too, I want to say before I go into this, there are different types of fasting. There are medical fasts, there are health fasts. This is not what Jesus has in mind here. What Jesus has in mind is spiritual fasting. Fasting for the purpose of drawing near to God. Not for health purposes, not for medical purposes, not that there's not a place for both those things, but for the purpose of drawing near unto God. And so Brother Washer says this about a reason why we might fast or seek to fast. Quote, we may be so afflicted and so desirous of deliverance that we forget our food and continue in prayer to God. End quotes. So there might be a trial that you are facing. and a hardship that you are facing. And food, you just don't want it by you because you are so wanting to spend that time for deliverance and help and strength in a trial that you are experiencing. That would be a good reason to fast. And sometimes you don't even have to try in those situations. Where do we see that in the Bible? David is a great example. He prays and fasts to Jehovah because he is receiving divine chastisement because of his sin and he doesn't want food and he is seeking God that God might spare his child's life. The trial was so overwhelming to him that he sought God with prayers and with fasting so that he might be delivered from God's chastisements. And so we see that that would be a good reason to fast. If you were in a trial where you feel the weight of that trial upon you, giving yourself to fasting and prayer would be a good idea. So you can seek God more earnestly in prayer and devotion. Second, Brother Washer says, quotes, We may set aside food and temporal joys because God exposes a certain sin in our lives, causing us to sense the urgent need for reconciliation, restoration, and power to gain mastery over it." End quotes. What Brother Washer is saying there, maybe God reveals to you a sin that is a struggle for you or an easy thing that you can give in a temptation or something that you just want to completely conquer. You might give yourself to prayer and to fasting and say, Father, I so want to be done with this. Please give me grace and help. And so you take time, not just to pray, but you earnestly do it by setting aside food and temporal joys so that your heart is more focused on Him and not on food and temporal pleasures. Let me just say this to make the point clear. We cannot manipulate God by our fasting. It's not as if we fast and then we twist God's arm to make him do something for us. But fasting is a means for us to devote more earnest our hearts and our mind to God. And when our belly is empty, when we feel the weight of even our stomach churning and we're crying out to God, that can give us more devoted time to seeking Him and that weight of feeling, God, I am coming to you in desperation that you would feed me. Yes, I need physical food, but I'm coming to you that you would feed me by your grace so that I would be reconciled to you and restored and you would give me mastery and power over this sin that can so easily ensnare me. So that would be a good reason to spend a meal or two or a whole day in prayers and fasting, giving attention to God and seeking to pray in a devoted way for sins that can so easily ensnare. That would be a reason to fast in a God honoring way. Third, Brother Washer says, quote, we may forget our food because of our zeal for God's name and because of the godless who reproach it, end quote. So we might forget our food. We might set food aside because we are so zealous for God's name and God's fame and God's praise that we give devoted attention so that we are praying in a committed, earnest, passionate way that God's name would be and the godless would be turned out of darkness into light. And we devote ourselves, not just to prayer, but prayers and fasting for the purpose of God getting glory for himself, devoting ourself more intensely. And one thing that happens when we pray and fast is it causes us, not always, because we still have our heart to be in it, because fasting in and of itself does nothing for us, if our heart is not with it by faith. Just like every other means of grace, our heart needs to be in it by faith. But what it does, because God uses it so powerfully and can use it so powerfully, is it allows us to feel more earnestly our desire. Because we set these things aside as we pray and fast, we can feel more of the weight of what we are seeking from our Heavenly Father. Fourth, Brother Washer says, quote, we may be so overwhelmed with concern for the purity of the church or the conversion of the nations that we set aside food for the purpose of intercession, end quotes. So we might have a zeal and a passion that God would help the church. So the church would be more and more purified from sin and sin against God. And so we pray for her, the church of Jesus Christ, and we pray for the nations in a more devoted way. So we set aside food for prayers and for fasting that we might commit ourselves to praying to the God of heaven, that he might have mercy upon the church and upon the unconverted nations of this world. Lastly, in this section, Brother Washer says, quote, we may forget every thought of food and desire for temporal joy because of our satisfaction in God's presence and the joy of continued communion with him. And so that's an example where we are so enjoying being in the word or praying or singing his praises that we forget about our food. We forget about the desire to even eat because we are so enjoying God's presence. And so we can experience in such a way, such blessed times of fellowship with God that we would rather say, I don't wanna eat right now so that I don't break off this loving fellowship with my heavenly Father. And so these are reasons to fast, where you seek by the grace of God to set aside food or temporal pleasures for the purpose of coming to God in a more devoted frame. So let me just say an application now. If you've never fasted before, it would be good for you. I can't make you do it because, to be fair, even Brother Washer brings this up. Fasting is not a command in the same way prayer is. We have in our Bibles, pray without ceasing, et cetera. But fasting is more of assumed reality that the child of God will do. There is no time amount in the New Testament that isn't like you need to fast once a week or fast twice a month or fast once a year. There's none of that. But it's just saying, does anybody have sin they want to continue to overcome? Does anybody care for the purity of the church? Is there anyone amongst us that can feel trials and pains and sorrows? Is there anyone among us who can so want to delight in God more? Does anybody have that desire in them? Well, if you do, these are good reasons to fast, that you would commit those desires that are right and good. And you would say, Father, I want to set these things aside so that I can draw near to you with more zeal and passion as I set these things aside that can distract and I come to you the living God. And so that's why we fast. Also too, I've somewhat made the point as I've been going through, but we can pray without fasting, but I don't think we can fast without praying. Prayer and fasting go together. You fast for the purpose of filling your mind with God's word and seeking him in prayer. Again, it's not fasting for fasting's sake. It's not being hungry for hungry's sake. It's not saying, you know what, I feel my stomach churning and therefore I'm gonna get more godly. That's not what it is. It is fasting for the purpose that we would come to God more wholeheartedly. It's similar with the Lord's Supper. Taking the cup and eating the bread does nothing for you in and of itself. It's not mystical in the sense that somehow by going through your body you get more godly. No, it doesn't work that way. You take the bread in the cup and by faith you meditate and dwell and seek Christ in the elements in the bread in the cup. And thereby you, by faith, receive the blessings of the Lord's Supper. It's the same with fasting. We fast that by faith we may lay hold on God's promises and devote more attention to Him. more attention to Him. And so we want to do these things for God's glory. I almost want to restrain from talking about my fasting experiences just because of the text, but I just want to know there can be blessed times of fasting. And I, even thinking about this, I want to devote more time to it. because it's a blessed reality. It doesn't have to be all day. It could be one meal, you fast lunch. And I know for some of you who especially have young children, it can be harder. I understand there's certain seasons where you can't fast food because of medical circumstances, but you could also in those situations, because God knows your circumstances, lay aside social media for a day and devote that time that you would look at Facebook to coming to God. Or lay aside something of a temporal joy that is lawful for the purpose of seeking God. But there is something unique, even though that's true, of fasting food for the purpose of drawing near to God. And so that's why Brother Washer will say, you can fast temporal joys, but strictly speaking, when we think about fasting, it is fasting food for the purpose of drawing near to God. But because God knows our circumstances, fasting other things, God knows our hearts saying, we're setting aside this to seek you. And so this should be the practice of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just to show you a few examples, if you turn with me to Acts 13, we see in the church, in the New Covenant era, fasting. Acts 13, if you look at Acts 13, and I'm gonna read verse two and three of Acts 13. The Holy Spirit says, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. They were ministering to the Lord, which means they were worshiping and praising God. They were fasting, they were coming to God. And in this situation, God, the Holy Spirit said, set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work of missions. They fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them and sent them away. So we see in the early church that fasting was a practice, that they were seeking God in this process and they were fasting and praying and ministering to the Lord. If you turn to Acts 14, you turn to verse 23, Acts 14 in verse 23. In that text, the Holy Spirit says, so when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So we see there the early church for this decision, what's going on, they're praying and they're fasting. as they're appointing elders. One last text I'll show you too, show you in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter seven. 1 Corinthians chapter seven. The context of this is beyond the scope of this sermon to get into, but I do want to at least show you the reality of fasting in the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians seven verse, 5, just so you have some type of understanding, the depriving one another here is intimacy within the marriage. And it says in verse 5, do not deprive one another except with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. So we see there that there are certain times, even a married couple will say, we need to give ourselves to prayer and fasting. They don't want to deprive one another, but if for consent for a time, they might give themselves to fasting and prayer so that they can seek God more earnestly. And so these are examples in our Bibles of fasting, of the church, of married couples, of people giving themselves to fasting and prayer for the purpose of seeking God more wholeheartedly. And so again, it would be a good practice for you. Like I said, I can't mandate it the same way I can mandate prayer. But if any of the reasons Brother Washer gave are in your life, it would be good for a meal, for a day, for two meals. to give up food or other temporal joys to seek God more devotedly, that you might know the blessing of drawing near unto Him and Him drawing near unto you. And so now we've seen the purpose of fasting, why we should do it, at least a few reasons. Now we'll get into the manner or the spirit in which we are to do it. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face. And so we see there that what Jesus is saying is act like it's a normal day. Don't go out of your way to make people see that you're fasting. Basically, we could say in our culture, brush your teeth, take a shower and get ready. If you're gonna fast, act as if everything's normal in the sense, don't act before men for the purpose of them seeing you so that they can praise you because you're fasting. Get ready, get dressed, do your normal routine so that you don't appear to men to be fasting. You want to appear to your father who sees in secret, we'll see in verse 18, but don't appear before men to be fasting. I know at certain times I've had to tell family members though, just in terms of, I'm not rude to them. If I don't come to a meal or something, I'll say I'm doing this because I'm fasting. This is what's happening. And so I'm trying not to be rude. I'm not trying to do it for their sake. But at the same time, I want them to know why I'm not coming to the meal. And so you might have to do that. And that's not a violation of this text, because you do want to be respectful to people. But we are not to tell people for the purpose of self-promotion. We're not to do it for the purpose of saying, hey, guys, look at me, how great and spiritual I am. I'm not eating today. I'm not eating lunch today. That's not the purpose. Act as if everything's normal. and seek God with more fervent desire. I mean, people who live with you or around you a lot might see something different, and you're not doing it for them, that just might happen. But again, it's the manner of the heart. If people see you, that's okay. The manner is you're not doing it to be seen by them, even if they do know that you are doing that, or they ask you. You're allowed to be honest. If they ask you why you were in your bedroom for an hour, you say, I was praying. That doesn't break the spirit of what we read in Matthew 6. Again, the spirit is not doing it to be praised by them, not as if no one can know what you're doing. But again, act like it's a regular day, anoint your head, wash your face, which was common practices in Jesus's time to get ready and to get prepared for the day and to interact throughout the day. And so if you're fasting, that should be your desire to not make much of yourself, But again, to humble yourself before God. Again, like I said before, one of the reasons why we fast is not for vainglory, but it's to humble ourselves before God. We see in Nineveh, a pagan king knew about the purpose of fasting. When the whole city comes to revival, he calls a public fast. You know, in America, we used to have national days of praying and fasting. Then the civil magistrate would say, you know what? We should call upon the God of heaven in Jesus' name, that God would have mercy upon us, so let's pray and fast. And we see that in the King of Nineveh. That the King of Nineveh said, everybody pray and fast to the God of heaven, and he might have mercy upon us. And so we humble ourselves when we fast. It's a reminder that we depend on God. Fasting food particularly is a reminder that we are dependent completely upon Him. That if He didn't give us our daily bread, we would be without it. And we feel a sense when we feel the body aches, the body pains of a empty stomach, we feel, Father, I am dependent upon you for everything spiritual and physical. And so we see also as well, again in verse 18, we're to anoint our head, wash our face, which is a way of saying, carry out your normal routines so that you do not appear to men to be fasting. Don't do it to be seen by men. Don't do it for their approval. Do it for God's. As we'll see again in verse 18, the second half, but we should fast to be seen by our Father in heaven. who is in the secret place. And it says at the end, well it says, but your father who's in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And so what we see there is that we should want to be seen actually. We just want to be seen by the right person. And that person who we want to be seen by is our father. Because He already knows that we're doing it before we even tell Him or anything. He knows. And so the irony of this section and the verses that we've seen is Jesus is not saying, ultimately, do not be seen. He's saying, don't be seen by men, but be seen by your Father. That's the one who you want to take notice of you. That's the one who you want to fast for and pray for and give your charitable deeds for, for His glory. for His praise, for His honor, to be seen by Him. And so you want to be seen by Him in the secret place. Because your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. So when we fast, we fast for God. When we pray, we pray for God. When we give charitable deeds, we give for God. The purpose of this statement, as we've seen this refrain throughout these verses, is whether you eat, or whether you drink, or whatever you do, or whether you fast, do it to God's glory. It should be done of Him, and through Him, and to Him. To Him be glory forever. Amen. It should be done for the purpose of God, and God alone receiving the glory due unto His name. We fast for God. And then again, we see this phrase that when God sees us doing it in secret, he will reward us openly. I've made these points, but just to rehash it, because we're moving away from, well, in the next section, we'll talk somewhat about rewards too, laying up treasures in heaven. But reward is not something we should be scared about. Reward is something that God wants us to know. That's why Jesus over and over again gives it as a motivation. One reason why you should pray, God's glory. Another reason you should pray is good for your soul. Another reason you should do it is because it will help your brothers and sisters as you are seeking, as you are more godly. Those are several of the reasons. One of the reasons you should fast is because God will reward you if you do it. That's a motivation given in the text. The reason we should fast and pray and give charitable deeds is because God will reward us. It's worth repeating. I've used it before here, but it's worth repeating again. It would be one thing if we said, God, I'm not going to fast unless you promise to reward me. That would be one thing. That would be carnal. It's another thing when God says, I want you to fast. And on top of that, if you do it, I'll reward you openly. That's different. Again, I've used the analogy of a son saying to his father, dad, I'll clean my room only if you take me out for pizza and ice cream after. That would be carnal. That would be wrong. Another way is the father comes to the son and says, son, I really want you to clean up your room before six o'clock. And on top of that, if you do it before six, pizza and ice cream on me. And I'll give it to you if you clean your room. The father doesn't owe it to him. That's on top of, that's on top of what his responsibility is. The father isn't required to do that. He doesn't have to do that. The child should do it whether he gives that reward or not. But it's an added incentive that the father is willing to reward that child. And with that example, with pizza and ice cream. And so our father wants to reward us. I said as well, and it's not original with me, heaven is not communism. It's not everybody's on the equal playing field and everybody just kind of gets equal. Heaven is not communism. There will be people in heaven who are more rewarded than others. There will be people based on their prayers, their deeds, and their fasting that will be more rewarded by God, their heavenly father, than others. Will everybody be happy there? Yes. Will everybody be glad they're there? Yes. Will everybody be thankful that they didn't die and go to hell and are in heaven? Yes. But there will be some people that because of their faithfulness in this life will be more rewarded there than others. Otherwise, beloved, if that was not true, the text would be blunted. Why do I say that? If heaven was communism, why would Jesus give us a motivation? If you fast more faithfully, you actually be rewarded. If everyone's going to get the same reward. Then why does it matter how much I fast, or how I fast, or when I fast, if everybody's getting the same thing? What would it matter if I give more charitable deeds than another person? What would it matter if I pray more faithfully about God and his kingdom, if everybody at the end of the day is gonna be rewarded the exact same? It would blunt the text, it would blunt the motivation. No, what Jesus is saying is actually, if you are faithful in little things here, and faithful consistently, and even doing things by my grace and for my glory, you will be rewarded more. and you will experience more reward than you would have received if you didn't do that. Jonathan Edwards gives the analogy that I think is somewhat helpful of cups. He says, everyone will have a cup in the new heavens, new earth. Some will be like Dixie cups and some will be like five-gallon jugs, but everybody's gonna have a full cup. Everybody's cup is gonna be overflowing, but some are gonna be bigger cups. And that's what reward's like. The person who has a Dixie cup is gonna be very happy, but the experience of the happiness of the person with a five-gallon cup is gonna be greater. Don't we know this, though, in our own experience now? When we are faithful to Christ and his word and obedience to him, don't we have greater happiness now? Don't we experience more of what we could call the reward now of fellowship with God and love to God and happiness in God when we have a good conscience before Him, when we're seeking to repent of our known sin, when we're seeking to walk in obedience? Isn't there a tangible effect that we feel closer to God and more of His blessing now? What is that? But a foreshadow of what will be perfected in glory. As we experience that the faithfulness that we had here will be Rewarded not because of merit Again to use the father analogy that he wasn't rewarded because he was somehow in the father wasn't in debt to the son He did it freely and graciously said I'm gonna take you out for pizza and ice cream. It was free. It was gracious It was voluntary But it still was a reward and that's the same with our heavenly father And so we shouldn't be more spiritual than Jesus beloved We shouldn't be more spiritual than Jesus Some of us can think, well, it's not spiritual to seek rewards. Well, then you're trying to be more spiritual than Jesus. Jesus thinks it's spiritual to seek rewards. That's why he gives it as a motivation. And so therefore we should say, Father, I'm doing this for your glory. But please, Father, reward me openly. Or we see in the accounts of parables or accounts of the second coming. And we see that the faithful servants are waiting and watching and preparing, and our faithful are doing their master's bidding. And that's how we want to be. We want to be doing our master's bidding as we're seeking to be faithful to him. Oh, that God would burn more on my heart and on your heart. That we would want to be living in such a way that nothing we do or say or participate in would be something we'd be ashamed to do before we die or when Jesus returns. but we would have such a spirit of love and devotion to him that we would want to be faithfully rewarded. And what is the way in which, what is one way Jesus lavishes his reward upon us, but by telling us, well done, good and faithful servants. And reward is connected with encouragement. When someone rewards you, it's an encouragement of a job well done. You reward someone because you're saying, son, job well done, let's get pizza and ice cream now. And you know, we're actually being God-like when we encourage one another. Because it's Jesus who says, well done. What is that but encouragement? And we want greater encouragement than that from the God of heaven who died and rose again to save his people from their sin. He says, my brother, my sister, because Jesus is our elder brother, says, I know you had shortcomings. I know you weren't perfect. I understand that you had flaws and sins. but your life was one characterized by faith in me and love towards me. Well done. Well done. What an encouragement that is, that the God of heaven, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, would tell his lowly people, who know their shortcomings, who know that they do not have it all together, but are in sincerity seeking to live for him, and he says, well done. And so it should be your desire, to be more faithful to fast, more faithful to pray, more faithful to give to those who have needs, not to be praised and rewarded by them, but to seek the praise and reward from your father. What was the problem with the Pharisees? It wasn't that they sought reward. It was they sought reward and praise from the wrong person. They sought it from men and not from God. And so what encouragement it should be to all of us that our father lavishes upon us not only grace and mercy and compassion in forgiving our sins, but also in rewarding us. And as well as we think about fasting and the importance of it, what a blessing it is that Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, one of the reasons why he came into this world, to live in his active obedience of perfect life under the law, and his passive obedience to take the death upon himself, the wrath satisfying death that we deserved and risen from the dead. One of the reasons he died is so that we could pray and fast and come to God, not at a throne of judgment, but at a throne of grace. What a blessing that we can come to God, not to a throne of condemnation, but a throne of grace. Jesus died for us. so that upon the cross, he was, we could say, under the throne of condemnation, so that God's throne towards us, his beloved children, would be a throne of grace. Jesus bore the condemnation for us so that we don't have to come to our father as if he's gonna smite us and crush us under our sin, but he's gonna love us and have compassion upon us because Jesus took all the wrath that we already deserved in our place, and therefore, the throne that we come to. is always and forever, even when we're in our sin and we're repenting of it, even then it's a throne of grace. Blessed be God because our standing with Him is immutable and He's immutable. It will never become a throne of condemnation for His children. It will always and forever be a throne of grace. And it's not our motivation to fast and pray. It's a God who welcomes us to come to Him welcomes us to come to him as our loving, gracious, merciful, heavenly father. That we might fast and pray so that we might be more devoted to him and more committed to his purposes. And if you're here and you're without Christ, sadly but truly, your entire life is one of seeking either the approval of men or seeking to live for your own self-centered gratification. And this is what Jesus is condemning. This is what Jesus calls the hypocrites, those who live for sin and self, and those who live to find approval from men. And the only way that you can be delivered out of that snare, because the fear of man is a snare, and living for the approval of man brings nothing but fear of man, because you're always living for what men are gonna say about you. is to come by the grace of God to repent of that self vain glory and to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to believe that in of yourself that you can work your way there, earn it or deserve it or merit it, but you come by the grace of God receiving and resting upon Jesus Christ as he's offered to you in the gospel. So we make it crystal clear. If you base your acceptance with God based on your good works, It's like trying to jump out of an airplane without a parachute. Your arms will never save you. And that's why you need the parachute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you put him on by faith, trusting in him, knowing that he died and rose again to save sinners like you, that you might be redeemed from all of your sin. Because the word of God says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And for the saints here, Do you have needs and wants and desires and fears and sins? Fast and pray. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. And so these are great means for you and for me, if we have trials or distresses or sins that we so want to continue to put to death, that you would spend time in fasting and praying to the God of heaven, to your loving heavenly father. So think about times that you might have to devote for fastings and prayers. It will look different for different people. Again, there is no biblical requirement of this amount or this amount, there isn't that. But there is the reality that all of us have reasons to seek God. And sometimes it is good for us to seek him more earnestly in fastings and prayers. That we might come with a heart devoted to seeking him in the secret place, knowing that he will reward us openly. And so consider, think about your own life. When are times that I can spend devoted time doing those things? I know many of us have busy schedules. but we should never let our busy schedules outweigh our priority of seeking God's face. So again, that'll look different for different people. I'm not binding anybody's conscience of time or amount or anything. You can hear me bind your conscience, hopefully, in any way about how much you're supposed to fast. But I am saying, consider the blessing, the means of grace it can be to you so that you can know drawing near to God as he draws near to you. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray that you'd apply these truths to our heart and to our life, that we might know the blessing of drawing near to you and you drawing near to us. In Jesus' name, amen.