The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking directly to His disciples. He's sitting with them on a mountain, like Moses spoke from the mountain. He too is on the mountain with His disciples. And we've covered Matthew chapter 5, where he begins with these eight qualities of the happy person, the beatitudes, which really begins with the poverty of spirit. And then he moves to the similitudes.

He speaks of what you are in the world, your salt and your light. And he then speaks about the law and how the law is abundantly applicable, that the law is spiritual, it's not wooden. It can be applied in more ways than the human mind can probably even conceive, because the law was meant to pierce into the deepest parts of a heart and to show that person who he really is. And then after doing that and expounding on the law, then the Lord Jesus Christ really presses even further into the heart and he has spoken about murder in the heart and adultery in the heart and now he turns to the motivations of the heart and he speaks of why you do what you do and He's he's calling He's calling into question what happens to you when you when you give when you fast and When you pray He's speaking about motivation. Why do you give, why do you pray, and why do you fast?

And so the Lord Jesus Christ, after speaking about how the law penetrates down to the very motivations of your heart in every matter, then he begins to deal with his disciples on the whole subject of secret sins and the motivations that often are the substance of secret sins. In many ways, I think the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting with his disciples and he's teaching them something really, really important. And that is how they might not waste their life. How they might not waste their life by putting on airs and doing what they do for outward appearances rather than out of the worship of God. How they can keep from glorifying themselves.

How they can keep from having a life that was just nothing but a flash in the pan of outward appearances when there was no true substance to it at all. And he goes And he explains these three critical areas of giving and prayer and fasting. In the first four verses, chapter six, one through four, he speaks of self-exaltation in giving. And then in verses Five through 15, he speaks of self-exaltation in prayer. And then in verses 16 through 18, he speaks of self-exaltation in fasting.

And then, so wisely, the Lord Jesus Christ, he moves to another area that seems like another area, but it's probably not another area at all. He talks about laying up for yourselves, treasures on earth, and then anxiety about your life. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ, when he gets to the part about laying up treasures and worrying about tomorrow, he's really unveiling what was the heart of the matter in self-exaltation and giving and self-exaltation and prayer and fasting. And that is worry. Worrying about your life.

Worrying about your life so that you Do what you do to exalt yourself. You're so worried about how people will perceive you that you will pray, you will give and pray and fast to exalt yourself. So the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of all of these things and it's a disclosure of what happens to you when you want the approval of man. When you fear man and not God. And what it does to you as a Christian, how it makes you act.

And he is talking to his disciples and he's uncovering for them this problem that will arise in their hearts to exalt themselves and to try to present themselves in a way that is not true by doing all these religious things, by putting on an outward appearance when in fact there's this secret sin of self-exaltation that runs behind all of it. And so he's like a good father speaking to his sons about one of the most dangerous things that is before them. That they may want to so protect their reputations that they'll pray and they'll fast and they'll give, but at the bottom of it is just worry about this life. And so they lay up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. And they worry even though God provides for them.

So that's sort of an overview of this whole section here. So let's begin right here in verse one in Matthew chapter six. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. The first thing he says is to take heed. In other words, examine your heart, plumb the depths of your soul, and take heed.

Look inside. Be honest with yourself. And tell yourself what is true about yourself. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before many. Speaking about giving and the motivation for your giving.

You know you can give away thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions of dollars. And if you don't take heed to why you're doing it, then you're in grave danger. It's not the amount that he's speaking of, but it's the heart behind what is given. And so he says to take heed and he just presents all of us with an opportunity to take heed and to examine ourselves. Why Do I give what I give?

Hopefully you give to your local church. Hopefully you've helped the needs of people who are suffering and need sustenance or perhaps you've helped other charitable ministries in your life, but why did you do it? Take heed. Ask yourself tonight, why are you doing that? Why are you giving?

And then this word otherwise tells us really why. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. You know you may have reward from men but you'll have no reward from your Father in heaven. And it's your Father in heaven who is the one that we ought to please. And we're either pleasing ourselves or we're pleasing God.

And all of our actions can be ordered under those two categories. They're either for our self-pleasing or for the pleasing of God. And here he says that you will have no reward from your father. And the implication is he will reward you though, if conditions are different, and we'll get to that in the coming verses. But we so much want people to think well of us, but we have to recognize that God sees what we're doing for the applause of men.

He sees when we are simply serving ourselves. He sees when we're trying to make a name for ourselves. He sees every time we've said thank you very much when we were really just posturing ourselves. He sees when we've been polite, but we've really been full of hatred. He sees when we phrase questions in a winsome way in order to be perceived as gracious when there really was no Holy Spirit developed heart of graciousness.

He sees when we greet someone kindly, but there's no kindness at all in our hearts. But we're only operating under social convention. He sees everything. And so in this first verse, it's very clear that you do what you do either to be seen by men or to be seen by God. Now you will be seen by God without question.

And then in verse 2 he instructs his disciples what they ought to consider. Therefore when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory for men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward." So he's cautioning them about doing their charitable deeds in public to be seen by them. And he speaks of hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets. And He discloses their motivation.

He shows publicly a secret sin. He says that they do it to have glory from men. That's why they do what they do in order to receive glory from men. And then he says that they will be rewarded for that. There is a reward for seeking glory for men.

And that is all you get. The only thing you get is glory from men. And so when you give to be seen, then you will have your reward right here and now. But it will be from men. And really, it will be from the people that you wanted it to be from.

And that's what the Pharisees were being charged with. And then the Lord Jesus says, but, but when you do a charitable deed do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly. So instead of doing the charitable deeds publicly, do them privately, and this illustration of not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Again, Jesus uses this amazing illustration. I mean, the left hands pretty much do know what the right hand is doing, but he's giving an illustration to speak of how much you should consider that.

As if the left hand was not aware of the right hand. That would be a very unusual situation. And he's saying let it be that way. So avoid it in the same way as if your left and your right hand wouldn't know what they were doing. Which is not something that really happens in life but taking it take it to the extreme is what he's saying but but then he says that your father sees in secret your father sees in secret I said at the very beginning that this passage is about secret sins.

We have to understand this wonderful fact that our Father sees all of our secret sins. He understands. He knows our frame And we're always under His watchful eye. But then He says that your father sees in secret, but He will reward you openly. Isn't that interesting?

That God rewards His children openly when they give in secret. The one that is rewarding them is their Father in heaven. So you have two ways of giving, outwardly and secretly, and you have two ways of reward. One way is the reward of men and the other way is the reward of God. And interestingly enough, the reward comes in this earth.

The reward doesn't just come later. It comes now. He will reward you openly. There are ways that God rewards those who give in secret and He rewards them openly but no one knows why. God knows why they were rewarded openly.

But it's interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ promises open reward, but one reward is from man and the other reward is from God, but both rewards are earthly. Okay? In dealing with this matter of charitable deeds, he's exposing a secret sin. He's mentioned the Pharisees here and he'll mention them again, but he's teaching his disciples to receive glory from God and from God alone. Men who are marching to the drummer of heaven, who are looking to him for all of their direction, not for man at all.

And he's contrasting this with the scribes and the Pharisees later on in Matthew, in Matthew chapter 23, verses 27 and 28. The Lord Jesus speaks further about this the Pharisees and he says woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but inside are full of dead men's bones and uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And so he is exposing these two ways of living. Living for the praise of man in contrast with living for the praise of God and God alone, and further, living a life that's real, or living a life that is just an outward sham.

He's saying you can either be real before God or you will be a poser before men. And then he gives another example. The Lord Jesus is so like this. He gives so many examples. He gives one side of a matter and then he gives another side of a matter.

In order to leave no stone unturned, he's a very good shepherd. He helps his people with their sins. He identifies the poison. He puts his finger in the wound. And if you didn't get this part of the wound, then he's going to give you another one.

And we pick that up in verse 5. And he speaks of prayer and how one would exalt himself through prayer." And he says, "...and when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward." The Lord Jesus uses the same application in this matter of prayer. And then He says, But when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. So, He goes from giving in secret to praying in secret.

And this time of going into a secret place, where no one is watching, no one knows what you're praying, no one knows how long you're there, only God knows. It's the entry into the secret place. You know how much we need the secret places as Christians. If you've had seasons in your life where you went more regularly to the secret place. And you know how God uses that in your life.

How in those times, for some reason, God reveals himself to you. He gives you thoughts. He shows you things that you would never know if you did not go into that secret place. He reveals things about you. He shows you things that you ought to do.

He puts people in your mind to call and to pray for. He brings scripture to your mind. He blesses you in those times of secret. And it's a wonder why we are not constantly fleeing to the secret place. Because so much good happens there.

And yet, For some reason, it can seem like a hardship, and so we neglect the secret place. And so here for us, for all who've just heard these words, it's a wonderful opportunity just to reconsider, am I going to the secret place? Am I going to the secret place regularly? Am I missing the blessings from heaven that are there? And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

You go to the secret place and God says that he will reward you openly in the public place. So he's speaking of how we can utter prayers in public places in order to exalt ourselves. Now the Lord Jesus is not arguing against public praying. He's arguing against public praying that has its purpose to exalt yourself. That's what he's speaking of.

The church should gather together and pray together. Men should lift holy hands in prayer in the congregation and pray. It's right and good to pray in public. But the Lord Jesus is saying that God knows your motives. He sees you.

He knows why you're praying. And so He says, go into the secret place. And then in verse 7, He tells His disciples how they ought to pray. And he says, first of all, and when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. So he's speaking about a kind of prayer that's heartless prayer.

It doesn't really arise from a pure heart that is before God. It really is putting on airs and doing anything it can to appear to be godly and by using vain repetitions, just going over and over and this and that, it's babbling, but there's nothing really genuinely from the heart And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying that that his Father sees into the heart. And so he says in verse 8, therefore do not be like them for your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. Here again the Father sees. He knows what you need even before you ask him.

And so he's telling them to refrain from vain repetition. And then he says, in this manner, therefore pray. And here we have the Lord's Prayer, this marvelous prayer that shows us beautiful things to consider in all of our prayers. And He instructs them in how to pray. You know, we need instruction for how to pray.

And we need more than just instruction. And the Bible tells us that when we pray, that the Spirit speaks word, speaks utterances too deep for words, saying things that we don't even know how to say, revealing truth that we don't even know to the Father. He takes our poor and pinched and often wrongly conceived prayers, and God is so kind to us, He changes the prayers and He presents them before God. What a kind Father to do that for us. But here He says, therefore pray in this way, our Father in heaven.

And the beginning of the prayer is very telling. Our Father in heaven. Notice now the secret prayer has turned to the public prayer because it's in the plural, our Father. Now this is a picture of the church praying. In the previous verses it was a picture of the individual praying in the secret place.

And now he turns to the corporate prayer of the people of God. Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. He begins with crying out to God the Father to acknowledge that you have a Father in Heaven. To say what's true about the world and that there is a kind Father who listens to the prayers of his sinful people, and you cry out to him and you say, our Father.

And this is a picture of the whole church saying our Father together. It's a beautiful picture. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He's telling his disciples that they should pray that heaven would come down, that the kingdom of heaven would be seen in the earth, that they should pray down the kingdom of heaven and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven that there would be the kingdom of heaven on earth your kingdom come It is such a wonderful kingdom and what the kingdoms of the world all need is the kingdom of God. What every government of every family needs is the government and the kingdom of heaven.

And each individual heart needs that more than anything else. But when we pray, we pray heaven down. And then we also pray for our needs. Give us this day our daily bread. In other words, to pray for the things that that that are needful for survival.

And in verse 12, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And this is the crying out for forgiveness and also to forgive others. One of the great marks of a Christian is that he's forgiving. He has mercy. He lets people off the hook.

That's what forgiveness is. When you forgive someone, here's how you know if you've forgiven them. Are you ready? You have let them off the hook. You know, you who love to fish know what it's like.

You have this fish that has been on the line and he's been struggling and pulling and running and you finally bring him to shore and you hold him up and you put your hand on the hook and you take the hook out of his mouth and you let him go and He strikes out like a lightning bolt and he's free. That's the picture of forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting the other person off the hook. You know that you've not forgiven when you keep dangling them on the hook. You keep jerking the line.

You keep pulling them in and saying, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, and you never let them off. You may throw them out there for a while, but you reel them back in and you say, do you remember what you did to me? And then you might let them run some more. You bring them back in, and you keep bringing them back in, and you rehearse the offense over and over again. But forgiveness doesn't do that.

Forgiveness brings in the fish, and then lets the fish go free. And this is a prayer that you know why would he why would he have us pray like this? He would have us pray like this because we have this problem. We have a hard time letting people off the hook And so we should pray that God would give us strength to forgive. And then in verse 13, He calls them to pray regarding temptation.

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 then finally this last phrase, these last two phrases in verses 15 and 15, 14 and 15, the Lord goes back to the matter of forgiveness. You might ask yourself, why does he go back to forgiveness again in this whole matter of prayer? He says, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And so this brings us to another one of the more startling truths about the kingdom of heaven and that is that those who have entered the kingdom of heaven, they forgive. And if they have not been able to forgive, it's a sign that they have not been forgiven. It's a very jarring idea that the Lord Jesus Christ is bringing. And he heightens the importance of our relationships. He prioritizes forgiveness and mercy and letting one another off the hook here in in this call to prayer for his disciples.

Again remember this is this is a context of the corporate prayer of the people of God. And the people of God are there together, and whenever the people of God are gathered together, there always have already been opportunities for offenses. And as the people of God are gathering together the Lord Jesus Christ is gathering together to traffic in the ministry of forgiveness that they would be there with there in the congregation with one another They're praying and being reminded of how they ought to forgive their brother who's across the room who maybe didn't treat them right or perhaps sinned against them even grievously. But there they are in the church and the whole ministry of reconciliation of brothers and sisters together is being taken care of in the prayers of the people of God. You know, Does it make you feel any particular way about God and His church, His design for His church?

That He desires forgiveness to be flowing freely in His church. What a wonderful kingdom that is. You know, if you do not forgive, you're tortured. And there's this language in the scriptures of the unforgiven being turned over to the torturers. That's what Jesus says happens to you when you're not forgiven.

But in the kingdom of Jesus, in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ there's forgiveness. There are people who actually let one another off the hook. What a wonderful Kingdom. Could you have conceived of a better kingdom than that? Well, so he, of course he's been dealing with self-exaltation in prayer in the same way that he had dealt with it, first of all, with giving.

And so he concludes this section on prayer and then he brings up a whole nother matter where self-exaltation can be the driving force. And that begins in verse 14 through 18 where he speaks of self exaltation in fasting. And so he says, 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." So in verse 14 he's speaking again of hypocrisy and there are a number of things that the hypocrites do. First of all, they have a sad countenance.

And second of all, they disfigure their faces. And why are they doing it? They're doing it all for outward appearances. They want an appearance. They want to be shown to be something when in fact they're not at all.

They're posing. They're trying to be looking like they're religious. And so, they're disfiguring their faces so that they may appear to men to be fasting. And then he says again as he has the other, in the other two occasions, assuredly I say to you, they have their reward. So again, we're back to the whole matter of reward.

Yes, you can receive a reward in this life. You can have it. Yes, you can have the praise of men. You can get it. And there are certain things that you can do to get it.

And you will have the reward. But who will be the ones giving the reward? Mere men. And that's why the Lord Jesus Christ instructs further, he says, but you, you disciples, but you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face. Now, the Lord Jesus is assuming that his disciples are going to fast.

It's his assumption. He says, when you fast. And he also spoke of the hypocrites, when you fast as well. He's assuming that people will fast. This was a culture of fasting.

We don't live in a culture of fasting today and we've lost something in this non-fasting kind of self-indulgent culture. And where, you know, where obesity is one of the great problems of the American public, we can't even conceive of going without food, especially going without food in order to do battle with the devil and to cry out to God for the blessing of other people. But I think we should just pause and just notice this for a moment that Jesus assumes that His church will be fasting. And it should cause us to ask the question, why aren't we fasting? And we could launch into a long study about fasting but there are many more verses ahead that need to be covered.

But we should reconsider our practices regarding how we deal with food and how we fast. And the Bible makes it very clear that you you fast for urgent matters. You fast for people who are troubled, people who are who are suffering. You fast in order to break the chains of bondage. Do you know anyone in any kind of bondage?

Do you know anyone in any kind of trouble? Do you know a church that's struggling? Do you know a pastor who is having various difficulties or in his family fast? Do you know a daughter or a son who's being torn apart by the devil fast? We fast for urgent matters.

And then he also says the same thing, your father who sees in secret, he will reward you. And he will reward you openly again. So the Lord Jesus Christ is dealing with with the these these issues of giving and prayer and fasting for the sake of self exaltation in order to present a certain kind of religious front to the people that are around, rather than genuineness of heart. And then in verse 19, the Lord deals with a different category, but I think he's still talking about the same subject of worry that drives self-exaltation. Because he says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, or where thieves break in and steal.

He's talking about piling up treasures on earth and so far he's talked about personal treasures, personal capital that you have with other people, the capital that you get by being really religious and you're giving your money and you're fasting, you're praying, you're so active religiously and you're building up capital, you're building up the, it's really just human capital though. It's the capital of man. You're pleasing man. And then he turns to a different kind of capital. And so he says, do not lab for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal." So he's saying that there's, there are treasures to be had And there are two kinds of treasures. There are treasures on earth and there are treasures in heaven. And those who fast and pray and give to exalt themselves are building up treasures on earth. And now he's actually speaking of monetary treasures. Because the heart that wants to exalt itself in human capital will also want to exalt itself in financial capital as well.

And so he turns to this matter. And the heart of the matter is the same. It's worry. It's the desire to have treasures around you to make you feel good about yourself and to prop yourself up by earthly things. And then he says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Do you treasure the human capital and do you treasure the financial capital of this world? Or do you desire treasures in heaven? The favor of your Father and the treasures in heaven. Those are the two alternatives that we have as Christians. And then in verse 22, he continues the same subject and he speaks of, there are, first of all, there are two kinds of treasures in verses 19 to 21.

There are treasures on earth and there are treasures in heaven. But when you get to verse 22, there are two kinds of eyes. And then when you get to verse 24, there are two kinds of masters. And when you get to verse 25, there are two kinds of ways of thinking about your life. And so he's going to compare and contrast these two things.

He's already talked about the pleasing of man and pleasing of God. And then he continues to break it down to help us to see it even more clearly. So after speaking of treasures on earth and treasures on heaven, then he speaks of eyes. There are two kinds of eyes. He says the lamp of the body is the eye.

If therefore your eye is good your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness. Therefore if therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness. So there are two different kinds of eyes. There's the eye that's full of light and there's the eye that is full of darkness. It's the darkness in the eyes that desires the favor of man.

It's the darkness of the eyes that desires the treasures on this earth. But to have light eyes full of light is to have eyes that are turned toward the Father of lights, your Father in heaven and his Son, for he is the light of the world. So there are eyes that are dark and they're eyes of light. I think he's speaking of the fact that the eyes have desires. There's the lust of the eyes right and the eyes see certain things and they want certain things.

And when you look at your brother and you're intent upon his favor, it means that your eyes have been darkened. When you look at your brother and you long for the favor of your Father in heaven, then you have a relationship that is full of light. So there are two kinds of treasures and there are two kinds of eyes and there are also two kinds of masters. That's in verse 24. No one can serve two masters.

For either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. So there are two kinds of masters. You are either serving one of the two at any given time. Time.

And he says that you can't you can't serve both and that you are always serving somebody. That's the idea. This is the way that we're made. We are always either serving ourselves or we're serving our Master, our Father in heaven. And then he speaks of two different kinds of dispositions.

Verse 25, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow. They neither toil nor spin and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven. Will he not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith.

Therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink, or what shall we wear. So the first disposition that he deals with is the disposition of worry. Worrying about your life. Here he lists all the different things that we worry about. After speaking of these, the different treasures, the different kinds of eyes, the different kinds of masters, then in parallel, He speaks of these two different kinds of dispositions toward life.

And this worrisome disposition tells something about you. Now there probably are people who have tremendous struggles with worry. And if you do, you have to recognize where that comes from. Why? Why are you so afraid?

Most of the time it comes from a desire to be exalted in the same way that a person would pray and fast and give in order to exalt themselves, in the same way that a person would lay up treasures on earth in order to prop up their reputation and their prominence in the world. Worry betrays who you really are. In fact, often the ones who give and pray and fast and have the most treasures are also the ones that worry the most as well. And so he's speaking of this whole worry. And then he says there's another way.

He says in verse 32, he says, "'For after all these things the Gentiles seek, "'for your heavenly Father knows you need all these things. "'But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient is the day for its own trouble. So there's the disposition of worry, and then there's the other disposition, seeking first the kingdom of heaven.

Taking your energy, not worrying about tomorrow, but seeking first the kingdom of heaven. Setting your whole disposition toward the kingdom of heaven. Not worrying at all what people might think of you when you fast and pray and when you give or or what your treasures look like or anything like that but ask yourself what kind of eye do you have what kind of master do you have and if you if you do if you do have an eye that is full of light, and if you do have a good master, the Lord Jesus Christ, then don't worry about tomorrow, for each day has enough trouble of its own, but seek first the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." And here the Lord Jesus Christ gives the cure. He tells us how you can keep from wasting your life, how you can keep from spending your life on glorifying yourself and having just the praise of man and not ever having the praise and the help of God. He's helping us deal with the secret sin.

You know, these kind, no one knows if you're giving or praying or fasting for man or God, but God knows. And so the Lord Jesus Christ continues to deal with the heart in the way that the heart deals with religious matters, in the way that the heart deals with temporal matters in terms of money, and how one deals with the worries of this life, the fears that come upon them. And so here the good shepherd is helping his disciples to be at peace, to not fear man at all. The Lord Jesus knows that men will rise up against his disciples. And he's preparing them to trust in him and him alone.

To care only for doing the will of God that day. And trusting God for tomorrow and the next day and the next day. To say it's enough to serve God right now in this moment. I don't need to know the future. I can't control the future and so I'll live today.

You know, I think probably Many wonder what the purpose of their life is. You know, what is their ministry? What is their effect in life? Well, here's one way to think about it. Your ministry is really the next person you meet.

You don't know who you'll meet tomorrow, but you know who you'll meet today. And you shouldn't worry about tomorrow. And you shouldn't worry about pleasing men. You should only consider the pleasures of God in everything that you do. And so here we find the Lord Jesus Christ so so wise so comforting and helping his disciples to understand how they ought to conduct their hearts and how they can keep from wasting their lives through self exaltation.

Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, You are so wise. Your Son has such beautiful words for us. He cuts and He comforts. He helps us to see who we really are.

And he, Lord, we thank you for him as he shows us that we ought to lay our troubles aside, that we ought to forgive one another, and how we ought to seek first your kingdom. Oh, Lord, thank you for giving us your son. Amen.