Sermon on the Mount Iii & Iv — Stephen Kaung

Matthew 6 and the Hidden Life of the Kingdom

Will you please turn to Matthew Chapter 6. We'll begin with the first verse. Take heed not to do your righteousness before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens.

When therefore thou dost arms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory for men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

But thou, when thou dost arms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does. So that thine arms may be in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites.

For they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, so that they should appear to men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee.

And when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as those who are of the nations, for they think that they shall be heard through their much speaking.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as those who are of the nations, for they think that they shall be heard through their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like them, for your Father knows of what things ye have need, before ye beg anything of Him.

Thus therefore pray ye, Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified. Thus therefore pray ye, Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified. Let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done, as in heaven, so upon the earth.

Give us today our needed bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but save us from evil. For if ye forgive men their offenses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you yours.

But if ye do not forgive men their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust spoils, and where thieves dig through and steal.

For lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart. The lamp of the body is the eye.

If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be light. But if thine eye be wicked, thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, or will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. For this cause I say to you, do not be careful about your life, what is your eat and what is your drink, nor for your body what is your put on. Is not the life more than food and the body than raiment?

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not careful therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful about itself. Sufficient to the day is its own evil.

May we have a further word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee, that Thou dost gather us together this morning unto Thy beloved Son. We believe that Thou art with us, and Thou alone can satisfy our hearts.

We bow ourselves before Thee, and look to Thee to speak to us. We pray that Thou wilt open our hearts to Thee, and open Thy word to us, that Thy word may fall unto good ground, that we bear fruit patiently a hundredfold unto Your glory.

Lord, we confess that we are far from what Thou want us to be, and yet we want to tell Thee that we are willing. May Thy Holy Spirit work within us, and bring us to the place where Thou art. May Thy will be done in us as it is in heaven, and we will give Thee all the glory.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We do thank Thee, Lord, for gathering us together this morning. We have been sharing together the so-called Sermon on the Mount. We know that the Sermon on the Mount is spoken by our Lord to His own disciples.

To those who have not only believed in Him, but have also answered His call, and have given themselves to the Lord, allow the Lord to teach them, to transform them, and to conform them to His own image.

So we say the Sermon on the Mount is not giving us a new law for us to keep. The Sermon on the Mount is of grace. Our Lord has first given His life to us, and then He begins to tell us what that life is.

The Sermon on the Mount as the Life of Christ

The Sermon on the Mount actually is a description of the life of our Lord Jesus. He is the heavenly man who has come upon this earth. And He lives a heavenly life upon the earth. He comes to set up His kingdom upon this earth.

He is drawing a people unto Himself, and to transform them as He is. And these will be His kingdom. And these were the people of the kingdom of the heavens. They are the sons of the kingdom of the heavens.

So we do praise and thank the Lord that He is not trying to impose upon us a heavy burden, as if He is setting up a very high standard. And then He said, try to arrive at it. Instead of that, you find He gives us His own life.

And He is telling us how glorious, how powerful is that life. If we only allow His life to live out through us, that will be the way that we will live. So it is a matter of grace. It is a matter of life.

It is a matter of the growing of life. And that is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes. And there we find the emphasis is on our being than on our doing.

Because the Lord said, blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. So you see here that the Sermon on the Mount begins with the emphasis on being and not on doing. The Lord Himself is the personification of the Beatitudes.

Because this is the way that He is when He is upon this earth. He is the one who is poor in spirit. He is equal with God. And that is not something that He grasps at. And yet He emptied Himself. And He took upon Himself the form of a born slave.

Christ’s Humility and the Surpassing Righteousness

And being in the fashion of a man, He was obedient to the Father. Even unto death, and that the death of the cross. And that is the meaning of the poor in the spirit. Now brothers and sisters, naturally we find we are all rich in our soul.

We think that we have a lot in us. We think that we can do a great deal. We are proud of ourselves. Humility is something beyond us. And it takes the life of the Lord Jesus within us. Because His life is a humble life.

It is a life that empties Himself. And because His life is within us, so He is calling us to be like Him. By the working of the Holy Spirit, and the working of the cross in our lives, we are gradually being emptied of ourselves.

And as we are being emptied, then we are being filled with the life of the Lord Jesus. And it is then that we are truly blessed. And that is to say, we are really happy in the Lord. So the beatitude is a description of the life of our Lord Jesus.

And the Lord is telling His disciples, this is what I want you to be. This is the way that you will live upon this earth. And you shall inherit your heavenly inheritance. And also we find in the beatitude, the Lord Jesus tells us, Unless our righteousness surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, we cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens.

What is the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees? It is a righteousness according to the law. Because the scribes and the Pharisees, they try to keep every letter of the law. And yet in doing that, they violate the very spirit of the law.

Their righteousness is something man made. And their righteousness is an outward appearance only. There is no reality within them. They may be deadly right. And yet you find it is legalistic. And it gives them great pride.

So they boast of their own righteousness. They are hypocritic. Superficial. And yet they are critical of other people. And their righteousness make them very proud. And yet in the sight of God, the Bible says our own righteousness is as filthy rags.

They cannot cover your nakedness. And is wholly rejected by God. So as disciples of the Lord Jesus, our righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees. What is our righteousness?

What is the surpassing righteousness? It is something that comes out from within. It is a matter of life. By the grace of God, this life begins to express itself. So it is of the spirit and it is of life.

Beyond what the letter demands, it goes to the very heart. It is the overflow, outflow of the life within. So our Lord used different illustrations. And through these five different illustrations, righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees.

Matthew 6: Hidden Life and Life of Faith

Now these are the things that we have covered during the last two days. Now this morning we will continue on chapter six of Matthew. As you read this chapter, you will find this chapter can be very clearly divided into two parts.

Chapter six from verse one to verse eighteen. It deals with this matter of doing all things in secret. In other words, it tells us of a hidden life. As sons of the kingdom of the heavens, we have a hidden life.

We have a life that is not seen by the world. And yet that life is the very source of what the world can see. And in the second part from verse nineteen to thirty-four, it shows us that this kingdom life is a life of faith.

Now brothers and sisters, we who are the sons of the kingdom of the heavens, we have a hidden life. Because it is heaven living upon the earth. So there is a heavenly part that is not seen as it were.

It is to be seen by God alone. Now often times we find that we Christians tend to live purely a holy and awkward living. It is as if there is not that inward or hidden life within us. It is as if we are just living before man.

Instead of living before God. But as God's people, we need to remember that we have a hidden life. You remember in Psalm ninety-one, verse one. It is said that he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, abides under the shadow of the Almighty.

In other words, we need to live in the secret place of the Most High. Now if we live in the secret place of the Most High, then we will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. This is the secret of our strength in this world.

There is one thing that we really need to seek. We need to seek to live in the secret place of God. Daily we should have that abiding communion with the Father who is in heaven. The more we develop that secret life with the Lord, the more powerful we are able to live on this earth.

And it gives us the only strength that we can live according to the will of God. We remember when our Lord Jesus came to this world. For thirty years he lived a hidden life. We do not know much about that thirty years.

But we know that during those thirty hidden years, what communion he had with his Father, and how much he developed his life before God as a man. And with these thirty hidden years, when he came forth to the public, you find there is such power, such strength there.

So brothers and sisters, we who are the sons of the kingdom of the heavens, we need to develop a hidden life with God. We need to seek his face and to live a life that is face to face with God. And with that kind of hidden life, that will give us the power to live upon this earth.

So our Lord Jesus you find in Matthew chapter six. He begins with an exhortation. He says take heed not to do your righteousness to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens.

Now in chapter five of the book of Matthew, the Lord said your righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees. And here he is still talking about righteousness. But with this righteousness you find he deals with the motive.

That the motive of our being right is for God and not for man. And then he uses three illustrations. First it is giving alms. That is our relationship with the world. And the second is prayer. That is our relationship with God himself.

And the third is fasting. It is in relation to ourselves. In other words you see the three dimensions of life. We who live on this earth. There are three dimensions. We are related to man. We are related to God.

And we are related to ourselves. Now how are we to live on this earth? How are we related to the world? The Lord said giving alms. You know giving alms is considered righteousness. Why? Because our God is the great giver.

Giving in Secret as Righteousness

You know God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And when God gave his son to us. He gave everything to us. He who has given his own son to us. Will he not give us all things? So our God is a great giver.

That is what God is. And as God's people. God wants us to have that spirit of giving. You know naturally we are all receivers. We want to receive, receive and receive. And we are very stingy in giving.

Why? Because we are so self-centered. But as God's own people. He wants us to have that spirit of giving. But as we give. Now what is the motive behind our giving? As a matter of fact. All that we can give is what he has given to us.

And he wants us to give in such a way. That we do it in secret. That we do it not for the sake to be seen by man. If we are helping people. If we are giving to people. In the world you'll find. When they give.

They want people to know about it. They will proclaim it. They will let everybody knows about it. What a generous giver that person is. They want to have some kind of memory for them. And the Lord said now if you give in such a way.

You have already your reward. And your reward is earthly. You will not receive reward in heaven. So when God's people give. We need to do it in secret. Do not let your right hand, left hand knows what your right hand is doing.

Now is it possible? Is it possible for you to give with your right hand and your left hand does not know it? Now of course literally it is impossible. But. It is possible. It means that you do not dwell upon what you give.

Do not be so self-conscious of what good you have done. Because you do it for the Lord. And you do it unto the Lord. And you do it by the grace of God. There is nothing you can boast about. And you do not expect to be known by man.

And to be broadcasted. Because you do it in secret. And your heavenly father who is in secret, he sees it. And he will reward you from above. So brothers and sisters. Our righteousness is not for man to see.

We are not expecting people to praise us. Our righteousness is for God to see. And our father who is in heaven, he will reward us. Now that is in relation to man. Then our Lord Jesus mentioned prayer.

Prayer as Communion With the Heavenly Father

You know prayer is also considered a righteousness. Now if all that we pray for. Is asking the Lord to give us this and give us that. Do you think there is any righteousness in it? If our prayer is like this, we are praying like the nations, the Gentiles.

But we who are the children of God. We have a heavenly father. Who loves us and who cares for us. And he knows what we need. Before we ask, he already knows what we need. And he is already ready to give.

Because he loves us so much. So how should we pray? The Pharisees and the scribes. They love to pray in the synagogues. In their private, they do not pray. But they like to pray in public only. And when they walk on the street.

When they come to the corner of the street. Because the corner is where can be seen by more people. And then they started to pray a long prayer. The Lord said they have their reward. Their prayer does not reach heaven.

You remember our Lord tells us a parable. He said two men enter into the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee. And he goes into the temple. Goes to the front. And then he lifted his eyes. And he said, God I thank you.

Because I fasted twice a week. I give one tenth of my income. And then he looked at the publican that was behind him. And he said, I am not like that person. A sinful man. That is the way he prayed. And then the publican.

He entered into the temple. Way at the back. He dare not lift up his eyes. He beat his breast. And said, oh God have mercy upon a sinner. And the Lord Jesus said. When they go home. The publican is more righteous.

Because the Pharisee is not praying. The Pharisee is reporting. And brothers and sisters. How easy for us to be like that. Often times our prayer is like reporting to God how good we are. Instead of being grateful to God.

As if God needs to be grateful to us. And the Pharisees pray long prayers. And yet in their life. In their hidden life. They are not grateful to God. How terrible things they did. Thank God. We have a father who loves us.

We have a father who cares for us. And before even we ask he knows what we need. So the Lord said when you pray. You enter into your closet. And you shut the door. And you pray to your father who is in heaven.

And your father who is in secret he hears you. Our prayer is for God to hear. Our prayer is to express our dependency upon God. Our prayer is to show that without him we can do nothing. Our prayer is a communion with our heavenly father.

And our prayer is that his will may be done in heaven. So here again you find our Lord Jesus teach us how to pray. This is what we call the Lord's Prayer. And actually it is the prayer that the Lord teach his church to pray.

Of course our Lord Jesus does pray. That way. And he teaches us how to pray. Our father who are in heaven. Prayer is based on relationship. As we pray. We are as children of God. And we are praying to our father who is in heaven.

Because there is a relationship there. So there is a confidence there. There is a prayer with faith. It is not just babbling. It is not just babbling. We are praying with faith within us. Because we know our father.

Even if we pray wrongly. He will answer rightly. Brothers and sisters. When we pray. Do not just pray for ourselves. Because prayer is our righteousness. We are doing something right before God. So our Lord Jesus say when you pray.

First of all you pray. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. And thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In other words. In our prayer we should not be self-centered. We should pray for God's name.

For his kingdom. And for his will. His name is honored in heaven. But his name is not hallowed upon the earth. And we should have this burden. We should take the interest of God as our interest. And we want to pray that his name will be honored in heaven.

All over the earth. Now of course. If we pray truthfully. We want his name to be honored in our own life. That we will not put shame to our God. That the name of God may be honored in heaven. In us. When people look at us.

When people are in contact with us. They can see God in our lives. And they will glorify God. And let his kingdom come. That is to say. We let the kingship of Christ be upon us. And we put ourselves under his rule.

And let his will be done in us on earth as it is here. Now this should be the way we pray. Brothers and sisters. Is this the way that we pray? Or is our prayer just for ourselves? Or for our family? Now how large is our scope of prayer?

What is the priority? In our prayer. If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then all these things shall be added unto us. Then after we have prayed for God's interest. Then we can pray for our needs.

Give us this day our daily bread. Now brothers and sisters. It shows that we depend upon him for our daily bread. Not for the bread for tomorrow. But for our daily bread. And I... Once I read a book on the sermons of Zinzendorf.

And when he preached on the Lord's Prayer. He said give us this day our daily bread. He feels that this daily bread is our spiritual bread. It is not a natural bread but a supernatural bread. To nourish our spirit.

And surely we need it. Forgive us our debts as we forgive others. This is the food for our soul. You know for our physical body we need bread. For the welfare of our soul. We need to have forgiveness.

So we ask the Lord to forgive our debts. Forgive our sins. But on condition. As we forgive others. Dear brothers and sisters. We find among God's people today. There is a condition. And that is among many of God's people.

They have an unforgiving spirit. When our brothers and sisters sin against us. Or when they owe debts to us. That is to say that they do something which is as debts. We will not forgive. And because we have unforgiving spirit.

Remember. God will also not forgive us. You know before we believe in the Lord Jesus. When we repent and ask the Lord to forgive us. When we repent and ask the Lord to forgive our sins. We find that he forgives everything.

His blood cleanses us from all our sins. But remember there is a difference. After you have become a child of God. If you want God to forgive your sins. And your debts. There is a condition. God wants you to forgive others.

If you do not forgive others. Their debts or their sins. God will not forgive your debts or your sins. Now this is a difference. And this is something that we need to remember. So from our hearts we have to learn to forgive.

We who have been forgiven so much. How can we hold back or hold on to what our brothers and sisters owe us. You remember the story of Peter. One day he came to the Lord and said Lord. If my brother sins against me seven times.

And I forgive him. Do you think that is enough? And the Lord said. I do not say seven times. I say seven times seventy. Brothers and sisters. This is something that we need to learn. And if we forgive others.

Then our soul will be healthy. And then lead us not into temptation. And deliver us from evil. That is for our spirit. That we will not enter into temptation. And rather be delivered from the evil one.

So this is a prayer that the Lord teaches us to pray. Now brothers and sisters. Pray in secret. Does not mean that we should not pray in public. You find that corporate prayer is very important. We need to have our private prayer.

In secret. But we also need to pray. Even in public. And yet praying in public does not mean. That we come out of our closet. We are tempted to do that. Because when we pray in public. Probably we are very conscious of the people around us.

And because we are conscious of their presence. So unconsciously you find we try to pray in such a way. That will be more beautiful. To impress other people. Now if we do that. We are like the scribes and the factors.

Our righteousness does not surpass their righteousness. So even in public prayer. May the Lord deliver us from being conscious of people. In our spirit we are as if in the closet. And there we communion with our Lord.

Pour forth our hearts before Him. Then our Lord Jesus tells us about our relationship to ourselves. And that is fasting. Now what is fasting? In the scripture we are told fasting is to afflict our soul.

In other words we have such a burden. Or we are facing with such a crisis. And we deny ourselves to the extent of giving up our legitimate food. So that we may concentrate on praying before the Lord. So it is afflicting our soul.

It is between us and the Lord. It is not for people to see. You know the Pharisees when they fast. They purposely put on a fashion. Telling people see I am fasting. And people will praise them and say how pious they are.

The Lord said don't do that. And when you fast wash your face. Comb your hair. Because you are fasting before the Lord. And the Lord in secret He will see it. And He will answer your prayer. So here you find that section is on a hidden life.

We need to have a hidden life before the Lord. We live for God. And our motive is pure. Our heart is in heaven. Then the Lord began to continue with a secret life. This is the second part. The second part on this matter of the life of faith.

The Kingdom Life of Faith and Heavenly Pilgrimage

Now kingdom life is a life of faith. Often times we think only a very few chosen people they should live a life of faith. But brothers and sisters this is a misunderstanding. According to the word of God every believer every disciple of the Lord every son of the kingdom lives a life of faith.

Why? Because God has already called us out of this world. He has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His Lord. So far as the world is concerned we who live in this world we are strangers and sojourners.

We are just passing through. So when we are passing through this world we are aliens so far as the world is concerned. Like Abraham he sojourned in the land of promise and he lived in tents. In other words you find he realized that he does not belong to this world.

He lives in tent. It is only temporarily. He is just passing through. He is looking for that place that city with foundation whose architect and constructor is God. Now this is a life of faith. So every believer lives a life of faith.

We are not earth dwellers. We are heavenly people passing through this world. Now for such people the only way to live is to live a life of faith. So dear brothers and sisters let us correct our concept.

It is not that only a chosen few they live a life of faith. They have no other business. No other occupation. And they just look to God to supply all their needs. They live a life of faith. But we, we have our own occupation.

We supply our own needs. We do not need to live a life of faith. Brothers and sisters this is wrong. Every believer every one of us here live a life of faith. Why? Because we are a heavenly people. Our heart is in heaven.

Heavenly Treasures and the Heart’s Allegiance

So to live a life of faith you begin with do not lay your treasures upon the earth. Now what is the treasure? In the original the treasure is treasures plural number. Lots of treasures. Sometimes we think the treasure is money.

So sometimes we interpret this verse and say now lay not your money on this earth. Lay not your money for yourself on this earth. Because there is the moth, there is the rust and there are thieves. But actually what is said here is more than money.

Treasure includes everything that you love. Everything that you depend on. Everything that you trust in. Everything that means life to you. Now it can be money. It can be fame. It can be position. Or it can be people.

Maybe your grandson is your treasure. He is your life. Brothers and sisters if we lay our treasures for ourselves upon this earth you know what will happen? You find your heart is where your treasure is.

You are being bound by your treasure. And because of this you find your heart instead of being in heaven your heart is on earth. So the emphasis is not the treasures. The emphasis is on the heart. Dear brothers and sisters God wants our heart.

In Proverbs you find it says my son give me your heart. And then you will delight in my ways. Why is it that we do not take delight in God's ways? It is because our heart is somewhere else. If our heart is given to the Lord then our eyes will delight his ways.

So what the Lord really wants is our heart. Where your heart is is where your treasure is. So it is for this reason that God commands us to lay our treasures in heaven. That is to say we offer what we consider as treasures to God.

Just like Abraham he offers only some Isaac to God. Because that is his treasure. And he is willing to offer it to God. And because he did that you find he looked for the cities with foundations. He was not being tied down by anything on this earth.

Brothers and sisters when we hear this word do you find it very difficult? Ah, the Lord wants all my money. If I give up all my money how can I live? Don't worry about that. This is not what the Lord is after.

The Lord is trying to deliver you from anything that tied you down. The Lord wants you to give yourself totally to Him. Your heart is in heaven. Your heart is with God. And that is what God is really after.

The Rich Young Man and Total Surrender

Now how God will do with your treasures? It's up to Him. You remember that rich young man? He came to the Lord with such sincerity Good master. What can I do to inherit eternal life? The Lord looked at him.

The Lord loved him. The Lord said keep the commandments. What commandments? Honor your parents and so on and so forth. And the young man said I keep them from my youth. He keep the letter of the word.

And yet he violated the spirit of it because he is very rich. His riches has captured his heart. The Lord wants to deliver him. So the Lord said sell all you have. Give to the poor. Then come and follow me.

He couldn't do that. By himself he cannot do it. But then immediately follow him. There is another rich man. He is an older man. He is probably richer than this young man. That cares. The tax collector.

And yet you find when the grace of God comes upon him without being asked he said I will give half to the poor. Whatever I have done wrong I will pay for it. That's grace. So brothers and sisters do not be afraid.

Just give your all to the Lord. Lay it up in heaven. And then you are his stewards. Do whatever the Lord wants you to do. For instance you remember the story of C .T. Studd. He is one of the seven missionaries from Cambridge that come to China.

He was a millionaire. But he was led by the Lord to give up everything he had. And he came to China. Later on to India. And finally to Africa. God greatly used him. Another person that I know of Lady Ogle.

When I met her she was a millionaire. But she lived for God. She said all mine is the Lord's. I'm only a steward. Dear brothers and sisters that's what we are. Whatever the Lord has given to us is his.

It's up to him to decide. But thank God his grace is always sufficient. So do not try to lay a treasure for yourself upon this earth. Now by the way I may put in a few more practical words. Do you mean to say that I have to give everything to the Lord and not provide for my family?