You and I are going to have a heart-to-heart talk
regarding just seven verses
found in that great sermon,
the greatest sermon that was ever preached,
and it was preached by Jesus himself.
And if you want to know what Jesus is really like,
if you want to know something about his personality,
study this great sermon.
It begins with the fifth chapter of Matthew.
Continue through this masterpiece.
For a few minutes of the day,
I'm going to read the first seven verses
of the sixth chapter of Matthew,
but it's a part of this great sermon.
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men
to be seen of them.
Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father,
which is in heaven.
Therefore, when thou doest thine alms,
do not sound a trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues
and in the streets,
that they may have glory of men.
Verily I say unto you,
they have their reward.
But when thou doest alms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
That thine alms may be in secret,
and thy Father, which seeth in secret himself,
shall reward thee openly.
And when thou prayest,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are,
for they love to pray,
standing in the synagogues,
in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you,
they have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet.
And when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father, which is in secret.
And thy Father, which seeth in secret,
shall reward thee openly.
But when ye pray,
use not vain repetitions,
as the heathen do,
for they think that they shall be heard,
for they are much speaking.
If I had no comment to make whatsoever,
if I just gave you the Scripture,
just as I have read it from the Word of God,
you would have something so deep,
so wonderful, so practical,
that you would have enough spiritual food
to last you for a long, long time.
And it's just like that.
I want you to see something that's very marvelous.
When Jesus says something,
he never wastes one single word, not one.
Now we come to that part of his sermon,
which deals with the relation of man to God.
And in this sermon, in this part of his sermon,
Jesus lays down a fundamental principle.
And the principle is first applied
in the matter of the giving of alms,
the matter of prayer,
and the matter of fasting.
And these three are the three great means of grace.
I repeat them.
They're all three given right here
in the portion of the Word of God
that I have just read to you.
And these, remember,
are the three fundamental principles,
the giving of alms,
prayer, and fasting.
These are the three great means of grace.
And before he gives them,
he begins by saying, take heed.
In other words, he's giving a warning.
Oh, sure, I've taught you before
that whenever Jesus begins a statement
with barely, barely,
we know that something very important
is about to be said.
In other words, he says,
now, pause just a minute.
I'm about to say something very important.
But he begins this part of his sermon
by saying, take heed.
I'm giving you a warning.
Stop.
What I'm about to say is a warning to you.
Take heed that ye do not your alms
before men to be seen of them.
Otherwise, ye have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven.
And there are thousands of people
who are getting their reward
right here and now.
And in that day when they stand
in the presence of Almighty God,
they will find out that they stand there
and empty-handed because they had
the wrong motive in their giving,
in their praying, in their doing,
in their sacrifices, in everything.
After all, it's the motive in the heart.
And Jesus knows the motive.
He sees the motive.
A man can fool you.
A woman can fool you.
But there's one that we cannot fool.
And that one is God Himself.
Behind every act is a motive, a reason.
And God and God alone knows the motive,
the reason behind our every act.
And He says, I'm giving you a warning here.
Take heed that you have the right motive,
the correct reason for doing
that bit of righteousness.
In the giving of your alms,
be sure that you're prompted
by the right motive.
If you are doing it to be seen of men,
then, my friend, you have your reward
right here on earth.
And there's many a precious person
who's going to be disappointed
when they get home to glory,
and they find that they have laid up
no treasures above because they've gotten
the whole thing right here on earth.
That's what it means.
That's it.
I want you to see that because it's very marvelous.
The proof of our human relationship
to God in this world, right here and now,
is the giving of our tithes and our offerings.
Not only the giving of our material things,
but even of ourselves,
because there is a giving
that goes beyond the giving of the material.
There is a giving that goes beyond
the giving of the tithes and the offerings.
The greatest gift, the richest gift
that a human being can give
is the giving of their very blood,
their very life,
the strength from their bodies,
their very body.
That's the reason why we talk of giving.
And when Jesus talks about even the giving of the arms,
there is a giving that goes beyond
the giving of the material.
The richest gift possible,
the greatest gift possible,
is the giving of one's self.
You know, it is absolutely a fact
that love is something you do.
It is a proven fact.
You cannot love without giving.
It's impossible.
We're constructed that way.
When the great Creator created man,
He set up the mechanism so that
man cannot love, really love,
without giving.
I guess I'm a funny sort of a preacher.
In all of these years, those who follow my ministry
will admit that I have only preached on tithing
not more than twice.
There are thousands who follow this ministry
who have never heard me preach not even one sermon on tithing.
I say to myself, well, now, surely before this month is over with,
I'll find time to preach a sermon on tithing.
I should preach it because in the Bible it's the word.
And maybe next Sunday I'll preach on tithing.
And then when next Sunday comes,
there's so much to preach about in the Word of God,
I think, well, I'll wait until Tuesday,
and then maybe Tuesday I'll preach on tithing.
Then when Tuesday comes,
I have found something that's so rich and so wonderful.
I found a secret in the Word of God that has thrilled me so
that I postponed that sermon on tithing,
and then six months have come and gone,
and a year has come and gone,
and in my word I still haven't gotten to the place
where I've preached on tithing.
And the amazing thing is that practically everyone
who is a part of this ministry and who follows this ministry
tithes regularly.
And yet they've got a pastor, they've got a preacher,
they have a leader who just hasn't preached on tithing.
Why?
Because I have found out that if you preach Jesus,
if you lift up Jesus, if you give the truth of the Word,
if those who are hungry for the Master love Him enough,
you don't have to preach on giving.
You don't have to force people to give.
I'm going to say something that probably you'll flinch
a little bit on this, and you'll wish I hadn't said it,
but I'll be glad I did say it because it's the truth.
I never could quite understand when in the average church today
that ever so often they organize a committee
who goes around to all the members of the church
and takes pledges so that they can raise the budget
and meet the budget.
And they burden their people with a budget that has to be met
and hound the people for money to pay the preacher's salary.
I still contend that if the man in the pulpit,
the one who stands behind the sacred desk,
will feed his people and preach a positive gospel
where his people will see the reality of the power of God,
and Jesus becomes real to them,
and they get a deep, glorious spiritual experience,
and they love the Master enough.
You'll never have any material problems
in your congregation, in your church.
I said a mouthful, but that's a word of God.
It works just like two and two makes four.
When you love enough, you automatically kill.
It's true.
I've seen some of these stingy old codgers,
an old bachelor who for years has been so tight
he wouldn't even buy himself a decent-looking suit.
I mean that.
Oh, he was so tight.
He wouldn't part with two bits unless he had to.
And then suddenly he falls in love.
Oh, I've seen men change so quickly,
almost instantaneously, when they fall in love.
And falling in love can turn an old stingy miser,
an old stingy codger,
into the most generous soul you ever saw in your life.
What is love?
What made the difference?
Love.
What transformed an old stingy guy
into a generous gentleman?
Love.
Love will work miracles.
Love is something you do.
And the proof of our human relationship to God in this world
right here and now
is the giving of our ties, the giving of our offerings,
the giving of ourselves.
Just plain giving.
Now watch.
The power that creates the giving is prayer.
And it's just like that.
You will never be that kind of person
where you will love enough
to give him all that you have.
When giving is no longer a sacrifice,
you will never reach that place in your experience, in your life,
where you'll go beyond even the giving of the material
and the giving of your very blood, the giving of your very life,
the giving of the strength, the giving of the body
unless you have a deep spiritual prayer life.
And the kind of prayer life that I'm talking about
isn't the kind of prayer life
that you had in just praying in public.
There's many a preacher
who stands in public
and prays so long
and so loud
until you're quite sure he's just catching up
on all the praying that he has failed to do
in the past month.
Because had he come into the service all prayed up,
he wouldn't have to do so much praying publicly.
And it isn't the public prayers
that are the most powerful.
You want to know something?
It's in that secret place
when the door is shut,
when you and I are to really do our praying.
And praying is not just a matter of us talking to God,
but God talking to us.
Sometimes I think that from the time I awaken in the morning
until I walk off the platform, I never shut my mouth.
I just keep talking and talking, but I'll confess to you,
there's a time when I do keep quiet.
And that time is when I go home
and there isn't a soul in the house
and I shut the door
and I shut my mouth.
And I get quiet before my march.
And I say now, Lord, I've talked all day.
I haven't been quiet all day.
I'm going to get very quiet.
I'm not going to say a word.
Now you talk to me.
Do you want to know how I get my sermon?
Or as the painter asked me the other day, Ms. Kuhnman,
when do you do your studying?
I'm telling you now.
When the door is shut,
the world is closed out
and I am alone with him.
That's real praying.
Amen.