“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” -Matthew 6:5-6

A phrase ought to be noticed and considered in the verses above: that those who pray in front of other people “have their reward.” That is to say, they are only praying to be seen of other people—that they may appear holy or devout. Yet their prayers themselves are empty, and go unheeded to God—they have already received the reward of their prayers, and they have already obtained the goal of their prayers right there on the spot: they simply wanted to be seen of men. No further action is necessary on God’s part.

Yet those who cry out to God in secret, with tears that only God can see, store up for themselves future blessings and answers to prayer. Those that genuinely cry out to God will see their prayers answered by God Himself. Such true prayer is not meant to be seen of men, and the Bible says that God will in turn openly reward and answer such requests in a divine fashion.

“They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” -Psalm 126:5-6

“Let thy child’s first lesson be obedience, and the second will be what thou wilt.” -Benjamin Franklin

The principle is simple: teach a child how to listen and obey authority, and once this lesson is learned, the parent is free to move forward with more advanced lessons.

A parallel with God

We ought to see how it is with earthly children, and recognize that it is the same way with ourselves as children of God. Our Heavenly Father is trying to teach us to trust and obey Him, and from there move on to many other exciting things that are in His will. Yet it is crucial that we learn obedience: for it is the key to usefulness in the Christian life.

So often we are looking ahead—at all the plans and possible callings that God may have for us in the future—and yet we are failing at the most basic tests and proofs of obedience. God is looking at our everyday life, and our private conduct, and judging and weighing the actions and attitudes of our heart for obedience. If we cannot even follow the simplest and most straightforward of commands—such as “love thy neighbor as thyself”—then how can we ever expect God to entrust us with even greater callings?

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” -Luke 16:10-11

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” -2 Corinthians 7:10

The apostle Paul describes here two kinds of sorrow: a godly sorrow that makes a person face up to their sins and faults, and brings them to a turning point where they are saved; and a sorrow of the world that only focuses on the wrongdoing, and gives no hope for release or freedom.

Two sorrows illustrated

These two sorrows are clearly illustrated in the lives of two of Jesus’ disciples: Peter, and Judas. Both men left Jesus, and in a way betrayed Him (though Judas’ betrayal was much worse).

• Peter denied Christ before men three times, and eventually fled while Jesus was being condemned and crucified.

• Judas led the scribes and Pharisees to Jesus’ secluded prayer spot, and had Him arrested—and He was eventually killed because of Judas’ betrayal.

So here are two men, and after their betrayal, they each had sorrow. Yet we can see the results of their sorrow in how their lives turned out.

The Bible says that following Peter’s backsliding, he “went out, and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62). This is that godly sorrow that works repentance: for the result of his sorrow can be clearly seen on the day of Pentecost, when Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost, and preached perhaps the first ever Christian sermon—confirming not only his own salvation, but also adding unto the Lord about 3,000 other converts.

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. . . . Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” -Acts 2:38-41

In the case of Judas, he also was made very sorry for his sins, and yet it was not the godly sorrow that had worked so mightily in Peter’s life, but it was the sorrow of the world—a devilish sorrow—that works only death, and hopelessness, and despair. “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. . .” (Matthew 27:3-4a).

Yet we see shortly thereafter the effects of Judas’ hopelessness:

“And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” -Matthew 27:5

“And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” -Luke 14:18-20

In the above verses, we see a series of excuses given by the various people that were originally invited to a great feast. In Jesus’ parable, the feast represents the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and those that are invited would thereafter enter into eternal life.

So, we can see from the parable the various excuses that people might put forth for not believing the gospel and living a life that is consecrated for God. Jesus describes three such types of people:

• First, we have a person that has just bought a piece of land, and he wanted to go and see it. This represents those people who get caught up with material things, and the wealth of this world, and do not treasure the things of heaven. “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20-21).

• Second, Jesus tells of a person who has bought five yoke of oxen, who wanted to go see how capable they were of doing work. This represents those that get caught up in busyness and work, and get distracted by lesser pursuits, and things inferior to the employment for the kingdom of God. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

• Third, there is the person who has just recently been married. This represents those that are distracted by pleasures and lusts and selfish desires, and do not see the eternal value of God’s heaven. “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

A common thread

All of these excuses share a common thread, one that afflicts many people even today, and prevents them from believing the gospel, and going to heaven. The common thread between all distractions is simply that those who are invited to God’s heaven do not see the value in His invitation. This is the essence of a lack of faith.

Faith sees what is invisible. If this is true, then those who have faith in God have the ability to see the eternal promises of God, and to act accordingly. If we truly caught an inward glimpse of the goodness of God, and the glory of heaven, all other things in this world would seem empty and vain by comparison. If we truly had a strong faith in God’s words, we would not be so easily distracted or sidetracked with the cares of this world.

Suppose a fire alarm went off: if we truly believe that there is an impending fire, we would immediately move ourselves toward the exit of the building in haste. If we were thoroughly convinced of the urgency of the alarm, we would not be distracted by anything else that could possibly come across our path. Our hearts would be fixed upon the one true important thing that we must do. So too is it with heaven, when we hear the fire alarm of hell, and are convinced of the urgency of pressing instead into God’s kingdom in heaven.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. . . . Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. . . . By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” -Hebrews 11:1, 3, 8-10

“When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.” -Leviticus 4:14-15

An interesting thing is noted about the animal that was to be sacrificed for the sin offering for the people: the elders of the people were to lay their hands upon it while the animal was being killed.

We quickly gloss over such a detail, but to the people it may have been a much more dramatic and perhaps unsettling picture. In the animal’s death, it shows how God’s justice is being satisfied, and showed what the people themselves deserved at the hand of a just God.

In the elders’ placing their hands upon the bull, it was as if God wanted to show them that they were transferring their sin unto this animal—and shortly thereafter it was to be sacrificed.

This symbolism begs the question: what would happen if the people did not have a sacrifice to bear their sins?

Surely God was showing all the people that the just punishment of sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Today, we have another sacrifice, the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). In Him, in this one perfect and complete sacrifice, all the sins of mankind were laid upon Him, and He was killed in our place.

In a way, then, we have a way to heaven, in that, if we will humble ourselves and acknowledge our great sins, we may reach out to Jesus, and lay our hands upon this Lamb of God. We have a privilege of inestimable value, that we may reach out unto this sacrifice, and have Him carry the load of our sins.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” -Isaiah 53:5-6

“Men hate those to whom they have to lie.” -Victor Hugo

If men hate those to whom they have to lie, then who in this sinful world would be more hated than God? For man’s deeds are so often evil that in order to save face he must hide what he has done, both from his own conscience, and from God.

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” -John 3:19-20

Yet the Bible tells us that to be at peace with God, and to be at peace with ourselves, we ought to both confess our own wrongdoings, and turn from them. In so doing, we have no need to be deceptive before God, and we are able to keep things honest; and it is in this honesty that love can flourish.

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” -Proverbs 28:13

“And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy.” -Exodus 40:9

Notice the last five words of the verse above: “and it shall be holy.” These five simple words describe the outcome of God’s anointing—His spiritual presence—upon the tabernacle. The anointing oil in the Old Testament is used to represent God’s Spirit, and here we see that something is anointed with oil, and thereafter “it shall be holy.”

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, purity and holiness are related, by different. Holiness is nothing more than to be set apart for God’s service. Yet to serve God, it would also imply that one would also need to be pure, for oil does not mix with dirt.

Surely, if we are filled with the filth and pollutions of this world, (in our heart, and as our treasures), then God will not see it fit to anoint us with His oil. In the same way, God’s Spirit does not mix with the spirit of this world, nor with the flesh.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” -Galatians 5:16-17