The summer moon I sighed through,
the clear stream poured away. Dark, dark, it came away like
a daydream. ? In heaven's land ? ? O Christ,
hear the fountain ? ? The great spring well of love ? ? The spring
the herb I planted ? ? For thee I'll drink of love ? ? There
to an ocean full of bliss ? Give mercy and encourage me, I am
a dying woman, and hasten to the throne. I'll bless the hand that bound
it, I'll bless the heart that bled, With all her glory wedded we
wed. He brings the world together
into his house of God. in heaven we stand. Though the days are dark and
the moon a new face, I will Thank you, may we be seated as
we turn to hymn number 22. Where is my faithfulness, O God,
my Father? Where is the shadow of burning
within? Thou changest not, Thy compassions
they fail not. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, born unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars with their courses above, good
will, good nature, infallible witness, Through Thy great faithfulness,
mercy and love, Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see. Praise Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Lord, unfortunately, Thou feed'st
that which is in Your midst. Why no mere presence to cheer
and to comfort? Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning
by morning new mercies I see. All I have need in my hands hath
called my name. Great is Thy faithfulness! Well, I guess there's just one
thing to say and that's Happy New Year. Happy New Year. First day of the year. First
service of the year. Reason to Look back and thank
the Lord for His mercies and His goodness as we've sung that
they're new every day. And to look with prospect. And believers all have a good
prospect for the year. And that is the fact that God
has promised us that He will work all things together for
good. to his people, for them that
love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. Everything
will be on purpose. You ever think about that? In
the life of every person, but especially every believer, everything
is on purpose. God's purpose. Who works all
things after the counsel of his own will. We want to remember
Vicki Parker this morning. She went back in the hospital
with pneumonia and was pretty seriously sick this
week and talked to Roger this morning and he said she's improving
and we are so thankful for that. You remember her in prayer and
Also for my own brother, who's still nursing those broken ribs
and will be for a while, I think. And so you pray for him, remember
him. And also Stephanie, she was supposed
to come out of Carolina Rivers on Friday, but she was tested
positive for COVID on Thursday. Seems like when it rains, it
pours, as we always say. But it's always a shower of grace
and mercy, whether we're able to see it or not, for the Lord's
people and others that are in the nursing home that they have
COVID also. We're glad to see Tamara is back,
and she looks good, healthy. There are others that are sick.
We want to remember them in prayer and ask the Lord's mercies on
them. I won't be able to hang around
this morning after the service. I have a funeral this afternoon,
early afternoon at two o'clock in Bergdahl. So pray for me and
remember me. I try to take that responsibility
and pray for that family also. Let's bow for prayer this morning. Our Father, we are so thankful
that you have given to us the privilege, the privilege of gathering
together this morning and singing these precious hymns to your
glory, to sing as we have in being reminded of your faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Everything in nature and everything
in grace bears a witness and gives a testimony to your faithfulness. And we thank you and we praise
you. We know that you have made all
your promises to your people. to be yes, to be true, to be
fulfilled, yea and amen, in your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise his name this morning,
as that name that is above every name. We pray this morning that
you would help us, that you would quicken us by your spirit, give
us life that is demonstrated by faith in Christ, in believing
your word, we know that everything in your temple glorifies you. In your holy places, in your
assemblies, everything testifies to your glory. And we pray for
these that we have mentioned that are sick, We ask your health,
giving grace, your mercy and your healing hand that it might
be upon Vicki as she's in the hospital and Roger as he seeks
to go back and forth. We pray, Lord, for Benny, ask
your blessings upon him. And upon Stephanie, we ask, Lord,
that you help her return her to some sense of normality soon,
and all those other residents in the rehab center which are
undergoing therapy and all various kinds of sicknesses. We ask all,
for all of them, for that family this afternoon that has lost
a loved one, and we pray that you'd help us as we stand here
this morning. Seek to speak your word, and
in that hour to lift up before maybe some who've never heard
the truth, we pray that you would, in your power, your spirit, move
and work and do according to your will. We thank you for every
blessing of life, everything you've given us in the past year,
everything that you've brought us through, Every time we thought
we were hemmed in and every time we didn't see a way, every time
we were given up hope of everything, Lord, you've reached down and
you did according to your will. And that will was to deliver
us and help us and provide for us and strengthen us and heal
us. Oh, we thank you for all those
blessings of the past year. We pray that you would be with
us in the new year. We say with Moses of old, if
you not be with us, Lord, we don't want to go. But we pray
that you would be to us that cloud that leads by day, that
pillar of fire that directs in the darkness. We ask in all things
that you might exalt yourself and increase our faith. Strengthen
us and help us. As the man cried out, Lord, help
our unbelief. We believe. Help our unbelief. Lord, teach us your ways. Teach us your truth. Cause us
to look to Christ and to Christ alone. Cause us to hear your
gospel. to see what you're saying. We
pray that we might be your people, called by your name, blessed
in your son, and kept by your grace. We thank you for everyone
present this morning. We thank you for every family
that's represented. We pray for those that are away
that you would bless them. Gather us all together, we pray,
in the faith For we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. In your hymnals, once again, number
537. Not I, but Christ. And then, Brother Tim, if you'll
wait on the congregation. I am the wise, the ardent, loving
servant. I am the wise, the saving, loving
leader. I am nice to everyone in action. I am the proudest, the ending,
loving word. Oh, you'll be safe from myself,
dear Lord. Oh, you'll be lost in me. I am ready no more, I hear the
Lord. Oh, now I'm ready to be in Thee. I'm a cry to Jesus in sorrow. I'm a cry I would rise to lift the living
world, but I will fall in the joy of pain. Oh, do we save from ourselves
below, or will we lose our way? I don't make Christ my every
wish for fairly. Hmm. you I'm going to play it again. God of the ages, History's maker, planning our
pathway, holding us fast, shaping in mercy, all that concerns us. Father, we praise you, Lord of
the past. God of this morning, gladly your
children worship before you. trustingly bound. Teach us to know you, always
among us, quietly sovereign, Lord of our now, God of tomorrow,
Strong overcomer, princes of darkness on your command. What then can harm us? We are your people, now and forever,
kept by your hand. Lord of past ages, Lord of this
morning, Lord of the future, help us we pray. Teach us to
trust you, love and obey you, crown you each moment, Lord of
today. Open your Bibles this morning
to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. I'll begin
reading at verse 19. These are the words of Christ. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal. 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. The light of the body is
the eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be
evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. No man can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he
will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take
no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall
drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not
the life more than me and the body than raiment? Behold the
fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor
gather into barns. Yet your Heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast
into the oven. Shall he not much more clothe
you, O ye of little faith? Wherefore, therefore take no
thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles say, For your Heavenly Father knows that ye have need
of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Take no thought for tomorrow. For the morrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. Last Sunday I tried to talk with
you about Christ, who was born King. born king, born the king of kings. And here in our text, and here
on the first day of this year, we have not a suggestion, not
an elective, but a command from the king himself. If you look at verse 33, after
he has said all that he says in the previous verses, things
that we ought to take heart, that we ought to obey, that we
ought to understand, but then he says, but seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness. And all these things shall be
added unto you. If you look over in Mark's gospel, You find that it says, plainly and clearly, concerning
the sovereignty of God's grace in Christ, these words, words
to some in his hearing, words to some in every age. He says, It is given, but unto them it is not given. What is he talking about there? He's talking about this very
thing, the Kingdom of God. Because God's Kingdom is a Kingdom
of Grace. Grace rules the kingdom. And a kingdom that according
to this word, a kingdom that must be revealed. He says, to you it is given to
know, to understand, to be in this kingdom, but to them is
not given. So it's a matter of God's sovereign
grace to give or withhold as he does. We find that in Matthew
11 when it says that Jesus prayed, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent. and hath revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seem
good in thy sight, all things are delivered unto me of my Father,
and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any
man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. It's a matter of God's sovereign
grace. Ephesians 1, 8, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself. When Christ was talking to Peter,
and Peter brought forth from his lips that confession, that
true confession of faith, when asked who that he said Christ
was, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Christ says to him,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. You didn't figure this out. You
didn't see it with the natural eye. You know nothing about it
with the natural understanding. The reason that you know this
and believe this is because my Father has revealed this to you. He's revealed to you the mystery
of the Kingdom. And when you think about it,
it has to be of grace because He says it's given to you. Those who have it, understanding,
knowledge, faith, of this kingdom, they have it because it is given
and it concerns knowledge. It's given unto you to know these
things. It's given to you to know these
mysteries. And that's a word that we find
often in the New Testament. And it is applied to these mysteries
of the kingdom. To you, not to them, it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom. And we have need of
understanding what that word mystery means. It means something
that up to this point you didn't know. It wasn't revealed to you. It wasn't brought to your understanding. It wasn't previously revealed,
not known to us. In other words, it's news to
us. The mystery of the kingdom comes
to dead, blind, dumb, lifeless sinners and God reveals to us
the mystery of the kingdom. That's what Christ told Nicodemus. He said, except you be born again,
you cannot see the Kingdom of God. Except you be born again,
born of the Spirit of God, you cannot enter into the things
of the Kingdom of God. And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 and he tells us this very thing. The only reason that
we know then The only way that we can understand them and know
the mysteries of the kingdom is to the Spirit of God to reveal
to us these things. In other words, he says there
that you in all flesh do not by nature, do not of yourselves
know these things, see these things, value these things, but
God has in His grace revealed them to you, revealed them to
you so that you may do what? That you may know, that you may
have this knowledge, that you might have this understanding
of the things, of all the things that God has freely given unto
us. Not so that you might do, Not
so that you might brag on them, not so that you may engage in
labor to get them, but that you may know and understand the things
that are freely given to us in Christ Jesus. And these mysteries which God's
elect are given to know have to do with this kingdom of God
and they're made known to them by His Spirit through the gospel. If anybody has no interest in
the gospel, if anybody does not know the true gospel, they have
no entering in to the true things of the kingdom of God. We read
in Luke chapter 16 where it was said The Law and the Prophets
were unto John. That's John the Baptist. The
Law and the Prophets were unto John. Since that time, the Kingdom
of God is preached and every man presseth into it. Every one of God's elect. Everyone who's born of the Spirit
of God They take it as the scripture says. They seek to take this
kingdom by force. They have to have it. They have
to enter into it. That's what that means. They
can't be held back by any person or any connection to religion.
They've got to have Christ, the king and the kingdom. Listen
to this in Mark 1. Now after that John was put in
prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God. He wasn't proclaiming works that
they would do. He was proclaiming a gift, the
gift of eternal life. He came preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God and say the time is fulfilled. and the
kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel. The kingdom is characterized
by repentance from all these dead works, repentance from all
the things that are wrong in the error about God as the truth
is revealed. Repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent ye and believe the gospel. The gospel of the kingdom. And then in Luke chapter 7 it
says, For I say unto you, among those that are born of women,
there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he
that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he, greater
in understanding, greater in knowledge than even John the
Baptist, those who have an understanding of the gospel of the kingdom
of God. But look at what he says here
in that 33rd verse. is to be sought and valued above
all these other things that he's mentioned. Things to wear, things
to eat, all the things that the flesh desires, thinks that it
absolutely needs. I'm going to say this morning,
first of all, that you need nothing but Christ. You say, well, I've got to have
food to eat. No, you don't. I've got to have
clothes to wear, or I'll die from exposure in this cold, or
if I don't have this and I... No, you don't. Because whether it is today,
whether it was last Friday, as that young man whose funeral
I'm preaching this afternoon, whenever it is, we all are going
to die. We won't need clothes, we won't
need food, but we will need Christ. We'll need the Lord Jesus Christ. I've called this today First
Things First. And that is exactly what our
Lord is saying here. Seek ye first above all things. May they all pale away into utter
insignificance. May they all be known for what
they're worth, really. They're all going to rot and
rust and moss and they're going to be destroyed. What are they going to mean to
you in that hour? What are they going to mean to
you as you stand before the almighty thrice holy God? What are they
going to mean to you in the moment when you take your last breath
in this world? What are they all going to mean
to you when they place your body in the grave? If you notice here, He says,
seek. Seek this kingdom. Seek to be in this kingdom, which
is to be in Christ. Seek these things that pertain
to Christ. Seek these things that we find
are given to us in Christ. Things that are eternal. Things
that are spiritual. In this kingdom, seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. Do you notice there it doesn't
say seek to be righteous in his sight? Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. His righteousness. That is what he says is righteous,
not what we think or call righteousness. As a matter of fact, the very
best righteousness, humanly speaking, was probably characteristics
of the Pharisees in that day, and our Lord said, except your
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you're going to perish. Boy, they did good. They exhibited fine morality. They labored faithful to a religion. They wore garments to signify
their faith. All these things that you read
about in scripture. the very things that men exalt
and talk about in our day as what is pleasing to God, what
will be acceptable to God. They say, don't you want to please
God? Your best and my best, just like
their best, could never ever please God. Everything we do, everything
we are is characterized by sin. Why? Because we're sinners. Everything we do is sin. You
may do something better than me. You may be morally better
than me. You may be all these things that
religion sets apart as rules and regulations and scales and
levels and all these things, you may be what they call a real
Christian. But all your righteousnesses,
this is what the scripture says, all your righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. As a matter of fact, in both
the New Testament and the Old Testament, it plainly says There
is none righteous, no, not one. Not anybody. Of themselves, born
of Adam, they're not righteous. And that's why the kingdom of
God has to do with righteousness. But not our righteousness. as plainly as it can be said. In Romans chapter 1, the Apostle
Paul, about to set forth the greatest epistle on sound, solid,
the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of grace,
he begins that epistle talking about not being ashamed to preach
the gospel. Why? For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. That's where we learn about the
gospel, I mean about righteousness. We don't learn about it by rules
and regulations and imagining we can do things. There's none
righteous. There's not a righteousness that
God will accept. in a man that's a son of Adam. But he said in the gospel, the
righteousness of God is revealed. That's what we have revealed
when we are brought to know the kingdom of God. That's what all
the subjects in this kingdom have revealed to them and know
and look to as primary, as the biggest thing, the thing to be
sought after and had and all that cannot be gained by their
doing, the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek to know about it. Seek to
understand it. Seek to see how it's in Christ
Jesus. Seek ye first to know that. Don't
worry about all these other things he's spoken about here. God just
takes care of those things for all his people. Don't fret about
them. Don't center your attention on
them. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. Because this kingdom has to do with that gift of righteousness
that Paul talks about in Romans 5. The gift of righteousness. That's what the gospel is about.
That's what Christ coming to this world is all about. That's
what dying on the cross is about. That's what the king sitting
on the throne is all about. The kingdom of God and His righteousness. In Hebrews chapter 1 it says,
But unto the Son he saith. The Father says to his Son, Thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of rock. You know what a scepter is? It's usually like a staff or
something with a figure or a something to signify this king and what
this king is all about, his kingdom is all about. Well, he says here
to the son, thy throne of God is forever and the scepter of
righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. It's all about righteousness.
His righteousness. The gift of righteousness. That righteousness that Abraham
said that God imputes. All that means
is He reckons it. He counts it for such. It's a
righteousness that's in somebody outside of ourselves. All these
words that we read in Scripture that pertain to Christ. They used to say that all roads
lead to London. Well, all Scripture, all the
verses of Scripture in some way lead to Christ, the Lord our righteousness. And it says in Scripture, it
says it's imputed to Abraham. And it's imputed to everyone
for whom the Lord was delivered because of our justification. Because God declared us righteous,
the saints righteous in Christ. And in order to declare us righteous
in His sight, according to His justice, in order for Him to
do that, somebody had to pay our sin debt. Somebody had to
count on our behalf as righteousness. And yet when Paul speaks of his
own people, most of the Jews after the pledge, he said, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. There's
just one problem. Their zeal for God, oh they have
a zeal for God. Their zeal for God is evidently
not what God requires because they are all going about to establish
their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves, they have not bowed to the King
of Righteousness. There's still in rebellion out
there in the kingdom, the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of this
world, but they've never been brought into this kingdom to
bow and to submit to the fact, the reality, that there's only
one righteousness, His righteousness. But God brings His elect, every
one of them. There's no use to saying things
like this, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
unless He raises us from the dead. He says, Lazarus, come forth.
Well, you know Lazarus can't come forth. He's dead. You can't ever submit yourself
to the righteousness of God in Christ. Of your own, you're dead. But when the king, from his son, speaks life into our soul. Gives us the gift of faith. Gives us this new birth. Raises
us from spiritual life. And He speaks words like this,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We
can't help but do so. Because we're brought to realize
we don't have a righteousness. We don't have anything. Somebody said, well I'll tell
you what, I'd never eat at that lady's table. Oh yes you would, if you're hungry
enough. I'd never go to that place. You would if it was the only
place that you could find pardon, peace. It's all bound up in His
righteousness. His glory, His death, His perfection,
righteousness in Him, bowing to the King for the only righteousness. This kingdom is about the crucified
Christ. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. Paul says, for he, he's talking
about God the Father. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, counted him, dealt with him as the sinners we are. Who knew no sin. He knew no sin. He's a sinless
one, that He might be the sinless sacrifice for our sin. Who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Where is the righteousness of
God? In Him instructing us how to live righteously? We ought
to live as right as we can. We ought to obey all his commandments
to us, but we can't. We cannot do it because all we ever did would
not be called or counted in his sight righteousness. But we might be made the righteousness
of God. I think God will accept the righteousness
of God, don't you? That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. I'm not righteous in myself.
I'll never be. Not even close on my best day.
But grace, but this kingdom, but the grace of God And the
gospel of this kingdom has to do with God making us the righteousness
of God in Christ. There was a man who was, he stands like a spotlight. I'm older than most of you, and
I remember when I was a boy. Every once in a while you'd see
some would come to town, maybe a fair or an exhibition or something,
but they would have a car, a trailer, and on the back of that trailer
would be this gigantic spotlight. And you could see that spotlight,
just the beams of it good up in the sky. I always thought
that was so neat. Well, God has brought a man in
scripture to us to be like that spotlight. Shine against every
era of works, salvation, and mixtures of law and grace. Everything
that is mostly preached in our day. And you know what? He was
a thief. That man was a thief. We only
know his name. He's a thief. And he was dying
on a cross for his crime. He was even up to this point,
railing on Christ just like the other thief. But all of a sudden, by a power not his own. He's translated into the kingdom. He's manifesting now as a subject
of the king. He bows before this kingship
and has the audacity to say, with all his crimes that have
brought him to this end physically and naturally, Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom." Well, you've got to be kidding me. Into this kingdom of Christ? How could he ever be a part of this kingdom? How
could he ever be righteous? But this is what the king said,
today you'll be with me in paradise. Well, there's no time to be baptized.
There's no time to do good deeds. There's no time to evangelize.
There's no time to do all this list of stuff that men talk about
always in religion. Christ just said today, you'll
be with me in paradise. How could that be? Because he
had made him righteous in himself. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. If the spotlight is shining on
the Pharisees and the deeds and all that they do, you'll know
that's darkness really. But if it's shining on the light,
His righteousness, His work, His cross death, that's righteousness. Paul in Romans says it so clearly. I love this verse. He says, For
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. What's he just been talking about
in Matthew 6? All that we run after, which
is merely external things. But he says, for the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness. But righteousness. and joy in the Holy Ghost. That's not the health and wealth
gospel we hear nowadays. That's not the good works gospel
that we hear nowadays. The gospel is about His righteousness. You'll never get anything good by working for it, not before
God. It's a gift. It's in His Son. It's the righteousness of God
in Him. All that we have, if we ever
get it, that God will accept, He has to give it. Seeking first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. Is that what you're interested
in? You're still talking about yours. You're still Rest in something
you did. Rest in something you've failed.
Rest in something somebody said about you. Rest in some activity
of religion. No. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God, the King, and His righteousness. That's what the gospel reveals. Our Father, we pray that on this,
the beginning day and Sunday of this year, we might be enabled
by your grace and mercy to put first things first. To obey the
command of the King, do not fret or worry about all these externals,
but to seek first the kingdom of God. His righteousness, His righteous death is all our
hope and all our salvation. We thank you for Him and we pray
in His name. Amen. Thank you.