Okay, this morning then we're
going to go back to Matthew chapter 6. As I normally do, I try to
find a verse to use for a title to the message. And of course
that verse this morning will be verse 33 of Matthew 6. Let's
read that one more time. But, well it's a big word right
there, B-U-T, but, seek ye first the kingdom of God. The kingdom
of God. Now, He's not talking about a
physical kingdom. He's talking about a spiritual
kingdom. And His righteousness. Now, underscore those two words.
His righteousness. His righteousness. Now, what
is this talking about? It's talking about the righteousness
provided in the gospel. And all these things shall be
added unto you. So, verse 33 will be our title
verse. Seek ye first Kingdom of God,
and His righteousness. Now, in these verses from verse
19 in Matthew 6, down through the end of the chapter, we're
going to look at these verses again. What is the Lord teaching
us here? Seek the Lord Jesus Christ for
all of salvation. That's what He's saying. Rest
in Him, because all redemption from sin and all righteousness
that is revealed is revealed only in the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's only found, redemption is
only found in Him who put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Our redemption and righteousness
is only found in Christ who honored the law of God for us. Remember
we studied in Matthew 5 verse 17? Remember that verse? You
remember that verse, right? Can I remember it? He came not
to destroy the law, but he came to fulfill the law of God, came
to honor the law of God. And in doing so, he worked out
for us a perfect, justifying righteousness before God, by
which we stand in Christ complete. And that's why old Saul of Tarsus,
after he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ in saving mercy,
said, O that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if we
are blessed of God this morning to lay hold upon the precious
and truthful words of our Lord to us, it will go a long way
in helping us in our anxious, fretful worry about many things
of which the most part, and for all the part, we have no control
over. You don't have any problem with
anxiety, worry, or cares, right? You've got that all under your
belt, right? We all have anxiety and anxious
care about so many things. But I hope we'll be all inspired
by the Lord's words here to trust him at all times for all things,
not only temporal things, but eternal things, not only physical
things, but most especially spiritual things in Christ Jesus. Remember Psalm 62, I call that
the only Psalm because it keeps saying over and over again, He
only, He only, He only. Psalm 62 says, In God is my salvation,
my glory. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. So trust Him when things are
going well. Trust Him when things are going
well and trust Him when things are going bad. But trust Him
at all times. And then the wise man Tholom
said, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not to
thy own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and
He'll direct your path. I want His direction, don't you?
Now, we have three different things we're gonna talk about
today. The first one is found in verse 19 down through verse
21. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon the earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves
break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure
in heaven. Treasures in heaven where moth
and rust has no influence, no corrupting influence, where thieves
cannot break in or where thieves cannot steal. For where your
treasure is, that's where your heart is. That's where your heart
is. So, our Lord's wise and gracious
words. He warns us here about setting
our heart on the things in this world that will one day very
soon perish. Perish. We read in 1 Corinthians
7 verse 31. They that use this world, not
as abusing it for the fashion of this world, is passing away. We should put a value upon everything
in this life as we will value it in the day when we leave this
life, in the day when we enter into eternity. Now hold your
place here and let's turn to a couple of scriptures behind
2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 15. For all things are for your sake,
that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many
may redound to the glory of God. For the which cause we think
not, though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. For our light affliction, but
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
way to glory, while we look not at things that are seen, but
the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen, they are
eternal. So don't set your heart on these
things that are perishing. Another scripture to help us
here, find 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, you'll remember
this from our recent Bible study. 1 Timothy 6, verse 6. 1 Timothy 6, 6. Godliness with
contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we're going to carry nothing out. Having
food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that will be
rich fall in temptation, snare into many foolish, hurtful lusts,
would drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted
after, They have erred from the faith, pierced themselves through
as many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things, follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
meekness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal
life, whereunto thou art also called and professed a good witness,
a good profession before many witnesses. So set your heart
on things above, not on the things not on the things of this earth.
Let me read this one to you. Don't turn to this one. You're
familiar with this one. In Colossians chapter 3, he writes
this, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set
your affection, your heart, your mind on things above, not on
the things of this earth. For you are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. Old Martin Luther, the old reformer,
said, what man truly loves, that's his God. What a man truly loves,
that is his God. In the book of Proverbs, in chapter
30 of Proverbs, let me read this to you. And I was reminded of
this verse in Proverbs 30. God gave Solomon much wisdom. When he was anointed king, you
remember Solomon prayed to God for wisdom. He said, I'm just
a young child. I don't know how to go in. I
don't know how to come out. Give me wisdom. And he writes
this. This is God writing through him.
Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty
nor riches. Feed me with food which is convenient,
which is good for me. Lest I be full and deny thee,
and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal,
and take the name of the Lord in vain." So, neither give me
poverty nor riches, but give me faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Give me faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, the second thing that he
brings to our attention here, in verse 22, 23, and 24, the
light of the body is the eye. What you see is the light of
the body is what you see with your eye. If therefore the eye
be single, or if you have 20-20 vision, if you have good vision,
the whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye be
evil, or if your eye doesn't work, if your eye is darkened,
if you're blind, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If
therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, How great is
that darkness? Then verse 24, it said, No man,
no man, this is no man's land. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him. No man can serve two masters,
two lords. 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, you cannot. serve God and another God, whatever
it may be. Mammon is given here, and that
was those who had confidence in their wealth. The Lord Jesus
Christ is also teaching us here about the singleness and sincerity
of heart with one mind, one will, one thought, setting our sights
only upon Him who is our light. You remember he said in John
8, verse 12, I am the light of the world. He that follows me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The light of life. Now, hold your place there and
turn back again to 2 Corinthians, this time chapter 11. 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. By nature, we're in the dark.
By nature, we're blind to the things of God. He must command
the light of the gospel to shine in our hearts. 2 Corinthians
11. Verse one, would the God you
could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with
me, for I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. Second Corinthians 11, you got
it? Verse three, but I fear less by any means as a serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. That word simplicity
means oneness, singleness of mind. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus, whom we've not preached, or if you've received
another spirit, which we've not received, or another gospel,
which you've not accepted, you might well bear with me." Only
with Christ in the gospel. You see, He must command the
light to shine in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. He said, for we preached not
ourselves, But Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servant
for Christ's sake. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. If for I be the eye of
faith, If our eye be good and right, looking to Christ for
all of salvation, the motive, the love, the purpose, be set
on Christ, His gospel, His glory, the believer will be full of
Christ our light. For He has called us out of darkness
into His marvelous light, that we might see the glory of God
in Christ. If our eye be evil, that is,
if our motive is wrong, evil, our love is wrong and evil, and
our purpose would be evil, If our eye be evil, everything else
will be evil. If the only light we have is
evil, darkness, how great will that darkness be? Now, there's
a good Scripture to help us on that point. Turn to John chapter
3. John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Look at verse 18. He that believeth
on Him, on the Son, John 3, verse 18, is not condemned, but he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the Son of God, the only begotten Son
of God. This is condemnation, that light is coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
are evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hates the light, neither comes the light, lest his deed be reproved. But he that doeth truth, or knows
the truth comes to the light. that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought of God." This is the work of God, that
you might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember they
asked Him, what can we do that we might do the works of God?
And He said, this is the work of God, that you believe on Him
whom He had sent. May God give us a single eye
of faith to look only to the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot,
and then verse 24, Matthew 6 verse 24, There's no exception to this
rule. No man, no person can serve two lords. For he'll either hate
the one and love the other or else he'll hold to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God or anything
else. You cannot serve or worship a
true and living God with a divided heart. Can't do it. You can't
have two lords. Can't have two gospels. Christ
will be absolute Lord over all things in your life, or no God
at all. May the Lord be pleased to work
this into our thoughts, our wills, our heart, and our affection,
to only look to Christ for all of salvation. To love Him, and
if we love Him, it's only by His grace. May God give us a
heart to love Him and to hate that which is evil. May God give
us faith to believe the truth and hate that which is false.
David writes, through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore
I hate every evil way. To love Him and hate that which
is contrary to the gospel. To worship and glorify the Lord
and shun all self-righteousness and all appearance of evil. The
Father seeketh such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. To
seek salvation only by the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And to avoid all aspects of free
will, works, religion. Seek only salvation where it's
found in Christ. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot have two masters. Now, in closing, verse 25 down
through verse 34, the Lord gives us a much needed instruction
about needless cares and senseless worries. He says in these verses
four times, take no thought. Take no thought. That is, no
anxious sinful fretting, rather than trusting the Lord Jesus
Christ for all things. Let's read verse 25 and following.
Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what
you shall eat, or what you shall drink. For yet for your body
what you shall put on is not the life more than meat, and
the body more than raiment, Behold the fowls of the air, they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than
they? Which of you by taking thought
can add one cubit unto your stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, neither
do they spend. Yet I say unto you that Solomon,
even Solomon, all of his glory is not arrayed like one of these
special flowers, these lilies. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which it today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more? Much more clothe you, O
ye of little, little faith. Therefore take no thought, saying,
what shall we eat? What shall we drink? Or where
shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek for you. Heavenly Father, know it that
you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things will work
out. Now much needed instruction.
Prudent and careful thought is wise, right, and responsible. God would not have us be reckless. Careful thought and wise thought
and responsible thought is right. But self-tormenting worry and
anxiety over things which we cannot change is wrong and sinful. It reveals in our heart a lack
of faith in our great God who shall take care of us. He feeds
the little birds, shall he not feed us? The Lord Jesus gave his life
to provide all salvation for us. He laid down his life for
us. Shall we not trust him to provide
for our everyday need? You see why he says, O ye of
little faith? Now I'm not preaching just to you, I'm preaching to
me too. This is for me, this is for the preacher too. I like what Abraham said to his
son Isaac, the Lord will provide. And he does provide for us, doesn't
he? He does provide for us. I like
what he says in verse 32, For your heavenly Father knoweth
that You have need of all these things. He knows our need. He
knows our need. You remember Psalm 23? And I thought about this when
I was thinking on this thought. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. The Lord is my shepherd. He takes
care of all my needs. I shall not want. He makes me
to lie down in green pastures. That's the green pastures of
his word. He leads me beside still waters, the waters of the
gospel. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The Lord
is my shepherd. It's a delightful thing to trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. Is not our life more than what
we eat and drink? Is not our life more than what
we eat and drink and the clothes that we put on? Paul writes this
in Romans 14, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do joy in Him. Turn to
Romans chapter 5. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. Righteousness. Christ our righteousness. Peace.
He made peace for us with his own blood. And joy. We joy in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5. Look at verse 1. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also
we have access by faith, there's peace, faith, into this grace
wherein we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.