Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to Matthew
chapter 6 and reading from our text verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Matthew 6 verse 33, where our
Lord and Saviour gives us a priority in our lives. Our text is part
of the Sermon on the Mount. We read in chapter 5, Seeing
the multitude he went up into a mountain and when he was said
his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and taught
them saying. It is this same message of teaching
that our text forms a part of. And may we have that hearing
ear to the Lord. There were many that heard him
while he was on earth And yet, as he said, they heard the word,
but they did not do those things that he said before them. But
how vital it is that Lord does give us a hearing ear, that he
grants us his grace, that we do listen to that which is being
spoken, and that we are blessed through that word. It is a great
blessing if that is the case, and we should really examine
and ask ourselves how much of the word that we have read to
us and that we read do we actually put into practice, do we actually
consider whether we are applying it to ourselves or rather that
the Lord applies it to us, so that we cannot get away from
that Word, it holds it fast, and we love it. Allow us to be
different to the world. Now, the Lord is speaking of
which is all the world, being different, and may it be this
morning, to the West, and Exodus, and the general multitude. It is a hard thing for us, isn't
it? to be different. In a lot of
ways we like to conform, we don't like to stand out, we don't like
to be marked down. If we're in an assembly, in a
room, we don't like to be different, to perhaps be dressing differently
or speaking differently. Sometimes it is something that
we can be very conscious of. In the book of Ruth we read of
Ruth saying to Boaz, though I be not like one of thy handmaidens,
she was from Moab, and she was not like those of Bethlehem,
and she felt it so. When I first returned back to
this land and had quite a strong Australian accent, I used to
be very conscious of that, or sometimes I forgot it or first
didn't realise it until people did notice it, and then I became
very mindful of it and concerned until I realised that there were
so many accents in Great Britain that it really didn't matter.
But it is a hard thing for us to stand out from the crowd,
to start doing something that is different. And yet, if ever
we are to be called by God, if ever we are to be saved, we will
have to come out from among them and be ye separate and touch
not the unclean thing. May this thought then first remain
with us. If ever we are to be saved, we
are to be different, different than the multitude, different
like Lot was than those in Sodom, different like Noah was in his
day, and different like the people of God will be the last time
When the Lord comes and separates the righteous from the wicked,
when his angels come to gather his people home, may we never
be ashamed of being different in being followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ and of his people. When the apostles went forth
preaching, why, with regard to the Apostle Paul, they said that
he was part of that sect of everywhere, were spoken against. They were
different. They were bringing a different
gospel, a new gospel, a real gospel, and this was noticed. But there's three things, really,
where we could say that difference does really lie. One thing is a difference in
what we are anxious about. Our Lord is speaking here not
just about taking thought literally, we should plan our lives in one
sense, we need to plan the next meal or things like that, but
what He is speaking of here is the anxious burdensome care. So it is an all-consuming, what
shall we eat, what shall we put on, wherewithal shall we be clothed. It is an anxious concern over
these things. And we have an example when our
Lord went into the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. He loved
them all. They loved him. But at that time,
Martha was cumbered about with much serving. And she was speaking
to our Lord about her sister Mary, who was sitting at his
feet, hearing his word. She said, bid her that she come
and help me. Well, the Lord spoke on Mary's
behalf. He said, she has chosen that
good part which shall not be taken away from her. But there
was a reproof to Martha as well. Martha, thou art comfort, careful
and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And
even with the Lord in the house, we can be so burdened and troubled
and trying to really do more than what was necessary. Maybe
with our Lord in Martha's case, all that was needed was a few
vectuals instead of a feast. But what she was doing was taking
her from that place that Mary was. And so what are we anxious
over? Are we anxious like the world
that can only be? Anxious over material things,
anxious over food, and raiment, and a house, and a car, and a
home, and all the possessions, the riches, the Lord said, of
the rich, they do not suffer Him to sleep. Yet are we anxious
on the other side, about our soul, about where we shall spend
eternity, about how we stand before God, the sentence of death
upon us, death that we must come to, how soon we do not know,
and that we are under condemnation, that man, unless there is that
way of escape found, cannot stand before God, after death a judgment,
and then there is the wrath to come, eternal damnation, eternally
cast away in hell, two destinations, two places, heaven or hell, two
characters, saved or lost. Is that what we are concerned
about? Is that what we are anxious about? Or are we only anxious about
things that shall only be concerning us here, and as soon as death
comes, eternity comes, an unchangeable state, then those things that
we're anxious about then mean nothing. They're finished. They're
gone. And we are soon forgotten. But our soul lives on and on
and on. What is it that we are anxious
and careful about? Here in our text is speaking
about a difference. Those that are anxious about
eternal spiritual things, they are more so than those of temporal
things. So the difference, the difference
between us and the world, the difference between us and the
majority, must be the difference in want. we are anxious and concerned
about. We should be concerned about
ourselves, vitally concerned. We should not be anxious and
troubled about temporal things which will soon pass away. The
second thing is that we are different in what we seek after. Our Lord
is speaking of those that are seeking after those temporal
things. They're actively going after
them. But here the Lord is setting
before us a seeking, not of those things, something different,
the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So a difference there. We must
ask ourselves, do we have that difference? Or don't we have
the difference at all? The seeking of eternal things,
the seeking of God and His righteousness, does not feature at all with
us. If we were to measure it by time,
how much time do we spend on temporal things, seeking those,
and how much time do we spend in seeking the things of God? If we were to measure it in our
thoughts, If we were to measure it in our money, in our giving,
in our gifts, earlier on in this chapter, it speaks of arms. We're not to parade it before
men, but where our heart is, there our treasure will be. We
think of where our petitions and our prayers, are they just
praying for temporal things? Or is it praying for spiritual
things? Do we just follow the Lord for
loaves and the fishes? The Lord reproved in John chapter
6, after he had worked the wonderful miracle of feeding the multitudes,
he said to them that followed to him over the sea, you seek
me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the
loaves and were filled. And there they were seeking.
but not those things which were above. And so the difference,
a difference here, we need to really search our hearts and
ask, do we have that difference? A difference to the world, a
difference to those that, of the multitudes, profane world,
and we might say the religious world. A difference in whether
it be an inward or an outward thing that we are seeking for. It's not just to be very active
religiously, actively in the Lord's house, or actively doing
the things that are religious, no. That heart devotion and real
relationship with the Lord, If we were to put it in the way
of even a husband, a wife, or a loved one, how much is it that we are actually
seeking that person's presence, company, enjoyment, fellowship? This is what is to be sought
here. It's a close relationship with
the Lord. But then there's also a difference
of priority. What do we put as the priority
in our lives? Anyone in business knows that
they need to put priority on the right things, the right emphasis
of time, of money, on the right things, and that is what is being
set before us here. And so, we are directed to look
at our whole lives as a whole package, and to ask ourselves
what priority are the things of God and the things of this
world? Things to do with me, or things
to do with God, the law is that we are to love the Lord with,
love thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all
thy soul, and thy neighbour as thyself. What priority do we
put it? There's once a young lad, and
he used to refer to himself as James III. And someone asked
him why he referred to himself as James III. Well, he said,
it is God first, my neighbor second, and James III. And maybe then have a right priority
as set forth here in this text. We'll want to look then with
the Lord's help at three points. Firstly, Kingdom of God and how
we are to seek it. As we are exhorted but seeking
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we need to
know what is the Kingdom of God and how do we seek it. And secondly,
God's righteousness, why we need it and where to seek it. And then thirdly, getting our
priorities right. But firstly, the Kingdom of God
and how we are to seek it. The Kingdom of God, of course,
has a King. That King is our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ. We think of God's Kingdom as
set before us in the Lord's Prayer, of which we read, Thy Kingdom
come, verse 10. thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven. And then the closing words of
it, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. But the Lord is very clear
that his kingdom was not of this world. If his kingdom were of
this world, then he said in the garden, would my servants fight? But my kingdom is not from hence. And even the disciples, they
struggled to get this idea. When the Lord was to ascend up
into heaven, they said to him, will thou this time restore the
kingdom unto Israel? They were under the Roman rule
then. And the charge, the fear, when
our Lord was born was that there was born a king in Bethlehem.
And Herod feared. He thought it was going to be
a threat to him. And this charge came again and
again through our Lord's life. But our Lord is not setting up
a kingdom on earth in that way. It's not going to be in this
nation or that nation. It is in all the nations of the
world. It is a spiritual kingdom. But we can describe it in three
ways. One, it is a kingdom that is
on earth in gospel days. You know the Apostle Paul when
he was preaching to those at Mars Hill Athens and they were
worshipping all sorts of gods, oldest for many gods and one
for the unknown God and the Apostle He says, him whom ye do ignorantly
worship, I declare unto you. And he closes that portion of
God's command that now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent. In the past, God had turned a
blind eye to those that had worshipped all sorts of idols, all sorts
of gods, but in this gospel age, in this gospel day, when the
scriptures are fulfilled, the Lord has come, he has suffered,
he's bled and died and rose again, the gospel is to be preached
in every nation and every kingdom. It is these gospel days, days
in which the Kingdom of God is set forth in every nation, kindred,
and tongue. And so it can be described as
well as that kingdom that is a preached kingdom. When the
Lord sent forth his disciples, as recorded in the gospel according
to Luke and chapter 9, We read there that he sent his disciples
out to preach, and what they were to preach was the Kingdom
of God. Chapter 9, verse 2. He sent them
to preach the Kingdom of God. Now, in one sense, at that time,
they could not preach Christ and Him crucified. That was still
very dark to them. Our Lord had not died yet. They
set forth in all the types and the shadows, but what they could
preach and could set forth was that the same message as when
the Lord was born, God had come. God's time was come. He was working. This was the
time of deliverance. This was the time when the power
of God was come forth. This is like when Moses was sent
to Israel in Egypt, the message that God had heard their prayers,
he'd seen their groans, he'd come down to deliver them. How
he was going to deliver them, when he was going to deliver
them, they did not know that. And they had many trials before
us, the Lord showed his signs in Egypt. But the Lord was beginning
that work, he was doing it. And this is the the great expectation
when John the Baptist came and the Lord was at hand. He was
preparing the way of the Lord. And so it is a kingdom that is
preached. It is also a kingdom of which
the Lord said that the least in that kingdom was greater than
John the Baptist. And in Luke chapter 7, The Lord
says there, that 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. And our Lord is contrasting the
days of the prophets, of which John was the last, and the days
when the gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is fully
known, fully shown, fully preached. We know who the promised seed
was pointing to. We know his life, his ministry,
his death, his resurrection. All these things are to be unfolded
and set forth and preached in this gospel day. So in this sense,
the kingdom that is spoken of here, the kingdom of God, is
to be the gospel day, the days in which we live, when the gospel
is proclaimed and set forth throughout all the world. The Lord is very
clear, if you believe not that I am he, you shall perish in
your sins. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. But it's also an inward
kingdom, The Lord said that the kingdom of God cometh not with
observation, it is within you. It is actually formed inwardly
and in some of the parables he gives the example of like the
kingdom of God is likened unto a mustard seed, the smallest
of seeds, which when it is planted in the earth and then it groweth
up into one of the biggest herb trees that there are. He also
likens it to yeast or to leaven that is put into bread, and that
small amount of yeast, it slowly leavens the whole, it slowly
fills the whole. And our Lord spoke about the
parable of the sower, which the seed is the word of God. The
four types of hearers or grounds that that seed was cast into,
And then it brings forth fruit only in that good ground, did
it? The other grounds it never brought
forth fruit at all to perfection. And so the kingdom of God, it
is that which is an inward kingdom working in the heart of the people
of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. It begins with the new birth.
He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. It's vital that we have a personal,
inward, hard work wrought by God, the Holy Spirit, within
us. Then it is also a kingdom which
is in heaven. When our Lord was crucified,
there was two thieves that were crucified with him, and one of
them, was converted. One of them reproved his friend
and said, Does thou not fear God, being in the same condemnation? We indeed justly, for we receive
the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. And then he turned to the Lord
and said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He'd been given such faith in
that short time to believe that the Lord was a King. Over His
cross was written, Jesus, King of the Jews. But He knew also
that His kingdom was not of this world. And so He put His petitions
in that way. Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And what faith to view the suffering,
savour in all his humility, and to say such things. The Lord
answered him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And of course, that
day, their bodies are still to be on the cross or laid in the
grave, absent from the body present with the Lord. And so there's
these three ways, the gospel upon the earth, the good news
of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, an inward kingdom
in our hearts and a kingdom in heaven. So if that is the kingdom,
then how are we to seek it then? Well, obviously if we are just
going about the things of the world and shunning the message
of the gospel, shunning the places of worship, having nothing to
do with the people of God, have nothing to do with the Word of
God, never sit under the preaching of the Word of God, and that
we never walk in the path of prayer, we cannot be said, in
any way, to be seeking the Kingdom of God. Now we know, of course,
there are many that do all of those things. They sit in a chapel
all their days, they're with the people of God, they read,
they pray, And yet they're never converted, they never have an
inward work, they never really are seeking the things of God. But we could say that those that
never are found even outwardly in that way, it doesn't take
much discernment to discern that they are not seeking the things
of God. It does take discernment to discern
that those that are found in their place under the preach
word all the time, whether they really are seeking or coming
and going is a door upon its hinges. But if we are never found,
never found with the people of God, if someone was to be looking
upon our life and God looks upon our life and he sees all aspects
of our life and he sees where we go, where we spend our time
with and who we love, and what word we read and what we pray
for, he will see. And if we're honest with ourselves,
we will see what is it we're actually seeking after. And if we are spending that time
and money and affections in seeking after the things of God, it'll
be on the other side as well. There'll be a backside to it
in not seeking. the things of earth. All the
time that we would have spent in that, we are spending with
the people of God. We think of the exhortations
to prayer in this passage, not openly, not to be seen of men,
but in the closet. That which is between our soul
and God, that which is not seeking to just appear unto men to be
seeking, but appearing really unto God. The Bereans, they heard
the Apostle Paul preach. They didn't just hear him preach,
they searched the Word daily, whether these things were so.
Went home, took their Bibles, took the Old Testament Scriptures
in their day, and they searched those things. And because of
that, we read many of them If we are seeking the things
of God, then there'll be those things we cast out. The Lord
spoke of, if thine eye offend thee, or thy hand offend thee,
if it is going after and doing things that are sinful and wrong,
cut it off. Not literally, but it is a, he
says, it would be better entering into the kingdom of God having
but one hand than having two and cast into hellfire, or one
eye than having two eyes and cast into hellfire. In other words, there are some
things in our lives that all the time are fighting against
the kingdom of God. They're not a help to us. You
know, if someone was running a race and they got a heavy burden
on their back, you'd say to them, look, if you really want to run
this race, you better get rid of that burden. You take that
off. You won't do well with that on. And there's sometimes we
see things in life and you think, well, the person is seeking this,
but if they've got this as well, they're never going to do very
well. They're never going to get on.
And so there's a laying aside. The Apostle says, let us lay
aside every way and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and
run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. If then we are really seeking,
we'll be taking up our cross and following the Lord. And there
is a cross. There is a cost to it. Sometimes
in business it will be so, and certainly I have. those times
that in professing the ways of the Lord, opportunities, doors
were closed to me. Many will find difficulty in
employment, where there is requirement to work on the Lord's day, and
there's that desire to keep the Sabbath day holy. There'll be a cross in that way,
where there is a coming out from the family. The Lord spoke about
the need to come out from among them, and if one is called in
the midst of a family, then the Lord says, think not that I am
come to send peace upon the earth, but rather division, a father
against a daughter, a daughter against her mother, a man's foes,
are they of his own household. The world doesn't like change,
doesn't like to let go of one that they've been used to, walking
in a worldly way to then suddenly be seeking the things of God
and to begin to pray and begin to read the Word of God. They
don't like it. And that is a cross to take up,
a tribulation, something to count the cost of. Then it is also
a seeking the things above, living as for eternity. Having respect
unto the recompense of the reward, be mindful that this life is
but short, and that in heaven, the Lord says, I go to prepare
a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I'll come again and receive you unto myself where I am, ye may
be also in my Father's house. are many mansions. If it were
not so, I would have told you. It is having respect unto that
inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not
away. The Old Testament church looked
forward to Christ's first coming. The New Testament looks for his
second. One of the marks of the calling
of the Thessalonian believers was to wait for his son from
heaven. And if we are truly seeking the
Lord, we are told that they that look for him, he shall appear
the second time without sin unto salvation. And not to be like
the five foolish virgins that had no oil in their lamps, not
to be like any of them, those that slumbered and slept, but
to be watching and waiting and seeking those things that are
above. You know in the next chapter
we have a beautiful word often. Keep it in mind in the ministry
and especially seeking for a text in verse 7 of chapter 7. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Ask for a text. Seek for a text
in the Word of God and pray that it be opened up. to you. And that doesn't apply just to
us. In the ministry, it's a good principle for all of the people
of God to be asking, seeking and knocking. Lord, I don't understand
this passage. What does it mean? And you knock in a way of prayer. And that is a seeking. What a
beautiful promise is added to that. If ye Then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more
shall your Heavenly Father, your Father which is in heaven, give
good things to them that ask Him. So, the Kingdom of God and how
to seek it. Do we seek it? Do we know what
it is? And do we seek it and is it evident
to us and to those round about? that all our prayer and praise
suggests come and dwell within my breast. It is a searching
word, isn't it? But then secondly, God's righteousness,
why we should seek that. Our Lord not only said, but seek
ye first the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of God and his
righteousness. The reason is this, because we
have no righteousnesses of our own. There is real danger that
men would hear, as it were, the first part of this, and then
return back to God and say, look, look what I'm doing. I'm attending
a chapel, I'm going to worship, I'm reading my Bible, I'm praying,
I'm giving to the Lord's work and aren't I a good Christian?
You must take me to heaven now. And the eye is looking to our
own works. We are seeking to purchase heaven
by our own works, by our own goodness, our own righteousness.
And yet all our righteousnesses, the word says, are as filthy
rags. There's no merit in those things
that we do, There's nothing that we can use as a bargaining. There's
sin mixed with everything. And especially if we're thinking,
in effect, to say, thy death is not necessary, thy righteousness
is not necessary, I'll earn my way to heaven. How often this
was dealt with by the apostles. The chapter 10 in Romans, especially
the apostle, desired that his countrymen be saved. And he says,
I bear them record that they have a zeal for God or zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And so it's a great danger to
actually be in the way of the Lord in the Lord's house and
yet be seeking in a way that you'll never ever be saved at
all. The apostle when he wrote to
the Galatians, the Galatians that they'd received the gospel
first as mercy, as grace, as the free gift favour of God and
yet then now they turned again and they are adding to it that
you must be circumcised, you must keep the law, or otherwise
you cannot be saved. By grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. In seeking
the righteousness of Christ, then we are seeking that which
He has wrought out, His works, His goodness are not our own. Everyone that is taught of God
will be taught this, that they have in themselves a wicked and
an evil heart, that they are sinners and that they cannot
do good. The apostle says, the good that
I would, I do not, the evil that I would not, that I do. A wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And the answer was the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, Lord Jesus Christ on earth,
he fulfilled the law. He became man, God, and man in
one person, two natures distinct and perfectly joined. And in that two natures, there
he, as the Lord Jesus Christ, he lived a perfect life. He wrought
out a righteousness that was to be imputed or put on the account
of his people. of those that believe, that righteousness
is the righteousness to be sought after here, His righteousness,
imputed to us, given to believers. And then upon the calvary's tree,
there He suffered, bled and died, there He laid down His life at
ransom, there He paid our debt, There He fulfilled their requirement,
without the shedding of blood there is no remission. There
He laid down His life and took it again. And our hope is in
what the Lord has done for us. And we are justified when we
by faith believe in and trust in what He has done, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but what He has done. And that's what we are to seek
for. And that is given by God. That
belief, that faith, that trust is given by God to us. And He will teach us day by day. And I say that to the encouragement
of any that feels like the Apostle did, the sin working within. We are promiscuous creatures,
nothing we look at with sin in everything. We go after evil,
we go after the lust of the eyes, the desires of our hearts, our
fallen hearts. And we are to be convinced under
the law of God that we are sinners, we are under the sentence of
death, we are condemned. And in that place, we are like
the publican to pray, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Unless we receive the Gospel
as a mercy gift, as a free gift, unless we receive it as that
which is given without works, then we shall always be cleaving
to something that we have done. It would be offensive to us for
others to tell us that in us dwells no good thing. It would
be offensive to us to be told that our works do not merit anything
in God's sight. No, it is true, God's dear children,
with the work of God in them, will live godly, upright lives,
lives without reproach, like Daniel's. Though we do feel and
know there's many things are wrong within us, but our eye
is not on that. We're not trusting in that to
be saved. And the Lord will show us, day
by day, many, many things that will take away any hope or thought
of salvation in that way. If you and I have any little
niggling thoughts about something good in us, recommending us to
God, and as a title to heaven, then This exhortation is absolutely
vital for us, that we seek his righteousness, because the righteousness
that we are cleaving to now, like the apostle, could see in
those that he desired to be saved, will never save us, it will never
bring us to heaven. Sinners can say, none but they,
how precious is the saviour, the hymn writer says, it is Christ
that died, It is His blood, it is what He has done, the crown
is on His head. This people have I formed for
myself, they shall show forth my praise. The Apostle says,
I am what I am by the grace of God. So then, we are to seek
God's righteousness, Christ's righteousness, the righteousness
that He imparts to us. In the third place, getting our priorities right. How often this is so difficult
with us. When Solomon was made king, then
the Lord appeared to him in a dream and asked him what he should
give him. And Solomon Feeling his lack
of wisdom, his youth, he asked that the Lord would give him
an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern
between good and bad. For who is able to judge this,
thy so great a people? We are told that this saying
really pleased the Lord. He says that because he had asked
that thing, and had not asked long life, nor the life of his
enemies, nor riches, but he would give him wisdom, but also give
him those things that were not asked. And we see a direct parallel
to our text. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Those, the raiment, the earthly
things, the food, all of those things shall be added. But the
priority, like with Solomon, was to seek that which was of
the greatest value. It didn't mean that he lacked
the other, and I believe we can testify to that. The Lord is
good and supplies every need. But what priority? And, you know, it begins with
prayer. How is our prayers? What priority
do we put in prayer? Even in our prayers, but in prayer,
when we begin a day, how do we begin the day? Do we tumble out
of bed and immediately with the things of this life? Or do we
come before the Lord in prayer and read his word first? What
is our priority? What about in the week? How do we begin the week? We
gather together here, the Lord's Day, beginning the week. But how do we begin it? How do
we spend the Lord's Day? Is it in worship? Is it with
His people? Is it sanctifying the Lord's
Day, one day in seven? Or do we say, well, we'd rather
have seven days ourselves and, well, just a few, a little time
in the Lord's day for the Lord, that'll be enough. Or it is,
Sabbath well spent brings a week of content, strength for the
trials of the morrow. A Sabbath ill spent, whatever be
gained, He's a sure forerunner of sorrow. Our priority. What about in times
of trouble? It's an amazing thing when we
come to Psalm 107, where we see them brought down again and again
into trouble. They fell down, there was none
to help. Well, where had they been seeking help from? Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. and he brought them
out of their distresses. Read at the end of Psalm 25,
redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. If you and
I rightly get out of trouble, it will be through the Lord,
through being redeemed out of that trouble. Call upon me in
the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, thou shalt glorify me,
is the direction of the word of God. And so is a priority. When we have trouble, very often
that can make us immediately anxious, immediately rushing
here and there, and wanting to do this and that. It's like a
man that wants to chop down a tree, and he's got to do it in a quick
time. He grabs his axe, and he immediately starts laying into
the tree. And one says, no, you stop. You sharpen that axe first, you
get that nice and sharp, and then you go up the tree. And
then he gets the tree cut down much quicker. How often do we
start with prayer and put that as a priority? To seek the Lord
first, to come before the Lord first, or is it that we could
say, well, others are looking upon our lives, they say, well,
that man, he always puts his work first. He always puts his
family first. Or he puts his hobbies first. He puts this first or that first. Those that really know us and
look upon our lives are able to read in a lot of ways what
kind of priorities we are putting. But God sees everything. He sees
our hearts. He sees our lives. He sees what
we are putting first and what we're putting last. So this is a word that brings
us to really think of what our priorities are. What does God
see them as from his perspective? This is a searching word. I find
it so. I hope you do. I hope it's a
profit to us. I hope it brings us again to
set our priorities right and then to notice the Lord's blessing
upon our life and upon all that we do. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. The Lord add his blessing. Amen.