Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. I'd like to consider a portion
of Scripture that was taken from a message that the Lord preached. I was going over my notes this
morning. I thought about this. Here's
the preacher. Here's the preacher of all preachers. This is God preaching. What does God have to say? The Lord Jesus Christ setting forth and starting in
verse 24, declares an absolute impossibility. Now, before I
start, I want to make sure we understand this. Someone might ask you, what do
you believe? Well, we believe what God has
to say. Whether we understand the depth
of it we believe God. He said in verse 24, ìNo man
has the ability to 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. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. No man can be a slave or be in
bondage to serve two Supremes. No man has the ability to serve
God and Mammon. That is, everything that is involved
concerning this world. Somebody said it's money. Yeah. It's everything that has to do
with this world. No man can do it. Turn back a couple of pages here
to Matthew 4. There's two masters that set
forth. The declaration of two masters
is set forth right here, Matthew 4, 8 and 9. Again, the devil
taketh him, the Lord Jesus, up into an exceeding high mountain,
and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them, and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee,
if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him,
Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Now here was
the liar. The liar. You see all these kingdoms? You worship me, I'll give you
this. They weren't his. That's the lie that Satan tells
every person. You serve me, you'll have it
all. But here's the representative
of the sheep of God. The second Adam doing what no
man born in Adam could do. Resisting, triumphing over Satan. First Adam didn't do that. First
Adam yielded. Now this truth back in Matthew
6 concerning no man can serve two masters, let me tell you
where it starts. It starts in this glorious thing we talk
about, salvation. Salvation. Here's the question. There's only two masters out
there. You say, well, it's Satan and
God. That's right. And the manifestation of Satan,
which is telling a man that he is the one who has the right,
the will, to make the decision concerning salvation. Here's
the question. No man can serve two masters.
Whose will? determines salvation. Is it God or is it man? Now, this is going to be the
answer right here. Am I the master or is God the
master? Is all the glory found in this
world in me or is the glory found in heaven? Am I saved by my choice or God's? Who gets all the glory? Me or
the Lord. Now you talk about the line drawn
in the sand. Here's the line of demarcation
between the regenerate and the unregenerate. The unregenerate
is going to serve and be a willing slave to himself, led and taught By Satan. Look at John 8. John 8, 39 to
41. Now, here again, I want to make
very clear that I'm going to find out what does God have to
say. What does the Lord have to say? Somebody say, well, that's
just what you say. Well, I'm going to read what
the Lord has to say, That's going to settle it. John 8, 39-41. The Lord is speaking to a group
of Jews that's questioning Him on this thing. And they answered,
verse 39, and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus
saith unto them, if ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works
of Abraham, but now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told
you the truth which I have heard of God, This did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. And said they to him, We be not
born of fornication. We have one Father, even God. The Lord told them. He said,
No, God is not your Father. Ye do the works of your Father.
You are following after Satan. Now listen to me. Satan is the
liar. From whence comes the lie that
man caused the shots? That's a lie. That's a lie. Man by nature, dead in trespasses
and sins, bows to his own will and truly believes that he's
the source of life. That God is pleased with his
service and that he is accepted upon his own merit. That's not
so. Men will say that man has a will
that is able. And God says in John 1 verse
14, I'll just read it to you again. Talking about men being
born. Now here again, if somebody says,
man's got the will, man's got the ability, man's got the right.
Almighty God says, as many, verse 12, as received Him, that is,
got a hold of Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His name, colon, and the Spirit
of God anticipate Him. And someone would say, well,
okay, well, God gave them the power to do it. The Spirit of
God qualified What he said in verse 13, it says, "...which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God." Now let me ask you something. Whose will is a man born by,
Jim? Man's or God's? So if somebody
tells you, Man has a free will. I'm going to say, well, God says
he doesn't. And we're going to believe God. I will say this,
when God Almighty calls a man out of darkness, God gives him
a new will. But I'll tell you this, He was
born of God. God gave him a will, and that
man is going to say, I was not born by that old will that I
had when I was born in Adam. God made me willing in the day
of His power, and all the praise and honor and glory is going
to go unto Him. And my will now is but a manifestation,
an evidence that God Almighty has shown mercy to me, and He
did not wait on me. He knows that salvation is all
of grace and He loves it. I love to make this statement,
salvation is of the Lord. He knows that God eternally purposed
to show mercy to Him. How does He know that? The Apostle
Paul wrote under the inspiration of God's Spirit in Romans 9,
for He saith unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I'll have
mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So
then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy." And I love it. I love it. I love
it. Why? Because God said it. And
that settles it. Our Lord said, back in Matthew
6, no man can serve two masters. He's going to hate the one. Job said, I loathe myself. I loathe myself. He'll hate the one and love the
other. Or else he's going to hold to
one and despise the other. And a believer will take God's
side against himself every time. You cannot serve God and man. Eternal life is either by man's
work or God's work. One of the two. Romans 4.4 says
now, to him that worketh, that is, toils as an occupation, is
the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If a man thinks,
I'm the one that accepted the offer from God, then God owes
me salvation because I'm the one that made the decision. That's
works. That's works. It works. I'm telling you, God saves His
people, brings them into life, gives them a new heart, births
them from above, and then through the gospel, the Spirit of God,
blessing that word, tells them in their heart, I saved you by
grace. And that believer says, yes,
sir, you did. Yes, you did. Romans 11, 6, and
if by grace, then it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no
more grace. Salvation is by the pure, unmerited
grace and mercy of Almighty God. Or it's not salvation at all.
It's a false hope. Either that man is going to be
saved by God, or God's going to put him in hell. One of the
two. The Master. Man is not God. Back in Matthew 6, verse 25,
listen to these words of comfort and hope. Our Lord said, this
is our Lord preaching now in verse 24, and He said, No man
can serve two masters either. He'll hate the one and love the
other. He'll hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot.
Serve God in mammon, therefore, knowing that Almighty God must,
must save. Therefore, he said in verse 35,
I say unto you, take no thought for your life. What you shall
eat, or what you shall drink, Nor yet for your body, what you
shall put on, is not the life more than meat, and the body
than raiment." Don't despair. Don't despair for life, for food,
for drink, for raiment. Psalm 55, verse 22 says, "...cast
thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall
not suffer the righteous to be moved." Get ready. Here is where
the flesh and the spirit is going to clash, right here. I just
read to me, this is a word to me, this is
a word to you, cast thy burden upon the Lord. I want to do that. I want to
do that. And He shall sustain thee. He
shall not suffer the righteous to be moved. I need to be taught
that. Lord, help me here. I hate it. I hate it when I see my old flesh,
there is in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing.
And my flesh resists that. I know this. I know this by faith. I know this by faith. God is
going to take care of His people. I know that. Oh, if I could just
cast all of my burden on the Lord, wouldn't you like to just
never worry again? I just don't want to worry anymore. I just want to not worry about
it anymore. The Spirit is willing. His flesh
is weak. And here's a battle that's going
on right here. I read something that God Almighty
just said. Look what He says in verse 26.
Behold the fowls of the air. I'm not talking about the parakeets
in the little cages. The ones that you give them some
food and stuff like that. I'm talking about the wild ones
out there in the trees. Behold the fowls of the air,
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather to barns, yet
your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better
than they?" These birds that depend upon the providence of
Almighty God, they're not out there. I've never seen one planting. I've never seen one reaping.
I've never seen one doing anything to sustain himself. You know
what they do? I watched a little robin the
other day, and I was just watching him. He would just hop. He'd
make about three little hops. I mean, he had a pretty good
little pattern to him, you know? He'd make about three little
hops. And he'd look around. And he'd eat, you know? And I
thought, that's amazing to me. God Almighty is going to take
care of those birds. Now, if He's taking care of the
lesser, and here He's chosen me unto salvation. His precious Son made flesh and
came into this world. Made sin for me. Made sin. Died under the wrath of God Almighty,
bearing my guilt. Do you think He's going to feed
me? Do you think He's going to give me something to wear? A
place to lay my head? He didn't have that. But He's
going to provide for me. Verse 27, which of you by taking
thought, can add one cubit unto his stature. Now, all the writers,
and I think they're right, even the marginal reading here says
Psalm 39.5. It doesn't mean, when it says
stature, I know we always think of height. And that's true. That's
true. But I believe that they all agree
the Hebrew wording here speaks of age. In fact, when you look
at Psalm 39.5, it says this, Behold, thou hast made my days
as a hand breath, and mine age as nothing before thee. Verily,
every man at his best state is altogether vanity. I know we're perplexed. I do
all I can. I try to do that which is right. I want to try to eat as well
as I can, the way I want to. I want to try to do what I can
to be healthy, but I can tell you this. Based on what our Lord
says, worrying about how long I'm going to be, it's appointed
unto man once to die, and I know that. I know that. I don't want
to be disrespectful to what the Lord has given me, but I want
to walk and wait on Him. Verse 28 and 29 says this, 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 of his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. Let me read you, if you want
to turn to 1 Kings 10. Verses 4-7. We're talking about even
Solomon in all of his glory. I'm talking about when he had
all of the regalia on. I mean everything. Solomon, wisest
of all men born in Adam. 1 Kings 10. And God gave this man wisdom. And He gave him money. Gave him
power. You know how the Lord allowed
him before he died to show him that man has no ability to keep
himself. Even Solomon, his heart was stolen
away by women. But Solomon, Queen of Sheba,
verses 4-7 in 1 Kings 10. Queen of Sheba. And as I read
this, I was reading over this and I thought, what a beautiful
picture of the gospel. And the Queen of Sheba would
be God's people, and Solomon a picture of Christ. But listen
to what she said. 1 Kings 10 verse 4, And when
the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house
that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting
of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel,
and his cupbearers, his ascent by which he went up into the
house of the Lord. There was no more spirit in her.
And she said to the king, it was true report that I heard
in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I
believed not the words until I came, and mine eyes had seen
it. And behold, the half was not
told me. Thy wisdom and thy prosperity
exceedeth the fame Which I heard. She said, everything I heard
about you, I'd never heard the half of it. Everything that I
see now, now I begin to understand. That's the way God's people are.
We see through a glass darkly. We hear, we see, we know, we
believe. But Scripture says, I hath not
seen, the ear hath not heard. Never has it entered into the
heart of man. It's never entered into his heart. You've never even thought about
what God has prepared for His people. Never. The Lord helped
me to believe that. Trust Him. Like in Matthew 6,
verse 30, Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,
which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall
He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Has he
ever failed? Has the sun ever failed to come
up? Has the seasons ever deviated? No. This thing is getting warmer. Scripture says as God made it,
that's the way the seasons are every year, every year, every
year. Brother Scott says, who's running this show anyway? Almighty
God has never failed to sustain the grass. The grass of the field. Can it be considered that He's
going to forsake the objects of His mercy? The bride of His
Son? Is He going to forsake His adopted
children? Those that He has everlastingly
loved? Look at verse 31. Therefore,
take no thought saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we
drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? Don't be anxious. Don't worry saying, what are
we going to eat? He has given us the bread of
heaven. The children's food that the
Lord said it's not meat to give to anybody else but to the children. This gospel that we preach, I'm
telling you, is a positive gospel. It's positive. There are some
that are going to believe it. You know how I know? The Lord
has promised it. He said, My Word is not going
to return void. It is going to accomplish the purpose for which
it was sent. This is the power of God unto
salvation. And I tell you who is going to
believe it. Everyone that Almighty God gives them a heart and eyes
to see. Take no thought saying, What
shall we eat? What shall we drink? He is the fountain of life. We've had the best. We have the
best. What are we going to drink? Am
I going to have some water? He's given me a son. Don Fortner,
one time I heard a great illustration. His son-in-law. Don's son-in-law. Y'all have heard this before.
Son-in-law. Eric came up to him and asked
Don Fortner. He said, can I borrow a wrench
from you? He said, I gave you my daughter.
You think I won't give you a wrench? What are we going to drink? Where withal shall we be clothed? We're robed in His righteousness. Do you think He's not going to
give us a shirt? Or a pair of pants? Or a pair of shoes? He's given us everything. Verse 32, For after all these
things do the unbelievers, that's what that word Gentiles, seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things. He knows that. He knows. He's so aware, the eyes of the
Lord run to and fro throughout. He sees, He knows His people. A lot more than we know ourselves.
He's not going to forsake us. He's not going to leave us to
ourselves. Lord willing, in a few minutes,
I'm going to deal with verses 33 and 34. But I pray that the
Lord might bless these words to our heart for Christ's sake.