May it please the Lords to bless
us together this evening as we continue our meditation in the
Sermon on the Mount. And we'll turn this evening to
chapter 6, and we'll read verses 27, 28, 29 and 30. The Gospel
of Matthew, chapter 6, and reading verses 27, 28, 29 and 30. 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 today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall ye not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? In this part of the Sermon on
the Mount, and as we've already meditated on the previous few
verses, really the whole thrust of these verses and these sayings
of the Lord is to be able to come and to trust in Him. Trust in Him. I pray that all
of us may know in some measure what it is to trust in the Lord. It's a good place and it's a
safe place. And it's a place which brings
honour to God and peace to our hearts as we're able to come
and to cast all our care, all our burdens upon the Lord, realizing
that He knows our every need, He knows our position, He knows
our situation. Indeed, He knows it better than
we do ourselves because He knows. the end from the beginning. We
only know the scene that we're in today. We can only look back,
and it's good sometimes to look back and see how the Lord has
provided, how the Lord has helped us, which may be an encouragement
to us as we go forward in the future. And sometimes there are,
of course, those mountains which appear to be there, and we don't
know how they're going to be overcome. But they're all in
the hands of Almighty God. And so, if you read these few
verses this evening, the Lord gives us this illustration, and
we're thankful for so many illustrations in the Word of God. And he says,
which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? Well, we know, of course, that
none of us Those of us who've reached adulthood and normal
height, we can't increase our height. Doesn't matter how much
we eat and whatever we try and do, we can't increase our height. And therefore, the Lord has given
us the height we are, and that's the position that we are in.
So we cannot, therefore, do anything to that end. And then the Lord
moves on and he asks the question, therefore, why take ye thought
for raiment? We can't do anything about our
natural height or anything. And why do we take, why are we
so concerned about perhaps are raiment, and that means of course
the clothes that we need, the clothes we require, and you may
remember that last week we spoke about the previous verses where
the Lord spoke about feeding, and the illustration then of
the fowls of the air, how the Lord looked after all of them,
And now the Lord gives us a very beautiful picture, and that is
to consider the lilies of the field. Now it's important just
to notice the detail there. He doesn't say consider the lilies,
because we know today there are many lilies which of course are
cultivated very carefully. But here the Lord says, the lilies
of the field, those which grow wild, The Lord looks after them. The Lord brings them into life. Of course, the life has been
there, but dormant and suddenly it appears as the spring comes
and it grows and produces those beautiful flowers, those lilies.
And therefore the Lord directs us to that. If we're doubtful
about what He can provide for us, If we think, perhaps, what
I need is just too much, well, the Lord says, well, if that
is so, just consider the lilies of the field. And then he says,
how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. They don't
have anything to do, do they? The Lord just produces that growth,
and it's wonderful, is it not, to see in nature God's work. And we see that which occurs
from the appearance of deadness and lack of life. And then when
the springtime comes and we see the little green shoots springing
up from perhaps the hard and cold ground as the sun's warmth
comes upon it, there is that evidence of life. What a blessing
that is to observe it. I suppose we can say how thrilling
it is to see God's work appearing in the life in nature. And the
Lord selects here lilies. And then he tells us, well, look
how they grow. They don't have to work. And yet what is seen is so wonderful. And then he compares it to somebody
who, of course, the Jewish people would have been well aware of
in history, and that's King Solomon. And we know that King Solomon
was wonderfully blessed with riches and honor and wisdom. And so the Lord comes and says,
and yet I say unto you that even Solomon, In all his glory was
not a raid like. Well, we can imagine, can't we,
what Solomon was like? And we know the Queen of Sheba
came and viewed him and said the half was not told of all
his greatness and all his splendor. Well, God's work in the simplicity
of nature far exceeds such things as that. And so we have here
this illustration. And then the encouragement. the
encouragement to depend upon God. We need to be reminded,
I'm afraid, time and again, to depend upon our God and to trust
Him that He will provide. And so the Lord tells us, wherefore
I've told you this situation. Wherefore now? Just think of
this. If God so clothed the grass of
the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
it's passing. All those things of nature, they
so quickly pass away, don't they? as the autumn comes and the winter
comes and they shrivel and disappear and then there are those which
are taken and raked up and then cast into the furnace to burn
and he says and this occurs and he says which today is and tomorrow
is cast into the oven well we can Be aware of that, and we're
aware of it, of course, because the Lord tells us through the
epistle of Peter, and at the end of that first chapter, Peter
reminds us of the truth of this situation. And he tells us, for
all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower
of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. The word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. So as we see things fading away,
we recognize the Lord has made them and has preserved them,
but there comes a time when they do fade away. But the word of
the Lord endures forever. And so the Lord comes and he
tells us then, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? Now, just before we come on to
the O ye of little faith, just let's think about this. He's
speaking here, of course, of natural raiment, natural clothing. But surely we should not pass
over this without realising what the Lord does provide for His
people. And that is spiritual clothing. And that spiritual clothing,
of course, is really His righteousness. And what a mercy if we receive
that. That's not something you and
I can put on ourselves, is it? Not possible. Because all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They are of no value. But that which the Lord gives
is of immense value. And so, as we come towards the
end of the words that the Apostle John saw when he was on the Isle
of Patmos, When the Spirit of God came and gave him those words
to speak to the seven churches, and the church of Laodicea, he
tells us this, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in a
fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, yes, white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of
thy nakedness do not appear. Now, the Lord gives this great
blessing of His righteousness. And the Word of God tells us
so very beautifully through the Apostle Paul, when he says that
this righteousness is, and they use the word imputed, that means
to be put upon us. In actual fact, we don't have
any hand in it. God gives it to us, and we're
clothed with it. And my friends, it's spotless,
it's pure. And what a glorious raiment that
is. Now we may be concerned, we may
be worried. We may think, well, I don't seem
to have that. I don't seem to possess it. Well,
just remember, As the Lord tells us, the Lord gives us the illustration
of these lilies growing, and they don't have to work, they
don't toil, they don't have to spin. God produces the plant,
He produces the blessing, and so it is in our spiritual life. God produces the life in our
souls. That which springs up, that which
there is that first evidence of life in that tender shoot.
But don't forget, before that shoot appears, there is the root
going downwards. There is God's work, that hidden
work, which is convincing us in our own hearts of our sinful
condition and our sinful nature. And then you see there is the
evidence of life within. What a blessing there is, therefore,
in our lives if we have the evidence, then, of life within, and we
can be truly thankful if the Lord has given to us, if he has
imputed to us his righteousness. And again, as I told you on occasions,
there's a wonderful exchange, and it's an exchange which is
so amazing. that God takes our sin, all our
sin, every sin, and he imputes it to himself. Yes, our sin. And the exchange which he gives
is his spotless righteousness, to cover our nakedness. Not to cover our sin, but to
cover our nakedness. And what a blessing it is. We
can go right back, can't we, to the Garden of Eden, and there
was Adam and Eve trying to cover themselves with those leaves,
and they weren't very successful. And what did the Lord do? He
slew those, slain those animals, and he provided a covering for
them, those skins of those animals. And that signified really the
wonderful way of redemption, because in order for that to
occur, the animals had to be slain and the blood shed. And
so we see in the great and glorious work of the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ was slain upon that cross at Calvary and he wore,
his blood was shed and through that he brought about that great
gift of his righteousness to cover our nakedness. Well, tonight may we bless God
for such a truth and to consider the greatness of God The greatness
of God is able to provide naturally for everything we need, but above
that, to provide spiritually for everything that we need.
And there will be nothing lacking because God's work is perfect. He doesn't leave anything undone.
He provides all that you and I need. And so he comes and he
says, shall ye not much more clothe you O ye of little faith. Well, perhaps that's been our
condition. Perhaps we thought we hadn't
got any faith. Well, the Word of God tells us
this. A little that a righteous man
hath is better than the treasures of many wickedness. It's not
the quantity, it is the quality. And if God has given us faith,
a little faith, like as a grain of mustard seed, it'll get us
to heaven. And surely that's what you and
I need to know, need to be encouraged, that we do possess A little faith. What a mercy, isn't it? The Lord
addresses us like this, O ye of little faith. He doesn't say,
well, this applies to those who've got a lot of faith. applies to
those who have a little faith. And may we all be able to understand
and to have received a little faith. And we cannot really leave
mentioning, of course, the grand words in the Epistle to the Ephesians
that the Apostle, when he addresses them, he says, for by grace are
ye saved. And how relevant that is, how
relevant it is through faith. through faith that which God
gives. And he tells us that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works as any man should boast.
We will never be able to boast of the faith which we produced,
but we shall be able to boast of the faith which God has given
us to believe, to believe in his word, to believe in his promises,
to believe that he will provide and therefore to be able to come
and to put all our trust in Him. And so, as we think of these
few verses, to realize the truth of them, the greatness of them,
and they are very important. All the words of God are important. We should never think that any
of them are irrelevant. They are all there for our encouragement,
for our strengthening of our faith. And so, this evening,
may we take to heart this last statement, where the Lord says,
and he says, Shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? May our faith stretch out to
lay hold of these great and precious promises which the Lord sets
before us here in his holy word for our encouragement. And may we thank God that there
are such words like this recorded in his word and directed very
specifically to his people to encourage them. Amen.