My text this morning is found
in Matthew chapter 6, if you would turn there with me please.
Matthew chapter 6 is included in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount,
which begins at the first of Matthew chapter 5 and finishes
at the end of Matthew chapter 7. And the Sermon on the Mount
is the longest recorded sermon of our Lord, and it's one of
the most quoted sections found in the four gospel narratives.
And our text here in Matthew chapter 6 is no exception. Now let me say again that my
desire this morning, and every time that I preach, is to once
again encourage you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for
everything. Everything. I want to comfort
you with Christ. There's no comfort but that which
is found in Him. I want to challenge you to rest
in Him. There's no rest apart from Him.
And I want to warn you who are yet without Christ. Really, it's
not me who challenges you, but the Word of God. You see, God's
Word should challenge each and every one of us, myself included.
And may we never be presumptuous, overconfident, arrogant, cocksure,
that in our faith, but may we, by God's grace, as Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 13, examine ourselves. whether we be in the faith, and
prove our own selves and know for ourselves that Christ Jesus
is in us, except we be reprobates. Now, reprobate simply means not
to have Christ. If you don't have Christ, you're
reprobate. It's to be disapproved of God. You can only be approved
and accepted in Him. Without Him, reprobate. Many
profess and convince themselves that they are the children of
God when they're not. And the psalmist said this, he
said, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my
thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead
me in the way everlasting. And if we're not in the faith,
let us, The prophet said, let us search and try our ways and
turn again to the Lord. Lord, if I don't love you, make
today the day that I do. If you don't love me, love me
today. Save me today. Our Lord tells us to consider
our ways. Paul wrote, let every man prove
his own work and then shall he have rejoicing. The writer of
Hebrews said, let us therefore fear, show reverence to God,
lest the promise being left us of entering into His rest, any
of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us, those who
believe the gospel, was the gospel preached as well as unto them,
those who do not believe. And I might add here that the
only difference between the two is the difference that God makes.
Brother Gene and I were talking about that before the service.
The difference that God makes, He makes the difference. But
the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. Oh Lord, give me life and give
me faith. Paul also encourages us and warns
every child of God in Colossians 1, verse 23, to be grounded and
settled, not moved away from the hope of the Gospel. You see,
friends, there's hope in this Gospel that we preach, that we've
heard. Now here in Matthew 6, beginning
in verse 31, the Lord Jesus tells us very plainly Very simply,
as He always does. I've said this many times, there's
nothing hard about the Gospel to understand. People just refuse
to believe it. They understand it quite well,
but they don't believe it. The Lord here says, Therefore
take no fault, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have
need of all these things." Now, there are many professing believers
in the world today who give thought. Now, that word here actually
means anxious thought. It means worried. They worry
about these things. They wrestle with the care of
these material and physical things. And He's not talking about things
that we desire and that we ask that we may consume them upon
our lust. He's talking about everyday things,
what we shall eat, what we shall drink. what we should wear, food,
water, clothing. The Lord says for us to take
no anxious thought for these things. Don't worry about how
we shall be clothed. These are the things that the
Gentiles seek. These are the things that the
nations of the world worry about. These are the things that this
unbelieving world are anxious and careful about. The Gentiles
are named here in distinction to the Israelites, speaking of
God's people. God's people shouldn't worry
about these things. The world does, but we shouldn't. Why? Because He's our Heavenly
Father. Your Heavenly Father, He said,
knoweth you have need of these things. And He's going to see
to it that you have them. Those who are opposed to Christ
worry about these things. We should never be careful over
such things. Did you know that God is not
Father to the whole world? He's God of the whole world. He's the sovereign ruler of the
whole world, but He is Father only to His elect children. And
that should bring the believer such comfort, knowing that God,
who rules and reigns, is my Father. That's what our Lord, speaking
to God's chosen people, says in verse 32. For your heavenly
Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. God
is the believer's heavenly Father, and He'll supply whatever they
need for meat, drink, and clothing. Look up at verse 25. Therefore
I say unto you, take no fault for your life, what you shall
eat, 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? Behold the fowls of the air,
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather in the
barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much
better than they? And which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit unto his stature? Can you, by anxious thought,
by your worrying and fretting, add one cubit to your stature? Can you add one day to your life? Can you add one dollar to your
bank account? You can add ulcers. You can add
high blood pressure. but nothing else. So the Lord
adds in verse 28, 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 he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Now, stay with me on this
and rejoice. God, our Heavenly Father, the
Believer's Heavenly Father, He knows all things. He supplies
all things. He works all things for the Believer's
good. Do you believe that? Do we act
as if we do? Our Father in heaven created
all things. He controls all things. He does
whatever He pleases, wherever He pleases, whether in heaven
or earth, in the sea, ocean, even in hell. God does what He
wills with and whosoever He wills. Our Lord is saying here, He can
take care of you. Do we believe Him? God help me
to believe you. God help me to trust in you.
You know, it's a great dishonor to God to believe that he cannot
and would not take care of us, his children. Look at the next
chapter, Matthew chapter seven. You may not even have to turn
the page, but look at verse nine in Matthew chapter seven. Or what man is there of you whom
if his son ask bread, will you give him a stone? Or if he ask
a fish, will you give him a serpent? Of course not. We love our children. We want them to have the best.
Then look what he says in verse 11. If you then being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask Him? This is something that every
believing child of God can be certain of. Anxious thought,
worry, fret, it's needless for us. It's absolutely needless.
It's a waste of time. It would do us good to learn
that, And if you still have anxiety over such things, and if you
still worry and fret over these things, then you haven't learned
it yet. Those who are without God, without Christ, and without
hope have much to worry about, to be concerned about. The wrath
of God abides on them. But those who have God as their
Father, As Andy Griffith used to say, shame, shame, shame. Shame on you if you worry about
these things. You ought not. The unbeliever
needs to be worried about tomorrow, but the child of God is said
to take no thought for tomorrow. Just don't take any thought about
it. God's gonna take care of it. He always has. He always
will. You know, Teresa's father was
a farmer. He was quite a big farmer, and
he kept a close eye on the weather. But he could not, by worry, make
it rain. And he could not, by fretting,
make it stop raining when it did. Pacing the floor did nothing
in preserving his crops. God is the Lord of the harvest.
both naturally and spiritually. Paul said we plant and we water,
but God gives the increase. And whether it's the seed of
the field or whether it's the seed of the heart, that's true
in both applications. He's the one who makes the seed
to grow. These are the things that the
Gentiles seek. These are the things that those
who are in the world are concerned about. what they eat, what they
drink, what they wear, what they drive, where they live, what
they have, if they will be able to keep it. They like Martha
are anxious, troubled about many, many things. But the child of
God, the believers like Mary are given the good part. She
chose the good part. Have you? Have you chosen the
good part? Has the good part chosen you?
That's the question. Or are you anxious like Martha? The good part, the Lord Jesus
Christ Mary chose can never be taken away from you. Isn't that
such a comfort to know that it can never be taken away? We need
to believe that because it's true. He or she that has no God,
has no Heavenly Father, has plenty to be anxious and troubled over,
but not the children of the King. Oh, my Father is the King. He's
the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He can do anything. He can do everything. And He's
promised in His Word that He's gonna take care of me. And what
a dishonor it is for me not to believe that. David said, I've
been young and now old, and yet I have not seen the righteous
forsaken or his seed begging bread." David went on to say,
"...for the Lord forsaketh not His saints, they are preserved
forever. The righteous shall inherit the
land and dwell therein forever." For the Lord will not forsake
His people for His great name's sake, because it's pleased the
Lord to make you His people. It's pleased the Lord to make
me His? Absolutely. That's what He said. Now this
doesn't mean that everything's always gonna be hunky-dory, as
they say. Paul said, we're troubled on
every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. This life is full of trouble
for the child of God, especially. And as Gene and I was talking
earlier, These are the things that wean us from this world
and cause us to cry out and to cling to Christ. Trouble. David said, it's good for me
that I've been afflicted. Why, David? That I might learn
of your statutes. That I might see that you're
in control and that you're going to take care of me. And that
it might cause me to lean on you and lean on you and keep
leaning on you. Everything that happens to us
is for our good. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. The child of God will be content
with such things as they have. For he hath said, this is why
we're content. I will never leave you nor forsake
you. So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. People are anxious about so many
things. What about global warming? I
heard two people not long ago talking about global warming.
What about a nuclear war? Something new? Artificial intelligence? Will that be the end of us? God's
hand is on the universe's thermostat. If there's global warming, He's
behind it. Will there be a nuclear war?
God's finger is on that button. Not the president, not some foreign
dictator. God's finger is on that button. What about artificial intelligence? God's intelligence is real, it's
not artificial. And He's the one in control of
things. And as your Father, He's out
to do you good. But there's something for us
to be concerned about. There's something that we must
desire to diligently seek, verse 33, but seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you. I titled this message one word,
first, first. Many can quote this verse, many
say that they do this verse, but do they? Do you, do I? Are we seeking God's kingdom?
Are we seeking it first? Are we seeking God's righteousness?
Are we seeking it first? First means before all things.
First means at the beginning. First means before anything else.
We know what first is. We begin to understand something
about seeking the kingdom of God when we understand that by
nature there's none that seeketh after God. We begin to understand something
about seeking His righteousness when we understand that by nature
there is none that are righteous, no, not one. Hold your place here and turn
over quickly with me to Romans chapter 3. Look at this, Romans
chapter 3. You know the verse, but look
at it. Romans chapter 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one, there is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God. Now three things here about us
as sinners, none righteous, none that understands, and none that
seeks after God. None of us are righteous, yet
God requires perfect righteousness before we can be accepted by
Him. That puts us in a dilemma, does it not? None of us understands
how to get this perfect righteousness. Our nature tells us that we can
earn it, that we deserve it, that we can buy a work of righteousness
that we do. It can be worked out. No, we
don't have any understanding as to how we can get this righteousness
because we have no understanding at all. Many say that we seek
God to get this understanding so that we can understand how
this perfect righteousness is attained, but there's none that
seeketh after God to understand how to get it. We don't have
the ability, we don't have the will to seek God. No man can
come to Christ, John 6, 44. No man will come, John 5, 40. And I'm gonna say it again, say
it every message. I intend to say it every message.
Salvation is of the Lord. But it's not in seeking the Lord,
for none of us can nor will seek the Lord. So salvation doesn't
come that way. Matter of fact, He came to seek
and to save that which was lost. He did the seeking, He did the
finding. We were the lost ones who couldn't
seek. He must first enable us to seek
Him. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. You know what dead means? Dead. You know what dead is? And even
though we breathe and we move and all that, in the spiritual
realm, we're dead. Dead. He must first give us life. I use this illustration often
because it's a good one. When did Lazarus come forth? It was after the Lord gave him
life, wasn't it? The Lord commanded, Lazarus, come forth, and he that
was dead came forth. He's not dead anymore. He didn't
come to get life. He was dead and couldn't come.
He had to receive life in order to come. And we have to be given
life in order to seek and to come to God. Lazarus was dead,
and he came forth seeking the one who commanded him to come.
And the one that gave him the power to come. Who else is there
to seek? Who else is there to thank, friends? Who else is there to worship
Jesus Christ? He's the only one, and that's
who the sinner who was dead and quickens seeks. They're seeking
the one that gave them life. They owe everything to Him. Sinners
don't seek Christ in order to be saved. Now hear me on this.
We don't seek Christ in order to be saved. We seek Christ because
He saved us. And as we see, we are commanded
to seek Him. We want to be obedient to Him. Why? Because He loved us and
gave Himself for us. Our seeking Him is the proof
of our salvation. No, that's not right. Our seeking
Him first is the proof of our salvation. What is it to seek
Christ first? Look over, hold your place again
in Matthew. You may not even be there. Look
at Mark chapter one with me. Mark chapter one, verse 14. What is it to seek Christ first?
Verse 14, Mark chapter 1, now after that John was put in prison,
Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of
God. That's what we're talking about,
seeking the kingdom of God. And saying, the time is fulfilled
and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe
the gospel. So we see that seeking the kingdom
of God is seeking the preaching of the gospel, which is the preaching
of Jesus Christ. He is the gospel. Preaching the
gospel is the revelation of the kingdom of God. Preaching the
gospel is preaching Christ. It's preaching who Christ is.
It's preaching what Christ did. It's preaching repentance. It's
preaching faith, believing. Now, are you first and foremost
seeking the preaching of the gospel? Think about it for a
second. Or, does the preaching of the
gospel take back seat? Is it a secondary and inferior
position to other things? Is the preaching of the gospel
a priority to you? The definition of priority is
the fact and condition of being regarded or treated as the most
important. Is the preaching of the gospel
the most important thing in the world to you? Is it something regarded as more
important than something else? Does it take precedence? or to
proceed before others. Here's some of the synonyms of
that. Prime concern. Is the gospel
your prime concern? Is Jesus Christ your prime concern? We must give Him the preeminence.
That's what priority is, preeminence. A pressing matter. A matter of
the greatest concern. What could be more important
than life eternal? I can't tell you how many times
in my life I heard those words, you need to get your priorities
straight. I heard it from my parents. I heard it from my school
teachers. I heard it from employers. Let's be honest with ourselves.
People miss hearing the gospel for this reason or that. We had
to do this, we had to do that, we had to go here, we had to
go there. In most cases, they didn't have
to, they chose to. Hearing the gospel, worshiping
the Lord was not their priority. In saying that, I'm not trying
to put folks under the law. The scriptures call it your reasonable
service. To attend the worship of God
and hearing the glorious gospel is not just a performance of
religious duties. If that's all it is to you, you
might as well do something else. It springs from a principle of
life under the quickening influences of the Spirit of God. And I said
it earlier, it's not something we do to be saved. We worship
God in Christ because we are saved. Loving parents do everything
for their children. They provide them everything
they need, food, drink, clothing, shelter, even things that they
don't necessarily need but desire. How do you think that a mother
and father would feel that their child begin to call someone they
barely knew, who had never done anything for them, father or
mother. May we never forget that God,
our Father, is a jealous God. He has every right to be jealous
over those He loves and provides for. The commandment of God to
the believer is, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, He's
God the Son and the Son of God. What did Jesus Christ do? He
became a man and He died in the room instead of chosen sinners
that He set His affection on before the world began, before
they'd done anything good, before they'd done anything evil. But
the purpose of God, according to election, His choosing, His
decision, not ours. Not our coming to Him, Him coming
to us. He sought us, we didn't seek
Him, we couldn't seek Him. He shed His blood for the remission
of sin for His people. Why did He do that? His name
tells us, to save His people from their sin. To die the just
for the unjust. Why did He do that? To bring
us to God. He died to make us what we could
never be. What does it mean to seek His
righteousness? Jesus Christ is the righteousness
of God. See, it all comes back to Him.
He is the Lord, our righteousness. For God had made Him to be sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He's our righteousness. It's to seek the Lord Jesus Christ
who died to make those righteous who could never be otherwise.
You and I, there's none righteous. None of us could be unless God
in Christ makes us so. Isn't that good news? He has. We seek Him before anything else. We make it our priority in life
to seek Him. To seek the Kingdom of God is
to be where Christ is preached in spirit and in truth. It's
to be where others who love Him and want the same things are. It's not something we have to
do. It's something we should long
to do. We don't have to come and worship. We get to come and worship. It's
a privilege, it's an honor to seek us, to pursue, go after,
strive for, push toward, aim at, attempt, endeavor, work,
aspire. That's what it is. To make every
effort possible. You know, I'll just be honest
with you, I find it disturbing that people who can get to work
on time can't get to worship on time. I find it somewhat troubling
that people can stay awake to watch a ball game, concert, television
show, can't stay awake during the preaching of the gospel.
There's something wrong with that. Could it be a matter of priorities? Well, let me finish up by having
you turn to Matthew chapter 13, if you would. Matthew chapter
13. Verse 44. The Lord is teaching further
here as to what the Kingdom of God is. And friends, it's crucial
for us to know if we ever desire to seek it. say again that we'll never seek
the Kingdom of God and Christ's righteousness unless the Lord
makes us to. He makes those who are unwilling,
willing in the day of His power. We don't seek God's Kingdom unwillingly,
He makes us willing. Matthew 13, 44. Again, The kingdom of God is like unto
treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found,
he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he
hath, all that he hath, and buyeth that field. The kingdom of God
is like a treasure. You know what a treasure is.
The treasure is the gospel. There's not a possession you
as a believer has any more valuable, any more of a treasure than the
gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, Romans 1 16. Well, the gospel is a treasure
that lifts a beggar from the dunghill and sets him among princes. What a treasure that is for the
beggar, for the one on the dung hill, it is. And he makes them inherit the
throne of glory. What a treasure it is that covers
all our sin. What power that casts them into
the depths of the sea. What does it mean when it says
the gospel is a treasure hid in a field? Well, the gospel
is a mystery. It's hid from some. Not everyone understands it.
Many think they do, but they don't. But if our gospel be hid,
it's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto thee. Those of you that heard the Sunday
school lesson this morning know what that's talking about. Look up at verse 35. that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things which have
been kept secret from the foundation of the world." These things are
mysteries. It's a treasure hid in a field. All through the Old Testament
Scriptures, the treasure was hid in all the promises of God. Jesus Christ is in every promise.
Moses wrote of Him. Abraham saw his day and was glad. Philip began at the same Scripture
and preached unto that eunuch from the Old Testament Scriptures.
Preachers preach on the Passover and they don't even mention Christ.
Christ is our Passover. The blood on that door is Christ. The High Priest and the Holy
of Holies, that's Christ. Men preach Noah's Ark and they
don't say a word about Christ being the Ark. It's more than
a story about a bunch of animals. Those inside the Ark are saved
from the wrath of God. That Ark is Jesus Christ. The glorious Gospel we preach,
it's a treasure, but folks act as if they're not much interested.
People need to get their priorities straight. A child of God is willing
to part with everything to possess that treasure of the Gospel. Now that's seeking the Kingdom
of God. To seek Christ and His Word, that's to seek the Kingdom
of God. Look at verse 45. Again, the
kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly
pearls. Now, I believe that that pearl
of great price could be the church that's in Christ. I preached
the message on that one time. But no doubt, that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the pearl of great price.
And God is not ever going to be satisfied with an imitation
pearl. And you know what? You won't
be either. God must have the real thing. So do you. You must
have the real thing. I got this from Brother Henry.
It's so good. To the artist, Christ is altogether
lovely. To the architect, Christ is the
cheap cornerstone. To the baker, he's the bread
of life. To the banker, he's the unsearchable
riches. To the gardener, he's the lily
of the valley and the rose of Sharon. To the builder, he's
the sure foundation. To the bride, He's the bridegroom.
To the captive, He's the deliverer. To the sick, He's the great physician.
To the farmer, He's the Lord of the harvest. To the guilty,
He's the righteous judge. To the philosopher, Christ is
the wisdom of God. To the sinner, He's the Savior.
To the soldier, He's the captain of His salvation. To the preacher,
He's the Word of life. To the student, He's the truth.
Are you seeking wisdom this morning? Are you seeking righteousness?
Are you seeking sanctification? Are you seeking redemption? Christ
is all those things to His people. He of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Friends, if we
have Christ, we've got it all. Look at verse 47 and 48. Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net. that was cast into
the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full,
they drew to shore and set down and gathered the good into the
vessels, but cast the bad away." You see, friends, the kingdom
of God, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure. It's like
a goodly pearl. And now we see it's like a net.
The fishermen cast a net into the water and there was a great
catch. It's full of fish and they bring
them to shore. And when that net is open, some
of the fish are bad and some of them are good. And they throw
the bad ones out and they keep the good. You know what that
net is? It's the preaching of the gospel. You throw it out and you draw
them in. And some profess to follow Christ,
but they don't follow Him at all. And others profess to follow
Christ, but they don't follow Him first. But some love Him. And some believe Him. And some
follow Him. He's first in their life. He
is their priority. For they know that to have Christ
is to have eternal life. And not to have Him is eternal
death. It's to have His righteousness.
It's to have His holiness. It's to be conformed to His image.
I want that more than anything. It's to have everything that
God requires, and it's to have everything that we can't provide.
And that's why we must seek Him first. We must take up our cross
and follow Him. And those in the net that are
kept, they're kept by the power of God. Kept by the power of
God. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving
me and keeping me. You deserve my all. You deserve it first and foremost,
above anything and everything else.