Most of the Christian catechisms,
you know, listings of beliefs, you know, where they ask questions
and then they seek to answer them biblically, most of those
catechisms, the first question you'll see is what is the chief
end of man? And the answer is usually correct
in most of them, it says to serve God and live for His glory. Man's
chief goal is to glorify God. And that's what this lesson last
week and this week is talking about. That our chief goal, our
chief purpose in life is to glorify God and live for His glory. And
the way we glorify God first is by believing Him. You know,
if you tell somebody something and they say, I don't believe
you, what are they doing? They're either saying you're
ignorant or you're a liar. One of the two, isn't that right?
And that doesn't do anything for your ego. Well, that's what
happens when people don't believe God, God's word, they're calling
him a liar. The Bible says in Romans 3, let
God be true and every man a liar. So we glorify God first by believing
him, especially his word of salvation for sinners. What does God say
about me in his word? Well, he says I'm a sinner. And
that I deserve nothing but condemnation and eternal damnation, eternal
death. That's what God's saying, even at my best. Now naturally,
I don't look at myself that way. So I can't go by what I think
or what I feel, and I can tell you right now, my mother, she
didn't look at me that way, but I can't go by what she thought.
She loved me. I have to go by what God says,
and God says there's none righteous, no, not one. You look at a person,
you say, well, and you look at another person that you admire,
And you say, well, they're righteous based on they did this, or they
don't do this, or they go to church. You see, you're making
an assessment there that doesn't glorify God because God says
of that person, there's none righteous. No, not one. They
don't have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. And if God ever, just like the psalmist in Psalm
130 said, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark or impute or account
iniquities, who among us would stand? None of us. Isn't that right? So that's what
God says about us. And then what does God say about
himself? Well, he says he's a just God.
And I know he says he's a loving God, he's a merciful God, he's
a gracious God. But let me tell you something,
the gospel, the good news of salvation, and God's way of salvation
is founded upon his justice. Satisfied. Now it's his love
that satisfied his justice for his people. And his way of justifying
his people is a merciful and a gracious way. So that's what
it says about God. He's holy. He must punish sin.
He cannot let sin go by. He cannot just look over it because
of who he is. He's a righteous judge who always
judges according to truth. And he says, the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. The wages of sin is death. That's
what God says about Himself. And when preachers stand up and
they tell people, oh, God loves you, just go on your way, you
know, just do the best you can, they're telling a lie on God.
They're not glorifying Him. Now, what does God say about
salvation for sinners? Well, it's all in Christ. His
glorious person. He who is God manifest in the
flesh. without sin. It's based on his
finished work, his righteousness that assures and demands and
ensures the salvation of all for whom he died. It's based
on his righteousness imputed and there's no other ground of
justification. Christ's righteousness imputed.
So that's how we glorify God, by believing his word concerning
ourselves, concerning himself, concerning salvation by Christ.
And we glorify God by serving him. Now look at verse 24 that
we looked at last week. I laid the foundation for this.
He says, no man can 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. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Now understand mammon was a common word back in that day for the
materialistic riches of the world. Money, for example. And here's
what it boils down to. You cannot serve God. while at
the same time serve self. If you're going to serve God,
you're going to hate self. Now that means you're going to
reject That's not talking about low self-esteem or some kind
of an ignorant self-hatred that causes people to say, well, I'll
just attempt suicide or something like that. That's not what that's
talking about. In other words, let me give you some passages
off the top of my head that kind of explain it. Philippians 3.3. He says, we are the circumcision
which worship God in spirit and rejoice, that is boast, have
confidence in Christ, and no confidence in the flesh. That's
what he means, to hate self. I don't have any confidence in
myself or my works as far as salvation goes, as far as establishing
a right relationship with God. No confidence in me, it's all
in Christ. That's what this means. Now,
I dealt with this last week, how we can have confidence in
among men and women as we go through this life, in our jobs,
our families, self-worth, but not when it comes to a relationship
with God. It's all of grace. None of it's earned. None of
it's deserved. And then Galatians 6.14, Paul
wrote, here's another, God forbid that I should glory, that I should
boast or have confidence, save or accept in the cross of Christ. It's all Him. So you cannot serve
God and serve self. In other words, and what are
we here for? We're here to serve God. Now, verse 25, let's read verses
25 through 29. And listen to what he says here.
Therefore 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, what you're gonna wear. Is not life more
than meat and the body than raiment? All right, now last week I talked
to you about what he's saying here is we're putting things
in their proper perspective. Look at verse 26. Behold the
fowls of the air, for they sow not, Neither do they reap, nor
gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than
they? He says in verse 27, which of you, by taking thought, can
add one cubit unto his stature? Verse 28, 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 in you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these." Now, what is he saying here? Take no thought. Well, what he's talking about
is the kind of thought, the kind of thinking that is equal to
anxiety and worry that consumes a person so much that they become
involved with the affairs of this world so as to take them
away from seeking the Lord. Serving the Lord. Following the
Lord. You may have a good job. God
may have blessed you that way. And that's good. And you should
do well at it. You should be the best. You should put your
energy. You should think about it. But
if that job takes you away from seeking the Lord, serving the
Lord, obeying the Lord, worshiping the Lord, which is your main
goal in life, then that's the kind of thought he says don't
take. People worry about what they're gonna wear. They worry
about what they're gonna eat. That's what he's talking, anxious
cares, what he's forbidding. He's not saying don't think about
these things at all. You have to think about them.
You have to think, you know, that's like what you're gonna
wear to church. You have to think about that. I have to think about
it. I'm just not gonna go in there and grab anything blindly
and get up here and wear it. I'd look silly, and then you
wouldn't be able to listen to the message, because you'd be
looking at what I'm wearing. I told a fella, if I had my way
about it, this right here would come off. But I said, there are
people. who expect the pastor, the preacher,
to wear a tie. And when I'm up here preaching,
the last thing I want you to be thinking about is whether
or not I'm wearing a tie or anything. I want you to be thinking about
the Word of God. So you have to think about these things.
You have to think about what you're going to eat. You have
to think about your family. But what he's saying is that
anxious worry and care and concern that consumes a person to the
point that they do not worship God. They do not seek the Lord.
They do not live for Christ and his glory. Look over at Genesis
chapter four. We dealt with this this past
Wednesday night. I want to show you something. The first genealogy of the Bible
is in Genesis 4, beginning at verse 16. Genesis 4 and verse
16. And it's talking about when Cain
went out from the presence of the Lord. That's a way of saying
Cain was alienated from God. Just as any sinner who comes
to God pleading anything but the imputed righteousness of
Christ, the blood of Christ, is alienated from God. He's not
near to God. And then it talks about how Cain,
look at verse 18 of Genesis four. It says, it's talking about Cain's
son Enoch. And that's not the same Enoch
that we deal with in chapter five of Genesis, who walked with
the Lord. But it says in verse 18, and Enoch was born, unto
Enoch was born Irad, and Irad Mehugiel, and Mehugiel begat
Methuselah, and Methuselah begat Lamech. And look at verse 19,
Lamech took unto himself two wives, the name of the one was
Ada, the name of the other Zillah. And Ada bared Jabal, and he was
the father of such as dwell in tents and of such as have cattle.
Now, if you want to identify Jabal and his descendants, they
were farmers. That's how they were known. He's
a farmer. That's how they were known. That
was his claim to fame. All right. Then it goes on, verse
21, his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such
as handled the harp and organ. Now he's the entertainer. I told
him, I said, Jubal must have been a preacher. He likes to
entertain. False preacher. Because that's
what they do. But that's how he was known,
by his ability to entertain. And then it says in verse 22,
and Zilla, she also bare two balkane, an instructor of every
artificer in brass and iron. And so that's how he was known
and his descendants. They were tankers, I guess, works
in metal. That's how they're known. That's
their claim to fame. That was their life. That's what
it's saying there in that. But now look over at verse 25
of Genesis four. It says, and Adam knew his wife
again. She bare a son and called his
name Seth. For God said, she hath appointed
me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And then it says,
and to Seth, to him also there was born a son and he called
his name Enos. Then men began to call upon the
name of the Lord. Now, I don't know what Seth did
for a living. He may have been a shepherd like
his father. or like his older brother Abel. But I know he had some way of
making a living. But it's not mentioned there.
Because that's not what marked, identified the line of Seth. What marked them was the fact
that they called upon the name of the Lord. They worshiped God.
They served God. You see, that's how we want to
be marked and identified in this life. Nothing wrong with thinking
about your profession, thinking about your family, thinking about
what you're going to eat and what you're going to wear, but
what marks you and identifies you? Now go back to Matthew 6. That's what Christ is talking
about. If I'm so worried and anxious about tomorrow, and about what I'm going to eat
and how I'm going to make it. To the point that, you know,
well, I'm just going to give up and I'm going to live for
myself. That's what he means when he says, take no thought. Don't do that. Anxious care. That's the issue. And look at
verse 30 of Matthew 6. He says, for this reason, 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, I want to make sure that
I have good clothes. I want to make sure that my wife
and my children, my grandchildren, that they have good clothes to
wear. Don't you? I want them to have that. And I think about
it. But here's my main concern. I don't want to stand before
God at judgment naked. In my shame, I want to stand
before God dressed in the righteous robe of Christ's righteousness
imputed. That's my main concern. Somebody
told me one time, said, all you preach about is the righteousness
of Christ. Amen. I want to be marked by
that. I want to be identified that
way. That's good. Put that on my tombstone. Noah
was a preacher. You know, Noah built an ark,
didn't he? He did. It showed that he believed God.
Peter said Noah was a preacher of righteousness. That's how
he was identified, what he preached. We preach the gospel. That's
what we know, and that's how we're identified. Look at verse
31. He says, therefore take no thought, that anxious, worrisome
thought. that would drive you away from
God to self, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith
shall we be clothed? Verse 32, for after all these
things do the Gentiles seek. Now the Gentiles, the heathen.
The Gentiles, there's a segment of the Gentiles, you know, the
Epicureans, you know what their motto, anybody remember what
their motto was? The Epicureans. Eat, drink, and be merry for
tomorrow you die. We used to have a form of that
on TV in America in the 60s. It was a beer commercial. I can't
remember which one. It said, you only go around once
in life, grab for all the gusto you can get. You remember that?
Well, listen, there's nothing wrong with having fun. There's
nothing wrong with enjoying yourself. In fact, the book of Ecclesiastes
is clear on that, isn't it? It's not bad for a man or a woman
to enjoy the labors of their hands. As long as they remember,
hey, it's all a gift from Almighty God. You have a profession, you worked
hard, you went to school, you built up a business, whatever
it is. I'm gonna tell you something.
God gave you the brain, God gave you the stamina, God gave you
the opportunity, God put you in the right place at the right
time. Have you ever known anybody that's worked hard and built
up a business only to lose it? Why wasn't that you? Only God. It's all in the hands of the
Lord. And we're to think that way. We're to live that way. Whatever I have, whether it's
meager or whether it's plenty, Ultimately, and ultimately, it's
a gift from God. That's what Ecclesiastes said.
And if we don't realize that and live in that truth, seeking
the Lord, worshiping the Lord, serving the Lord, you know what
it is according to the book of Ecclesiastes? Vanity of vanities. Nothing to nothing. That's what
it is apart from this. That's what Christ is teaching
here. This is like a microcosm of the whole book of Ecclesiastes
right here. And he says it in verse 33. Here's the main issue.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And there you go. And all these
things shall be added to you. God will give you what you need.
That's what he's saying. Let me tell you, here's what
I believe that's talking about. It doesn't mean God will give
you everything you want. Somebody says, well, if you have
enough faith and enough confidence in prayer, we're going to deal
with that in the weeks to come in the book of first John three,
that God will give it to you. You know, if you pray hard enough
for a million dollars or something like that, no, that's not what
that means. But as long as God has determined that I will live
upon this earth, whatever that is, God will give me what I need. And when that day, when my, the
day of my death, it comes that God will take me home. He's already
given me everything I need for salvation in Christ. All the
wisdom that I need towards God is found in Christ
who is my wisdom. All the righteousness that I
need to be justified I find in Christ. All the redemption, all
the sanctification I have to have that God requires of me
I find complete in Christ. So he's given me everything I
need for salvation, for eternal glory, eternal life. And he'll
give me everything I need. Now, here's my problem. I think
I need more than what God knows I need. You ever been in that
situation? Well, God, I need a little more.
Well, if I did, he'd give it to me. God knows what I can handle. Somebody said, well, I'm praying
that I'll win the lottery. You ever saw on TV these lottery
stories? We know of a fella that used
to live up in a little old town called Westwood, Kentucky. He
was a drug addict. He won 40-some million dollars
in the lottery. And you know what he did? They
interviewed him up there. They had the news there. And
here's the first thing he said. He said, well, there is a God.
And I thought to myself, when he said that, I said, well, you
fool, there was a God before you won the lottery. You just
didn't realize it. You see, that's the kind of thing
you got to deal with, isn't it? Well, he ended up moving off
to Florida. He bought everything he could get his hands on. I
think he got mixed up in drugs again, ended up broke, living
with his mother just around the corner from where we lived on
Highland Avenue, and died of cancer. Now what a waste. What a waste, you see? He couldn't
handle the 40 million. Well, I'll tell you what, I probably
couldn't either. And that's why God won't give
it to me. He knows what I need. He knows
what I can handle. And if he blesses me, I hope
and pray that I use it for his glory and the good of his people,
the good of the gospel. Now again, there's nothing wrong
with enjoying these things for ourselves. But we seek ye first
the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? It's
God's glory, it's God's salvation, it's his church. And his righteousness. I know, listen, here's what I'm
saying. I know if I did win the lottery tomorrow, it's not because
of anything I've earned or deserved. Now that's right. It's totally
a gift from God. And I have no righteousness before
God but Christ. And so I'm gonna seek Christ.
When you say seek his righteousness, that means to seek Christ. Get
into God's word. This word right here is the most
precious treasure we have. Everything else fades away. Everything
else in this life. So he says, look at verse 34,
he says, take therefore no thought for the morrow. Don't be anxious
and worried about tomorrow. He says, for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof. That word evil is trouble. I
got enough troubles today than to worry about troubles that
are gonna come tomorrow. You see what he's saying? And
so it's like, I think I've got it down here. At the end of your lesson, it's, or no, I put it, okay, I put
it here on the first page where it talks about casting all your
care upon him, for he careth for you, 1 Peter 5, 7. That's
what he's saying. And so just, and we, you know,
so our prayer should be that God would grant us all grace
to cast our cares upon him, dependent upon him, look to him, serve
him, seek him, follow him, live for his glory, no matter what
station we find ourselves in. And as Paul wrote, I ended the
lesson this way in Romans 14, eight, for whether we live, we
live under the Lord, whether we die, we die under the Lord,
whether we live therefore or die, we belong to the Lord. All
right.