As Isaac was singing that song,
I remembered a verse from a psalm that, if I had to pick, would
be my favorite. Psalm 136. Who remembered us in our lowest
day, for his mercy endureth forever. Aren't we thankful? Will Brother
David Edmondson, pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville,
Kentucky, be our first speaker this morning? Brother David,
I pray the Lord bless you like he did Friday night. Good morning, everyone. What a delight this weekend has
been. be with people that know the
Lord, love the Lord, the fellowship that we have, the food. I told someone yesterday, I said,
I've gotten a little smarter over the years. I used to go
on a diet after a conference, now I go on a diet before, so
I can eat more while I'm there. but thank you for everything
you've done. The accommodation's great. Everything's been wonderful,
and I'm so glad that I was invited. It's a privilege and an honor. Our text this morning is Matthew
chapter 6, if you'd turn there with me. I've titled this message, First
Things First. First Things First. And let me
say as heartfelt as I can that my desire this morning is to
once again encourage you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no hope apart from that. If you'll trust in Christ, everything's
going to be alright. Because He says so. He said that
He's working all things together for the good of them who love
the Lord, called according to His purpose. You love the Lord,
that's a sign that you're one of the called. And He's going
to work all things together for your good. Now here in Matthew
6, beginning in verse 31, the Lord Jesus tells us plainly,
Therefore take no thought, 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, and these next four words, my, what a,
for your heavenly Father. Your heavenly Father. Saints,
you have a heavenly Father. Your heavenly Father. My, my. I could just almost stop right
there. Take no thought what you shall eat, what you shall drink,
how you'll be clothed, for after all these things that the Gentiles
seek, your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these
things. You know, the Father knows all things. We say that
all the time. And then we act like He's not
aware of what's going on. He knows all things. He's omniscient. He's all-knowing. The Father
provides all things. Everything, everything that we
need, God provides. He supplies everything that we
need, and He does so in, by, and through Jesus Christ. You've
heard that every message this week. That's why Paul wrote in
Philippians 4.19, he said, but my God shall supply all your
need. Singular. All your need according
to His riches and glory. How? by Christ Jesus. You ever notice how many times
in the Word of God it says, in Christ, by Christ, it'll make
a statement through Christ? This is all about Him. God shall supply all our need. You know, there's really only
one thing needful. You know what that is. You know
who that is. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there
are many professing believers in the world today who give anxious
thought, worry. They wrestle with the care of
material and physical things. I want to do it. I'm learning to lean now, as
we say. Learning to lean on Christ because
I know He's going to provide everything for me that I need
and everything for me spiritually that God requires of me. No need
for me to worry, fret, and be anxious. Food, water, clothing. The Lord says for us to take
no anxious thought for what we shall eat or drink or how we'll
be clothed. And really, this applies to every
provision. Not just food, water, and everything
that we need. whatever it may be. Especially
spiritually. David never saw the righteous
forsaken or his seed begging for bread. And you know, come
to think about it, I haven't either. I haven't. I can remember
Brother Montgomery telling me, my pastor, telling me that when
he was in Bible college, him and his wife had just got by. And many times, he would have
a bill come due, couldn't pay that bill, and he'd say, Lord,
I don't know how I'm going to pay this bill. And go to the
mailbox, and there'd be a check for just the right amount of
money that somebody sent him. Now, I know the world spiritualizes
all that, and they make that a religion in and of itself,
but my point is, God's going to take care of you. He's going
to take care of you if you're one of His. You know, I've thought about
this a lot lately. God is not Father to the whole
world. He's God over the whole world.
He's the sovereign ruler of the whole world, but He's Father
only to His children. Only His elect children. And
that's what our Lord said beginning, is saying and speaking to God's
people here in verse 32. For you're a heavenly Father. He knoweth that you have need
of all these things. Matter of fact, He knows of needs
that you've got that you don't know. God is the believer's Heavenly
Father, and He'll supply whatever need that they have, whether
it's meat, drink, or clothing. And He always provides more than
what we actually need. Think about when the Lord fed
the 5,000. They took up more than they started
with. That's how it works with the Lord. He provides more than
what we need. Why do we doubt Him? Why do we
doubt Him? Look up at verse 25. Therefore
I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall
eat or what you shall drink, not yet for your body, what you
shall put on. And then he asked the question,
is not the life more than meat in the body? Then Raymond, behold
the fowls of the air, 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? Which of you, by taking
thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? Can you, by anxious
thought, worry, and fretting, add one cubit to your stature? Can you add one day to your life?
Can you add one dollar to your checking account? Well, if it
would, worry and fretting would add money to my bank account,
I'd be a rich man. But it doesn't. It doesn't add
anything, does it? I tell you what it may add, it
may add ulcers and high blood pressure, but it's not gonna
add anything that you need. 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 them. 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? And that's what we are. We're
ye's of little faith, aren't we? Everything we have with the
exception of sin is of the Lord. God knows all things. He supplies
all things. God works all things for the
believer's good. Our Father in heaven created
all things. He controls all things. He does
whatever He pleases, wherever He pleases, in heaven, earth,
in the sea, even in hell. What is our Lord saying here?
He's saying, I can take care of you. I can take care of you. It's a great dishonor, a great dishonor to God to believe
that He cannot and would not take care of His own. Look at
Matthew chapter 7 since we're so close, verse 9. Or what man is there of you,
whom if his son ask bread, you give him a stone? Or if he ask
a fish, will you give him a serpent? If ye then, being able, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father, which is in heaven, give good things to
them that ask? This is something that every
believing child of God can be certain of. Anxious thought. Worry. Fretting. Being depressed. Not going to add anything. Not
going to help you a bit. It'd be good for us to learn
that. It'll keep us from some grief. It'll keep you from more
worry and more fret. And if we still have anxious
thought, we ought to do some soul searching. If we have worry
and anxiety over things that the Lord promises to provide
for us, then we haven't learned it yet. Because of who it is
that provides it. Now, I can promise you something,
and I would do my best to fulfill it if I could, but sometimes,
well, most of the time, we're incapable that we are incapable of doing
anything. I may be able to provide what
I promised and I may not because of my inability. But we're talking
about God. He can do anything and He can
do everything. And He said that Himself. I can
do anything. And He does everything as we've
seen this weekend. Now, the unbeliever needs to
be worried about tomorrow, but the child of God takes no thought
for it. I don't mean that we just live from day to day and
not take care of things. Well, I'm not going to pay my
bill this due tomorrow. It doesn't mean that. You know
that. But we're not worried about it. We're not fretting. We're
not anxious about it. Why? Because he that holds today
holds tomorrow. My father-in-law was a farmer,
pretty big farmer, and he kept a close eye on the weather. But
you know, he could not, by worry, make it rain. It'd be dry and
he'd be concerned, but his worry and fretting didn't make it rain.
And he could not, by fretting, make it stop raining when it
did. pacing the floor, didn't do anything in preserving his
crops. Not a thing. Farmers could save themselves
a lot of grief and a lot of worry if they just knew that God is
the Lord of the harvest. Do we know that? I pray we do, but many times we
don't act as we do. And He's the Lord of the harvest
both naturally and spiritually. If there's a harvest, it was
the Lord that gave it. He gives the increase. Whether it's the seed of the
field or whether it's the seed of the heart, He's the one who
makes the seed to grow. These are the things that the
Gentiles seek. Did you notice he said that? These are the things
those who are in the world are concerned about. This world is
concerned and consumed over what they eat, what they drink, what
they wear, what they drive. We've added a few things to this
lid. Where we live, what we have, are we gonna be able to keep
it? I never had anything until I got a little older and don't
have much now. But after I got it, then I started
worrying about being able to keep it. Am I going to lose it
now? Don't worry about that. Not if
you're one of His. He's going to take care of you.
The child of God through grace is made to, like Mary, choose
the good part. We're not anxious and troubled
over many things like Martha was. We shouldn't be. Mary chose the good part that
can never be taken away from her. 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. Do you think the King David's
children worried about anything? My dad wasn't a king, far from
him, but I never had to worry about anything with him as my
caretaker. Why? Because I knew he loved
me. I knew he himself would do without in order for me to hang. How much more so is that true
with God? And he doesn't have to be without.
He's got it all. He is the giver. For the Lord forsaketh not His
saints. They are preserved forever."
I'll take that. I'll take it. Preserved forever. The righteous shall inherit the
land and dwell therein forever. Sign me up. For the Lord will not forsake
His people. For His great name's sake. For Christ's great name's sake. Because it had pleased the Lord
to make you His people. That doesn't mean that everything
is going to be hunky-dory as we say. Paul said we're troubled
on every side, yet not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Yes, cast down, but not destroyed. Everything that happens to us
is for our good. No good thing will be withheld
from them that walk uprightly. Well, how do we walk upright? Christ walked uprightly for us.
And we look to Him. If we've got our eyes on Him,
we're going to follow Him. Only in Christ. The child of
God will be content with such things as they have, for He hath
said." Who? Christ. What did He say? I will
never leave you nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me. And when we say the Lord is our helper, mean that we do
anything and he helps us along with it. He's our provider. He
provides it all. And if the Lord will never leave
us and never forsake us, what do we have to worry about? Why
do we still worry? You've heard the A little joke
or whatever, a little story. A guy goes to the doctor and
he says, the doctor says, what can I do for you? And he said,
well, it hurts when I do this. And he said, well, don't do that.
Why do we worry and fret and anxious? Don't do that. Don't
do it. He's the king of kings. He's
not just king, he's king of kings. He's over every king. People
are anxious about so many things. I had somebody not long ago say,
what about global warming? Is there going to be a nuclear
war? What about artificial intelligence? That's been a big subject lately.
Will artificial intelligence be the end of us? Listen, God's
hand is on the universal thermostat. Somebody said, you believe in
global warming? Asked me that one time. I said, well, It does
say the Lord's gonna, with a fervent heat. Maybe global warming's
the way He's gonna do it, I don't know. But I know this, His hand's
on the thermostat. God's finger's on the nuclear
button. Who's got their finger on the nuclear button? Is it
Russia? Is it Ukraine? No, it's the Lord. God's wisdom's not artificial.
And as your father, he's out to do you good. Jack Shanks used
to say, good. But there's something for us
to be concerned about. There is. There's something that
we must desperately desire and diligently seek. First things
first. Verse 33, but seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. So, the first question we need
to ask ourselves is are we seeking God's kingdom? And then quickly
after that, we need to ask ourselves are we seeking it first? He didn't
say, but seek ye the kingdom of God and His right. He said,
seek ye first. First things first. Are we seeking
it first? Are we seeking God's righteousness?
First means before all things. First means at the beginning.
First means before anything else. Are we seeking Christ before
everything else? Are we seeking Christ at the
beginning of every day? Ever trouble? Are we seeking
Christ before anything and everything else? Now, we have to answer
that for ourselves, because only we know our... Well, we don't
even know our hearts. The Lord knows our hearts. We
think we do. We begin to understand something
about seeking the kingdom of God first when we understand
that by nature, there's none that seeketh after God. The word
of God says there's none that seeketh after God. Well, how
am I going to seek him then? What's going to change for me
in order to seek Him if none can? 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 to Romans 3 with me. Just real quick. Take a little
detour here. Romans 3. Look at verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand
it. There is none that seeketh after
God. And here we see three things
about ourselves as sinners. None of us are righteous. By
nature, not one of us got any righteousness that we can offer
God. There's none that understands. None that seeks after God. None
of us are righteous, yet God requires perfect righteousness
before we can be accepted of Him. That's a dilemma. Or is
it? None of us understands how to
get this righteousness. Our naturally wicked and deceitful
hearts tell us that we can earn and that we can merit and that
we somehow deserve the favor and grace of God. We know better.
Those that God has revealed Himself to. Because there's none of us
righteous. There's none of us seeking God.
There's none good. No, not one. None means none. With God, none
means none and all means all. There's none righteous, none
to seek of God. How do we get it? We don't have
the ability, we don't have the will to seek God. The Lord Jesus
said, no man can come to me that he might have life. He doesn't
have the ability, he doesn't have the life. No man will come. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not seeking the Lord, it's
of the Lord. But none of us can or will seek
Him. He must first enable us to seek
Him. He's got to first give us life.
We're dead in trespasses and sin. We've got to have life first. First things first. When did Lazarus come forth?
I love to think about that. I was told all my life, Lazarus
came forth and got life. And I think, well, if He was
dead, how did He come forth to get life? The Lord said, Lazarus, come
forth. And the scripture says, he that
was dead came forth. He was dead when he made the
commandment, but he wasn't after the commandment was made. God
gave him life and then he came forth. I've never seen a dead
man come to dinner. I've never seen a dead man do
anything, because they're dead. Why do we think being dead and
trespassed isn't sin? That we can do anything. Who did Lazarus come to? The
very One that commanded him to come. And so will we. So will we. We'll seek the One
who gives us life, and we'll seek Him first. We owe everything to Him. Sinners
don't seek Christ in order to be saved. They seek Christ because
God saved them. They seek the One who gave them
life. Look over at Mark chapter one with me, verse 14. Mark chapter
four. Oh, excuse me, Mark chapter one,
verse 14. Verse 14, now after that John
was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee. What was he doing? He was preaching the gospel of
the kingdom of God. and saying the time is fulfilled
and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the
gospel." You see, seeking the kingdom of God is seeking Christ,
who is the kingdom of God. And seeking the kingdom of God
is to seek the preaching of the gospel. Preaching the gospel
is the means that God uses to reveal the kingdom of God to
us. It's through what the world calls
foolishness, preaching. I had a man tell me not long
ago, he said, what do you do? I said, I'm preaching. He said,
that's foolishness. I said, I knew that's what you'd say, because
that's what God said you'd say. That the foolishness of preaching.
But it's the very means that God uses to save them that believe. It's preaching repentance. It's
preaching repentance for the kingdom of God is at hand, and
Christ who is the kingdom of God, He's the one that's got
to make you repent. It's preaching God's grace, which
is unmerited. In preaching, we have the command
to believe. As the men have so ably said
this weekend, that's not an invitation. Did the Lord Jesus say, Lazarus,
if you would, if you'd give your heart to me, if you'd come on
out of that grave down front here where I'm standing in front
of the grave, I'll give you life. That's not what he said, did
he? He said, Lazarus, come forth. That's a command. We better come. We better come. Are you first and foremost seeking
the preaching of the gospel? It's the most important thing.
Does it take a backseat? Is it a secondary and inferior
position to other things. It's preaching, the preaching
of the gospel. Is it a priority to you? The definition of priority is
the fact and condition of being regarded or treated as the most
important. The most important priority is
regarded as something more important than another, than something
else. To take precedence or to proceed before everything else. Here's some synonyms. Prime concern. Preeminence. Pressing matter. Matter of greatest concern. You
know, I can't tell you how many times in my life I heard those
words, you need to get your priorities straight. I heard them from my
parents. I heard them from my school teachers.
I heard them from my employers. Now we all hear them from our
wives. Just teasing. But you know, they were right.
My priorities weren't straight. I believe by God's grace I'm
getting them that way. I'm not going to say they're
totally that way yet, but I'm trying to get them straight. By His grace, I will. Let's just be honest with ourselves.
People miss the hearing of the gospel for this reason or that.
We had to do this. We had to go there. In most cases,
they didn't have to. They chose to. You know, we pretty
much do what we want to. To attend the worship of the
gospel and hearing the glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not a performance of religious duties. It's our lifeline. It's
the words of life. It springs from a principle of
life under the quickening influences of the Holy Spirit of God. And
as I said earlier, it's not something we do to be saved. We worship
God because He saved us. No one else could. Loving parents
do everything for their children. I've seen that this weekend.
And grandparents, you're even worse. I saw you last night. Big burly
guy walking around with that little sweet thing. Keeping his
eye on her. That's what we do. Because we
love them. May we never forget that our
God is a jealous God. He loves His people in Christ.
He has every right to be jealous over those He loves and saves
and does everything for. The commandment of God to the
believer is, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. What does it mean to seek His
righteousness? Well, first and foremost, Jesus
Christ is God's righteousness. So there's no obtaining of this
righteousness without seeking Him. He's the Lord our righteousness. For God hath made Him sin for
us that we might be made, what? The righteousness of God. Where?
In Him. It's to seek the Lord Jesus who
died to make those righteous who could never be righteous.
And we never stop seeking His righteousness, do we? Did I get
it all when He saved me? Yeah, but I'm still seeking it
every day. I'm not living today on yesterday's
faith and grace. I need it today. I need it. To
whom coming as you say it. We keep coming because we still
have need. We need, but only He can give. And we must seek Him before anything
else. Well, that preacher got real
close to preaching the law this morning. No, no, no, no. We come out of love and gratitude
for the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. We come
because we want to. It's to seek the One who died
to make us righteous when we can never be righteous. It's to be where others who love
Him are and want the same things that you do. That's what's so
beautiful about conferences and church in general. We've all
got one thing in common. We've got the same Heavenly Father.
We've got the same Savior. We've got the same sin. We've
got the same problems. We come together and we remind
one another that our God loves us. He gave himself for us. What manner of love? Oh, my. Who's sufficient for
these things? Years ago, I remember someone
calling me on a Wednesday night. They weren't a believing person. They asked me, would you like
to go with me to do this? And before they got the words
out of their mouth, they go, oh, I forgot it's Wednesday and
you have to go to church. No, I don't have to go to church.
I can stay home. I get to go to church. It's a
privilege. It's an honor. It's where the
words of life are that I need desperately. So I get to go. We get to come and worship. To
seek is to pursue. It's to go after. It's to strive
for. Push toward. Aim at. Attempt. Endeavor. Work. Aspire. All those
things. To make every effort possible
to worship the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. First
things first. Something that should be done
or dealt with before anything else. That's what it means. Idioms,
they call it. Idioms are for idiots, I guess.
First things first. That's what this book teaches. Well, let's start wrapping this
up by turning to Matthew chapter 13 together. Just a few more
things and I'll sit down. Matthew 13, verse 44, please. The Lord is teaching further here
as to what the Kingdom of God is. You know, it's really crucial
for us to know. We need to know what we're seeking. It's crucial for us to know that
if we're ever to truly seek it, we've got to know what it is.
Most people seek, they know not what, just as many people worship,
they know not what. Going to worship, where you going
to worship? The statue or, you know, it's
different things for different people. Worship is. Let me say again that we never
seek the kingdom of God and Christ's righteousness unless the Lord
gives us a desire to. He makes those who are unwilling,
willing. When? In the day of His power.
We won't seek God's kingdom unwillingly. He makes us willing. Ain't nobody
going to heaven kicking and screaming and going, I don't want to go
there. Verse 44, Matthew 13, Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field,
the which when a man hath found it, he hideth, and for joy therefore
goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field."
The kingdom of God is like a treasure, a treasure that's hid. That's talking about the gospel.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek. What a treasure it is a gospel that lifts a beggar
up from the dunghill and sets him among princes. That's what
we are by nature, beggars, mercy beggars. And the Lord takes us
by His power and His grace and He lifts us up and sets us among
princes. We didn't do anything. We didn't
do anything. Well, I believe, didn't we? You
wouldn't have done that if God hadn't given you faith to do
so. What a treasure that covers all
our sin. Boy, isn't that a treasure? What power it is that casts all
our sins into the depths of the sea. I love the illustration of God
casting our sins behind His back. Wherever God turns, we're behind
His back. Never to see again. That's a treasure, isn't it? The gospel is a treasure hid
in a field. The gospel is a mystery. Not
everyone sees it. It's hid. Not everyone understands
it. It's a hidden treasure. I see
it, Brother David. God revealed it to you. Thank
God. Thank God for it. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. and whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest, lest,
lest the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them." That's how I got it. He shined it unto me. He revealed it unto me. He gave
me eyes to see it. Look up at verse 35. that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophets, saying, I will open up my mouth in parables. I will utter things which have
been kept secret from the foundation of the world. And then all through
the Old Testament Scriptures, the treasure was hid in the promises
of God and Jesus Christ. This is in every promise. Every
single one of them. He said, Moses wrote to me. Abraham
saw my day and he was glad. God began revealing this hidden
treasure. And all, every one of them pointed
to the Lord Jesus Christ, said there he is, just like John did
on that day. Philip preached to that eunuch.
Was that Eric that read that? I can't remember. Preached to
that eunuch beginning at the same scripture he read in that
chariot. And what did he do? It says he
preached Christ unto him. There's no preaching but that
which is preaching of Christ. There's no gospel apart from
that. Preachers preach on the Passover. I love the Passover
and never mention Christ. Who is the Passover? The blood
on the door is the blood shed by the Lord Jesus Christ that
causes God to pass over. The skins that covered Adam and
his wife pictures Christ's perfect righteousness. Not the fig leaves
that Adam sewed together with his own hands. No. That bloodshed. That's what covers. The high priest and the holy
of holies. That's Jesus Christ. Men preach on Noah's ark and
don't say a word about Christ being the ark. Jesus Christ is
Noah's ark. Those inside him are safe from
the wrath of God, right? You know, the rain, the wrath
of God fell down on the ark too. But those that were in it were
in Christ, safe and secure. God's people will, by His grace,
get their priorities straight. The child of God is willing to
part with everything to possess this treasure of the gospel. That's seeking the kingdom of
God. Look at verse 45 again. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. Now, I
believe that pearl of great price could be the church that Christ
gave all to purchase. We don't really give up anything
for the pearl of great price of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
Christ is no doubt the believer's pearl of great price. There's
nothing that we have that's more valuable. God will never be satisfied
with an imitation pearl. You know what? Most of our wives
won't be either. And you can't blame them. I'm
not a pearl person, but if you give me a pearl, I want a real
one. Friends, to the artist, Christ
is altogether lovely. To the architect, Christ is a
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. To the builder, He's
Christ 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, Christ is 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 their salvation. To the preacher,
He's the Word of life. To the student, He's the truth.
And what we need to ask ourselves is, are we seeking wisdom? Are
we seeking righteousness? Are we seeking sanctification?
Are we seeking redemption? I've got good news for you. All
those things are in Christ. He, Christ of God, is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Everything you
need is right there in Him, in Him alone. In Christ, we have
it all. And you know when someone has
wealth and they die and have seven children, they all fight
over about how big their piece of the pie is going to be. I don't care how much I give,
but I don't want her to give more than me. But with Christ,
we get the whole pie. We all get it. It's not divided
up that way. We get Christ, we get it all.
All that's His and all that's the Father's, it's ours. Isn't that good? Kingdom of God. Look at verse
47. 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 vessels, but cast the bad away. The kingdom of God, the
kingdom of heaven, it's like a treasure. It's like a goodly
pearl. And now it's like a net. The fishermen cast a net in the
water and there's a great catch. That happened on a couple of
occasions when our Lord went fishing with the disciples. And it's full of fish and they
bring them to shore, it says here. And when the nets open,
some of the fish are bad and some of them are good. And they
throw the bad ones out and keep the good ones. Well, you know
what mankind does with that kind of thing. They make the good
ones to be because for some reason, somehow or another, that fish
did something good. People say that's ridiculous. You're right, it's ridiculous.
Why do we think we can do anything good? When the net's open. You know
what that net is? It's preaching of the gospel.
You throw it out and you draw it in, you plant, and you water,
but only God can give the inquiry. They fished all night. Master,
we fished all night. We're professional fishermen.
We know what we're doing. We didn't catch nothing. He said,
cast the net over on this side. Salvation, friends, is to have
Christ. It's to have His righteousness, His holiness. It's to be conformed
to His image. It's to have everything that
God requires. It's to have everything that we can't provide. And that's
why we've got to seek Him first. First things first. Thank You, Lord Jesus. You deserve
our all. And You deserve it first. May God enable us to put first
things first. Amen. Thank you again for everything. Love this church, love this assembly,
your family. Thank you for having me. I love something Brother Nybert
said yesterday. You believe something because
it's true. Not because you decide to believe it, but because it's
true. David just told us the truth. This is who God is. This is how God saves sinners.
It's true. Now believe it. Believing Christ is coming to
Christ. Believe Him. Come to Him because
it's true. Because it's true. Alright, we're
going to take about a 15 minute break. When you hear the music,
come back and find your seat again.