Our lesson this morning is found
in the Gospel according to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, verses 22 through
31. And the gist, I guess you would
say, of these verses and the subject of our lesson this morning
is things to consider. Things to consider. Now let's
read these verses together. Luke chapter 12, verse 22. And he said unto his disciples,
therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life. Let that sink in for just a minute. Take no thought for your life. what you shall eat, neither for
the body what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and
the body is more than raven. Consider the ravens, for they
neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and
God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than
the fowls? And which of you were taking
thought, if you did take thought? He said take no thought for your
life. But if you did, which one of you taking thought can add
to his stature one cubit, add to his day one hour, one minute? Can't add to his present state
of being, his consolation, ease, or even the competence of life. Which of you, by taking thought,
can do any of that? If you then be not able to do
that thing which is least, why take you thought for the
rest? Consider, he said, consider the
lilies. Consider how they grow. They
toil not. They spend not. And yet I say
unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
one of these. If then God so clothed the grass,
which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
how much more will he clothe you? O ye of little faith. And seek not you what you shall
eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations
of the world seek after. And your Father, O my soul, my
Father, God is my Father, your Father knoweth that you have
need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom
of God. And all these things shall be
added unto you. Now our Lord had just finished
sharply rebuking a man whose covetous mind and heart had blinded
him to the glory of God in the person standing before him. God
Almighty clothed in human flesh was standing right in front of
him. Think about that. Eternal God. in the person of a man standing
looking this man in the face and him looking at the Son of
God, the Son of Man, looking him right in the eyes. He was
standing right before him and he didn't know who was there.
And he sharply rebuked him, that covetous mind of his, the God-man,
the promised redeemer, the one conduit through which all the
blessings of God flow to chosen sinners. He has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as
He has chosen us in Him. He's the conduit. Apart from
Him, there are no blessings. It's all curse outside of Christ. And all this man could think
about was his bank account and his comfort in this world. And
now our Lord will speak to the hearts of those who love Him
who believe on Him, who fully trust Him. And this sinful man
who tried to use the Son of God to increase his holdings was
going about making his own provision, his own security, and his own
end. But now Christ is going to talk
to those who love Him. And they love Him because He
first loved them. And I see a thing people do on
their phones today and revel in it. is called a selfie. The picture this man sends to
this world is a selfie. That's what it is. That's what
our Lord's addressing here in this man. But our Lord reminds
us again and again that all our provision comes from God our
Father through the glorious person of His Son. That's where it comes
from. And to communicate this wonderful
truth, He gives us some things to consider. So let me give you
this morning some things to consider. First of all, our Lord says,
consider the raven. The raven. Ravens aren't worth
much. It'd be okay with me if I never
seen another one. They're just not worth much.
They get into stuff. You know, a quail, give me a
quail, he's good for food, that's a good eating quail is. A turkey
or a chicken, a goose, all those good, but a raven? Their songs are a trouble to
hear, their masses pollute the ground, and in general they're
nothing but pests. That's what they are, they're
just pests. Yet they serve at least one purpose
in this world. They picture chosen sinners and
God's kindness and provision to them. Nobody wants a raven. You're
not going to put a bird feeder out to feed ravens. If you see
a raven, you might take the bird feeder back in the house. You
don't want to encourage him. And yet God takes care for the
raven. That tells me how He takes care
for me, the sinner. A sinner. Worthless. Hopeless. Helpless. And God takes
care of me and feeds me. He feeds me. And these ravens,
they don't sow. They don't reap. They don't have
a storehouse. They don't have a barn. They
don't have a bank account. And God feeds them. Now he turns
to his disciples and he said, how much more are you better
than the fowls? You think God has more care for
a raven than he does for his people? If he feeds them ravens,
that ought to give us some hope, shouldn't it? How much more,
he said, are you worth than a bunch of ravens? We're not figures of grace and
mercy. were objects of it. Objects of
it. We're not examples of God's love
and care, but the very objects of it. He loved us, the scripture
said, and gave himself for us. He redeemed us under God. He
predestinated us under the adoption of children, chose us in Christ,
clothed us in his righteousness, put us in his Son. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? God sacrificed
his son. You think he's going to short
you a loaf of bread? Huh? He put his son on an altar. He
exposed his son to ridicule and pain beyond anything we can imagine. And then we doubt him for a meal? If God takes care of a raven,
will he not also care for them that he loves? God asked Job,
he said, who provideth for the raven his food? When his young
ones cry unto God, they wonder for lack of meat. They wonder for lack of meat. So what do they do? They go where
God provides for them. That's what they do. They search
for God's provision. What's that tell us? Oh, we search for His provision.
Consider the raven. And then secondly, he says, consider
yourself, Luke 12, 25. Which of you, which of you, he's
going to use us now as an example, which of you, with taking thought,
can add to his stature one cubit? With all your cunning and plotting
and planning, with all your prudence and wisdom, you can't lengthen
your days a half inch. You couldn't increase your hope
and security even one cubit. That's 18 inches. God, our creator,
has made us vessels of mercy aforeprepared unto glory. He's made all provision. He predestinated,
ordained the means. Oh, see God's beloved alone in
a cave, the enemy searching for him without. They're going to
have his head if they find him. And here he is back in a cave.
And God sends what? A raven. Isn't that what he sends? He sends a raven to feed him. And see that same man as the
brook dries up from whence he drank. See him go by God's providence
to a city where a poor widow woman was gonna take the last
bit of meal and the last bit of oil and make one cake. And
he said, before you do, would you make me a cake? And she did. And that barrel never run dry. That oil never run dry. All the
way through that drought. Oh, how weak, poor sinners. He of little faith, he said,
he thinks he's rich and increased with goods and has need of nothing
and knoweth not that he's wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. Consider yourselves, that's what
he tells us. Consider yourselves. And if you
then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take your
thought for the rest? If you can't even control or
assist God in the life you live, while you're in your prime, in
your health, what can you do about eternal provision? What
are you going to do with that? And then thirdly, he said, consider
the lilies. Verse 27, consider the lilies,
how they grow. They toil not, they spend not,
and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. The Queen of Sheba, as Scott Richardson would say,
she didn't ride into town in the back of a pickup truck. This
was the Queen of Sheba. She was somebody. And she heard
about Solomon and the glory of where he lived, and she came
to see him. And when she saw the glory of
Solomon, she couldn't talk. She just stood there in silence
for the longest time. And when she did get her breath,
she said, the hat has not been told. Our Lord said, the lily exceeds
Solomon in his splendor, and does nothing of itself to
bring it to pass. God puts it where he will have
it, he feeds it exactly what it needs, and he raises it up
to show his glory. Isn't that what he does with
us? That's exactly what he does with us. The heavens declare
the glory of God, and the earth showeth His handiwork. Consider
the lilies, and then you'll see God's caring provision for you
and for me. They toil not, work not, neither
do they spend, but quietly grow and give glory to Him. That's
what God's people do. Verse 28. If then God so clothed
the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, how much more will He clothe you? Clothe you
in His righteousness. Cover you with His name. O my
soul, how much more will He clothe you? O ye, a little faith, a
little faith. How much evidence does a sinner
need than what our loving Father has given? There's no end to the evidence
of His love that He's given to us. No end to it, and yet we
doubt. Consider the raven, He said,
and consider yourselves, and consider the lily. And then He
says this, fourthly, consider the heathen. Verse 26. If you then be not able to do
that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
Is this not the plight of the sinner? How can you being evil,
he said, speak good things? The natural man, here's all the
provision of eternity. Here's the Holy Spirit of God.
This is God Himself empowering this Word. But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, but foolishness too. Neither
can he know, because they're spiritually discerned. Who then
can be saved? Well, with man it's impossible.
It's impossible. If you be not able to do the
least thing, Oh, beloved, you and I are so
dependent on the Lord. Without me, he said, you can
do nothing. What can you do? Nothing. Oh,
I can do that? You can do nothing. Religion speaks of man's decisions
and man's will and man's works. Beginning his walk with God.
But that's a lie. Salvation is of the Lord. You
can't call on him whom you have not believed, and you can't believe
in him whom you have not heard, and you can't hear without a
preacher, and he can't preach if God don't send him. Faith is not the product of man,
it's the gift of God. And repentance is not the product
of the will. The goodness of God, he said,
leadeth thee to repentance. We have to be led to it. And believers are God's workmanship,
he said, created in Christ Jesus unto these good works, works
of love and faith and repentance. And true godliness is not some
fleshly turning over of a new leaf, it's the fruit of the Spirit
as He grafts us into the vine of Christ. If we'd be not grafted
into the vine, if we'd be not one with the vine, we can't produce
anything. We're like a dead limb on a tree. He's not doing that tree any
good, it's actually taken away from him. If you'd be not able then to
do that thing which is least, why take you thought for the
rest? We're to remember what we are in the flesh and where
God found us and what He's done in us. and give him all the praise,
be thankful, have a heart of gratitude. And then lastly, he
said, consider our heavenly father. Beloved, you and I have a divine
origin. Have you ever thought about that?
We have a divine origin. Our being was purposed in all
eternity by a loving father. He loved us, He made full provision
for us in His Son, and it says in the book of Proverbs that
His Son rejoiced with us in the habitable part of the earth long
before the earth was ever created. Hard to wrap your mind around
that, eh? Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. And if then God, Luke 12, 28,
so clothe the grass which today in the field and tomorrow it's
cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye
of little faith? And seek not what ye shall eat
or what ye shall drink, neither be of doubtful mind. All these
things do the nations of the earth seek after. Now listen
to this, And your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. He knows. He knows. Verse 31, But rather seek ye
the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Now listen to me. Let me read
you something over here in the book of James, verse 17. He said every good gift and every
Perfect gift. If it's not perfect, it's not
good. He's saying to us, every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above and it comes down from who? The Father of lights. With whom is no bearableness,
neither shadow of turning. How much comes from God? Every
gift. All of them. Those that are that
big and those that are so big I can't even demonstrate how
big they are. They come down from Him. Come down from Him. Not sealed and kept from us,
but cometh down to us. They're not dangled before us
like a carrot before a goat to get him to pull the wagon. It comes down from above and
it comes down to us. And consider that the great and
eternal God is your Father. Oh, my son. You know, after I
reached maturity, I didn't run back to Dad every time I needed
something. But a time or two, God's providence
shook, and I was in a bind. I was in a bind. But I always
knew I could go and ask Him, and He'd give it to me. He loved
me. I didn't want to. I didn't want
to ask for it. But when I did, He gave it to me, and I loved
Him back in return for it. But infinite in His wisdom, omnipotent
in His power, immutable in His purpose, your Father, your Abba
Father, Heavenly Father, knows that you have need of these. He's not just sashaying around
up in glory and not paying attention. His eye is always over the righteous. He knows what we have need of. And we run around down here just
like little kids, like little kids. And he's telling us, your
father, he knows what you have need of before you do. And it's out there. It's prepared. It's just waiting there for you.
And when the need is there, he's going to give it to you. Now
quit running around. Isn't that what he's telling
us? Quit running around in doubt
and rejoice in what he's giving you. Quit worrying about tomorrow. He said the evil of the day is
sufficient. Deal with that. Deal with that. But don't worry about these things.
Just don't worry about these things. Our Heavenly Father,
He knows exactly what we have need of and He gives it to us
in the time perfect.