Matthew Chapter 6. Matthew Chapter 6. This morning's message, I give
no justification of the text. I give no qualifying statements
regarding its contents. Simply read And hopefully grace
will be given for us to understand the sheer simplicity of the passage,
the directness of its contents and give us the desire to obey
and to send unbelief running like a dog running with its tail
between its legs, and therefore glorify our Savior in these times
that we live in. This passage in this short verse,
it says what it says and it means what it means. And what I'm referring to is
specifically found in verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread. It can be rendered. Give us this
day the bread which this day's necessities require. Luke tells us in Luke chapter
11 verse 13, it says, give us day by day. This is one of those
passages that shrugs off fear for tomorrow. It shrugs off unbelief
about what and how we would be protected tomorrow. And it mandates us to live today. Today. So I'm going to look at
this in two ways. First of all, I'm going to look
at it in its broadest sense or meaning, and I remarked to this
specifically, the necessities of daily life given by grace. He says, give us, give us. This shows the creature's lowly
status and the creator's supreme status. This shows us continually
and makes us to know that we are nothing in the hands of an
Almighty God. That we recognize that everything
that we have must be given to us. Creature comforts, creature
necessities, bread, life, sustenance. Every breath we take, this says,
give us this day our daily bread. The passage is referring to,
or it indicates, it's indicated in the usage of the text that
it's a promise that it's already being fulfilled. Towards God's
elect, towards those of us who believe, this is already being
done. Because you cannot, and Melinda
and I have talked at length about this, You look, the beautiful
thing is, and she was bringing up the fact this morning, is
that she likes to look back before she even knew the Gospel. Before
she even knew the Gospel, the Lord took care of her daily needs. Because, if she is one of His,
she was known from before the foundation of the world. As I've
mentioned to you several times, At least several times, humanly
speaking, I shouldn't even be here. I should be dead. I should
have been shot with a bullet. I should have been hit by a semi-tractor
trailer. There were several things that
I can't explain. I can now, because I'm supposed
to be here preaching God's gospel to you. It all makes sense. And it comes back, give us this
day our daily bread. It signifies that we must get
from Him and we are in need of all things from Him. And it signifies
He freely bestows such blessings and daily needs to us in His
providential care for us. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, turn with me quickly to
Proverbs chapter 30. And this theme is throughout
the whole scriptures. This is not a new theme amongst
the sheep of the Lord, because we derive our strength, we derive
our care, our sustenance, we know from the hand of God. Psalms
30 and verse 8. Remove far from me vanity and
lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food
convenient for me. That's what we need. We need
food. We need food convenient for us day in and day out and
he provides it. Here we have that child like
dependence upon our most gracious heavenly father who will provide
all we have need of bodily by promise as a good father to his
children. He's a good father, he's a good
shepherd, he's a good shepherd, he takes care of our bodily needs. We know that our nature, we know
that our natural well-being is tied directly to
our spiritual well-being. So we ask for such grace to keep
us and sustain us for service to God. We realize that if we
don't eat every day, if we're not taken care of physically,
we can't do the service of God spiritually. So it's all connected.
It's all interconnected. But I will say this, if the material
things you receive keep you from the service or from the fellowship
or the supporting of His ways and His gospel, that it is rather
a snare to you instead of a help to your soul. And that's where
the rub comes in. This country, it is get all you
can, it's monetary wealth, it's success, it's all these things
are placed upon the material things. But it's beyond that. It's placed upon material things
set for the future. And we have no guarantee of tomorrow.
We have no guarantee of tomorrow. If you have to set aside X amount
in a 401k or savings or whatever it might be, that's fine. You
do that. It may not be there tomorrow.
But I'm telling you that if you do those things at the expense
supporting the ministry at the expense of the fellowship of
believers it's a snare because we are to pray give us this day
our daily bread daily bread and this can be job positions titles
money it can be any of those things remember Daily bread. Do you remember what happened
to the manna if they gathered more than what that day's worth? Do you remember what happened?
It's a good lesson. It bred worms and it stank. And that's a good lesson. Daily bread. That's all we require. That's all we really need. The rich man and his barn. Do
you remember that example in the Gospels? The rich man, he
says, I'm going to tear these down. I'm going to build bigger
ones. I'm going to store this stuff. I'm going to have food
for my family. I'm going to take care of this. I'm going to do
all these different things. And he says, and the scripture says,
Thou fool, tonight, today, your soul is required. Your soul is
going to be required today. So you may have all these loopholes
and we may have all these different things. That we say we take care
of the family and socking stuff away and this and that. But how
important is that compared to our spiritual state? Our spiritual
state. Give us, oh give us please. Petition. Begging. Imploring our Lord to give us
this day our daily bread. She's the second supervisor with
where I'm at now. I made a comment to her. I said,
because that's all they talk about is, you know, unlimited
earning potential, blah, blah, blah, all this different stuff.
And I said, I don't, that doesn't matter to me. I just need enough
to take care of my family. That's all I need. And she, I
mean, she just sits there and just, well, there's a management
position opening. She says, maybe they just get
a salary and if you do your job, you don't have to worry about
that kind of stuff. That's not an issue with you. She just was
like, what? No, it's not an issue. It really
isn't. And again, as you get older and
you understand these things, you see how little you can do
with and still be happy, and still
be content. Because your children, and your
neighbors, or your friends, and especially the gospel of God's
grace being here, and hearing the word, and fellowshiping among
us, you realize that's it. That's the issue. And houses,
and all these different things, and Bruce and I were talking
yesterday, if I got to, I could sell a vehicle. We've been down
to one vehicle for, you know, before. You know, we have to
have two cars. That's the American... No, it's
not. Now, wait a minute. Step back. Think about what you're
saying. It can be done. And I'm not saying
that you have to do these things or whatever. I'm saying when
it gets in the way of the simplicity that's in Christ, it would be a better thing to
do away with this. Do what you can, as you can, while you can. It's all His anyway. It's all
His anyway. And Belinda and I were talking
about this. Now, I can tell you that last night, when I went
to bed, and the nights and the evenings before, when I went
to bed, and it happened to rain, if it rained or the wind blew,
that I was as safe and comfortable and warm in my house as Bill
Gates was in his. I have been protected in that
house. It's just a house. And Melinda and I were talking
about, well, if we, you know, we're trying to, we're concerned about
not leaving care of deaths and different things like that. Well,
now I know that I can go on Medicaid, I can go on Medicare, and I'll
be taken care of. I don't have to worry about anything. Now, granted, I'm not going to
be able to give my daughter anything, but I'm not going to be a bird
doer. Matthew Henry wrote several things
about this short verse. He said it teaches us when we
ask for bread, it teaches us this. It teaches us temperance
and good uses for that which is necessary. Secondly, we ask
for bread. Give us this day our daily bread.
Not for dainties nor abundance. We just simply ask for that which
is necessary, not extreme. Thirdly, give us this day our
daily bread, teaches us industry and not slothfulness, not the
bread of others. Don't let somebody else work
and then let me get on to that. Give us this day our daily bread. Daily bread, taking no thought
for tomorrow. As those who live, we are to
be as those who live from hand to mouth. Really, give us this day our
daily bread. Now this goes against everything
in this country, full of materialism and worldliness and everything.
In the New Testament, everybody sold what they had and everybody
had such things as they needed. Now, I'm not saying to do that.
I'm saying, like I said when I started this message, I'm not
going to qualify anything. I'm not going to justify anything.
I'm just going to simply preach the text. Give us this day our
daily bread. Taking no thought for tomorrow, And as it were, living from hand
to mouth. I hear people say all the time, I'm living paycheck
to paycheck. Well, really, that's the way it should be. And I remember
when I was younger, working at Sunny Hill, they used to get
these retirees coming in and they'd say, oh, I'm on a fixed
income. And it took me a long time to figure out, I'm on a
fixed income as well. And actually, the demographics
are, they're a lot better shape than I am because they're getting
all this extra, they're getting all this extra kickbacks and
these things, all these other things. I'm thinking, no, wait
a minute. I am too. So, what's your point? You know, the point is to try
to feel sorry for them. No, raising kids takes a lot
of energy, takes a lot of time. And lastly, give us, this day our daily bread. Give
to us, not to me only, but to others as well. To other believers,
give us this day our daily bread. It teaches us charity. It teaches us to pray for others
as well as ourselves. And that if we get it, we owe
it all to the grace of God. So much as we live and move and
have our being in Him, we look to you for daily care and sustenance. Now I want us to look at a couple verses and just look at
them. Matthew chapter 6, stay there, and verse 22, I'm sorry,
verse 24 through 34. Give us this day, this happens
to be in the same chapter because the Lord was trying to teach,
the importance of living on Him, expecting grace from Him. 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. You can't serve God and anything
else. He will have the preeminence
in your heart. Therefore, I say unto you, take
no thought for your life, what you shall eat, what you shall
drink, nor yet for your body what to 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 into
barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much
better than they? He's talking to His people, to
His sheep, to the elect of God. Are you not? And yet we do all
the time. I wake up tomorrow, and I have
a pretty good month, and then it's up and down, up and down. Give us this day our daily bread. And cause me to trust. in your
care, that you've taken care of me for 52 years now. Why do
I fret? Lord, I believe, but help my
unbelief. That's with me, that's a key
area. Lord, I believe. I want to believe. I need to believe. I do believe,
but help my unbelief. Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubic to your stature. And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the valley, how they grow, and 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? Here's our problem, O ye of little
faith. That's a problem. Therefore take
no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink
or wherewithal shall we be clothed for after these things does the
Gentile seek and speaking to the Jews. This was that that
was an insult. The Gentile dogs. This is how
they think this is all their word about the stock market up
down up down this and that everything else. This is how they think. This
is what they seek for. For your heavenly father knows
that you have need of all these things. Oh, and incidentally. Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness and all these things. shall be added
unto you. Take therefore no thought for
the moral, for the moral shall take thought of the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof." We are not to be thinking too far down the
road. Now, again, I'm not going to
qualify that. I'm not going to justify it and
say, well, this is a good, you know, well, we need to do this
because I'm not, no, no, I'm not going to give you that way
out. Give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day our daily
bread. That widow and her mite, she didn't have four or five
mites and say, OK, me, me, 401K, this and that, and then I'm going
to give you the one mite. She didn't do that. That's all
she had. That's all she had. Before taxes, after taxes, I
don't care. That's what she had. And she
said, here you go. Oh, you know, what do you, your
offering, whatever. Before taxes, after taxes, I'm not, I'm not
going to answer that question. Seek you first. Do you do your
bills and then put in the plate? Or as you don't think about that,
you simply put in the plate. Or you simply give up your time.
I'm not going to answer all that. It's pretty clear in scriptures.
Give us this day our daily bread. Everything we have is His. That's the end of the story.
Now look at 1 Kings chapter 17. Now this backed me way into a
corner. I had nowhere to go out, simply
to read and shut up and submit. First Kings chapter 17 and starting
in verse 8. We looked at this once before
and the word of the Lord came unto to Elisha the prophet saying
arise get thee to Zephra which belongeth to Zidon and dwell
there behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain
thee. Now he commanded her but she
didn't know he commanded her. First Kings chapter 17. So the
Prophet arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate
of the city, behold, a widow woman was there gathering sticks,
and he called to her. So she didn't even know that
she was being involved here, but the Lord told the Prophet
that she was. And he said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water
in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch
it, he called to her and he said, bring me, I pray thee, a morsel
of bread in thine hand. And she said, as the Lord Thy
God liveth. I have not a cake, but a handful
of meal and a barrel and a little oil in the cruise. And behold,
I'm gathering two sticks that I may go and dress it for me
and my son. Then I'm going to eat it and
I'm going to die. She's very poor. She has a she
has to take care of herself and she has to take care of her children.
Now, this is commendable, worldly speaking. She's a mother. She loves her child. She has
to take care of them. He comes in and says, no. You give the Lord the glory,
do his name. That's unreasonable. That's unreasonable. No it isn't. No it isn't. So what she did, And she fixed
it for him. And every time she went back
to get a meal, and every time she went back to get the oil,
it just never stopped. You remember the story? It was
a miracle. It was like the wine, water and
wine. It never stopped. We far too often take care of
ourselves first. And then if we got a little bit
of leftover, From the Lord a little bit help
the Lord's people this and that Give us this day our daily bread
and out of that The firstfruits are the Lord's This is this is even more amazing
than the widows might because she was going to fix what she
had and then she was gonna She's gonna die her and her son He
said, no, you take care of me. And that's not, I don't even,
that's not even talk about taking care of the pastor. That's not
even what he's talking about. He, you take care of the Lord's
prophet. You take care of the gospel. You take care of the gospel ministry.
You take care of the place where we've met, where we've chosen,
he's chosen his name to be there. You take care of him first. That's
all that's talking about. And then He will give you grace,
and more grace, and more grace, and it's not even going to be
an issue. Now turn to Haggai chapter 1. Chapter 1. I've got to find it myself first. And I may have to explain this,
but to me it's pretty obvious. Haggai chapter 1, verse 9. First, in verse 7, it says, The
Lord says unto the host, Consider your ways. Think about what you're
doing. Think about what's going on. Verse 9. You look for much, and lo, it
came to little. And when you brought it home,
I did blow upon it. I destroyed it. Why? Because of mine house that is
waste and ye run every man to his own home. What he's saying
is that you are more concerned about taking care of your stuff
than my house. You made sure that everything
was okay at home and then you took care of my house. And he
says, therefore, I'm going to lay your house waste. I'm going
to blow on it. I'm not going to make it profitable.
And this constantly tells us to seek his kingdom first. Constantly
causes us to step back and say, give us this day our daily bread. Now, secondly, and perhaps most
importantly, If this passage be true regarding the body, it
is most assuredly true regarding our spiritual state. Give us this day. Our daily bread. Give us this day. The Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the bread of life. We have to have him. every day. Turn to, uh, John chapter, I believe it's
chapter six, John chapter six and verse 33. John chapter six. Jesus said in verse 32, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For if the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven
and giveth life unto the world, and they said, Lord, evermore
give us this bread, verse 34, 35, and Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, there's the bodily right there, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. You have everything. If you have
Christ, the bread of life, you have everything. Without enough of either, physical bread, spiritual bread,
will die, will surely die. Give me Christ, or else I die. Give us this day our daily bread. I must have Christ. He's the
darling of my soul. Where is my beloved? I will feed
with my beloved among the lilies. Where else can we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. He has protected us from a thousand
falls, lifted us up in a thousand falls, forgiven us when no one
else would, redeemed us when no one else could. A friend that
sticks closer than a brother, but he's our elder brother in
whom we can confide. He's my groom, whom has shared
the mysteries of everlasting life. He is my God who has conquered
all and does all for us. Give us this day our daily bread. Don't rob yourself of today's
blessings in Christ for an uncertain tomorrow. Does that make sense? Don't rob
yourself of today's blessings in Christ for an uncertain tomorrow. Now every older person here has
heard it said, enjoy your children because they grow up so fast.
Now, when Kara was three or four or five years old, yeah, I know,
thanks old buddy, thanks for the, you know, I know she grows
up, I can see her, she's, you know, she's, She's gone. She's not my little girl anymore. That's okay. Raise her and be
responsible. But I'm telling you, you can't
get those times back. It's fleeting. Lord, give me
this day. and all the blessings of parenthood,
all the blessings of grandparenthood, all the blessings each and every
day that I may, may I live today like I'm not going to be here
tomorrow. Enjoy it to the fullest. Enjoy it to the fullest. Close with two passages, Psalms
37. And I'd never looked at it this
way until last night. And then I may, I guess it's
somewhat of a stretch, but I, I don't think so. Psalms 37 and
verse 25, David says, I have been young and now I'm old. Yet I have not seen the righteous
forsaken nor the elect. begging bread. You want to know
why? Because we have Christ and his
sustenance. I'm not saying it's going to
be easy. I'm not saying you might not lose. You may lose a car.
You may lose your house. You may lose a lot. But if there's a group that's
scattered in Jackson, Missouri, who loves Christ, I'd want to
be a part of it. I'd want to snuggle so close
to it. I'd want to be there. I'd want to help weep with those
that weep, laugh with those that laugh, enjoy the things that
God has given us to enjoy. I'd want to be a part of it. I wouldn't want to be stuck out
somewhere, as nice as this call center is, as nice as the CDs
are, I wouldn't want to be stuck out there for very long. I would
try to make sure that I uprooted my family and found a place where
the gospel is being preached because there's no substitute
for being there. There is no substitute for being
amongst God's people. And I stand on that until I can
stand no more. I've never seen. I'm young. I'm
old. I've seen and I've been around.
I've done that. I've never seen His seed baking bread. That's because, give us this
day, Christ. He's all I need. And Psalms 23.1, The Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want. What is that clue? Bring it on. Bring it on. I shall not want. What does that mean, Pastor?
Tell me what you think it means and I'll say that's what it means. I shall not want. There's a big difference in the
things we think we need to have and the things we actually have
need of. And He's going to supply all
our needs in Christ Jesus. Blessed be His holy name.