I invite you to turn back with
me this morning to the book of Ecclesiastes. I'd like to read
the first eight verses of this chapter to you this morning.
Beginning with verse one. To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born
and a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up that
which is planted. a time to kill and a time to
heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to
weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a
time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to
cast away, a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to
hate, a time of war and a time of peace. I do apologize for
the flies that are in this place this morning. Certainly they're
a nuisance and I apologize to you and certainly we're mindful
that that if there's anything, you're mindful, I'm sure, if
there's anything we could do anything about. If it was anything
we could do anything about, we'd get busy and do it. But there
doesn't seem to be, so we'll leave it be. Well, I plan this
morning to preach very simply, very simply, for two reasons.
Number one, because that's the only way I can preach. And number
two, because I don't want to be like the preacher that A certain
lady was talking about, she said her preacher was invisible six
days a week and incomprehensible on the seventh. And so I don't
want to be that way, so I'll preach very simply to you this
morning. Now I've read these verses this
morning and you might actually ask, what in the world does Solomon
mean by all of this? What does he mean by the things
that he has said here in these verses. Now my subject this morning
is first things first. First things first. And so I
believe that inherent in these words is this thought. First
things first. Certain things must have the
priority in our lives. Certain things must be attended
to before other things. Certain things are essential
to our lives and other things are not. The Word of God says
in Mark chapter 8 and verse 36, for what shall it profit a man
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Now every
person here knows the answer to that question. At least you
know it in your head. What shall it profit a man if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Beloved, if a man gains the world,
if a man gains popularity, if a man gains esteem, if he gains
prestige in this world, if he climbs up the pole of success,
if he lives in a million-dollar house and has all the conveniences
that money can buy and lives to be a hundred years old in
good health, and at last he dies and loses his soul, what shall
it profit him? First things first, you see. That man would have been better
off if he would have spent his life doing something else other
than trying to accumulate the riches of this world. It would
be better to have spent his life in in finding or attempting or
seeking reconciliation with God, the God that he offended, the
God that his fathers had offended, the God that had been sinned
against, he would have been better off if he'd have spent his life
trying to find the forgiveness of his sin, trying to find the
way of life, trying to find a good hope through the grace of God.
If he'd have spent his whole life and lived in poverty, then,
my friend, he would have been better off than he would have
been to gain the whole world and die and go to hell. He'd
have been better off. And I'm sure this morning that
some of the people that have passed recently into eternity
would be here, if they were here, they would say, Amen. A preacher's
telling you the truth. He's telling you the truth. Now,
I cannot, but if I could this morning, I would ask every one
of you to get out a pencil and paper and list the top five things
in your life according to their priority. Just list five things
that are important to you, things that you live for, things that
you breathe for, things that you work for, things which occupy
your waking moments. Things which consume your time
and strength. What would it be? What would
be on your list? What would be number one on your
list? Seeing that some things are more
important than others, and we've tried to show you that, what
would be number one on your list? What would it be? What is it?
Would it be that you might acquire the things of time, that you
might acquire the things of this world, that you might acquire
a good home, that you might acquire a car, a boat, or that you might
get the best of education, or that you might travel and go
to some place far that you would like to go to? Or would it be
that you'd like to give your children things that you didn't
have when you were growing up? Just what would it be that you
would like to have on this list, or what would be? Would it be
to retire and be independent at a certain age and be well-fixed
in your later life? Well, my friend, what has the
priority in our life? What is it that would be number
one on the list? What is the thing that is most
important to us? Do you have first things first? Do you really have first things
first? Are you sober? Do you know what
you're thinking this morning? And is your thinking right and
proper according to the Word of God? We're strange creatures,
you know. We're strange creatures indeed
because of where our priorities are. Solomon said there's a time
for everything, and beloved, there's a proper order and there's
a proper time for everything. A proper priority is attached
to everything in this world, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Now in this message this morning,
this simple message on first things first, I want to show
you in the Word of God what men put first and contrast that with
what the Lord Jesus Christ says ought to be first. Now what could
be more simple than that? I want to talk to you about what
men put first and then contrast that with what the Lord Jesus
Christ says ought to be first in our lives. First of all, we'll
get right into the Word of God. We want to use some verses in
the book of Luke and some in the book of Matthew. But if you
would turn with me to the ninth chapter of the book of Luke.
The ninth chapter of the book of Luke. And I want you to look
with me at verse 59. I want you to be very patient
and I want you to do the best you can in listening this morning
to what the Word of God has to say. I want you to be patient. I want you to bear with me as
I go along. I believe that I'm on to something
here, and I believe that this is very important. I believe
that this message is essential. I believe it's very important
this morning. And so in verse 59, the Lord
Jesus here is speaking, and he said unto another, another man,
follow me. Our Lord Jesus says, Follow me
to this man. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first. Suffer me first to go and bury
my father. Now I realize that there's some
people that is all confused about this verse of scripture thinking
that the Lord was telling this man that he could not go and
attend the funeral of his father. But that is not the case. That
is not what he's talking about at all. He didn't say that you
cannot go to your father's funeral. He didn't say that. He told this
man, follow me. That was a command given by the
Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow me. Learn of me. Be my disciple. Obey me. Walk as I would have you to walk. Enter into the eternal purpose
that I have for you and your life in this world. Be subject
unto me. Walk with me. I will be your
Lord. You follow me. But he said, this
man said, Lord, you allow me first, allow me first to go and
bury my father. I would like to go. I would like
to go and stay with him until he dies and bury him. I'd like to care for him in his
old age and give him a proper burial. The truth of the matter
is that this man's father might have been a long ways from dying.
I do not know that he even was sick. This man was only interested
in taking up what he thought was the most important. The idea
of men is to, first of all, take care of worldly matters. Anything
but what God wants. Now you must learn something
about yourself. Your old flesh wants anything
but what God wants. That's exactly right. I'm telling
you the truth. It wants anything but what God
wants. First of all, man wants to take
care of worldly matters. He wants to take care of human
relationships. He wants to take care of the
sick and the elderly, he says. And whatever comes next, he wants
to be involved in that. And then, after all that is on
our list is taken care of, then this matter of the will of God,
this matter of heaven, this matter of hell, this matter of God and
Christ, and the matter of my soul, where it will spend eternity,
then sometime later, I don't know when I'm going to get around
to it, but sometime later I'm going to get around to looking
after my soul. Allow me first to go and bury
my father. Now beloved, first means priority. That means that's the number
one thing. Let me take care of me and mine,
the sick and the aged. Most people are like this man. This man in particular felt that
following Christ and doing the will of God can be done at a
convenient season. a time of our own choice. Now that's what he thought. He
thought that the Lord was going to wait on him and he thought
that he could serve the Lord at a convenient season. The idea
today in religion is that trusting Christ, following Christ, obeying
Christ is not to inconvenience anyone. It's not to inconvenience
a soul. Nobody is to be put out any at
all by trusting Christ, believing on Christ, and doing the will
of God. Nothing to be paid. All free. Nothing. Nothing. We don't need
to get too serious about it, too involved about it. We can
come around and get to it when we can. No, no. But that idea
is in the religion today. You can follow Christ when it's
convenient for you. The churches are full of people
who will not inconvenience themselves one bit. Not one bit. They don't
want to be put out. And you better not impose on
them either. You better not say too much to
them about what they're doing. because they're going to be very
much put out with you and they're going to be upset with you if
you indicate to them that they ought to be willing to be inconvenienced
a little bit by their service unto God. Well, beloved, listen
to me. Do you think? No, sir. No, sir,
this man said. First of all, Lord, I must go
and bury my father. Well, when he says, follow me,
now I want you to hear what I'm saying. Beloved, we cannot serve
Christ when it's convenient. I say to you that when He says,
follow me, that is when you are to follow Him. When He says,
follow, it's time right then. How do you know whether He will
ever speak to you again? I'm telling you, who are we dealing
with here? We're dealing with the Master.
We're dealing with the Son of God. We're dealing with that
One who laid aside all of His glory and came down here to this
earth. We're dealing with this One who
took upon Himself the form of a servant, became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. We're dealing with this
One who died in our place, who suffered our hell for us, who
was willing to pay the price of our redemption. We're dealing
with the Son of God who made us and everything that is in
the world. Now you say, well, I'll get around
to this after a while following the Lord. Now listen to me. I
want you to know that before He may never again get around
to saying to you, follow me, just one time, follow me. Now
if you understood all about this, you would know that that's the
greatest honor that God could ever bestow upon an individual
to say to him, follow me, follow me. from the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of everlasting glory to say, follow me. I got something
for you to do. I got a job for you to do. I
want you to be involved in the eternal purpose. I got something
for you. What an honor, my friend, that
would be. But before you get around to doing what you would
have, what the Lord would have you to do, oh, we may hear the
the shout, we may hear the trumpet, we may hear the last trumpet
blow. And what are you going to do
then? And the word may come forth, the Master has come and calleth
for thee. Where are you going to be then?
Follow me. When the Lord by the Holy Spirit
comes to your heart and says, follow me, then my friend, that
is the time for you to follow the Lord, lay everything down,
lay it all aside, get it all back out of the way and get to
Christ and follow Him. Oh, listen, first things first. Not everyone that says, the Bible
in Matthew 7.21 says, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
but they that will do the will of my Father which is in heaven."
The writer of the song, When I Surveyed the Wondrous Cross,
in verse 4 said, were the whole realm of nature mine that were
a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. When you think of the love of
the Lord Jesus Christ for your soul, when you think of the love
of Christ for you, my friend, then it is time for us to obey
when the Lord says, follow me. So putting first things first,
this man believed that duty could be deferred toward Christ to
take care of what he esteemed to be more important things. Now that's exactly what he believed.
I can put off Christ. I can put off my duty. I can
put it off to take care of the things that I think is more important. This man believed that duty to
relatives, friends, and family, and career excuses us to duty
to Christ. And it is not so, my friend. Now listen to me. To you who
are believers, or unbelievers if you please, Nothing is ever to be put to
Christ, put before Christ. Nothing is ever to be put before
Christ. It may sound like a trite statement,
but you remember it. Believer or unbeliever, nothing
is ever to be put before the Lord Jesus Christ. First seek
Christ. First look to Christ. First call
on Christ. First consult Christ. And then
these other things on your list, you can enter into them as God
wills. So then we see then that this
man said, first, first allow me to go and bury my father. Now then, let's look at verse
61. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me
first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house. Okay? Lord, I will follow thee. Lord, I will. Lord, I will follow
thee. And I guess probably every one
of you in this building this morning would say if the Lord
would say to me, follow me, I would tell him the same thing. Lord,
I will follow thee. But now he says,
but first of all, first, priority here. He said, first of all,
let me get the approval and the support of my family and my friends
back home. I need to go back home. I need
to talk this over with Mama and Daddy. I need to talk this over
with my brothers and sisters. I need to get my uncle's view
on this, or I need to get Aunt Susie's idea on this. I need
to get somebody's idea from home as to what I should really do
about this matter. Well, you see, my friend, listen
to me. What do you suppose, now you
listen carefully, what do you suppose that the family and friends
of Abraham told him when he came in one day and announced, I'll
be leaving you all. I'll be leaving you. They said,
where are you going, Abraham? Where are you going? Well, he
said, I don't know where I'm going. And they said, well, how
far are you going? And he said, well, I don't know
how far I'm going. When are you coming back, Abraham?
He said, I don't know whether I'm ever coming back again or
not. Well, they said to him, who told you to go? And he said,
the Lord God appeared unto me and said, leave this land, the
Ur of the Chaldees, and go to You think his family got up and
said, well, we'll help you pack. Where's your suitcases? We'll
get you ready and send you on out. I doubt it. And my friend,
they'll not help you either. I can just hear them now. You're
a 75-year-old. You silly old man, you. You silly
old man. They've tried every way they
could, every way possible to discourage him. Are you going
to leave us all and everything that you've ever known? You mean
you're just going to walk off and leave it all? Silly old man. Well, and that on the word of
an unseen God. You're going to leave it all
on the word of an unseen God who told you you thought He told
you? You thought He said to you, get
up and leave Haran? You thought He said leave the
Ur of the Chaldees? You silly old man, you. Can't
you just listen to Him? Can't you hear Him? I can hear
Him. And beloved, your friends and your family, and now you
hear this and you hear it well. your friends and family will
never approve of you putting Christ first. They never will. It don't matter for you. They
are glad if you got some fire insurance from hell and you're
not going to hell. They don't care about that. That's
fine. He's got a little religion. That's
all that matters. But my friend, they will never
approve. Now you just write it down. Old
Preacher Mitchell said at 10.30 On the morning of September the
9th, 2001, he said that your friends and relatives would never,
you drive a nail through it, never approve of you putting
Christ first. Never. They'll never approve
of it. And so you don't need to go ask
them. I like what Paul said in Galatians
1 verse 15 and 16, but when it pleased God, who separated me
from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His
Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen immediately,
I conferred not with flesh and blood. He said the Lord called
me by His grace, and He called me to preach to the heathen,
and He said I didn't sit down and talk to anybody about it.
I didn't sit down and talk to people and say, well, do you
think this would be a smart thing for a fellow like me to do? I
mean, what would be the prospects of this? What's my end going
to be? Well, no, he didn't do that. He didn't do that. From
the time God saved the Apostle Paul, he wasn't the Apostle Paul
when God saved him, but from the time he got saved, Until
he left this world, he was sold out, locked, stocked, and barreled
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a bond slave of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was owned by Christ, a willing
bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is Lord, and he's
going to have some servants, some people that will be his
bond slaves. A slave does not tell his master
what he's going to do. The master says, I want you to
do so and so. The slave does not say, well,
it's break time, and I can't do it now. He doesn't say that.
He doesn't say, well, I've got to go run an errand for mommy.
No, no, no, no. He can't say that. He's a slave,
don't you see, a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he
must serve the Lord. What have we come to? First things
first. Oh, we're so filled with vanity.
My friend, death, eternity, Facing God are realities. They're realities. And when will we come to grips
with these things and put first things first? When are we going
to do that? Well, I want you to look, if
you will, at Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. And let's look at verse 28. For which of you, Jesus says,
well let me back up to verse 27, and whosoever does not bear
his cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple. Now he might persuade the deacons
that he is one, or that preacher, or his wife, or her husband,
somebody that they're the Lord's disciple. But the Lord Jesus
said you cannot be my disciple. unless you take up your cross
and come after me, follow me. You cannot be my disciple. I'll make an effort. You cannot
be his disciple unless you take up your cross and follow him. Now in verse 28, For which of
you intended to build a tower, sitteth not down first, counteth
the cost, whether ye have sufficient to finish it. less happily after
he hath laid the foundation, is not able to finish it. All
that beholdeth it, behold it began to mock him,
saying, This man began to build, was not able to finish. Or what
king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down
first? So we have here these two individuals,
the one who intended to build a tower, and the Lord said, Will
he not sit down first? Now we're living in a day when
people are slipped into the kingdom of God by preachers. Like a shoe spoon they use, kind
of like a shoe spoon, they are going out and they just slip
you in and you don't even know what you're, all of a sudden
you find yourself, you're on the ropes. You're on the books. Why, first thing you know, you're
a member. And you've never counted the
cost. People don't get saved. Listen, God doesn't slip up behind
people and save them without them knowing anything about it.
They know. They understand something about
this gospel and something about the cost, something about what's
necessary, dealing with this thing. You know, we're in a mess
in America. People in Russia are better off
than we are. At least when somebody over there makes a profession
of faith, it's probably real. But in this country, it's not
so. Got lots of people who never
sat down first and counted the cost. What's it going to cost
to be a Christian? What's it going to cost to serve
the Lord, to follow the Lord, to be His servant, His slave?
Just never counted the cost. But now here's this man, he's
going to build a tower. He sets down. Find out whether
or not he's got enough to finish it once he starts it. Am I going
to be able to finish this? Lest happily after he laid the
foundation, not able to finish it, don't have the means to finish
it. And everybody begins to mock him. And it's a picture of a
man who says, well, I'll follow the Lord. Yeah, you will. But have you counted the cost?
Have you counted that you must forsake all? And like verse 33
says, so likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, cannot be my disciple. ...against another
king. Picture yourself here as this
first king. You're the first king. just a
little bitty king and you got your empire and you got your
subjects maybe your children or your employees or whatever
you got you got a little kingdom here a little realm that you're
king in and then it says he's going to go make war against
another king and this other king is God that's God Almighty He said it not down first. There's a greater king, my friend,
and before you meet him, you better be sure that you can defeat
him. You see, there's a matter here that most people do not
consider, and that is we're enemies of God by nature. We're God's
enemies. Every man and woman born into
this world, boy and girl, everybody born into this world are enemies
of God when they're born into this world. You've got a nature
contrary to God and you're at enmity against God. And your
daddy was a lawbreaker. Christ and I'm telling you there's
an issue and God has an issue he has a he has I'm about this issue with that
issue or some other issue. My friend, you may win some scrimmage. Are we stronger than God? Can
you deal with God? Do you have the resources to
stand Any reasoning individual, any
thinking man, anyone in the right... Man is a fool that will not put
first things first and will not bow his knee obey His Word. And I'm here to
tell you this morning that if you will not come to Christ, it's because
they do not know, humanly speaking, they do Christ, you couldn't keep them
from it. They would come to Christ. They would immediately. And if you want to know God's true
feelings about sin, look yonder at Calvary, where Jesus suffered. God. Can you deal with it? Judgment
I'm talking about. I'm talking about eternity. I'm
talking... Right here and now, whether you
have sufficient resources or not, because he's going to win
the war when come with 20,000 arrest while
he's a great way off. And he's a way off this morning.
I don't know how far off he is. But he is off this morning. He's
not here yet. You're still breathing. You're
still in God's world. This is still a day of grace,
as far as I know. But you're in this world. And
here it is. Here it is. This king, he's a
far off. While he is yet way off. Oh, we don't want him to come
close, do we? An absolute God in this place this morning? My
friend, where would we all stand? Would we not tremble? Would we
not all fall on our faces? An absolute God, thrice holy
God. Now listen to this. While he's
a long ways off, sendeth an ambassador to intercede with this king,
to see If there's not some conditions of peace, if there isn't something
that could be done in this situation, I can't face God. I cannot face
God. I'm a sinner. I'm lost. I'm a
depraved sinner. I'm a wiggling magnet of the
dust. I don't want to face God. I cannot face God. I don't want
to die and meet the Lord. I don't want to do that. Well,
thank God. If you don't know, if you don't
have what it takes to meet God, then I found someone. I found someone who can go to
God for us. Someone who can go to God for
us. There's one mediator, the Bible says, between God and man,
and that's the man Christ Jesus. There is one who will go and
meet with God. I've tried to picture in my mind
the Lord Jesus Christ meeting with the Father before the world
began. And the Lord Jesus there, dealing with the Father in the
eternal covenant. There he is as our ambassador.
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. We got somebody to plead our
case. Somebody that'll go and make conditions of peace. And
I can see the Lord Jesus and I can overhear the conversation
and the Father said, you're here, are you to represent these sinners? And the Lord Jesus Christ says,
yes. They cannot. They cannot meet you. You're
a holy, holy God. They cannot meet you. They're
sinners, Lord. They're sinners. But I, the Son
of God, I will pay their debt. And the Father looks on the Lord
Jesus Christ and said, the debt is death. You must die. The soul that sinneth, it must
die. And the Lord Jesus Christ is there and He's gone. He's
as it were there in the council halls of eternity before the
morning stars sing together and He's working it out with the
Eternal Father how that He'll come represent His people. how
that he'll suffer in their place, how he'll pay their debt, how
that they'll be reconciled to him and they won't have to face
the judgment, how that their condemnation will all be taken
away and they won't have to stand before God in their sin and suffer
and suffer that which they deserve to suffer. But the Lord Jesus
will suffer it in their place, in their room. And the Lord Jesus
is one who can go to God for us. And he has gone to God on
the behalf of his people. He's gone to God. And conditions
of peace have been worked out. We better run up the white flag,
hadn't we? Anybody in this place this morning,
listen to me. You say, I can't meet this king.
Well, no, you can't meet him. You better run the flag up. You
better run the flag up and say, Lord, I throw down my arms. I
mine guns and knives. I throw them down. I don't want
to meet you. I don't want to be your enemy.
I don't want to suffer your wrath for all eternity. I throw my
arms down and run up the flag. I surrender, Lord. I surrender. I surrender all to the Lord.
I want peace. I want peace. Christ is our peace. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter
9, He's the Prince. of what? Peace. Colossians 1
verse 6 says He has made peace by the blood of His cross. He
has made peace. The Lord Jesus has. Now then
you see my friend how important this is first things first. You
better start dealing with some of these things. You say, oh,
I just hope in the general mercy of God you're going to hell as
sure as I'm preaching to you. You cannot go to heaven believing
in the general mercy of God. It's particular grace. It's the
love and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, a crucified Savior. All right? Let's go on. Turn back with me to Matthew.
I didn't mean to get carried away, but sometimes you just
have to. Matthew chapter 23. Matthew 23
and let's look at verse 28 in this chapter. Jesus here is talking to these
separatists, these Pharisees, these hypocrites. And we start
here at verse 28. Even so, you also outwardly appear Now let me back up just a little
bit here. Let's go up here to verse 24. You blind guides would
stain at a gnat and swallow a camel. You ever hear that expression
before? Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel? That's in the
Bible. That's right here. You ever heard
the expression cleanliness is next to godliness? Where's that
found in the Bible? That ain't in the Bible. It's
not. You ever heard the expression
all men are created equal? Where's that in the Bible? That's
not in the Bible either because it's not true. It's not true. I don't care what you think about
it, I'm telling you it ain't true. Some people are short and dumpy
and fat and other people are tall and lean and good looking. Some people are bald headed and
so on and so forth. I could just go right ahead and
just keep telling you all the difference. But we're not created
equal in the sense that people are talking about. But just here strain at a night
and swallow a camel's in the Bible. And that's what these
people would do. They'd make a big issue out of
nothing and then turn right around and swallow a camel. Woe unto
you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you may clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they
are full of extortion and excess. Notice verse 26, thou blind Pharisee,
cleanse first. First things first. that which
is within the cup and platter, then the outside of them may
be clean also. What's he talking about here
in this verse? What he's saying is that they
were making a great deal to do about outward religion. They
were good on this outward religion business. Very good on it. Very
big on it. But Jesus said the first thing
you need to do is get the inside cleaned up and let the outside
take care of itself. You get the inside first. And
you may say here this morning, well preacher, I've been confirmed. Well, ain't anybody here gonna
fall out with you over being confirmed. But, you got any confidence in
it? That's outward religion. You
say, I've been baptized too, preacher. You've been baptized,
have you? Well, how about the inside of the cup? has the inside. First! Cleanse the inside. Clean up the inside. Get the
inside cleaned up. And the only way you can do that
is by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, by the new birth.
That's the only way. Religion and all of its effort,
and the world is full of it, outward, outward, outward. Their
emphasis of religion is only outward. I want you to look like
something, dude. I want you to appear to be something,
whether you are or not. They don't care, because religion
is Houston, tolerating hypocrites. Inward. First, cleanse that which
is in the cup, and the out would be taken care of. I've got to
hurry here. Matthew chapter 6. I'm not going
to say more about that. Matthew chapter 6. And I want
us to look here, beginning with verse 25. Therefore I say unto you, take
no thought for your life. This is the words of the Lord
Jesus. What? You say take no thought for your
life? That's exactly what he said. 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 more than raiment?
Life means a whole lot more than what you eat and what you wear.
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 ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking
thought can add one second to his life? One second to his life. One second. And why take ye thought
for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They twirl not, neither do they spin. And yet
I say to you that even Solomon, 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 not he much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? Therefore, therefore, seeing
that these things are as they are, take no thought for your
life, what you shall eat, what you shall drink, wherewithal
you shall be clothed. For after all these things do
the heathens, the Gentiles, seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things. All you people who got
those things down first on your list, the Lord's rebuking you
here. Therefore, take no thought for
your life. After all these things, the heathen
that don't know God are seeking after. For your Heavenly Father
knoweth that you have need of all these things. Isn't that
wonderful? Heavenly Father knows all there is to be known about
us. Never has learned anything. He always is knowing all things.
Known to him are all of his works from the beginning of the world.
What's it say in verse 33? I want you to look at it. But,
but, seek ye first, first things first, the kingdom of God. Seek
God's kingdom first, where God rules. where God reigns, where
God's doing his business. Seek his kingdom and his righteousness
and all these things, they'll be thrown in at the end. God
will throw them all in. First things first, seek first
the kingdom of God and a righteousness that is fitting for that kingdom. And what kind of a righteousness
is that? Turn back with me, if you will, to Matthew 5 right
quick and look at verse 20. And I'm coming to a conclusion
here. I'll be done in just a little while. In verse 20, For I say
unto you, listen to what Jesus says, that except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case, no case, enter into the kingdom of heaven.
How many of you fast two or three times a week? How many of you
do it? Well, you say, well, I didn't
think that was necessary. Well, how many of you pay tithes
of all that you possess? Not just your money, but if you
got 10 turnips, you get one of them. If you got 10 carrots,
you get one of them. If you got 10 pair of shoes,
you see to it that somebody gets it, right quick, the 10th pair
is the gold. How many of you do that? Well,
of course you don't do that. Well, them Pharisees did. How
many of you memorize whole books of the Bible and can stand up
and rattle them off on the street corner? How many of you do that?
Well, your righteousness, where's that going to put you? Jesus
said, except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter in. Now, what righteousness is it? Apparently it's not the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees that's fit for the kingdom of
God. It's the righteousness, the white righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That righteousness which is received
by faith. That righteousness which is put
down to the account of believers. Those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Christ Himself is the only
righteousness that's fit for the kingdom of God. A perfect
righteousness. Seek ye first. First! First things first. Seek it first! You say, before I try to make
a living? Seek it first. Now that's what
Jesus said. You got an argument with that?
Argue with Him. Don't argue with me. That's what
He said. Wasn't that what He said? Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things. These things that we think are
so very, very important. They will be added. The Lord
said, just throw them in. No problem. Just throw them in.
They'll be added. You get them, you get them, or
you may not have everything you want, but to be content, an individual
must come to the place where they want what they got. You
want contentment? Then pray God to help you to
want what you got. Not that he'll give you what
you want. Because if you get, if you're
in that mindset, I want what I want, you're in trouble, friend.
You'll never be content in this world. But if you ever get to
the place where you want what you got, then you can be content. You dead sure can. Alright, so
seek it first. Now then, let's... Oh, I don't know whether I'm
going to be able to finish this or not. I'm going to skip one
and go to Matthew 12 and I'll finish. Matthew chapter 12. There's
another one in Matthew chapter 7 verse 3, and you can look at
it sometime, those of you that care to. But in Matthew 12 verse
24 through 29. In these verses, the Pharisees had
accused the Lord Jesus Christ of casting out devils by Beelzebub,
the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts,
verse 25. And said unto them, Every kingdom
divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city
or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan
cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then
his kingdom stand? And if by Beelzebub cast out
devils, if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children
cast them out? Therefore they shall be your
judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the
kingdom of God is coming to you. How can one enter into a strong
man's house and spoil his goods except he first find the strong
man and then he will spoil his house? Now, it's apparent to me that the
Lord must do something for us. Every one of us here is in such
a fix that the Lord must do something for us. Now the Lord Jesus here
certainly was casting out devils by the Spirit of God. And then
in verse 29 he explains here the condition that man is in
and how he can get out of it. And how that somebody, how that,
now the strong man here is the devil. He's the devil. The Lord Jesus, every one of
us, was in the strongman's house. Every one of us under the dominion
of the devil, under the power of Satan, under his hand. He will damn your soul unless
someone who is stronger than he comes in and binds him and
lets you go free. The strong man must be bound. He must be bound. Now look at
this. You're not going to come in and
spoil his goods. Ah, how did some of you get out? That's the
question. How did you ever get out? How
did you get out, you sinful wretches? How did this sinful wretch ever
get out? so weak, so sentient to the devil
and never thought that he ever went through his mind, so enthralled
with the wickedness of this world and the things of this world,
so inclined, so cleaveth to the dust, David said, how did we
ever get out? How? First! First! He that was mightier than
the strong man went in and bound him up. And then he took the
spoil out of his house. He took him out. Well, I tell
you what, I like to not get over this. He spoiled his house. The devil every day. He hates
Christ. He hates him. You know what John
said in 1 John? chapter 4 and verse 4, he said
you're of God little children and you've overcome them. He's
talking about the various spirits and the spirit of Antichrist
was in the world. He said you're of God little children and you've
overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he
that is in the world. How do you like that? How do
you like that? But first First, the Lord Jesus
had to bind him, had to tie him up and bind him. And I want to
tell you this, that the devil is bound in this day while the
gospel of redeeming grace is going forth, bound so that all
of the elect of God will be delivered. Satan no longer has, he is not
able deliver one of God's elect into everlasting destruction.
He's not able to do it. His hands are tied. He's been
sparred. The Lord Jesus has entered into
his house, the house of the strong man. Well, if you've been delivered,
then you can praise God this morning. But first, it had to
happen. It had to happen. I hope this
morning that this message on First Things First, as I told
you, is very simple. Very simple. I hope. that the
Spirit of God will use it, both to encourage the saints of God
and to help those who are strangers to the grace of God to see their
need this morning. And hopefully there's one of
the dear sheep of Christ here, and you heard this message, and
you heard those words come from the Lord Jesus, follow me, follow
me, follow me. And this is the time. This is
the time in the providence of God. This is the time according
to God's holy election. This is the time according to
the sovereignty of God. FOLLOW ME! First thing first. That's what you must do. Follow
the Lord Jesus. Father, in the name of Jesus,
own the message and bless Our Father, this message and bring
forth fruit we admitted at the outset, the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself. We commit the message to you
and it's up to you as to the results. Tried to be as honest,
tried to be as zealous, enthusiastic, tried to be as forceful and useful
as I knew how to be.