Hello, everyone. I would like to welcome any guests we may have visiting in the area today. I also would like to say hello to those who are listening and watching the webcast. We appreciate the opportunity to have a webcast from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and we welcome you to our services. Well, brethren, do you want to be sure that your spiritual house is built on a firm foundation? You've heard me say this a few times now. Ten times already! I've talked about this topic about building our home on a firm, strong foundation. And, of course, that foundation is the rock. Jesus Christ is our Savior, our Lord, and our Master.
It only makes good sense to study what Jesus Christ said on the Sermon on the Mount. I realize again that it's taken me a while to get through this. As I said, this is the tenth sermon on just two chapters of the Bible. There are three chapters, so I've got a little longer to go. I hope to finish the second chapter today, Chapter 6.
I really am capable of covering chapters in the Bible much more quickly than I have these ones in the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, last Sabbath, I mentioned I gave the sermon in Big Sandy. Well, I covered fourteen chapters of the Bible, chapter by chapter, in the book of Acts. So, it is possible to go more quickly. However, the book of Acts and the Sermon on the Mount are two completely different passages of Scripture. Acts is basically giving the history of the early New Testament church. It's not so involved in moral principles, such as the ones that Jesus Christ emphasizes in the Sermon on the Mount.
Every verse in the Sermon on the Mount is chock-full of biblical principles, godly principles that we all need to be living by. So, that's why I've been taking so long to go through these principles. I could take longer, actually. I think almost every verse you could give a sermon on in the Sermon on the Mount, if you really wanted to, if you wanted to get that in depth. So, I guess what I'm saying is, be grateful that I'm covering these principles in the depth that I am.
Not too much, hopefully not too little, but hopefully just the right amount. We shouldn't be in a hurry to get through these vital principles that Christ emphasizes repeatedly in His three-and-a-half-year ministry. So as Christians, we do need to take to heart His teaching in Matthew 5-7. Here we find the instructions from the Word of God upon which we should build our lives and live the rest of our lives.
So today, we're going to continue Christ's foundational teaching. Today we'll talk about a number of very important topics. We're going to talk about the proper way to fast, to some degree. Also, the power of fasting. We're going to talk about storing up treasures in heaven, not here on the earth. We're going to talk about spiritual discernment and spiritual eyesight. We're going to talk about serving God and not riches. We're also going to talk about not worrying about the necessities of life, about where our food, our clothing, our shelter is coming from. We're also going to talk about having faith in God.
So I've got a lot that I want to cover today. We'll see if we can get through it all in one sermon. Now the Jews believed, as I mentioned last time, that there were three great pillars on which the good life is based, that of giving alms, prayer, and fasting. Last time we talked about the giving of alms, being generous, givers. We talked about prayer and the importance of prayer and how to pray. Today we're going to talk about this third aspect, the third pillar, fasting. Now I could easily take the whole sermon on that, but since I gave a sermon not too long ago on fasting, it's been a while, I'm not going to take the whole sermon on fasting.
It certainly would be easy to do that. But here Christ addresses fasting. Let's notice in Matthew 6, verse 16. Moreover, when you fast, notice when you fast, obviously Christ expected His disciples to fast and not just on the day of atonement, but to fast, when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that you appear not unto men to fast, but unto your Father which is in secret, and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.
So when we fast, we should fast with a far different attitude than the one that Jesus Christ was condemning and calling hypocritical. It is possible to fast in a hypocritical way. The main purpose for fasting is to draw near to God, to seek His will in our lives and also in the lives of others.
So when we fast, we should be seeking to draw nearer to God and also to know His will not only for us but for other people as well, as we go to God in prayer for others. It's not to draw attention to ourselves, of course, it's just the opposite as we put our emphasis on humbling ourselves before the Almighty, before the sovereign God of the universe. For the most part, people that we come in contact with while we're fasting should not even know that we're fasting.
It should not be that easy to tell. We should put on a joyful face when we're around others, which we should behave normally, not drawing attention to ourselves, as the hypocrites did in Christ's time. And of course, if we're able to withdraw from the world and be around very few people while we're fasting, that's actually best. We'll have less distractions. We'll be more focused on worship, more focused on praising God, on studying His Word, on prayer and meditation. The Pharisees selected market days to fast.
Every Monday and every Thursday was market day. Fasted twice in the week. Very righteous. They did it on market day so they could be seen by as many people as possible. As Christ said, they had a sad countenance that they put on in front of others while they were fasting. And I don't even think these were actual 24-hour fasts. These were probably from just... may have just been from fasting from sunrise to sunset, at least I've read that in some commentaries. Don't know if that's actually a fact or not. But it's possible that they could have just been quasi-fast and not really true fast for 24 hours.
Christ says they have their reward. People see them. They're praised by men for their religious devotion, for their fervor. But, of course, God does not approve of that type of fasting. Let's go to Luke 18 and let's consider an attitude and approach that Christ tells about.
It has to do with a Pharisee and a tax collector in Luke 18. Just notice the attitude that is the Pharisees and the attitude of the tax collector. In verse 9, Also, he, Christ, spoke this parable to them, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. So these were self-righteous people. These were the Pharisees that would fast twice in a week and show themselves to be fasting, drawing attention to themselves.
They trusted in themselves that they were righteous and they despised others. They had this attitude toward others. They despised them. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breath, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
I tell you, this man, this tax collector, went down to his house justified rather than the other, rather than the Pharisee, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And this is the type of attitude and approach that we should have when we're fasting, an attitude of humility, an attitude of understanding that we are sinners who desperately need God's intervention, we need God's healing spiritually, we need his salvation.
Again, we are not to seek the praise of men, but the praise of God. As we truly please God and live by his ways, it is actually omatic that some people are going to see us as we are, they're going to see that we really do have good fruits in our lives.
We don't have to bring attention to ourselves. In fact, the more humble we are and go through our lives just serving others, really the more real respect we will get from others. So it's very, very foolish to think that this approach of the Pharisees really is any type of an approach that we would want to take. Some will be jealous, of course, of those who are striving to truly serve God. Some will be envious. But actually, many do acknowledge and give credit where credit is due when someone is truly a servant, an honorable man, an honorable woman.
We should never seek to bring attention to ourselves. If we do, we are going to be seen and people will not respect a vain person. People don't respect a person who is full of pride and braggadocio. They, you know, for the most part, they disdain that type of person. God does bless those who please Him, and the right kind of fasting is very pleasing to God.
The right kind only comes from those who have a heart to obey, who really do want to draw near to God and serve Him faithfully. The right type of fasting is difficult.
No food, no water for a full day and a full night. I mean, it's not that you couldn't fast less on occasion, depending on your circumstances, depending on various things. But for the most part, a fast is a 24-hour period minimum, for the most part. Again, I'm not saying that partial fasts aren't of some value. That's between you and God and your choice. But certainly there should be some times when we fast for an entire day without food, without water. And we are certainly humbling ourselves before God, devoting ourselves fully to God on that day, worshipping Him in spirit and in truth.
Fasting is good for many reasons. I'll just quickly go through seven of them very quickly. Fasting is good for our health. Just for your health's sake, you should try it. We should not live to eat, but we should put food in its proper perspective. Fasting helps us put food in its proper perspective. Secondly, it's good for self-discipline.
We could all use a little more self-control. So fasting is good to help us learn more self-discipline and self-control. Number three, fasting preserves us from becoming slaves of habit. Since we give up many things to fast, we give up all food. We don't drink alcohol. We don't eat desserts, no chocolate. On those days, no sodas for 24 hours. We change our lifestyle for a day as we pray, as we study, and as we meditate on God's Word throughout the day. So it preserves us from becoming slaves of habit, sometimes habits that are not good for us. Fourth reason to fast, it teaches us to be able to do without things.
It helps us be less selfish in our approach to life. We can get by without things. We don't have to have everything. Number five, it helps us learn humility as we see how clearly we rely upon God for the food and drink that only He has created for us. We learn humility and we depend upon God. Number five, fasting helps us be more thankful. Number six, it helps us be more thankful and more appreciative of the blessings God is giving us daily. We become more thankful as we fast, more appreciative toward God. Number seven, it strengthens our relationship with God and with Jesus Christ.
It strengthens our relationship as we draw near to God. Fasting is good for many, many reasons. So, brethren, we should be sure to fast, to fast properly and to fast often. That is our calling. Now, with that encouragement to fast, I would also encourage you to have a Godly balance.
It's usually not a problem fasting too much. I haven't seen too many people really go too far in that direction. But I suppose it's possible that someone might overdo it. I'd like to go to page 236 of William Barclay's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, volume one.
I'd like to read a story to you about someone who basically withdrew from the world, and then he came to realize that there are good things in this world to also enjoy. So, I'm going to quote from page 236. Dr. Borum has a story which is a commentary on the wrong idea of fasting. A traveler in the Rocky Mountains fell in with an old Roman Catholic priest.
He was amazed to find so aged a man struggling amidst the rocks and the precipices and the steep passes. The traveler asked the priest, what are you doing here? The old man answered, I am seeking the beauty of the world. But, said the traveler, surely you have solved it very late in life. So the old man told his story.
He had spent nearly all of his life in a monastery. He had never been further outside it than its cloisters, he fell seriously ill and in his illness he had a vision. He saw an angel stand beside his bed. I'm not saying this is a true story, by the way. I'm just saying it's a story that's told. It has a purpose. What have you come for? He asked the angel. To lead you home, the angel said, and it is a very beautiful world to which I am going. That was actually a question. And is it a very beautiful world to which I am going?
asked the old man. It is a very beautiful world that you are leaving, said the angel. And then, said the old man, I remembered that I had seen nothing of it, except the fields and the trees around the monastery. So he said to the angel, but I have seen very little of the world which I am leaving. He was about to die. Then, said the angel, I fear you will see very little beauty in the world to which you are going. I was in trouble, said the old man. So I guess he wasn't living the very best life after all.
And I begged that I might stay for just two more years. My prayer was granted and I am spending all my little hoard of gold. So he was hoarding up some things, maybe wasn't as giving as he should have been, wasn't truly as Christ-like as he should have been. My prayer was granted and I am spending all my little hoard of gold and all the time that I have in exploring the world's loveliness. And I find it very wonderful. We do have a wonderful blessing of living in a country such as ours.
There is great beauty to enjoy. God is good. God is gracious. So we should enjoy the life that God gives us now. But we should do it in a godly balance, in a proper way. We should fast. We should pray. We should study the Bible. But we should also enjoy the beauty that is around us and learn to do that, especially with our families, teaching our children to enjoy beauty, to enjoy the world that God has given us, the good parts of this world we should enjoy.
So let's go on to verse 19 now. Matthew 6 verse 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys but where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Now, brother, we know that moths are known to destroy fabric. In fact, some of you have probably had moths eat holes through your sweaters.
I don't know if that happens as much today as it used to. I don't hear as much about mothballs, and I don't like the smell of mothballs. You probably don't either. But moths can destroy fabric. They can destroy clothing. The word actually for rust in this passage is the word brosis, Greek word, which means an eating away. Really, there isn't, I mean, I don't think there was as much iron and things to rust back in these days as there was other things that it's probably referring to.
It's likely talking about an eating away of food stores. People would store grain. They would build big barns and they'd store their grain up for the future. But oftentimes there would be vermin, such as mice, rats, worms that would get into these barns and they would eat the grain that was stored away. It may also be speaking of mold that would develop in the grain and it would eat away or rot away at the stored grain. Also, thieves would literally dig through the baked clay walls of some homes to steal and to rob one's treasure.
God wants us to choose our priorities in life carefully. He wants us to spend our time, our energy, our resources, our wealth, and our entire being in pursuing first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. In pursuing that crown of life, He does not want us to focus on this earth and its material wealth. Nearly as much as He does the kingdom of God and our spiritual wealth, again, a godly balance needs to be sought at all times. Some good and godly habits, hobbies, are fine as long as they never become our greatest pursuits in life. I believe that we should all have hobbies that we enjoy, that we should pursue worthwhile hobbies, but they should never become our greatest pursuits in life. Our greatest pursuit should be God's kingdom and God's ways and living by every word of God. We know that God looks on the heart and He sees what really motivates us. He sees what we truly treasure. God looks on your heart. He knows what you treasure. He knows what's important to you. He knows how you spend your time.
He realizes that the human heart is deceitful above all things, that it's desperately wicked. So He knows we have a battle that goes on in our life. There's constantly a battle going on so we should continually analyze our heart. We should analyze our true motivations.
Again, what we spend our time on, what's important to us, if we are yielded to God, it will be reflected in our daily choices and in our daily pursuits. Every day, what we do speaks to our priorities. It speaks to what's really important to us. If we are yielded to Satan and his ways, it certainly will be reflected in our daily choices. And in our pursuits that day, we are told to be single-minded in our approach. In the book of James, we're to be single-minded in our pursuits, not wavering between two minds or two opinions. We are told to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. But that's a difficult battle because the pulls of the flesh are strong in us. According to Barclay in his commentary, he says the Jews always connected the phrase treasure in heaven with character. We've been told for many years that God's in the business of developing character within us, that we are tested, that God is putting us through various challenges, that we might develop godly character, perfect, righteous godly character.
So the Jews connected this phrase treasure in heaven with character.
Again, quoting from William Barclay, he says, the only thing which a man can take out of this world into the world beyond is himself. And the finer the self he brings, the greater his treasure in heaven will be. So the more we develop our character now, obviously the greater will be our reward and our service in God's kingdom. So we should be storing up treasures in heaven. That should be our goal, our main emphasis in life, seeking God, seeking his kingdom, and as we do so, we will be storing up treasures in heaven.
So what are your treasures? Are they the things of God and his eternal kingdom? Or are they something less than that? Are they something of this temporary earth?
Something we should ask ourselves continually? Are we developing character? Are we truly learning to be like Christ, to serve others, to lay our lives down, to show our love one for another?
The true disciples of Christ are known by their love for each other. That is treasure in heaven.
That's something that we should be doing on a daily basis.
Again, God does look on the heart. He knows your heart. He knows what's important to you.
So let's be sure that what's important to you is what is important to God.
In Matthew 6, verse 22, it says, the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?
The lamp of the body is the eye. We know that a lamp, light, brings clarity to one's environment. If we didn't have any lights on in here, we would not be able to see what's around us. We would not know what's going on around us. So the eye brings clarity to one's environment.
It allows a person to see clearly, to see what is around. If your eyes are good, they will allow you to see accurately. If you have good vision, you will be able to see accurately. And from a purely physical perspective, if your eyes are weak and feeble, you're not going to be able to see clearly. You won't be able to see accurately.
And you will miss some very important parts and aspects of your environment.
And you're going to get into trouble if you can't see well.
You're not going to be able to make proper judgments and decisions if you don't see clearly enough to discern the truth of your surroundings. You're going to be tripping over these chairs. You're going to be tripping over each other.
You're going to be walking into the stage. If it was dark in here, and you could not see what's around you, you would be in deep trouble. You might trip and break your hip. If you're older, hopefully younger people wouldn't break their hips. But when we get older, our bones become more brittle. We could break a bone. We could break a leg.
We could trip and crack our head wide open.
It would not be a good thing if all the lights went out and never came back on.
We would all be in a heap of trouble here.
But thankfully, for the most part, we have eyes that see pretty clearly and accurately.
We can get around.
My mother, for example, had a stroke in one of her eyes, and she was not able to see.
She had poor depth perception. She ended up in an accident before she realized how bad her eyesight was. She had to stop driving because she could not discern accurately how far vehicles were away, or how far a tree might be away, or how far a curb might be away. So it's very important that we can see clearly, and that there is light within us, that we can see these things clearly.
Of course, Christ's primary focus and emphasis is on the spiritual.
It's about spiritual discernment. It's about spiritual eyesight. If your eyes are spiritually strong and pure, you will see clearly, and you will make godly decisions that will guide your life and will ensure your salvation and protect your eternal salvation.
So it is important that you can see strongly, because, again, the lamp of the body is the eye. If we can't see spiritually, then we're going to hurt ourselves in so many different ways.
That's what Christ is talking about here. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And how great is that darkness? So we should pray for discernment, that God would help us to discern spiritually, that we would have spiritual eyesight, that we could see clearly everything around us, so that we would know the truth and act accordingly.
There are many things in life that might distort one's spiritual vision. For example, prejudice.
If you have certain prejudices, that will distort your spiritual vision. We are not to be respecters of persons. We are not to show partiality, but it's very normal for human beings to have certain prejudice, depending on how they've grown up, what they've been around, what they've seen.
So we have to be very careful that we don't allow prejudice to distort our vision.
Jealousy and envy distorts one's vision. Lust distorts a person's spiritual vision. Pride greatly distorts our spiritual vision. Selfishness. It all distorts our spiritual vision.
All the works of the flesh distort our spiritual vision.
Some also believe that in these verses there is a certain mean of generosity and miserliness, depending on the words that are used in Greek. If we are generous, giving people, we will also see more clearly. If we are generous, we're going to see things more clearly from a spiritual perspective. Then if we are stingy, if we're stingy and miserly, then we're going to be blinded to our duty to help the poor, to help the needy. So it is important that we do see clearly, especially spiritually. Now, on to Matthew 6, verse 24, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one, and he will despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now, mammon, this word is of Chaldean origin. It is speaking primarily of wealth, of riches. We cannot serve God properly if money is too important to us.
God must be first in our lives, not our wealth.
We are to use the wealth that God blesses us with in a godly manner and in godly pursuits, again, such as pursuing the crown of life. We don't pursue the crown of life with our riches except in how we give our riches away, how we generously help the poor and the needy. But other than that, it is important what you amass. It is not important how big your home is.
Of course, if you use it to serve others, then there's some value in that as well.
So it's all in how we use the things that we have. Again, God looks on the heart. He knows your heart. He knows whether or not you are serving him or whether you're serving him.
Or whether you're serving riches. It is impossible to fully pursue this earth's wealth and God at the same time. You cannot fully serve or pursue this earth's wealth and God at the same time. They're not compatible. God in his ways must be first fully, and any pursuit of wealth must be a distant second place. And when I say pursuing God's ways fully, that means your family, that means the people around you, the poor, the needy, it's covering all of that. And the riches are down the line. They're not nearly as important as people are. So it is very, very important how we use the blessings that God gives us, how we use riches. You cannot serve God and mammon.
If you're serving riches, then you will not be serving God.
A slave in the ancient world had no time of his own. He had no rights of his own. His master could do with him exactly as he chose. He was more a thing, a possession, than he was a person.
His master could beat him. He could sell him. He could even kill him without impunity.
Of course, God is our master. He is our Lord. He is not like human beings who do not always treat their slaves properly. God is merciful and he is loving. See, God allows a person to have free will and a slave owner typically doesn't allow a slave to have free will.
He must do the master's will. God doesn't make you do his will like a cruel taskmaster, like a slave owner would make someone do their will. God doesn't force you to do his will. He wants you to do his will. He desires that you do his will. He is a loving, wonderful master and we should willingly serve him. We should willingly sacrifice ourselves for him and for his way of life.
So again, it says in verse 24, no man can serve two masters. He can only serve one master.
Who will you serve? Satan is the God of this earth. Will you serve the God of this earth?
Or will you serve the Creator God, our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ?
Satan the devil would have you serve him and would have you serve riches.
That is not what we should be doing, of course. We should be serving God and him alone.
I'd like to read from William Barclay again from page 249 on this topic, Maman.
Jesus goes on to say, you cannot serve God and Maman. The correct spelling is with one m, m-a-m-o-n. It was a Hebrew word for material possessions. Originally, it was not a bad word at all. The rabbis, for instance, had a saying, let the Maman of thy neighbor be as dear to you as your own. That is to say, a man should regard his neighbor's material possessions as being sacrosanct as his own. But the word Maman had a most curious and a most revealing history.
It comes from a root which means to entrust. And Maman was that which a man entrusted to a banker or to a safe deposit of some kind. Maman was the wealth which a man entrusted to someone to keep safe for him. But as the years went on, Maman came to mean not that which is entrusted, but that in which a man puts his trust. The end of the process was that Maman came to be spelled with a capital M and came to be regarded as nothing less than a god. The history of that word shows vividly how material possessions can usurp a place in life which they were never meant to have. Originally, a man's possessions were the things which he entrusted to someone else for safekeeping.
In the end, they came to be the things in which a man puts his trust.
Surely there is no better description of a man's god than to say that his god is the power in whom he trusts. And when a man puts his trust in material things, then material things have become not his support, but his god. So it is important that we do not serve Maman, we do not serve other gods, we do not serve riches. It is important that we serve the one true god.
And of course, we are to seek God first in our lives, and we are to store up treasure in heaven. It all goes together. And now we go to verse 25 in Matthew 6. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life. What shall you eat, or what shall you drink, nor yet for your body, what shall you put on? Is not the life more than meat, and the body more 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? But seek you first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. So this is saying that we should depend upon God to provide our needs as He has promised to do so.
You should put your trust and faith in God to give you what you need.
Take no thought for your life. Don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink. Don't worry about your body, what you should put on, the clothing that you wear.
Because there are other things that are far more important than those things. Because God has promised to provide those things. We don't need to give anxious thought about those things. God does provide, if we are doing our part, if we are putting ourselves out there, working hard, striving to do the things that God would have us do, then we don't have to worry about these other things. God will always provide those things. As long as we are seeking first God's kingdom.
As long as we are seeking first His righteousness. And remember, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. We don't have to be overly concerned about what's going to happen tomorrow, because we have plenty to be concerned about today, don't we?
Even though we shouldn't worry, we should lay all of that upon God. We should trust in Him. We don't need to be concerned about tomorrow, except there is wisdom in laying up for tomorrow, and that's a godly principle as well. But the principle here that God wants us to understand is take no anxious thought. It's okay to take some thought, but no anxious thought. In other words, don't worry about these things. Plan ahead, plan righteously to take care of your grandchildren, as the Scripture says, but take no anxious thought. You need not be worried about that. If you are applying yourself faithfully, those things will follow. If you are planning ahead, then those things will follow. But take no anxious thought. Worry can eat people alive.
Stress eats people alive. A lot of that we bring upon ourselves because we're not truly placing our faith in God. We're not trusting Him enough. We're worried about our health. We're worried about this and that and the other thing. And we're not going through life faithfully. And so we suffer as a result of that. God wants us to depend upon Him, to put our faith and trust in Him, to know what that is.
So we should depend upon God and rely fully upon Him. He is capable, fully capable, capable of providing our every need. God will do that. And also, verse 27, which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto your stature?
Look, if that were possible, I would be at least six foot three.
At least six foot three. Well, I don't know, six one, six two, that wouldn't be bad either.
But I wouldn't be five seven or five six and a half.
If I could just think about it and worry about it and make myself taller, that would have already happened. It doesn't work that way.
So we should not take anxious thought about the things that we cannot change. You can't make yourself taller. That's part of the genetics.
For the most part, you're stuck with whatever your genetics dictate. I mean, sure, you can starve yourself and be a shrimp, probably. You can do certain things that will make you smaller, drink a lot of coffee, right? Doesn't that stunt your growth? Oh, wait, I don't think so.
All right, let's continue reading in Matthew 6.
Verse 28. Why take you thought for raiment, for your clothing? 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 of his glory, Solomon, in all of his riches, in all of his glory, he was not a raid like one of these beautiful flowers. God is a tremendous artist.
God has so many masterpieces, so much handiwork. God is unbelievably talented, is he not?
A flower is gorgeous, it's beautiful, it's intricate, far better than any painting.
Think not about our clothing, because God will clothe us.
Verse 30. Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Christ says, will I find faith when I come back to this earth? God, Christ will find some faith. It will be primarily within those who are called now and who are in his church, who are waiting upon his return, who are looking for him. It's certainly going to shake the faith of everyone in those last days, just prior to Christ's return. Will he find faith in you? You of little faith. 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. For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. God knows all about what you need. He understands the necessities of life. He created us.
He understands what we need. He's fully aware of what we need. So there is no need to worry about clothing. Again, consider the lilies of the field. There's nothing prettier or better clothed than the flowers that God has created and continues to sustain by sending the sunshine and the rains. I believe it's going to rain, maybe tomorrow and maybe a couple of days this week. God will provide the rains so that the flowers will blossom. I've seen Ozalia blossoming. I've seen the dogwoods blossoming. You've noticed that, too, haven't you? And this is a vibrant time of year. I really love the spring when I see things come to life. God is the author of all of that. He's behind it all. He is the creator of it all. Solomon, in all of his riches and glory, did not look so good as what God does every springtime. If God so clothes his lesser creations, how much more shall he clothe and take care of you, you who he made in his image, you who are among his very children, his children. How much do you love your children? How much do you care for your children?
How much more God cares for his children? How much more God loves his children? God will take care of you, O you of little faith. Trust in him. Believe in him. Put your confidence in him, not in yourself, not in others, not in riches, not in anything else but in God.
The Gentiles are known for their superstitious ways. When you look back into history, the Gentiles, the Pagans, they were known for their superstitious ways. They sought assurances from the false gods that they worshipped, false gods that they had created in their own minds and that they made out of wood and rocks and other things. They also looked to the creation rather than the creator. They looked to the stars. They looked to the sun. They looked to the moon.
They even looked to the beasts of the earth. They worshipped fish gods. They worshipped bulls, cattle. They worshipped all these things because they were very superstitious people.
They were looking for something to worship, but they were not able to worship the true God.
God had not revealed Himself to them. God was not calling them. He was not opening their minds to Him. They were lost. They were wandering without any spiritual eyesight, basically at all.
Don't be like the Gentiles. Your Heavenly Father knows what you need, so you need not worry as He loves you and will surely provide for you. I hope you believe that to the innermost part of your being, the innermost depths of your being, that God loves you, that God will provide for you, and that you need not worry. Not for an instant.
Take no anxious thought.
Again, your Heavenly Father knows exactly what you need. He'll give you what you need, and oftentimes He even gives you what you desire, which you may not really need, but He gives us much more than that. So we should have faith. We should believe in Him. We should trust in Him.
Today we've covered some very important spiritual principles to live by.
I actually didn't think I'd get this far. I went into chapter 7 in my notes, but then I deleted them and put them in the next sermon, because I thought there was no way I would go get this far. But I've even surprised myself today. We've covered some very important spiritual principles to live by. The proper way to fast, we talked about it. I hope we realize the power of fasting and how powerful it is. What a wonderful spiritual tool fasting is, as it allows us to draw near to God and to draw from God the strength that only He has. We talked about storing up treasures in heaven, not here on this earth. We talked about spiritual discernment, spiritual eyesight. We talked about things that hinder our eyesight, that we need to be on guard against.
We talked about serving God and not riches. We talked about not worrying, not taking anxious thought about the necessities of life, because God has that covered.
We don't need to worry about food, about clothing, about shelter. We simply need to have faith in God. And we talked about that, having faith in God, about trusting Him. Christ talked about all these things in the Sermon on the Mount. So if you want to build your spiritual house on the rock, then take heed to what Jesus Christ says in this wonderful sermon. And in the weeks ahead, we will study in detail more of Christ's instruction that leads to peace, that leads to contentment, and that ultimately leads to eternal life. You can thank me later.
