Address—Tim Ruga
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Good evening everyone, and welcome again to the meeting.
I'd like to start tonight by singing hymn #5 in the appendix.
And I would like to sing this him at a good tempo, so I'm gonna start it that way and don't slow me down.
Come down.
And you can have a great day at the end of the day. Oh, 42651000 dollar Bradley.
Let's pray, our God and our Father, we thank Thee that we can come before thee tonight, that we can open Thy word, and that we can there find precious instruction from myself, things that can be a help to each one of us in our lives.
And to for any here.
Who doesn't yet know the Lord Jesus? We pray that tonight they would also think of their eternal destiny. We just commit this time to thee and ask for thy health in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Let's turn to Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33.
I want to speak on something.
Basic tonight, but very important and.
Perhaps there won't be much new, but it will be important. And so let's just start with this verse that perhaps most of us know quite well, Matthew 633.
Says, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
What are we talking about in this verse? Well, first it mentions about a Kingdom, and a Kingdom is something that has a ruler, one who is in authority and his authority is acknowledged. And so this is speaking about a place for the authority of God is acknowledged.
And then it's speaking also about God's righteousness, that which is right according to God.
And the verse is telling us that we are to seek first that Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then it says, and all these things shall be added unto, you know what are all these things? Well, we have to look at the verse in context. And so if we just go back up a little bit, we can see that verse 30 it says wherefore of God so close the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast.
Into the oven shall he not much more clothe you. Oh yes, little face, we are for take no thought saying, what shall we eat?
Or what shall we drink? Well, wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things, but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And So what is he talking about? He says, Your Father, your heavenly Father, knoweth that you have need of these.
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He's talking about things that are needs.
Things in our lives and our needs, and we all have them. Even the young children have needs, although they may be mainly met by their parents at this stage in their life. Yet it's so all the way through our lives to the end. As long as we're here in this earth, we've got needs. And this verse is telling us something about those needs. It's telling us, in short, that we are to put God.
And his things first and He will take care of us if I could paraphrase it. And that is my subject tonight that I don't want to start there.
Until I make something clear, this is not the gospel.
This verse is spoken to those who are already believers and if you haven't believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What we're gonna talk about tonight isn't gonna help you. There's something else first. Now just to show what I'm saying, if we go back to Matthew chapter 5, we'll see something there. This verse is found in the middle of three chapters, Matthews chapter 5-6 and seven. And these three chapters give us the so-called Sermon on the Mount when the Lord Jesus went up into the mountains and he began to teach.
And there are things that he taught when he was there. And it says here in verse one, it says, seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And when he was, when he was set, his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying, so this is not the gospel. This is something that the Lord Jesus was speaking to the disciples. And there's something that he says a little bit further down that's actually quite remarkable.
Go to verse 20. He says, Where I say unto you that except.
Your righteousness exceeds, shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven. So what is he saying here?
The scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of that day, and they were priding themselves in how much they followed God and did what God was asking. And the Lord Jesus said, unless your righteousness succeeds theirs, you're not going to enter the Kingdom of heaven. So what does this mean? That you have to be better than scribes and Pharisees to go to heaven?
No, it doesn't mean that at all.
The Lord doesn't go on to explain it here. This was written or this was said, these verses were said. This sermon was given by the Lord before he went to the cross and after he went to the cross and died.
Then we have further revelation about what the righteousness of God is and what it means to have righteousness like that.
And it comes from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want to start right here tonight.
If you haven't believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, not only will the remaining of the thing, uh, remainder of what I intend to speak on tonight do you no good, but you're on the way to hell. You don't have the righteousness of God. You don't have any way to ever get to heaven unless you accept the gospel. So let's go and see what that gospel is in particular in connection with these ones who consider themselves to be so righteous.
Just turn over for a moment to Romans chapter 10.
And these verses were written by the apostle Paul, and he's writing about these very same ones, these Jews who were so religious.
He says, Romans 10/1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved, for I bear them record.
That they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
They thought they were pretty good and they were trying to be good enough for God. And many people today try the same thing. And it could be that somebody could come and take their very words that we're reading and think, well, I just have to be a little bit fatter than they were and God will accept me. And that answer is no. These Jews were trying to establish their own righteousness, and there never has been anyone.
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Or never will be. Anyone who can get to heaven by trying to establish their own righteousness. It won't work.
He says they have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God. For verse four, God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. It's no longer a matter of people trying to be good enough for God, but the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. He put an end to all of that. He died on the cross because it was impossible and now he's the end of it.
And so it says, going on from here in verse six. But the righteousness which is of faith.
Speaketh on this wife. Now we have something new introduced the righteousness which is of faith believing something brings righteousness. That's what it's saying here verse 8 WhatsApp it the word is Nighy even in thy heart and in thy mouth thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the Word of Faith which we preach that if thou shalt.
Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised them from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.
And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is the gospel.
That God counts those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As righteous and there's no other way to be righteous before him tonight we start there. If you haven't believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to do that there's nothing else for you no other help for you without that you're doomed and I don't care how young you are. If you can understand what I'm saying then go and do that now, right now in the meeting. Don't wait till later, but trust that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for.
And that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
And now he's raised again so that God can make you just That's the gospel. Go back for a moment to Romans chapter 3.
Romans 3 verse 24 says being justified freely. You know what that means? Means being made just, God counting you as righteous freely by the grace, by his grace, God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It's through this redemption, the fact that Christ died on the cross. That's how God can do it.
It says then whom God has set forth to be should be a mercy seat. Mercy can come to you as a result of this fact.
That the Lord Jesus Christ died.
To be a mercy seat through faith in his blood. That's what God is looking for. You can't be righteous. You can't be good enough for God. All you can do is this. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in his shed blood in the cross of Calvary. Believe that he died to your sins and now God counts you as just as a result of that. He says through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness.
For the remission that means the forgiveness of sins that are passed through, the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time His righteousness, that he might be just.
And the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, again I say, if you haven't believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have the righteousness of God and you are not good enough. You cannot go on yourself before God. Now when one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, as so many of us have here in this room, then God counts us righteous. That's what these verses are telling us. And not only that, but.
He does much more. I'm not going to take the time tonight to turn to it, but He gives us up His Spirit and causes His Spirit to dwell in US. And what I would like to turn to Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, it tells us there that God does even more.
Galatians 2 and verse 20 Paul says I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And so Paul is saying that I was put to death when Christ died. That was me before God. I died, but I had a new I.
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New life, and it's not my life, but it's Christ living in me. And so you know what this means?
You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God counts you righteous. He gives you a new life, the life of Christ, and he gives you the Holy Spirit so that you can live according to that life. And that's where I want to begin tonight. Let's go back to Matthew 633.
Matthew 633.
Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
You've trusted in Jesus Christ. You now have the life and the power to do what it says in this verse.
God is the one who's got the authority. You submit to his authority. That's what it means when you confess him, the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord, and his righteousness is now something that you can do. That is what is right according to God. And you find that all through the verses leading up to this one. For instance, just turn back.
A little bit earlier in chapter 6 and he says in verse 24 no man can serve 2 masters for either.
He will hate the wine and love the other, or he will hold to the wine and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.
It's an impossibility to serve too, but the believer has the strength now to rise above.
And to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness again, I say.
The verse means, in short, that to put the Lord first in your life and He will take care of us in our life. That's what it means. And we have the power to do it. We can put Him first. I want tonight to talk to the various classes or stages of life that are here in the room. I wanna start with the UMM. I know there's a lot of young children here. You've been doing the craft. You've been having a very good time.
And that's nice, and I think it's good that you're at a place like this and able to have fun and play and be with your friends and do all those things.
I trust that you've done what we said tonight, that you've accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Again, if you haven't, that is number one. You must do that. But if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not too young for what this verse says to seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Put the Lord first in your life. Are you old enough to read? Do you have a Bible?
And take out that Bible and read it, even if it's just a little bit. Try to read it every day.
Are you saved? You only got that way by talking to the Lord in the 1St place. You know how to pray. You pray every day.
You know, put the Lord first in your life. As early as you understand who the Lord is, start putting this into practice in your life. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, when he was age 12, he went out and he started to do what was his Father's business. And they came and they said, where have you been? He said, didn't you know I had to be about my father's business?
The Lord Jesus wasted no time in his life, and I'm sure it didn't start at age 12. It started very, very young.
And there's no reason why the youngest who can understand these things can't put that into practice in their life where they're going to say, yes, I am going to do the things that I do, but I'm going to put the Lord first in my life and I'm going to do everything according to what He wants. That is something you can do.
You know, I'm going to tell an illustration that many who are older would know, but I think it's a powerful one and it might be helpful. It's about a teacher.
Who one day got a a big jar and put it up in front of their class and they had to decide a whole lot of stones and they started to take these stones and put them. The teacher put these stones in the jar until the stones went all the way to the top of the jar and it couldn't get any more stones in that jar. And the teacher asked the class, he said is the jar full?
And the class said yes, the jar is full.
And teacher said, no, not full. He brought out another bag and there was some much smaller stones there, and he took from that bag and put them in. And those stones, of course, ran down in between and started filling up until he couldn't get any more of those in. He said, is the jar full? And I said, yeah, it looks full now. He said no, he got another bag and there was sand in that bag. And so he started pouring sand in the jar and shaking it, and that sand was all going down.
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And then he asked when he could get no more and he said, is the jar full?
And by this time, they were catching on. They said, no, no, He said, you're right. And he got another a picture and there's water in the picture. And he started pouring the water in there until the water went all the way to the top and there was no more air in there or anything. It was fall. And he said he asked the class, He said, what is the lesson that we learned from this?
And someone said, well, it shows that no matter how much you shove into your life, you can always put something more in. The teacher said, no, no, no, no, that's not the lesson at all. The lesson of this jar is that unless you put the big things in first, you'll never get them in at all.
That's a powerful lesson.
Unless you put those rocks in first in that jar, they'll never get in there. You're not gonna go put the water in and the sand and the Little Rock and then the big ones get them in last. It's not going to happen. And the same thing is true spiritually. You young children, you're not too young to start, and this is the right time.
Unless you put the Lord in your life, because that's the biggest thing of all, unless you put him in first, you may never get him in at all.
Let me say that again, unless you get the Lord in your life first.
You may never get him in at all. I'm talking now to Christians. Yes, you're saved. Yes, you're going to heaven, but there's a life to live on earth as long as he lives you, leaves you here. And the question is, what are you going to do with that life? Is it going to be a life for yourself or is it going to be a life that the Lord can use?
You start off early in life and start taking other things and shoving them into your life and guess what? You won't find time for the Lord. And I'm not saying that in His grace later on. He can't make a change.
But don't tempt God. Don't tempt the devil either.
Put the Lord first in your life. As soon as you can understand it, you know there's another thing too.
Witness for the Lord.
Naman had a maid, I don't know how old she was, I guess the impression she was pretty young. She spoke out and she said what she knew and it was a real blessing to others. You can put the Lord first in your life and you can speak to others about the Lord. Don't wait till you get older. Now for teenagers and adults, just going on to another category, maybe going all the way up depending who we are here.
This is where it gets hard. You know something? You.
All right, now, no longer a young child and you young children, this is coming. So listen, keep listening.
There's decisions you now have to make, important decisions and others that aren't as important as it seems, but they are actually very important. Like what kind of music should I listen to? Who should my friends be? What clothes should I wear?
These things may not seem so important at first, but they're actually very important and.
This is something where we can take it up again even as Christians and say well.
I think I know what I prefer. I know the kind of music I like, I know what I want to do.
I've got this under control. I can handle it. That's wrong.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God in His righteousness, and all those things too.
Will be added unto you.
Let's go to Acts chapter 22.
Apostle Paul is speaking about when he got saved.
And it's most instructive what he says.
Acts 22.
Verse 7.
Oh, verse six speaks about that a great light came around him. Verse seven, I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why? Persecutor found me, and I answered, Who art thou, Lord?
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The Apostle Paul, as he later came to be known.
Saul, as he was then, did not know the Lord. He wasn't saved. He didn't have faith. At that moment he had faith. He realized that this one was his Lord.
The Lord answered.
He said I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
And then he tells what happened verse 9. But then what he said in verse 10. And I said, what shall I do?
Lord and then the Lord told him, See immediately when Paul.
Had faith when he trusted in the Lord that he didn't know before. The first thing he did was become a disciple. And he says Lord, he acknowledged the authority of that one who spoke to him, and that one was Jesus Christ. And what's the next thing he says or what does he say there? He says, what shall I do?
This is Kay. Young people, all of us. I don't you want to just teach to the young people. I can tell you I'm talking to myself too, because I forget this. What shall I do, Lord?
Think about it. What's the question we often ask? I'm not saying it's absolutely wrong to ask this. In fact, most of the questions that come in the camp in one form or another. Along this line, is it OK?
To do this right, that's good, we need to know from scripture is it OK to do that?
So I'm glad that people put those kind of questions in the box and we wanna keep answering them. I think it's very good.
But there's a more fundamental thing, even if we want to ask that question, which is OK because we go to the word of God and say, is it OK to do that? What we really should be thinking is that what the Lord wants me to do? And of course if he lays it out in his word and he says very carefully, thou shalt not steal or as you have it repeated for Christians and Ephesians chapter.
Five or four at the end of the seasons. Four. Let him the soul steal no more.
You know, then we get a direct answer from the Lord. OK, I don't steal and but it's more fundamental than that.
Why will thou have me to do, Lord? If you ever do that, stop and ask the Lord what do you want me to do? Or do we say I have it under control? I know what I'm going to do, I know what I like, and unless somebody can prove to me that this is really against what the Bible says, I'm going to go do it.
Where is the Lordship of Christ in that?
Where is anything about asking him or putting him first, seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and that?
You know that verse?
For tonight seek you first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you has to do with needs in our life. And there comes times in our life when we feel very much those needs. And every time when it happens, if you're a believer, what do you do? You turn around and go to the Lord and say, Oh Lord, help me.
I have done that.
And I've heard the Lord saying, what about the first half of that verse?
Oh, he's not mean. He helped.
But what about the first half of that verse?
I want your help, Lord, but I don't want to listen to what you have to say.
Is that right?
Is that how we're gonna live our lives as Christians?
You say if I have to live my life like this, where I have to ask the Lord about everything, there's certain things in my life that I like to do and there are a lot of fun for me, and I don't know that I want to ask the Lord about that. And if I have to do that, it sounds like that.
It's true. It's death.
Go to Matthew chapter 10.
As Christians, we need to face these things.
Matthew 10.
And verse 39.
He that findeth his life shall lose it.
He that loses his life for my sake shall find it.
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The verse before that.
Middle diversity that loveth. I'm sorry, verse 38. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
The Lord Jesus said these words, and these words are true.
There is such a thing as losing our life. There are things that we like to do.
Because when we accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we did get those things we spoke about. We did get a new life, we did get the Holy Spirit, but we also kept that old life that we had, the flesh.
And that flesh likes to do certain things that are not according to God. They're not right according to God, and we need to die to that. And so this verse is speaking about that. It speaks about it like taking up a cross.
And following after the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says.
In that verse 39, he that find it, his life shall lose it. You know, you've got to say, well I don't care, I want to take life.
And I want to live life to the full. I'm saved, I'm going to heaven. But as long as I'm here, I want to enjoy those things.
The Lord Jesus said not, so you can't do it.
You find your life like that, you're gonna lose it. You pursue that life.
I have at times in mind. You pursue that life and you'll find an emptiness that gets emptier and emptier and emptier until you've got nothing left there at all, he says. You'll lose it. It'll be a wasted life, a wasted life for you, a wasted life for those around you, a wasted life for the Lord who died to redeem you.
Why waste your life?
Here in this world.
You have the opportunity right now to put the Lord 1St and His promise is what we have in the rest of this verse. He that looseth his life shall find it.
You lose those desires, those wrong things. Instead, take up with the Lord. Put His things first in your life, and guess what? You'll find something there that you can never get any other way. You find a true joy and a true delight in Him.
So in everything, take the Lord and put Him first in your life. Practically all the little things.
You're getting older. Time to go out and find a car and buy it. You go into the sales lot, there's a lot of beautiful cars there and you look at them, you say, well, this one will do well. Well, this one, wow, I really like this one. I think it'll give me what I need. The salesman comes over and talks to you, says, Oh yes, I'll give you a great deal on this car. You can see you like it.
And he tells you about what that car does and how great it is, and he tells you what he can do. He gives you the deal. And then he says you buy this car now and I can take another $250 off of it or whatever.
OK, I love that thing. I want it.
Is that what you do? Where's the Lord in that? Practically, where is the Lord in that?
Say no, I don't care if I lose the $250. I need to pray about this. I do like this car. I'll be back. I.
Maybe back if I feel I should get it.
We made that a policy in our life and it served us very well. I don't think we ever lost the $250. That's just a scheme they come up with. The point is you go away and you talk to the Lord and you say, Lord, you know, I like that car.
That might be a problem, Lord.
What do you want me to do?
That's the important thing, that's what he wants.
He'll give that answer. Maybe he'll send you back there that day to buy that card. Maybe he won't.
But you put him first. He values that. He appreciates that. He's going to take care of you. He's not gonna let you fall down on that matter. He knows if you need that transportation or not. He's going to take care of you. And you honored him by putting him first in that matter. What about school?
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School gets pretty busy sometimes, right? Sometimes you're working on the class project, you've got an exam, and that exam is tomorrow, or the project's due tomorrow. Tonight, the assembly meeting.
Well, if I.
Skip the meeting, Keep preparing for that exam. I'll do better, right?
Where's the Lord in that?
Do we need the Lord's help on exams?
Or do we do them in our own strength? Are we Christians?
We can make a legal thing out of this and say you must go to every assembly meeting. Her brother was talking about that last night. But what has the Lord done? He set up assemblies and he put people in them and he himself is there.
Said you say, Lord, you know I need the time on this exam.
But Lord, I want to be there at that meeting because I need to be where you are. You think the Lord values that. You think He can make that up to you on that exam or that paper or whatever it is.
If you don't think that, I don't think you're a Christian.
Now you might think that and ignore it like I did and say well I'm going to do it anyway.
Don't it costs too much.
It costs too much to lead the Lord out of your life, to try to do well on an exam, or to try to do well on a paper.
Even if you do well, it costs too much. Don't put him second. You put him second. At that point in your life, you may never get him into your life at all.
Mysterious business. Young people, older ones, all of us. This is serious business that we're talking about.
Satan works. He'll make every excuse to take us away. I can tell you, I hate to give an experience of my own, but that's the one I know the best, and it doesn't make glory of me. I'll tell you, when I went to school after three semesters in university, I was doing very poorly.
The school wrote a letter to me and they said you have failed the standards of this university by three.
Different criteria.
It is our prerogative to let you go. We should.
We're advising you to seek counsel to continue in this school. They let me stay.
I didn't know what to do.
Except I knew to get on my knees. I went to the Lord and said, Lord, what should I do?
The Lord brought this verse before me.
I said OK, Lord, how?
He said you go back to the school.
You take out your Bible.
You read it.
I wasn't sure I heard that right.
I thought, Lord, that you were going to tell me to go and to study harder and to be more diligent.
You know, the Lord speaks to His Word. I was reading His Word and He kept bringing before me those verses, not the ones about diligence, but about the ones to take up the Word and to seek Him first and let Him take care of that. I didn't understand it. I knew in my heart that that was the right thing, but I thought I blew it. And This is why it's important. Perhaps you've gotten to this point in your life and you haven't done what that verse says.
We serve a God of all grace.
He gives second chances. You can start now and put the Lord first in your life. I went back to the school. I went to my class. After the class, I went to the library. I took out my Bible and started to read it, and I read it and I read it, and I also studied my books as well.
As that semester went on, I learned more of my Bible than I ever had before. It was a wonderful time.
I don't know what happened with the rest, it was the strangest thing. I still can't really explain it. All the classes got easy and.
Like they were made simple somehow. I don't think they were, but that's how what happened.
The exams that sometimes would line up three in a row weren't that way anymore.
I had no trouble finishing school. I won't say more than that.
I got through just fine. The Lord took care of me. He proved it.
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And I had a precious time with him the remainder of those school years.
That's a promise. Seek you first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. It's a promise from God. I want to say right now, though, it's not a charm. You can't go pretend at it. You can't take some stab at it and say, OK, I'm going to do this and now I expect to get this. No.
If you get nothing more than a closer relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you've gotten what you need.
But God never comes short on His side of the promise. I'll just leave you to discover that for yourself. He says what he means.
There's something else about putting the Lord first, at your age, at my age, at the youngest age, where you can read.
Take out the word of God and read it first thing in the morning. Don't give it up till later. You know the manna was given in the morning.
They went out to get that food early in the morning. They might eat some of it later in the day, but they collected it then. They first took of it. Then that is when we are to take out the Word of God. Don't wait until the day gets on to take out the Word of God and read it. When you get up in the morning, start with the Lord, Read His Word, talk to him, pray to Him.
Get what you need for the day from him.
Give him the 1St place and then see what he's going to do in the day.
But you already have started with a blessing just by being with him. You know this.
Idea of starting with the Lord early in the morning. This is in the scriptures in more than the manna. He turned over to Psalm in chapter 63.
Psalm 63 and psalmist says in verse one.
Oh God, thou art my God.
You hear that longing in his voice. He's come to know something, something that we all should know. Look what he says early. Will I seek the My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longest for thee, In a dry and thirsty land where no water is.
Brother and sister in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where we start with the Lord. In the morning He gives what is needed for the day. We are in a place where there isn't that which can satisfy us, but He can.
And we need to start there. And he gives the answer. The answer is in Proverbs chapter 8.
Proverbs 8, verse 17.
I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. You want to find the Lord?
See Him early, don't wait till later in the day. Other things come in and crowd out the mind. By then you take up with the Lord first thing in the morning and you see that you'll find Him. You'll get His guidance, you'll get His direction, you'll get His assurance through the day for all that you have need of.
Well, I want to go on, talk to another group. We don't have much time left. Talk to those who are considering marriage.
I think there's quite a few of you here.
Tonight it may be that not all of the unmarried are, or maybe that you are, but.
There would be something else. First, I just want to say, you know, it isn't that if you're not married that you must be married. The Word of God speaks about the single state and it speaks about it with honor. First Corinthians Chapter 7, and it's interesting what it says there. It speaks about the two cases that the one who is not married cares for the things of the Lord.
How he may please the Lord.
That's your case right now. You're not married.
It's also the case, but it's contrasted a little bit there with those who are married. He that is married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife or her husband. There's something else that comes in. But what I'm going to say next, I don't want to take away from the unmarried state, but I do want to go on and talk to those who are considering marriage.
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And I just want to say, if you are unmarried and the Lord calls you to go.
And to, umm, go to different parts of the world and use your money for things that he's called you to do. That's wonderful. Please do it. That's what he wants from you if that's what he's called you for.
But one thing that we are never to do is to please ourselves.
We aren't left here in this world to please ourselves. The Lord is our Lord. We're left here to please Him. And there's a wonderful verse that's spoken about him in Romans chapter 15.
Because he's the supreme example in everything when it comes to what is right.
Romans chapter 15 and this is spoken of in con in connection with helping others.
First two it says let everyone of us please his neighbor for good to edification. Then verse 3 for even Christ please not himself, who did he please?
Number one, he pleased God. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And then it shows how he was in doing the will of God. He was here to help others.
His his own self wasn't there at all. He didn't please himself. The one thing we know that he didn't please was himself.
And that's the contrast that we're talking about here tonight.
When we act according to our own desires, the one thing we are pleasing is ourselves.
But we are to do please the Lord, to put the Lord first in our lives. And this goes on to helping others as well. So to those who are considering marriage, number one, don't please yourself. And I say this about a great many things that we can do. You can spend your money in a whole host of ways. In the spirit of the age right now is that you know what, you're young, you've got a job, you've got money, you're not married.
That this is your time. Go out and use it. Travel the world. Buy this, buy that. You're never gonna have this again. You're gonna be married, and then it's going to be a time where you're tied down and not be able to do all of that.
What is that?
If it's not self pleasing.
I'd encourage you if you're considering marriage, consider marriage. Consider that one day you're gonna be married to someone. And the worst thing to come into marriage with is that.
The worst thing is to not have prepared at all and to be in marriage with high debt. Sometimes you can't help that. Sometimes we get into debt and it's too late.
Sometimes we cross these very boundaries we're talking about and we get into debt and debt as a whole, it's a terrible whole. It's the number one cause of divorce, money troubles.
Don't go there. What are you doing as a young person to prepare for marriage? You know, Satan wants to destroy marriage everywhere, but especially Christian marriage. If you can, and if he can turn you aside right now before you're married and get you thinking about yourself and not putting the Lord first in your life and not preparing for what the Lord has for you. He will. He wants nothing more than that. And he easily works with us to say, oh, you know, you want to do this thing. Oh yes, I do. And off I go and do it. Never ask.
Why it's failure?
This is serious business, young people. You're considering marriage. Think about what the Lord has for you. How are you going to prepare for that? And you say, OK, I heard so many other things. I heard what Tim said last night. It sound like there were a lot of good things in there. But do I have to get this all figured out in my mind? The answer is in part, yeah. You know, Tim was talking about principles from all over the word of God.
And you need to start from the earliest age and get to know the word of God so that you know what God says, so that those things that were brought out, you get them ingrained in your knowledge. But it's actually more basic than that. It's more basic because you we need to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Get that principle right before anything else, and then everything else follows.
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Proverbs, chapter 3.
Proverbs 3 verse five. Trust in the Lord.
With all thine hearts, and lean not to thy own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Another promise in the word of God, and he means that.
Maybe you don't have everything figured out, but what you can do is keep one simple thought before you. I'm gonna put the Lord first. I'm gonna seek Him first. I'm gonna acknowledge Him in all my ways, and I'm gonna let him direct my path. And He's gonna lead you in that.
You know, what job are you preparing for? Is it a job that will give you enough to prepare to provide for your family? It's very hard on a single wage earner income these days.
To provide like that.
Is there, is it a job that will allow you, like Tim said last night, to get to the assembly meetings?
Is this a job that's going to allow you to be steady with the Lord's people, with your family?
We need to think about that. Ask the Lord, put him first and He'll guide in it. I want to speak to the married as well. We say if you are married.
In fact, you give some advice.
Live below your means, live well below them.
The Lord will give you what you need.
Take the same verse again into your marriage. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God in His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. You look around you see oh so many other people have this and that. I have to have it too. No, you don't.
As a Christian, what you have to do is seek first. The Kingdom of God is righteousness. He knows what you have need of. Your Heavenly Father knows what you have need of. He'll give it.
He'll provide it. Don't go into debt.
Proverbs 22.
Telling us about that.
Says in verse 7 the rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower. The borrower is servant to the lender.
And this is true.
Going to that and now you're no longer free. You're not free.
To be with your family as you ought to be. You're not free to help others. You're not free for the Lord. You're now a servant to someone else, A servant of men. Because of what? Something that you allowed yourself to get into debt over? Don't do it. Put the Lord 1St and let him provide according to his own mind. Young families. And what about you?
If I could give one piece of advice to young families and I go back to even preparing for marriage, what are you doing with the Word of God?
Are you taking it up? This is not just young brothers, but young sisters, What are you doing with the Word of God?
If the Lord gives you a family one day, it's not just a matter of having a job and being able to put food on the table.
But it's a matter of taking the precious Word of God and being able to present it to your family.
What are you doing to prepare for that?
Young families, do you have a family Bible reading?
Does each one here have a family Bible reading?
If not, why not?
Do you have a supper meal?
A lunch meal? A breakfast meal you eat as a family. Why would you do that and not take out the word of God?
It's spiritual food and father and mother, it's your responsibility to provide this food.
For your family, it's very important. And I want to say something else too about the assembly meeting. They're vital. Don't give them up. The Lord put us into assemblies. He didn't put us off by ourselves. He didn't put us just into families. He put us into assemblies and He provided for that assembly, and that's where He gives special instruction from himself.
We already given our families, we are to take it off individually before the Lord, but it's also there collectively in the assembly. And if we don't come to the assembly meetings, we met much.
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Of what God wants to give us. I want to go back to that verse that Tim I think quoted last night, Hebrews chapter 10.
Verse 25 says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. You know we're right at the end of this meeting. But young families, you need to get your children out to the assembly meeting and don't leave them out.
You need to get there with them. We had time to go over to Acts chapter 21. You see they have a prayer meeting in that chapter and they all go out with the apostle Paul and they go down to the seashore and it says specifically the Spirit of God puts that detail in. They went out with the women.
And the children and they knelt down and prayed there at the seashore.
Very important to have your children out of the meetings. Put the Lord first in your family and let them know that the Lord is first. You know something you cannot make a pretence at Matthew 6 verse 33 either it's true with you or not. And when you get to have a young family, a family with children.
And you're making a pretense at putting the Lord first, but it's not real in your own heart.
You're just getting them after the meeting.
They're gonna see through that.
They're gonna know it's actually pretense. You need to be real. What are you doing? How are you spending your time? Do they see you getting up and spending time with the Lord? Do they see you consistently presenting the word of God to them?
Where do you spend your time? Where do you take your vacations? Do you go to Bible conferences? Do you go to a camp like this? Well, obviously you do, and good job. Thank you for being here.
So I keep doing it. This is good.
This is one of the ways, but it's not the only way. We need to do it in every part of our life to put the Lord first. This goes all the way up to later life as well. I just want to skip on to those who are older.
And I don't have advice for them. Instead, I look at the older ones among us as examples of those who have put the Lord first in their life, in its precious.
Sometimes we pass over it almost unnoticed. How is it that these ones who have aches and pains in their bodies, they struggle out to the meeting and often times when there's so many younger ones not there?
These other ones are, and they're there consistently and faithfully, and they're sitting through the meeting.
And they're sitting quietly, too. They're sitting right quietly, attentively through the meeting, not running out to the bathroom or whatever other distraction might be made.
No. How did that come today?
It's because those ones put the Lord first in their life.
And they got used to putting themselves last. They didn't please themselves and they got to this point where they could be a good example. And I thank God for everyone of them who is a good example to us. But it didn't happen overnight.
Many never made it to where they are.
Tell you a sorrow so many that I've known never made it to where these examples are.
They put themselves first.
And you, the youngest of the ones that are here, you have this opportunity.
Don't try to put those big stones in last. Don't put the Lord first in your life later on. Don't think this is something for another day. I'll please myself now, but I'll get it right later. You may not have that opportunity. Put the Lord first right now and see what He will do. Oh, He will give you such a portion. You'll never regret that decision.
Well, let's close in prayer our God and our Father.
We thank thee.
With thy faithfulness and thy goodness, we thank thee. For the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee.
That we have ever known him, we don't deserve the least of thy mercy.
Let alone to know such a wonderful Saviour. We thank you for the redemption we have through him We pray.
That that would get a hold of every one of our hearts strongly and firmly, That each one of us who are here would live our lives that day and give everything to thee.
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We owe it all to thee, Father.
Lord Jesus, power worthy, we thank Thee for all that, Alice John, and we thank Thee in thy most precious and worthy me. Amen.