Matthew 6:25-34

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central Good evening everyone. It is Saturday, February fifteenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently eight forty seven pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well. I found out a little while ago that tomorrow is not going to go quite as planned. It's it's not going to go the way I thought it was going to go. So a lot of times when plans kind of fall apart or things are not going to go the way I plan them to go, or maybe even want them to go, the one thing I know I can always do, no matter what the situation is, I can always turn on a microphone and go live and well hopefully produce content that will be benefit and helpful, and then it will be available whenever people may be able to tune in. So that's what we're doing. It's kind of an end prop to go live situation. But even though it's kind of end propt to, I've always got something to talk about and always something to discuss.

1:16 So the first thing I want to do before we get to the real topic at hand, because I think I may I think there may be a connection here. We did a sermon review earlier today on Isaiah forty three. It was a train wreck of epic proportions and once again another sermon not handling not handling Isaiah an anything between Isaiah chapter forty and Isaiah chapter fifty five anywhere correctly, and I mean nowhere correctly. I mean even AI when it reviewed, it was like, well, this is just what is this? It was funny because I have been discussing Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah chapter fifty five, and I have been reviewing sermon after sermon after sermon, listening to sermon after sermon on that subject, and been discussing at all with AI over and over and over since October of twenty twenty four. And AI today basically was like, look, this is the problem with sermons, this is the problem with preaching, and it went through all the problems. It was just it was kind of funny because almost it felt like AI was like, look, I'm tired of dealing with it. I'm frustrated with this. It's a mess, so move on. Okay. It wasn't quite that bad. But it was funny that AI basically broke down, like, look, what you're seeing is just a problem. It's everywhere, It's everywhere, and I'm like, well, and so then basically AI was like, what you need to do is you need to produce more content and more clear teaching. And I'm like, well,

2:48 how about you produce it and I'll sit back and relax. I mean, it's easy to tell me I need to produce more, But I don't think for the majority of people it really matters. Most people are going to continue to go to churches that do that to not just Isaiah forty through fifty five, through all the other chapters, and nobody really seems to care. But you know, I don't know. But in that sermon review, even though it was frustrating and even though it was irritating, we did get kind of a very important question. If you didn't write this down earlier, you need to write it down this evening or in the morning, whenever you may hear this. The question is this, what is the evidence of God's presence in your life? What is the evidence of God's presence in your life? That God is present in your life?

3:44 What is the evidence that proves it that can be used as some type of proof. What is the evidence of God's presence in your life? Keep that in mind because one of the things said was this idea of peace, this idea of joy. See, if God is present in your life, then you're just going to experience peace, You're just going to experience joy. So the lack of peace or the lack of joy means God is not present in your life. So does that mean I'm not saved? Does that mean God just has withdrawn his presence from me? But does he withdraw his presence from a Christian whom he said, whom he said he would never leave nor forsake? Like, like, how do we understand that? So that that's that's a very so it's a very important question that we will have to discuss and great and great detail. But I just want you to keep that in mind. What is the evidence of God's presence in your life? And and they said in the sermon joy peace. I think there were some other things, but it's the idea that Hey, basically, you're gonna be a joy, you're gonna have peace if God is present in your life. And again, so this means if you don't if you're not experiencing this, it's a feeling. They went on to basically say, it's a feeling.

4:58 You just feel it. It's a feeling, it's joy, it's peace. So if you don't have the feeling, you don't have joy, you don't have peace. God is not present. I know I'm repeating myself, but it's very important to re establish this so that either means you're never saved, you're not saved, you lost your salvation, or you're a Christian but God has withdrawn his presence. But if he's withdrawn his presence, I thought he said it would never leave us, leave us, nor forsake us. Or is that promised not for us? Now? Just you just unravel. Well really, you just kind of open up a can to a million questions. So keep that in mind. Now I mentioned all of that, But here's what we're gonna do this evening. Remember I've been asking you all week, how is chapel service? How is chapel service? Did you attend chapel service?

5:48 Right? Because I keep opening up the sermon's two point oh app in the mornings and sometimes it's you know, Ambassador Baptist College. Sometimes it's Bob Jones. Sometimes it's Pensacola. There's all these different Christian colleges that air their chapel services, and I've been telling everyone, hey, go listen, Go listen to the chapel services. Go listen to the chapel services. So I've been trying to keep up with them this week. And what are the chapel services from Ambassador Baptist College. Again, these all air live for free on the sermon's two point oh app I keep telling everyone to have it. I was watching listening to Ambassador Baptist College, and the chapel service was on a section of Matthew chapter six, specifically dealing with worry and anxiety. Worry and anxiety. In fact, the name of the sermon was overcoming worry and anxiety. Now, the fact that it's on Matthew six, so let me just go ahead and get this out of the way.

6:54 Matthew Chapter six is a part of the Sermon on the Mount. If I am frustrated, discouraged, pressed and want to just give up. Based on how pastors preach Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah chapter fifty five, I can't even tell you what when I listen to sermons on the sermon about the Sermon on the Mount, On the Sermon on the Mount, going from Matthew five to Matthew seven, what those sermons do to me. Forget discouragement, forget depression, forget frustration. I just want to completely just give up because it is maddening how these sermons are constantly preached. They completely miss the point. So I'm just gonna go ahead and clarify this. Just get this out of the way now. Matthew five, six and seven is the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is expounding. He's expanding our understanding of the law. So Matthew five six and seven is.

7:47 Law law, law, law, law law. The purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to show us our sin and our inability to keep the commands that are in the Sermon on the Mount, because no one can keep them. Now, people will try to preach them somehow as if we can. They'll try to water them down. Sometimes they'll throw in, well you won't do it perfectly. But then most of the sermon will be preached as if you can do it, or you can't do it, but God will help you do it. But if God is helping us do it, then everyone should be perfectly obedient to the law of God. But nobody is so, then okay, then it just becomes this convoluted mess, and it drives me crazy the way Christians handle this. But if you go back from a historical perspective, a proper law gospel distinction, you would say, Matthew five through seven is law. It shows me, it shows me my sin, shows me my inability to keep the law.

8:37 Then it drives me to Christ. And Christ, who preach the sermon, is the only one who ever obeyed the sermon. And it's by putting my faith in him that his obedience to the sermon is imputed to my account. So in my position, I keep the law of God perfectly. I obey the Sermon on the Mount, but in practice I fall short of it day in day out, day in day out. Because it was in the Sermon on the Mount itself where Jesus said, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Well, you'll never be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. So anyone who preaches the Sermon on the Mount as some type of achievable, achievable morality does not understand the Sermon on the Mount, So already I know going in. I bet you this is going to go wrong. But we're gonna find out. We're gonna find out because, like I said, this is it was chapel service. All week. I've been giving you a hard time about attending chapel service. So let's see what happened this past this week chapel service, Ambassador Baptist College.

9:37 Let's see what happened. What? What did we hear? What did we learn about overcoming worry and anxiety? Will listen to the way they interpret it, and then I'm gonna go with again. I challenge the way everyone interprets the Sermon on the Mount. I think it's one of the most mishandled, misapplied, misinterpreted sections of scripture in the entire Bible. It's just one of an all right, and yeah, we'll talk about a correct way to interpret it. But are you ready? Let's see how this begins. Here we go, Matthew, chapter six. If you would please before we jump into the message, how did the fuss in go Tuesday night? You go, well, okay, good.

10:22 I was planning to come, but doctor Luken forbid me to come. He said, you are not allowed to be there. So I'm gonna preach on standards this morning. I'm kidding, I'm not doing that. I think we are to correct our announcements. If mister Hankey says everybody can come, and doctor Lucan won't let me come, something's wrong with a picture. I'm just saying. But he does get more pulpit time than me, so I'll stop right there. Okay, So Matthew, chapter number six. This is a familiar passage of scripture, and this is gonna kind of be our jumping off point. We're gonna look at a number of places in scripture that th chapter six and verse twenty five. Therefore, I say, unto you, take no thought for your life what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, Nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment. Build the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much more? Are you not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil, not neither do they spin. Yet, I say unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not a rayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe ye you, oh ye of little faith.

11:49 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 gentile seek for your heavenly father, knoweth that you have need of all these things. But SEEKI first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow. For tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. I want to speak to you this morning about overcoming worry, or you could say overcoming anxiousness. They're really one and the same. As you think through that one person said, if you have time to worry, you have time to pray. That's a great statement, and I love it, but it brings some questions to our mind.

12:37 Can't I be concerned over something without being called worry? Well, concern allows me to still function in normal life, while worry is crippling. It keeps me from doing my normal responsibilities. Among other things, concern motivates me to pray, while worry can cause me to think I may have the solution to the rh Helm and his meditation book called Stress Less Trust More says stress, anxiety, and worry are all tyrants seeking to control our lives. Americans will spend two hundred and eighty to three hundred and ninety million dollars on mental health issues this year. Forty four percent of the US population experiences anxiety symptoms of some kind.

13:30 Okay, now, before we go and see where they even lead this, clearly they're demonstrating that this is a massive problem. Everywhere. People worry, people have anxiety, They spend billions of dollars, millions of dollars, they seek professional help. People have all kinds of worry and anxiety. So we're going to supposedly learn how to overcome it. Now, he tried to draw a distinction where you can care about something, you can have concern, and that's not worry. Trying to draw that distinction. But here's what I would ask you. All right, here's what I would ask you before we even get started. Now again, my approach to the Sermon on the Mount is historical, even though modern Christianity loathes my interpretation of it.

14:16 Mine is consistent with a orthodox, historical Biblical Christianity, even though it's been forgotten by modern Christianity. Matthew the Sermon on the Mount Matthew five to Matthew seven. The Sermon on the Mount is an It's a how would we say it, It's an explanation. It's an expansion of our understanding of the law of God. It is classified if we want to do it this way, it is classified as law. It is law, law, law, law law. Anytime you read any Biblical passage that says do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this, that is classified as law. Philologically, it is a law passage. What does a law do. It shows you your sin, and it shows your inability to keep it, and then it's to drive you to Christ. Because Christ is the fulfillment of the law. He obeyed it perfectly, and his passive and active obedience is imputed accredited to my account by faith.

15:14 It doesn't make me now able to keep the law. It declares that I have kept the law positionally, practically I have not. So when I come to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is going to be expanding. He's going to be explaining the law. That means, as I read this, I'm going to be condemned by it over and over and over and over and over again. So I need you to be brutally honest with yourself when we read. Therefore, I say unto you, take no thought for your life. Take no thought for your life 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 than raiment. Behold the fouls of the air, for they so not neither do they read, nor gather into barns. Yeah, your heavenly Father, feet at them. Are you not much better than they?

16:17 Take no thought? Don't worry about it. Don't have any anxiety about it. Now. We always try to find a way and say, well, you can be concerned about We try to follow this distinction. Right. But is it possible that the standard which Jesus is putting forth there is supposed to be, not one that we take and say, okay, well that doesn't really make sense. That doesn't really make sense. Let me explain this in a way that is achievable. Maybe the point is he's putting forth a standard where we're gonna be like, I am never going to pull this off. And that's the whole point. Why take you thought for raiment? So you know, take no thought for your life, Take no thought about food, take no thought about clothing, take no thought about sho don't worry about any of that stuff. Don't worry about any of that stuff. It's funny how Christians preach this, but then when it comes to election time, Oh, we've got to vote for someone who's gonna do this for the economy or do it? Wait, I thought, why take no thought for it, don't be worried about it, don't be concerned about it. God's going to provide, right, you don't need to be worried about it. So but then we say, well, I'm not worried about it. I'm just concerned about it. And concern is different than worry because worry is this and that we try to draw this distinction because we got to convince ourselves that somehow we are fulfilling it. And then we have a passage like this. Therefore, take no thought saying what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or weather? While with where withal shall we be clothed? For all these things do the gentile seek?

17:49 For? Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things. God knows everything you need. You don't need to worry about it. You don't even need to ask hey, saying what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or where with all shall we be clothed? You don't need to even need to worry about your daily necessities because God's gonna provide all of them. Right, seek ye first the Kingdom of God? Do you come on, Let's be honest. Are we not worried and concern about a million things pertained to our physical material existence? Money, food, shelter, employment, cars, you name it? Yes? Are we not concerned and worried about so many things? Do we truly seek first the Kingdom of God? Now? I think we love to to we love to preach this, but then we like to to minimize this so that it's somehow achievable. But if it's truly law. It's not achievable what we are supposed to look at and go I can't. I never will be holy as He is holy. That's not like, oh I can't, No, you can't. You'll be holy as God is so. Be ye perfect, Tess, your heavenly Father is perfect.

19:03 You can't. You can't love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul. You never will love your neighbors yourself. You never will. I mean, I can go on do all things without complaining and grumbling to scripture after scripture after scripture, command after command after command. Don't do this, do this, don't do this, don't do this, do this, love your enemy, turn the other cheek. I think maybe when it comes to this passage, it's almost always preached and they try to give you a four step five step program, a five step method so that you'll stop, and it'll typically typically go something like this, pray more, read your Bible, more, memorize scripture, more, go to church, more, join a small group. Okay, pray more, read your Bible. More, go to a small group, join a church. It's always the same steps, over and over and over and over and over, and it's always implied that this will help you overcome yet have you been around Christians. I've been around Christians and in churches since I was a teenager.

19:59 And you know what I I seen. I've seen people worry and anxiety and marriages fall apart and this problem. Church is split. This happens, This happens, This happens, worry, anxiety, concerned. Both church is worried and concerned about money. How are we going to earn? Come up with money? Coming up? Ways to raise money? This come on? The church is filled with it, just like every other segment of life is. You can't deny that. They said, well, we worry differently. Okay, let's see. Let's see where they go. One article, as I was doing some research on this, said, prioritize your mental health. You deserve to be happy. That's not a biblical philosophy, by the way. I think, if you serve God, you're going to have happiness. But God doesn't necessarily promise us that we're going to be happy all the time. Right. The chances are in this room there are people that struggle with worry and anxiety.

21:02 Lee, are you telling me at a Bible college there's people there who worry with who struggle with worry and anxiety. You know you could preach this sermon in every church, and you know that there's people in the sitting in the pew who struggle with worry and anxiety. I wonder why, I wonder why. I wonder why you can preach on any sin in the Bible and they struggle. I wonder why. Oh I know why. Because nobody can keep the law perfectly and we all fall short. You ever think that's the reason you can always preach these sermons. But is the answer going to be Christ or is the answer going to be try harder, strive harder, do this, do that.

21:46 Let's see. Let's see some of. You to a crippling point. Some of you struggle with it. Some some of you struggle with and you don't know you struggle with it because it comes in different forms. So I want to try to help you this one. And as we work through some things, and I want to see this simple thought, we must understand that worry or anxiety reveals a heart that is seeking something other than God. Okay, so basically he put everyone in a category where somebody is worrying. You may be worrying and not knowing that you're worrying. You may worry not no admit it. You may be worrying. It may cripple you. Everyone's been placed in a category where worry. So worry, though, reveals that you're seeking something other than God. If you have worry, it's because you're seeking something other than God. That's a very assertive and dogmatic assertion. That's very dogmatic assertion. If you worry, it's because you're seeking something other than God.

22:51 Now that sounds good, That preaches good. Are we sure about that? Are we sure about that? See many preachers argue, I'm not saying they do, but I'm saying many that worry itself is a sin. If you worry at all, it's a sin. And it would make sense because Jesus says, do not be anxious, take no thought Matthew six twenty five, Matthew six thirty one, Our Matthew six twenty five, six point thirty one, and six thirty four. So the logic would follow something like this. If Jesus commands something and we do the opposite, we are in sin. However, the problem is that there is a problem here is because it assumes that worry, ending and anxiety are entirely volitional.

23:52 Is worry and anxiety totally volitional? Means you choose. You either choose worry anxiety, or you choose the opposite. Is that always the case that it's volitional, because some would argue, and I think there would be evidence to support this, that anxiety often has a physiological and a psychological dimension beyond mere disobedience. And if it has a physiological and a psychological component, then you can't say it simply there.

24:34 Because your heart, your heart is seeking something other than God, it may require a little bit more nuance. Now I know many are gonna hate that and go no, no, no, no, no, because I don't want to even consider a physiological or psychological possibly. No, no, it's not that way. It's not that way, And I think in many cases that does great damage to people. Don't worry. Don't you choose worry? You choose anxiety, because if your heart was truly seeking God above anything else, you wouldn't have it. That's the implication. Why does worry exists. Worry reveals a heart that is seeking something else other than God. So if you would just seek God, you wouldn't have any worry or anxiety.

25:16 So if you have worry in anxiety. Not only do you have to feel bad that you have worry in anxiety, now you have to feel bad that you're seeking something other than God. And that just compounds guilt. Guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt. So forget the worry in anxiety. Now you're filled with worry in anxiety about the fact that you keep sitting and so oh now it just see. Yeah, sometimes Christianity can almost be mental torture. But let's see if they acknowledge any of this and how they handle it. I'm seeing when I said many preachers, I'm not referring to them. Many preachers approach this. Let's see how they approach it. That's really what it's about. So let us just start off here number one, with the complexities of worry or anxiety.

25:56 We'll use those interchangeably. I think. First off, we need to see that worry or anxiety is a problem of the mind. It's a problem of the inner man. If you will, most sin is remember that these words are interchangeable as we work through this to worry or anxiety is defined as a state of intense apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation like a test, often to a degree that normal physical and psychological function is disrupted. Proverbs twelve and verse twenty five says, heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, But a good word maketh it glad. Heaviness there is anxiety or anxious care stupe literally means to depress it. But a good word, a pleasant, a desirable, a kind of friendly word gladdens the heart. God understands that anxiety will come, but he offers a solution. And we're going to see this later in the message.

27:01 Okay, so God knows anxiety is going to come, but he offers a solution. I'm going to be curious to know what solution they point us to. Also, I'd like to indicate if worry in anxiety arises from the inner man. Let's make sure we understand this. What is inside of us a corrupt did sinful nature. So if worry and anxiety is sin and we have a sinful nature, then the issue arises. We have a sinful nature. And guess what that means. We're going to worry, have worrying. If worrying anxiety is the product of the sinful nature. Because it's a product of the inner man, and the inner man is corrupt, then worrying anxiety is going to occur. And guess what, that's it's going to happen. It's just good if it happened. Unless you get rid of the uh if, unless you get rid of the sinful nature, worrying anxiety is going to be there. It's this is the thing. Modern Christianity constantly does this. If the problem is our internal pravity, which we have at conception, through our entire life, we are born to prave, we have a sinful nature. We have it even after salvation. We have a corrupted nature. We have a sinful nature. Christianity loves to try to point out everything our problems are all external. No, the problem is internal. We are corrupted on the inside. Because we're corrupted on the inside. Your life, my life will constantly produce sin, constantly, sin will manifest itself because we can and it's going to demonstrate that

28:33 we never can keep the law. And we're in a perpetual state of disobedience. How do we know in a perpetual state of disobedience? Because the standard is be holy as God is holy. You've never been that, you never will be that. You've not been that for one second of one minute, of one hour of one day ever, nor will you ever be. So you're in a perpetual status sin. So can I overcome if I if it's a product of the corrupted man? If it is, can I overcome my sinful nature? You can't overcome your sinful nature. I can't overcome my sinful nature. Then how do we overcome sin? We overcome sin by putting our faith in Christ, because His perfect righteous and obedience is imputed in my account.

29:13 And then I'm declared to be perfect and righteous even though I am not. Then I will sin, sin continue to send my entire life until glorification. When then I am this sinful flesh is glor glorified, and the sinful nature is gone. But that's not the way it's typically handled. Let's see where they go. I believe that all of you, in some form or another, will deal with worry and anxiety. That may not be your natural propensity, but I think you're going to go to it eventually. And God's been teaching me some things about this over the last years. Mine shows up a lot of times in the fact that I want to be in control, and so I'm anxious about an event that I can't exactly control. One time, we had a deadline and the more we went on the trip and the traffic, and I got a little more anxious about it, and the Holy Spirit just said, are you in control of this trip?

30:11 Oh? No? Okay, Well he's acknowledging basically everyone's gonna deal with it. So already we already know that not everyone's going to be perfect. So but now we have God speaking to people directly outside of scripture. So now the Holy Spirit, So the Holy Spirit. So okay, I don't understand. I don't understand this. It's so weird because a good portion of my Christian life, when I hear people say God spoke to me, God told me, God spoke to me, I would always say, Okay, that's the charismatic movement, right, that's the charismatic movement. They believe in continued revelation outside of scripture, that don't believe in soul the scripture, that don't believe in scripture alone, even though they try to claim they don't. If God is speaking outside of the Bible, then the Bible's not the final authority. And if God spoke to you directly, is that are you in control of this trip? If you were writing that out in a story, then guess what would be in quotes are you in control of this trip? And it would be a quote directly from God, meaning you have been given the direct words of God, which you need to then put in your Bible because you have the inerrant inspired word of God that was spoken directly to you. So then the Bible is not the final authority. And if God is going to say are you are you in control of this trip? If He's going to speak directly asking you a direct question, then I wish God would speak directly and then solve all of our doctrinal problems and all of our theological problems, so Christianity would not

31:41 be a divided mess where nobody can agree on anything. We can't agree on repentance, can't agree on baptism, cantagrae on the Lord's Supper. Oh, my goodness, gracious, it's God always speaks directly, but he never speaks directly to fix the problems that are clearly present around us. And if God can speak directly and go well, well, Wait a minute, Wait a minut are you in control of this trip? Couldn't God then speak directly to all of us anytime we're getting ready to send and say, what are you doing? Stop doing it? Oh? Okay? And because God is speaking directly to you, I think that would probably do a pretty good job of getting your attention. So now God speaks directly to us outside of the Bible, and he speaks so directly you can directly quote him.

32:28 Like nope, I'm not guess who is God is? And he can clear the traffic or he can do whatever he wants to do. And so really the point was I wanted to be in control. As is well known today in the fields of medicine and psychology, anxiety can weigh a man down, literally calls a man to bow down, or depress him. An emphatic kind of word. However, can give an anxious or depressed person support and can cheer him up. Now, I'm not going to get into the clinical aspects of depression. That's not what I'm talking about today, but I can tell you that when you're anxious or worry, it leads to other things. Matthew six, particularly as he deals with this idea of take no thought. In other words, don't worry, don't be anxious, And he uses that over and over and over again in our passage. If you look at Matthew six in the context, suggests that we've made too much of this world. This world has become what's important to us when we begin to worry or be anxious. We don't often quote Freud from this pulpit because we blatantly disagree with him. Right, doctor love in lots of ways. But I thought this was an interesting statement by him and his introduction lectures on psychoanalysis, he says this, and I quote, there is no question that the problem of anxiety is a riddle whose solutions would be bound to throw a flood of light on our whole mental existence. Powerful statement coming from a man believing

34:02 what he believed. Another author says, take worry, for example, it's typical described as overthinking something, feeling uneasy, or as being concerned. Think about that devoted mother with her constant late night watches at the window until her child arrives home, or the concerned husband fearing a potential job loss. Who of us haven't dealt with some kind of similar feelings problems arise. When worries some thoughts become all consuming and therefore call sinful responses. So it's important that we think first off that this is a mind problem. It's how we're thinking, and we've got to align our thinking about God's words. So what are we So?

34:44 What we would really need to determine here is when does worry become a sin? Can you worry and not sin? Or does it only become a sin when the worry leads to sinful thoughts or sinful actions? But it says but some would say worry is a sin because Jesus commands you not to do it. So the minute you worry, you've committed a sin. Now, I think if we maintain that standard, which is what the law, the law always has a standard that we cannot achieve, then this will demonstrate we're constantly in sin. In fact, as I think, if we consider it this way, the claim that we can simply choose to obey and not worry or be anxious not only does it, it seems to completely contradict reality.

35:29 If Christians can truly stop worrying simply by choosing to do so, why do then even most faithful believers struggle with it and everyone does right, But scripture acknowledges that human weakness persist. If worry is a sin, then every single Christian continually sins in this way, making any teaching that would even hint at not being able to do it and obeying it or being obedient would be completely fraudulent. So if we if we worry is sin, If just to worry a sin, everyone does it to some level where all then are in perpetual state of sin. Therefore, then that would be this is law, And then we need Christ because Christ then is the one who did this perfectly right. He obeyed it perfectly. So either you've got to change this so that we'll worry is not a sin, it's what you do with it, or well, no, Jesus says, don't worry, so then this is what. Well, then you have to go back to a law interpretation.

36:30 Let's see which way they go. On. What are we concentrating? But number two, worry is sin. God makes it very clear verse thirty four of our text. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow. God says you're not to do this. We can go to Philippians chapter four, turn with me there, because this is an excellent verse. Okay, well there you have it. You worry, U sin. So if you worry, you're in sin. Okay, well, at least that's maintaining the right standard. So then what's now, What is the solution going to be? Is the solution going to be? Hey, worry us in and we we can all avoid it. We can all we can, we can all reach a point where we don't do it.

37:17 I will argue we're never going to get there. And all this is going to do is lead to this performance legalistic. Oh I'm gonna try harder. I'm gonna try harder. I'm gonna try harder. You better look for something else for hope. You better look for something else for peace. You better look for something else for a solution. And the solution is Christ keeps the law for you. It's only in Christ who fulfills all righteousness. He fulfills the law for you. It's if this is law, then the only solution is gospel. And the gospel doesn't tell you what to do. The Gospel shows you what Christ has done for you. So I think the way this passage, this passage is almost always preached this way. Hey, this is worry. And then gives all kinds quotes about worry and then shows you that we all worry, and then shows us that this is sin, and then we'll find out what the solution is going to be. Now I'm most likely this. Solutions always become do this, do this, do this, do this, do this? Hey, do you don't want to worry? Well, then you care more about the Kingdom of God than you care about anything else. If you can make yourself seek first the Kingdom of God, then you won't worry. Well if then that just gives you something else to do. So the solution always is in works. The solution is always in what we do, instead of finding the solution in Christ.

38:35 Of Scripture as well Philippians chapter number four. You're familiar with this for sure, But what does he say in verses six and seven? There be careful, don't be apprehensive, don't have anxiety, don't be anxious, don't be unduly concerned, be careful for nothing. That's pretty all inclusive, isn't it? Would that include a school bill? Would it include a trip that you're going to take? Would it includes your future after graduation? Would it include fill in the blanket?

39:16 Really includes everything? But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. See, worry is a robber of peace. We don't have peace when we're worrying, when we're anxious, we're commanded not to do so. Paul exhorted the Philippians to pray instead of anxiety. Praying with thanksgiving involves trusting God. I'm going to take this to God and let him ultimately decide. Take no thought. Is this same idea? Don't be worrying, don't be anxious about that. We're going to come back later to this idea of peace, Lord willing. So do we excuse our sin? Well, I'm just worrying a lo God says, don't do it.

40:03 Number three. Worry is rooted in unbelief or belief in the wrong thing, as are mini sins again Matthew six and verse thirty. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast in the oven, shall he not much more clothe you are, your little faith? What's this really about? Well, it's rooted to unbelief. I don't believe that God is going to provide what I need. Well, you don't believe what God said, then it's a matter of okay, well I don't believe this, or I believe in something wrong, which is well, I believe if God loved me, he would do but that's not necessarily true either. The fact is, sometimes God treats one person this way and another person this way. Sometimes somebody's head gets cut off and another one gets released from prison. Can we always understand all those things? No?

41:09 Now, I do love the fact that he's acknowledging this. Hey, we're supposed to trust in God. We're supposed to believe in God, and that's supposed to take care of our worry and anxiety. But be but read the small print. You can trust in God. It doesn't mean he's getting you out of prison, doesn't mean you're not going to get your head cut off, doesn't mean he's going to help you, doesn't mean he's going to do anything. But hey, but you trust in God, so don't worry, don't have any anxiety because God's in control. But God may not get you out of prison, and you may get your head chopped off, but don't worry. But don't worry. How do. That's your leg? Okay, I'm really worried about this. Well, just trust God. God's going to take care of it.

41:52 Oh what does that mean? Well, I don't really know, because you may get your head chopped off and you he may not even come visit you while you're in prison, and you just may die. Now, he may show up somewhere else and raise another person from the dead, but he may just leave you to rot. So God, So you're telling me to trust God, but I can't be certain that God's going to actually help in my situation. No, I can't promise you that. But don't worry. Don't have any anxiety, because that's it. But not to have any worried anxiety means I trust God? Right, trust God? But what am I trusting God for? Well, I don't really know because I can't guarantee you that. God I don't like if you think about that logically, I don't know how that is supposed to take care of all of your worried anxiety.

42:42 That's up to God. But you know what, it's great to let God be God because we make a poor God. That's what it really roots to. Jesus uses this phrase when the disciples doubt God's ability to take care of them. God can take care of you. So what do we really believed? Number four, When we worry we desire something in the place of God, give verse thirty two. For after all these things, do the gentile seek for? Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things? If God knows that you need them, is he going to provide them? Yes? He is. So if he's not providing them, guess what that means, we don't need them?

43:28 WHOA Okay? God? So if you need something, God's going to provide it. But if God doesn't provide it, then you don't need it. So if you're in prison, you're about to get your head chopped off, and God doesn't provide you release, well you don't need release. If your mother is laying in the hospital dying and you're a teenager and you've been separated from your mother because of abuse and the home, and you've been and you've been pulled out of that home, and now you're pleading with God to give you one possible chance to talk to her before you die, and instead of healing her or even giving her the ability to regain any consciousness so that you could talk to her. You don't really need that, So God's not going to provide it. So you die. If your father has cancer and you've spent a life of problems with your father and all the things that happened as a result of the death of your mother, and you pray that God would heal him from cancer, and well, you don't need that.

44:21 And I'm talking about real life experiences for me. If you are living in an abusive home and you're getting beat and you're getting beat and you're getting beat and you're getting abused, and you're getting abused, and you plead with God to stop it, and God doesn't do it, it's because you don't need it. If you're a young person being molested and you cry out to God for God to do because you have a need to stop the abuse, but God doesn't provide it, well you don't need it. Is that the way we're going to handle that. God will give you what you need and if you don't, if he doesn't, it's because you don't need it. See, when you we as Christians, we say lots of things.

45:16 Sometimes I don't think we take things to a logical conclusion in any way, shape or form. Now, now what we typically it'll be younger Christian typically mentor well that's right, God is sovereign. If he doesn't want you to have it, you don't have to have it. And they'll talk a big game, you know, they'll they'll puff out their chest and all, yeah, sovereignty of God and talk all such a big game. Yeah, talk a big game until I don't know's you it's your eight year old daughter lying in the hospital dying, and then you know, well, hey, if it doesn't heal your child, you don't really need it. Oh I neither did your child. A child didn't need to be healed. But anyway, see, it's a big game to talk until we turn on the news and people are suffering or dying in Ukraine, or they're suffering and dying Gaza, or children were slaughtered in a school shooting, or people are dying of this disease or suffering from this disease, or go visit a children's hospital, or children are suffering from terminal diseases. Hey, God knows your need and if he and he'll will provide your need. But if he doesn't provide. It's because you don't need it.

46:32 When we say things, we gotta understand how that can be heard, right, that can be heard in a lot of messed up ways. And you're like, well, I think I do. Well, that's because you're putting your place, yourself in the place of God. I remember one time years ago, college bills and all that kind of stuff, and I was down to about a half a tank of gas in the car and we had no money, and I was like, Lord, I need gas because I got to do this and I got to do that. And the Holy Spirit said, well, how much guess you have in your car? And I'm like, well, I have a a tank. He said that you don't need it yet. Oh. God just speaks directly to him, just speaks directly to him about God just speaks directly to him about how much gas he has in his gas tank. God just speaks directly. That must be awesome. Man, God just speaks directly to you. That's got to be great. I wish you would speak directly to if he speaks directly to you, I mean, I wish you he would just go ahead and help you write a commentary, and then it could just be an infallible magisterial authority commentary. It could be like God speaks directly to me, not only about how much gas is in my car, okay, but he speaks directly to me. I don't know about baptism, Lord's Supper, salvation, repentance, ecclesiology, eschatology, on and on and on and on, and I haven't all written down. I mean, if God is talking to me,

48:03 it sounds like God just talks to him directly, and numerous times. This is the second story where God speaks directly to him, direct words that he is quoting verbatim. And I'm like, Lord, I don't like to live on the last minute. I'd like to have it. Now. He didn't give it to me. Now why because I didn't need it. Now, obviously I didn't run out of gas, right. So if I ever run out of gas, it's because I didn't need it. So you didn't run out of gas, so obviously you didn't need it. But if you would have ran out of gas, because I've ran out of gas before, have you ever ran out of gas before?

48:58 I can remember a night coming home. Well, I won't go into horrible stories of my past Okay, all right, let's just keep going. So what little God are we seeking? We've got to be careful. It's a place of God. Number five. Worry can be life dominating. In other words, for some of you, worry is your idol. It's what you go to. Proverbs twelve and verse twenty five. We're gonna do a little bit of turning this morning Proverbs twelve and verse twenty five. We've already read this a little bit. But heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, But a good word maketh it glad. So worry can be life dominating.

49:47 It can lead to depression. One person says, with depression, I sometimes find myself sinking too quickly sink set my hope in God. Other times I'm too distracted by whatever I'm depressed about to even set my hope in God. In other words, I'm so spinning out of control that I'm not thinking about my God. He continues. One author has said that anxiety steals mental real estate and emotional energy, and I agree, worry can't affect you physically. Now, we're not going to get anywhere close to the end of this, and maybe we will return to this because this has brought up some serious questions. Right, this is brought up some serious questions, and it connects back to the earlier question that we started with, what is the evidence of God's presence in your life? Some people believe the evidence of God's presence here in your life is peace, joy, meaning the absence of worry and anxiety.

50:40 So if God is present, you won't have worry in anxiety. This says, if you have worry in anxiety, you've sinned. And but you're supposed to trust God because God will give you whatever you need, but you may not get what you need because God decides you don't need it. So that means you can't really trust that God's going to give you what you need because God may say you don't need it, so you may not actually get it. So it means you never really know if God's gonna do what you need to do because you don't get to So what you have to just do is whatever happens to you. Well, this is what God wants to happen to me. He wants me to be beaten, he wants me to be abused, he wants me to suffer. He doesn't want me to have this. He doesn't want He doesn't want my family member to be healed. He doesn't want this. He wants me to die. Okay, I mean, I don't know how this just just just creates this actually creates an environment where I think you may worry or he have anxiety. More So, I again believe that the whole problem here begins first and foremost by mishandling.

51:37 This text Matthew six twenty five through thirty four is law. It's saying, don't do this, don't do this, do this, that's law. Law shows me my sin, shows my inability, drives me to Christ, and in Christ he obeys it. So in Christ, in my position, I don't worry. Therefore I obey the law. Practically, I'm still going to worry and struggle. But if we approach it that way, if we understand the Sermon on the Mount as law that is designed to reveal our sin and drive us to Christ, then the passage on worrying anxiety in Matthew six would take on a completely different meaning than what is typically presented in sermon after sermon after sermon, and in the sermon that we're currently listening to. Instead of simply being a command to stop worrying, as if we could perfectly obey it. The passage would serve as yet another example of our inability to live up to God's perfect standard.

52:38 This this would if we go with the law based approach. This is how it would change our entire interpretation. Right Number one, it would reveal our sinfulness. If Jesus words about worrying, anxiety, or law, then rather than merely instruction on how to live, then they expose how far short we fall. The reality is is that even the most faith full Christian experiences worry. If the standard is to never be anxious, to never worry, then who can claim obedience? This should lead us to conviction, not a self help approach where we try to do better. It should drive us to Christ. The proper response is not to know gret our teeth and force ourselves to stop worrying, but to recognize that we need Christ's righteousness. Just as the commands against anger and lust reveal our inner corruption, so too does this command. It exposes our lack of trust in God. It should humble us and make us cry out for the righteousness that only comes by faith. So number one, it should reveal your sinfulness. You should not water down the command. You should accept the how how strong this command is, how perfect it is, and how far you're going to fall short. It should drive you to Christ. Number three, what does SHO do is you should see Christ as the fulfillment. If the Sermon on the Mount is law, then Christ is the only one who has perfectly ever fulfilled it. He is the one

54:10 who fully trusted the Father even in the face of suffering. When he tells us not to worry, it is not just a command. It is an invitation to rest in his finished work, knowing that He has already accomplished what you never can nor you ever will. So then we need a gospel centered approach to anxiety instead of saying stop worrying because it's a sin. You just need to obey. You just need to read your Bible more, you need to pray more, you need to do this, hey, seek the Kingdom of God first, instead of just saying stop, stop, do this, don't do this, don't do this. What you need is a gospel centered approach, and it would go something like this, worry reveals my lack of trust in God.

54:58 This is a failure to meet Godd's perfect standard. But what that is precisely why we need Christ. So through him I am forgiven, and through him I can grow in trusting the Father more so a gospel centered approaches. Yes, worry reveals my lack of trust in God. Yes, worry reveals I may be seeking other things more than the Kingdom of God. Yes, it shows all of it. It shows my sinfulness. Yes, and I don't water down the standard. I fully admit this is a failure to meet God's perfect standard. And then I can acknowledge this is why I need Christ. And then I go to Christ. And it's through him that he is forgiven. His perfection is imputed to my account, and it's in him. Hopefully then there can be growth and trying to learn to trust a little bit. More so, if we understand the Sermon on the Mount as a law, this radically shifts our focus instead of turning to Matthew six into a burdensome come man that we must obey to prove our faithfulness.

56:02 We see it then as another example of why we need Christ. This doesn't mean we embrace worry, but it means our response isn't legalistic self effort. It's repentance. It is faith and it is resting in the righteousness of Christ. Now I can say more, but you get the idea. You see the direction this is going. That we'll listen to just a little bit more. But I think we've already. Now I'm trying to give you a completely radically different approach. You've got to learn to see any passage that says, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do this, it is law. And what it's going to constantly show you is I'm never gonna do this clause I've never. I'm never. I'm gonna. I'm never, And that's the point. You are never, but Christ has Let's listen to just a little bit more.

57:00 The Bible says that the Holy Spirit owns our body for strength in six nineteen twenty. So therefore we should honor it, and I can give myself over to wickedness. First Romans, chapter six and verse nineteen says, yield you your members, and if I am anxious, if I'm worried that I'm yielding them to something that is unrighteous. Another author, and I'm gonna quote quite a bit of wrong, stop to tell you every time, but suffering from anxiety can feel incapacitating. The emotions of fear and panic are so real, so strong, and seemingly so impossible to resolve. Is it possible to worry yourself sick? According to the Mayo Clinic, it is. Your body has a hard wired self defense system, commonly known as the flight or fight response. The response is supposed to kick in when you encounter an immediate physical threat and turn off when the threat passes. However, your body can get stuck in that mode because of stress.

57:56 It's like running your engine at seven thousand RPMs. You can do that to pass somebody, but you do that all day long, your engine will not last. It's not gonna happen. So is worry and impacting your health. Worry, stress, and fear are closely related, and we don't have time to even delve into the fear aspect, but there most of the time fear is coming into this process of worry and stress. Another truth that we can see is we can add sin to sin when we deal with worry sinfully, like we can be controlling or manipulative when we think that we're in control. We cannot trust God. Right.

58:41 The horse is prepared against the day of battle. But ultimately, safety is who it's of the Lord. Listen, I'm not saying that I don't lock my doors at night, but ultimately, if someone wants in my house, they're gonna get in my house. You can have every alarm system you want and every camera you want. If they want in, they can get in. I trust the Lord with that. We can do it by misusing drugs, alcohol, shopping something else to medicate the problem. We can do it by not fulfilling responsibilities that others expected us to do. So is our worry causing us to sin in other areas? It almost always does. So again, we can plan, but we must trust again Matthew six and verse thirty four. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow. For tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day. Is the evil thereof we so much think about what might happen tomorrow. We can plan. You should plan. You should not wait till today to do a project that's due tomorrow.

59:51 You shouldn't do that. Okay, So it's not wrong to plan. But ultimately we trust God because the truth is, there is not one person in this room that actually knows what's going to happen in the next five minutes. We don't know, and there's not a single person in this room can control it either. That is totally up to God. All Right, I guess we will stop there because we're at sixty minutes. So basically what we've been given is worries a sin. Don't do it. Trust God because he knows what you need and he'll give you what you need, well unless he doesn't think you need it. So you can't really trust that God will give you what you need.

1:00:39 And if you don't get it, it's because you don't need it, no matter how horrible bad the situation is. So you can't really trust that God will provide. I guess you can trust that God will provide if you need it, but God is the one who determines if you need it, not you. And because we can look through life and see people not being given this or this or this or this or this or this or this, God didn't feel like that you needed it, So then can you really trust. Hey, God knows what I need, so I can trust God. But I but I mean, I get what I need, so I don't know if I can really trust God. If God's going to do something or not do something, I have no way of knowing, because they made it very clear that God doesn't always do these things. So hey, don't worry. Trust God. But I mean, you can't really trust God that God's going to do it this way this way or this way this way. God may not do anything, as he gave the illustration. For some you may lose your head. Others God may release from prison. But hey, trust God, but you still may get your head chopped off and have not released out of prison.

1:01:42 Like, I. Don't know exactly what that means. That that's basically is, Hey, trust that the situation is gonna work out. It may not work out, but I mean trust that it will. I mean, but I mean, don't worry about it. But I mean I can't say that it's gonna work out. I mean, who knows. See, if we go from a law gospel, then it's more like, yem, this is a high standard. I'm never gonna pull this off. I'm never gonna pull this off. All right, who has ever obeyed these words? Jesus Christ? He was able to express his will, but he's like, Lord, not my will, Your will be done into your hands. I commend my spirit. He trusted the Father completely implicitly. Okay, I won't. But when I put my faith in him, his obedience to not worrying and not having anxiety is imputed to my account. So then what do I do? I know I'm not supposed to worry. It reveals my heart of unbelief. It reveals my lack of faith, It reveals my sinful nature, It reveals my selfishness. It reveals me seeking first things other than the kingdom of God. Okay, I can acknowledge that I'm a sinner. I turned to Christ. Christ obey all of this. I put my faith in him. Then this is mine by an imputed righteousness. And then hopefully in practice I can learn some concepts about trying to trust.

1:03:13 Now I can trust that my sins have been forgiven. I can trust that christ obedience has been imputed in my account. That's guaranteed. But then I have to deal with the reality that in this life we don't know anything. Right. He says that, hey, if you need it, God will give it to you. But then, but if it doesn't, he had already gave himself a way out, Well, then you just don't need it. And then the best illustration he'd come up with is, I my gas tank was at half a tank. And then Jesus God, the Holy Spirit just starts talking directly to him. And the reason the Holy Spirit did not let him get gas or get money for gasoline is because he didn't need it, and how he and well, because he didn't run out of gas. But that does and explain. So wait a minute, So if I don't need it, then the situation is always going to be positive, right, not that, because there's situations that go bad. So does that mean I didn't need it? Like I just the whole thing. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with any of this.

1:04:18 So we need a new way of interpreting these passages. And that's why I keep constantly harping on the law gospel distinction. So I don't know. I want, Well, we'll have to listen. I will have to listen to the end of this and see what the solution is and then maybe we can do some breakdown of the solution. But I mean the solution. I have a feeling it's going to be, like, what's the solution? Seek first the Kingdom of God? How do you seek first the Kingdom of God, You pray, you read your Bible, you go to church, you join a small group. I mean, it's it's the same standard approach to every problem. All right, we'll stop there. Thanks for listening. Hope this a little impromptu, was somewhat helpful. But because tomorrow things are not going as planned, then this is already done and it'll be waiting for everyone in the morning, except for those who already listen tonight, and then tomorrow we'll see what else we can do. All right, Thanks for listening everyone, of a great night.

1:05:24 And. Well, trust what that Christ has obeyed these commands for you and in him, that obedience is imputed to your account. All right, God bless