And with me now, if you would, to Matthew chapter six, as we read from God's word together this evening. And we're going to begin our reading with Matthew chapter six, verse 19, and we'll read through to the end of the chapter. This is God's word, receive it with a believing heart. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye 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. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, Shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye 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. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Thus far God's word, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. I remind us again that our text for this afternoon is Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 34. And our theme for this afternoon is exposing anxiety. I do not think it will come as a surprise to any of you to hear me say that anxiety has become an epidemic. It's become epidemic in our nation. It's become epidemic in the West at large, if I may put it that way. Anxiety, of course, is not something that is new. It is something that we find reflected in God's word. We find it reflected in the Old and New Testaments. We see that the psalmists actually often prayed through something that sounds a lot like what we experience as we experience anxiety. But why has anxiety grown to such epic proportions? Why are we as a nation struggling, we as a people struggling in the way that we are? And does the Word of God have anything to say to that? Of course, there is a line of thinking that would explain the vast majority of anxiety as a body-based problem. some kind of a physiological malady, and yet the rapid increase of anxiety would seem to testify against that. It would seem to testify to the fact that this has more to do with our environment. It has more to do with our thinking and the way in which the world continues to affect us. And I believe that this is very helpfully explained for us and opened up for us in this passage that we've read from Matthew chapter six. And so again, our theme for this evening is exposing anxiety. And the idea at the very heart of this passage is that we will experience relief from anxiety as we seek the kingdom of God with our whole heart. And so we're going to consider anxiety's root, which is described for us particularly in verses 19 through 24. Anxiety's revelation, very closely related to its root. And we'll point out a couple of different places in our passage where this comes to expression. And then thirdly, and finally, anxiety's remedy, anxiety's remedy. We'll consider first of all, anxiety's root. If you look with me at verses 19 through 24, Jesus really lays out three different ideas. Now, notice that in the King James Bible that there is a paragraph symbol at verse 19. Then there is a paragraph symbol again at verse 24, which would seem to indicate that we're switching subjects. However, when we come to verse 25, we have the word, therefore. And of course, I'm sure that you're well trained in the idea that when you see the word, therefore, you have to ask, what is it therefore? right, therefore implies something that has come before. And so we may not be understanding everything that Jesus says to us in this familiar passage because we're drawing an artificial distinction between verses 19 through 24 and what follows. Because it doesn't immediately seem obvious to us what the connection is. But we're going to see that, I think, very clearly here in a moment. And so there, again, are three ideas related to, you might even call them three truisms, three things that are universally true of the human experience. of our reality, and these things, as we're going to see, they have something to do with anxiety. Notice that the first of these three things, which Jesus says are true, is that your heart is focused upon what you treasure. your heart is focused upon what you treasure. Verse 19, he says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now notice how this connects to verse 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. You see, Jesus, all the way from verse 19 to verse 34, his call is the same, and his call is a shift in focus. His call is a shift in the allegiance of the heart. And he's saying the reason that this is so vitally important for you and I is because our heart is focused upon what we treasure. That is, to put it in reverse, what we treasure, what we value, what we spend our time and our effort in reveals something about the state of our heart, right? Your heart is focused upon what you treasure. Second truth that he reveals here is that your desires impact your spiritual health. Actually, we could just take the word spiritual out of there and we could say Jesus is teaching your desires impact your health. Look at this from verse 22 and 23. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Can I be honest with you? I read this verse so many times as a kid and I thought, what on earth does that mean? It's referring to a view of the human body that was well understood and even widely believed at that point in time, having to do with the eye as a light of the body that does not connect with us really at all where we're at. And so I believe that we'll be better served if we look at the illustration being used here as the eye is the window of the body. The eye is the window of the body. Think about it this way, ladies. Right around February, March, you begin to get in kind of a spring cleaning state of mind. And you're noticing that as the spring light is coming and you want all of it to come into your house, you're noticing that your windows are not so clean. that for six months or perhaps even a year, depending on how often you do this window cleaning, that grime has been gathering on your windows, and as the light shines upon it, all that grime is revealed. Well, now imagine a house that never has clean windows, and the windows are covered over with soot, and the house is entirely dark, as if somebody pulled the shades down. That's the imagery being used here. Now the eye is related to the desires, right? And we can relate to that connection, right? Often desire is associated with what we see. We desire something that we see. And so what he's saying is the light of the body, the window of the body is the desires. If, therefore, your eye is clean, Your window is, or if therefore your eyes, your desires are single, they're devoted, they're right, your whole body will be full of light, like that house with the sparkling clean windows is full of light. But if your eye, your desires be evil, your whole body is full of darkness, like those windows that are covered over with soot and grime. If, therefore, that which is intended to bring light to you is darkness, how great is that darkness? Again, your desires impact your health. Now we see that very obviously in terms of struggling with some kind of addiction to some kind of a substance, don't we? That the desire for that substance destroys us. And yet the truth of this statement goes far beyond that, right? Because that's true of everyone, not just somebody who's addicted to some kind of drug. that our desires apart from God, our desires that we hold on to, those things that we latch on to, they begin to control us and very often they make us sick. If not actually, literally, physically sick, they certainly make us heart sick. They make us spiritually sick. because your desires impact your spiritual health. Now that can be for positive, as we'll see in a little bit, or that can be negative. So again, we're looking at three roots of anxiety. First of all, our three root statements related to anxiety. Your heart is focused upon what you treasure. Your desires impact your spiritual health for good or for ill. And then thirdly, Verse 24, no one can successfully serve two masters. He says, no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Thinking of those of you who have two jobs or have had two jobs simultaneously at some point in the past, and isn't it true that you really struggle to give both jobs an equal amount of attention and devotion. Over the course of time, isn't it true that your mental energies, your physical energies, are going to be more devoted to the one than they are to the other? Or maybe another example that's more relevant is for those of you who are studying university, but you're also employed. Either your studies are going to get the best of your attention, or your labors are going to get the best of attention. Both are not going to be equally valued by you. It cannot be. And that is especially true, then, when you talk about two things that are actually opposed to each other, right? Two masters, if you will, that have entirely opposite wills and desires. You cannot serve both successfully. You will ultimately serve either the one or the other. You will reject either one or the other in service, in loyalty to the one. And the point here regarding anxiety's root is that what we love and serve has a powerful impact upon our lives. Really what we're talking about here is worship. Treasure, desires, service. This is what it is to have a God. This is what it is to worship. It is to treasure one thing or one person above all others. It is to desire one thing above all others, and it is to devote ourselves to service of that one thing to the detriment or the ignorance of other things. And so Jesus, in a threefold way, he's driving home this point that what we love and serve has a powerful impact upon our lives. And then notice again the therefore of verse 25, because this leads him directly into a sustained discussion of anxiety. And so what he's saying, the message really, is that at the root of anxiety is a matter of worship. And by the way, I don't say that to beat anybody here down. We are all prone to anxiety. Some of us are more prone to anxiety. I confess that I am in the latter group. I am somebody who is more prone to anxiety. And yet, we have to reckon with the fact that in almost every case, to one degree or another, there is a worship issue that is at the very root of our anxiety. So then that leads us to anxiety's revelation. You see, our anxiety, if we will give it the opportunity to speak, and if we will listen to what it says to us, it will reveal certain things about our heart. The problem is, very often when we feel anxious, those of you who know, you know, right? Feeling anxious is not a state of mind. Feeling anxious is a whole-bodied experience. The tightening of the chest, the heart racing, and the thoughts clouded, and yet the overwhelming feeling is a feeling of threat. It's a feeling of fear. It's a feeling of some kind of impending doom. Anxiety is not simply a state of mind. It's a whole-bodied experience, and it's a confusing experience very often, which leads us to run away from it and to try to medicate it rather than to interrogate it. And if I might encourage each one of us. May I encourage you, this is one of the ways in which, from a biblical perspective, we begin to address anxiety. We have to interrogate it. We have to put anxiety on the witness stand and begin to ask it some questions. We need to allow it the opportunity to speak and get beyond the vague sense of fear to name the fear. I feel like impending doom, but specifically what? I feel like something bad is about to happen, but specifically what or why? And Jesus gives us some things to think about in this regard in verses 25 through 32. And ultimately what he's saying is that what anxiety will reveal if we interrogate it, if we put it on the witness stand, is it will reveal heart sickness. It will reveal heart sickness. Consider, first of all, the fact that anxiety can reveal disordered desires. It can reveal disordered desires. He says, verse 25, 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 more than raiment? Do you hear what he's saying? It is true that very often our anxieties pertain to these kinds of things, right? Provision, clothing, appearance. We might add what people will think of us. We might add the future, generally speaking, for some of you, maybe related to your retirement. It may be related to a kind of lifestyle that you desire, some kind of good thing, maybe a vacation, or maybe a certain kind of job, or whatever it may be. But ultimately, anxiety very often reveals simply what it is that we desire, if we'll listen to it. And Jesus says, is not the life more than me and the body than Raymond. You see, what is he doing? He's lifting us from the purely horizontal earthly realm. And he's saying, spiritual people need to see the world for what it is. It's not our home. We are pilgrims and sojourners here. Need to see the world for what it is, deceptive very often. Need to see the world for what it is, a place that is characterized by many different temptations and that holds out various enticements. I think of John Bunyan's Vanity Fair here. and particularly we as Americans, perhaps we live in vanity fair maybe more than we yet understand. And he's saying that we need to lift, see the world for what it is, and then we need to also, for the Christian you see, he's saying that we actually have insight into ultimate reality. We have insight into the fact that this world is not our home. We have insight into the reality that there is a world to come, that there is a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness shall dwell, that there is a new Jerusalem. And this is all associated again with verse 33, the kingdom of God. And he says that we are to seek first the kingdom. And to seek first the kingdom is to realize, among many other things, it is to realize that there is more to life than meat and the body than raiment. I believe the point that he's actually making here is a point from the greater to the lesser. It's the same point that the Apostle Paul is making in Romans chapter 8 when he says, How shall he who did not spare his own son, but freely gave him up for us all, not also with him freely give us all things? I mean, have you paused to think about that verse? Isn't that an incredible statement? He's saying the gospel is not disembodied from reality. The gospel isn't disembodied from our physicality. The gospel isn't removed from the reality in which you and I traffic as flesh and blood people. No, actually, the gospel, what it does, assures us that God loves us, that He receives us in His Son, that He accounts us as His children, and that having not spared the very best, the very greatest that He has to offer, He will with Him also freely give us whatever we need. That's what Jesus is saying. Isn't there more to life than raiment? Can you really doubt? God's concern for your physical care, granting as you do that God has so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son? Is there not more to life than the raiment, than what we eat? He's saying anxiety is indicative of a fixation upon earthly things. It's a purely horizontal worldview, where the verticality of our worldview has been collapsed. Worry, you see, reveals where our treasure is, and therefore, where our heart is. And so Jesus invites us this afternoon to ask this question. What is it that I value? What is it that I value? And sometimes we're going to need to go beyond what our confession is, right? Because I trust that it's true of all of us. This is the common experience of people in every generation. This is what it is to be a human being, and this is what it is to be a human being wrestling with the power of sin at work in us. the reality that there is somewhat of a disjunction between what we confess and what our ground-level reality is. That while we confess that Christ is our treasure, while we confess that for the child of God, God is our inheritance, he is our hope, he is our rock, our refuge. Yet the presence of anxiety, the prevalence of anxiety is perhaps revealing that we are clinging to another treasure. So we need to ask, what do I value? Success? Money? A good job? Pleasure? Security? Retirement? Good health? A guarantee that the future will be smooth sailing? Anxiety can reveal disordered desires. But secondly, anxiety can also reveal misplaced trust. We see this in verse 32. He has elaborated on God's care for the creation, reasoning now from the lesser to the greater. But he winds up saying in verse 32, for after all these things do the Gentiles seek. That is something of a rebuke. He's saying this makes sense, you see, this kind of living makes sense if you're a Gentile. by which he really means if you're an unbeliever, this kind of living makes sense if you don't know the living God. This kind of living makes sense if you don't believe the gospel. This kind of living makes sense if your future is not secure in Christ. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Really, he's talking here about allegiance, trust. Where do you ultimately look for your security? And if you need help identifying where you're actually looking for your security, ask some of these questions. What occupies my thinking? Where do my thoughts, if given kind of free reign, where do my thoughts go? Where do I tend to spend my time? And now, sometimes work will be a helpful answer to this question, but I proposed for us that, generally speaking, we're referring to time outside of work, what we might call our free time. Where do we spend that free time? Where do we most likely go? Where do we seek our rest? Where do we seek our relaxation? Also, what consumes our energy? Where are my physical resources spent? Where do I spend my money, but where do I spend my energy as well? Ultimately, you see, anxiety reveals or can reveal who or what we're trusting. And again, this isn't as simple, right? The point isn't that if you struggle with anxiety, you don't know God. The point is not that if you struggle with anxiety, you're not a believer, you're not a Christian. The point is that the presence of anxiety is communicating something to you and it's communicating a kind of drift perhaps. Again, a disjunction between what you confess to believe and what your ground level reality of belief is. Where you confess your security is and where you're actually seeking your security. Who you confess your rest and your refreshment is and how you're actually seeking your rest and refreshment. Anxiety reveals who we trust. This means then that we have to listen to our anxious hearts, which is not to say obey them. That would be terrible advice. I'm not telling you to follow your heart. That's terrible advice. And we hear that all the time. But you do need to listen to what your anxiety is telling you. Your anxiety is actually screaming. and your anxiety is screaming, and if you would listen to it, and if you would interrogate it, then it would actually tell you something about your desires, and it would tell you something about your trust and your security. What is the fear that lurks in the shadows? What is the threat? The more accurately that we can identify that, the more likely that we will find rest in the gospel. We will find gospel remedies to address our anxiety. and appreciate what Jesus is doing here, because he's graciously exposing our worries and our anxieties for what they are, and he's calling us to turn away from the frantic impulses of idolatry-prone hearts. You see, Jesus knows what the psalmist says. Psalm 86, verse 10, he says, unite my heart to fear thy name. we all have heart fracture, heart fragmentation syndrome. And in Christ, what the Spirit is doing, if I can characterize it this way, is he's healing our heart. He's making our heart whole. And one way in which we're called to engage in that is by recognizing the way in which our hearts are divided, the way in which our hearts are paying allegiance to other gods, small g. So anxiety's root, anxiety's revelation. Thirdly, anxiety's remedy. And ultimately, the remedy, of course, as we've said, is verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Note first of all that what Jesus is describing here is the pursuit of the one thing life. Again, the psalmist, now Psalm 27, do you remember what he says? Psalm 27 verse 4. We sang Psalm 27 earlier in our worship. And he says, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord, and so on. You see, the psalmist, he typifies, he characterizes the one thing man. And ultimately, that is what Jesus is calling us to this afternoon. He's calling us to be one thing people. He's calling us to be Jesus people. He's calling us to find all of our desires in Him, to devote all of our energies to Him, and to rest all of our trust on Him, to be one thing people. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And what he's doing, you see, Do you hear this for what it is? This is a message of freedom, blessed freedom, which I propose to you in some ways is exactly the opposite of the way that we think about the Christian life. I think if we were very honest, which we rarely are, we would say that we find being a Christian burdensome. Maybe not always, but definitely sometimes. And we focus on all that's required of us. But the gospel is a call to freedom, to blessed freedom. The freedom to pursue one thing with the confidence that if we have that one thing, everything else is going to be okay. And have you not, dear child of God, have you not found this to be true? There are moments of blessed sanity for the Christian. When you see it, when for a few minutes or for a few hours or for a few days you see it, and you're there in that head space, you're there in that heart place, and you see it, and you say, there's nothing that could be more desirable than for God to be my God and for me to be his child. There's nothing that could be more promising than that I would be an heir of the kingdom of heaven, a joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ. And because I am so certain that when I die, that I will be with the Lord where He is, that He has prepared a room for me, that means that I can bear anything in this world. Yes, even the loss of my worldly means. the loss of my health, the loss of my life. There are those blessed moments of clarity when we feel that so powerfully. And that is the freedom that Jesus calls us to live and walk in daily, hourly. The freedom of being one thing people, not three thing people, not five thing people, which is wonderful because I'm terrible at multitasking. I'm terrible at it. And most of you are too. And spiritual multitasking is just devastating. And Jesus says, I've got this. I've got it. I'm gonna take care of your next meal. I'm gonna give you what you need, not always what you want. But I'm going to give you what you need. And you may be sure that whatever circumstances befall you, whatever kind of terror you may face, that you are safe and secure held in my arms. And when you die, I have a place for you. The best is yet to be. there's a better world coming. The freedom to pursue one thing, one thing. Paul was a one thing man too. Philippians 3 verse 14, one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Think about all that Paul sacrificed. Think about all that Paul suffered. What was it that motivated him? What was it that kept him going? It was that he was a one-thing man, and he knew that he was secure in the Lord, that nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ. By the way, he's the one that said that in Romans chapter 8. He understood this well. He had learned this well. But because we need incentives, because the Lord is gracious, he gives us a number of incentives here in our text to pursue this one thing kind of life. Notice the first incentive, verse 26, Behold 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 better than they? The point here is the benevolence of the Father. The benevolence of the Father over the creation is so great that He sustains the individual birds. Boys and girls, have you ever looked up? Do you have any idea how many birds are in the world? The number is astounding. I don't even have it in front of me, but maybe when you go home, you can look up how many birds they estimate there are in the world. It's an insane number of birds. And every moment, God is upholding every single one of those birds. He's providing food for them at every single moment, and not a single bird falls to the ground, gets run over, hits your windshield, dies however it dies, gets taken by the cat without the will of your heavenly Father. Such is the benevolence of your father. And he says, if this is the way that God cares for a bird, notice that Christ did not die for the birds. He did not die to redeem birds. This tells us something about the fact of how God values human beings, how he values you, dear child of God. He cares this way for the birds. How much more does he care for you? I confess that sometimes this is one of the areas in which I struggle. I doubt the benevolence of my heavenly father. Do you as well? Do you sometimes feel a little bit superstitious? Do you find yourself waiting for the other shoe to fall? Our father is benevolent, so benevolent that he sent his son to die in the place of his enemies. Will he not also care for you? Provides you what you need, second incentive. Verses 28 through 29. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. I love this. I love this because I'm a flower man. Some of you know that, some of you don't, but I'm just gonna tell it like it is. And some of you are too, you're flower people. And some of you actually take time and you study a flower and you see the way in which sometimes there's this iridescent sheen just laid over top of the petals. You see the wonderful etching, the painting on the flowers as if each one had been custom made. And indeed, it has. And that's the cultivated flowers, right? Jesus here is not talking about the cultivated flowers. He's talking about the wild flowers that would have bloomed on the hills of Galilee. And he's saying, take a look at these wild flowers and notice this, that every one of these wild flowers actually exceeds the glory of Solomon's raiment as the richest king that ever lived in the world. Boys and girls, have you ever wondered or thought about what Solomon must have looked like in his kingly robes? If you've ever seen crowns and robes, you probably have a pretty good idea. There were likely gems. His robes were probably encrusted with gems so that as he moved in the light, it sparkled and shone. Jesus says, on his best day, the sunniest day in the court of Solomon, he paled in comparison to the flowers of the field. What's the point? The father does everything well. Your father does everything well. Think about this. I like to think about this. Imagine a remote mountain meadow somewhere that no one travels to. No one is there to appreciate. And yet, when the right time of year comes, you want to know something? It erupts in a glorious display of color. Because our God lavishes in beauty. He is extravagant in his care. And that's Jesus' point. This God is your Father in Jesus Christ. He's benevolent. He does everything well. You see, his kingdom is not simply a kingdom of utility, right? Growing up, we would call this dry crust of bread and stale water subsistence. That was something my mother, she probably picked it up in the military. She used that phrase a lot. But that's, I think, the way that we tend to think about God in his providence. Sometimes we have this deep and abiding fear that he's a dry crust of bread and stale water God. Oh, yes, he promises that he's going to meet my needs, but it's going to be with the barest subsistence possible. And he says, no, God's kingdom is not simply a kingdom of utility. It's a kingdom of beauty and of glory. Third incentive, the Father knows our needs. Comprehensively, verse 32b, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all of these things. What do you need today? What do you need? Know this, that the Father knows exactly what that is. He doesn't simply know what you want, and often we don't even really know what we need, but He knows perfectly what you need today. and he will supply it, which is what he says in verse 33b, which is the fourth incentive. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. You see, the Father will provide everything needed by one thing, people. So then, there's really only one question. Are you a one thing person? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he your savior? Is he your rock? Is he your refuge? Is he your only comfort in life and in death? And if, as you ask that question, your answer is yes, Jesus calls you today to simply, again, bathe yourself in the truth of this passage and bathe yourself in the truth of his word and to grow in knowing your God, to grow in knowing your Father, to grow in knowing his love, to grow in believing, embracing, walking in, living in his love. You need not doubt. And I know that many of us doubt, right? We have questions of assurance. But the gospel, you see, is simple. The gospel is very, very simple. Because the gospel simply declares that for all those who seek their life in Jesus Christ, he receives you. For those of you who are seeking Christ, you don't need to worry and you don't need to fret and you don't need to fear because in John chapter six, he says that he will never turn away the one who comes to him. Yes, you are a sinner. Yes, you are unworthy. No, there's nothing that you can do to make yourself worthy of this kind of love, of this kind of benevolence, of this kind of generosity. Christ has done it all. That's the beauty of the gospel. And he calls you today simply to come, to eat, to enjoy, to marinate, if I can put it that way, to bask in the love of the Father. and to have your anxieties gradually displaced by the love and the provision of God. Because he loves you, you're his child, and he will never ever forsake you. Would you forsake one of your children? Is your love greater than that of your father's? God forbid. Now, if this isn't you, Christ calls tonight. Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come unto me, you whose treasure is limited to this world, and you're experiencing anxiety. Come unto me, you whose eye is evil, and I'll wash your windows. Come unto me, forsake your service to sin, enter into my service, and trust you will be provided. You see, this is the only cure for anxiety. You can take a medication to alleviate the effects of anxiety. but only this deals with the very heart, the source of your anxiety. No philosophy, no other religion in the world offers this peace, this rest. That's Jesus' power, and that's Jesus' prerogative, and he promises to receive all who turn unto him in faith. Final thought, final question. How do I seek first the kingdom of God? That's a practical question, right, that all of us have. We read that, we say we want this. How do I seek first the kingdom of God? And ultimately, prayer is the key. Paul says, Philippians 4 verse 6, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. A couple of specific prayer pointers to help as we seek the uniting of our hearts, as we seek to be one thing people. First, simply pray that, Lord, unite my heart to fear your name, right? Psalm 86 verse 10. Secondly, pray for the Lord's help to evaluate your life. Part of the anxiety problem, and in fact, I propose to you a significant part, if not the majority of the anxiety problem is this. We're hearing every voice except for the Lord's. Digital media, social media, has us running on this hamster wheel of continual update. We're continually engaged with what other people think. And I don't need to tell you that it runs from bad to worse. That it runs from inane to absolutely stupid. and that we have all of these voices yapping at us. They're telling us what we ought to value. They're telling us what makes a good life. They're telling us what products we need to make us happy, what kind of a lifestyle will really set us free. They're counseling us all the time. The problem is that there's a gross disproportion between the counselors of the world that are being poured into our eardrums and the counsel of God himself. and there needs to be a rebalancing of that. And that comes through prayer and dedication to God's word. Pray for the Lord's help to evaluate your life. Pray for help in letting go of earthbound treasures. and pray thy kingdom come. I encourage you to look at our catechism. It gives a very nice, a very helpful description of what we're praying for when we pray thy kingdom come. But what it says essentially is that first and foremost, that prayer is a prayer about the allegiance of our own hearts. It's a prayer about our hearts coming into submission to God and to his word. Brothers and sisters, friends, If the kingdom of God is your inheritance and your home through faith in Jesus Christ, know this, that God's will is your peace. Do you ever think that way? God does not desire you to be anxious. He desires your peace. and he makes provision for your peace in his word. He calls you to dig into the root of anxiety, to listen to what anxiety is revealing, and to seek anxiety's remedy in the one thing, seek first the kingdom lifestyle. As we walk in obedience to God in his word, we will experience in increasing measure that peace which is reserved for the Christian alone. May the Lord help us in that. Shall we pray? Gracious Father in heaven, we come to you filled with awe and wonder at your word and at your benevolence, at your goodness, your glory. We pray that as we depart from your house this evening that every one of us would take away a sense of your glory, a sense of your goodness, a sense of all of the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. We ask that you would also continue to draw those who yet remain at a distance from you that they too may know the peace that can only come through faith in Christ. And we pray, Lord, for wisdom, for obedience, that you would also continue to set us free from anxiety, that we would experience in growing measure that peace which belongs to your people. For we ask all of this in your name and for the sake of your glory. Amen.