Chapter 11, verse 32 and 33. It says, and what shall I more say, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. I want to look again at the phrase, obtained promises, and I reiterate that these promises are obtained through faith. But I do want to look at these, and Spurgeon had several thoughts, and we're using them, and some that the Lord gave us as well. But I would like you to turn to 2 Corinthians 1, if you would at this time. 2 Corinthians 1. And we looked last week about obtaining promises. If you recall, We looked at a lot of Elijah after that or two weeks ago. We looked at Elijah and you remember how that he had come and he had prophesied that it wouldn't rain. And it didn't rain and God provided for him, didn't He? And he had to go to a brook and ravens fed him. And then when the brook dried up, God sent him to a widow and her son and he remained there. And he obtained the promise of God by faith. And it seems as when we study God's Word, we find, and I believe that it's okay to do this, because God, He condescends to our level so we can understand. Because He is infinite and we are finite. So He brings things down to our level. And I believe there are two classes, and you can break it down after that, but I believe you have two classes of promises. Those that are unconditional, and those that are conditional. The unconditional ones, God says, I'm going to do this. That's the end of it. Or, this is going to happen. The conditional ones are, if you do this, I'll do this. And so we have two different classes of promises. But I want you to understand if you look at verse 20, every promise of God falls under this category. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us. You'll notice here in verse 20 of 2 Corinthians 1, that the promises of God are yes, are in Him yea, or in Him yes, And then he reiterates it and he says, and in him, Amen. And if you understand, the word Amen simply means yes or that is right. That's why when you'll hear folks, they'll say Amen because they're in agreement, that's right. And so we find here that the Bible says the promises of God are yes and yes, or they are yes and that's right. And then you'll notice, I want you to understand, what is the purpose of the promise of God? It's not to bless you or me. God has far greater reaching sight than simply the blessing of you and me. Because it all comes back to this one thing, and that is unto the glory of God by us. The purpose of God's promises are so not that you and I would be quote unquote blessed, but so that you and I would glorify the Lord for His faithfulness and the grace of which He bestows upon us in those blessings. Just look over as we'll make our way back to Hebrews, but look at Ephesians chapter 1. And again, I want to reiterate this. In verse 6, and we mentioned this when we were studying in the Sunday school about the grace of God. Everything that God does and He is that goes towards His people, it's all because of the grace of God. And Ephesians 1 and verse 6 notice this, to the praise of the glory of His what? His grace. And then we'll finish reading, "...wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." So it's all about the glory of God and the promises of God all stand on the grace of God. Everything does. That He deals with His people is all based on grace. The unmerited favor of God. And so we need to realize here as we look at this, so let's turn over if you would, and first of all, if you'll turn all the way back to Genesis, and we'll get to Hebrews here after a bit, but look at Genesis chapter 3, and I'd like you to notice verse 15, and I'd like you to notice first of all, unconditional promises. Now, unconditional promises are merely that God says, I will, or thou shalt, or this is going to happen, and there is no if you do this, or if this takes place. It's merely God saying, this is what I'm going to do. Or this is what's going to happen. There are no conditions. It's just exactly what it is. And he tells us here in Genesis chapter 3, and in verse 15, and if you understand or know, this is the first messianic prophecy in all the Scriptures. This is the first outright mention of the Christ. And it says in verse 15, notice, and let's back up and read verse 14, and the Lord God said unto the serpent, so who's he talking to? He's talking to Satan, isn't he? who is in the form of the serpent. And he says, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will, notice that, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. Now who is the her seed? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman. You just need to run reference to Galatians 4 and verse 4 and you'll see that. Christ is the seed of the woman. And he tells us here in Genesis 3.15 that between Satan and the seed of the woman, between Satan and Christ, he says that there is going to be enmity between the two. And that is, the word enmity is irreconcilable differences. Because enmity cannot be reconciled. Enemies can be, but enmity cannot be. It is pure rebellion and severe hatred. And so the Lord says between Satan and Christ there is going to be enmity. And then He goes on a little further down in verse 15. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now the word it there would be better rendered he because it's in reference unto the seed of the woman. And that is a picture of what took place at Calvary. That Satan was crushed and Christ's heel was bruised. And we'll not go into this prophecy here and explain all of that, but I do want you to look at this. Notice the language that God uses in Genesis 3.15. And I will, it shall, thou shalt, Notice how that God doesn't say, you know, well, if you do this, Satan, then I'm going to do that. He says, no, this is what's going to happen. This is going to take place. I will do this, and the seed of the woman shall do this, and you, Satan, will do this. So even Satan cannot resist the plan of God's salvation. God has put him and made him a part of it, hasn't He? And he told Satan there in the garden how he was going to save his own people and Satan couldn't stop it, he couldn't thwart it, he couldn't keep it from coming to pass. As Jesus said in John chapter 19, it is finished. It is finished. So this promise of God is again unconditional. Spurgeon had this to say, he said, Promises such as those which relate to the calling of the elect of God in God's time, their being brought out from death to life, their quickening, their conviction, and regeneration are all unconditional promises of God. Because they're not based on anything we do. They're based on God. God has chosen whom He will save before the world was. And not only has He chosen whom, He has chosen when He will save them. Where He will save them. And He works it all and brings it all to pass. And it is a promise that God has said, I will do this. He has entered into a covenant with Himself. Observe, if you would, in Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6. The promises of God. And if we're going to obtain promises, then we have to know which ones are unconditional and which ones are conditional, and we need to know what the conditions are so we can meet them, that we might obtain them. In Genesis chapter 6, we see again here in these verses, and we'll not read all of this, but if you'll notice here, in verse 7, after God sees all that man is and become, and He reached the point, and He says in verse 7, and the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth Me that I have made them. Notice that verse 7, I will destroy man. Again, what's the condition? There isn't one. He said, I'm going to do it. He tells us why he's going to do it, because it repents. If anybody asks you for a definition of repentance, God gives it to us. You know what repentance is? It's when you and I will no longer have anything to do with it. When we will no longer have to do with that sin, that's repentance. God tells us and shows us what repentance is. He says, I will no longer have anything to do with that world and those people. I will destroy them. That's repentance. People who, as the expression is, walk the aisle Sunday morning and then Sunday night, they're doing the same thing. They walk the aisle over. Or folks who cry their eyes out and they want God to forgive them or they want the church or people to forgive them, and then as soon as they're done, they're right back in it. That's not repentance, folks. It's a show and it's a sham. And so we find here that, you'll notice here, God says, I will destroy, and then in verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What condition did Noah meet to find grace in the eyes of God? None! It was all of the Lord, wasn't it? And you can read on down and see what God says and speaks unto Noah, and you can see the promises that God made unto Noah. They're unconditional. And you find that the Bible tells us in Genesis 3 and verse 15, and then now here in Genesis chapter 6, and what do we find? Salvation is a promise of God that has no conditions you and I can meet. It is all of Him. It is all of grace. But it is a promise, isn't it? He tells us it's a promise. So we have these here given unto us. all throughout the Scriptures, you'll find that salvation is the unconditional promise of God. It is one of those. There are others, but this is, again, this is just an example of that. So let's look secondly, and let's turn over to Hebrews again, chapter 11, because the promises that I believe the Holy Spirit is referring to in Hebrews 11 and verse 33 are conditional promises. And the reason I believe there are conditional promises is, as we said two weeks ago, that word obtained. It is in direct contrast with the word received. We receive salvation, we don't obtain it. Because the word obtain implies an exertion of force. You can't exert any force and be saved. God exerts it upon us. He walks by, if you would, as in Ezekiel 16, and he sees this blood he'd cast aside in the field, and he says, live. God does it. But this whole chapter is about living faith, not saving faith. Living faith, which is what saving faith produces, so says James. There are promises of God all over for you and I to obtain. They're all over. I will give you an illustration here and again as you look in verse 33, "...who through faith subdued kingdoms throughout righteousness, obtained promises." The word obtained, again, and we reiterate this, it has to do with the exertion of force to take hold of it. In salvation, God takes hold of you. But in our lives, we're to take hold of the Lord and of His promises. Spurgeon had this to say, and I agree with it. Let me say this, before we go any further. God is not required to make any promises. There is nothing in us that requires Him to make a single promise unto us. So I want you to understand that even if they are conditional promises, He gave them unconditionally. He wasn't required to do it. He did it out of His own free choice and His own grace. God was not required to tell Elijah, He said, listen, go into the brook and I'll send ravens and they shall feed you. And then when the brook dried up, tell Elijah, say, okay, go into the widow. He didn't have to do any of that. Elijah could have just said, alright Elijah, you're going to die with them. It's all going to end for you right here. And God would have been just as justified and righteous as He always is. He does not have to give us promises, but He does. And in His sovereignty and in His infinite wisdom, He has attached, or as Spurgeon said, He has added an addendum to them of conditions. And so we need to look at these. All the promises of God stand firmly on His grace. Yet that being said, I want to look at tonight some conditions of promises of God. And in each cases, the Lord has, in grace, promised us, but He's added a condition on our part to the obtaining of them. So, first of all, I'd like you to note that there are some promises obtained very easily. Look over in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. There are some promises that are very easily obtained. There is the simple taking them by faith. Spurgeon described these, and he said in regard to these, that they are as checks just waiting to be cashed by faith. We had two peach trees in Kansas, and sometimes there were peaches that they fell to the ground. and all you had to do was bend over and pick them up. And then there were others that hung low, and you had to reach up, grab them, and twist them off. And then there were those where you had to get the ladder or you had to get the peach picker and, you know, maneuver and get up there and get them. Well, that's kind of like how God's promises are. Sometimes you just got to bend over and pick them up. Sometimes you have to reach up and twist them off. Other times, you've got to climb the ladder or get the peach picker and get them down. In this first one, I would liken unto the ones you've just got to bend over and pick up. And there's some people too lazy to even do that. I mean, there really are some folks who will not bend over and pick up a promise of God. In Matthew 18 and verse 20, Notice what Christ says in His church, He says, "...where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." This is a promise of God. Notice the phrase, and again, there is no key word of shall or will, is there? But He says, "...there am I in the midst of them." That's the promise. He told His church in the Great Commission, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world or the end of the age. He will be with His church. But He has placed some conditions upon this meeting or being in the midst. The first condition is there listed to us in verse 20, for where two or three are gathered together. That's the first condition, isn't it? Now we went to school and we had folks and they'd say, well, we're having a meeting at the flagpole or this side or the other, and Jesus said, we're two or three together in my name. When you just get together and you say we're meeting in the name of Jesus, that's not what this is talking about. That is a forgery. That'd be like somebody signing your name on the bottom line on your behalf. It's a forgery. But the first requirement is there have to be two or three. And again, that's the smallest form of a church. And I know some churches that are about that small who God uses mightily. And so you have to notice therefore where two or three, what? Are gathered together. So they have to gather together, they have to assemble together. And it might be in a cave, it might be in a forest, it might be in a home, it might be in a bona fide church house such as we are in. But it has to be a gathering. You can't stay at home and Christ is meeting with you and with His church. In our age we have, and I'm not against technology if it's used properly, but there's folks who won't come to church because, you know, well, our church live streams things. Well, you're not meeting, you're not gathering together, you're not assembling. And there's some folks who are providentially hindered and they can't come. And that's well and good, but they're using that as an excuse. And then the next condition, he says, is in my name, which speaks of His authority. His authority. And just because you say, in my name, doesn't mean it's in His name or you have His authority. No more than slapping in Jesus' name at the end of our prayers makes it ascend unto His throne. And so, here again, this is the promise and this is the condition. You have to gather and you have to have authority and when you have those two things, Christ will be in the midst. And there's some folks who won't even bend over and pick up that promise. Out of stubbornness, out of blindness, out of whatever. They won't do it. But that is a promise, and every time this church assembles, we claim that promise of God. Just as those seven churches, well six churches in Asia did. Jesus walked in the midst of the lampstand and the church lay out to see Him, He's outside the door. He desired to walk in the midst of the lampstand, but they shut the door. He said, if any man or woman or boy or girl will open the door, I'll come in and fellowship, sup with him. That's where we get the Sunday school chorus. Behold, behold, I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock. It's the church door that they're singing about. And so this is a promise of God, and I'm glad we can claim that where two or three are gathered together in my name, there are mine in the midst of them. The next kind of promise, we would say, again is conditional, but there is the lifting of the hand and the twisting off of the peach, or the orange, or whatever fruit you have on your tree. Look over in Matthew chapter 17 if you would. This here is obtained by faith, but there is an exercise of prayer about it. And those who lack in their prayer lives will not obtain these promises. There are some walls that will not go down the first time they are marched around. Jericho was one of them. Seven days, and on the seventh day, they marched around it seven times. Paul prayed three times. And God said unto him, My grace is sufficient for thee. In Matthew 17 and verse 21, and we'll back up here and read just a little bit to get the context of it. Verse 14, And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and sore of axe. For oftentimes he falls into the fire, and often to the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answers, that old faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither or here to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily, or truly, I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. How be it this kind, that is, this kind of evil and wicked spirit or demon that was in this individual, and I don't know what kind it was, but this kind, goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." So you see here that Christ had told them, He says, listen, here's a promise. If you'll have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you'll say unto this mountain, you'll remove yonder herein, it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Now, the Pentecostals have no idea what this means. And whatever they say, it's not that. But I want you to understand what Christ says here. He said, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. It wasn't just praying for the demon to be cast out. He said there had to be prayer and fasting. You see, there are some promises of God that will not be won simply by bending over and picking them up. And I believe God has designed these for a purpose in this way. This is the promise of God and He says that it shall be done this way. There is to be prayer over it. There is to be fasting over it. If you don't know about fasting, fasting is where we seek God's will. And I think that today's Baptists only fast when it comes time to take a cholesterol test or something of that nature. Or if they're sleeping. But this is a spiritual fast. And there's still to be done. And there's different kinds of fasts. There's kinds where you don't eat. There's kinds where you don't eat or drink. There's kinds where you fast from different things. There's some that go all day. The purpose of fasting is not to pass out. The purpose is seeking the Lord's will. It is denying yourself to seek the Lord's will. That's what it is. And Scripture teaches us here, and there were fastings for other things. Not just casting out demons. There were lots of them. They were done lots of times. Christ prayed and fasted, and He prayed all night before He chose His twelve apostles, didn't He? But He says, how be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. It's not just a simple faith. He says, no, you have to add prayer and fasting to this faith to obtain this promise. And there are some like that. There are some that you are going to have to, and I am going to have to, we will all have to labor in prayer to obtain that promise. And then if you'll notice, we look here in, I'd like you to turn over to Genesis chapter 32. Genesis chapter 32. I'm sure that you're familiar with Jacob, and I'm sure you've heard about how he wrestled with the angel of the Lord. But I'd like you to notice here in Genesis 32, and we'll read beginning at verse 24 down through verse 29. Obtaining promises. If you've never wrestled with the Lord in prayer, then you've never obtained these promises. In Genesis 32, verse 24, it says, And Jacob was left alone. That's a good time to pray. That's a good time to be with the Lord and to go over these things. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. That's a long time, folks. This wasn't some 30-second prayer. I worked out with the wrestling team and I've been in enforceables with law enforcement. I'll tell you what, when you're wrestling, time has no meaning. When you're fighting with somebody, time has no meaning. You'll get done and you think, boy, it's been hours. It's been 30 seconds. Sometimes we get in our prayer closets, or we sit down to pray, and we get down to pray, and, boy, I've been here for forever. Or maybe you're reading in your daily reading that one chapter a day, and you get done reading, and you go, man, that took forever. It's been two minutes. I mean, just to propose something, what if we gave God a tithe of our time? 24 hours in a day, right? Well, what's 10% of 24 hours? Well, it's there, isn't it? It's over two hours, isn't it? What if you gave God two hours a day? Okay, well, I'm only awake for eight, and then I'm working for eight, and then I sleep for eight, and if you sleep for eight, wow. But if you're only, you know, you work eight or whatever, and you've got eight hours that you're not working and you're not sleeping, and you gave God what? Well, if it was ten hours, you'd give Him one hour, wouldn't you? So you've got to give Him almost an hour of your time if you were tithing your time. What if we did that with prayer? You know, we sing a hymn sometimes, Sweet Hour of Prayer. Our generation ought to call it Sweet Seconds of Prayer. Because that's about what we put into prayer. And I speak generally. I'm not condemning you. But if that's where you're at, then you're not wrestling in prayer. Certainly, we're not wrestling with Him until daybreak. Verse 25. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he, that is Jacob, said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob. If you remember, Jacob's name means supplanter. But Israel, and Israel means a prince of or a prince with God. For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. I tell you what, that was a blessing Jacob couldn't have gotten with anything else. What kind of blessing are you seeking to obtain from God? What promise are you trying to obtain from God that you're wrestling with Him? Maybe you're wrestling with God for something He never promised. Maybe you're wrestling for something He doesn't want you or I to have. That's why you're wrestling with Him and you're not prevailing because He says you're not going to have this. And it might need to be abandoned. And then in verse 29, Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou just ask after my name? And he blessed him there. When did he bless him? After he finished wrestling with him. That's when we obtain the promise. That's when we obtain the blessings of God in this fashion. These are the ones we have to reach up and twist off the tree. So there are these, and again, I believe God designs it that way. The disciples asked, they said, Lord, teach us to pray. Well, He teaches us to pray in this fashion as well. Thirdly, there are those that God has set His promises that we must climb a ladder. Or we must climb the ladder and get the peach reacher down. Had an individual there in Kansas, South Haven, worked with him a little bit and we did some, you know, cobbling is what I would call it. It wasn't professional construction. I think we did more demo than we did constructing. But he took a wire and he just bent it in half and he drove it through a stick and he had this eight foot stick and he'd just reach up there and he'd lop his peaches down and catch them. I said, that's ingenious. So how much did that cost you? He goes, I had everything in the shed. I goes, man, I found them online, they're like $99. He goes, that's ridiculous. He said, here you go. God has some promises that he has added a doing to. And they will not be obtained except we do it by faith. Spurgeon said, where God has appended to the promise a something that is to be done, diligently do it and you shall obtain the blessing. Amen. Amen. Look over in Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3. And we'll observe here a promise of God. And as we look at this, and we look at these things again, you can see there's some you just bend over and pick up, some you have to reach up and twist, others you have to reach up and you have to do something. And those who don't do these things don't obtain promises, and many people say, I don't understand why I don't obtain the promises of God. Are you following the conditions along? Are you doing what the conditions say? And not only are you doing them, are you doing them by faith? Are you doing it and then going, well I knew God wasn't going to do it. Because that's not faith. And God's not going to give us a blessing or give us the promise when we do it in that fashion. It has to be done by faith. Malachi 3, and notice we're beginning in verse 8, God said, will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Verse 9, you're cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Now verse 10. In verse 10, we have the conditions and we have the blessings. And I want to skip down to the promise. God says, if you'll read there about the middle of the verse where it says, sayeth the Lord of hosts. He says, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. That's the promise. Now He didn't say what the blessing is, did He? And He didn't tell us how we would be able to measure it, did He? But what he did say is, I will pour open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. I've found that to be true over and over and over again. And so have you, if you've met the conditions. That's the promise. God has fixed some conditions to it. Let's look at that in verse 10. Bringing all the tithes into the storehouse. Well, in the New Testament, the storehouse is His church. And you and I are to bring all the tithes, not some of them, all of them. And you know, you read in the Old Testament, and if anybody thinks they're doing a lot or giving a lot, The Jews had a multiple of tithes. It is estimated that the Jews gave probably 40% of their income to the Lord's work. That's a lot. I mean, that's more than the government takes in taxes from you and I. That's almost what the 1% pays. But it's estimated that that's what they had to give. But He says to them, bring ye, bring you, you do it. You do it. And you bring all of it into the storehouse, and here's the purpose of it. That there may be meat in mine house. So that's the purpose of it. The purpose was, and you know what meat is, right? It's food, isn't it? Because the priest had to be fed, The Levites who tended to the things of the tabernacle and then later on the temple had to be fed. We have as well the animal sacrifices. We have as well spiritual sacrifices that were offered up. All of these things had to be taken in and to be taken care of by God's people. And everything that God had given them was to be what? Given back unto the Lord. And so the purpose of it wasn't so they would get a blessing. This isn't a quid pro quo, you scratch my back and God, you'll scratch mine. The purpose was to glorify God. Some folks will say, well, You know, and I've heard people say this, and down through the years of my ministry, and I've heard people say it about other pastors and ministers, and they'll say, well, he doesn't preach any meat. And I've always kind of wondered, so I wonder if you even know what meat is. Because some people don't. But I do know this, if you starve the ministry, then there's nothing for Him to give you. But you'll notice the conditions. You bring it, that there will be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts. He says, prove me with this. Test me with this. Try me with this. Believe me and walk by faith and do this, and here's what I'll do. Grandpa Hilly said, God will do more. with the 90, or the 80, or the 70, or whatever percent you have left over after you give your tithe and offering, then you or I could do with our 100%. That's absolutely right. This is a conditional promise. Now turn over, if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 9, and you'll notice here, again, as we compare Scripture with Scripture, this is not to be a mechanical thing. there is to be an attitude about it. See, God isn't all about the outward and the mechanicalness of it. I don't know if you've ever seen that commercial, you know, where they're walking through the line, everybody's swiping their card, they're just swiping their card, swiping their card, and it's a lunch line, they get up there and the guy, he pulls out cash. And then backs up the whole line. Well, we do a lot of swiping our card in the work of the Lord. We do it mindlessly. We do it mechanically. There's nothing mechanical or mindless or heartless about serving God. In 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7, we find the attitude in which the giving of tithes and offerings is to be done. And it's all to be brought into the storehouse. He says in verse 7, Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, notice, not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver, or in that word cheerful means hilarious. And you know what the word hilarious means? It kind of means like they give crazily, like how can you do that? What is the matter with you? There are some folks, I mean, they just might as well go line over here with the Pharisees and 10%. We preached in Kansas on the giving of tithes and offerings, and one fellow, he said, I never knew that. He said, I'm going to start giving 10.1%. I thought, boy, you really got that message, didn't you? The point of this is, is this is what you're to do. And then God says, this is how you're to do it. And so we have here in the Scriptures, and there's a blessing He says I'll do for you if you do this. And if you do it this way, not grudgingly or of necessity, but if you do it to prove Me, which means walking by faith. If you will walk by faith and do what I tell you to do, I will pour you out a blessing that you will not even be able to receive it. And it's so true. It's so true. Look over in Matthew chapter 6. Here is another conditional promise that involves the doing. There's a lot of these. There's a lot of these. and the cares of this life and the riches of this world, boy, they carry us away. We're too busy trying to, as the expression is, go after the things of this world that we don't go after the things of God. Sometimes we're like Simon Peter, where we don't care for the things of the Lord. Your mom's back there in that room. You can go back there. In Matthew 6, beginning at verse 25. And I don't like to start a reading with this word because you really need to consider what comes before it. But we're going to start with verse 25 where it says therefore. I'm just going to tell you the word therefore means based on what I said before. So really, we need to go back up and read. But for time's sake, we're going to start at verse 25. 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. For your heavenly Father feedeth them, are ye not much better than they? And the answer to that is, yes we are. Yes, His people are better than the fowls of the air. Verse 27, which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? No one. No one. Verse 28, 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. Isn't that something? Solomon in all of his glory, and he had a lot of it. God says, see that lily out there in the field? He said, it's arrayed more gloriously than Solomon was. And then He says in verse 30, 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, O ye of little faith? Verse 31, 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. So let me stop there for a moment. We find here that God is addressing His people, His disciples, His saints. And He tells them here, He said, here's the first condition, and we probably never meet this one. But in verse 25 he says, take no thought for your life. And then he describes what he means by that. He says, don't think about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, don't think about your body, what you're going to put on. Because your life is more than clothing, isn't it? And then he gives us the example of the fowls of the air, and he says, don't I feed the fowls of the air? And then he gives us the example of the lilies of the field, and he says, don't I clothe them? And so he comes to the conclusion, if you would, in verse 31, he says, he reiterates the condition, therefore take no thought. What shall I eat? What shall I drink? Where shall I be clothed? And then he kind of pours a little salt in the wound, in verse 32, and he says, for after all these things did the Gentiles seek. Jesus says, you see all those heathens over there? That's what they worry about. You're acting just like lost people. That's what you're acting like. And He tells them, you don't need to act like that. Verse 32, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. And notice the name that Christ uses. He uses the name of Father, doesn't He? And didn't you, those of you who are fathers, and even those of you who are mothers, don't you know what your children need? Didn't you know what they needed before they even told you they needed it? Absolutely we did. That's how our Heavenly Father is to you and I. He goes, I know all about it. I've already planned and purposed, I'm gonna take care of it. But, here's what you need to do. Verse 33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. You go after my kingdom. And you quit worrying about the things of this world. You quit worrying about what you're going to eat, what you're going to wear, and all that stuff. He says, you worry about my kingdom. You worry, which is a spiritual kingdom. He says, you go out there and preach that you need to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And you worry about the spiritual things, and you tend to those things, and you seek after My righteousness. You hunger and you thirst after it. That's what you need to be worried about. And then He says, and all these things shall be added unto you. What things? the food, and the clothing, and the drinking, all of that, He'll take care of it. He says, you take care of the kingdom, and you take care of the righteousness. You focus there, and I'll provide as you tend to those things. We don't obtain these promises because we're too busy going after the food, and the drink, and the clothing, and the kingdom and His righteousness are all over here not being tended to. And we say, well, God's provided this. No, He didn't. You took care of it. And I guarantee you, if you and I would have done this, He'd have took care of that better than you and I could. He says, you focus on My kingdom and My righteousness. You focus on the work of the Lord, and I'll provide for you. I'll take care of it all. We worry about the wrong things. We focus on the wrong things. He says, if you'll do this, you seek after this. First of all, here's the first condition. Don't take any thought of it. Boy, I sit in that. I think a lot about it. So do you. He says, and notice that. Take no thought for your life. And then verse 31, take no thought. And then verse 34, take therefore no thought for tomorrow. He says, don't even think about tomorrow. Well, there's a lot of folks who don't, they're not concerned about tomorrow, they're concerned about 25 years from now. Guess what? We may not be here. The Lord may take us all home tonight. And there we did, we built barns and what good is that? He said, the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. And you know what? They will, won't they? Because there's not one worry or one thought that you can handle about tomorrow that's going to stop tomorrow from coming, is there? Not one thing. So he gave us some conditions. He said, take no thought for it. And then he said, seek first the kingdom of God and my righteousness. You fulfill those three things. You do those three things, and I'll add this one to you. And I will say this, it's not a back in 1984, I didn't think about it, and I sought after His kingdom, and I sought after His righteousness, so He's gonna take care of all these things. No, this is a day in and day out thing. This is a daily promise that we have to obtain every day, every week, every month, every year, until the Lord calls us home. When we look at things the way God, and when we look at the actual promise of God, we have to oftentimes say, I've never obtained it. All this provision, I have done it by my own work, because I didn't seek after His kingdom and His righteousness first. Because I was thinking about this, and this is what I've done. It's not the promise of God. Not according to the Word of God in Matthew 6. That's all my doing. So the Lord gives us these promises. Conditional. We have unconditional. We have conditional. Then we have, if you would, three types of conditional. The ones that you just bend over, pick up. The ones you have to reach up, twist off. And the ones you have to do something. I mean exert some force and go after. Are we claiming them? Could we be mentioned in the halls of faith of Hebrews 11, who through faith obtain promises? And as I said, sometimes we won't even bend over and pick them up, will we? Man, we need grace. We need God's grace, and I think we have it. In fact, I know we have it. We just need to follow Him in these things. Let's have a word of prayer.