“Seek ye first the Kingdom…”

by Doug Schofield

The fact that you are here shows that you believe in the God of heaven, and that you are interested in learning more about Him, and His will for your life. May God bless you as you strive to be pleasing to Him. “Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart”, Psalms 119:2. Heb 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” God wants everyone to come to Him, but we must have the desire to do so; we must seek him diligently. God will not impose Himself into the life of anyone against their will.

It is a part of the nature of human beings to want to worship some thing or some one greater than ourselves. All down through the ages men have worshipped that which they did not understand; the sun – the moon – the earth – the stars, (Deut. 4:19). Some people simply worship themselves, and their own selfish desires, (2 Tim. 3:2). Men have worshiped images made of wood or metal or stone. Jesus said in Matthew 4:10, “…Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Our Heavenly Father Himself commanded in Exodus 34:14 “For thou shalt worship no other god…:”

You and I are so very blessed because we have God’s word in a book that we are able to read and understand. The Bible is divided into two principal parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament tells us about God’s relationship with man from the very beginning. It tells us how that God made us in His own image and gave to us the freedom to choose whether we would serve Him or not; and shows us that there is a terrible price that must be paid for sin. It unfolds for us to see God’s great eternal plan for the salvation of man. In it we see the promises and prophesies about the coming of Jesus to live on earth and to die as the only possible sacrifice that could take away our sins.

In the New Testament we see the fulfillment of the more than 300 prophesies about Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. In it we learn of how we may receive God’s saving grace, and we learn about how He wants us to worship Him and how we should live our lives. These truths are not hidden; they are there for all to discover, but we must have the desire to learn them. Jesus said, “…seek ye first he kingdom of God and His righteousness…”, Matthew 6:33. That is why we are here tonight, to seek the truth of God’s word together, that we may all understand it and apply it to our lives. We will be happy to study with you privately, if you desire, or to answer any Bible questions you may have.

When the first man and woman chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, sin entered the world. Before that, man enjoyed a close association with God, walking in His presence daily, living in perfect peace and harmony with Him. But once man chose to break God’s law the guilt of that sin separated man from God. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you…”, Isaiah 59:2. When God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil He told them that in the day they did so they would surely die, and they did. Death means separation – and they were at that moment in time separated from God. They hid from God, yet God went in search of them. “ And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”, Genesis 3:9. God seeks us today; He calls us through His word, the Bible. The Lord is “…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.

Adam and Eve died a spiritual death immediately when they became guilty of sin, and only the shedding of innocent blood could reconcile them to God. They also began to die physically because they were made to leave the Garden and no longer could they eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life. What happened to the Tree of Life? We see it again in promise in Revelation 2:7, “ … To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” And in Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

We do not inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin. All men and women are born innocent and pure. Jesus said that “…, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3. He was speaking of the purity, the innocence and humility of a little child. It is after we become old enough to know right from wrong, when we are old enough to understand what sin is and to understand God’s provision for man’s redemption, and we reach that point in life when we choose to do that which is wrong, that we become guilty of sin and so inherit the consequences – that is spiritual death, separation from God for all eternity, unless we accept His terms of pardon. Once again, there is a choice to be made. We read the invitation of our Lord in Revelation 22:17, “…whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely.” It is a choice we each must make.

So, if we want to choose to obey God, how do we do that? What does He require of us? Well, let’s look into His word to find the answers. Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? And,

Micah 6:8 “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Solomon stated our purpose here on earth very simply when he wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:13 & 14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Fear God…keep His commandments. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”, 1 John 5:3.

Notice, we are to keep God’s commandments, not the commandments of men. Jesus said in Mark 7:7, “…in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” So how is it then that we may know what to do? First of all, we must have faith in God. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6.

What is faith, and how do we get it? Some men have described faith incorrectly as a leap in the dark; just accepting something that we cannot know for sure nor understand; it’s not that at all. Faith is instead a certain knowledge based on facts. The apostle John wrote in John 21:24 “... and we know that his testimony is true.” We have the written record of eyewitnesses who were with Jesus as He lived on earth, who saw Him die on the cross and who walked and talked and ate with Him after His resurrection. The facts of the truth of the Bible are well documented by history, by archeology and by science. These things we may know of a certainty. That is true faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”, Romans 10:17.

So it is our responsibility to search the scriptures. The holy writings of God’s word called ‘scripture’ are mentioned more than 50 times in the New Testament. With that much reference to it, we should know that it is important for us to study the Bible. Paul wrote that we should “Study to show thyself approved unto God…” 2 Timothy 2:15. Jesus told the Pharasees to “search the scriptures…”, John 5:39, and why? "...they are they which testify of me", He said.

From the Bible we learn of the love of God for all humanity. We discover that He loved us so much that He was willing to give His own son to be the sacrifice for our sins; that Jesus loved us enough that He was willing to leave the glories of Heaven and come to earth in the form of a man and suffer and die an agonizing physical death in order to redeem our souls that we might have spiritual life everlasting. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Even though God loved us enough to provide a way for our salvation, there are some responsibilities that are left up to us. We must choose to accept the grace that is freely offered to us by our Heavenly Father. We must believe that Jesus is the son of God. He said, “if ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins,” John 8:24.

But is believing enough, or is there more? Are we saved by faith? Yes, Hebrews 11:6, “…without faith it is impossible to please Him”. Faith is absolutely necessary, we cannot be saved without it. But, remember Jesus statement in Luke 4:4, “…but by every word of God.”? Luke records the words of the Apostle Paul in Acts 20: 27, “ For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” There certainly is more to God’s plan for the salvation of man than faith alone. James wrote that we are not saved by faith only, James 2:24.

Jesus commanded that we repent of our sins. He said “…except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3 also 5. Repentance is a change of mind, a change of heart, and change of life. It means that we regret the sinful acts of which we are guilty, but more than that, it means that we determine that we will do our best to avoid those things in the future. Oh, we are going to stumble from time to time, God knows that, and He has made provision for us to receive forgiveness when we do. Repentance does not mean that from here on we will life a perfect life – it means that we wish to do so, that we are determined to do so, to the best of our ability. But that change of heart is necessary; repentance is absolutely necessary. Faith is one of the things that saves us, but it’s not the only thing; repentance is also necessary. But there is more.

Jesus requires of us that we confess our faith in Him before others. “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32. Can we be saved without confessing our faith in Christ? Certainly not, no more than we could be saved without repentance or without faith.

Jesus also requires that we be baptized, immersed in water, to complete our obedience to him. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;(moving toward), and with the mouth confession is made unto (in the direction of) salvation.” Romans 10:10. "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:27. It is in the act of baptism that the conditions of God’s saving grace are completed. Jesus said “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:16.

God’s great eternal plan for the salvation of mankind is very simple:

Hear His word (learn it by studying the Bible) Romans 10:17

Believe on His son John 3:16

Repent of our sins Luke 13:3, & 5

Confess our faith before men Matt 10:32

Be baptized in water to receive the forgiveness of our sins. Mark 16:16; Acts 2:28, others.

The moment we come up out of the water our sins will be forgiven, we will be as pure and innocent as a newborn baby. Thus we begin our daily walk with God, as Adam and Eve did in the Garden before they sinned. No, we will not remain sinlessly perfect. When we become a child of God He does not take away our freedom of choice. We will stumble from time to time, but we have the precious promise that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Look at this beautiful promise, starting in verse 7, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Now we have a way to live righteously, to walk with God and to remain in covenant relationship with Him, enjoying His blessings both in this life and in the life to come.

It would seem that people who desire to worship God would seek to do so according to His pattern given in the Bible. Yet, Jesus said in Matthew 15:9 “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Men have started many religious groups of their own, frequently based on man-made teaching and not on the Word of God. It has been almost 2,000 years since our Lord established His church, and yet, most of the religious institutions in the world today are less than 500 years old. Some have connections to the great apostasy which occurred some 300 years after our Lord established His church, as He said He would. Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18 to build His church, even as foretold by the prophets of old. He fulfilled that promise on the first Jewish feast of Pentecost following his resurrection from the dead, a few days after He ascended back to the Father, just as He promised in Mark 9:1.

What is the church of Christ? It is the group of people who have obeyed the will of God and who have been added to it by him, (Acts 2:47; 5:14). Christ is the head of the church, (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Colossians 1:18). Man-made religious institutions have some man or group of men as their head, not according to the Bible pattern. The church of Christ was bought with His blood which He poured out on the cross that we might have forgiveness, (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7). Ephesians 5:30 tells us that we are members of His body; and Colossians 1:18 lets us know that the body is the church; the church of Christ, the body of Christ, and His kingdom are all one and the same. As members of His church we worship God according to the pattern given in the New Testament, as He has commanded. Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” How do we do that? Again, Jesus gave us the answer in John 17:17 when He prayed to the Father, "…sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.".

You should not rely on anything that any man tells you about God’s word, but check it out for yourself in the pages of God’s holy word. If I should fail to tell you everything that the Bible says about the salvation of your soul, then I haven’t told you enough; if I tell you things that are not found in the Bible, then I’ve told you too much, and it must be a lie, because Jesus said that God’s word is truth. The Bible itself warns repeatedly against adding to or taking away from the things it contains. Deut 4:2; 12:32; Jeremiah 6:2; and Revelation 22:18-19. “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

2 Cor. 6:2 : behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

May we “seek” the kingdom by studying the Bible and being willing to obey it in every aspect of our lives.