Matthew six and verse twenty eight. Matthew six and verse twenty eight. And why take, he thought, for Raymond, consider the lilies of the field how they go. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not a raid like one of thee. 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? Four times over in this passage you have those words, O ye, of little faith, you will find them in verse twenty-five, or take no thought for your life. And then again in verse twenty-eight and verse twenty-thirty-one, therefore take no thought, saying, and verse... Thirty-four. Take therefore no thought for the model. Four times over we are exhorted in these few verses to take no thought for the model. In other words, don't worry, don't fret about tomorrow, which means good exhortation for the day in which we live. We're constantly concerned and worried and disturbed about tomorrow. But here is the Lord Jesus, and he's telling us not to be concerned about tomorrow. Take no thought for tomorrow. more tomorrow. Sufficient unto the today is the evil thereof. And right in the middle of these four exhortations you bring to our attention the little lily. If you return to the song of Solomon, you would find several references to the lily. The Lord Jesus Christ, the divine bridegroom, is there likened unto the lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon. of significance that Christ should be likened unto a lily, the lovely little lily of the valley. But then he turns around and he likened her people unto that same delicate little flower. We read over there about the lily among the thorns. He likened his children among thorns, the righteous among the wicked, for the thorns are to be burned. And so Christ likened his own... Those who are saved by his grace delightens them unto lilies among sores. Then he also is found feeding among the lilies, down in the garden of the lilies, and he's feeding, he's getting something out from these lilies. Then we find him also in chapter six and verse two, he has come down to his garden to gather lilies. And the Lord is indeed gathering his lilies, as we'll see a little later on, eventually to gather all his lilies. And then if you were to turn over to the book of Kings, First Kings seven and nineteen, I think it is, you would find the engraving of lilies in the temple. In that beautiful temple where God's presence was realized, you'll see among the carvings in that beautiful temple, carvings of lilies. And there you have the lily glorified in the presence of God. What a wonderful book our Bible is. A much variety of truth. is presented in the Scripture. And so this morning I want to speak upon the little lily of the valley. You know it does not toil or strive, as it tells us here. It does not toil nor strive to be a lily, because it has the lily light. And here is something I want to emphasize for the sake of those who are not Christians. You do not toil or strive to become a Christian. A lot of people are trying their utmost to become a Christian. You don't become a Christian by striving, by toiling, by spinning, by self-effort. No, you become a Christian when you become associated with Jesus Christ. Just like in Song of Solomon, he is the lily of the valley, and then he turns around, and he likens his own people unto that same little flower. And how wonderful to know that you have the lily like it. The great light. He that has the sun have light. And you don't strive to become a Christian. When you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you have the lily light. You are associated with, identified with, united with, our Lord Jesus Christ. And then again, you know, the lily is not manufactured. Of course, there are some differences. They've imitated almost every flower today. One time I think I told you I went to my sister's home and I thought she had a beautiful bunch of roses on the dining room table and I went over and stuck my nose into a bunch of everything. They look so real. But they were not real and so today there are a lot of people and they look like Christians. They seem to have the outward appearance but they are just not. And so it's a wonderful thing to be a real lily, not manufactured, not made of men, not artificial. Why? are lilies real because they're born of the lily seed. And, you know, that's how we become lilies. You'll notice the lilies we're talking about, they grow. She says, consider the lilies of the field where they grow. Now, artificial flowers don't grow. They remain as they are, as they were made but real Christians. It's a good way to detect the difference between a real Christian and a non-Christian, although a person may make a profession and join the church. And as an invitation is manufactured, he's not genuine, he's not a real lily. The real lily grows. Consider the lily of the field. How it grows, says the Lord Jesus. And when a person becomes a true child of God, he grows, grows in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the lily becomes a lily because it comes from the lily seed. We become Christians because we're born again. not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. A Christian comes from a seed. What seed? The word of God. It tells you that in that text I've just quoted in First Peter, one twenty-three. We're born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. The word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Now incorruptible seed begets incorruptible life. Corruptible seed begets Corruptible life. We were born into this world through corruptible faith. And therefore, we are corrupting day by day. We're going down. And everything outside of Christ is corruptible. And in that coming day, the corruptible shall put on incorruptible, meaning that the child of God who's really been born again will take on the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. because he has been born of the incorruptible seed, the Word of God. Simply meaning this, when you come to know Christ as your personal Savior, something is now within you that incorruptible, it will remain the same as that text says, incorruptible seed, the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. How wonderful that is. You know, you read over in First John, to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the children of God which were born. Not of blood. We are not homemade Christians. Not through natural generation. Nor of the will of the flesh. We are not self-made Christians. Not by your own self-effort. Not of man. We are not man-made Christians. But born of God. God made Christians. And there's a big difference. You have the four. class has given you in that one text in first John, or rather John's Gospel, chapter one and verse twelve. Born not of blood. A lot of people seem to think because their parents were Christians or their grandparents were Christians that they automatically are Christians. No, friends. The Bible just says, he says, that's not the case. Nor are the will of the flesh. I don't become a Christian by myself. independent of anyone else. No, I do not become a Christian by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, not by the operation of any man or the influence of any man upon me do I become a Christian. But I am born of God. It's God's operation upon me. It's God's interest in me. It's God's influence upon me. It's God's spirit that works with me. It's God's spirit that quickens me. And thus I'm born of God. That's how I become. a lily because I'm born of the lily seed. And you know another thing, once a lily, always a lily. A lot of people don't believe this, but it's in your Bible. Once a lily, always a lily. He says, I give unto my eternal life, they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them meat is bigger and all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. You never saw a lily turn into a weed. Yes, although some smell like weed, they use a weed. But not a real lily. Here is a lily, once a lily, it's always a lily. A lovely lily. Isn't that a wonderful thing? I'll tell you, is that dependent upon us? We wouldn't be lily's law. Once a lily... always and only. Once a Christian, always a Christian. We owe that to the grace of God and the keeping power of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's plainly taught in our Bible. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ in Christ Jesus our Lord. How wonderful then to know that you are a lily. And you're a lily because of the grace of God. You're a lily because of that incorruptible seed that's been planted within your soul. You're associated with Jesus Christ. and you'll never be entering a footer, Lily, in the sight of God. It doesn't depend upon your feelings either. A lot of people think, well, if I feel saved, I'm saved. If I don't feel saved, I'm lost. I never will forget the first airplane ride I had. Jimmy Chapel of North Carolina coached me into the field back in those days, and that's from thirty-three years ago. plane friends will say then as they are now. One of these sellers came to Donald's town and was taking people up for a ride for one dollar. Jimmy said, let's go up. I didn't want to go up, but I wouldn't let him be favoring I was. I said, all right, I'll go. Well, I'm going to tell you, when that thing got up in the air, I thought it was suspended up there by a cable, and we were there to stay. And if that plane had done what I said, like... It was going to do, we'd have taken a nose dive. I wasn't feeling too happy or too safe up there. And if that plane had responded to my feelings now, we'd have come down in a hurry. But the plane paid no attention to my feelings. It went about its business, and I'm glad it did. Finally it came down. It went up, but it took its flight, and it came down independent of my feelings. I went into the plane, I trusted it, and although I didn't feel too happy about it at times and too straight, nevertheless the plane brought me back down again. It didn't pay any attention to my feet. And you know, once you come to Jesus Christ, and once you accept him, once you trust him, once you've spoken to him, he'll take you to heaven. You may have miserable days, you may feel sometimes a little unhappy, but Jesus Christ is paying no attention to your feet. You trust with them. See my feelings, what they will, Jesus, is my savior still. Mine is something, a piece of undigested food can rob a Christian of his joy. He gets feeling miserable and wondrous sometimes he stays. Friend, if you're in Christ, you're in Christ's state. And you're safe in him. Safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. On my birthday, I don't feel one day older. And I did the day before. But according to the calendar, according to what is on that calendar, and according to facts, I am older. Whether I feel like it or whether I don't, I'm older. Whether I feel like it or whether I don't, if I trust in Christ, I am saved. I'm a child of God. His word does not alter. Born again by the corrupt, incorruptible street, the word of God was delivered from the plight of forever. You'll notice here the lilies grow. Tell of the lilies of the field how they grow. I wonder if we grow. You know, lilies have got to have soil growing. So do Christians. What is the soil a Christian grows in? Well, you'll have a time growing without this blessed book. Here's the rich lobe and the rich soil in which a Christian grows. Get the roots of your faith into this blessed book in the measure you read the Word of God. that measure you will grow. If you only read a little, you'll only grow a little. If you read a lot, you'll grow a lot. How wonderful when a Christian gets into this blessed book that knows what it is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the soil. And then you've got to have atmosphere. Lily can't own or any part can't grow without the proper atmosphere. You've got to have oxygen. You've got to have atmosphere. What is the atmosphere? The air that as you ever expect to grow. What are some of the other things you sense as you're a Christian to grow? Witnessing for Jesus Christ. As you witness for Christ, as you speak to others about the Lord Jesus, you'll grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. As you fellowship with God's people, mingle among other lilies, you're not going to grow much if you're seeking your fellowship among the thorns, among the wicked. You're not going to grow much as a Christian. in the measure that Christians fellowship together, come together for prayer and Bible study and fellowship together in other respects. They're going to grow. They're in the proper environment. They're in the proper society. They're in the proper company. They're going to grow as living. Then again, circumstances. Many a painful circumstance is the sort in which a lily goes. I know some Christians, and they've gone through some trying circumstances, painful circumstances, maybe illness, trouble in the family, gone through some hard times and trying circumstances, but they have emerged having grown in grace and the knowledge of Lord Jesus. Many and many are soldier boys from home. My, he said, if I hadn't have been a Christian, I couldn't have stood. I just couldn't have stood up to the temptation. Being a Christian, I took my stand for Christ. It was hard at night. But I took my stand, and the result of that young Christian taking his stand in the midst of adverse circumstances. He grew and developed. He became a testimony. He strengthened his spiritual life. And so often circumstances are essential to our growth in the things of God. And again, ordinances, if you're born again Christian, One of the first things you should do is get baptized, because in that ordinance you'll contribute to your growth at the time of thought. And then the Lord suffered. It's nice to sit at the Lord's table on Sunday morning, as we were hearing this morning. We grow at the Lord's table. We get to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ, for he was made known to them on the twenty-fourth of Luke in the breaking of bread. Christ makes himself known to his people. in this ordinance, and thus all these things contribute to the growth of the child of God, the growth of the lilies. Consider the lilies of the fields, how they grow, says the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful to look at a Christian and say, my, how we grow? How are she growing? Just developing as a Christian, you look at some when they're standing still, they're not growing at all. They're just where they were a year ago. Just where they were five years ago, they haven't shown any development, they haven't shown any growth in grace at all. You know, it's not all sunshine, Mr. Lilly. How do they grow? Some things are favorable, other things are not favorable. The Lilly has wind sometimes to blow it, and the rain helps it down. There's night and there's day, there's darkness, there's light, there's cold in their feet. Lily has all this to encounter. With all these things, some of them unpleasant, yet they contribute to the growth of the little Lily. Some careless foot sometimes tramples the little Lily and crushes it. But finally the little Lily staggers once again to its feet, and blue veils against the ring. Sometimes a heavy rainstorm pelts a little lily to the ground. Once again it struggles and staggers to its feet and shakes away the rains often, sometimes for children. Oh, they're trampled, they're crushed. Circumstances have been true. They seem almost to have come to their end. But by the grace of God and the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ, they stagger once more to their feet, and they take away the tears and they lift their feet. And they go on, for God they grow. Consider the lilies of the leaves, how they grow. You know the little lily doesn't go by toiling, it tells you that year. They toil not, neither do they spin. The lily takes what comes. It takes what comes. In other words, if you want to use a word to describe the lily, it just abides as it is. It toils not, it worries not, it breaths not, it weeps not. Just consider the lily of the field how it grows. It toils not, neither does it spin. The little lily has many things going for it. The gentle wind fans it. The sun warms it. The earth feeds and nourishes it. The rain gives it strength. And here's how the little lily grows. You'll notice all its strength is from without. It gets all its nourishment from without. It's dependent upon these things. The little lily doesn't have a little motor in itself. It's not able to, by its own hands, provide these things. It just soaks up everything that nature gives it. And in this way it grows. It toils not. Neither does it spills. Yet he said, I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed like one of these. Solomon's glory was artificial. Solomon's glory was man-made. But the glory of the lily, lily, is God's glory. It's God's glory. The glory that God has given to us is real, true. It's not artificial. It's not man-made. Consider the lily. And you know our strength to grow is not in ourselves. It's all outside ourselves. I can't pull myself into knots and I can't make up a mind into my brow. I'm going to grow now in the midst of it. I'm going to do it. No. There's a little word that says, Abide in me. Let my word abide in you. It means abiding in Jesus Christ. So day to day, abiding in him. You take the branch and the vine, you don't see that branch drifting and turning and struggling to bear fruit. It doesn't do that. All the branch does is abide in the vine. And the vine is the one that sends the sap through the branch to produce the leaves and eventually the grapes. But it's up to us as Christians to abide in Jesus Christ, to rest in Him. It's not by self-effort. It's not by my works. I become spiritual. For I go as a Christian. I abide in Jesus Christ. I just soak up. I absorb all that I have in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is my life. He's my life. He's my soil. He's my sun. He's my atmosphere. He's the showers. He's everything to me. Without Christ, I can do nothing. Oh, to know what it is to abide in Jesus Christ. You say, how do you do that? To abide in Jesus Christ by simple faith. As I read his word, just read his word. I am certainly abiding in him by reading all about him. I look to him in prayer. And I don't get planted. or excited. I just look to him with simple complacency. I look to him. I trust in him. I abide in him. And as I do, I go with a Christian. You never saw a faithful Christian grow yet. You never saw a worried Christian grow yet. You never saw a Christian tied in knots and living under a strain. An inconstant tension. You never saw a Christian like that go yet. A Christian who's going is a Christian who's abiding in Jesus Christ. Allowing Jesus Christ to reproduce his life through me. The mirror doesn't struggle and strive to reflect the light that's on my face. No. The mirror is right there. All I've got to do is stand before it and look into it. and it will reduce and reflect my light. Jesus Christ, all we have to do is look to him. Look to him. Get before him and look into his blessed face. Look into his blessed word. Just look to him in every time of trial and circumstance, and he will reflect his own likeness in us. This is how we grow as Christians. A lot of Christians, my, they're so frantic, they're so busy, they're running here, they're running there, I pity some Christians. Members of churches, they're going from Monday morning to Sunday night, they've got to do this, they've got to do that, or on this committee, they've got to do that, or that committee, they've got to do Sunday school, they've got to sing in the choir, there's something going all the time, they're just go, go, go, go, go. I'd like to ask them how much time they're spending in this legislature. I'd like to ask them how much time they spend on their knees in prayer. I'd like to ask them how much time they have just to simply rest in Jesus' life, to abide in him, and let him reproduce himself through this. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ living in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. That's the point. Just like the branch of biding in the vine, so the Christian abides in Jesus Christ. By faith, by simple repose, we rest in him, and thus we grow. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. Everything they get comes from without. Everything I need to grow in place comes from without me. comes from Jesus Christ. The little lily is so frail in itself. It's not at stock or like a sunflower. It's strong and hot-cheek. But oh, no, the little lily in itself is so frail. Her thing about the lily is braver. You know, the Bible speaks of Christians producing a braver. We are a sweet saver of Christ unto God. a sweet savor of Christ. Is there a Christ-likeness above me? Does God receive, if he smell the savor of his son in me as a Christian? Through that sweet fragrance above me, is on the length a Christian? Do you remember Mary? And she anointed his feet with oil. She took her lovely locks and she used those silken threads as a towel. she wiped the feet of the Savior. When she did, a lot of that perfume, a lot of that moisture on her hair, when she left the Savior's feet and as she walked around the house and she walked out into the community, people that smell something, they smell the lovely aroma, they smell the fragrance, where did she get it? At Jesus' feet, that's where she got it. By lavishing her love upon him, she extracted a perfume of fragrance to linger with her. Though in the measure we spent time at his blessed feet in fellowship with him, in that measure we're going to carry away a fragrance, something that others can detect. They should acknowledge of the early disciples that they had been with Jesus and learned of him. There was a favor of Christ about him. So there will be a favor of Christ about you and me as Christians. But we spent time in distress. The lily, too, is individualistic. No two lilies are alike. No two lilies are alike. Because I'm amazed each lily stands on its own. And yet, you know, there's a family likeness. They're all lilies. You look at them. From a distance you would say they're all alike, but you examine each one. No two are exactly the same. And although there's a family likeness about God's people, we're one family, all saved by self and grace. Those who are the children of God, there's a family likeness, the likeness of Christ. But examine each Christian by himself, and you'll see there's a difference. No two are exactly the same. And yet there's a family likeness. You know if he were two, consider this family likeness. My would do away with a lot of envy and jealousy among God's people. I think I mentioned one time being in the home of the Plowman family out in Iowa, and my was wonderful in Central Iowa to be in that home. There were about twelve kids in that family, and just about every one of them could do something, had a talent of some kind. And I used to be there and watch them, sitting back in one of the corner, and there's the proud father sitting there. You could see pride bustling out all over them. A wise daughter was playing the piano. Another one of his children was singing. Maybe there'd be a duet. Maybe there'd be a quartet. Another one could play some other instrument. And you just were entertained all evening by one family. There was no pride. There was no jealousy on the part of his children. Because when one was playing, the other one could say, well, that's my sister, you know. That's my brother, you know. They had a pride in what each other was doing. It was a family life, a family love, a family respect. So there should be among God's people. If someone can play better than I can play, I shouldn't be jealous. That's my brother in Christ. If someone can sing better than I can sing, why? That's fine. That's my brother in Christ. We're all one in Christ. We're all doing it for Christ's sake. Someone can preach better than I can preach. Wonderful. He's glad to enjoy listening to us. He's my brother in Christ. He's exalting my Lord. He's trying to reach sinners for the Savior. There's a family likeness, and yet we're all individual. Let's not forget our individuality. And be ourselves. You know, a lot of trouble with Christians today, they're not themselves. They're trying to be somebody else. The little Lily doesn't do that. The little little Lily is its chef. justice. You know, the reason a lot of people don't take a good photograph is because they try to pose. Every photographer, a good photographer, he tries to catch the subject. When he's not trying to pose, they've got a natural. Some of the best pictures you kids were taking when you didn't know it. Someone took you and you went, look, you weren't expecting them. They got you natural. When people try to pose, the only thing they impress is the film. They don't impress anyone else. Just be natural. Be yourself. Don't try to be someone else. The little lily is individualistic. Each one is its own step. May that be so with us. Consider the lilies how they grow. Think of the simplicity of the little lily. How humble it is. There's hanged this little hair. You know the little lily is just the same. on the king's table in the palace where many a lily of the valley has been in little days on the table in the palace of the king for high honor but it would be just the same it was in some obscure nook way off in some field or in the home of a beggar just the same whatever it's found it's not high and mighty it's not conceited and proud because it's on the king's table no it's the same everywhere how nice to be the same everywhere consistent. The same on Monday as we are on Sunday. Wherever we are, we're just the same, just the same. We're lilies of the valley. We're the Lord's beloved people. We're consistent. Like the lilies, if we are exalted, we hang our head. And these are the lilies. Consider the lilies of the people. How do they grow? Why do they grow? How do they grow? Straight up. They don't crawl like a vine. The lily grows straight up. It doesn't grow crooked. Christians just grow straight up. They don't grow crooked. They shouldn't. Nor do they crawl like a vine. They grow to the glorious cross. They've got one object, one cave, and that's a go-up. Do they come and adore, so mature? They grow to Lord God. They grow in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. They grow straight up. You know it's nice when you see a consistent Christian. One of the first things that happened when I came to Albany, eleven years ago, I never will forget it, there was a young couple in fellowship with them at that time, and they wanted their partner. And so the girl phoned down to the Albany Herald. wanting an ad to be put in the paper for an apartment. And she said to the girl down the Albany Herald, she said, I want you to put in the ad that we're born again Christian. We neither smoke nor drink. I don't know who the girl was down the Albany Herald and answered, but she must have been a Christian for she said, is that latter necessary? You say you're born again Christian. Isn't that enough? You don't have to put in you neither smoke nor drink. Wasn't that nice? Even the girl, the Albany Hurl, said that. Why, if you tell the people you're born again, Christians, you don't have to tell them you don't smoke or drink. They'll take that for granted if you're born again, Christians. And you'll be clean occupants of the other part. That's going to the glory of God, slowly and straight up. Another thing about the lily is pure. It's true to its name. My, how often that expression is heard. Pure as a lily. Pure as a lily. There's nothing so attractive as purity. Purity. When you think of a Christian, my, how pure a Christian should be, in thought, in word, indeed. I'm not stooped to the violent power and imputed things of life. One time I saw a lady carrying a little pooch on her pillow. Imagine that. Quite as snow, I don't know what kind of an animal it was, maybe a chihuahua or something. Anyway, I know it had a tail just about as long as its body, and she was carrying it on this pillow. You could see it was fed with an eyedropper, like fed with vitamins, taking care of better than a little baby would be. Then I thought to myself, if she'd let that thing down, let it go its way, I'll guarantee you see its tail sticking out of the garbage can. Yet it could never order any fish that could be provided. But Ed's got an instinct, a promise among the guardians. Christian, these are garbage cans alone. God has provided the best for you and me. What is he saying in this word, Philippians four and eight? Whatsoever things are true? Whatsoever things are honest? Whatsoever things are just? Whatsoever things are pure? Whatsoever things are lovely? Whatsoever things are of good report? Think on these things, feed on these things. Don't shoot to the garbage cans. He's got a place for a Christian. He didn't exist. Lily's pure. Not only so, it suggests happiness, the lily bell, and the little bell that rings. Suppose the ring. The lily of the valley is the lily bell, and the very shape of it indicates the bell and indicates happiness. Let me tell you something. Purity and happiness go together. If a Christian is pure, and we're told we... then you're going to be happy when the two go together. You can't divorce. Philippine Christians, Philippian Christians, in all four chapters, you don't find the word sin mentioned. But you find the word rejoice, joy, something like eighteen times. Because the two don't go together, joy and sin, joy and sin, they don't go together. You have joy. You can't be engaging in sin. If you're engaging in sin, you can't have the joy. Curity and rejoicing go together. The lily bell is pure, and the bell suggests its happiness. You know its life is so brief, the lily. Not like some other flowers and trees that last for many years. Little lily's life is very brief. Christian, your life and mind is very brief. Threats tend to fight lily. lily among thorns. I mentioned that in the beginning. You read that in the song of Solomon. Pride groups likened his pride unto a lily among thorns. Oh, those thorns, how they preach, how they care. Yes, a Christian flock is oftentimes among thorns. As many a lily a god, child of God, or God's children in an office. They're unsaved at that office. They're floored. They don't mind pricking the Christians a lily. They don't mind tearing the lily. Circumstances in the society are not very blessed. We put out those lilies among thorns. That's the testimony of the Christian in this world full of thorns and briars. We're lilies among thorns. You can only expect the pricks and the tears from the unconverted. That's part of our fright. as Christian. Then he says, he feedeth among the lilies. And lie, he comes down and he feeds among the lilies. This morning in our service before this room, you remember the Lord Jesus Christ was taken to the bed of the wine. There were a group of lilies here born against Christians, and the Lord Jesus was found in the midst of the lilies, in the garden, and he was feeding among the lilies. As each lily was thanking him for salvation, as each lily was bowing his head in worship, and praising the Lord, he's feeding among the lilies, getting something out of his lilies. Isn't that something? He weeps among the lilies. But then he said, for I referred to it in song and song, he gathered a lily. He gathered a lily, some in but, some in blue. Oftentimes you read in the paper about a little child dying. The Lord Jesus has gathered one of his lilies in the body. Then you read of an old person who's passed away. Maybe a child of God, one who's been really born again. He's gathered one in full blue. Maybe he's beginning to fade. He's gathered it. Today he's gathering a lily, one by one. one of these days the Lord Jesus Christ is going to gather all his lilies together. One of these days when he comes he's going to gather the whole God. He'll not leave a lily left. He'll not leave one lily behind in this cool old wicked world. He'll take all his lilies out from among lilies out from among the thorns and the priors. And the thorns and the priors are like the wicked. They're to be burned. They're to be judged. And he's going to take out your way all his lilies. What a day that is. The day is fast approaching. Every Christian is awaiting that day. Things in the world point to it. Things in the world indicate that day is not far distant. When Jesus Christ shall come, come and gather up all his lilies to be forever with himself, to be like him, to gather them out from among the thorns in the briars. By concluding, you mark at this, what are you this morning? A lily or a thorn. If you're born again, you're a lily. If you're not born again, you're a thorn. Among the priors, you can't be both. You've got to be one or the other. Quite a contrast, isn't it? Not a lily. A thorn. You may be a respectable thorn. You may be an honest thorn. But you're a thorn, as God sees it. When Jesus comes, he's going to take all the lilies, and he's going to leave all the thorns. Not one thorn will be in that root that's caught up when Christ comes. All of them left behind for a judgment for the thorns and briars are to be burned by the liars. What are you? Are you among the thorns this morning to weed, or are you one of his livers? anyone that he tells us here in verse twenty eight consider the lilies may it be yours and mine to consider them and the aspects we are presented with it if we are a lily see to it that we grow like a lily if you're not a lily if you're just a thorn in god's wrath this morning you will come to eat of christ believed that he died upon the cross shed his flesh and put away all your sin cast in that you're a savior that wonderful gardener say this, planting lilies, caring for his lilies, watching over his lilies. And that's the last day when we should gather every one, go and do whatever we've got. May you be proud of lilies this morning. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, may come to be, and ask thy blessing upon thy word. He thank you for thy truth. How wonderful thy word is. Thank you for this variety. Even our Lord Jesus Christ told us to consider the lilies and we did consider them this morning. We trust, Father, that we have received profit as we consider these lilies. Those of us who are saved by grace divine. May we look like lilies as the world sees us. May we act like them. We do pray for the unseen. We trust that our Holy Spirit will strengthen us the thorns and the friars for me. May they this morning see their love and their end.