Do You Love Me More Than These? - [Matthew 6:19-24]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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May 20, 2012

00:01: For to me, to live, is Christ. It's the only reasonable thing to say, right?
00:07: It's the only thing that makes sense for a person who's born again. For to me, life is
00:16: Jesus Christ. Can you say that? Is that your heart's cry? Is that your heart's desire?
00:22: You know what we're learning today, this morning from our Lord Jesus himself, is how to say that for real.
00:28: Or as some of our children have said, for reals, can you say that for reals?
00:33: For to me, to live is Christ. And when you really understand that, then you can say, and to die is gain.
00:46: See, that almost sounds bizarre to the entire world and even some believers, doesn't it?
00:52: Why? Because it is born out of a love, a devotion, a realization of who we are in him and what he's done for us and the reality of that.
01:03: And that's what we're celebrating tonight. That's our joyous response. Lord Jesus, you have paid it all.
01:11: All to you I owe. And it's just wonderful to celebrate that tonight.
01:17: And we're gonna learn a little bit more about how to do that tonight in a real way, for reals.
01:23: Right? That's what we're gonna look at. Another passage in the book of Matthew chapter six in our
01:28: Lord's Sermon on the Mount. One more application of what it means to live out real righteousness the way our
01:35: Lord Jesus wants us to. The way he did and the way that we are learning to with him.
01:40: So turn in your Bibles to chapter six again of Matthew's gospel. And we're going to be looking at verses 19 through 24.
01:47: It doesn't get much more real than this. And frankly, this is why the topic that our
01:53: Lord is dealing with tonight, it's why he dealt with it in this way. Because it's hard to argue that the reality of our faith being shown any more vividly than in how we spend our money.
02:08: And our Lord knew that. And he's teaching us that tonight. The title of the sermon, as you can see in your bulletin, if you were looking at that is,
02:19: Do You Love Me More Than These? Subtitle, we can say, Our Lord's Three -Step Challenge Regarding Our Ultimate Heart Love.
02:31: Whom do you love? That's the question that we're looking at tonight. And of course, we love the
02:36: Lord, yes. We say, Lord, I love you. But as you are aware in it, as in any relationship, the proof is in the pudding, right?
02:48: Or as we can say, maybe this evening, the proof is in the pocket book. All right?
02:54: What is our true heart love? So our prayer tonight is, Lord, purify our love, purify our hearts.
03:01: Teach us what it means to love you with a whole and undivided heart. So I hope that's your prayer tonight as well.
03:10: Before we look at Matthew chapter six, I wanna take you to a story of an event that happened in Jesus's life.
03:16: Turn to Matthew chapter 19 first. And we see a conversation between our
03:21: Lord and a rich man. You're familiar with this story, I'm sure. Matthew chapter 19.
03:30: And let's just start reading in verse 16 and see what transpires. And we'll talk about what happened between our
03:38: Lord and this rich man after we read through the story, okay? Matthew chapter 19, verse 16.
03:45: And someone came to him and said, Teacher, what good thing shall
03:51: I do that I may obtain eternal life? And he said to him, why are you asking me about what is good?
03:58: There is only one who is good. But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.
04:05: Now let that sink in for a minute. What our Lord just said. If you want to have eternal life, obey the commandments of God.
04:15: What's going on? Let's keep reading. We'll talk about it in a minute. Verse 18. Then he said to him, the rich man said to our
04:22: Lord, which ones? Reasonable question. And Jesus said, you shall not commit murder.
04:29: You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
04:38: The young man thinks for a moment. The young man said to him, all these things
04:44: I have kept. What am I still lacking? Jesus said to him, if you wish to be complete or perfect, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
05:03: But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving. Why? For he was one who owned much property.
05:12: Now let's think about this conversation for a minute. A few questions I want to ask us and we can come to the questions and it'll lead us into this discussion about our ultimate love.
05:23: First question I want to ask is, why did Jesus tell the man that he must obey the law in order to be saved?
05:30: And that goes against salvation by grace through faith alone. And our Lord is saying, the man comes,
05:36: I want to be saved. I want eternal life. What do I do, Lord? Keep the commandments, he says. Jesus preaching legalism?
05:44: What is he saying? Why did Jesus answer in that way? You know what
05:50: Jesus was doing? He was laying a trap for that man. He was laying a trap.
05:57: What was the nature of the trap that our Lord was laying for this young man? You know what he was doing?
06:04: Our Lord was giving him the easy answer. He was giving him the easy way, the easy issue to do, right?
06:12: Okay, you need to obey the 10 commandments. That's what Jesus said. Well, which ones? Which commandments? And Jesus made it very clear.
06:18: Well, the 10 commandments, obviously. Don't murder, don't steal, don't lie. Honor your father and mother.
06:25: Love your neighbor as yourself. Those ones. So he laid a trap and the young man sprung it.
06:32: Said, I've done it. I'm good. But the young man couldn't even believe it. Did you notice that? No, that's too easy, he says.
06:39: What else do I lack? I can't believe that that's all I have to do.
06:44: There's gotta be something significant. And then Jesus gives the punchline. Right?
06:51: What was the harder part? If Jesus laid the trap of the easy part, then what was, when did the hammer fall?
06:59: What was the hard part? It was an issue of his heart love, wasn't it? Sell all of your possessions because Jesus knew what was in his heart.
07:09: Sell all of your possessions, give to the poor and come, follow me. And the young man went away grieving.
07:18: Why? Because he was not willing to devote his entire pure undivided heart love to the
07:26: Lord Jesus. He said, I'm not gonna do that. I love myself too much for that.
07:34: He was unwilling to do it. For to me, to live is
07:40: Christ. For reals?
07:46: For reals? The Lord is saying, what is your heart love?
07:52: And again, brothers and sisters, there's no other reasonable response. And we know that, you know that,
07:57: I know that, we long for that, right? But in the everyday working of our lives, it's the
08:03: PlayStation three and it's the boat and it's the vacation and oh,
08:09: I love those things too. Right? And our decisions, our hearts struggle with having a purified love.
08:17: And that's what our Lord is helping us to do. He says, come, follow me. It is far, far greater than anything else you could ever love.
08:28: To love me most of all. And that's what our Lord is teaching us and helping us to understand.
08:33: So let's turn back to Matthew chapter six and allow the Lord to lead us and to shepherd us into that purified love, shall we?
08:42: Now, remember what our Lord has been teaching about. And I don't wanna belabor the point, but it's an important point. What has he been dealing with the entire time throughout these sermons that we've been looking at?
08:51: The heart, genuineness, simplicity, humility, selflessness, devotion to the
08:58: Lord Jesus alone for reals. That's what he's been dealing with. What does real righteousness look like?
09:05: And that is the same point again. Is Jesus beating a dead horse? Yes, and it's a good one.
09:12: It's necessary for us to hear and to have this applied to each part of our lives. And so once again, our
09:19: Lord is saying, be real in our attitudes and actions when it comes to money. Let me just ask you this, in financial decisions, in the financial decisions of your life, which is better?
09:30: To make your decisions based on the facts or decisions based on your dreams and hopes and desires and what you hope to be true about the stock market?
09:40: Which one is gonna be more successful for your future financial situation?
09:46: It is always better to make your decisions based on the truth, yes?
09:52: That's just smart. If you do anything else, it's being stupid, right?
09:59: So also in our spiritual lives, if we make our decisions based on a fantasy or on some information that is false, we are going to lose.
10:10: And that's what our Lord is teaching us here. Make your decisions based on the truth.
10:16: Now, there's three steps that our Lord is gonna take us through to convince us, if you will, to make our decisions about finances and our heart love as we think about real righteousness.
10:29: And those three steps are this. First of all, he commands us about our ultimate heart love. Secondly, he warns us about it.
10:37: And thirdly, he calls us to a decision. A command, a warning, and a call to decision.
10:43: Jesus was never about, well, do what you want. No, he says, make your decision today. And that's what our
10:49: Lord does in this text. Well, let's look at that. Let's read the verses, chapter six, verse 19 through 24.
10:56: Follow along, please. As I read, Jesus said, do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
11:06: But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal.
11:16: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body.
11:24: So then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
11:34: If then, the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
11:42: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
11:53: You cannot serve God and wealth. You know, it's a similar question that Jesus asked to Peter, wasn't it?
12:02: In John 21, we see when Peter had, denied Jesus. Jesus, Peter had been saying for years,
12:10: Lord, yes, you are the son of God. We will follow you. He was the leader of the disciples, right?
12:16: Yes, we know who you are. And then in the moment of trial, when his neck was on the line and his reputation stood to be ruined, do you know this
12:28: Jesus criminal? He denied, he cursed to try to prove that he wasn't really associated with Jesus.
12:37: And then Jesus in John 21 is bringing Peter back and testing him about what?
12:43: About his true heart love. Peter, do you what? Love me.
12:50: And he said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said again,
12:57: Peter, do you love me? He said, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.
13:03: He's trying to be humble, love you in this way. And then Jesus says what?
13:10: Peter, do you love me? And Peter was grieved. Why? Because Jesus said not three times, but do you love me even in this way that you now so confidently say, yes,
13:23: Lord, I love you. That's what was going on there. And the same question our Lord is asking us tonight, do you love me more than these?
13:33: What is the, is there a purity in your love for me? So let's look at this challenge that our
13:39: Lord gives us graciously, lovingly, once again, challenging us about the reality and the practical outworking of our righteousness in our pocket book.
13:48: Let's look at the command first of all, and we see it right there in verses 19 to 20. Two commands, a negative first, and then of course a positive command.
13:56: This is not rocket science, it's easy to see, but let's meditate on it for a few minutes together. Look at what he says there again in verse 19.
14:03: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. Where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
14:10: But what's the second command? Store up, exact same word, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
14:18: Where neither moth or rust destroy and where thieves do not break in or steal.
14:26: The word for storing up treasures, let's just think about that for a minute, means to put something valuable in a safe place.
14:33: Maybe in a combination lock, in a safe, in the bank, in a wise, safe, long -term investment.
14:43: Put it somewhere where it's not going to be destroyed, it's not going to be lost. Keep it safe, hidden away, so that it will stand the test of time and the elements of this wicked world.
14:56: The obvious point here Jesus is saying is what? The location of the storing up.
15:01: That's really the only difference. The command is the same. Almost every word in these two verses is the same.
15:07: The only thing that is different is what? The location of the storing up.
15:16: And that's key to understand because oftentimes we think of money as sinful, sadly.
15:23: And we think that enjoying money is also sinful. That's not what our Lord is saying at all. And I want to be very, very clear about that.
15:29: We must be very clear about that. Notice what's not included in the contrast here that Jesus is giving between verses 19 and 20.
15:36: Having treasure in the first place is not the issue. The amount of the treasure is not even mentioned.
15:44: Storing up treasures in general is not the point. The kind of treasure is not the point.
15:51: None of those are the issue. The only issue our Lord is pointing out and the difference between these two verses is the location.
15:58: So let's be clear about that. The question is, where do you put your treasure?
16:04: And of course that decision by you shows where your heart is. And that's the point our
16:10: Lord wants to make for us. Heaven is commended as the better location. Why? Because it's a better investment.
16:16: There's less chance, there's no chance guaranteed of its failure, of it going away, of it's being lost.
16:23: 100 % guarantee return. At a very high percentage,
16:29: I might add. And our Lord says, heaven is the better place to put your treasure.
16:39: You know, I was thinking as I'm talking to, we were going to Old Sturbridge Village and the zoo and having lots of fun times and playing the bocce ball and all that.
16:47: And almost everybody I'm talking to is thinking about moving. Either is moving or thinking about buying a new house or refinancing, right?
16:55: Why? Because it's smart. It's the smart thing to do. When the rates are low, you pay less interest.
17:04: It's a good idea. You can invest, put your money in a place that's gonna provide. That's good.
17:11: That is smart. It's the only smart thing to do. And that's what our Lord is saying. Use your money wisely, put it in a smart place for the blessing of God and your ultimate benefit that he wants for you.
17:27: Now look at verse 21. As Mike said, the word for is very important.
17:33: And you can see that in verse 21. Jesus lays out these two commands. Do not store up your treasures in this location.
17:43: Do store up your treasures in that location. Why? Explanation in verse 21.
17:49: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
17:58: Now, maybe you've heard this explanation before, but why did Jesus say it that way? It seems awkward. It seems backwards, right? It seems like Jesus should have said, if we dare utter those words, that where you put your money, your heart's gonna follow that.
18:14: You're gonna spend money, and that's where you're going to feel connected.
18:22: That would seem to make sense. It would kind of mean the same thing. Where your heart is, there will be your treasure.
18:29: But Jesus says it in this unusual way. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
18:38: Why does he say it that way? You know why it is? It's because talk is cheap.
18:48: Talk is cheap. Let me ask you, husbands and wives, and I'm one of these. How many times do you tell your wife,
18:56: I love you, or your husband, I love you? I hope you do. I hope you're not one of those people who can't get the words out, right?
19:03: I hope you tell each other, I love you. But how often do you really love them?
19:09: How often do you prove that that is not the case? When you sin against them, when you're irritated, when you act in a way that is unloving, or perhaps more loving of yourself than of her or him?
19:27: Talk is cheap, and our Lord knows that. And so he says it this way, where your treasure is, that's the proof of where your heart is.
19:40: The choice of where you put your money is the indicator of the love. The proof is in the pocket book.
19:49: That's what our Lord is saying. That's the reality of it. The principle could be stated this way.
19:58: Your decisions about your material possessions, including where to invest it, how to spend it, how you love it or think about it is critically important to you spiritually.
20:10: It's an indicator of what you love. What you decide in those areas shows the true inner workings of your heart.
20:21: For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.
20:28: Is that reflected in my budget? That's the issue our Lord is saying.
20:34: Or he's turning it around and saying, look at the budget. That shows exactly what my heart is.
20:47: Let me ask you this question. Is there anything in your life right now that you would say money is no object?
20:54: Or have you ever had anything in your life that you would say that about? Money is no object, right?
21:00: You wanna say that when you go to Disneyland because you don't wanna be thinking about how much it's costing you. Oh man, no, it's just, we're just gonna go enjoy, right?
21:09: I remember one time in my life, I had that estimation. Money is no object.
21:16: And I was spending a lot of money on phone calls. It was when I was in my first year of seminary and there was this wonderful woman living down in San Diego who
21:28: I had just met a few months before. But I had now moved up to seminary in Los Angeles. That's three hours away.
21:34: We couldn't see each other every day like I might have liked. And so what did we do instead?
21:40: Talking on the phone. I mean, I don't remember what the bills were, but it was a lot. Hours on end.
21:46: Sometimes we'd fall asleep on the phone. I'd be talking and this and that and hello? Hello?
21:53: Okay. Like hours and hours on the phone and the bills were more and more and more.
22:00: You know, I didn't care. It didn't matter a whip to me. I'm working two jobs and trying to do seminary, but it didn't matter to me.
22:08: Money was no object. You know what I mean? Why? Why would
22:14: I be willing to spend $60 on just a dozen roses? Why would I do something stupid like that?
22:23: Why? What's the word? It's called love.
22:29: Right? It's what I, or who, in this case, I loved.
22:35: And I couldn't get enough. More time, more money. We would drive, you know?
22:42: I would drive down there and then she would drive back. One time I even drove down to San Diego with her because she was a little sleepy.
22:48: And I'm like, no, you can't. Ah, it's too dangerous. But she had to get back to work. So there I'm driving down to San Diego, three hours, you know, just behind her just to make sure she didn't crash.
22:58: Then I'm driving back. Right? Craziness. Why? Then I married her, so I didn't have to spend so much money.
23:04: I don't know how that's working out, but what is it, brothers and sisters?
23:11: It's love. Love makes you do crazy things. Right? And our
23:17: Lord is saying, do you love me? Do you love me? And we say, yes, Lord, I love you.
23:23: And then he says to us again, do you love me? And we say, yes,
23:29: I do. Do you love me, really? That's what our
23:35: Lord is saying tonight. Do you love me? Talk is cheap. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
23:43: So the question is, where is your heart? Do you know where it is? Or are you just saying where it is?
23:49: That's the issue we really need to think carefully about. And we say, yes, Lord, I love you. Yes, Lord, I believe in you.
23:56: Help my unbelief, help my faith, help me to be true for reals, purifying, purify my heart.
24:04: You know, David said that a lot in the Psalms. Purify my heart. And I pray that sometimes.
24:10: Lord, purify, unify my heart for devotion to you.
24:18: So our Lord has challenged us and given us really that litmus test of heart love. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
24:27: That little slip comes out and it's red. There's no denying. Right? That's the truth.
24:33: And then secondly, the second step we can see in verses 22 and 23 is his warning.
24:39: His warning for us about the ultimate heart love. Let's read it. 22 and 23.
24:45: Our Lord says, the eye is the lamp of the body. So then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
24:52: But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness of the heart?
25:03: Now, you know, at first glance, pardon the pun, at first glance, this is a little hard to understand, isn't it?
25:10: What are we talking about? The eye, light to the body, darkness, great darkness. Why is our
25:15: Lord's stickiness in here about money and heart love?
25:21: You know what it is? He is emphasizing the importance, the significance of this issue. We have a tendency, brothers and sisters, do we not, to separate the sacred and the secular in our lives?
25:31: Oh, that's just business. That's finances. That's, you know, that's there, but that's money, that's business.
25:40: You gotta, you know, do those things in a certain way. Otherwise you don't really get ahead. But, you know, my walk with the
25:45: Lord, that's another matter. But Jesus says, uh -uh, that's not the way life is.
25:51: Real righteousness has to do with how you spend your money and how you love your money. And so our
25:56: Lord is trying to emphasize that point to us, the significance and the importance of this point. Now, the key to understanding this is understanding the words clear and bad.
26:05: You see those? Clear in verse 22 and bad in verse 23. Clear has this basic meaning of single or one.
26:13: It can mean pure, unclouded, uncomplicated, unobscured.
26:21: That's what the word means, basically. And he's talking about the eye of the body being unclouded and obscured.
26:27: Then bad, and we'll explain this in a minute, but bad can mean, it's just the general word for evil.
26:33: But it is also used, especially in context of the physical body, to refer to sickness or brokenness or deformity.
26:44: Brokenness, especially when it's connected to the body. And so what is our Lord saying here? He's saying, he's using an illustration of the physical body.
26:51: He's saying if your eye is clear and healthy and vivid, then that lets light into your whole body.
26:56: You close your eyes, what do you see? Absolutely nothing. It's dark, totally dark, right?
27:03: But the beauty and the color and the variety that we see in this world comes through this channel alone, this gateway through our eyes.
27:12: He says if that's damaged though, then your entire world is deformed and darkened.
27:20: This was vivid to me after the big crash six years ago. And this eye, thankfully the eyeball and the optic nerve were fine.
27:29: And so I was able to see basically, but, and I don't wanna gross anybody out, but the eye socket was broken on all sides.
27:36: And so the eye shifted, the eyeball itself shifted slightly. And they fixed that after some time.
27:43: But initially before they repaired that and put the eyeball back in place, my vision was obscured because this eyeball was sending a, like if I was reading a text of writing, was flat and straight like normal, but this one was showing a signal of the line of text this way.
28:03: So they were crossing, I couldn't even read. I could hardly walk because I mean, where's the ground?
28:08: Which one is the ground? So it threw off my equilibrium. And I realized that if these things are hurt, if they're gone, if they're blinded, your whole world is dark.
28:22: Everything you experience down into the inside of your body and it's how our Lord is illustrating in here is darkness.
28:30: And he says, that's the way it is with your heart. Your heart is the gateway to your entire life.
28:36: Just like the eye is the gateway into your mind and your inner man. And if the heart is darkened, if the heart is warped, if it's hurt, if there's a problem there, if your eyesight is crossed like this spiritually, you're gonna be hurting.
28:52: How great is that darkness? Because the pathway to your inner man, your soul is damaged and hurt and skewed and twisted.
29:03: And so you understand what our Lord is saying here. It's important. You've got to take it seriously. Don't make this, don't maintain a false dichotomy.
29:11: Well, this is just business. And this is spiritual matters. No, they're intimately connected.
29:18: Does the Lord need to emphasize that to us? Yes, I believe he does. We've got to hold them to inseparably connected together because that's the reality.
29:27: Where your treasure is, that is where your heart will be. And you don't want your heart clouded or you'll be making wrong decisions.
29:35: How important is right information for right investment, for good investment?
29:40: We've already talked about this. It's vitally important, but not just for investment, but in a spiritual sense for all the decisions you make.
29:47: Who I'm going to marry? Money or godliness? And the two aren't mutually exclusive.
29:54: I think we've established that, but it affects those kinds of decisions. What job am
29:59: I going to go for? Where am I going to minister? What choices are we going to make regarding the clothes we buy and the purchases we make?
30:10: It makes a difference how we judge those things. So our Lord is saying it's very, very important.
30:15: In fact, there is no aspect of your life that is not connected to your heart love. Money and beyond.
30:23: Our Lord is choosing money just because it's one of the greatest indicators of what's really inside.
30:31: So the Lord is saying here in these two verses, it's very, very important. Take it seriously, my beloved, he says.
30:37: And now finally, then, let's look at the call to decision in verse 24. You see it there? Our Lord says, it's like oil and water.
30:46: This is an oil and water decision. Do you understand that? You ever tried to mix the two? Think salad dressing, think gulf, think oil and water.
30:55: They don't mix. It's one or the other. They don't, you can shake them up and try to make them mix.
31:01: Oh, they're all in little pieces and pretend that they mix, but just give it some time. They're separated.
31:08: That's what our Lord is saying here. Let's look at verse 24. He says, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
31:21: You cannot serve God and wealth. And effectively, our Lord is saying, choose today whom you will serve.
31:29: What is a master? You know, we are, it's a common thing to look at the discussions in the
31:36: New Testament of master and slave and think, oh, well, employer and employee. Okay, you've heard that before.
31:43: It's not totally wrong. There are applications that can be drawn from those relationships.
31:49: But a master in those days was not an employer, not in the sense that we think of a boss, okay?
31:56: A master in those days was a person who owned another human being, usually through either capturing them in war or buying them from a slave market.
32:07: So you had a, you know, you get a receipt. You buy the slave, he's yours. And he does exactly, or she does exactly what you want them to.
32:15: They have no will of their own. They have to do exactly what you tell them to. If they don't, then you can do what you want to them.
32:24: This is what a master required, total obedience, devotion, commitment, focus, affection.
32:31: Your very person, if you were a slave, is owned by that other person. And this is the context that our
32:38: Lord is talking about. He is saying, you cannot serve two masters.
32:43: How are you gonna have that kind of devotion and love and affection and total focus on both
32:48: God and money? It's not possible. It's oil and water.
32:56: It's one or the other. And he says the hate -love contrast, these basic hard attitudes, feelings, emotions, affections, it's one or the other.
33:08: And Jesus says also in the area of decisions, you'll be devoted to one and despise the other.
33:14: It's loyalty, holding firmly to. That's what it means to be devoted or despise, to be disrespectful, dishonoring, unreliable, self -serving, disobedient, unfaithful, disloyal.
33:32: Our Lord is laying it down and drawing a line and saying, which one do you choose? Serve this master or serve this one?
33:39: You can't have both. So he says, you must decide. You know, our
33:45: Pastor MacArthur, John MacArthur writes in his commentary about this water and oil relationship.
33:52: And I just wanna read that quote for you as we come to a close. He writes this, the orders of those two masters,
34:01: God and money, are diametrically opposed and cannot coexist.
34:07: And listen to the contrast he brings out here. He says, the one commands us to walk by faith.
34:15: The other demands us to walk by sight. Think about these contrasts for a minute.
34:20: Faith, what I can't see, the promise of which is mostly in the future.
34:27: By sight, what I can feel, touch, experience now. One master requires us to walk, live our lives by faith.
34:35: One, walk by sight and sensation. The one commands us or calls us to be humble.
34:44: The other to be proud. The one sets our minds on things above, heavenly focus.
34:54: And the other to set them on things below, temporal, temporary of this world.
35:04: One calls us to love light. The other to love darkness. The one tells us to look toward things unseen and eternal.
35:14: The other to look at things seen and temporal. The life that Jesus is leading us into is a life of faith, isn't it?
35:25: It's a life of the promise of blessing of a future kingdom and a future city, just like Abraham looked forward to, right?
35:34: He never saw the fulfillment of the promises that God gave to him in this life. And yet he believed and he trusted
35:43: God. That's what our Lord is saying about. It's a blessed life, it's a peaceful life. It's a joyous life.
35:49: It's a life of faith. So our Lord is exhorting us, please don't continue in the mistaken conception that you can share love and devotion between yourself and the
36:03: Lord Jesus. Oh, yeah, but it's 90, 10, it's 95 and five.
36:09: Jesus says, no, for to me, to live is
36:17: Christ. For reals, for reals.
36:23: And our Lord wants to bless us with saying, yes, Lord, I love you most of all.
36:30: I would challenge you in the next day or two, go look at your spending record for the last month or two or three or year.
36:38: And say, Lord, where is my treasure? Where is my treasure? Because whether I like it or not, that's where my heart is.
36:47: And I want my heart to be yours and yours alone. You've bought me, you've saved me. I love you, I say that,
36:53: I know I struggle. Lord, purify my love for you. Is that your heart's desire tonight, brothers and sisters?
37:01: If you know the Lord Jesus, I know it is. And so I exhort you as our
37:06: Lord has. Think about it, study it, analyze yourself and see if your treasure really is where you think it is.
37:18: I wanna just close by reading you two anecdotes that I think might bring these principles home to us.
37:25: I don't know if you've read the little booklet by Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle. It's quite good, simple, easy.
37:32: A lot of good principles in there that talk about giving and our attitudes towards money and finances.
37:39: Helpful things are in there. And I took that, I'm reading that right now. And I took that from his book,
37:44: Randy Alcorn. And he writes this. He says, John Wesley toured a vast estate with a proud plantation owner.
37:53: They rode their horses for hours and saw only a fraction of the man's property. At the end of the day, they sat down to dinner and the plantation owner eagerly asked, well,
38:06: Mr. Wesley, what do you think? And Wesley replied,
38:12: I think you're going to have a hard time leaving all of this. All right, good answer,
38:18: I think. And then he tells another story. Randy Alcorn says,
38:24: I recently spoke with Laverne, a woman with terminal cancer. She was crying, not because she was going to die, but because I asked her to talk about giving.
38:35: Through tears, she said, giving melts me. It blows me away to know that God's chosen me to give.
38:45: It won't be long before I see him face to face. I just want to hear him say, well done, my good and faithful servant.
38:54: Suddenly Laverne laughed. I mean, what else matters? She said, why should
39:00: I care about anything else? Laverne's heart is focused on heavenly treasures.
39:05: Because she is storing up treasures in heaven, each day brings her closer to those treasures.
39:16: Brothers and sisters, can I say that if you, if your heart response to that story about Laverne is, yeah, well, easy for a lady with terminal cancer to say, she doesn't have much to lose, does she?
39:31: We'd never say that out loud, how cold would that be? But if that's your heart response, then you haven't really got it yet.
39:37: You haven't really understood what our
39:43: Lord is teaching us here tonight. May it be that it wouldn't take terminal cancer to teach us the blessedness of a singular heart of devotion to the
39:56: Lord. Amen. May it be that we could learn from his loving teaching, from his word, by his spirit, by his wise word that for me to live is
40:09: Christ. And if I love him with my whole heart, there is nothing that I would not give, that I would hold back for myself before him.
40:21: Amen. That's what our Lord wants for us, the blessed joy of total abandon in love to him.
40:29: So look at your checkbook, look at your credit card roster on the electronic banking, right?
40:38: And say, Lord, pray over it. Say, Lord, what is my treasure? Do I need to love you more purely, more sincerely?
40:45: It doesn't require a lot of money. This doesn't have anything to do with how much you have, okay? It has everything to do with how much you love.
40:54: And that's what our Lord would teach us tonight. Let's pray. Father, you have loved us so much.
41:04: You have given everything. You, Lord Jesus, paid the ultimate price.
41:09: You faced the wrath of the father on our behalf, even as we have celebrated tonight and you were victorious.
41:17: You conquered sin and death so that we might be perfect in you before the father.
41:26: So Lord Jesus, we thank you for that. I pray that you would press these truths into our hearts once again, purify our love, rip away those competing loves that we so often run to,
41:43: Lord, on our bad days and our flesh, our habits of self -accumulation.
41:50: And Lord, purify our love for you. Give us eyes to see, raise our eyes to see your glory and your greatness and the joy of storing up our treasures in heaven for your glory.