Sunday Sermon: Treasure In Heaven (Matthew 6:19-24)

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You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

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New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

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Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. Open your

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Bible to Matthew chapter 6 and we're going to start in verse 19 as we continue our series in the

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Sermon on the Mount. These are the words of our Lord Christ as written by the

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Apostle Matthew. Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body.

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So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

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If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

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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.

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You cannot serve God and money. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank

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You for Your Word that You teach us and guide us and I pray that You also convict our hearts by Your Holy Spirit that is within us.

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May we not rely on riches or treasures on this earth or that even anything in this earth would give back to us for our happiness or our satisfaction, but we find ourselves fully satisfied in Christ alone.

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That we may seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

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Let us not become too comfortable in this world, knowing that this world is not our home.

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We're just a passing through, as the old spiritual goes. And we keep our eyes fixed upon Christ, looking forward to the time of eternity that we will be with You forever in glory.

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Let our heart's desire be there. If there is any way in us that is clinging too closely to this world,

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I pray that You convict us in that this morning as we read Your Word. Guide us in the

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Word of Christ. In His name we pray and all God's people said, amen. Thank you. You may be seated.

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A year ago, People Magazine talked to 14 celebrities in music and in movies.

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I did not buy an issue of People Magazine. I read this online. But I was interested to know what these celebrities had to say about being a star.

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That was kind of the main question that People Magazine put to these celebrities. What is it like being famous?

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Now some of these individuals that were asked this question had really been famous their entire lives.

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There wasn't really a point in their life when they did not know fame of some kind. And so their answers weren't terribly helpful.

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It's like all they knew was fame. But there were some that had gone from being poor to being rich.

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And their answers were a little bit more unique. So I wrote a few of these down. There was a singer that at the time

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I read from this particular singer, I didn't know who she was. Her name is Baukalis Almanzar. Does that name ring a bell with anybody?

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If you listen to pop music, you may be familiar with the name Cardi B. That's who that is. But she said the following.

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One positive thing about fame is that my family, whatever they want, they got.

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Everything that I want to buy, I can get it. I don't have to worry so much about my future.

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One negative thing though is that even though I would say I'm happy, I feel like I was a little bit happier years ago when

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I had less money. I had less people who had opinions about my life.

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I felt like my life was mine. Now I feel like I don't even own my life.

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I feel like the world owns me. Isn't that interesting?

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That the more stuff you think you get and the more you think you possess, the more you begin to realize,

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I don't really own this stuff. This stuff owns me. And even someone as worldly and as secular as Cardi B seemed to recognize that.

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Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, whose net worth passed $400 million this year, she said you can have all the money in the world and it does not mean that you are a happy person.

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Money does not solve problems. It makes some things easier, but then it just gives you a different set of problems.

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Everything has a trade -off in this world. I've learned that from being broke and I've learned that from being rich.

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Singer Justin Bieber said, I feel isolated. You're in your hotel room and there are fans all around, paparazzi following you everywhere and it gets intense.

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When you can't go anywhere or do anything alone, you get depressed.

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I would not wish this life upon anyone. All throughout my life,

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I've been intrigued and fascinated by superstars, but not to the point that I necessarily emulate those stars.

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It's because it's always been fascinating to me to read the interviews from these persons and find that they're not really truly happy.

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All of the fame and all of the fortune did not also bring them happiness.

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When I was a teenager, an actor that I greatly admired, probably for obvious reasons, was Harrison Ford. I was a

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Star Wars fan when I was a kid and I remember reading an interview with Harrison Ford in which he was asked, the interviewer said to him, just kind of laid out his resume before him, you've had these big movies, you're the highest grossing movie star of all time, you have it all.

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Is there anything yet that you have not found? And Harrison Ford said, yes, happiness.

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For all that he had and all that he had accomplished, he still wasn't happy. And one of the things that this has communicated to me as I've grown up and read various interviews throughout the years, is that the stuff of this world, no matter how much of it you have, it cannot make you happy.

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And no matter how many times we've been shown this lesson throughout the generations, nevertheless, you exist in a generation right now in which people are striving for stuff in order to make them happy.

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Now maybe they don't want fame and fortune. Maybe the buddy that you work with will even say to you,

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I'm not trying to be rich, I know that I'm never going to be rich in my lifetime, but nevertheless, even a person who just is going to be middle class for the rest of their life, they're still aspiring for things in order to give them some kind of satisfaction.

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But none of those things can truly satisfy. We live in a very disposable world, a disposable culture.

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I love history. And my wife just recently had come across an estate sale here in Junction City in which she bought me a couple of history books.

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And so I'm going through a century of American history from 1876 to 1976.

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And one of the things that you start to see as you progress through that history is how much more disposable stuff gets.

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Things seem to be built to last longer ago than today. Now things are built to expire.

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Like even your cell phone is not meant to last you more than what, like two years? Because they want you to buy the next model two years from now.

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I remember reading about how like General Motors was kind of scamming everybody when they were building cars essentially to break down so that you would take them to their

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General Motors auto parts store and that way you would buy more parts. So they're making their cars that you would spend more money with them.

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Things are kind of built in our American economy to be disposable, to break down so that you have to buy more stuff.

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It's the way the economy survives and moves. And yet in our disposable mindset, instead of helping us to realize how impermanent things are, it rather has developed in us this thinking that we need the next thing in order to be happy.

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As long as I can get the next model, I can get the next gadget, then whatever satisfaction I had with the previous model, maybe it will be even better this time.

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That seems to be the mentality that is established in our American minds. One of the things

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I wish this would reveal to us is that nothing lasts. And especially in our

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American context, we would recognize that nothing lasts. So if nothing can last, there can really be no true satisfaction in the stuff that you are getting, the things that you are pining for.

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Again, maybe you're not after wealth and riches, but even in a middle -class context, we can be looking for stuff and satisfaction in those things.

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And when suddenly those things don't satisfy us anymore, we're left shrugging our shoulders and asking, what next?

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This world is corrupt. It has been subjected to futility, as the

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Apostle Paul puts it in Romans 8. That means that everything is wasting away around us, even where you sit.

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The chairs that you are sitting in right now will not be present in this church in 50 years, if this building is even still standing that long.

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Everything is eventually coming to corruption and will break down and be no more.

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Our city has decided this high school isn't worth anything anymore. We have to build another one outside of town.

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And then what's going to happen to that building when they move into the next building? Everything is constantly moving, constantly changing.

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You can go to Rome and you can see the Colosseum, which has been standing for how many centuries, but we can't keep a high school standing for 50 years.

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Everything is constantly reminding us that the world around us is wasting away as part of the judgment placed upon it because of the sin of mankind.

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If everything has been subject to corruption, then what's going to happen to us if we devote our hearts to that stuff which is subject to corruption?

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Our hearts will also be corrupted. We already have corrupt hearts as sinful human beings born in the line of Adam.

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So the stuff that is corrupted that we devote ourselves to can't help that corruption. It's just going to make us more corrupt.

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And in fact, Jesus teaches that here as we look at this particular passage in Matthew chapter 6.

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So our hearts cannot be invested in the things here of this world. We must have hearts that are invested in heavenly things because those things that are spiritual endure forever while the things that are material in here on this earth are eventually going to come to waste and come to nothing.

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So Jesus gives this instruction. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

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Now this section that we're looking at today is divided up into three parts and you probably recognized the three sections right away.

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Verses 19 and 21, verses 19 through 21 is don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy.

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Verse 22 and 23, they look a little bit different. Verse 24 kind of comes right back into you cannot serve

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God and money. So don't invest yourself in the stuff of this world, but be focused upon God.

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But verse 22 and 23, they kind of look out of place. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

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But if your eye is bad, the whole body will be full of darkness. So we'll talk about what's different about that section as opposed to the other two.

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But these are the three sections that we have to look at here in this teaching on the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus instructs us to lay up treasures in heaven.

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Charles Spurgeon has said, I believe that God frequently tries us by the blessings which He sends us.

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This is a fact which is too much overlooked. When a man is permitted to grow rich, what a trial of faith is hidden away in that condition.

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It is one of the severest of providential tests.

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Where I have known one man to fail through poverty, I have known 50 men to fail through riches.

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So the Lord does indeed give us things to bless us. In fact, Jesus just taught us here in Matthew chapter 6 to ask for God's will on earth as it is in heaven and give us this day our daily bread.

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So there are things on earth that God blesses us with and we're to give God glory in all of those things.

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But may we not invest our hearts in those things that they capture our attention fully and those things become an idol, that the glory no longer goes to God, but we're looking for glory for ourselves in the stuff that is here on this earth.

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May we avoid that pursuit. May our heart's desire be first and foremost, God who is above.

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The Lord gives us things to bless us, but they are also a test. That we would not worship the stuff that is on this earth, but we worship

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God above who is in glory. Let's come back to our text here. Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 19. Jesus says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

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Now he's not just randomly grabbing some physical things to apply to the physical stuff that we invest ourselves in.

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Moth and rust, those two things are pretty significant to the kind of treasures that Jesus is saying that we will often invest ourselves in.

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What does a moth destroy? Moth destroys clothing. What does rust destroy? Rust destroys metal.

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Now you think of the richest persons during this day and age in Jesus' time, 2 ,000 years ago, and the way that they would demonstrate their wealth is in the stuff that they wore most generally.

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And their wearings would be very fine cloth, especially purple. That was the most valuable clothing in that particular time.

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And they would show their wealth even by the gold and jewelry that they would wear also.

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So you look at the treasures that they have right there on their person. They're wearing very valuable clothes and they're wearing very valuable jewelry.

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But Jesus is saying that even these things, even the richest of these things cannot endure the corruption of this world.

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Moth destroys clothing. Rust destroys metal. And oftentimes whenever we study a passage like this in Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus says, don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth, more often than not we attack the rich with this, right?

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The rich is who we go after. Don't be rich. The Bible doesn't say don't be rich. Instead, the apostle

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Paul instructs Timothy in this way in 1 Timothy 6, 17 through 19, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

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They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

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And it's that which is in heaven above. So oftentimes we like to go after the rich. The rich are all at fault.

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We even see that going on in the political spectrum whenever you hear that figure of the richest 1 % need to divide their wealth up and share it with the other 99 % of people who are out there.

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We're very common to go after the rich. They're an easy target. But when we read also in 1

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Timothy 6 that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, that's not saying that it's a sin to be rich.

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It's saying the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Even poor people can love money and therefore fall into a snare.

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One of the ways that in our own culture that the poor are being preyed upon is through the lottery.

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There's this false hope of getting rich quick and you will see many people in a lower class situation investing money month after month in lottery tickets, believing that they're going to get out of their poverty by chance, that somehow they're going to win the lottery.

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Folks, it's the same kind of sin there. It's the love of money becomes the root of all kinds of evil.

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It's not that they have money makes them evil, but it's that love of money. It's that pursuit of worldly things and worldly possessions that takes our focus and attention off God and instead places our hope in the things of this world.

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And just as the things of this world are going to come to destruction, so will we if that's where our investments are.

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If everything we are in our being is for the stuff of this world, we will perish with this world.

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Now, like I said, I believe that God blesses us with good things. I believe that God has blessed you with a job.

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He's blessed you with a paycheck. As it says in Colossians chapter three, remember that you work first for God and not for man, but give

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God the glory when you receive that paycheck that he has provided for you to be able to provide for your family.

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And you know what? I'm rooting for you. I hope that you make that promotion. I hope you climb the corporate ladder.

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If you have a desire in your heart, an aspiration to get to a certain place with your career and your life, pursue that.

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That's a wonderful thing to go after that. To work hard and even enjoy the fruits of your labor.

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The scripture says that we must work. In fact, work is not part of the curse.

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We often, you know, kind of begrudge our way to work. Oh, I'm here. I'm going to work again. Same thing today as it was yesterday.

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But work was given to us before the world became fallen. God placed

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Adam in the midst of paradise and he told him, work the ground. And the apostle

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Paul says in 2 Thessalonians chapter three, that if a person is not willing to work, let him not eat.

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So work is not part of the curse. Work is a blessing that God would give us a job to do and that we would do that job for his glory.

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But do not make that job your idol. Do not think that that job is what's going to give you satisfaction in your life.

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All you have to do is go to the book of Ecclesiastes and see that as Solomon was writing down those things there, he realized his work was all vanity and it was all for nothing.

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Why? Because he was not giving God the glory in those things. He was heaping glory up for himself.

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And though he was the richest and wisest man on earth, he didn't find any happiness in it.

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He said it's all vanity, a chasing after the wind. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

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Jesus said in John 10 10, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.

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Now who he's warning about there when he says the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, he's talking about false teachers who are under the influence of Satan.

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And there are many false teachers in this world that will tell you that you need this stuff in order to be happy. Every time you turn on the

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TV and you see a commercial advertisement, you see a false teacher there that is telling you, you need this product in order to be happy.

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Look at how happy these people are trying our product. I was in advertising a long time.

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I know the tricks of doing this. In fact, I remember when I was in marketing, there was a term that I came across when

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I was reading about the snack food industry. And there's a term in the snack food industry called the bliss point.

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What's the bliss point in snack food? The bliss point is where you've achieved the right amount of sodium and salt and sugar and other chemicals that releases a certain thing in the brain that tells a person, you know,

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I really, really love this and I really, really have to have more of it.

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The point in the way that they create their food is to not actually satisfy you with that food.

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It's to make you want more of it. It's the way our entire economy, the entire

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American economy is built, that you would want more of this stuff thinking that it's going to satisfy you.

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It's going to make you happy. But it could be that you end up worshiping that stuff instead of worshiping

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God. And so Jesus says, first and foremost, our focus must be upon Him and the treasure that is above.

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Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal.

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That means the focus of our teaching needs to be upon Christ and not on the ways of this world.

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Jesus says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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Now go to part two, verses 22 and 23. It says, the eye is the lamp of the body, so if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

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Well, it almost feels like we're shifting lessons here. What's Jesus talking about now? He says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven and suddenly we're talking about the eye is the lamp of the body.

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What's the similarity between these two things? Well, Jesus is actually saying the same thing He just said in verse 21, but He's saying it a different way in verse 22.

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In verse 21, we had, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And by the way, that can be vice versa.

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Where your treasure is, your heart will be. Where your heart is, your treasure will be, right?

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So then you get to verse 22 and it says, the eye is the lamp of the body. The eye in Jewish metaphors was another way to communicate the heart because what the heart wants, the eye is going to look at.

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What the eye is looking at, that's what the heart wants. So where you have fixed your eyes is an expression of what your heart desires.

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So as Jesus is saying here now, the eye is the lamp of the body, whatever you're fixing your eyes upon is what's going to illuminate your heart.

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That's what's going to be in your heart. So if the eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light.

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What does it mean to have a healthy eye? Simply means you can see, right? If the eye is unhealthy, look at what

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He says about an unhealthy eye. If your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness. What are we talking about there?

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We're talking about blindness. And throughout the scriptures, even in Isaiah chapter 29, we read about a people who are blind and seeing they do not see.

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What does that mean? What does it mean that they see but they do not see? It means they can see with their eyes, but their spirits are blind.

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And Jesus talked about the Pharisees as being the blind leading the blind. They're not actually going anywhere but their own destruction.

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They're following and walking around in darkness. So they may have two good physical eyes to see, they cannot see with their spiritual eyes.

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They do not see Christ as the Son of God. They do not recognize their own sin and depravity and the presence of a holy

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God. They do not know that they need a Savior to save them from the judgment of God that is coming against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

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It is only when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see those things that we understand that.

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When you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that Jesus, God in human flesh, died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the grave so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

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When you heard the message of the gospel, the Holy Spirit cut you to the heart, opened up your eyes to see your sin in the presence of a holy

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God, opened your eyes to see a holy Father who is going to judge all the unrighteousness of men.

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And in these open eyes you saw that you were part of that judgment and you needed a

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Savior. And now your eyes are open to see your sin and God's holiness.

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Your eyes are open to see that Jesus Christ is not just a curse word that you used to say but Jesus Christ is the

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Savior who is sent by God to ransom all those who believe in Him.

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And you looked upon Christ for your salvation and you found satisfaction in your heart.

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Not in your sin, not in the ways of this world, but in Christ. And now in Christ you recognize that the rest of this world simply cannot satisfy.

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In Christ you see an eternity that is laid before you in the presence of God above forever in glory.

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That's what you see in Christ. The light of the world as described in John chapter 1.

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And it's the Holy Spirit that opened your eyes to see this light. In John chapter 3

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Jesus said to Nicodemus that people who love wickedness love darkness because they don't want the light to expose their wicked deeds.

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But whoever loves the light comes into the light so that it may be clearly seen that their works have been carried out in God.

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The Holy Spirit opens us up from our spiritual blindness to show us

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Christ, to show us the Father, to reveal to us our sin and the holiness of God.

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And that holiness of God may be attained by faith in Jesus Christ. And then we receive

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His righteousness. When you look upon Christ who is the light that has come into the world, then your whole body is full of light.

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This means that fixing yourself on Christ, you will walk in Christ.

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You will do as John says in 1 John 2 .5, you will live as Jesus lived.

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Your whole body, loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

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But if the eye is bad, if you are still blind, if you are still walking in darkness, your whole body will be full of darkness, meaning you're committing yourself to sin and unrighteousness, the ways of this world, and will go in that way to your own destruction when the judgment of God comes.

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Then Jesus says an interesting statement here at the conclusion of that section. He says, if then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.

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That seems like a contradiction. How can the light in you be darkness? What did the

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Apostle Paul say about Satan in 2 Corinthians 11? That even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

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So there is a light that does not come from God, but comes from Satan.

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And he illuminates things to you as well. But what he illuminates to you is not the pure light that is

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Christ. What he illuminates to you is those things that you desire in your own sinful flesh.

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Satan opened Eve's eyes up to a fruit that she was not supposed to eat.

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And she took from it and ate it and gave to her husband who was with her and he ate it. And then it says their eyes were opened and they realized that they were naked.

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This is not the kind of light we want. We want the light that shows us the glory and goodness of God, that we may pursue that and be found in his righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.

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If your eye is bad, the whole body is full of darkness, going after sin and depravity.

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And if that light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? It just leads to darker darkness until eventually your eternity will be darkness cast into hell forever separated from God in eternal torment.

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This is a warning by Christ that we would not pursue the things of this dark world coming to corruption and destruction, but we would seek the light of Christ and the light of glory above where God dwells.

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So then we get to this final section here in this passage we've been looking at in Matthew chapter 6 and it's just simply verse 24 where Jesus says no one can serve two masters.

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And here we're taking what we had just read about light and darkness. There is a light, there is a darkness.

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The apostle Paul also said to the Corinthians that what fellowship does light have with darkness? None. When light comes in, the darkness is gone.

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When there's darkness, there is no light. So the two cannot have fellowship with one another. Therefore, Jesus says here in verse 24, no one can serve two masters.

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Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and money. There's another way that this is said, you cannot serve

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God and there's another word that often goes with that. Anybody know what that word is? Mammon.

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Right? I heard it over here. You were going to say the same thing, right? Yep. You cannot serve God and mammon. What is mammon?

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Well, it sounds like a Greek word. I learned some Greek today. Cannot serve God and mammon. Actually, the word is

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Chaldean. It comes from the Chaldeans, from the area of Babylon. That word mammon described basically the personification of money and possessions.

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It's as if your money gained sentience and became a person and got up and walked around and his name was mammon.

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And you loved mammon. Mammon was your best friend. Mammon was everything that you wanted to be.

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And you wanted everything about your life to please mammon. And all day long, you're thinking about mammon.

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How can I hang out with mammon? How can I make mammon happy today? Your whole life surrounds mammon, either having mammon or becoming like mammon.

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And so when Jesus says here, you cannot serve God and money, he's saying the same thing that his half -brother

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James is going to say later on in James chapter 4. You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

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If you are a friend of the world, then you are an enemy of God. And Jesus says the same thing here.

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You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot be a friend of God and a friend of worldly things.

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You cannot serve God and you cannot serve money. You will either be devoted to the one and despise the other, but you cannot serve both.

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About 11 years ago, I went to Manhattan and I got to see Ravi Zacharias speak.

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Some of you probably know that Ravi Zacharias passed away from cancer just a couple of months ago. And it was actually with a pastor from this church.

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He had called me up. I was not yet part of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City at that time, but he called me up and said, hey,

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I'm going to go see Ravi Zacharias speak at the Kansas State Student Union. Do you want to go? I said, sure.

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I'd never seen Ravi before. And so he gave a talk on moral absolutes.

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As he began his presentation, he held up this piece of paper and he said, I am holding here in my hand a $100 million bill.

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And we all kind of chuckled at that. It's like, surely there had to be a catch. We know there's no such thing as a $100 million bill.

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Furthermore, why would Ravi Zacharias even bother coming out of his house if he was holding in his hand a $100 million bill?

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This guy is loaded for the rest of his life. So what's the catch to this story? He said,

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I assure you this $100 million bill is real. It is currency in Zimbabwe.

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But the problem that is going on in Zimbabwe right now is that their inflation rate is in the quintillions.

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That's a number that is so high, we can't even fathom that. I mean, we have a hard enough time as Americans wrapping our minds around trillion, let alone what a quintillion is.

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But to put this in simpler numbers, it meant that their prices doubled every 32 hours.

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And Zimbabwe was in the position of having to reprint their currency every 90 days.

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So he said the catch with this $100 million bill is this, on the top of the bill it says valid on or before December 31st, 2008.

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If only Ravi had possessed that bill three months earlier, he could have been a multimillionaire.

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But now it wasn't even worth the paper it was printed on. Now Ravi was using that as an illustration for understanding moral absolutes or absolute truth in our world today.

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But I think that that illustration actually serves us well to understand just how transient everything is, how much of a guarantee even the money in your wallet is not.

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You've seen the commercials, you've heard Samuel L. Jackson ask you the question, what's in your wallet? Nothing.

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It may have a value for a certain amount of trade today, but ultimately it is not going to last.

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And if Zimbabwe's currency tells us anything, even American currency can bottom out and become nothing virtually overnight.

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We cannot rely on things of this world and expect that those things are going to be there when we need them.

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But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Folks, I've got some bad news for you.

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The world is not okay. It's never going to be okay. As we're looking at the conditions that are going on in our culture right now, this situation that is happening, whatever you think of it, is not going to get better.

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Things may in fact progressively get worse. But that's not a reason for us as Christians to despair, because as Christians we know that Christ is on His throne, and He is still sovereign over all, and nothing is outside of His control.

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And so that good news should even drive us to not put our faith and our hope and our trust in the things of this world, but to put our trust in Christ alone.

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And not only will Christ be our greatest joy in those moments, but He is even our everlasting life.

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Your body itself is wasting away and coming to nothing. Eventually your body will die, and what will happen after that?

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The answer is Jesus, who in His body died on the cross for our sins, and in His body rose again from the grave, so that all who believe in Him will have everlasting life.

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Jesus said to His disciples in the book of Luke, He said, Remember Lot's wife.

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That's it. That's the whole verse. Three words. Remember Lot's wife. Why? Why remember

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Lot's wife? You remember Lot's wife, right? Probably even colored a picture of her in Sunday school.

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I did. I don't know if you did. But it wasn't really difficult to color a picture of Lot's wife.

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She was white. She was a pillar of salt. So not a whole lot of crayons used there for coloring that picture.

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What was not shown in the picture was why she had become a pillar of salt. Because Sodom and Gomorrah were burning and coming to destruction behind her.

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God had a promise to Abraham that He was going to deliver Lot from the destruction that He was sending upon Sodom, and sent two messengers into Sodom to rescue

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Lot's family out of it. And as they were fleeing Sodom, the messengers said that the destruction was coming upon Sodom, so you must flee.

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You must get as far as Zoar. Do not even look back at Sodom as it's coming under the judgment of the wrath of God.

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But Lot's wife did not heed this instruction, and as they fled the city, she stopped and she looked back, and right there in her tracks, she became a pillar of salt.

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She turned into salt, standing there looking at Sodom. Why did she look back?

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Because she loved that city. In fact, she loved the stuff of Sodom more than she loved the salvation of God.

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And so though God in His mercy was rescuing a family from His wrath, she pined for Sodom, and she stopped and looked back, and it destroyed her.

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Just that one action demonstrated that her heart was more for the stuff of this world than it was for the goodness of God.

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And as Jesus tells His disciples, remember Lot's wife, may we not fall into the same sin and error.

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My friends, you could tell me, look Pastor Gabe, I give 99 % of myself to God.

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I devote most of myself to God. Just 1 % of my, I want to enjoy this thing over here.

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I just want to have this. You would be amazed at how often I've had a conversation just like that, where I'm trying to confront a brother or a sister in their sin, and they've said,

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I just want, what's wrong with having this thing? Why is that such a bad thing?

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Now it's impossible to quantify this stuff. You cannot honestly say that you give 99 % of yourself to this, but just 1 % of yourself to this other thing.

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Because what you're actually communicating is that God does not complete you. You are not fully satisfied in Christ.

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He is not enough. I have to have this other little thing over here in order to be happy, in order to be satisfied.

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Now I have everything that I need. Then what are you saying? This is really your greatest joy.

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Not God. He couldn't satisfy you. This thing satisfies me. And that becomes your idol.

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Whatever you have put in your life above God is an idol. You worship it.

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It's mammon. And Jesus says you cannot serve God and mammon.

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Are you fully satisfied in knowing Christ and Him alone? And everything else is just wonderful blessing that God has given to you.

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Like I said, there's nothing wrong with enjoying those things that God has blessed you with, but don't make an idol of those things.

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And don't depend on those things being there. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

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And so here in Matthew chapter 6, as we kind of summarize this passage here, Jesus has started out by giving us instructions in Christian living as to what we're supposed to do with our estate, how we contribute ourselves and our spirits, and even how we serve the

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Lord in our bodies. For we had the instruction at the start of Matthew 6 in giving to the needy. Next we had the instructions on prayer, and we did several weeks of a series on prayer.

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And then finally, we talked about fasting. Last week we looked at fasting. And then it's in light of these instructions that Jesus has given,

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He gets to this next part that we've looked at today. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but let your treasure be in heaven above where Christ is.

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In Colossians chapter 4 verses, Colossians chapter 3 rather, verses 1 through 4, it says,

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If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

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Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

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When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

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If you have your Bible open in front of you, turn with me over to Philippians chapter 3. You're turning to the right a little bit here in the epistles.

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Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, if you hit Colossians, you've gone too far. Philippians chapter 3, and I'm going to begin reading here in verse 7.

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I want you to keep something in mind as we read this particular passage. Paul is writing this letter to the

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Philippians while he is under house arrest in Rome. He's imprisoned.

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He's confined to his own house. He can't go anywhere, and he is in prison because of the gospel. And yet, this letter contains the word joy in these four chapters more so than any other book of the

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New Testament. Paul is constantly over and over again telling the Philippians from prison to have joy, to be joyful in Christ, and consider what he says here starting in verse 7.

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Philippians 3, 7. Whatever gain I had, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.

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Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my

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Lord. For His sake, I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain

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Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

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Verse 10. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share

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His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible,

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I may attain the resurrection from the dead. What are you willing to give up for the cause of Christ?

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And is there anything in this world you are clinging too closely to that it prevents you from walking in holiness and pursuing

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Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Look over at Philippians chapter 4.

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So still in Philippians, next chapter over, chapter 4. And I'm going to start reading in verse 10.

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Paul says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

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You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. The Philippians had heard about what had happened to Paul, and they took up a collection, an offering, from the ministry that he was doing there in Rome and had it sent to him through Epaphras.

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So he says here, Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation

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I am to be content. Verse 12. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

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In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

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I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Suddenly you recognize that verse is not about winning an

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NBA championship, is it? Philippians 4 .13. That verse is about whether you have a lot or you have nothing.

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It is Christ who sustains you. It is Christ who is your greatest joy.

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You depend not on the things of this world to be satisfied or make you happy, but you depend on Christ.

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Now, as far as my notes go here this morning, that was where I planned to conclude, but it looks like I still have your attention.

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So let me add one more thing. Turn with me to the very last book. Let's go to Revelation. Go to Revelation chapter 3.

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In the section verses 14 through 22, this is Jesus addressing the church in Laodicea.

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And He says to the church, Revelation 3, starting in verse 14, to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

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I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot.

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With that, you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and either hot or cold,

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I will spit you out of my mouth. Now, not to go into too deep a lesson here, but simply what

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Jesus is saying by this illustration is that they're far from the source. If they were close to the source, who is

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Christ, either they would be producing hot water or they would be producing cold water. A cold water that satisfies, hot water that is for medicinal purposes.

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But because they are far from the source, they're lukewarm. So it's water that neither satisfies the thirst, nor does it have any medicinal quality to it.

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And because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. Literally, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

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Now, look at what He says in verse 17. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

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My friends, even though none of us in this room are millionaires, at least I'm assuming that we're not because I've not seen any check to this church that would indicate to me you have more money than that.

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Even though no one in here is rich, we do happen to enjoy quite a bit of American prosperity to the point that we get really complacent.

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And we think to ourselves that we don't really need anything because we've got it all taken care of.

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We're good. All of my needs are being met. I don't need God until I really need something.

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And it would be even in that circumstance, if that becomes our attitude, and that becomes our complacency, that Christ would be saying to us, you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

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Verse 18. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

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Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

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Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

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I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers,

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I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.

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He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

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We need to recognize that we are spiritually poor, and we have no wealth of our own that we can claim, especially that is going to buy our way into heaven.

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What Jesus says here is, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire.

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We're talking about spiritual riches that comes through the Holy Spirit of God. And the next thing that He says, clothe yourselves in the shame of your nakedness with white garments that I will give you.

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What was the first thing Jesus said in the section that we looked at today in Matthew 6? Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy.

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The white garments that we're talking about here is the righteousness of Christ, that we may stand in the presence of a holy

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God. The kind of gold that we're talking about here is that spiritual treasure in heaven above with God and glory, that we not put our faith and trust in the things of this world, which is ultimately coming into destruction.

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My friends, may we not be swept away with it like Lot's wife was with the destruction that came upon Sodom.

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With all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with whatever it takes, as Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, may we devote ourselves to Christ.

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Pursue holiness. Today, turn from sin. Look to Christ.

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Walk in His righteousness. We will appear with Him in glory.

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Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2, Let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

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Let us travel this year as a stranger, as my pilgrim, east to Zion's city, where He smiles now,

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O my soul, for His love is my reward.

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Fear is gone and hope is sure, Christ is my city, where beside the

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King I'll walk, for thereby Christ is mine forever.

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Thank you for listening to our weekly sermon presented by First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City, Kansas. For more information about our church, visit fsbcjc .org.

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On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again this week, growing together in Christ, when we understand the text.