Please be seated. Our Scripture
reading this morning is the 13th Psalm, Psalms number 13. If you'd
like to join me in reading, turn in your Bibles to Psalms 13. We begin at verse 1. How long
wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. Lest mine enemies say I have
prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when
I have moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation. I will seem unto the Lord because
he hath dealt bountifully with me. Amen. Luke chapter 8, and I'd like to read the first
three verses. Luke 8, beginning in chapter,
or in verse 1, and it came to pass afterwards, after that he,
the Lord Jesus, went throughout every city and village preaching
and showing the glad things of the kingdom of God, and the twelve
were with him. And certain women, which had
been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene,
out of whom went seven devils. And Joanna, the wife of Chusa
Herod Stuart, and Susanna and many others, which ministered
unto him of their substance. What a privilege. What an honor
to walk with Christ as he went through this world that day as
it is recorded here in Luke. We see these examples of those
who went with him He went doing exactly what the Lord Jesus did
everywhere he went during that ministry after he had left the home of
his parents, preaching the gospel, showing
the good things of the kingdom of God, showing the glad tidings,
the good news, the gospel. of the Kingdom of God, of which
He is the Gospel. He, the Savior of His people.
That's the good news. There's a Savior. One who has
provided all that we need to spend an eternity with Him in
Heaven. What a privilege. You know, you
and I have the same privilege and honor this day. Pastor Gene is always expressing
to me, I have the privilege of once again, standing in a pulpit,
even though I'm retired, even though I don't study like I used
to. He goes, I'm always preaching
in my mind and God continues to honor me with the ability
to do so on an occasion. What a privilege, what an honor.
But, you know, it's not just for those who stand here in the
pulpit and preach. Think about that. Think about
the privilege it is for each and every one of you to put the
world away for a few moments, to step away from our lives and
what busy lives we have, do we not? Do we not have much going
on in our lives. Even Kathy and I, coming back
from the trip, the fact that I've had a cold now for over
eight days, I can't get further than 10 feet away from the bed
before I start hacking my head off. I'm thankful God has given
me the ability to stand here today. It's an honor that I can
hold my cough for a few moments to speak to you. It's an honor
for you to come out today and hear that word spoke. What a
privilege it is. You know how many thousands and
thousands of people today are sitting in pulpits all over the
world hearing about a god of their own imagination? And there's
thousands of them. We don't have to just point our
fingers at free will doctrine Christians or Methodists or anything. You can say there's thousands
of folks who are worshiping false gods. And you and I, you and
I were right there. I know, I didn't have some religion
that I was involved in, but folks, I was involved in the religion
of John. You may not have known it then,
but as children of God, you know it now. You had your own religion
too. Might have been hugging trees, who knows? Might have
been, might have been, might have been something, what is
it like an environmentalist has? You know, the weather. We all
had our own imagination of who God was until the day that we
heard the truth spoke. What a privilege to be here this
morning to worship the true and living God. What do you hold
closest to your heart in this world? What is your most valuable
thought, your most valuable possession? Some may be a wife. You know,
it's been difficult for my wife to understand the joy that it
brings me to take her and do things for her. I just, I have
a great love in my heart to do things for her. I love it. I
know there's other things that I have problems doing, but doing
things for her, just a great blessing. Some folks have that
as their treasure. Their only walk, their only treasure
in this life as they walk through is taking care of their wife
or taking care of their husband. Or maybe it's a piece of land.
Maybe it's a piece of land that we had for many years. Maybe that was our treasure.
Silver, maybe, gold. I think of the character, some
of you have seen it, maybe some of you haven't, the movie Lord
of the Rings, there was a character, he was real squiggly, and all
skin and bones, and just scribbled up, and he walked on all four,
even though he was humanistic with arms and legs, he still
was down on his hands and knees, hands and feet all the time.
He had nothing, he had a towel wrapped around him, A little
piece of a rag. He lived in the caves. He had
no friends, no nothing. But he had a gold ring. And he
would play with that gold ring all the day long while he was
in that cave. Drove him mad. And he called
it precious. Gold. We can have so many things in
this world that we would call precious. What is most precious
to you this day? I ask that sincerely because
we are so susceptible to making anything we have in our life
our most precious thing we have. Let's see what God's Word says
about precious things. Turn over to Matthew chapter
6, please. One of the quickest ways to turn
from a sin that's besetting us, a thought of a sin, is to turn
and think upon the things of heaven. You start thinking about
anger. Sometimes that pops up so quick
you can't think of anything else before it, but if you can, anger
starts rising up inside of you, a hatred of something. Or maybe
a lust. Maybe a lust. God help us as
we walk the beaches of this world. Or maybe a doubt. Does God really
love me? Maybe a doubt. Is God really
all power over everything? Is he really going to keep me
and bring me home at the last? Or is he just hanging me out
here to dangle for a bit? Maybe it's doubt that rises up
within us. Or envy. He seems so strong in the faith.
Why can't I be more like him? Lord, how come I can't be so
loving as that person there? That's envy. Or maybe it's jealousy. Maybe it's jealousy. Are you
looking at my wife? Or maybe even fornication. How about self-righteousness?
Do you struggle with the sin of self-righteousness? You know,
I'm a different person today than I was before the Lord saved
me. I do all kinds of good things
now. I go down to town and I work in the soup kitchens. I give
money to people who come to the church. Do you struggle with sin? The best way to turn The best
way to approach that struggle is to close your eyes and look
to the one who saves us from our sin. To look to the one who's strong
enough to beat it. You turn and you start thinking
about the Lord and His love for His people. And He'll help you. He'll help
you with that sin. You start turning. You turn from
the thought that may be going through your mind and you consider
the depth of that love in Him becoming flesh. How deep it is
of the love of God to lower Himself, to humble Himself from the majesty
that was His, the glory that was His in heaven, and become flesh for you. When you start considering the
depth of His love for you in becoming flesh, you can't help
but think about that. The grace of God in coming to
this world to save you from your sin, from the very sin that your
mind is pretending or playing with at that moment. Lord, help
me. Or to stop and to consider the
depth of that love in establishing himself as your sacrifice. He's the perfect spotless lamb.
that we present to God, that He presented Himself to God for
us. We don't present Him. We do now,
because He's done a work in our hearts to give us that ability
to. And those sins are more than I just
listed off. Thank you. When they begin to
well up around us, when our own self-righteousness or our own
doubt rises up around us like the waves
of the ocean, we put those aside in our thoughts
for a moment and we think of that love, that love of God. that sits on His throne right
now, making intercession for you. Shame on me for even allowing
that thought to come into my mind, but it did. But I have
an intercession, an interceder. I have a perfect, spotless sacrifice
that God has provided Himself for me. That though that thought
went through my mind, Though I may have allowed it to even
go further and make an act upon that, he paid it all. All to him I
owe. Sin has left a crimson stain,
but he is the one who has washed it white as snow. How do you
fight sin? Look to Christ. Where is your
treasure in this world? I tell you this, if it's him,
If He has made Himself your treasure, that's the only place to look. There's nothing in this flesh
that I can have any confidence in. There's nothing in your flesh
that you can count on to get you through it. But what a great,
loving God who has given Himself for us. Turn your eyes upon the one who
has loved you from before the foundation of the world. Listen
to Hebrews chapter 3, verses 1 through 2. We'll be there to Matthew 6 in
just a moment. Wherefore, holy brethren partakers
of heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that
appointed him. Now look with me, if you would,
Matthew chapter 6, verse 19 and 21. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust thus corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor corrupt nor the
thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. We fall into sin so easily
when we take our eyes off of our true treasure and we look
to the things of this world. Oh, I can turn away from that.
I can fight that. I can hold that anger down that
swells up inside of me. I can take that doubt that my
Lord is hearing me. I can take that doubt and put
that away to the side. I can do that. No, I can't. Folks, we're weak. We are so
weak. And it's not going to get any
better until the day the Lord takes us out of this body of
death. We're going to continue to take
our eyes off from Him until the day we are delivered from this
body of death. But when we do, When we fall
to the weaknesses of this flesh, we fall not into despair. No,
our treasure is laid up in heaven, our substitute who has paid that
price. He who is perfect and knew no
sin was made to be my sin, that I might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And that's the story of every
child of God. He is our righteousness. Faith is the victory. It's not
my faith that's the victory. It's who the faith is in. And
as we all know, in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, that
faith is a gift of God, is it not? This is the treasure of
God's people. This is the treasure that we
have in us. It's a savior. It's the belief, the faith in
our Savior, a holy and unblemished sacrifice. We have the gospel
of Christ in our hearts, the good news that salvation is of
the Lord and of the Lord alone. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
4 if you would. We have the light of the world,
the heavenly treasure that shined in a new heart. We came into
this world with a heart that was dead, dead dog dead, stinking
dead, dead in trespasses and sin, and that old heart that
hated the true and living God had to be cut away. Why did we
hate the true and living God? Because his truth shows us how
wicked we are. We all want to think a little
bit of good about us. There's a little bit of good in everybody,
right? You just plant a little flame there. There's a little
bit of good in Johnny. Look how cute he is. There's a little bit of good
in old granny. She ain't never heard of flea.
Folks, our Lord tells us that we all have sinned and come short
of the good. That includes your grandma. That
includes that little baby that folks are holding on to right
now. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And
as children of God, we know it, don't we? We know it. We see it. We see we were once
blind. But now we see the truth of what
we are and who he is. We have the light of the world
shining in our hearts, the heavenly treasure shined in a new heart,
cutting away that old, dead heart. that hated the true and living
God. It had to be circumcised. The stone of unbelief had to
be removed. A new heart of love, a belief
in belief, had to be given. Had to be given. And you can't
put new wine in an old vessel. The old would corrupt the new.
So we had to be born again. We had to be made willing, as
it says in Psalms 110, verse 3. Thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Look at verses 6 through 7 with
me if you would. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness, out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts. This is the treasure of heaven.
He who had commanded the light to shine out of darkness. We
were talking about that in Bible study. Folks, The power of God
comes with his commands. When he speaks, his sheep hear.
You know why? Because it's the power of God
behind it. I didn't just all of a sudden
get smart one day and say, I'm going to start listening to God.
He spoke with the power of God. All power. He spoke with the
power of God to you. With his power. All power in
heaven and earth. Who is going to separate us from
the love of God? Could you? I don't want to, but
I couldn't even if I wanted to anymore. He's made me willing
in the day of His power. That's what the Psalms 110 said,
where I bucked and shook my fist and said, I'll not have that
man rule over me. That was all put away. That's
that old stony heart that was cut away and a new heart of flesh
was given to His people. This is our treasure, our heavenly
treasure, a treasure that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ
himself, because of him, for him, and from him. For God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure. We have this treasure. Isn't
that wonderful? What is your treasure? Is it
the Lord Jesus Christ who has saved you from all sin, who shall
have you because nothing can separate you from him? Folks,
everything we have in this world is going to burn out. Nothing. Nothing outside of Christ will
survive. And it's only by His grace that
we have Him. Only by His grace that we have
Him. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God, not
of us. Is that good news to you? Is that good news to you? I was
reading an article the other day, a statement from, supposedly,
it's from Spurgeon. You can't believe half the things
you see anymore today that maybe may have been said of Spurgeon.
But it was a good saying, nonetheless. It says, I am assured of one
thing, that if God had not chosen me, I sure would not have chosen
him. God's people know that, don't we? We know that. When we first heard the preacher
say that, I guarantee you, we sat there and said, yeah, that's
absolutely right. That's absolutely right. I know
I wouldn't have been looking for him. I know I was running
from him. He showed us. He shows us we
were running from him. Is this your treasure? Is the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of his son, Jesus
Christ, your only hope? Some say yes, and then they put
a lot of stock in the way that they're thinking. They think,
oh, I've changed. I don't do that anymore. I do
this now. That's my assurance. That's my
assurance right there. I know I've changed. I go to
church on Sundays now. I know that's, I'm different. I know I'm different. I just,
I know it. That's what it is. Is that yours? Oh, you are putting your stock
in the wrong thing. Folks, there's only one place
of assurance, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only
one place a sinner saved by God can have confidence, and that's
in our Savior and what He has done. What is your treasure? Is it the new you? Is it your
attendance? Is it your giving? Folks, religion will damn your
soul. There are many who will go through
that doormarked death saying, I have done this in his name. And our Lord will say, depart
from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. The word grace means unmerited
favor. God's word does not say that
you are saved by grace, and then what you will do after that. No. It says, for by grace are
ye saved through faith. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. It also says this in Romans 9,
16. That was Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth." That's not of you who will, who
trust in your free will. We met a guy on the boat. I went
to a Bible study. You're probably going, what in
the world were you doing going to a Bible study on the ship?
I don't know. I just got up, didn't have anything
to do. It was 8 o'clock in the morning. The ship was at sea.
I said, let's go. So we went. really wasn't anything the first
day, just an introduction thing, you know, who am I, where do
I go to church, such and such, such and such, what are you doing.
But the lady of the husband who was running the thing, she said,
why don't we come back tomorrow and consider the words of 1st
of Ephesians chapter 1. And I said, oh, oh, oh yeah,
okay, that sounds good, I'll do that. And her husband, and
he's a super nice guy. I'm not trying to put him down
in any way. He's just very, very, I couldn't
understand a word he was saying most of the time, not because
I can't hear him, because his voice was so meek, just so low. And so the next day I came back
and I said, hey, how about if I read? You know, that way everybody
can hear it better. Okay, sure. So I read the first
seven verses of Ephesians And I didn't say much beyond what
the scripture said, but one of the guys who showed up the second
day, he couldn't wait to jump in and declare himself a freewheeler. He goes, I'm a freewheeler. Just
like that. He was proud of it. And then
he went off, and I kind of put him out of my listening after
a couple minutes. He was just all about how he
felt. Calvinists are way too extreme. They're way too far
off and he started comparing us to the liberals and the conservatives
and how they go one way or the other. I didn't pay a whole lot
of attention to that, but it just amazed me that he didn't
resist at all declaring himself a free will Christian. And then
he went about describing himself as he believed. I believe it
means this. And then he never referred to
any scripture outside of that. Never gave any of God's word.
to back up anything he said about his belief except for John 3.16. Other than that, never once quoted
any other part of scripture. I couldn't, I just sat there
and I was amazed at how it was all about his feelings. I feel
this, I feel this instead of what God's word said. God's word says it's all of Christ. You know, let's turn over to
Ephesians real quick. We've got a minute, and I was
almost done with my notes. Turn over to Ephesians. Let's
read that real quick. And I'll try to read it for you
exactly how I read it for them. It's right after Galatians, just
before Philippians. Ephesians chapter 1. Kevin likes
to say, all I did was tell them the word of God. That's all I
did. I just, I didn't have to explain
anything to him. I just tell him the word of God.
And that's what I did. I just told him the word of God.
Listen to this. Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will
of God, see who he gives credit to right off the bat. First off,
it's of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, given our Lord,
the glory right there to the saints, which are as Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace
from God our Father. That's the only place peace can
come from. And from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God. Now here we go. Here's where
your peace is coming from. He's told you that. He's given
the glory to God about him writing the letter in the first place.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath blessed us with what? All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. We're talking about our treasures.
That's the title. I never did give you a title,
did I? Here's my title. Heavenly Treasure. Where is your
treasure? Heavenly Treasure. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. That's the Word of God. That's
His Word. According as He hath chosen us
in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace. What is your treasure? Is it the new you? Is it the
attendance? Your giving? No, it can't be that. The word
grace means unmerited favor. This is my treasure. Christ came
to save sinners of whom I am chief, said Paul. He was willing,
as we read over in Acts. Turn over to Acts chapter two.
He was willing, Acts chapter two. Look at verses 21 through
24. Acts chapter two. verses 21 through 24, and it
shall come to pass that who shall ever call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. He did it willingly. Christ laid
down his life willingly out of love. He saw his travail and
was pleased, was satisfied. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
who loved us and gave himself for us. Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. He is able, turn over
to Hebrews chapter 10, able, this Lord Jesus, my treasure,
who is in heaven, who came to save sinners, he was willing
and he is able, over in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 9 through
10, we read these words, then said he, lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He'd taken away the first. that
he may establish the second by the which will we are made holy. We are set apart through the
offering of the body of Jesus once and for all. He was able. God was able to provide himself
our perfect sacrifice. Therefore he was satisfied because
it was of him. He has accomplished what He set
out to do. Look at verses 14 through 17.
For by one offering He hath perfected. That means completed. It's done. On that cross our
Lord said it is finished and it is finished. Perfection for
His people was accomplished. Forever them that are sanctified. Verse 15, wherefore, the Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that, he said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in
their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Is that not good news for you? Is that not worthy of being treasured
above all things? Folks, everything that we do
right now in this world is temporal. It's all going to go away. Eternity
waits beyond that door. And there's only two places the soul will go, one into eternal
damnation and torment, and the other into the bliss in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is your treasure? Is it
in the one who gave himself for you? If God hath perfected you, he
will be your treasure too. No ifs, no ands, no buts. Go back to Luke chapter 8. These
folks that walk with the Lord as He preached the gospel. You
that walk with God as His gospel goes out into the world. Those
who are privileged and honored by Him to come into His presence. We can read these words and relate
to this list of folks that he has listed here. And it came
to pass afterward, verse 1, chapter 8 of Luke, that he went throughout
every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him, and certain
women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the
wife of Chuzok, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others
which ministered unto him of their substance. I pray God has
made himself to be your treasure this day. Will you stand with
me please and turn in your hymn books to page 81. What an appropriate
song. What an appropriate song to close
with and sing about our treasure that is laid up in heaven.