A Single Eye

I've entitled this message, A Single Eye. Now, this statement the Lord makes comes right in between where he spoke of our treasure, singular. Our treasure in heaven, if it's singular and it's there, that's where our heart will be as well. And then he gave this warning of a Divided heart, in verse 24, no man can serve two masters, for either he'll hate the one and love the other, or else he'll hold to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God in mammon. And let me give you a definition of mammon. We generally think of it as unjust gain, filthy money, but what it means is that which is trusted. to the Aramaic word, that which is trusted. You either trust God or him. You can't trust them both. But go back to verse 21 or verse 22.

The light of the body is the eye. If therefore, thine eye be single, simple, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." The single eye.

Light comes through the eye. I can't give the medical description, how that takes place, but that's where it enters and that's how we see. Light comes through the eye and light was the first thing in the first creation. God said, let there be light. And there was light. And light's the first thing in the second creation as well.

Second Corinthians chapter four, verse six, for God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I love the way God is glorified in the face of Jesus Christ. How God is glorified in the salvation of the sinner. He gets all the glory and we get all the benefits of that. You see, if he gets all the glory, that means he did it all. And we can simply rest in what he has done. Isn't that a great place to rest? In what he has done. Now, while this is true physically, the light of the body is the eye. We receive light through the eye. Faith is the spiritual eye of the soul.

We walk by faith and not by sight. While we look not at things which are seen, but things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, temporary, unlasting. But the things which are not seen are eternal. I love what Peter says, Having not seen, you love. Isn't that a glorious thing? Who though now you seem not, yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen. We see by faith and not by sight. says the light of the body is the eye, that word single, if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. It's taken from the word simplicity. If you turn with me for a moment to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Now Paul says to the church at Corinth, but I fear, verse three, But I fear.

I fear this for myself. How I fear this for myself. I don't want to be deceived. I fear this for myself. I fear this for every believer. Because this is where Satan will seek to work with me. And this is where Satan will seek to work with you. So this is something that ought to catch our attention.

Paul said, I fear. lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. Now remember, Eve didn't have a sinful nature. And Satan beguiled her. How much easier could that happen with me and you? I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity, the singleness, the onlyness of Jesus Christ. That is Satan's great goal to corrupt our minds from the onlyness, the singularity, the simplicity that is in Christ alone.

I don't know how to say this because Christ is so glorious and mysterious and above any human description that we could give in trying to describe him. And I don't want to call him complex, but he's way above us who he is. But Jesus Christ is simple. Now what's meant by that? Well, Jesus Christ is not made of parts. He's one person. He's got two separate natures. He's divine. 100% God. He's 100% man. I think of when the disciples, they were in the boat and they were A storm comes and they're scared to death and they say, Master, don't you care that we're perishing?

He was in the back of the ship asleep. There we have his humanity. What a beautiful picture of his humanity. He was tired, he was asleep. He needed sleep just like you and I do. And then they come in and say, Master, don't you care that we're perishing? Wake him up and he looks at that storm and says, peace, be still. A great calm. There we have his deity. 100% God. Just as if he were not man at all.

Now God's not made of parts. God's not part this, God's not part that. Jesus Christ is not made of parts. He's not part God and part man. He's 100% God. absolute Godhead, 100% man, sleeping in that ship, the man, Christ Jesus. And he's not half something and half something else. He simply is all in everything. That's what the simplicity of Christ means.

He only is all In everything, and I could say this about so many different things, creation, He's all. All things were made by Him and for Him. And He is before all things. And by Him, all things consist. He's all in creation. He's the one that spaked the world into existence. He's all in the scripture. He is the only singular message of scripture. He's all in salvation. He's all in God's purpose for salvation. I wish I could say this right.

People, I've heard preachers say, well, God loves you so much, he sent his son to die for you. If you're one of his people, he does love you. But understand this, you were given to Christ as a gift to the father. And that's where me and you come in. You were given as a gift to him from the father. You see, the father loved the son, and he gave him the gift of the church. And we're the benefit, we benefit in that, absolutely. But all His love is to His Son. The Father loveth the Son, and giveth all things into His hand." He's God's purpose for salvation. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, God saves to glorify and honor His Son.

You think of every doctrine of salvation, He's all in election. We're chosen in Him. You can't think of election independent of being in Jesus Christ. If you just think of elections, God, I'm gonna choose to save this one, I'm gonna choose to damn that one, you have no idea what election is. All of God's salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's all of my justification. I'm justified by His righteousness. I mean, I don't have anything to do with that. He's all in my redemption when He by Himself purged our sins. He didn't have any help. I made no contribution. He's all. He's all in my regeneration. You know why I'm born again? Because He died for me. That's the reason. It's not me responding to something. It's because I'm one of His.

He's all in my preservation. The reason I persevere in the faith is because I'm preserved in Christ Jesus. Every aspect of salvation is Him. He only is all in our personal assurance. Are you assured that you're saved? Well, if he's still seated at the right hand of the Father, I am. He is my assurance. He only is all in salvation. He only is all we preach. They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Now, this is not just hyperbole.

When Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If that's missing in the message, the gospel's not preached. I don't care what text you're preaching from. I don't care what you're dealing with. If it's not all founded by Jesus Christ and Him crucified, it's not of God. Man might have been saying something from scripture, but it wasn't inspired by the Holy Spirit. He is all we preach. They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Now I know you're familiar with what I believe are mistakenly called the five solas of the Reformation. Scriptures alone, cross alone. grace alone, faith alone, the glory of God alone. But those are eternal truths. To try to put them as being reinvented or whatever at the time of the Reformation, no. Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. His word is truth. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.

Scriptures alone. Christ alone, not Christ and, not scriptures and. It kills me when preachers start going to catechisms and, what do you call them? Confessions. We've got the Bible. Do you think I care about anything like that? It's written by man. I don't care what man writes. I want to know what God says in His Word. Scriptures alone. Christ alone.

Not Christ and. Not Christ and my experience. Not Christ and my understanding. Not Christ and my faith. Not Christ and my anything. Christ alone is everything in my salvation. Grace alone. Not grace and. Grace alone in every aspect of my salvation. Faith alone. I don't ask you to look for some evidence in you that you're saved. And if I do that, I'm missing it. You look to Christ alone as the only evidence of your salvation. The glory of God alone. He gets all the glory, and I love it that way, because if He gets all the glory, then that means salvation really is all of grace. That gives me hope. If He doesn't get all the glory, something's expected of me. But thank God He gets all the glory.

And everybody's familiar with that, but I want to use another scripture. This came to my mind that would tell us something about Christ alone. Would you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 6? In a way, I think this is better than those five solos because we're getting this right out of scripture. Well, of course it's better. There's nothing man-made about it. This is what God says in Hebrews chapter six.

Therefore, verse one, leaving the principles, the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation. Now, if you have to always be laying the foundation, the superstructure will not go up. These are foundational truths that must be automatic. And if they're not, we've been corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Now let's look what the writer of the Hebrew says. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, maturity, not laying again the foundation, And he gives six foundational truths.

The first one, repentance from dead works. The second one, faith toward God. Third, the doctrine of baptisms. Fourth, the doctrine of the laying on of hands. Fifth, the resurrection of the dead. Six, eternal judgment. Now those speak so eloquently of Christ alone. And what about this thing of repentance from dead works? All my works before God saved me were nothing more than dead works performed by a dead sinner who had no understanding of himself or God. Christ only. That's what repentance from dead works says. Christ only is all in my salvation. But you can say amen to that, can't you? Christ only.

And the next one is faith toward God. I love the simplicity of this. I love it when the Lord said to the gathering demonic to go home and tell your friends and family the great things God has done for you. And he went home and told his friends and family the great things Jesus had done. He knew Jesus Christ is God, Christ only.

That's faith alone. Looking to who he is. Understand this, faith is understanding and knowing and believing and rejoicing in who he is. He's God. We already know he's man, historically, but he's the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He only is my salvation. And then he speaks of the doctrine of baptisms. Well, baptism is what?

When Jesus Christ lived, I lived. There's my righteousness. His law-keeping is my law-keeping. When he died, I died with him. My sins were paid for by what he did. When he was raised from the dead, I was justified. This is speaking of union with Jesus Christ. That's the doctrine of baptisms. That's what it represents. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the only hope I have is union with Christ. That only, I have no other hopes. If I'm not united to him, I have no hope of being saved.

And then next, he talks about the laying on of hands. And that's not talking about laying on hands and the way people do it on TV where they put their hands on, they pop and fall backwards. This is talking about the great high priest laying his hand on the head of the sacrifice and the sins of Israel being symbolically transferred to that scapegoat and it being led away. The only hope I have is that God took my sins and transferred them to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he bore them, that's the only hope I have. Christ only, Christ alone.

And then he speaks of the resurrection of the dead. Now, the only hope I have of being saved is that he was raised from the dead. That means God accepted what he did. The only hope that I have of being saved is if God raises me from the dead. I'm just as dependent upon God to raise me from the dead as, well, I'm utterly dependent. And I'm, the only hope I have of being in heaven is he to raise me up in that last day. But the resurrection of the dead says Christ is all, only Christ. And then he speaks of eternal judgment.

Do you know the only hope that I have of being saved is that I have been eternally in the Lord Jesus Christ? That God never saw me as guilty. Eternal judgment. That's analogous to Revelation 13, eight, as him being the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The only hope I have is that I've always been in Jesus Christ. And there was never a time when God said he's guilty. I'm gonna put him, no. He said I'll by no means clear the guilty. Every believer was eternally, is eternally in Jesus Christ and that's an eternal judgment because everything God does is eternal.

Now that is all Christ only. We see the simplicity of Christ in that we have a single source of our information, the scripture. We have a single salvation, Him. We have a single object of faith, Him. We have a single message, Him. And only when our eye is single is our body full of light and we leave simplicity, or we leave simplicity and all we have is duplicity when we don't see him in his singleness, the onlyness of Jesus Christ. We see everything in light of the one thing and we are corrupted from the simplicity of Christ when our focus is on what we do rather than what he has done or what we need to do rather than what he has done. When my peace rises or falls with my performance instead of Christ's finished work, I've been corrupted from the simplicity, the singleness, the onlyness that's in Christ.

Now go back to our text, Matthew chapter six. Verse 22. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye, the eye of your faith, be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. What light to see that everything God requires of me I have in Christ. That's light. That's divine light. Oh, your whole body is full of light.

But, verse 23, if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that's in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." The evil eye, the mixed eye. What is an evil eye? Now, you can have all kinds of thoughts about what an evil eye is. An evil eye is a suspicious eye. It's a jealous eye. It's a critical eye. It's an envious eye.

And I'm sure all of those things are included in that, but the Lord only uses this term one other time. And if we wanna know what the Lord meant by an evil eye, let's go to where he used it again in Matthew chapter 20. Now in verse 27 of chapter 19, then answered Peter and said, We forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore? What's in it for us? Peter, you can depend on him to come up with a question like that. What are we gonna get?

And this is where we're given this glorious parable of the workers in the vineyard. Chapter 20, verse one. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard." Now that, I love it when the Lord says the kingdom of heaven is like this. It interests me so much. I want to know what the kingdom of heaven is like, don't you? Well, he tells us there's not a more powerful parable in all the word of God than this parable.

Now, he goes out early in the morning, six in the morning, and he finds men waiting to see if they'd be hired for that day. And verse two, and when he agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. They were happy with it. He said, I'll give y'all a penny. And that was a full day's labor, and those fellas said, you got a deal. We'll go out and work 12 full hours for this penny. And they were happy to do it. Verse three, and he went out about the third hour, 9 a.m. These other fellows had already been working three hours and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

And he said unto them, go ye also into the vineyard, and don't miss this, whatsoever is right. And that's the key to understanding this parable. Whatsoever is right. Whatsoever is just. Whatsoever is righteous, I will give you." And they went their way.

Again, he went out about the sixth, noon, go out in the vineyard, whatsoever is right, I'll give you. And then he went out the ninth hour, 3 p.m. and did likewise. And about the 11th hour, 5 p.m., these other people had been, well, some had worked 11 hours, some had been working eight hours, some had been working, I mean, they were sweaty, hot, working out in the field. And about the 11th hour, 5 p.m., he went out and found others standing idle and saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? And they said unto him, because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is what? Right. You will get what is right. That shall you receive. Verse eight.

So when evening was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his stewards, call the labors and give them their hire beginning from the last into the first. And when they came that were hired about the 11th hour and worked only one hour, they received every man a penny. Now, what did he promise the 12-hour laborers? A penny. He gave these people a penny. Now, if you would have been one of the 12-hour workers, what would you think?

You would think, I'm getting more. Every one of us would think that. I'm getting more. I'll work 12 times more. I'm going to get more. Perhaps you're excited. Well, this is better than I thought. Verse 10, but when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny. Now, what would you think? You'd think the same thing I think. That's unfair. I work 12 times more than them. I should get 12 times more. That only is fair.

And when they received it, verse 11, they murmured against the good man of the house. I can hear them grumbling, can't you? saying, these have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. This is not fair. Now that is the way the natural man responds to the gospel when they hear it. They think they're going to be saved by what they've earned. And when they hear the gospel, this is not fair. I've done this. I've done that. You say all that counts for nothing. It's not fair. I murmur.

How many times you've heard people respond to the gospel, they hear God electing a people and the first thing they think is that's not fair for him to save some and pass by others. How could that be fair? Well, if you're believing in salvation by works and you think you have works that could recommend you to God, that will be your response. That's the natural man's response to the gospel.

That is not fair. You've made them equal unto us which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Wasn't that the wage You knew you were going to get all along a penny. Am I doing you wrong by giving you what I told you I would give you? Is there anything unfair about this? He said in verse 14, take that thine is and go thy way. I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own.

Is thine eye evil? Now there's where the Lord uses this. Is thine eye evil because I am good? You look at me as being wrong and unfair because of my generosity to these people who worked only one hour. You're accusing me of evil because of my generosity and my graciousness. Am I not good because your eye is evil? How does he say it? Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is that eye evil because I am good? Now, to have an evil eye is to believe that salvation is by works. That's what this evil eye is. That's what he's speaking of in Matthew chapter six. The same evil eye that these people demonstrated.

Now, if I believe in salvation by works, I believe that God is treating me unfairly. I feel like I'm not getting what I deserve. I'm finding fault with God. I'm questioning God. I think it's amazing the way a natural man, I'm not amazed in the sense I know how sinful we are. I know I do it and I've done it and you've done it. But I think of what Paul said in Romans chapter nine after he anticipated the objection people would make to election. He said, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? That's what people think. God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.

Thou wilt say unto me, why is he at thine fault then? How can he hold me responsible if he has hardened my heart? If he hardened Pharaoh's heart and he hardens my heart, how can he hold me responsible for my sin? I love the way Paul answers this. Who are you, old man, to reply against God? Since when do you think you have the moral authority to sit in judgment on God? Now, if I have an evil eye, I sit in judgment on God. I bring Him down to my level. He ought to be pleased with my works. How do I bring Him down to my level when I do that? How do I bring myself up in my own estimation when I do that? I mean, why wouldn't He accept this?

The evil eye. If I believe in salvation by works, I am in the dark, enwrapped in thick Egyptian night, and fond of darkness more than light. Madly I ran the sinful race, secure without a hiding place. If I believe in salvation by works, I'm utterly and willfully blind to the character of God. I'm totally blind to my own character, to think that he could accept my works, utterly blind to his way of salvation by Christ.

Now that's the evil eye. Your eye is single, you look to Christ only. You have nothing else. Is Christ all you have? Is he? If he is, you're looking through the eye of faith. and your whole body is filled with light. But if you've been corrupted from the simplicity of Christ, and you object to the way these men did, you've made them equal with us. Don't you love the fact that salvation is Christ's righteousness only? If you've been a believer for 50 years and following Him fully, or if you're a thief dying on the cross who's never done anything, same thing, Christ only. Don't you love that? Christ only. That's the simplicity that's in Christ. Now, if your eye is simple, oh, your body's full of light. But if your eye's evil, your body's full of darkness. And how great is that darkness? I think of what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

He said, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. Whom the God of this world, what a name for Satan. whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The single eye is Christ alone. The evil eye is Christ and. Christ alone is full of light. Christ and is utter and complete darkness.

And I pray that God will command the light to shine out of the darkness in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would give us this single eye. We ask that we might be saved from being corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Enable us by Your grace to rest only in Him. And may we say with Thy servant David, Thou only art my rock and my salvation. Bless us for Christ's sake, in His name we pray, amen.

A Single Eye

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