Alright, Matthew chapter 6, I've
titled the lesson this morning, Dust, Rust, and Trust. Very seldom,
I'm not creative at all, I very seldom come up with a title that
might catch someone's attention, so I hope I have more than just
a catchy title this morning. Dust, Rust, and Trust. Our text
begins in verse 19 of Matthew chapter 6. The Lord says, lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. Now the treasure that the Lord
speaks of is something that's precious to us. It's something
that is so precious, it's so valuable to us, that we will
go after it to try to get it with almost everything that we
have. And our heart, our affection
will be where our treasure is chasing after that treasure because
it's so precious to us. We just have to have it and we'll
give up almost anything else to get it. Now, the Lord tells
us there's two kinds of treasures. There's treasures upon earth
and there's treasures that are in heaven. And the master warns
us, don't seek after these treasures upon earth. Now there's very
obvious reasons for that. Everything in this earth is temporary. It will very soon be burned up
and your treasure will too, if that's where it's at. It's upon
the earth. This life passes so quickly, so quickly, and then
it's gone. In an instant, it's gone. I don't
care how much of this earth's goods you've amassed, that treasure
will be gone quickly too, the very moment that you die. But
heavenly, spiritual treasures are eternal treasures, treasures
that can never be lost. And matter of fact, we'll fully
possess them when we die. And that'll be soon, won't it?
That's going to be soon. So seek those things. Now, Believers
know this to be true. We know that this earth is temporary,
that there's nothing of any value here upon this earth, but we
still need this warning, don't we? It's obvious we need it because
the Lord's given it to us, but we need to be warned about treasures
on earth because every believer will tell you we're far too worldly. Believers are far too worldly
because our old nature is still there. It's still very, very
strong and it loves this earth. It loves the things of this earth.
Now, the Lord's been teaching us here about our motivation.
Now, what is it that motivates you? It's your treasure, isn't
it? Our treasure is what motivates
us. Now, we need things to live in this earth. You've got to
go to work to get them. You've got to do things to have
them. If a man won't work, don't let him eat. Well, you need to
eat, don't you? Well, you're going to have to spend time working. But what
motivates you? What motivates you? What treasure
is it? It's our treasure that motivates
us. So what's your treasure that motivates you? That's, that's
the question. And if you look back at John chapter seven, we're
going to look at a few or over, excuse me, John chapter seven.
Look at, have a Bible study here and see what the word of God
says about this. I hope our treasure is not in the world because look
what our Lord says about the world. John chapter seven verse
two. Now the Jews feast of the tabernacles
was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto
him, depart hence and go into Judea that thy disciples also
may see the works that thou doest. For there's no man that doeth
anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If
thou do these things, show thyself to the world. Now why did his
brethren say that? For neither did his brethren
believe in him. See, their treasure was in the
earth. They wanted the Lord, their brother, to conquer the
earth and have an earthly rule. They figured that'd work out
well for them. If their older brother was ruling the world,
you know, that'd work out well for them. Their treasure was
in the earth. And if our treasure's in the
earth, it's for the same reason their treasure was in the earth.
Neither do we believe upon him. Now look at verse six, our Lord
answers and said unto them, my time is not yet come. But your
time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but
me it hated, because I testify of it that the works thereof
are evil. Now, do you really want your
treasure to be of the earth, which hates the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, we think, oh, people we
know don't hate Christ. Well, now wait a minute. The
world doesn't hate this sweet little Jesus boy that they've
concocted. from their own imagination, but
the world hates the Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign savior,
people who are in false religion or people who have no religion
at all. These folks are not indifferent
to Christ. They hate him. Now we may think,
I don't want to think that there's such nice people. Well, I'll
tell you what, that's what the Lord said about them. They hate
him. Do we really want our treasure
upon the earth that hates the Lord Jesus Christ? I think not.
All right, look at John chapter 17. I'll show you how serious
this matter is. John chapter 17. In verse nine. The Savior says, I pray for them,
those that thou has given me, I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Now,
if your treasures of the earth, this is a solemn warning to us.
Our Savior refused to pray for the world. He refused to pray
for the world. I pray not for the world. Is
that really where we want our treasure to be? In that place
that the Lord himself, the Savior himself refused to pray for?
I look at James chapter four. James chapter four. Verse two, you lust and have
not. You kill and desire to have and
cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you have
not because you ask not. You ask and receive not, because
you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your own lust. See, here's
people James is describing as fighting, doing everything they
can to get a treasure upon earth. And they're not satisfied. No
matter how much they get of it, they're not satisfied. Verse
four, he goes on, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever,
therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Now, he's talking here not about
people who commit adultery against their spouse. He's talking about
spiritual adultery. Those people who are chasing
that spiritual adultery, who are friends with the world, who
are friends with the religion of this world, are the enemies
of God. See, our treasure doesn't just
have to be material things. Our treasure may be religious
things. Our treasure may be things that we think we can do to earn
some favor from God. That may be our treasure. And
that's spiritual adultery. It's adultery, union with false
religion that says, I can do something to please God. I can
do something to get God to save me. I can do something to make
God more happy with me than somebody else. And our Lord says, whoever's
the friend of that is the enemy of God. Do we really want our
treasure to be in that place that is the enemy of God? If
our treasure is in the place that's the enemy of God, what
do you reckon is going to happen to it? It's going to be destroyed. Now look over at first John chapter
two. First John chapter two. This
is the point I'm trying to make on this, to love the things of
this earth, to have our treasure in this earth is to hate God.
1 John 2 verse 15. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of
life is not of the father. It's of the world. The world
passes away and the lust thereof. but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. Now to love the world is to hate
the father. Just like our Lord said, no man
can have two masters. No man can have two treasures.
Can't chase after two treasures in opposite directions. You're
going to chase after one. You're going to love the one
and hate the other. So to have your treasure in this earth is
to hate the father. All right. Now look back at Mark
chapter four. Like I said, now these are, We have to have things
of this earth. You know, we have to have the
money to pay for them. We have to have food and clothing
and shelter and all those things. And there's nothing wrong with
going to work and working to get those things and working
overtime and those kinds of things when you have to. You have to
work to get these things. Here's the problem. The problem
is when the things of the earth, become our treasure. Not just
something that we have to use to get by, but something that
becomes our treasure. Mark 4 verse 18. These are they
which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word and the
cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other
things entering in, choke the word and it becometh unfruitful. See, Our treasure, if our treasure
is the things of this world, this is what it will always do.
It'll choke off the word of God. It'll choke off our spiritual
life and make us unfruitful and make us unuseful in the kingdom
of God. No child of God wants that. Look
over a few more pages, Mark chapter eight. Verse 34. And when he had called the people
unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. For what
shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose
his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Now this treasure, if all the
treasure that you want is in this life, it won't profit you
anything. There is no profit to it whatsoever. It'll all be lost. Every bit
of it will be lost and none of it will contribute anything to
your eternal soul. Hold your place there. I'm just
going to read this to you in Isaiah. chapter 55. In light
of that, the treasure of this world has got no value. It's useless. In light of that,
listen to what the prophet says, Isaiah chapter 55, verse 1. Oh,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that
hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? Why are you seeking after something
that's your treasure, which is not bread, which is not bread
for your soul? Are your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Why are you chasing after this
treasure that never satisfies you? Hearken diligently unto
me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me. Here, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." See, there
is a treasure that's sure, isn't there? There is a treasure that's
valuable to our souls. Then why are you chasing after
something else? Why would you chase after something else that
satisfies not, that doesn't do any good to your soul? And every
treasure upon earth, I don't care what it is, what treasure
it is that we have, every treasure that's upon this earth is dust
and rust. If it's upon this earth, it's
made of dust. And something as simple as a
moth can come and make it disappear. Something as simple as rust will
just make it vanish. That's what the word corrupt,
our Lord uses there. It means something is made to
disappear. Something that will vanish. A
treasure that is of the earth is dust. That's what the word
earth there means. It's of the dust. And I don't
care how you shape it. I don't care what shape you put
it in. It's just dust. And for long, it'll return to
the dust from whence it was made. And a puff of wind will blow
it away. And it'll be gone. And there are several different
kinds of treasures upon this earth we can consider. This treasure
could be wealth and money. That's the first thing that comes
to our mind when we talk about treasure. It's wealth and money. There's
no problem with having material wealth, none whatsoever. Job,
Abraham, David, Solomon were all very, very, very wealthy
men. But those were men. Job was a
wealthy man. God called him righteous. Abraham
was a wealthy man. God called him a friend. David
was a wealthy man. God said, this is the man for
my own heart. Solomon was a rich man. God said, this is the wise
man. So nothing wrong with material wealth. You can have material
wealth and Christ will be your treasure. The problem is the
love of it. It's covetousness for it because
those riches are your treasure. Now look at Luke chapter 12.
See, the problem is not having riches. The problem is letting
those riches control you. Instead of you controlling them
and using what God's given you, they're controlling you. That's
the problem. And Luke chapter 12 verse 15. And he said unto them, take heed
and beware of covetousness for a man's life consists, if not
in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And he spake
a parable unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man
brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself
saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I'll pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow
all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But
God said unto him, thou fool. This night thy soul shall be
required of thee. Then whose shall those things
be which thou hast provided? So is he a fool that layeth up
treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Now we need
to remember this. Riches have wings. Invest all you want and the stock
market goes down and your riches vanish in a day. And if not,
God will take it away some way. One way or another, God's going
to take it away. That's not a very good treasure,
is it? Well, look over at John chapter
12. Our treasure could be popularity. You know, everybody wants to
be popular, don't they? Everybody wants to be in the
in crowd. I think I thought about this. I didn't ask Janet about it,
but I thought about this and I thought of all our girl's friends
all the time they were in school. And I bet you the only mother
of all those children that didn't want their child to be in the
in crowd is Jansu. Everybody wants their child to
be popular in the in crowd. Well, you know what? That's fine
and dandy, I reckon. But being popular with this world
makes you the enemy of God. Being popular in this world will
give you the fear of men. You're in that in crowd. You
know how easy it is to misstep and get kicked out of it? You're
in that in crowd. You just identify with Christ.
You just confess Christ and you won't be popular anymore. That
gives people the fear of this world. And that happened here
in John chapter 12, verse 42. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him. lest they should be put out of
the synagogue, for they love the praise of men more than the
praise of God. See, that loving popularity will
keep you from coming to Christ, keep you from identifying with
him because you know the world hates him. That's a very dangerous
situation. If your treasure is popularity,
it'll give you the fear of men. And the thief the Lord talks
about, you know, it might not be a cat burglar that breaks
in to steal our gold. It might not be a dishonest financial
advisor or something. I tell you, the thief all of
us have to deal with is our sin and the effects of our sin. Your
treasure could be building up a huge nest egg so we can retire
and spend our time traveling and spend our time being with
our family and, and just have the ease of golden years. But
you know an invisible thing called Alzheimer's will come and take
it all away. You wouldn't even know it's there.
You could die before you retire. I mean, you just never know what
thief will come from the effect of sin and take it away. Our
treasure could be physical beauty. Well, if that's your treasure,
brother, you don't got to look far to see sin's going to take
that away. Now, sin's going to take that
away. My brother, when he was administrator of a nursing home,
said somebody that wants to get a bunch of tattoos and somebody
that wants to so take care of their body and see how, you know,
just such pride in the strength of their body, he should just
come take a stroll through the nursing home. You see what flesh
becomes. He's going to take it away. Now,
I don't say all that to frighten everybody to death, you know,
but these things, hearing these warnings now, that frightens
a believer. It frightens a believer because
this is what we recognize. My flesh still loves that. There's
still an attraction to all that, you know, to my flesh. I mean,
every one of us, if we could choose, we'd be tall, dark and
handsome. We'd be wealthy. We'd be popular.
All of us would choose that. And it concerns us because now
I've got a new man too. A new man that loves God, that
believes Christ, that loves Him. So this frightens me that I've
got this nature that loves these things, which are the enemy of
God. I've got a nature that loves these things that'll keep me
from Christ and choke off my spiritual life. Well, I've got
a comforting verse for you. Our Lord said, you be of good
cheer. Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. I've
overcome it. And God's children are going
to overcome the world too. They're going to overcome the
lust of these things, the treasures of the earth, because our saviors
overcome the world. So the world can't take us away
from Him. The world can't steal us away
from Him and keep us from believing Christ and keep us from coming
to Him because our saviors overcome the world. And our saviors also
overcome the world that's in our heart. Now the world's set
in our heart, but our saviors overcome the world that's set
in our hearts, causing a new man to be born who reigns. First John four, verse four,
John says, you're of God, little children, and you've overcome
them. Not because you're so special,
but because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the
world. So God's children have comfort
because our saviors overcome the world. And look at first
Peter chapter one. Our savior has provided for us
and inheritance. And that inheritance will never
turn to dust or rust and no thief of any form, shape or size will
ever come and be able to take it away from us because our spiritual
blessings are reserved in heaven. They're not here upon this earth.
They're reserved, kept in heaven. First Peter 1 verse 3. Blessed
be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively, living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Now that's
the treasure I want in you that's incorruptible, undefiled, that
fadeth not away, that's reserved in heaven. Now, here's the question. Is that the treasure you want?
I hope so. Well, here's a good question.
The Lord said, lay it up for yourself. Well, how do I lay
up for myself this treasure in heaven? Well, It's not, let me
start out by what it's not. It's not by doing a bunch of
good works that's sending materials up to glory on ahead of us that
can be used to build a bigger mansion than somebody else. Or
to have more jewels in our crown or whatever than somebody else.
Laying up is not a work that we do. Because that'd be works,
not grace. So it can't be that, can it?
Tell you how you lay up treasures in heaven for yourself. It's
by seeking the treasure where it's found. That's how you do
it. Seek your treasure in Christ
because it's all in him. The father's put all fullness
in him. And Peter told us the believer's
inheritance is reserved for those who are kept by the power of
God through faith, through faith. You seek this treasure by faith,
by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, by trusting him who is in heaven. Now there is an awful big difference
between trust in Christ, between trusting him, resting him, believing
and trusting him, and the dust and the rust of this earth. Unto
you therefore which believe, he is precious. Unto you therefore
which trust and believe, he's the treasure. That's how we lay
up treasures for ourselves in heaven, by believing him, trusting
him. Now look at Matthew chapter 13.
If Christ is your treasure, nothing will be as important to you as
Him. Now you still have responsibilities
on this earth that you must take care of. You know Christ can
be your treasure and you can be the best employee on the job
and get raises and promotions because of it. Absolutely you
can. can have Christ as your treasure
and build yourself a nice home, take care of your family, and
Christ still be your treasure. But nothing will be as important
to you as knowing Christ and having Him. Matthew 13, verse
44. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto treasure hidden afield. The which when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth
all that he hath. And he buys that field. He buys
that field because everything in that field, whatever it is
in that field, is more important to him than everything else he
has. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking
goodly pearls. Who, when he found that one pearl
of great price, he went and sold all that he had and he bought
it. See, if Christ is your treasure,
he will be the most important thing to you. You've got to be
where he is. You've got to be where he's preached. You've got to be where you can
hear more about him. Preaching the gospel is setting
forth the glory of Christ. Don't you love hearing about
the glory of your treasure? All the glory of all the different
facets of it. And having Christ as your treasure,
that's not going to ever leave you unsatisfied, seeking more. Having Christ as your treasure
brings you joy. Joy through faith in Christ that
will never turn to dust or rust. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
1. Here's a description of our treasure. If Christ is our treasure. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. If
Christ is our treasure, this treasure is so great that you
have everything. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. But
of him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God has made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. See,
those riches can never be taken away. Our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption can never be taken away because
all those things are Christ. I mean, they're in Christ, but
they are Christ. And if he's our treasure, rust
can never make him disappear, can they? And we lay up for treasure
for ourselves in heaven by seeking Christ and seeking Him earnestly,
by setting our affection on things above, not on the things of this
earth. If you know Christ, set your
heart on Him and don't let the other things of this earth, even
good responsibilities that you have to take care of, don't let
them keep you from Christ. Because the apostle Paul said,
if you know Christ, if you believe him, you're dead to this world. You're dead to it. If you're
dead to this world, you're dead to the treasures of it. You're
dead to the treasures of this world. And you're dead to the
disasters of this world. That means they don't affect
you. They don't affect you. A corpse laying in a casket. How do the headlines in the newspaper
today affect that corpse? Not one bit. Whether they're
good or bad, they don't affect it because he's dead to this
world. Have you ever seen somebody talking to the body in a casket? People do that. I'm not saying
anything bad about that. You've got something on your
heart, you're saying goodbye, you know, whatever. But have
you ever seen that corpse affected by anything you say? I mean,
you could tell that corpse, you know, all your life you've been
a dirty, rotten scoundrel. Just ruin my life. I hate you.
Corpse is unaffected. He's dead to this world. And
you can tell that corpse, oh, I love you. You've been the most
wonderful person and such a blessing in my life. I don't know how
am I going without you. Corpse is unaffected because
he's dead to this world. That's the believer. This world
doesn't affect you. You're not of the world. You're
born from above. So feel the same way about all
the treasures of this earth. They've got nothing to do with
you. They've got nothing you want. You seek Him. You seek Christ. And I tell you
what, you seek Him early. Seek Him early. And I'm not just
talking about early in the day. Seek Him early in life. Seek
Him early in life. Old age. is a thief that robs
our mind. So you can't understand and you
can't seek him. Seek him early, earnestly, because
if you have Christ, you've got the whole treasure. You know,
some people, they seek treasures on this earth. They seek riches
of the earth. Well, you know what? If you've
got Christ, you've got the one who's rich in mercy. If you've
got Christ, you've got all the unsearchable riches of Christ. What earthly riches can compare
to that? Some people treasure popularity,
having lots and lots of friends, being in the in crowd. If you've
got Christ, you've got a friend. Friend of sinners. What a friend
we have in Jesus. Some people treasure influence
and power. But if you've got Christ, you're
a child of the King. You're welcome in the throne
room anytime you want. What more influence can you want?
Some people treasure this life, keeping this body alive. We've
got Christ. We've got eternal life. Some
people treasure physical beauty, trying to keep this body looking
good as long as they can. But if you've got Christ, you've
got Him who is altogether lovely. Oh, what a treasure. And to think that he would give
that treasure freely to the likes of sinners like us. The world's
not going to give you its treasures freely, but God does. People seeking treasures on this
earth, they will never, ever, ever be satisfied. They'll never
get enough. And whatever they do get, it's
going to turn to rust and dust. But everybody who's trusting
Christ is going to be satisfied because if they've got Christ,
They've got all things. And if you've got all things,
you can't have more. You can't want more because you
can't have more. That's what we have in trusting
Him. I pray Lord will give us that faith to trust Him. All
right. Lord bless you.