So let's come to Matthew's Gospel,
chapter six. Now in chapter five, we've had
I think five or six sermons from chapter five. In Matthew five,
Jesus has been teaching his disciples from the hillside, teaching his
disciples You and me, are we the disciples of the Lord? Are
we those who follow his teaching? Are we those who seek to follow
in his footsteps? Are we his disciples? He's teaching
his disciples about God's grace and its accomplishment. Remember
what Jesus came preaching, he came preaching the kingdom of
God. He's teaching about the grace
of God, the grace of God, and that grace accomplishing its
objectives. What is the objective of the
grace of God? It's sinners qualified for entry
to heaven. Sinners who by nature are of
a certainty barred from the kingdom of God from heaven, sinners qualified
for heaven. This is the good news, the good
news of God's grace. God's grace changes people. God's
grace saves sinners from their sins. By the grace of God are
ye saved. God's grace saves, and it saves
justly. God doesn't alter his own rules,
he doesn't bend his rules in order to accomplish the salvation
of his elect. He saves justly, because every
sin that has offended his justice is paid for to the uttermost. Because our Lord Jesus Christ
saves to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. For He
has borne the sins of His people in His body on the cursed tree
by being made a curse for us. Grace saves justly, and grace
saves effectually. In other words, it accomplishes
that which God has said it will do. The purpose of God is the
salvation of sinners, the salvation of His people. and the grace
of God regenerates people. It gives new life to sinners.
It gives heavenly life and heavenly light. It gives the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
that which we can never buy our own intellect or rationalism,
we can never work out for ourselves. The Spirit of God comes, because
we know that salvation, as John's Gospel tells us, is not of him
that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
It isn't according to the will of the flesh, or the will of
man, it isn't due to bloodlines, it is due to the will of God.
It is the will of God that saves a sinner. the will of God. You
have not chosen me, said Jesus, I have chosen you. And it is
the grace of God which produces fruit in this world. The grace
of God in that changed man within, produces fruit in this world.
And that's very much what Matthew chapter 6 is about. First of
all, it produces fruit in the life of one who was dead in trespasses
and sins without any knowledge of God. It produces fruit in,
number one, good works towards others. It's what are called
in verse 1 of chapter 6, alms, A-L-M-S, the things that we do
to help others. the things that we give to be
kind to others. It produces good works to others,
does the grace of God. But secondly, it also results
in, it also produces in fruit, a heavenly disposition towards
God and the things of God. In prayer, which is spoken about
in the first half of this chapter, and in fasting, Now, I don't
intend to spend a long time on the subject of fasting, just
to say this, just to make sure that everybody is understanding
what the Scripture means here. It isn't just depriving yourself
of food for the sake of depriving yourself of food. Fasting means
to abstain from anything of this world for the purpose of being
more devoted to fellowship with the living God. It could be anything,
it could be if you're a fanatic for music, then you feel that
it's keeping you away from God, you can fast by depriving yourself,
abstaining from that passion in order to be more dedicated
to the things of God. It could be food, it could be
any number of other things, but it's a It's an abstaining from
the things of this world, to be more dedicated to the things
of God. And there is no command here,
nor anywhere else, that we should fast, but if you want to fast,
if you do. You know, Paul talked about having
a wife, and he said you're perfectly at liberty to, but there are
some who will recognize that having relationships will be
a distraction from dedication to God, and there are some who
will want to avoid it for that purpose. That's the sort of idea
that there is in fasting. I'm not going to say much more
about it at this time. It's a matter of personal preference. The key point is, though, understanding
this, that it's a deliberate personal choice to abstain from
the things of this world that in themselves are perfectly legitimate
and proper and right and good and wholesome, so that we might
be more dedicated to the knowledge of God and the service of God.
That's the way to see this. But the thing is that with the
alms that we do, the good works that we do to others, with the
prayers that we make, with the fasting that we do, The world
around, and especially the religious world, it abounds with hypocrisy
about these things. What is hypocrisy? Hypocrisy
is play-acting to impress people. Play-acting to generate worldly
treasure, to make people think, oh, look at him, look at her,
oh, aren't they, oh, they're so dedicated. It's full of hypocrisy
because people do that not for dedication to God, but to gain
reputation and admiration amongst their fellow men, amongst their
fellow religious converts. And in truth, what it is doing,
by hypocrisy, is nothing to do with God and fellowship with
God, but it's increasing what this passage calls worldly treasure,
by which I mean advancement in business, economic prosperity,
advancement in our careers and our position in the world and
society, education, all of them good in themselves, nothing wrong
with any of these things, the pursuit of qualifications and
of career advancement, all good in itself, nothing wrong with
it, we're to be diligent, we're to be hardworking, to increase
material wealth, well, God does bless many people with material
wealth. He also curses some people with
material wealth. The necessities of life, you
say, no, it's just for the necessities of life. And oh, is it wrong
to have good health? No, of course it's not wrong
to have good health. Not at all. But don't think that it's just
about these things, and just for these things. You know, the
days that we're living in are very strange days. I don't think
any of us have ever experienced anything quite like it. Even
wartime wasn't quite like this, in the sense that something so
unseen is producing such a dramatic change in the life of society
and such damage to the things that we take for granted in this
world. This is why I want to focus on this passage this morning.
Seldom was a passage of Scripture more relevant to the believing
people of God in this time in which we're living than Matthew
6 is. This week, This week I want to
take a general look at earthly and heavenly treasure, and then
next week I want to come back particularly to the verses between
5 and 15 and look at prayer, and that might develop into something
more than just one week. But for now I want to leave prayer
to one side, I want to leave alms and fasting to one side,
and look particularly at this idea of earthly and heavenly
treasure. For a believer, for one who is
saved, for one who is regenerated by the Spirit of God with heavenly
life, with eternal life from on high, who is blessed with
heavenly light, the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God that we see in the face of Jesus Christ and Him alone, don't
think that there's any heavenly light in any mystic wisdom. There isn't. It's in Jesus Christ
and Him alone. He alone is the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. If we're here as we are now,
as God intended, as God said, He's not taking His people out
of this world, the Lord Jesus Christ prayed, I pray not that
you should take them out of the world, but that while they're
here as believers, living in this world with two natures,
the old nature of the flesh and the new nature of the Spirit
of God, that as they live in this world, that they should
continue What does God intend for believers living in this
sinful world? You see, within each believer,
the battle lines are drawn very clearly. The battle lines, what
am I talking about? I'm talking about the flesh and
the spirit. As Galatians 5 tells us, the
flesh is contrary to the spirit. They're at war with one another.
They're contrary to one another. They want different things. The
flesh and the spirit are in conflict with one another. The believer
is, as Song of Solomon 6.13 says, what do I see when I look at
the Shulamite? I see, as it were, a camp of
two armies. were two different natures within
the one being, the flesh and the spirit. And there's that
which the flesh wants, and there's that which the spirit longs for.
And here Jesus teaches all his disciples some key lessons. First of all, let's think about
earthly versus heavenly treasure. In verse 19, he says to his disciples,
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 your heart will be
also. That's the title of this message,
where your treasure is, where your treasure is. And then in
verse 32, for after all these things do the Gentiles, the unbelieving
world, the godless world, they seek after all these earthly
things. For your heavenly Father, you
disciples, you have a heavenly Father. You're in the family
of God. You have a Heavenly Father, and
your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of things. He knows
you need air to breathe, and water to drink, and shelter,
and clothing, and loved ones. He knows what you need. But He
says, seek He first. What are you going to seek? Seek
first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto you. The things you need, God will
give you. but don't spend your time chasing after them. Take
therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof. Treasure, treasure, wealth, resources
for life, provision for life on earth. Treasure on earth is
the things that we need for this life. But we go beyond what we
need and it becomes what we want. The possessions that we want.
The experiences that we want to have. You know, the bucket
list. You've heard me say before, I
really do not like the idea of the bucket list, especially not
for a believer. The things that you have to do
or have so that you can die saying, well, I've had a good experience
in this life. Is that what the believing life
is about, the bucket list, the wealth, the resources, the possessions
that you have, the experiences that you have, all aimed at what? All aimed at fleeting happiness
on this earth. All aimed at ease in this life. All aimed at our comfort and
our safety, keeping us safe and comfortable and well fed, as
if The more of these things you have, the more places that you're
able to go, the more wonderful experiences that you can have,
the better your life will be. Jesus told the story of the rich
fool. Parable. the rich fool, he began
it in Luke chapter 12 verse 15, he began it by teaching them
not to be covetous. Beware of covetousness, he said,
for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth. That's not the philosophy of
this world, is it? You think about it. You think about everybody
you know in this world. They do think that their life
consists in the abundance of the things which they possess,
or the experiences that they have. And he told the parable
of the rich fool. There was this man, this farmer,
and his fields, he went about his business and year by year
produced a harvest. And then all of a sudden, one
year, he produced far more than he could deal with. It was abundant. It was overflowing. There was
so much stuff. And he said, I know what I'll
do. What am I going to do? I know what I'll do. I'll tear
down my current barns that are not big enough and I will build
bigger ones and I will store this great abundance that I've
got from my labor and from the earth. And then I will say to
my soul, soul, you've got more than enough for the rest of this
life. Sit back, enjoy it, relax, you
know, have a good time. And God said to him, thou fool,
This night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose
will all these things be? The world's best riches are worthless
currency when it comes to the day of your death. when you're
on the threshold of eternity, the world's best riches and experiences
will count for nothing then. Remember what Paul said in Philippians
chapter 3, thinking of that day, I want to be found in Christ. That's what I want to be. What
do you want? To look back and say, well I've
ticked a lot of good things on my bucket list? No, I want to
be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is
filthy rags worthless, but having the righteousness of God in Him,
from the One who has made sin, He who knew no sin, who has made
sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. You see, the things of this earth,
earthly treasure, the very best things that you can buy or experience,
look at verse 19, moth and rust, thieves break through and steal. They're fleeting, they're fleeting,
they're subject to moth and rust and thieves. Verse 20, but treasure
in heaven, treasure in heaven, That's not subject to moth and
rust and theft. Treasure in heaven? What is treasure
in heaven? What is it? What is treasure
in heaven? Is it not the righteousness of
God in Christ, made over, imputed to my account? Is that not the
treasure that we need? Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness. Follow after holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord. Follow after that. Remember what
we saw last week in Matthew chapter 5, verses 23 to 26. Remember
there, in amongst that underlining of how unattainable
was a righteousness that exceeded the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees. Remember there the adversary. Remember there the altar and
the gift and the brother. Remember what we saw there. The
adversary is God, I believe, in that context, is God who against
sin is our adversary. And that we should agree with
our adversary, we should take sides with our adversary. We
should say, I confess, God is absolutely just in his judgment
of me as a sinner worthy of eternal condemnation. Agree with your
adversary. Bring your gift to the altar.
What's the gift? The gift was that allusion to
the leper's gift for cleansing. The two birds, the one killed
and its blood shed in an earthenware pot over running water, and the
other one was dipped in that blood, picturing Christ and the
atonement that he has accomplished. and the forgiveness of sins that
He has purchased, the redemption that He has purchased, and the
altar. Where's the altar? What's the
altar? Christ is the altar. He is everything. We have no
other altar, and those that claim to have an altar have no altar
in reality. They have no right to eat at
this altar, which is Christ our Lord. The altar is where we find
peace with God. The altar is where propitiation
is made for sin. The altar is where the sins of
the people of God are taken away as far as the east is from the
west so that come the day of judgment As Jeremiah 50 verse
20 says, the sins of Judah and Israel, the iniquities of them
shall be sought for and they shall not be found. Why not?
Because they're not there. For he has taken them out of
the way. They're all nailed to his cross.
He's paid for them there. He's paid the penalty to the
uttermost. This is treasure in heaven. knowing
that I have the righteousness that God demands, that Christ
has purchased and made over to my account. This is treasure
in heaven, as Paul says to the Colossians in chapter 3 and the
first three verses, if ye then be risen with Christ. What's
that? If being in him when he was crucified and raised from
the dead, you were raised with him, in union with him, If you're
this child of heaven, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on
things above, not on the things of the earth. Set your desire
on the things of heaven, for you're dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God. That's where your true life really
is. When life seems fragile, as it
certainly does at the moment, doesn't it? I know many of you
are suffering problems at the moment. I know many of you are
experiencing hardship, or at least the threat of hardship. Don't you want some comfort of
some heavenly treasure? Yes, I'm sure you do. And also,
keep a little bit of earthly comfort as well. We want that
too, don't we? Can I just point you to verse 24? No man can serve
two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and mammon. You cannot back both horses. You cannot have the two at the
same time. God will give what we need, but
you can't pursue both at the same time. Verse 24, no man can
serve two masters, God and mammon. We need a single-minded resolve
for heavenly things. Verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. all these things, don't worry
about them. God will give you what you need. You don't need
to seek them, you don't need to pursue them. All the necessary
rest will be provided. Now then, I've probably said
everything I want to say about this passage, but, but, I want
to read out five statements made by Henry Mahan in a sermon on
this passage many, many years ago. And I got these statements
from Don Faulkner in his commentary on Matthew. And he got them because
he was in the meeting where Henry preached this message. And he
found these statements so powerful that he wrote them down, and
he repeated them. So I'm going to make no apology
for the fact I am going to repeat them here, now, because I think
they speak to us in such a profound way. The flesh wars against the
Spirit. They're contrary to one another.
And one of the main ways in which the flesh fights the Spirit is
with unbelief. The flesh tends to unbelief. It tends to fears. It tends to
doubts regarding God's promises to His people in this world.
So Henry said all these years ago, he said, number one, We
fear too much for a people to whom the Lord has said, fear
thou not. We fear too much. What do we
fear? Things that might happen. We fear things that might happen
far too much if we're really a people to whom the Lord has
said, Isaiah 41 verse 10, he said, fear thou not. You hear it? Do you hear what
he said? Child of God, did you hear what
he said? Don't be afraid. Why? For I am with you. Who? God, who is over all. The God of the universe. Not
the God who is cowering, wondering what coronavirus might do. The
God who has sent it for his purposes. What? God has done such a terrible
thing as that? God's purposes are that his kingdom
should come. That his kingdom should be triumphant.
God's purposes are that this world shall come to an end, that
the kingdom of Satan shall be frustrated. This virus, I'm telling
you, is just one of God's ways in which he frustrates the purposes
of the kingdom of Satan. The purposes of the kingdom of
Satan are the establishment of a godless world of cooperation
that pays no attention, no heed, to the justice of God regarding
sin. So how does God frustrate the
intentions of the kingdom of Satan? He sends forth his four
horses. He sends the seven seals and
the trumpets and the vials. The four horses, the first one
is the white horse of the gospel of his grace. gracious salvation. God sends that into the kingdom
of Satan. Wow, that frustrates the objectives
of the kingdom of Satan, because he says there's no such thing
as the justice of God and the righteousness of God and it doesn't
matter and pay no attention to it, but God says oh yes it does,
and for a multitude I have satisfied it in the gospel of Christ. That's
the white horse. And then God sends forth the
red horse, which is war amongst the nations of this world, that
their attempts for a godless unity might be frustrated. And
he sends forth the black horse of economic strife, you know,
the daily subsistence for the vast majority, but hurt not the
oil and the wine, or the rich will always be abundantly overflowing. Hurt not the oil or the wine,
is it not the case in these days? Those that have got the money
and the resources to get quickly to the shops, strip the shelves
bare, as we've just seen, for evil is bound up in the heart
of man. Selfish evil is bound up in the heart of man. Wickedness. The heart of man is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You
can see its evidence all around us in these days. All around
us. But fear not, for God is in control
of all things. God has promised he will not
see his children begging bread. He says, be not dismayed, I am
thy God. God is God over all things. I will strengthen thee. What
will He strengthen us with? With His truth, with His light,
with the knowledge of Him. He will show us that in Christ
we have wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption. Fear thou not, I am with thee.
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
my right hand of righteousness. God's right hand of his righteousness
is Christ our Lord. He will uphold us in all of this.
If we claim to believe God, why don't we believe him? You hear
what he says? God is greater than anything
that threatens us, is he not? Isn't he? Think about it. God
is greater than anything that threatens us. Why be afraid?
Don't be afraid. Psalm 23, David writes of his
experience, he went through many experiences that would cause
you to fear. But Psalm 23, verse four, he says, yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. We do walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, don't we? We walk through that valley
now, as we hear the numbers of people dying all around us, but
I will fear no evil. Why? For thou, God, art with
me, and thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Why do we need
to fear lack of anything? Look at verse 25. I say to you,
take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you
shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on.
Isn't the life more than meat and the body more than raiment?
Well, give us an example. Look at the fowls, the birds
of the air. They don't sow seeds. In our
garden, they know they don't need to sow seeds because the
guy that lives here keeps putting bird seed in a feeder down the
garden. But you know what I mean? God
says he feeds the birds. They don't do anything like that.
They don't reap. They don't gather into barns.
Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better
than they, than the birds of the air? Which of you, by taking
thought, can add one cubit to his stature? And why take ye
thought for raiment, for clothes? Look at the flowers, look at
the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither
do they spin, not even Solomon in all of his glory. He was arrayed in the finest,
most beautiful clothes, but he didn't look as beautiful as one
of these lilies of the field that God clothes. Wherefore,
if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, into the fire. Shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Food, clothing, shelter,
has not God promised? Has he not? As you face a very
uncertain few months ahead, and who knows how long it will go
on, be not afraid. And I know this is very real. We're not talking hypothetical.
I know some of you already have suffered the loss. Some of you
self-employed have suffered the loss of a huge amount of income
or ordered income that's been cancelled. I know that, I know. But as children of God, hear
this. God knows what you need. Psalm 37 verse 25, I have been
young and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging bread. Secondly, secondly, all too readily
we doubt God's word concerning his mercy, love and grace, salvation. All too readily we doubt, has
he really saved us? Am I going to die and go to hell
after all? Has he really saved us? We are
so used to being wary of scams in these days, aren't we? Every
day I receive two or three scam emails or texts trying to persuade
me to click on a button and that will then load some malicious
software that will get my secret details so that they can take
the money out of my bank account. All the time. I'm sure you're
getting them exactly the same. We're so wary of scams that our
flesh even persuades us to doubt God. But you know, God is not
a man. Numbers 23 verse 19, God is not
a man that he should lie. It's people that are liars. Satan
is the father of lies, but God is not a man that he should lie.
We can be confident that God will accomplish all that he said.
Why are you so fearful? We think that this coronavirus
will only kill those who have underlying health issues or are
the old, but there are cases of much younger people and much
fitter people succumbing to it. It's quite a big spectrum of
the response to it. Maybe somebody I'm speaking to
now will, in the course of weeks or months, succumb to it and
die. Are you going to doubt God? No. Listen to what Paul said.
He knew he was going to die. In 2 Timothy, when he wrote that,
he knew that his end was very close. He knew. And what did
he say? He said, I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. He said a few chapters further
on in that same letter, there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me. Not, I don't know, maybe, possibly, I'm hoping, no, he's
absolutely confident, confident, without any doubt. He said to
the Romans in Romans 8 31, if God be for us, who can possibly
be against us? the virus, the rest of the world,
the governments, the economic systems, who can be against us?
Who shall lay anything to the charge? Maybe I'll get to the
day of judgment and I will be found guilty of all sorts of
things for we all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
If your name is in the Lamb's book of life. by the eternal
election of God and the accomplishment of your salvation in the doing
and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you stand before that judgment
seat of Christ, this is what God has promised you will hear.
Not how do you give an account of this, that and the other,
this is what you will hear, name in the Lamb's book of life, come,
you blessed of my Father. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Let's not doubt God's
word concerning his salvation. Thirdly, do we not all Guilty,
guilty, I confess. Don't we not all too easily grumble
and complain about trials and troubles? Things that upset our
plans, our hopes, our expectations for worldly gain, for ourselves
and for our families. We put these plans in place and
things upset them and we complain and we grumble about them. But
God has said, in this world you shall have tribulation, you shall
have trouble. There will be troubles for even
you believers in this world, yes, especially you believers,
but be of good cheer. Don't despair and grumble. Why?
Because Jesus said, I have overcome the world. You're in the hands
of the One who's overcome all these things. Troubles are the
believer's normal experience. As Peter wrote, 1 Peter 4 verse
12, Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to
try you, maybe this virus and the economic impacts of it. It's
a fiery trial to you, even to you who believe. Think it not
strange as though some strange thing happened to you. It happens
to believers as well as the rest of the world. We're assured in
these verses that God's people are in his care and protection,
his overarching provision for our needs. Not necessarily our
wants, the things that we want, the bucket list things, not at
all, but the things that we need for life. All these other things
shall be added to you. We grumble too easily. Fourthly,
we're too attached to the world and its things for a people who,
if we are true like Abraham, we should be seeking a city which
has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. That's what
it says in Hebrews 11 verses 8 to 10, by faith Abraham went
out, he went out from Ur of the Chaldees, from his family, from
his establishment, from everything he knew, into a foreign country
amongst foreign people, not knowing where he went, just knowing that
God had told him to go because he had an eternal purpose in
his going. And by faith, we read, he looked
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
What was the city he looked for? It was the New Jerusalem. It
was Zion, city of our God. It was the heaven of God, the
kingdom of God. Do you claim Do you profess to
have the faith of God's elect? That's what Paul writes in Titus
in the first verse, I think, those that have the faith of
God's elect. Do you have, do you claim that?
Do you profess to have the faith of God's elect? What is your
heart's overriding desire? What is it? Ah, well, to do this,
that, and the other, and then to be comforted that I'm going,
no. Is your heart's overriding desire now the New Jerusalem,
the heaven of God, that uninterrupted intimate fellowship, Between
us as people and our God, I will be their God and they will be
my people, he says again and again. Or is your concern for
prosperity and security here and now? We're too attached to
the world and the things of this world. And fifthly, finally,
we're too anxious for earthly material things, as if anxiety
will aid their provision. We're taught to be diligent,
not slothful. We're taught not to be careless
and profligate with the resources that God lends us in this life.
But there is no need to be eaten up with worry about them. Because
as Jesus said here in verse 32, your Father knows what you need. It will be added to you as you
need, just as for the birds of the air and the flowers of the
field. We all need to confess. not least me. We all need to
confess to God that we're guilty of all these aspects of doubting,
fleshly doubting and unbelief. And we need to resolve to seek
first God's kingdom and his righteousness. Look unto me all ye ends of the
earth and be ye saved, says God. look unto Him, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. We need to heed John's
exhortation to believers, that it speak to us in this day, 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.
Joseph Alain wrote this, Think about these words carefully.
There is no surer evidence of an unconverted state than to
have the things of this world uppermost in our aim, our love,
and our estimation. Let each professing believer
examine himself the scriptures tell us. Let us examine ourselves. Not others, we're coming on to
that in chapter 7 in I don't know how many weeks. Judge not
that ye be not judged. We're not to examine others,
examine himself, whether he be in the faith, whether his overriding
desire is for the kingdom of heaven. And if we're guilty of
being those who have too much of the world in us, ask the Lord,
as that Lord's prayer Jesus taught the disciples to pray, lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.