Matthew 6, and I want to begin
reading in verse 19. You and I have been studying
now for several weeks in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount,
and we've come here this morning to the subject of treasures,
earthly treasures as opposed to heavenly treasures. In verse
19, our Master 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." And one of the things you'll notice here, he's not
opposed to us laying up treasures. He encourages us to lay up treasures. It's not laying up treasures
to ourselves that he's opposed to, but he encourages us to lay
up treasures to ourselves. But what he's opposed to here
in verse 19 is laying up earthly treasures for ourselves, as opposed
to laying up for ourselves heavenly treasures. Therefore, he says,
lay up for yourselves heavenly treasures, 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. The light of the body is the
eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
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."
I want us to begin the message this morning in verse 19 as our
Lord did, and look at this in a negative aspect. And so often we can learn from
looking at something from a negative aspect, and that's where our
Lord begins with a negative. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon this earth. Now, first of all, I want to
simply look at the definition of treasure, and then let's consider
together, just for a few minutes, what some earthly treasures are
and why we're not to lay them up. Now, one of the best definitions
I've heard, and the most simple definition of a treasure, Matthew
Henry himself gave it, and he said this, a treasure is something
that is in itself. In one's own opinion or estimation,
precious are valuable. That's what a treasure is. A
treasure is not what an object is in and of itself. But a treasure
is the estimation that we put upon an object, our opinion of
an object. That's what makes the object
a treasure. Something that we esteem, something
that we value. That's what makes it precious,
our treasure. Now, there are gold and silver,
and that's mostly what you and I think about when we think of
treasure. And as we read these and you read the commentators
on earthly treasure, most of the time they will limit it to
silver and gold, or what silver and gold can buy. All the temporal
advantages that money can give us in this lifetime. I know cheaply
that may be our Lord's meaning. And let me quote some scriptures
to you this morning that would indicate maybe that's one of
the things he's speaking about here. How could gold or silver
become our treasure and all the things that beckon by and all
its temple advantages? Well, listen to what Job says.
He says, If I have made gold my hope, or have said to find
gold, thou art my confidence. So when gold becomes so precious,
when silver is so highly esteemed by us, it becomes our hope. It
becomes our confidence, then it becomes our treasure. Listen
to what David said, If riches increase, set not thine heart
upon them. That's when riches become a treasure,
when a person has set their heart upon them. And the wise man said,
Will thou set thine eye upon that which is not? For riches
make themselves wings, and they fly away to heaven. Don't set
your eye upon bitter. And he said this, He that loveth
silver shall not be satisfied with silver, and he that loveth
abundance shall not be satisfied with it." What makes silver become
a treasure when a man loves it, when he sets his heart to it,
when his eyes become appealed to it? And Luke the master said
this, how hardly shall they who trust in riches enter the kingdom
of heaven. And the apostle told Timothy,
having food and raiment, let us be content for they who will
to be rich When does riches become treasure? When we will. When the will goes out after
those things. When I will above everything
else, above the glory of God, I will to be rich. I give my heart, my understanding,
my affections to it. Therefore, he said, charge them
that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches. So when does gold and when does
silver and all that that can buy and all the advantages that
we can enjoy by that, when does that become our treasure? When
it becomes our happiness. When we trust in it. When we
put our confidence in it. When we look upon it and will
to have it and seek after it more than the glory of God itself.
But you know, treasures are more than just silver and gold. There
are people There are many people who could care less about gold
and silver. It doesn't appeal to them that
much, but they have their world of treasure. They have their
earthly treasure. You and I looked last week at
that parable in Luke chapter 14. And when the command went
out that the supper was ready, remember the three men, three
different men, that were bidden to come to the marriage. One
had a piece of land, and he said, I can't go because I've got this
earthly treasure that I'm going to attend to. The other had five
yoke of oxen. He said, that's my treasure.
But you remember the third man? You remember what his treasure
was? It was his wife, wasn't it? I've got a treasure. He said, I can't. I could cheer
less about buying your kiboshes. I could cheer less about a piece
of ground. But he said, I have this treasure, and it's my wife.
It's my wife. You know, a lot of people have
treasures, brothers and sisters. It's a wife, it's a husband,
it's children, it's family, it's relatives, or something else
that's social, and they've set that up. That's become precious
to them. That's their worldly treasure.
And there's other people. We went over one day to a ball
game there at Cincinnati. And you walk down through an
alleyway there where we walked to, and there's these winos.
This lines the walls. And they're dirty. Most of them
dress in raggedy clothes. But they don't want a good job. They don't want money. They don't
even want a good suit of clothes. You know what their treasure
is? A bottle of wine. Give me a bottle of wine. Men
have different worldly treasures. And it's not the object, but
it's how we feel about the object. It's our opinion, it's our estimation
that we put upon that object. But you know the treasures of
this world are even broader than that. There are people in this
world whose treasure is power and prestige. I have a friend
of mine, he's a preacher. I've known him for several years,
and most of you here know him. And I was talking with him just
the other day, and he's running for state senator this year.
He's going to quit preaching, which he probably should anyway.
But he's going to run for state senator. And everywhere you look
now, you see a picture in the paper, he's always running to
and fro, getting photographs taken, getting his name out there.
Why is he seeking some political office? Can you imagine yourself
seeking a political office? All that you'd have to give up
to be a politician. The people you'd have to associate
with. The compromises that you'd have to make to be a politician.
You know what the scripture says about politicians. Daniel tells
us that the kingdom of men belongs to God. And he sets over it the
basis of men. Why would you want to lead the
ministry? Why would a child of God want to join hands and fellowship
with the basest of men? Why is that man doing that? Do
you know why he's doing that? That's his treasure. It's dear
to his heart. He's seeking that. He loves it.
And that's his treasure. He can give squat about money.
I know him personally. He's not a covetous man as far
as money is concerned. But boy, he's got this one thing.
He's got this treasure he's seeking. But you know, it's even broader
than that, isn't it? I mean, it's endless. Worldly,
earthly treasures are endless. There's so many you and I can't
even name. But it's not the object itself, but it's our opinion
of it, our estimation of it. I was reading an article the
other day, and I thought, boy, you know, this fits in our context.
If we'll consider the context, you and I have been studying
here the last few weeks upon these scribes and Pharisees,
and they spent all their life, and everything they did was for
this one reason, to be recognized of me. Matt, that's all they
prayed for on the street corner. That's the only reason they gave
alms. The only reason they fasted is for men to look at them and
recognize them. I was reading an article just not too long
ago concerning Billy Graham. And they were praising him in
this article. And the reason I'm saying this
is because they put it out there. You know, if you put an article
out concerning you, then it may be answered publicly. If you
keep it private, okay, we'll keep it private. But if you start
bragging on yourself publicly, then you leave yourself open
to be reproved publicly. But anyway, they published this
article and told Billy Graham and his Evangelistic Association
how honest they were with their money. And they said, of all
the religious organizations in the world, that they knew of,
theirs was the most up front. That they could account for every
dime they brought in and every dime they went out. And they
talked about Billy Graham, you know, wasn't seeking to be rich,
that he lived a modest lifestyle. And he can be commended for that.
He's not concerned, as these other TV evangelists are, about
all this money and hoarding it up. But I tell you what, he's
got another, Billy Graham's got another earthly treasure. And
it's just as bad as this money, loving this money. And you know
what it is? It's the praise of men. It's seeking to be accepted
of men. He'd rather have that than silver
and gold. And I'm convinced that he'd rather
have that than the honor of God itself. Now you just look now. You just look and think just
a minute. Who is it that speaks well of that man? You've got
Catholicism praises Him. You've got the Jews who praises
Him. You've got the cults who praise
Him. The only people I know that do
not speak highly of Him is God's little flock. That's a telltale
sign, ain't it? When those who believe the sovereign
grace of God in Christ do not speak well of a preacher, but
the world speaks well of Him. You better be careful then. And
that's his aim and has been for years. And he's accomplished
that aim. And he's maintained his purpose
to be spoken well of. That's his treasure. It's an
earthly treasure. So see, it comes in many forms,
doesn't it? It's not just money. It's whatever
you set your heart on in this world to love it. It becomes
precious to you. And you hold it in your soul. That's to be precious. Well, we could go on forever
on that. But here is why the Lord Jesus
says, don't lay up these treasures until you're safe. Why is that?
Well, He tells us there in verse 19, doesn't He? For these moths
and rust corrupt, and these thieves break through and steal. Did you notice what He says here?
Boy, He gets right down to where we live. These three things that
He deals with here. You know what a moth is. We all
know what a moth is, don't we? When I was growing up, my mother
used to put moth balls in the closet. Because you've got these
little moths that eat up the garments. And that's exactly
what this means. James says, your garments are
moth eating. What the Lord does, He comes
right down here where we live. He doesn't go off on rich people
and talk about their wealth and all this, but he comes right
down here where we live and talks about our garments. He says,
don't be concerned about your garments, because they're going
to be moth-eaten. They're going to be wasted. They're
going to be torn. And rust, this word rust, this is not the rust
that we think about when we think of our vehicles rusting up. This
is the rust that we think of when we go out in our gardens
and turn up the green bean vines and rust is all over our beans.
This has to do with the rot and the decay and the wasting away
of the foods that we have. Vegetables and meats and fruits. This has to do with the rot and
decay of our food. And the Lord said it's going
to rust. It's going to run us. And he says here, our valuables,
our income, our retirement, our little bank accounts that we
have, he says thieves are going to break through and steal. See what he does, what our Lord
does. He comes right down where you
and I live, with what we wear, what we eat, and what little
income we have. And he puts his finger right
on these things. And he says, don't make these
things your valuables. Don't put your trust and your
love and your confidence in these things, because he said, all
these things, these essential things that we must have to live
with, they're going to pass away, Clarence. All of them are going
to pass away. And you know what he's saying
here? If we'll be faithful over these little things. The big
things are going to take their place. It's always the little
things, the little boxes, ain't it, that spoil the vibe. Don't set your heart upon even
the necessary things of this world as clothes or food or your
income, much less the big things, the riches and temporal advantages. Because all these things are
soon, one way or the other, they're going to be gone forever. They're
gone forever. We buried my dad back in June. And it took us probably a week
to clean his house out. He had five closets full of clothes. Don't set your heart upon his
clothes. You say, Bruce, you're silly.
Well, if I'm silly, the Lord's silly. Anybody ever set their
heart, anybody ever set their time, given your thoughts and
your affections to clothes? Someday you're going to die and
somebody else is going to come and bag those clothes up and
take them and throw them in the dump. Don't set your heart to
it. Brothers and sisters, let's learn
to eat for health and not drunkenness or gluttony, because there's
coming a day when you're going to lose your appetite. Coming
a day when your digestive system is going to shut down. Coming
a day when your food, your eating is going to cease. Don't set
your heart on your little meager income. Your retirement. Your investments. Because some thief is going to
break through and steal it. There's a lot of thieves when
we think about our income, ain't there? Well, we've got our retirement,
but who's really got our retirement? Some of you fellow brothers here,
you're retired. You ever get concerned about your retirement?
Because it's not in your hands, is it? It's in big corporations'
hands somewhere that may be a thief. Bad investment, that's a thief,
ain't it? You can lose it. Don't put your
stock in it. Don't set your heart on it. Because
thieves are going to steal it. See, that's just these essential
things. Everyday things, our mastery gets right down here
to where we live. The treasures, don't make treasures
out of it. Don't even make your family your
treasure. We're living in a day, if you
turn on your radio, all you can hear preached on anymore is the
family. Everybody's stuck on the family. If we can just get
our families straightened out. And we're making idols out of
our children. I'd rather belong to a dysfunctional
family than to worship my family. Husbands love your wives. Wives
reverence your husband. Mom and Dad teach your children.
You children obey your parents. But don't set your heart upon
them to worship them. Don't make them an idol. Don't
set them up as a treasure, because I'm telling you, this family
relationship is only temporary. Hold it with a loose hand, because
pretty soon it's going to be gone forever. And those who are
seeking the treasure of the praise and honor of men, and that's
their aim, well, you may win it, but you ain't going to keep
it long. The world will praise you here if you have good words
and smooth speeches, the world's going to praise you. They're
going to love you, but it won't be long. You let the judgment
come, and you let hell come. They'll praise you here for giving
them a false hope and speaking smooth words, but they'll curse
you yonder in hell. They'll curse you there. Their
opinion of you will change real quick when you get in hell with
them. Don't seek these worldly treasures. Don't put your heart upon them,
because brothers and sisters, they're perishing. Pretty soon
it's going to all be gone. Moth is going to get it, rust
is going to get it, and thieves are going to dig through and
steal it. Now, let's look at verse 20. Here's what he says
about the positive, and look here what he says. But, lay up
for yourselves. Somebody said one time, this
is a selfish verse of Scripture. This is a selfish version. Lay
up for yourself. Well, the Lord said it, didn't
He? The Lord said it. Somebody said,
you know, we ought to serve the Lord out of gratitude. We do.
We do. And this is not selfish, I'm
sure of that, even though it may sound that way, because Christ
tells us to do it. Lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven. Now, I know, and you know, brothers
and sisters, as well as I do, that the Lord Jesus is not speaking
here of our salvation. We've looked at the first of
this message, haven't we? We have to go back over to the
first of this message, where He started, and we know that
He's not teaching us that we can buy our salvation. If that's
the way we understood this, then we've misunderstood. Because
who's he talking to here in this message? Remember who he began
to preach to? Blessed are the poor in spirit. He's speaking here to men who
are in such poverty that if salvation could be bought, they couldn't
buy it. They're poor people. They stand before God as beggars,
destitute. They have nothing. They have
no garments to cover the shame of their nakedness? They have
nothing wherewith to buy forgiveness? No, this isn't talking about
salvation. Our salvation come at such a great cost that another
had to buy it for us. You're not redeemed with corruptible
things of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus
Christ. We're bought with a price, a
great price, the cost of the Son of God's own death Himself. That's the only thing that could
buy us. We're not talking about laying out treasure to buy our
salvation. And besides, we know that justification itself is
by faith, and it's not by watch. So we don't have to stop you
to qualify everything, do we? Laying up treasure in heaven
is not to be saved. It's not to stay saved. But we
do it because we are saved. And we're instructed to do it
more and more. And we can explain this doctrine
so easy. Explain it in Scripture. Let
me explain it to you this way. Laying up treasures in heaven.
In 2 Corinthians 8.5, let me just quote this to you. Here's
the first thing. And the apostle said this. He
was writing here concerning the churches of Macedonia. They were
very giving people. They gave of their time, they
gave of their talents, they gave of their income, gave of everything
they had. But here's the first thing he said to those people.
And this is so critical. Listen to this. He said they
first gave themselves to the Lord. Isn't that so critical? That's the first thing. It's
so crucial for Christians, for believers, for children of God.
The first, give themselves. You don't give in yourselves
to the Lord as a lifelong procession. You say, I gave myself to the
Lord 20 years ago. You didn't do it yesterday? You don't intend to do it tomorrow? This is something the believer
does daily. He's always giving Him. I've
been married to that woman for a long time. I kid you, my
mind just went. I do know how long I've been
married to her. But you know what? I give myself to her all
the time. I did it when I said I do, and
I'm still doing it. We give ourselves to the Lord,
and it's the desire of our hearts to go ahead and keep on giving
ourselves to Him. We came to Him back younger,
we're still coming to Him, and by God's grace we're going to
keep coming, right? We have looked, we are looking,
and we're going to keep on looking. And when we talk about laying
up treasures in heaven, before we talk about doing anything,
Before we talk about giving anything, we talk about giving ourselves
to the Lord. My son, give me your heart. Give me your heart. And that's
what He wants from us every day. First of all, us, our affections,
our will, our hearts, our souls, giving ourselves up to Him. And
don't you love it when you can do that? Just put yourself in
His hands. I'm yours, oh Lord, I'm yours.
And then he accepts everything we do. He accepts everything
we give. He accepts everything we are.
That's the first thing. And secondly is this. I'm just
going to read these scriptures to you. Paul said, I know whom
I have believed, and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which
I have committed unto him. You know what that word committed
means. It means to deposit. You walked into these drugstores
and these department stores and you see a big sign there on the
door where everybody can sit, we have a night deposit or we
have a drop safe. You know what that means? They've
taken big rolls of money there in that safe and it usually got
a hole in it and they drop it. They deposit it down in that
safe place. And Paul said, I have deposited
everything to the Lord. I've given it all to Him. What did he give to Christ? Well,
you know he'd given his soul and his eternal salvation and
everlasting happiness. He said, I put that in the hands
of the Lord. My salvation is all in His hand. My eternal happiness,
it's in Christ. If He don't save me, I'm lost
forever. I've given my soul and its salvation to Him. But not
just that. But everything He wants, everything
He did, everything He said, everything He gave, He said, I've given
it all up to Him. And now all I am, I am by the
grace of God. All I give, all I do, all I say
is for the glory of God. You know, it seems like if you
and I want to secure something, and we want to keep something,
we give it away. The Lord said, if a man finds
his life, he's going to lose it. But if a man loses his life
for My sake, he'll find it. That's strange language, ain't
it? If we want to secure what we have, then give it away. Give it to who? Give it to the
Lord. Commit it all to Him to use it for His glory. That's when we lay up treasures
in heaven. Everything we are, everything we have, everything
we own, we lay it up, we give it up, we commit it all unto
Him. My beloved brother, this is what
he said in 1 Corinthians 15, 15. Be ye steadfast and unmovable,
always abounded in the work of the Lord for as much as you know. Your labor is not in vain in
the Lord. What keeps it from being vain?
It's with Him. It's secure with Him. It would
be vain if it was left up to us. But it's not because we've
committed unto Him. Listen to this. God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown
toward His name. In that you have ministered to
the saints, and you do minister. God will never forget that. It's
laid up with Him in heaven. And you know what He said about
it? Ain't no thief gonna break through up here and get it. Ain't
no moth gonna eat it up. Ain't no rust gonna destroy it.
And listen to this. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me
drink. I was sick, and you came and
visited me. I was in prison, and you came and ministered to
me. What is that, brothers and sisters? Everything we do, everything
we have, everything is committed to Him and used for His glory. And that's the way you lay up
treasure in heaven. You, as it were, send it on.
And it's buried in the bank. And it's safe and sound. Now
that's amazing to me. And you could ask me all kinds
of questions. And here's where we get into trouble, you see.
We can read these verses and there it's so plain. But everybody's
got all these questions. And when they begin to ask questions,
it's where they get the poor preacher in trouble. Because
Matt's going to come up to me and say, Bruce, I've got $5,000
in the bank. What should I do with that? Well,
I've got my kids. I've put a lot of money in the
bank. What should I do with that for my kids? Well, if it's your
kids, it's not yours, is it? I can't answer these questions,
brothers and sisters, but I don't have to. It's the principle,
see, ain't it? The Lord lays down these principles.
He puts these claims upon us. He comes right down to where
we live, our food that we eat, our clothes that we wear, our
little meager income. And He says, you glorify Me with
those. And everything else is the principle.
You have to work out the details. You've got the principles. Work
out your own salvation with fear and tremor. That's what it means,
ain't it? But no sense coming to the pastor. and find out what
you're going to do about your income and all this and that,
I'd have no idea. I'm just saying, here's the principle.
All these earthly things that we have, don't set your heart
on them. They're passing away. Lay them up in heaven. Do all
that you do. Give and visit and go and speak
and eat and sleep and wear your clothes. Do all for the glory
of God. And then you're laying up treasures
in heaven. I love this scripture. I don't
understand all the doctrine of it, but I love 1 Timothy 6. Paul said, "...charge them that
are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded in their
trust in uncertain riches, but trust in the living God, which
gives us all things freely to enjoy, that they be rich in good
works, willing to distribute What God has given them. Ready
to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation
against the time to come. That they may lay hold on eternal
life. Laying up in store for themselves. And Paul calls that
a foundation. There are three foundations in
the Scripture. Three foundations that comes to my mind when I
think of a foundation. There is that foundation of God's
eternal decree of election. The Lord knows those that are
His, therefore the foundation of God's standard shall be. I
know my sheep, our Master said. And then there's that doctrine
of our salvation is a foundation. Paul said that every man take
heed how he builds on this foundation, because no other foundation can
no man lay. than that which is laid, and
that's Christ Jesus. No other name whereby we must
be saved. He's that foundation of salvation.
Cast your soul upon Jesus Christ, and you'll never be ashamed.
You'll never be confounded. He's the foundation of salvation.
Eternal happiness for our souls. And we have this foundation.
Laying up treasures in heaven. Lay up a good foundation against
the time to come. Does that sound selfish? What do you want the Master to
say to you when He receives you unto God? Do you want Him to
say, you wicked and slothful servant? Do you want Him to say
that? Or do you want Him to say, well
done, thou good and faithful servant? That's what we want
to hear, ain't it? Well done, thou... You've been
faithful over a few things, just a few things. And you looked
at yourself and you couldn't even brag about it. You thought
yourself to be an unprofitable servant. But I laid it all up,
and here it is with me. Come and enjoy my Father's house. And look here in verse 21, and
I'll close with this point here. Matthew 5 verse 21. I guess here's
the reason for it all. This is such an important verse
here in verse 21. For lay up treasures not upon
earth, but lay them up in heaven. For where your treasure is, Where's
your treasure? He just got through telling us
where our treasure was. Where'd you say our treasure was? In heaven.
In heaven. Where's our heart? Where's our
heart? In heaven. If your heart's in
heaven, you ain't gonna have no trouble laying that treasure
in heaven. Look over here with me
in Hebrews chapter 11. I think here's the way we do
this. Look in Hebrews chapter 11. Here's the way we do this. It's what we think about ourselves
and where we're going. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on this earth. Set your affection there
upon the right hand of God, where Christ sits on His right hand.
Set your affection upon heaven and heavenly things. That's our
home now. That's our home. Look here in
Hebrews chapter 11. And look in verse 9. By faith
Abraham, Hebrews 11, 9, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in
a strange land, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs
with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, Whose builder and maker is God. Abraham, when
God called him, left his relatives, he left his house, he left his
job, and he came looking, the scripture says here, for a city. Left everything he had, went
off into a land, looking for a city which had foundations.
Now, he wasn't looking for Jerusalem, not this world of Jerusalem.
He was looking for a city which had these spiritual foundations,
that everlasting love of God. build upon that eternal decree
of election, sealed by the blood of Christ, the head of this covenant.
He looked for a city which hath foundation, whose builder and
maker is God. Look in verse 11. Through faith
also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed. She was delivered
of a child when she was past age, because she judged God faithful
who had promised it. Therefore, she sprang there even
of one, and him as good as dead. so many as the stars of the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore enumerated."
These all, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel,
all of these died in faith, not having received the fulfillment
of the promises, but look at this, having seen them aforeall. They were persuaded of them.
They were convinced of them. They embraced them and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. You know Abraham never built
a house in the land of Canaan. Sarah never swept anything but
an old dust floor in a tent. And you know why they were willing
to do that? The Scripture tells us right
here. The king of Egypt and all of
these men that lived around Abraham came to him, no doubt, and said,
Abraham, won't you build you a nice house? We feel bad, we
love you, and we look at you out here dwelling in these tents.
Why don't you settle down? You just get started a place
and you'll jump up and you'll move. Why don't you settle down? Abraham said, I'm a pilgrim and
I'm a stranger in this place. This world is not my home, the
old songwriter said. I'm just a passenger. My treasures
are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. My Savior beckons me
from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this
world anymore. Ain't that the way we lay up
treasures in heaven? That's the reason we lay up treasures,
because our heart's there. Abraham left everything he had,
and he dwelt all over the land of Canaan in tents because he
didn't feel at home anywhere. He was looking for a city whose
builder and maker was God. And brothers and sisters, when
you and I feel that way about this world, and our hearts in
heaven, our hearts buried with our Savior, looking for His appearing,
hoping and waiting upon Him, All of our hearts are treasures
there. And look what else he says. But now, he said in verse
15, But truly, if they had been mindful of that country from
which they came out, they may have had opportunity to return.
But now they desire a better country, that is, an unheavenly,
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He
hath prepared for them. He's prepared for them a city.
And look over here what it says in chapter 13. This is not just
for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their wives and their children.
But look here in verse 13 of chapter 13. Since Christ has
suffered for us without the gate, and sanctified us, and saved
us based on blood, let us go forth therefore unto him without
the camp, bearing his reproach. For here Just like Abraham. Just like Isaac. Just like Jacob.
We have no continuing city. Brothers and sisters, handle
these worldly things with a loose hand. They're not continuing. Handle your relationship even
with your wife and your husband and your children and your social
relationship with your relatives. Handle it with a loose hand.
It's not going to continue. Your incomes, and your retirements,
and your food, and what you wear, it's not going to continue. We
have no continuing city, but all we seek, one to God. Is your heart in heaven this
morning? Is it set on heaven? Never give
you any rest to your soul, never being content, till you say with
David, till I awaken his light. Then with that attitude, walk
through this world, and everything you do, everything you have,
commit it to God Himself. And do good with it for His glory
and for the good of His people. And you'll make yourself a sure
foundation against the time to come. God bless this message. Lord, we do thank You. Father
in Heaven, we thank You for this precious message, the message
of Christ Himself to us. Thank you, Lord, for encouraging
us, for instructing us, for teaching us, to help us with our priorities,
to live for your glory. Knowing that you're such a kind
and generous God, that everything that's done for your glory, somehow
or another, in your own time and your own way, you'll repay. You'll do it mightily. You'll
do it openly. We pray this day again that you'll
interpret this message. Lord, the sin in it, wash me
from it. What shouldn't have been said, forgive me. But be
your own interpreter. Encourage and strengthen and
instruct your people with it. For the glory of our Savior,
we pray. Amen. God bless you. We'll see you
tonight. Peace.