 It says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If you don't mind, let's pray once more. Father in heaven, Lord, I love you, and I know that your people love you. And Lord, we thank you for your love for us first. And Lord, I pray that we would glorify you this evening in the way that we attend to your scripture. Lord, I pray that you would bring clarity to the sermon tonight, that you would help all those sitting to understand and to believe, and to know you better and clearer what we were through. And Lord, I pray for myself, Lord, that you help me to preach accurately according to what you want me to say from your word. According to what your word itself says, Lord, help me to be faithful to your word. And I pray that you would be glorified in Jesus' name we pray, amen. So what is your treasure? Why did you get up in the morning? Have you ever thought of those questions? I'm sure most of you have, right? There's a Sunday school answer to those questions. Everyone who's faithful to a good Bible-believing church should be able to answer those questions. But I want you to reconsider your answer to those questions tonight according to how you actually live. I want you to think very clearly tonight what is the real reason you get up in the morning? Why do you do the things you do? What are your ambitions? What are your dreams? What do you live for? What do you seek to obtain? And that's what we're going to talk about tonight. What is your treasure? And we're going to find out that what your treasure is, is a picture of your heart's direction. So our text tonight comes from the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And the overall theme of the Sermon on the Mount is the Kingdom of God. And Jesus uses the law of God to explain in the Sermon on the Mount how God's Kingdom citizens are to live within the Kingdom. So the Sermon on the Mount is an ethic. It's a way of living. It's how Jesus requires all his people and his Kingdom to live. And let's look at how the Sermon on the Mount is structured. In Matthew chapter 5, in the very beginning, Jesus talks about the marks of a Kingdom citizen. He shows us what a citizen of the Kingdom looks like, how that citizen of the Kingdom lives. We see that that person is poor in spirit, right? We see that that person is meek. They're not seeking their own way. We see that God's Kingdom citizens on this earth, that they're persecuted, that they're spoken evil of, they're reviled. We also see that they're salt and light. Their righteousness is able to be seen by others. And they speak. They speak for God. That's one of the reasons why they're persecuted. If you go a little further on into the Sermon on the Mount, from the middle to the end of chapter 5, you see Jesus talking about Kingdom law. He starts to go through some of the Ten Commandments, right? He goes through murder, adultery. And he begins to show us that God doesn't just require an outward obedience. God requires inward holiness. It's not enough to say, I don't commit adultery physically if you commit adultery in your mind. It's not enough to say, I don't murder physically while you're committing murder in your mind. And he also explains how there are severe consequences for those who break his law, right? And he says that we are to take drastic measures in order not to break his law. You see language like cut off your hand, gouge out your eye. It's better for your hand and your eye to be lost, right? Than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Then moving on into chapter 6 and the beginning of chapter 7, we see Christ talk about Kingdom perspectives. Now he's still talking about the law here, but you have a little bit of a different flavor. These are laws that govern our relation with others. He starts to bring out the hypocrisy of fake religion. People who want to pray outwardly, right? So that they can be seen by men. Give outwardly so that they can be seen by men. He addresses what we'll be talking about tonight, our text is in this section. He addresses what is your treasure? What do you live for? You cannot serve God and money, right? And then lastly, at the end of chapter 7, Jesus gives us Kingdom warnings. Jesus warns that his gospel of the Kingdom, entering his Kingdom, it's an exclusive membership. You cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom. It's either the narrow gate or the broad way, right? He warns you not to listen to false teachers and he tells you that you can see them by their fruits. He warns you that if you hear the words and don't do them, you're like the house that was washed away in the storm. You built your house on sand, right? So let's look at our text, okay? And we're going to draw out three points from our text. In verse 19, we're going to draw out Jesus' command to stop hoarding earthly treasure. In verse 20, we're going to see Jesus' command to pursue heavenly treasure. And in verse 21, we're going to see Jesus explain that your heart follows your treasure. So all in all, remember, you're going to see tonight that what your treasure is is a picture of your heart's direction. What your treasure is is a picture of your heart's direction. So let's look at verse 19, it says this. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. So first off, we see that this is a command, right? It's not a suggestion. This isn't self-help. It's not like investment advice, right? Jesus is commanding you not to lay up your treasures on earth. Also, we see that earthly treasure isn't the problem in and of itself, right? He's talking about laying up the treasure. That's the sin. He says, do not lay up earthly treasure. You also see from this text that it's temporary. He says, moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. Think about it. You have clothes in your closet. Why do people buy moth balls? Or at least people used to buy moth balls. I don't know if you still buy moth balls. I don't. But why do people buy moth balls? Because it keeps the moths out of your closet, right? Because what do moths do? They will eat your clothing. You can buy the most expensive clothing and have it eaten by moths, right? What about rust? What does it do? I have a really old car and it's got a rust problem. I have things that fall from it all the time because they've been rusted out, right? And even in the Scripture too, this word for rust in the Greek, it doesn't necessarily mean rust by itself. It literally means devouring. It's any kind of deterioration that can happen to anything. So this can apply to that, you know, your kid's toy that was left outside, that got lost in the bushes and has been out in the sun for months, and then you picked it up and it crumbles in your hand. It's deteriorated. It's been devoured. It's gone. You lost it, right? So Jesus says, Not to lay up treasures on earth where moth and rust is strolling, where thieves break in and steal. And the motivation he gives is that they're temporary. You cannot keep them. Can you name one thing, one thing that you can get on earth that you can keep for eternity? One thing, I dare you, you can't, right? You can't, not one thing, not an item of clothing, not even your own body, not even your own body, not your reputation, not an experience. Not an experience. Everything goes, everything will be burned up. And what Jesus is getting at here, he's getting at covetousness. He's getting at your greed. He's not, what he's not saying, he's not condemning having stuff. He's not condemning you for having so much amount of money or so many dishes in your kitchen or so many appliances in your home. He's condemning the laying up of stuff. What does it mean to lay up? It means to store, to keep safe, to guard, right? It's the obsession, it's the covetousness. It's the fact that you, it's that greedy desire that you have to get more and to store more and to have more for yourself. We have an example of that in the book of Luke chapter 12. You can turn there with me real quick. And many of you heard this before. This is a parable of the rich fool starting at verse 13. He says, someone in the crowd said to him, that's Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me out of all the things that Jesus was there to preach. He was not there to arbitrate, right? And this is what Jesus says, but he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbiter over you? And he said to them, take care and be on guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? Drive nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, who's will they be? So is the one who lays up, what, treasure, lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. See that? Jesus uses the same language there. He says that this man laid up treasure for himself and was not rich toward God. Now, the funny thing was the rich fool's problem wasn't that he had a lot of crops. And it wasn't necessarily that he built a bigger barn. The rich man's problem was that he looked at his treasure. He loved his treasure. He loved his crops. And he tells himself, he tells himself how much he has. And he loves the fact that now he can relax. It's all for him. That's what's most important to him. And now he's just going to quit. He's going to eat, drink and be merry. Sounds like the American dream when it comes to retirement, right? That's what covetousness looks like. It looks like, man, I'm going to be set. Just give me this. I'm good. And this man was a fool. Imagine, imagine on the day of your death, you're seeking to get one more thing. How shameful is that, right? Shameful, shameful. Don't be in that position. Don't be in that position. And Jesus Christ commands you not to be in that position. It's abject covetousness. Now look, I want to ask you a few questions. What have you been wanting lately, right? What in your mind have you been thinking to store up for yourself? Think deeply about that. What hobbies, what things could be a house? It could be a TV show, TV subscription, Netflix, Amazon Prime, right? It could be things cheap and expensive. It could be things that you can touch and handle. And it could be things that you can buy, like an experience. You know, you say, man, if I can only get 500 bucks and I'm going to Disney, give me 500 bucks a week, I'll go to Disney every week. I don't know how much Disney costs, right? But think about that. What are you treasured? What are you trying to store up for yourself? Have you been anxious lately about getting something that you really want? Or maybe the potential of losing something that you want to keep, right? Have you been neglecting the means of grace for maybe a job, school, or some good experiences? Have you considered how you spend your money? You know, some people go into debt because they're covetous, right? Some people go into debt to accumulate things that they can't even afford. And all because of that evil desire. Do you spend inordinate amounts of time attempting to get the best price on something? I'm not saying it's wrong to find a sale, right? But do you spend inordinate amounts of time doing that? You know, does your Bible-reading suffer because you're looking for the best deal on a particular idol? Are you a workaholic? Are you someone who complains? Are you known for complaining? What kids? What about your toys? Are you always wanting a new toy, a new video game? Is that what occupies your mind? Are you always thinking about something that you can get? Is your mind always wandering in that direction? Christ says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Let's look at verse 20, verse 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. So see here we have an opposite command, right? So the first command, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth. Second command, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Isn't that gracious? Alright, God is an austere. He's not saying, I just want you to suffer. I just want you to suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer. There is a Christian suffering, right? But he's not saying, I just want you to suffer just because. No, he's saying, I want to put away those things and pursue these things. These things are better. What's better about them? He says, moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. If you're an investment person, right? Would you advise someone to make an investment in something that's going to last longer? Or that's going to go away in a short period of time, right? For the most part we would offer something that will last longer, right? Something that's safe. This is the goodness of God to us to tell us to pursue heavenly treasure. So God wants you to be rich. God wants you to have treasure. Not in the sense that you might think he wants you to be rich, but he wants you to be rich with heavenly treasure. And it's not temporary. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 19. And we'll see Jesus use this same language of treasure in heaven. We're going to make a few connections here. Because we still haven't unpacked yet what is treasure in heaven, right? Is it just an exchange in bank accounts? Maybe you give up all your money on earth and then you get like a national bank of heaven. You get a new bank account in heaven, right? Let's take a look at Matthew chapter 19 verse 16. And behold, this is by the way the rich young ruler. Many of you are familiar with this. And behold, a man came up to him saying, teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? And he said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There's only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? And Jesus said, you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these I have kept, what do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you would be perfect, go. Sell what you possess and give to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven. And come follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So you have the rich young ruler. He makes a number of mistakes in this conversation, right? First, he comes to Jesus thinking that he can do a good deed to get eternal life. Next, when Jesus addresses the good deeds that he must do to get eternal life, he thinks that he's done every good deed there is in the book, right? And Jesus exposes his covetousness by telling him to sell everything that he has. But then he says, he tells him to sell everything he has. But then he says, tell what he possesses and gives to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven. Well, Jesus isn't making a general command for every single person here to give everything they have to the poor, right? This man was in a particular position where he thought that he could merit eternal life by his good works. But think about this. What did the rich young ruler ask for in the beginning here? He asked, he wanted eternal life. That's what he wanted. And Jesus responded to him, rightly, what would give him eternal life, perfection. But then Jesus uses a different term. Jesus uses treasure in heaven. Jesus uses the term treasure in heaven. And then he says, come, follow me. I'm going to make an argument to you that the treasure that you, the treasure in heaven is a person. It's not a thing. That treasure is Jesus Christ. And it's not just Jesus Christ himself, but everything that flows out of a relationship with Jesus Christ. Moth and rust cannot destroy salvation in Jesus Christ. Moth and rust cannot take away, a thief cannot take away the joy of being in Christ. A thief cannot take away the adoption afforded to you in Christ. Moth and rust cannot take away the forgiveness of all of your sin. Christ is the great treasure. He is the only treasure. You can take a poor man who has Christ. And you can take a rich man who has Christ. And they both have the same amount. Because Christ is the treasure. Christ is the treasure. And that should stir up your heart. Think of what you have in Jesus. Think of what you have. The God man coming to die for a wicked person who has spent life living for his or herself. And he is a treasure. And he gives you more than just salvation from your sin. There an abundance of riches of being in Christ. We can't even fathom what it will be like to be with him. What does the Psalmist say in Psalm 73? He says, Who have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Amen. So how do you know if you're storing up heavenly treasure? Do you rest in thankfulness in what God has given you? Are you content with what you have? Can you say, I don't need one more thing. I have enough. I have Jesus. I have everything. Is that your mindset? Do you have ambitions for the kingdom? Do you sit down imagining what you can do for Christ? Is that how you occupy your dreams, your ambitions? Is that how you think? Have you given up dreams of your lost past? Most of us when we were lost had stupid dreams, right? Dreams of getting rich, having everyone like us. I want to be a star at this, a star at that. Have you given those up? Christians give those up, right? The people who give those up to have treasure in heaven are those who see the real treasure, Jesus Christ. Do you have a consistent pattern of refraining from sin when you don't get what you want or when you might lose something that you want to keep? What if you lost your house? What if you lost your car, your retirement, your fashion, your nice clothes, the ability to take really nice vacations, your video games, your dolls, your American dolls girls, our generation, right? If you lost any of those things, would you be content? Would you be content? The only people who can be content are those who have a greater treasure. The only people who can be content when they lose earthly treasures is when they have a heavenly treasure. Do you exhaust yourself for the kingdom of God? Or do you seek leisure all the time? Do you spend your resources to get more rest? Is that the pattern of your life? Or are you constantly giving up yourself for the kingdom? Those are the people who lay up heavenly treasures. You know, where my hometown, where I'm from, there's a guy named Al Copeland, and he's the guy that started the Popeyes food chain, and this guy was rich, really rich. He's the one where he's like really gaudy rings on his fingers and these are really fancy suits. And everyone wanted to be like Al Copeland. He had this big Christmas show at his house. He wanted everyone to love him. And some years ago, I remember when he was on his deathbed and they were telling stories about how shortly before his death he traveled to Rome and to France to buy Catholic indulgences. This man had, he spent his entire life accumulating earthly treasures and he was not ashamed of it, but he ended up with nothing and he still has nothing. And what he had was taken away. And think of missionaries who lose their lives on the mission field. Remember, I've heard of Jim Elliot, many of you have. What's that famous quote from Jim Elliot? He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. He died in Ecuador attempting to preach the gospel to the natives. I'm going to live like that. I'm going to live for Christ. And if I can't live for him, I'm going to die for him. And you want to too. You want to too. So let's look at, let's look at the next verse. Let's look at verse 21. It says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. There's two concepts that Jesus is trying to show us here. He's trying to show us that your treasure will steer your heart. And also he's showing that your treasure is a picture of your heart. So let's take the first one, your treasure will steer your heart. It's almost like drugs, right? You take drugs, you expose yourself to drugs. The more you take, the more you want. The more you expose yourself to, the more you're exposed. Right? And not only are you giving yourself into them, but what you're giving yourself into is making you progressively worse. And it goes both ways with treasure. As you lay up for yourselves earthly treasures, those treasures are becoming an idol to you. Or they are an idol to you. And you will follow your idols. And your idols will make you progressively worse. They will steer your heart. But if you store up heavenly treasure, you turn to Christ, you follow Christ. You lay yourself upon Christ. And He will progressively sanctify you. He will progressively sanctify you. Your treasure will steer your heart. And also your treasure is a picture of your heart. You can see here, right? Like, your treasure can only be in one place. For where your heart is, I mean, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Your heart can't be in two places. Your heart is either on earth or it's in heaven. So where's your heart? Where's your heart? Like the implication from the text is this, genuine Christians, genuine Christians, store up heavenly treasure. One of the marks of those who are lost are those who are storing up earthly treasures. You live for this world. You live for temporal things. You rather have a TV show, you rather have a video game, you rather have a bigger house, you rather have more stuff, rather than have Christ. And the Christian says, no, no, no, no, no. I want Christ. I want Christ. I want Christ. This other stuff, I have an open hand. You can put in it, Lord, whatever you want to put in it. You can take out whatever you want to take out. But I want Christ. He is my treasure. Don't take Him away. He's mine. But the person in the world says, no, no, no, no, no. Don't take away my earthly treasure. And if you take it away, I'm going to get angry with you. And I'm going to be discontent. And I'm going to get worried. And that's a picture of your heart. Because what your treasure is, is a picture of your heart's direction. And this is the issue. This is the issue. It's not just your treasure that's going to be destroyed when you idolize this earthly treasure, when you lay up this earthly treasure. It's not just your treasure that's going to be destroyed. It's going to be you. It's going to be you who is destroyed. That's what Jesus is getting at. So don't lay up for yourselves earthly treasure where moth and rust destroy. It's temporary. It'll kill you. You're just demonstrating from your heart your hatred to Christ. You're demonstrating, you're demonstrating that you have no love for Him. That all of these things on earth you consider better. And when you stand before Him on the day of judgment, what will you say? What will you say? How will you explain to Christ that you thought that these treasures were better than Him? How will you explain that to Him? And Christians, if you're honest, right? If you're honest, you've broken this command too, right? And you broke this command repeatedly. You too ought not to do this. Don't let your heart be steered toward earthly treasure. In the end, apart from Christ, you cannot follow this command. Christ is the only one who is able to give you power to be free from this sin. Christ is the only one who can save you if you are enveloped in this sin. If you are wrapped up in this sin. So if you are lost tonight, if you come to this text and you see that you look at earthly treasure and this has been a thrust of your life, you must repent. Turn away from your sin and put your trust in Jesus Christ who on the cross died for those who loved earthly treasure. And if you're a Christian tonight, turn away from storing up earthly treasure. Because look at what it will do to your heart. And on the flip side, store up for yourself heavenly treasure. Think of the benefits of union with Christ. Exhaust yourself for the kingdom of God. Store up for yourself treasure in heaven. And stop giving yourself over to the things on this earth. Okay, let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, I pray that you would help us to think very deeply about what we think, what we dream, what we give over to as our ambitions. And Lord, I pray I pray that your people here would look at their own lives and that they would repent in any way needed. But I pray that they would lay up for themselves treasures in heaven. I also pray, Lord, that for all those who are not yours, all those who are not Christians, all those who have not bowed the need to Christ, that, Lord, that they would turn away from storing up treasures on earth. And that they would see the glory and the riches and that they would say, I'm done with that. And Lord, I pray that you would save them. I pray that you would put a change in their hearts, that you would make them born again. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.