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Shall we pray?
Our gracious, loving God and our Father, we again want to return thanks for Thy goodness and Thy mercy, the greatness of the blessing that Thou has given us in this time that we've been together here.
We do not deserve such a wonderful blessing, and yet we thank Thee for it. And now, as we open Thy precious word again, we just pray that Thou would give us a portion for each heart that is here.
We pray that we would be encouraged and strengthened in our faith and most of all, our God and our Father, that Thy Son would be well spoken of. We thank Thee for this portion that we've had before our hearts, and we just pray for continued blessing. We pray too, for Thy mercies this afternoon out in the ball field and playing together and our fellowship. We just pray for blessing.
We thank you for Thy mercies, to us thank goodness and the worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Luke chapter 12, verse 33.
All that you have and give alms, provide yourselves bags with wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about in your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet.
And will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them, so blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good men of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Be therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Stop.
Well, perhaps a little outline of the chapter might be helpful. Umm, we've spoken at length about the context of the chapter. I think it's just good to be reminded again that, uh, this chapter is, uh, a chapter that's actually marked by various night scenes and, uh, if you go through this, rather interesting. But here the Lord Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure out of this world.
And He brings before them various things that they need to be free from, that they might serve him acceptably in his absence. So I'll just give a quick outline of the chapter here. Hopefully it will be of some assistance. But in verses one to three, we spoke how they needed to be free from hypocrisy. So God wants us to be have truth in the inward parts. He desires us to be free from hypocrisy and to be real before Him, not to be something that we are not.
And verses 4:00 to 12:00, he wanted them to be free from the fear of man. Ultimately, that is something that paralyzes us when it comes to our service. If man becomes our reference point and, uh, that will ultimately hinder us in our testimony and service for Christ. Versus 13 to 21, he wanted, uh, his disciples to be free from covetousness. And versus, uh, 13 to 21, uh, covetousness. Third from versus UH-22 to 34, he wanted them to be free from care.
That is from worry. Again, that is something that can paralyze us when it comes to our service for Christ. If we're overcome with worrying about where our next meal might come from or what, what have you. Umm, and, and getting all wrapped up in those types of things, trying to control, I guess what we cannot control and not leaving it to the Lord in verses 35 to 40, which is our portion now. He wants them to be free from, uh, carelessness. So, uh, we'll, we'll go into that.
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And then from 41 to 48, he wants them to be free from slothfulness, not to be lazy. And then to the end of the chapter, verses 49 to 57, he wanted them to be free from being surprised that there ultimately is rejection when it comes to being a testimony for for Christ. Ultimately, there's seven things in this chapter that the Lord brings before his disciples that he would have them to be free from.
The.
I think the point of uh, verse 33 really is that, uh, you know, we, we spoke last yesterday about how the Lord, umm, will umm, provide for our needs and umm, and that he will care for us and ultimately everything that comes into our hands is his.
My house is not my house. It's the Lords really. My car is not my car, it's the Lord's. The money in my bank account really is not mine. So we are stewards, aren't we? And steward is someone who's been entrusted with some something of another and is responsible to, to care for it in a responsible way. And ultimately we've been given things of God that, umm, material things in this life to help us through and, uh.
We need to hold that.
Can I say rather loosely, we ought not to, to, uh, just, you know, tenaciously hold on to these things as if it's all mine and I'm not letting go. The God, the Lord may test us on that. And, uh, and here where it says cell that you have and give arms, I think that the point here is that it's not that we, brother Mark talked about having a balance with respect to God's things and practical things in life. We need to provide for our families. We need to.
Have a roof over our heads. We need to have all these things, but we ought not to be careless and throw these things to the wind and, and not act accordingly, like in a, in a responsible way. So we need to, I think the point here is we need to transfer these things into God's hands and, and we need to use them for his glory. And, and again, as I say, you know, these things are not ours, they're ultimately his and so.
If we can, when I speak to my own heart when I say this, use what I have as not belonging to myself, but using it and dispensing it for the good of others and for the blessing of of God's people. I think that's the point. Is that right?
Also the UH application in uh some way?
To umm.
Not not attained too much.
So, for instance, I have boxes of electronics that I've accumulated over the years. And as I was thinking about it recently, I was like, wouldn't it be nice just to keep the things that I need and just get rid of the rest? Ha ha, not have them as baggage to you know, whenever I look at this couple of boxes of things, it doesn't cause me, you know, I, I suddenly think about him and I don't wanna get rid of this, this electronic or this wire or.
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That sort of stuff. And it becomes to where I'm, I'm using up time thinking about it and I, I'm holding off, I'm not letting go. And, umm, perhaps an application would be to, you know, simplify my life to just the things that are necessary.
When we were talking about covetousness, that a lot of this has to do with perspective. And if we read 32 Through 34 together, it says fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, so that you have and give alms, provide yourselves bags which wax not all the treasure in the heavens that fail not where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is there where your heart be also.
And so.
Umm, just like we were mentioning when we were talking about covetousness, covetousness is designed something that umm, the Lord has not given us. And uh, but we were also talking about Ephesians chapter one and how we have been given all things. Umm, let's go back and read that again in Ephesians chapter one because it, it pertains very much to what we're talking about here. It says that in verse three of Ephesians one, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of blessed us with all.
Spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And so as far as this world goes, yeah, we find ourselves pilgrims and strangers without rights and privileges in this world. But as far as the Kingdom of God, we have been given a tremendous amount of privilege and brought into a position of sonship in which we have the whole Kingdom at our disposal. But that's Speaking of heavenly things. And so, so.
I believe to kind of go along with what Josh and Eugene were mentioning, what's our perspective? I mean, are we looking at the things of this world, the material?
Again, should be very careful on how we apply that. Maybe we might say temporal mercies that we're given in this world.
The things for God.
Than with others that have need. Matt spoke last night in the meeting about one of the.
One of the three most important tenets of Christian life is giving. And so this is just reminding us that if we lay up our treasures in heaven, that's where our heart and focus is going to be. But if we have a stockpile of goods here on this earth, it's it's susceptible to damage, destruction, It, it's, it's, it's not going to last and.
And so we talked the other day about.
Laying up things of substance because that's where our reward is, is in the substance that we have in our spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
I'd like to give an illustration of this, especially for those that are a little younger in the United States we don't have.
A king and queen. We don't have royalty, but if you go.
Back to a nation that is pretty closely related to the United States, the Kingdom of Great Britain. You see a illustration of this portion here.
So in Great Britain right now there are two.
Relatively young men.
Who are Princess? One of them is the Crown Prince. He is going to be the next king of Great Britain.
He currently is a Prince.
He's the Crown Prince.
Umm, and his brother is, is also a Prince and they are going to in some point in time come into a incredibly, as far as this world is concerned and incredible inheritance when their grandmother passes away. Their grandmother, the Queen of England, passes away and she is pretty old.
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Their position right now should be to further the Kingdom.
And further, the holdings of the royal family of Great Britain. And so they can do things and they do do things to benefit the Kingdom. It doesn't necessarily benefit them individually right now, but it's in light of the future because they are going to receive that inheritance. And that's what we have in verse 32. It's the Father's good pleasure to give us.
The Kingdom, each one of us, whether we recognize it or not, are Crown Princess.
And I think that we do well to think about that because there is a certain dignity, a certain deportment, a certain way of acting that is.
Is appropriate for the Princess of England right now. And in fact, if you look at the newspapers, the newspapers are really, really, uh, eager to point out when they don't act in a way that is keeping for the Princess of England.
And the same thing is true with us.
In verse 33 we are instructed to sell that you have and give alms and lay up treasure in heaven.
The Kingdom that we are going to come into is the Kingdom.
Is the Father's Kingdom. It's the Kingdom of heaven and so.
If you look at at the illustration.
With the Princess of England, they it it would be completely.
I'm keeping for them to take actions that benefit the United States of America.
Because that's not their Kingdom.
Or some other nation.
They their actions are designed to benefit Great Britain.
And the same thing should be true of us. We should be earnestly laying up treasure in heaven.
And that should be something that changes the decisions that we make in our lives on a daily basis.
And we can look at the decisions that come before us, and we should be looking at them and saying, is this furthering God's Kingdom?
If it is, then it's something that we should do, but if it isn't, if it's something to deal with this life that is not necessary for our lives here, just puts us ahead here, then we might want to think twice about that because it's not laying up treasure where our Kingdom is located.
So Prince Harry and I forget the other one, William, Prince William, you know, they travel all over the world.
They've been to the United States.
But when they're here in the United States, they have a specific objective and that is to benefit Great Britain. And so if they can do things or enter into relationships or whatever it might be, umm.
As as part of Great Britain and benefiting Great Britain, that's appropriate, but if it isn't, it's not appropriate for them to be engaged in. For example, it would be totally.
Unsuitable for them to get involved in the politics of the United States.
Because that's not their nation.
I think that that helps us to recognize we need to be focused on laying up treasure in the Kingdom that we belong to and that Kingdom is in heaven.
This piece of treasure here and and verse 33, it says a treasure in the heavens that faileth not and it's so difficult for us, especially in this land to think of treasure in umm anything other than a material way. But this is a a tangible treasure that is spiritual. And so if we go to Romans chapter 8.
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This kind of falls in line with what we have in verse 32. If you're not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Romans chapter 8 and verse 32, it says he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall we not with him also freely give us all things?
Well, we don't see necessarily those brothers and sisters in Christ around us.
Endowed with tremendous material wealth. But does that mean that this verse is not true? No, it's because we are being given.
A spiritual blessing and heavenly places and umm, if we go back to verse 28, it says and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are the called according to his purpose.
We are called to go through some very, very deep waters at times as Christians. But you know what? Those are actually treasures in disguise.
Those are spiritual blessings in heavenly places that are being stored up for us for that future day when we will come into the good of that inheritance in a in a very full way when the Lord brings us into his, into his Father's house. But sometimes it's difficult for us to really recognize.
Those spiritual things as treasures because there there's sometimes shrouded in A and a guise of difficulty in trial. So let's look beyond that like Matt was talking about last night in in the address.
In the in the open meaning, we need to recognize them for the blessings that they are and thank God for them. As difficult as that is to do, we need to be able to see past the difficulty and recognize the heavenly blessing that we have in those things.
As Eugene was saying, everything we own owns a little bit of us.
And I remember a brother that would speak to the Sunday school class and he said, I never want to have more keys on my key ring than will fit in my pocket. Because you got to maintain it. You got to insure it. You got to take care of it. You got to, you know, think about it. Just the Lord gives us what he gives us. He gives us all things richly to enjoy. But when we when we go beyond that, when we go beyond what he wants us to have, if they become a burden to us, I remember this man I used to go to church with back.
You know, when we were umm in the systems of men and he had this boat and he always complained about this boat and I said to him, why don't you sell the silly thing? Just like all the time he was complaining about it. Oh, I can't do that. He had all this money in it and he couldn't get his money back out of it. So he just went on with this really. And sometimes we make crazy choices, but this verse where your treasure is there where your heart be also, it's as has been said, it's it's realizing that what we have, as our brother said, it's not really ours.
And when we, when we do that, when we realize that it sets us free to enjoy it. The nice things in this world are really nice. It's nice to have a nice car that has air conditioning. It's nice to have a car that has cruise control. It's not, you know, that has remote keyless entry. That's not wrong. But I'll, I'll give you an example. I'll tell you a story. My sister was, uh, she just graduated from nursing school and she worked and worked and worked and worked and worked and she bought this new car. It was a blue Honda Civic as I remember.
And this thing was her pride and joy. I mean, she had worked so hard. This was her gift to herself. And in the night she came and stayed at her house. And in the night, the wind blew really hard and it blew a limb off of our tree. And you could see, we have pictures of it and you could see the wheels of the car. And that was about it. Seriously. And I thought she's gonna be devastated because her, this is her pride and joy car. And she gets out. I went and told her, Abby, you're not gonna believe this. And she goes out there and you know what she said? She said, well, praise the Lord.
That's when your treasures in heaven.
That your heart is going to be where your treasure is, people that their treasures in that car. When that car is crushed, sure, insurance is gonna pay for it or whatever it. It ruins your day. How's your day? Oh, man, I lost my car. This tree fell on my car. That's not what she said. She said, well, praise the Lord. And we went out there really carefully. We lifted that tree off and had a really strong main branch that went clear almost over the whole car and had two side branches and there wasn't a scratch.
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On that car we lifted up really super carefully and here the Lord, I'm sure an Angel had stood right there and protected your car because that had a huge old branch, just the weight of that falling on the ground. It should just demolish the windshield in the back window. But the Lord allows these things in our lives that we be we be exercised. And one thing you think about, well, what if I lost this? Ask yourself, what if I didn't have this tomorrow? Do you panic?
Or are you free? The Lord knows there's a gal I know, she said one time. She said, you know what, if they took all my money, that's OK, I'll just make more.
I thought, that's beautiful. She's not worried. She doesn't lay awake worrying about what's in her bank account. She knows the Lord is for her. She knows if somehow she lost her money, it's OK. She can go on from there. And the Lord wants us to be free. He wants us to enjoy these things, but not to be bound by them. And when we feel, like Eugene was saying, when we feel that kind of encroaching on our heart, we need to, we need to work on that and say, OK, because the Lord works he. He just has little soft things.
He'll speak to us. And if we listen, we just, we judge that. If we judge ourselves, we wouldn't be judged. But if we don't listen and he speaks a little louder and then he speaks a little louder and then he speaks a little louder and we're gonna eventually get the message. It's really nice when we just. OK, Lord, you know, I'm holding on to this too tight. I'll. I'll let go. It's yours.
I think maybe what you're saying, Brother Matt here is summed up in First Timothy 6. Umm, and uh.
Verse 17 again, to reiterate what you're saying, it's not wrong to be, to have stuff, you know, but is, is, is it controlling me And where's, where is my treasure? Is that my treasure? Well, then that's wrong. Uh, it's not nice. It's, it's not wrong to be comfortable and all that. The Lord. So here's what it says. Charge them that are rich in this world. Again, it's not wrong to be rich. You know, the Lord has given wealth to certain believers and uh, uh, but there's a warning here.
That they may not be high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. And then notice this, that they do good. That they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate against what we're talking about. Being free to use what the Lord has put into my hand for his glory, and being willing to let it go for the good of others.
Or what have you, or just walking away, right, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come as we're talking about treasure in heaven, that they may lay hold on eternal life. I think the new translation says what is really life. I think that's the point.
So I'm also thinking of two of the in just a couple of chapters over in this. I think it's in the 16th chapter of Luke, yeah.
Again, you have the the unjust steward here. We won't read through it all, but he says in verse nine, and I say unto you, make yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. That is those things that like money and and the goods of this world, umm have been put into our hands. What are we doing with it?
So often these things are used in an unrighteous way, and I think that's why the Lord calls it the mammon of unrighteousness. But we can take these things that the world uses in an unrighteous way, in a selfish way and, and, and all that, but we can use it for in, in view of that eternal day. And it says that when ye fail, rather it should read. When it fails and it will fail, it will fail.
They may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also and much. If therefore he have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, the things of this world that the Lord has given us.
Who will commit to your trust the true riches?
So we can use what the Lord has given us in a way that is honoring and pleasing to Him and will ultimately result in reward in the coming day that will redound to His glory. And so if we live our lives in that way and use what is put at our disposal for His glory, I think that's building up treasure in heaven, isn't it?
So I'd like to ask the kids a question because I think possibly some of you are sitting there saying, you know, I only have $5 in my wallet and I have zero money in the bank. I don't even have a bank account. How does this apply to me? This doesn't make sense because I don't have anything. My mom and dad provide all my clothes and and I have my bike, but.
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I can't sell my bike.
What, how does this apply? And, and I want to make a very, very specific point and I, I hope you young people especially will sit up and listen, but this applies to every single person in the room.
Every single person in this room on a daily basis gets exactly the same amount of the most valuable resource we have. What am I talking about? Anybody recognize that any of you kids figure out what we all get? We all get exactly the same amount of it and it's the most valuable resource that we have.
Marina.
Time. Each one of us has 24 hours. Not a minute more, not a minute left.
Every single day.
And how you spend that resource, that time, is really, really important.
Now, I'm going to be really, really frank, and this one spikes me, so I'm not pointing the finger at anybody in this room. But there are devices, there are things that we can waste in measurable amounts of time, huge amounts of time that result in absolutely no benefit.
Even loss. Loss. Yeah, it it does. Sometimes it results in loss.
How we spend our time is the most important decision we make every single day of our lives.
And I have to hang my head. I do not spend as much time in this precious book as I should. That's one of the ways that we can lay up an immense amount of treasure.
It haven't. It's simply opening this book and reading it because that really leads to an another opportunity.
If we've been in the Word of God, then the Lord will give us that opportunity to say, you know, I was enjoying this verse to somebody else and it may change the course of somebody else in this room by just sharing one simple verse. It may be that we meet somebody at school that we notice that.
They're kind of down and.
The Lord puts it on our hearts to say, you know.
I'd like to introduce you to the Lord Jesus. He is my best friend and no matter what you're going through, he can be a friend that stick it closer than a brother. You could change that person's life for eternity and that is that's like big time jackpot as far as.
Treasure in heaven and I want to encourage each one of us. Sometimes we think in our hearts and it it's wrong.
That, you know, I'll do that some other day when I have this or that or something else available to me to do No, stop. We need to use the resources that the Lord has already given us right now today to lay up treasure in heaven. And one of the biggest things that we have, and we all have the same amount of it is time.
How are we using our time to lay up treasure in heaven? Children, this is really, really practical.
The young people be really careful because this world has all kinds of stuff that they would like to distract you and me from laying up treasure. Satan would like to distract us from laying up treasure in heaven.
He would like to get us distracted. And just like if you go to the fair and you see those big huge bags of cotton candy, what's in those bags of cotton candy?
Like a a few little like a tablespoon of of sugar and some food coloring. That's all that's in there. It's absolutely worthless.
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It doesn't give you any energy. It doesn't make you feel good.
I mean, if you ate that whole bag, you'd go and then you crash.
And then you'd be sick.
But that's what this world offers us it it looks so attractive.
And it's worthless.
I want to encourage you children think about the resources that you already have, and time is a huge one.
And use it for the Lord's glory.
And if I could add to that, Steve, it's so good. You know, we've all been given time and have to lay my hand on my own heart to confess that I wasted too often. But you children again, have the greatest advantage right now in your youth to build up.
Wealth. Spiritual wealth, because you have. If anybody has time, it's you. I mean, you have.
Health you've got, energy you've got. Time you've got. You don't have many responsibilities.
Use your time very wisely and you know we're not wiser than God. And I was thinking of Ecclesiastes 12. It says there, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. And then he goes through the chapter to explain.
Old age and its effects. And you know, I, I remember one brother coming to me and he was older and he says, you know, I regret my youth because I wasted my time.
And, uh, you know, the, the, the, he, he realized that, you know, it was a little bit too late now, his memory was failing and all that. And he, he hadn't committed to memory, uh, some of the things that, uh, he probably ought to have known from the scriptures and so on. And he regretted that he, he, he squandered his youth away. And so when God says, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, God knows what he's talking about.
Because the responsibilities of life, age is going to catch up, Memory is going to fail, energy is going to be pulled back and it's not going to be like it once was. Responsibilities of life are going to start piling on as you grow up and you get married and go to college or whatever.
Right now, use it. Use it for the Lord.
So what we're saying?
Is that the time that we spend really shows where our treasure is, isn't it? I think often we're not willing to admit where our treasure is. And I was thinking of an e-mail I was reading the other day from Sister Claire on the other side of the world, and she was bemoaning that she didn't love the Lord more and she didn't enjoy his things more and so on.
Well, she was saying that she wishes her treasure was there.
But the fact of the matter is, it isn't. So where there's a pause in our life where we have time to do what we'd like to do, what we find ourselves doing or thinking about, that's where our treasure is. Never mind trying to put your heart where your treasure isn't, because it'll always snap back to where your treasure is. So how do you change?
I think of that verse in Psalms 37 that says, Delight thyself also in the Lord.
And he will give thee the desires of thy heart.
It's only in the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus that we will find that everything our heart ever desired is finally realized. But it takes energy. It's it's, I think that's as you mentioned, brother Josh, the thought of selling and buying. It's actually something that we need to engage in because again, we'll never change that. We can wish and we know that we should and so on. But where our treasure is, there was there. Our heart will be also so.
We need to change our treasure and often times it's by.
Getting rid of or selling those things that right at the present are our treasure, that we might put them, put it where we can never lose it.
I'd like to, uh, go along with Ron and Josh and then I'm gonna.
Just a slightly different way, and I believe it will tell us the same thing, but give us a little different perspective. Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. You know, when we are here this week, our heart is focused on the things of Christ.
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And you know what One of the most refreshing things about this week is that I haven't given a thought to the things that normally occupy my mind to the everyday responsibilities of life. But I have been so encouraged and refreshed by having my heart refocused on what is really life. All of a sudden, those other things that seem to matter so much in our everyday life take a back seat.
And the things of God, all of a sudden we're reminded of how valuable and precious they really are.
Want to make one more comment about time? You know, it's easy for us to say, well, I don't have any time.
And I just would make this statement, we choose what we make time for.
We choose what we make time for so we can choose to stay in bed.
An extra 10 minutes, extra half an hour, whatever it might be. And that's a choice that we make. It's a conscious choice whether we realize it or not. And that has an effect on eternity. We can choose to set that alarm for 1/2 an hour earlier and get out of bed when that alarm goes off and sit down with our Bible on our lap and we'll find.
That the rest of the things that we think are so important end up falling into place. And that's what we've had earlier in this chapter. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness as we have in Matthew and all these things will be added unto you. But it starts with seeking the Lord 1St. And I want to encourage you children. I know in Walla Walla a couple years ago we had a little competition and.
Strongly encourage any anyone else. I think it's helpful to have accountability in our Christian walks and kids. I want to encourage you. I really want to encourage you to grab a calendar and actually record how often you're reading your Bible and spending time in prayer. If you do that, it's going to be a constant reminder that it it should be the most important thing in our lives.
And those of us that are older do that as well, until it becomes a habit that we cannot live without.
We wake up and it's a vital part of our lives, but we have to make that time important ourselves.
The other part of that is in this verse it says that Faileth not Speaking of the treasure and where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupted, you know, in my lifetime.
Since I've been actually working.
We had a major recession and we've had some other major companies that lost everything.
And it hit the newspapers and we read about people who were on the verge of retirement and they found themselves penniless.
They didn't have a single dime to their name because it was all stored up in some place that failed.
The thieves broke through and stole it and stock market crashes or whatever it might be. Every single place that we can put our resources in this world is subject to failure completely. But if you if you hide that treasure in heaven, there is not a single thing that can ever touch that treasure. It is guaranteed 100% not by the good faith of the government because.
You know what this government that we live in, it could it could go belly up tomorrow.
We were as we were leading up to camp here. Umm.
The state budget wasn't passed and and so they were talking about shutting the State Park down.
And it was interesting. Another brother heard about it and he did a little bit of research and, and it was very interesting what he said. He said, you know, in Washington state, for every single taxpayer, the state of Washington owes $10,000.
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And there's other states that are way worse off than the state of Washington.
We live children in a world that is incredibly parallel.
And we think that we live in in the greatest nation on earth, that the greatest nation on earth, quite frankly, is deeply in debt. And if the creditors came and said we need our money right now, this nation would be bankrupt.
And we could cease to exist as a nation right now.
That's the reality of this. And so no matter where we, what we do with the things that God has given us here in this world, it can be gone. It can completely be gone tomorrow.
You want an illustration of that we can turn back to the book of Job.
Was an incredibly wealthy man. He had thousands and thousands and thousands of different animals, and what happened to him? In one single afternoon, it was all gone.
He didn't have a single animal to his name and that was how wealth was held in that day and age and every single one of his kids were gone. He didn't have anything left.
What was his response? Well, I think that he had a great deal of treasure in heaven because he said, blessed be the name of the Lord.
May we have the same spirit and attitude.
You might say that.
If we were honest, the reason we don't invest or lay up our treasure in heaven is because we don't see it as.
Umm, we don't see that.
Incorruptibility, if we thought, think in terms of, uh, investment in the world's things, if we knew that there was a place that we can invest our money that was untouchable, that was guaranteed return, that would never fail.
Then we put every resource we had into that particular investment. The reason we don't put our our take, you know, the, the words that kept coming to mind were investment and opportunity and time, as you said, Steve, And if we saw those resources that God has given us that should be put into these eternal incorruptible things, these we wouldn't waste any opportunity. But of course we don't see it that way because we're.
I I'm I'm the worst of the.
Guilty ones in this way, but we don't recognize the reality of, uh, the opportunity that we have. Uh, I don't know if that makes sense.
And that's the perfect lead in to this next portion. Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men who that wait for their Lord. Verse 37 Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. What are we supposed to be doing when we have that perspective that you're talking about, Nathan, when we realize, look, the Lord is coming, you know, we go down to the beach and I'll bet how many kids in here have been to the beach. I'll bet everybody in here has been to the beach.
It's fun to build sand castles, right? When we went to the beach, we built all these sand castles and it was fun to watch the tide come in and it ate our sand castle, literally just destroyed it. And it was fun, but we knew that's what was going to happen. We built it with that expectation. If I go and I build a sandcastle and I draw a big old mode and, and everything, and this is my sandcastle and it's gonna be here for the rest of my life. And, you know, hopefully this is gonna be a monument to me and everything and the tide comes in and washes it away. It's gonna crush me.
But when I have that expectation, look, I'm only here for so long. I'm passing through what the Lord's given me. I have today, Hallelujah, thank the Lord for it. But if I lose it, just like Steve just said, the Lord help us to say, the Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the name of the Lord forever. And that's when we have that perspective. The Lord is coming. He might come today. And it doesn't mean we don't save money.
It doesn't mean we're, you know, that, that we don't think about the future. We don't worry about it. But to have that expectation in our hearts. This could be the day right now, today. Would we do something different if we knew for sure the Lord was coming back today? That's a that's a purifying hope in our lives. We're not going to get all entangled with stuff down here when we realize, look, the whole game might be over today.
00:50:13
I remember one time we were playing Monopoly. I don't know who in here loves to play Monopoly, but we were playing Monopoly and we forgot about the time and the guy's house we were at, he said at 10:00, we're going to fold up the game and we're playing along and playing along and playing. I mean, and I was winning. It was good times, man. I had the whole world. Well, not really, but anyway, I was, I was winning. And then all of a sudden, you know what, the clock struck 10:00 and he said the game's over. And I was just like, no.
Oh, and the Lord was speaking to my heart. Do we get caught up with stuff like that in this world? Yes, we do. Just realize, you know what the Lord could come today. Are we ready? We don't have to go on a pilgrimage. We don't have to whatever. Just look for him, long for him is our dear brother Ron said desire the Lord. What did the apostle Paul wanted this one thing I do.
Leaving all the things that are behind, I press for the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
That I might know him and that it's beautiful. It's a purifying help.
There's a remarkable contrast with what we have in verse 35. Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning and.
And yourself be like unto men that wait for their Lord, that when he returneth from the wedding, that that when he cometh back.
But when he cometh the knocketh they may open unto him immediately. Blessed be those servants in the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. That's totally the opposite of what we had in this, uh, parable that the Lord gave a little earlier in the chapter that we talked about by the rich man who said in verse 19, I will say to my soul, so that has much good laid up for many years. Take thy knees, eat, drink and be merit exact opposite of that. And but the difference is.
This rich man was comfortable in his place in this world and this, the servants that we're talking about here in the next portion of our chapter, they're pilgrims, their loins regarded. If you look back in the Old Testament, the clothing that was worn in those in those times were a long flowing rose. So if you had to do something with energy or vigor, those robes would hinder your ability to run or fight a battle or So you folded the bottom part up and.
And put a belt around it so that they were only kneeling so that you didn't have a hindrance. And those in those things, umm, but they were, they would do that when they were ready to work or ready to fight or whatever. They, they weren't doing that when they were settling down and taking their ease. And so here we have these servants that are preparing for their Lord to return. And it's the exact opposite of taking their eve. We talked about that before.
Our place in this world as pilgrims and strangers isn't to become comfortable here and, uh, settle down, is to be waiting and watchful and using the time, as our brothers have been saying, for the Lord.
So again, the support little portion here is, is, uh, we ought not to be careless when it comes to our time here on earth and what we're doing for the Lord. So Simply put, our loins ought to be girded for what? For service And our lights are burning for what testimony. And that's what the Lord Jesus expects from us, that we would be, umm, uh, going forth in service and testimony to this world.
And uh.
I'll just note here, too, that from 36 to 40, this is similar language you find in Matthew 24. And I think it's helpful to recognize the character of the Gospels. And Matthew, being a very dispensational book, speaks more from a prophetic standpoint when it comes to these things. But here in Luke, Luke, Luke is written in a moral order. OK, So when we read this, we, in my mind, typically goes back to Matthew and oh, this must be a prophetic statement here.
I believe, as I understand it in Luke's Gospel, this is not so much a prophetic statement, but this is more bringing attention to what ought to characterize us as servants of Christ in these latter days, while we're here on earth in the night of his departure. So we ought to be watching, waiting, and as you get, I think in verse 43, doing or working.
00:55:19
This is what ought to characterize us. So it's the moral aspect of things, the moral viewpoint in this, in this gospel. Uh, and, and we, we've seen this flow all throughout this chapter. These, these moral things that ought to characterize us as to our characterize the Christian, as to what they ought to be doing, thinking about their position and so on. So we ought to be waiting. Are we waiting for him to come? I hope so. Are we watching? It's one thing to wait.
But I could be waiting and be doing a whole bunch of other things and really not watching for him that kind of on the edge of my seat and and a hopeful expectation that he may come at any moment. But then not only that, we ought to be working as verse 43 pointed out, we need to be engaged in the things of God.
And this applies to your children too, not just us all that us older people. This is, uh, you know, you children and young people can be very useful for the Lord in the days of your youth. I think of that lad who shared his lunch and the Lord fed a multitude with that little lunch that he had. So you kids might think, well, what can I do? I, I really have nothing to offer.
Galore. That's not true. You can be an incredible help. The Lord can use you.
The one that's writing these words is the one that.
This is the Lord Jesus that wrote these words, and He's the one that's speaking to His servants as the one that will be returning and hopes to be received on His return. You know, recently I flew back to Wisconsin on business and I didn't really think a whole lot about it at the time, But when I came back home and landed and got off the airplane and walked out into the terminal, my whole family.
Is just waiting there and just all of my kids just ran over and robbed and ran over and just completely embraced me and and I took me by surprise I wasn't necessarily expecting that kind of a reception and it was really touching I really appreciated it and a lot of other people that were at the airport noticed as well and and I think that's the same thing the Lord has given everything he has to buy us to redeem us to himself and.
He righteously expects us to give him a warm reception to be looking forward to the time when he returns for us, and that we we would be have the same expectation to see him as he has for to see us.
You want to be happy in this life. You really want to be happy. It's what we're talking about here, you know, it says, Blessed are those servants from the Lord, when he cometh shall find watching.
And in verse 38, blessed are those servants means to be happy, and true happiness is found being engaged and the things of God for His service and His testimony in this world, to be helped to His people and all these wonderful things. If you want to be really unhappy, just serve yourself, live for yourself, look out for #1 as the world says it.
You wonder why this world is is just never satisfied. Well, obviously they don't have Christ, but they're living for their own selfish interests and there is no satisfaction in that at all. And there's no happiness either.
We enjoyed verse 38 in the new translation that says and if he come.
In the second watch not ore but and come in the third watch and find them thus.
I don't know exactly what this watch has reference to, but I know like when there are armies and probably still today that you have to be on guard. And so maybe you're not fighting, but they post watch people that are responsible to to let everyone know if the enemy's coming or there's some change that that you should be aware of and you know.
01:00:20
I don't think I'd want that job because it's hard to, especially if it's night out and you're.
You're looking out there, not much to see, not much happening.
You might watch for a while, but that would be the 2nd watch. But what if the Lord comes in the third watch and we got tired of watching. Remember Albert? Hey Hossein, He always enjoyed coming from work because he, he walked home and he, he went and then there was when there was a turn and his, his house was up the hill and but he could see it as he approached for quite a while.
He said he always looked forward to his daughter being there on the porch and when he turned the corner she'd wave to him and watch him as he came all the way and got home. He said one day he was a little bit late and.
Finally he got free of the office and he turned and he he got to that corner and he started up towards the house. He looked and she wasn't there and he felt it. He said, I, wow, I didn't know how much it meant to me.
He got up to the house and opened the door and she was inside playing a game with her brother and sister.
And he said that grace, he, I, I, I missed you. You weren't there for me today. And she said, oh dad, I just stopped watching. I just stopped. So we don't want to do it to just before the Lord comes, he said, see that ye fall not out by the way.
You might have started out watching and longing for him, but his time is gone on and we all thought maybe.
In our minds that we wouldn't go past 2000, we might not go past 2010 or something. And there's a danger that he could come in the third watch and not find his watching. I think a dear mom going home to be with the Lord, but she always brought before us the coming of the Lord. She was watching. You say what about her? She's she can't be watching when he comes because she's gone.
But she watched until he took her. We're in the third watch though, I believe. And may the Lord preserve us from just stopping watching just before He comes, because there's such a blessing connected with.
Being watching when he, when he does call us, come for us.
We're just about out of time, so we are out of time, but I want to ask the kids a question.
Have any of you ever gone to a restaurant?
And when you got to the restaurant?
You put on an apron.
And you went over to the server and said, well, Sir, why don't you sit down right here and what would you like to have to eat?
And I'll go back in the kitchen and make it.
Any of you kids ever experienced that?
Sounds kinda strange, huh?
That's what we have.
In verse 37.
And I say unto you.
That he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down his servants, and will come forth and serve them.
Kids, this is going to happen.
We're the servants.
And our Lord is going to return.
It may happen today, may happen right now.
And when he does?
Our opportunity for service is going to be forever.
Ended.
Because he is going to come.
And serve us.
R.
That's something that I really can't comprehend very well.
01:05:05
But I know it to be true.
Our opportunity for service. Our opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven.
He is going to come to a close and it may be very, very soon.
And our blessed Lord.
Whom we should be looking for, longing for, is going to come.
And wonder of wonders, he's going to serve us.
That should do a lot to our hearts.
He gave his life for us.
To serve him.
He's asked us to be ready to be watching.
To be speaking well of him.
There's coming a moment.
When he's going to take that towel and he's gonna wrap it around his waist and he's gonna come and he's gonna serve us.
That's going to be a moment, that is.
More glorious than anything we've ever imagined.
The Lord of glory is going to come and he's going to service.
What are we doing for him? The moments that were left?
Well, what is he going to service exactly?
It's going to be himself, which will result in heavenly joy and happiness forever.
Peter, chapter one.
Verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy have begotten again, begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible.
And undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.
He worked up by the power of God through faith and to salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, when he greatly rejoice. Though now for a season if need be here in heaviness through manifold temptation, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, they'll be tried with fire, might be found into praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
And having not seen you up.
And whom though now you see him not yet believing, ye rejoice, but joy unspeakable, and full joy commend herself.
Our God and Father, we thank you for this.
Incredible inheritance that is laid up for us in the heavens.
We thank Thee, our God and Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ and whom I look for to come soon and take us to be with Himself a God and Father. We just pray that Thou will help us to focus our hearts upon Him.
That our hearts would be there already in the heavenlies.
The 3rd, That's what that would be, where our treasure would be found, but that's where our focus should be.
And our God and Father, we just pray for help, that we would be found waiting, not just in a second, but in the third watch, so we wouldn't disappoint our dear Lord Jesus when He comes with such greater expectation of calling His bride to be with Himself. To pray that they would be the same longing on our part to see Him look forward to that opportunity to see the One who we see through faith.
And then see by sight our God and Father would just.
Dumbfounded at the thought, just can't even comprehend it and we just long for it. Let me just say, you can still come. Lord Jesus, thank you for this opportunity and again, just commit the day to thee. Pray for thy traveling mercy for any that may still be on the way here today. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.