I do invite you this morning to take the Word of God, and let's turn back to Matthew 6. Matthew 6, as we will be looking this morning at what I am calling an uncompromising devotion. An uncompromising devotion. And let's begin reading at verse 19, which is where we were last week, all the way to verse 24. Verses 19-24 of Matthew 6. Again, as I always remind you, as we've worked through the Sermon on the Mount, these are the recorded words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself preaching. Preaching not to the multitudes, actually, but preaching to His disciples. preaching to his followers. 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. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. This is the word of God for the people of God on God's holy day. What is your life really all about? What is the aim, the end, the resolve, the goal, and the ambition of your life as a whole? What is the center of your life? What or who is it that you live for above all? If there was one word to describe your life, what would it be? Would it be marriage? Your life is all about marriage. Or would it be family? Your life, in one word, is all about family. Or maybe friends. Fame. Career. Education. Sports. Or, maybe Christ. Is your life lived in pursuit of treasures on earth or for treasures in heaven? To say this another way, do you treasure the things of this world or do you treasure the things of Jesus Christ? Which is it? Because it cannot be both. It cannot be both. It is impossible to straddle the fence on this issue. You either treasure the world or you treasure Christ. So again, I ask, what is your life really all about? What or who is the treasure of your existence as a whole? The reason I open our study this morning with such searching and self-examining questions is because this is what we were compelled to face about ourselves last week in Matthew chapter 6, and we will continue to confront such questions this week as well. In our previous study, here in Matthew 6, we began a new section of this chapter where our Lord Jesus has transitioned His attention from the hypocrisy of the religious to the materialism of the pagan. Beginning at verse 19 to the end of the chapter at verse 34, Jesus will be both teaching and exhorting His disciples as to how they are to relate to the world and to the things of this world free, that is, liberated from the carnal anxiety that grips the unbeliever whose life is lived for what he can gain in this world. In other words, Matthew 6, verses 19-34 is revealing the essence of the Christian life as lived in full for God and His Kingdom. Adding a few more layers to this, we can say that while the Christian may possess many things in this world and from this world, yet he does not live for worldly things. Now that's a very important statement. That's a very important distinguishing statement. Let me say it again. While the Christian may possess many things in this world and from this world, yet he does not live for worldly things. A Christian does not live his life ruled and controlled by the things of this world. Whether it's one's spouse or children, or one's hope to be married and have children, or one's ambition for success in business, or having the latest fashion in clothes, or the latest technology in computers or phones, or being slim and trim versus being obese and excessive. None of these earthly, worldly things should ever be what defines us and makes us who and what we are as believers in Jesus Christ. Instead, the life of a Christian is to be ruled and controlled and defined by Christ and His Kingdom, period. Whatever we possess that is of this world, we hold it loosely. We don't cling to it. We don't treasure it. It's not our life. It's not our existence. But rather with the Apostle Paul, as we've already heard this morning, every Christian should be able to say, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Life is Christ. Life is Christ. That's the motto of the Christian. But very practically, what brings every Christian to this place in their sanctification journey is what Jesus began teaching us last week. In verses 19-21, our Lord gave us a two-fold imperative which called us as His people to not treasure earthly treasures, but to treasure heavenly treasures. Now by earthly treasures, what do we mean? We understood this to be anything in this world that has become everything to us. That's an earthly treasure. Anything in this world that has become everything to us. It's all of our lives centered on the things of this world only. But of course, as we saw, what's so egregious about treasuring earthly treasures is that it is nothing but the sin of idolatry. To live for anything or anyone other than the Lord is to be guilty of worshipping something or someone other than the Lord. This is a sin against God, and it must be forsaken at all costs. Yet treasuring earthly treasures is not only sinful, but it is foolish. It is foolish. The reason it is foolish is due to the fact that once we die, we will not take a single earthly treasure with us. No U-Haul trailer on the back of the hearse. You're not taking it with you? So why live for something that doesn't last? Why give your life for what has only a temporal existence? It's absurd. It's irrational. And it's imprudent in the worst kind of way. As Christians, we don't live for the temporal. We live for the eternal. We belong to a kingdom that is not of this world. We therefore belong to a world that is not of this world. Hence, the only treasures we should treasure are heavenly treasures. And this was precisely what Jesus commanded of us here in Matthew 6 and verse 20. Our Lord said, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And what might treasures in heaven be? Well, if you remember, we considered a few choice examples, such as the development of Christ-like character, our growth in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the service we render to God and His Kingdom. These are the things that should mark the life of a Christian above all because, understand this, What we are building and working toward here on earth is with the aim that Jesus Christ will be glorified, glorified by all that we have and do, because life is all about Him. That's the Christian life. But to help us understand and see which treasure it is that we're really living for, Jesus gave us at the end of our study last week a very pointed statement about our life as a whole. Our Lord said, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. What these searching words are saying to us all is that where our treasure is, listen, where our treasure is, there will be found all that we are, all that we're about, all that we are driven to do. So as a Christian, this is why I have to ask, who or what is my treasure? Who or what is my treasure? Is it earthly? Or is it heavenly? This is what Matthew 6, 19-21 pressed upon us all to inquire honestly about ourselves. But in our study this morning, As I've already mentioned, facing the challenge of discovering what it is we really treasure continues in verses 22-24. Yet the angle from which the challenge comes is drawn from a metaphor about our vision and the relationship between a slave and his master. Let's consider each of these in turn under the headings of an unclouded vision and an uncompromising devotion. Consider first with me an unclouded vision. Look with me at verses 22 and 23. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But, if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? To begin with, let's understand what Jesus is teaching on the surface. The eye is the lamp of the body. What does that mean? This means very simply that almost everything the body does depends on our ability to see. Our eye illumines what the body does through its hands and feet. We need to see, for example, in order to run, jump, drive a car, cross a road, cook, embroider, paint. Our eye, therefore, is the organ that means light to the body. Hence, the eye functions much as a lamp does. It gives light and the sight to the body. So, our Lord goes on to say, If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Again, let's consider the meaning of these words on the surface. A sighted person walks in the light, whereas a blind person walks in the darkness. Thus, depending on the health of the eye will determine both where our body goes and what our body will do. But with the surface meaning of these words before us, let's now look at the deeper meaning since Jesus is using this whole illustration about sighted or blinded vision as a metaphor about our spiritual condition. In the first place, we need to understand that in Scripture, the eye is equivalent to the heart. The I is equivalent to the heart. We see this, for instance, in Psalm 119, where in verse 10, the psalmist writes, with my whole heart I seek you, let me not wander from your commandments. And then in verse 19, I affix my eyes on all your commandments. What the psalmist expresses that he does with his whole heart, in seeking God so that he will not wander from God's commandments, is synonymous with fixing his eyes on God's commandments. So here in Matthew chapter 6, On the heels of Jesus pressing the importance of having our heart with the right treasure, He now emphasizes the importance of having our eye sound and healthy. The connection between the two is this. Listen very closely. If our heart is treasuring heavenly things, then our vision will be fixed on heavenly things. Let me say that again. If our heart is treasuring heavenly things, then our vision will be fixed on heavenly things, and the life we live will show the effects of having such a single, heavenly, unclouded vision. In the second place, We need to understand the contrast Jesus makes here between the terms healthy and bad as it is applied to our spiritual vision. Our Lord distinguishes between an eye that is healthy and an eye that is bad with the results of each promoting either spiritual light or spiritual darkness. The term healthy is the translation of a Greek word that means single. Single. And the idea behind this term in the context of Matthew 6.22 is referring to having a single-minded vision toward the things of God and His Kingdom. Practically speaking, if our eye is healthy, the way Jesus is applying this terminology, then the focus and direction and ambition of our life will be demonstrably fixed on God and His Kingdom. We will be seen by the way in which we live as the people of God as opposed to the people of this world. We live in the world, but we're not of the world. Or as Jesus puts it here in our text, your whole body will be full of light. The path you blaze as a Christian, whose passion and purpose is all about God and His kingdom, will be full of light. That is full of spiritual understanding and wisdom and faithfulness to Christ, and therefore, unencumbered by the darkness of earthly treasures. But, if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Now what does this mean? Well, the term translated bad is derived from a Greek word that can be translated as evil. In the Septuagint, that's the Greek Old Testament, The same word is often used in translating the Hebrew expression, an evil eye, which in everyday Jewish conversation referred to someone who was stingy and grudging. We see this, for example, in Proverbs 28, verse 22, which states, a man with an evil eye hastens after wealth. This is a man who selfishly pursues monetary gain. So, here in the context of Matthew 6.23, this is how we need to understand the meaning of Jesus' terminology. The eye that is bad is the heart that is selfishly indulgent. Listen to that again. The eye that is bad is the heart that is selfishly indulgent. In other words, the evil eye is a vision bent on the coveting and craving after earthly things versus the pursuit of heavenly things. It is someone whose ultimate focus and direction of life is all centered on treasuring the things of this world for the sake of self-centered interests. And to such a person, our Lord says very bluntly, that their whole body will be full of darkness. The whole body will be full of darkness. The application of these words is very simple and pointed. If our spiritual sight is solely fixed on the darkness of earthly riches and treasure, then our whole life will be dark and earthly too. That's the application. But in addition to this indictment, Jesus adds one more layer to this disturbing picture. Our Lord declares, if then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. These words are a special application to all those who think their life is centered and focused on God, when in fact, they are blind to their own greed and coveting and self-interest for earthly treasures. This is why our Lord exclaims, how great is the darkness! How great and terrible is the darkness of the self-deceived. They think they have the light. They think they're right with God. They think their life is a godly life, but the truth is, their supposed life is really darkness. They are self-deceived and their self-deception is seen by what their treasure really is. They treasure the things of this world rather than the things of God. I believe you can see this kind of self-deception with the whole health, wealth, prosperity, gospel movement. An entire movement. Understand this, an entire movement of focusing on the gaining and accumulating of worldly wealth as some kind of alleged divine right for every child of God. Just name it, claim it, blab it, grab it, you got it because God owes it to you. That is the essence of this false and wicked teaching which has raised up an entire generation of people who claim God's favor while living for nothing but their own greedy, materialistic, selfish indulgence. And to such a people, Jesus would say, How great is the darkness! And yes, even we need to watch ourselves here. And you knew I had to go here. I'm not going to allow any of us just to look down our noses at the health and wealth prosperity gospel and say, well, I'm glad I'm not like them. Some of the most tragic words in the Bible were the Apostle Paul's lamentation over his longtime ministry companion, Demas. In 2 Timothy 4 and verse 10, Paul wrote, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me. These words, this testimony are tragic in many ways, expanding on how heartbreaking they are. Consider what John MacArthur observed about Demas, and then ask yourself, could this be me? Could this be me? John MacArthur wrote, At the time, any friend of Paul, especially a co-worker, risked sharing persecution in prison with him. As the risk increased, Demas' resolve decreased because he loved this present world more than he loved the Lord, the Lord's people, or the Lord's work. Demas' heart may have been a rocky place, covered by just enough soil to superficially accept the seed of the gospel, but not enough to bring full salvation. When the heat of the world's affliction or persecution became too fierce, he withered and fell away. Or perhaps his heart was thorn infested, and when the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the Word, it proved to be unfruitful. His reaction to the deprivations faced in his physical life eventually exposed the deprivation of his spiritual life. In any case, his cowardice was greater than his commitment, and he deserted Paul. Perhaps the sacrifice of many comforts, including the probable loss of his own freedom, became too high a price for Demas. He was a fair-weather disciple who had never considered the cost of genuine commitment to Christ. He may have been caught up emotionally with the idea of a noble cause, which he did his part to serve when the demands were not great. But when the cause became costly, he was nowhere to be found. Our Lord would say of a man like Demas, how great is the darkness! How great is the darkness! Whatever light Demas claimed to have had or to demonstrate was in fact darkness. He was clearly and obviously self-deceived. He was a man whose treasure was not Christ and His Kingdom, but this present world. He loved this present world, and the cost of that love was the cost of his very soul. And what did our Lord say? What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet in the end loses what? His own soul. That was Demas. That was Demas. Now beloved, what we need to ask ourselves in light of both this frightening testimony of Demas combined with what we are considering here in Matthew chapter 6 is this, could we be taking the same path as Demas right now? Is our eye healthy? Or is it bad? Is our body full of light? or full of darkness? What is the real focus of our spiritual and moral vision? Is Christ our Lord, the center of our vision, the goal of our vision? Despite everything we have and possess monetarily, do we live for Christ and not for those earthly things? Is our vision clear and Christ-centered? Or is it clouded and flooded with coveting and treasuring after earthly things? Which is it? We've got to face this, brothers and sisters. We have got to answer these questions about ourselves. Which is it? Now listen. While there is nothing wrong or sinful in having a marriage and family and a house and cars and a career and hobbies, there is nothing wrong with having any of those things. Nothing. Yet what we must always be in check about is that these earthly things do not become the center of all our focus and vision. Every time we open our eyes, the first thing we see in our mental vision must not be the things of this world, but the things of Christ and His Lordship over the things of this world. That's what our vision should be. This is what it means to have an unclouded spiritual vision. A spiritual vision that is healthy and thereby single-minded on Christ and all that He has called me to be and do for His glory. This is how a Christian should see everything in this world. Everything. Everything. But the reason for an unclouded vision which is focused on Christ is due to what our second and final point of study teaches, and that is an uncompromising devotion. An uncompromising devotion. Look at me at verse 24. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and money." The thrust and point of these words is very simply that our service and thus devotion to God must be wholehearted. Wholehearted. There is no compromise here. There is no fist straddling here. This is not a both-and kind of devotion, but an either-or kind of devotion. God will not share His glory with anyone. He will not be rivaled by the worship of another. This is why I said earlier that it is impossible to have both earthly and heavenly treasure at the same time. Did you hear that? Let me say it again. It is impossible to have both earthly and heavenly treasure at the same time. That kind of divided devotion is inconceivable, not to mention unattainable. And our Lord Jesus makes this point plain and clear. He makes it plain and clear. No one can serve two masters. No one can serve two masters. Why? For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. There is no such thing as having a divided loyalty and love for two different masters. You cannot. You cannot. Now, one thing we need to understand regarding the vocabulary in this passage, is that when Jesus employs the term, Master, He is using a word that referred to slave owners. He's using a word here that referred to slave owners. That's what the Master wants. The idea then behind this word, Master, is that of a slave owner who has total control of the slave. Therefore, the relationship between the slave and his master is that of full-time service and full-time allegiance. The slave is thus under complete obligation to the lordship of his master. Do you understand that? Listen, he has nothing left to give to anyone else, because to give anything to anyone else would make his master less than master. This is why Jesus stresses the point that it is not only difficult, but impossible to be fully and faithfully the slave of two masters. Putting this in direct application to our relationship to God, if we truly belong to God, then He alone is the one who masters us as His slaves. as His slaves. And did you know, did you know, brothers and sisters, that in Romans 6.22, we are actually referred to as the slaves of God? That's right. We're not just the servants. We're the slaves. We are the slaves of God. Because He's the Master. He is the Master. It is God alone who calls the shots, as it were. It is God whose will we give full and unfettered allegiance to. He is Lord and no one else. Hence, our devotion to Him is expected to be always uncompromising. Thus, Jesus closes verse 24 by declaring, you cannot serve God and money. Now, let's spend just a moment here with that statement and unpack it a little bit. By the term money, we must understand that this word is better translated, listen and pay attention, it's better translated as possessions. Possessions. Because it comes from the Greek word maman, meaning possessions. Furthermore, in the full context of Matthew 6, 19-24, our Lord is plainly stating that we cannot give our devotion and service to both God and the possessions of this earth. Or to say it another way, it is possible to devote oneself wholly to the service of God, and it is possible to devote oneself wholly to the service of earthly possessions, but it is impossible to devote oneself wholly to the service of both. You cannot serve God and mammon. And that word cannot, that's a strong verb. That's a strong verb in the Greek. Listen, that verb means incapable. Incapable. It can't happen. Impossible. Incapable. You cannot serve God and mammon. These stark alternatives make it clear, brothers and sisters, that the service of God is no part-time affair, but something that calls for one's fullest devotion. So, while it is no sin to have money, It is no sin to have a house, or land, or a business, or whatever other earthly things there may be. No sin to have those things. Yet, and you need to get this, it is a sin, it is a sin to give yourself in total devotion and service to these earthly things. That's the sin. The things of this world must not own us. They must not ever be our master. Only God has the right to be our master. And it is only to God then. It's only to God that we, as His people, are to give ourselves in wholehearted, undivided, uncompromising devotion. Only God has that right. Only God has that claim on any one of us. Only God. Because He only is the Master. As a Christian, my friend, you have no other master. You have no other master but God. When Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached on Matthew 6, 22-24, he closed his sermon with a very gripping and searching story that I believe would be well worth our time to hear and consider and apply to our own lives in the light of everything that we have gleaned this morning. It is a fitting conclusion, therefore, to our study of this passage as well. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this, I remember once hearing a preacher tell a story which he assured us was simple, literal truth. It illustrates perfectly the point which we are considering. It is the story of a farmer. who one day went happily and with great joy in his heart to report to his wife and family that their best cow had given birth to twin calves, one red and one white. And he said, you know, I have suddenly a feeling, an impulse, that we must dedicate one of these calves to the Lord. We will bring them up together, and when the time comes, we will sell one and keep the proceeds, and we will sell the other and give the proceeds to the Lord's work. His wife asked him which he was going to dedicate to the Lord. There's no need to bother about that now, he replied. We will treat them both in the same way, and when the time comes, we will do as I say. And off he went. In a few months, the man entered his kitchen looking very miserable and unhappy. When his wife asked him what was troubling him, he answered, I have bad news to give to you. The Lord's calf is dead. But, she said, You had not decided which was to be the Lord's calf. Oh yes, he said. I had always decided it was to be the white one, and it is the white one that has died. The Lord's calf is dead. Now, Martin Lloyd-Jones said, we may laugh at that story, even as I've just heard some chuckles here this morning, but he said, but God forbid that we should be laughing at ourselves. It is always the Lord's calf that dies. Now, you might say, well, I don't really get it. What's the point? Okay, well, here's the point. Pay very close attention to this. Because it's very subtle and it's very dangerous. In the final analysis, there is nothing so insulting to God as to say we are serving Him, but then to show by our lives that we are really serving our earthly possessions. We will make some big and grand dedication to God, that we will commit ourselves to Him and His service, only to squander that service by the things of this world which we would rather have and serve. It is always the Lord's calf that dies. Always. Commenting further on this, Martin Lloyd-Jones said, These things tend to come between us and God, that is, these earthly things. And our attitude to them ultimately determines our relationship to God. The mere fact that we believe in God and call Him Lord, Lord, and likewise with Christ, is not proof in and of itself that we are serving Him, that we recognize His totalitarian demand and have yielded ourselves gladly and readily to Him. The bottom line is this, brothers and sisters, you cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot. So let us leave this study, then, looking long and hard and honestly at ourselves. Is it truly God we are devoted to, or the things of this world? Which is it? If we are in true service to Christ, then we will not let anything in this world impede or rival that service. Why? Because Christ is Lord. He is the Master. It will therefore be our calf that dies, not the Lord's. Do you hear that? It will be our calf that dies, not the Lord's. Amen? Amen. Let's pray.