Turn with me, please, in your Bibles this morning to the book of Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. I can echo what Ryan talked about there a moment ago, that before I was ever saved, I didn't really understand much about the church, and even though that I'd gone to church, And I'd see people get happy. My dad took us to a Southern Baptist church where we grew up, and it was not uncommon in those days to have old-fashioned style Baptist preachers that the people looked at and classified them as Hellfire and Brimstone style preachers. And about everywhere you went, that's the kind of preaching that you heard. And it wasn't uncommon to hear some shouting. People get happy and shout, and folks would get to crying, and some folks would get to walking the floor. I remember being a small child. I don't know how old I was, but I remember being sitting on the front seat one day, and a sweet dear lady in our church that was older, she got happy, and she come walking down front, and she reached out her hands for me, and I reached up and took her hands, and she swung me around. I got a helicopter ride. And I didn't know what that was about. But I know she got happy. And when she sat me back down, she shouted until her hairpins fell out of her hair. The old timers talked about them shouting until the hairpins would fall out. And I was blessed and privileged to see that. I didn't understand what I was seeing. And I got to a place in life where I ran from God. I ran from His Word. I ran from everything about God. Wanted to live my life. I wanted to do my thing I figured I was young and I could one day get old enough that Then it would matter when I got closer to death but then in 1963 death took my 19 year old brother from our home and when that happened I realized that death can happen to anybody at any age and And it was such a shock. My brother had never been healthy. He had polio when he was a small child, and it crippled his body. He was in a wheelchair. And he had talked to me and my little brother a lot about the Lord and about his faith in Jesus. He sat with a Bible in his lap all the time. When he wasn't eating, he'd read his Bible. And he'd tell us, he'd say, it's going to be important one of these days, you're going to hear him. You're gonna hear the voice of Jesus speaking inside of you. It'll be through your conscience, but you'll know it's Him. And when you hear Him, He said you need to listen to Him. And I didn't know what to expect or how to expect it to come. But I'm glad on an October evening, I went to church that night out of respect to my dad who had invited me to come, who had asked me, invited me to come to the meeting, and I went. And I didn't go expecting Jesus to come into my heart that night, but that night I heard Him. And I knew who he was. And I didn't know what to do about him. I felt, here's what I really felt like, I felt like I couldn't live it. And I felt like I'd surely fail. And my mom stepped up to the side of me, service was over, folks was leaving the church, and she said, if he speaks, you should listen. And don't worry about how you'll live it, he'll help you live it. And that night I accepted Christ into my life. Now, have I failed? Yes. Have I made mistakes? Yes. But you know what? God promised me He'd never leave me nor forsake me. And He told me in this word that if I confess my sins, He's faithful and just to forgive me. And I found that to be so true, that He is that kind of a God. And there's nothing in this world that can describe the peace that we just sang about. Because that peace is not a something, it is a someone. Jesus Christ is the true Prince of Peace. Matthew chapter 6, would you stand this morning in reverence to God's Word if you're able? And I want to read one verse of Scripture. And this one verse of Scripture, and actually this whole chapter 6, I'll ask you to keep your Bible open because I'm going to refer back to some things in this chapter. This chapter is a sermon that Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself preached when He was here on earth. So I'm preaching the Savior's sermon this morning, and it's what He dealt with my heart to preach about. Somebody said, well, I thought we'd hear a sermon maybe on moms. We've honored moms. I searched all week, Lord, is there something special about women that I should preach about? Is there something about a mom that I should preach about? And God reminded me of what we were doing. He said, you've honored the mothers, now honor me. And preach what I give you to preach. And so I'm going to try to be obedient unto the Lord today. Matthew chapter 6 verse 24, when you find that verse, say Amen. And no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. That is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and that's the title of my message. No man can serve two masters. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, I thank you this morning, God, for life itself. Your Word tells me that it's in Jesus that I live and I move and that I have a being. Whether saved or lost, I exist because all life comes from You. You formed man from the dust of the earth and You breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And man sinned against You and transgressed Your law, but You didn't discard him nor cast him away. You loved your creation so much that you made a plan, a will, that you would send your only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He would be made in fashion as a man, and He would humble Himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus would not commit a sin, nor would there be any guile found in His mouth. And yet, if I may make this personal about me, If I had been the only one in the world that would have ever believed upon Jesus, He would have died for me nonetheless, and my wicked, ugly sins would have been placed upon Him who knew no sin, because He was willing to become my sin for me, and to pay the debt that I could not pay. There's nobody in this room today that's without sin. And God, You've said in Your Word that if we should say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. and the truth is not in us. But you didn't stop loving us just because we had sinned. And you didn't cast us away because we had sinned. But in your love, you sent your only begotten Son and placed our sins upon Him. And He became the sacrificial offering at the cross of Calvary by the shedding of His blood. That through His life and through His death, that blood would cleanse us from our sins. You ordained that blood was the price of redemption, because when man first sinned, you had to slay an innocent animal to provide coats of covering for their nakedness. And innocent blood was shed for the sin of Adam and Eve. And since the blood of animals should not and cannot pay the sacrificial offering for man's sinful ways, it would necessitate a place in life where a Savior would come, one born like we are, who would die for us and shed His blood so that there could be forgiveness for our sins. I'm so deeply, deeply grateful to you for that October night when I did not know how to pray and I did not know how to serve you. I simply asked for you to help me and for you to come into my life and you did. And I've made a lot of mistakes since that day, even unto this hour. And you've been merciful, and you've been gracious, and you've been long-suffering, and you've been patient, and you've helped me every step of the way. And heaven's mine, not because I come to church, and heaven's mine not because I've been baptized, and heaven's my home not because of me being raised in a Christian home, but heaven's mine because Jesus is the Lord and Savior of my soul. And heaven can be anyone's, here's today's home, God, if they'll just let Jesus be the Lord of their life. You didn't save me to live like I wanted to live, and you didn't save me to do as I pleased, because you said no man can serve two masters. Either the master of this world is who I'll follow, or the master Jesus is who I'll follow. But I can't serve both. And I prayed this morning, God, that folks would just follow me and let us revisit a sermon You preached. I can't begin to even preach it like You could, Jesus, but I need Your help to deliver it. And I pray, God, that we'll see that this isn't my sermon, but it's Yours. And these are not my words, but they are Your words. And You have clearly said, Heaven and earth shall pass, but Your word will not pass. And it will be Thy Word, God, that judges us when we stand before You on the judgment day. You called me into the ministry to preach, and it's been my heart's ache and burden and sorrow all of my life. I have pleaded with men and women, boys and girls everywhere, all over this world. Trust in Jesus. Let Him be your Lord. Let Him be your Savior. I've walked with people in the youth of their life, and I've walked with people in the shadow of the valley of death. And I've walked with them, God, until they took their last breath. And I've noticed a difference in those who go out without Christ and those who go out knowing Christ. That's why it's important today, God, that we make an all-important choice of who our Master's going to be. God, I sure praise you this morning for all these precious mothers. I thank you for those young mothers that we honored here today that's bringing new life into the world. And I thank you for those dear ladies that are widows today that have had children, raised their families, and they've been faithful mothers all these years, and they are the ones that I look to for great examples. They're trustworthy. But I thank you, God, also for every mom that's in this building. And every mom that's watching us online today, bless them, I pray. And God, may this be a day of great joy and happiness as their families may gather with them and show special care for their mom. I'd give anything if I could hug my mom this morning. But I will again in heaven. I'm convinced of that. And my soul deeply longs for that day. Hide me in the shadow of the cross and help me to preach now, God, and be glorified, I pray, in this service. In Jesus' name. In God's people's name. Amen. You may be seated. Jesus in this sermon is advising you and I that we should be careful and take heed of hypocrisy. I remember a time in my own life when I didn't like hypocrites. I used to use the phrase, I won't go to church because of the hypocrites. And I somehow felt justified by not going to church thinking I'm not going to go down there around people that are hypocrites. Jesus didn't like them either. And if you're a sinner and you say those things or you're someone that said that, you're in the same place Jesus is. He doesn't like them. And can I tell you something? I'd rather go to church with them than to go to hell with them. It's because the hypocrite is going to go to hell. They're not going to heaven. And so I'd rather come to church with them even if I don't agree or like what I see in them than to go to hell with them. And so he warns us to take heed against hypocrisy and worldly mindness in choosing the master that we're going to serve. That's what he said here in verse number 24. No man can serve two masters. And that's why we need to be careful who we choose. To try to do so would be hypocrisy, which hypocrisy is pretense. It's someone who's masking to be something they're really not. If you've never met me or those of you that are in the church that's been around me a while, you've been here long enough to know whether you think I'm real or not. But for those of you that don't know me, you don't have any idea. You just have to take me at face value, but if you could spend time and you could watch my life and you could observe my life, then you could discern whether there is truth in me or whether there's a pretense in me. And the same is true of your life. There's a lot of people in the world that tell you they're Christians, and they tell you they love God, and they tell you they serve God, but they're pretending. Can I tell you today, the saddest thing of all is that there's a lot of people that go to church that's doing that very thing. There's a lot of people that's got a head knowledge of Jesus Christ, but they don't have a heart connection. Jesus said, there are many that honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And so Jesus said, be careful which master you choose to follow, because if you follow the wrong master, you'll wind up in hypocrisy, you'll be pretending. And Jesus has exposed the cheat that is put upon the soul of any person who thinks to be divided between God and the world. You can't choose the world, or you can't choose God and expect to please God if you're going to try to serve both. And so, you put a cheat upon your soul when you do that. And to have treasure upon earth and try to have treasure in heaven too? Well, Brother Mike, isn't it all right to lay up? Hey, can I tell you, before I'm done with the message, I'm going to prove something to you. Jesus has clearly said that you'll have what you need in this life if He's first in your life. You'll have houses and lands and food and clothing and you'll have everything you need. Some of us spend our lives pursuing after those things because it's the nature of the Gentile. And that is the treasure. We're trying to lay it up. And you know, no matter what you own and no matter what you possess, there's a day coming in your life where Mr. Death is going to march into your home and he's going to evict you. And you're going to leave the house and you're going to leave the money in the bank. You're going to leave the job and the cars and you're going to leave it all. And you're going out into a ceaseless eternity. Treasure on earth? What good is treasure on earth if there's no treasure for you in heaven? Do we please God or do we please men? That's what Jesus is trying to help us to understand. That no man can serve two masters. The hypocrite hopes to make their religion serve their secular interests. And so turn to account both ways. I believe I can do both. I can have what I want in the world and I can have God too. That's not what Jesus is saying. Not at all. The pretending mother in Solomon's day, you remember him? He was the king with such great wisdom and there was two ladies that had babies. And that night as they retired for the evening and went to sleep, one mother rolled over on her child and smothered it to death. And when she awoke and saw that her baby had died from being smothered, she slipped her baby over to the other mother who had a living child, and she took that living child to herself and put her dead baby over there. And in the morning when that mother awoke and saw the dead baby, she knew it was not hers, but that the woman had exchanged and they had to come before King Solomon. And the mother who had taken the living baby said, let's just take and divide this baby. And so Solomon said, bring me a sword. She was pretending to be a mother of a child that she was not the mother of. And so she was glad to divide it. But the wisdom of Solomon was when he saw that the mother who really owned the child said, no, let her have it. Let it live. That mother would rather let that child live and be given to someone else than to be divided. and destroyed. And Solomon wisely knew who the mother was and gave that mother the baby that belonged to her. One of these days when you and I stand before God, all of our pretenses will be over. All of our masking. If you want to see what real hypocrite is, and please don't misunderstand what I'm about to say, Halloween is not the person that knocks at your door and says, The person behind the mask is the real person. The person in the mask is somebody portraying a character they are not. Amen? And that's the best illustration I can tell you today that there's a lot of people in Christianity and in religion, so to speak, who is masquerading themselves or hiding and they're pretending behind a mask. Portraying that they are the Lord Jesus Christ's daughter or the Lord Jesus Christ's son. And they don't have Jesus at heart at all. They're just pretending. They are divided in their own spirit because they are divided between the world and between God. And some of them have had enough training and enough teaching and enough instilled in them. They know what the Scripture says, but they really don't care what it says. Because somehow they've found a way to justify themselves and make both accounts try to work for them. I want you to turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6. I want you to read something for yourself. This isn't in Jesus' sermon, but as I was studying it, these verses of Scripture came to me. And when I read them, I thought, this fits very well with what Jesus is saying. No man can serve two masters. So when I ask you today, who are you serving? Which is your master today? You're serving a master, but which one? Well, who are the two masters, brother Mike? You're either serving Satan, who is the God of this world, or you're serving the Lord Jesus Christ, who is sovereign over heaven and earth. Which one are you serving? Well, I don't believe I'm serving the devil. I wouldn't knowingly serve the devil. Oh, but you see, when you're in darkness, you can't see like you can when you're in light. And when you're in darkness, it's easy to get deceived. Paul was writing here in chapter 6 of 1 Timothy, in verse 3, he said, If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, He is proud. Now, the reason I read that scripture is because, and I'm going to use me, I was brought up in church. I went to Sunday school. I went to Bible school. I went to Bible camp. I was brought up. I was trained. I was taught. My mother and my dad poured the Word of God into my life. but I did not consent to wholesome doctrines. And that was because I was so full of pride, knowing nothing, verse 4 says, but I was doting about questions and strifes of words. Whereof cometh envy and strife and railings and evil surmising. The reason people fuss against the Word of God when the Word of God is presented is because they don't like what the Word of God just said to them. Because it's convicting. But verse 5 is the verse I want you to see. Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth." Listen, supposing that gain is godliness. Well, God has blessed me. I mean, look at all that I'm possessing and look at all that I've got. And if you're supposing that that's God's blessing on your life, that's a pure supposition. Because there's unsaved people out there in the world that's doing just as well. They've got houses, and they've got lands, and they've got money, and they have nothing to do with God. But when they die, just like you and I, who are Christians, no matter what we possess, when they die, they're going to be evicted from all of that and go into eternity, just like we are, and they're going to have to stand before God. So I want you to look with me back to Matthew chapter 6. How do you know, Brother Mike, that God is talking to hypocrites? Well, if you've got your Bible open and you'll follow this, this is Jesus' sermon, I'm going to give you the verse where He refers to hypocrites. In verse 2, verse 5, and verse 16, Jesus clearly refers to the hypocrites. But I want you to notice in verse 7 what He refers to them as. He says they are heathen. A hypocrite is somebody that's in the same categorical place as a heathen is. You know what a heathen is? It's somebody who denounces God, or denies God, or who says there is no God, pagan in their religious ideology. They don't believe in God and they don't want to believe in God. Because they don't want to believe there's a higher power they may have to answer to. And listen to me today, I'm not being unkind, but regardless of whether I believe in God or I don't believe in God, or whether I want to or I don't want to, it doesn't change the fact that He's there. Well, I can't see Him. How can you say He's there if you can't see Him? You can't see electricity either, but it's there. You can't see air, but it's there. You breathe it. And so to try to lay claim that because you can't see God, there is no God, and to say, well, I don't believe in God. I'm an atheist. How do you know? You'd have to be a God yourself to know that. You'd have to be an all-knowing God to know that. And since there is no human being that's an all-knowing God. No human being can say rightly, there is no God. You know what God said of me if I say there is no God? He says I'm a fool. Why? Because I'm denying the One that gives me existence. Can I tell you how good this God is? He's good enough that He lets you live life whether you serve Him or not and enjoy life. And He causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike. But so many times the problem is that those that are in the world, can I tell you today, Jesus isn't worried about the unsafe sinners in the world because He can save them. What hurts the unsafe sinners in the world is those of us who are in the church and claim that we're children of God and we're servants of God, but the world sees you and I doing everything contrary. So what is the truth? Don't you kid yourself, there's men and women out there in the world that are unsaved that know this book better than some of you that are saved know it. They don't read it because they're interested in learning about God, they read it for argument's sake. But in the process of reading it, that's where they learn, well I know this guy, and he says he's a Christian, but look at all this stuff that he does in his life. And Jesus was teaching the hypocrites. He was teaching a host of the crowd that day because of His concern of their hypocrisy. Verse 2, 5 and 16, He calls them hypocrites. Verse 7, He refers to them as heathens. In verses 1 through 6, here's what He's talking about. He's talking about their almsgiving. And almsgiving is doing good, giving money to people, giving food to people, helping people. Well, I'm a Christian. I help people. I give money to the church. I give money to support missions. I give money to this and that. How do you do it? Notice what Jesus said in chapter 6 verse 1. Don't do your arms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward. He says in verse 2, don't sound a trumpet. Look what I'm fixing to do. I'm going to put some money in this mission's bucket because I want to help these little children. I'm an orphan and supporter. Hey, what better thing could I do than help an orphan? Say amen. I'm going to blow a horn and tell you that I'm going to put a certain amount of money in here. Hallelujah. You know what Jesus said I'd just as well do if I'm going to do that? Keep it in my pocket. Because as far as he's concerned, I'm a hypocrite. And if you go on and look at verses 5 through 15, he talks about how does a hypocrite pray. The hypocrite prays because they like standing in the synagogues. And they like standing in the street corners. Now I'm not against somebody being on the street doing something if God has really convicted their heart to do it. But when I see people out in public, or I see people in places of business, and they're showboating it, they're Christianity showboating it. I was trying to eat dinner here not long ago in a place, and there was a man in there that looked like a hog at a slopping trough, and everybody come by with his mouth full and food running out, said, Do you know Jesus? Are you saved? Hallelujah! Glory to God! And I thought to myself, you'd do yourself a favor and God a favor if you'd shut your mouth and chew your food. Because you're doing more harm than you're doing good. Can I tell you something? You don't got to go around sounding your trumpet if you're living right. Most of the time, when people are called on to pray in church, I've had people tell me, Pastor, I knew you was going to call me. I got so nervous before you got up to calling who was going to pray. My palms got sweaty, and I began to try to word my prayer, and when you called on me, I didn't know what to say. Praise the Lord you didn't know what to say. It's alright to get nervous about it. You don't love to stand in the church and pray, but I've had a few people over the years in the ministry come to me and say, hey listen, anytime you want to call me, just call me, I can pray, I can do her. Guess what I never do? Because I know what Jesus said about that. That's hypocrisy. And then Jesus said this about their fasting in verses 16 through 18. When you fast, He said, try to put on a sad countenance and disfigure your face, to where you appear under men to be fasting, they don't need to know that that's what you're doing. Jesus said when you're going to fast, wash your face, anoint your hair, and comb it. and fast. What is fasting? It's where I'm afflicted about something, I'm broken in my spirit, there's something that I need help with, I can't get the answer for, I've searched the scriptures and can't seem to find it, and I need God to listen to me, and so what I do is I decide I'm not going to eat and drink today for a certain number of hours, and I'm going to deprive myself of my privileges, I'm going to deprive myself of my delights, And I'm going to just seek God and pray that God will help me with the need that I have. And so Jesus said, don't you appear unto men to fast, but I want you to look at something that He said, thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. And I want you to go back and notice this, what Jesus said. He said that in verse 4, verse 6, and verse 18. If you're serious about giving help to people, if you want help, now I know we take this offering here in the service and churches do that. We help people that need help. That's what we're supposed to do. How can we say that we love Christ if we see a brother or a sister have a need and we shut up our bowels of compassion toward them? How can we say that we have pure Christianity if we know there's orphans, and there's orphans all over the world that nobody will take them, but thank God we've got a ministry that wants to house them, and clothe them, and feed them, and take care of them. But that costs money. That takes money. People say, well, all the church is about is money. Do you think the church can run without money? Do you think the place where you work can run without money? Can your own household run without money? It can't happen. God gave us money as the medium of finance where all things subsist by it. And the church has to operate that way. But I like what Jesus said in verse 4, 6, and 18. If you're going to do your alms, do it in secret. Thy father which seeth thee shall reward thee openly. If you're going to pray, go into your closet privately and shut the door. and pray in secret, and thy Father shall reward thee openly. If you're going to fast, fast privately, and thy Father which seeth thee in secret shall reward thee openly. Do you see that in verses 4, 6, and 18? If you do, say amen. See, God isn't about the church being a show-off. I'm going to tell you something that I literally despise to hear modern day preachers, and I've heard it in our denomination and other denominations, God showed up and God showed out. God never shows out. He's not a show-off. And it grieves me in my heart to hear that said about Him. He's not a show-out. I'm glad when He shows up. Because I'm going to tell you, when He shows up, wonderful things happen. He changes people's lives. and He changes them for the good. So Jesus now has been talking about what is hypocrisy. And hypocrisy is the man who is giving and doing it for his own show. Sounding the trumpet for himself. The man who prays and loves to be seen for his prayers. The man who wants you to know he's fasting. Jesus said that person is a hypocrite. He ought to do those things in secret and let the Father who sees all things reward him. And then notice what he says as he comes down now to verse 19. In verse 19, Jesus is still talking to the hypocrites and says to them, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves can break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. See, we're talking about two masters here. Where are you laying up your treasures? No matter what you lay up and what you store up on this earth, you're going to leave that. And you can get so busy doing that that you have no time for the other master. And ignoring the most important master, having laid up everything you could ever hope to have or want in this life, it cannot open the gate of heaven for you to go in. I used to witness to an old fellow that he was a precious man. I enjoyed his company. He knew I loved him because I didn't just come by once in a great while. I came on a regular basis. And he was doing something for churches all the time, doing something for people all the time. And he just said to me one day, he said, I'm not going to believe that I have to kneel on my knees and ask Jesus, oh man, you say died on the cross and you say was resurrected from dead, ask him to save me. I'm not going to do that. He said, I believe what I'm doing will work. He said, I'm just going to keep doing it. And I believe it'll count for something when we get to heaven, when we get to the judgment. And I took him by the hand and I called him by his name. And I said, Jesus once said, if a man could gain this whole world, what does it profit him if he loses his soul? I said, let's just suppose now that today you die and God calls you to the throne for judgment. And I turned over and showed him that whosoever was found written in the Lamb's book of life can enter heaven. And I said, so that tells me there's a book God has in heaven that our names are recorded in when we get saved, but let's suppose now you're there and He opens that book and He's going down through the names and your name is never there. What is God supposed to do? Because you did all the good things you did in earth, is He supposed to let you in heaven? I said, would He be a holy God if He just made exception for you? If He makes exception for you, doesn't He have to make it for everybody? And Jesus said, there is a way unto man that seems right, but man's ways are the ways of death. And I said, what will you do if you don't see your name? And He said, well, I said, no eyes about it. I said, God's word clearly says here. that unless your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, you can't enter heaven. And so suppose your name's not there. And he said, well, how do you get it there? And I said, it's easy. All you've got to do is ask God to put it there. He said, that simple? I said, that simple. You just need to tell God that you want your name in that book. You'd like to go to heaven when you die. And you need His help, His forgiveness. He said, do I got to bow my knees? I said, what's wrong with that? If you won't humble yourself in life, then you'll be humbled before all the world. And he said, can I think on this few days? I said, let me ask you one thing before I go. And I said, I'm not at all about forcing you. I can't save nobody. And I wouldn't try to force anybody to be saved. But I said, what if I leave here? And this book also, and I turned and showed him where Jesus said, if I go, I will come again. And I said, he's coming again. What if he comes? Well, after I leave, he comes in the air, and you haven't been saved. Where does that leave you? And then I turned to the past description, showed him where it says, today is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. And he said, let me think on it. Check with me tomorrow. And you know what he started doing? He started running from me. I'd come to his house, and I knew he was home, but he would hide in his house. And I'd see him on the street, and I'd holler at him, and he would dart off in a building somewhere. And one day I picked up the obituary, and I read it, and his name was there. And so I went and saw his son, and I said, did your dad ever give his heart to Jesus? He said, no. And I thought, dear God, he got his name in a paper on earth, but he never got it in the most important book in heaven. And they said when he, his will was opened, he was worth millions. But it won't do him one ounce of good. See, that's what Jesus is talking about here. All through here, now from verse 19 down, he's talking about laying up for yourselves treasures. Do you know what Jesus is saying? If you put the finest clothes in the closet, there's moths that can get in there and eat on them. You lay up all the gold and silver and the wealth of the world and rust can canker it and destroy it. And Jesus even says this, the thieves will be after it. If people know you've got it and they know you've got it around, they're going to come after it. And Jesus said the thieves will break through and steal it, but He said what you need to be doing is laying up treasures in heaven where rust and moth doesn't corrupt and thieves don't break through and nobody can ever steal it. I ain't never had much in life. Matter of fact, These britches are new, but this coat is a hand-me-down. I've wore hand-me-downs all my life. I ain't saying that for you to feel sorry for me. I'm not ashamed of what I've been given in life. Matter of fact, some of the best clothes I've ever wore is hand-me-downs. Amen? At least I ain't nude. I'd rather have these duds on than be up here with nothing on. That'd be a most humiliating circumstance, wouldn't it? And it's humiliating. Is that how humiliating it's supposed to be for you when you stand before God and you ain't ready to meet Him? And you can't say, well, I haven't heard. God will say, yeah, you did. Don't you remember that old gray-headed man that stood in front of you talking about his old hand-me-down clothes? He was trying to help you understand that there's only one Master that you can serve. Only one. You can't serve two. And if you've convinced yourself you can, you've deceived yourself, the truth isn't in you, and I'm going to prove to you why you will not change. It has everything to do with how you see it. Everything to do with how you see it. Well, what are you talking about? Well, let's go now to verse 22. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of what? If you're in a dark room where you can't see nothing, and somebody says, don't you see this? And you're trying to visualize it, you're trying to see it, but you can't see it because of the darkness. But if all of a sudden they turn a flashlight on to that, that light focusing on that, that light gives you the ability to see what it is they're asking you to see. And here's what Jesus is saying, the reason you can't serve two masters is this, the light of your body, the very part of you that helps you to see and understand everything in life is seen through your own eye. Because your eye has an aim. Your eye has an end. Your eye has something that it's looking at. And either you're looking at the things of this world and you're craving those things, you're desiring those things, you're covetous of those things. I want everything everybody else has got and I'm going to see to it that I get it. God gave me educational ability. God gave me the capacity to do it and earn it. That's what I'm going for. And you know what you do when you do that? Say you're a Christian and you listen to me. If it fits your plan, and it's what you want to do, you could care less whether the church is going on or not. And you could care less what the preacher thinks about it or not. And it's really irrelevant what the preacher thinks about it. You ought to be worrying about what God thinks about you doing that foolish stuff. That you put everything in your life as being more important than the one that you need to see most. But if you look at the next verse, Verse 23, if your eye is evil, then what's your body like? It's full of darkness. Remember I said I'll prove to you you won't get out of that condition? Because if you're looking for a way to justify what you're trying to do, I believe in God, I serve in God, I trust in God, and I believe it's okay for me to do what I'm doing. You're justifying yourself within yourself. You can never take this book and justify it. And you know what you've done in the darkness, deceived yourself, told yourself you're okay? And you're going to remember that I told you this one day if you don't get it right. You're going to go to hell. You're going to go to hell. You're going to let the other master that you wouldn't naturally choose to serve or walk after, you're going to follow him and you're going to let him lead you to hell. I don't like that kind of preaching. You said when you was a kid there was hellfire and brimstone preachers and they don't have them anymore. Well, guess what? There's still a few around. And can I tell you something today? I'm not preaching loud because you can't hear me. I'm preaching loud because I want you to understand the heart of this preacher. I'm pleading with you. I'm pleading with your soul. Don't let the other master take you to hell. Don't let him do that to you. Because there's a promise that Jesus gives that's so important that you see that promise and understand that promise. See, you can't have your eyes. I'm going to tell you how confused your body would be if this eye, if I could look at Brother Arliss with this eye, and I could look at Brother Larry over here with this other eye. That means my eyes are going to be two separate places. Agreed? And suppose I need to walk to Josh, who's our tech guy in the back. But I'm looking at Arliss and Larry. And if I've got two eyes over here, I might run into Sister Ellen, because I can't see her straight ahead of me. What I need to do is, if I want to see Brother Arliss, focus in on him, and then I can come to him. Or if I want to see Brother Larry, I can focus in on him, and then I can come to him. Or if I want to see Josh, I can focus in on him and come to him. And if I, from the scripture, see Jesus, I can come to Him because I see Him. I can go to Him. Can I tell you something about Jesus? Who is God? He's not about destroying you. He's not looking for any opportunity or any occasion whatsoever to destroy you. He is a Master who loves you and proved it by giving His Son to die for you. and pay your sin debt through his own shedding of blood. He's the master that loves you and cares about you. Who is the master that wants to destroy me? Who is the master that would take me down the wrong road? The devil himself. Because he purposed in himself in heaven long ago that he wanted to be ruler of heaven and he wanted to exalt himself above the heights of God. And he exalted himself and got cast out of heaven. and came down to this earth having great wrath and doing everything he can to try to destroy people from this life. And so when Jesus had talked about almsgiving and praying and fasting, and now he comes down to where it gets really down to the heart of matter, our treasures. What do we treasure? We say, listen to me, I'm telling you I love Jesus. Man, I want you to know I love Jesus. Jesus is my friend. But I believe we're gonna go do something else today. I believe God understands I need a little time away. Well, I'll tell you what you do. You find it in here and go for it. If you don't find it in here, you better not go for it. Because Jesus already has said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall not pass away. So I want you to look at verse 21. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be. That's where your heart will be, where you treasure. See, serving two masters is contrary to the single eye. Because the eye is to the master's hand. Psalm 123, verses 1 and 2 says, Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O Lord, that dwelleth in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of the servants look unto the hand of their masters, and the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon thee, O Lord our God, until you'll have mercy upon us. God's word even says that the single eye is upon its master. So if you're divided between two masters, you can't have the light of God in you. you'll have the darkness of the world and in that darkness you'll be confused and you'll be destroyed. Think about this with me, two masters have the same point at some point in time, two masters at some point in time are going to cross each other or they're going to contradict each other. What's going to happen when You're serving two masters. You've convinced yourself, I can do this and I can serve God too. I believe it. I'll prove it to you. You ain't going to make it, friend. And would you dare get upset and hurt a preacher to tell you the truth? Some will. And I said, Lord, you know, if I preach that, they're going to say, well, what kind of a mess is that on Mother's Day? And God said, well, there was no Mother's Day around when I walked on the earth and preached that. And I don't remember ordering anything based on holiday. Jesus said, my word is what sets people free. And you know what? God was dealing with me and he had to bring me to this place. Well, you're fixing to serve two masters. You're either going to preach what I give you to preach or you're going to try to preach what the people want you to preach. Please them. So which one is your master? And I said, I'll honor the moms and I'll honor you, God. because he's the only one that can help me as I go through this life, and he's the only one that can help you. And where your heart is, that's where your treasure is going to be also. So, what happens when those two masters contradict each other, and when that occurs, you're going to find out who you belong to. Because you cannot love, and you cannot observe, and you cannot cleave to both of them. For a long time, you'll never be made to choose, but when the day comes that you have to and you realize which one you followed, it'll be when you're so taken in and consumed that you'll wonder, how do I get out of this mess? The word mammon that Jesus talks about there in verse 24, you cannot serve God in mammon. Mammon is a Syriac word that signifies gain. In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 7, the apostle Paul said, the things that were gained to me, Those I counted lost for Christ. Paul was being trained to be the head man of the Sanhedrin court. Paul was chief among the Pharisees. Paul was giving up all of his education, giving up everything that he had ever possessed in life, because when he met Jesus Christ on that day on the Damascus road, he said, all of those things are lost just to know you. When you say, I've got too many irons in the fire, I've got too many ties that have bound me, You're excusing yourself and you're justifying yourself to continue on in your darkness, disobeying the Lord, and you've already made a choice which master you follow. Because when you look through this book, all the men that Jesus called for disciples had careers, but when he called them, they immediately left their ships and their jobs and they followed Jesus. And here's the reason why. Now look with me from verse 25 on. Take no thought for your life. What you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear. Is life more than meat and the body more than raiment? Jesus said, consider the fowls of the air. They don't sow and they don't reap into barns, and yet your Father feeds all of them. And are you not worth much more than many sparrows? Look at verse 27. Which of you, by taking thought, can add a cubit to his stature? Who among you thinks you can add one inch to your height today? I can, but I'll be a hypocrite when I do it. I can tippy-toe. And if you're measuring me, I'm going to get a little taller. If I step upon something on my heels to make me taller, I'm a hypocrite. What do you mean you're a hypocrite? Because I'm pretending I'm taller by placing something under me that elevates me or by tippy-toeing that elevates me. The truth is, in reality, I am as tall as I am when you measure me on my flat feet. And the truth is God knows what I am and who I am and whether I'm real or not. And God knows the same about you as well. And Jesus wants us to understand that when the disciples walked away from everything, they were showing their faith and belief that everything they're going to need in life, God's going to provide it. I want you to hear how important this is. In verse 25, down through verse number 29, he even said, Consider the lilies of the field, they don't toil, they don't spin. And yet Solomon, remember Solomon the king? No one was ever arrayed like Solomon. But Jesus said the lily of the field has got more beauty and more glory than Solomon had. Who spun that? Who put that lily out there? It was God. And then Jesus, He wanted them to understand when you make a choice between your two masters, many times the reason people don't choose the right master is because they're worried about what they're going to eat. They're worried about how they're going to pay their bills. They're worried about how they're going to be sustained and live in life. I got some news for you. Worrying will give you ulcers. And if you'll do first things first, you'll find out what I'm telling you is the truth because God either has to honor it or He's a liar. And I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, God is no liar. And He said twice in chapter 6 from verse 24 down through verse 29 and verse 31 through verse number 32, take no thought for your life, what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear. Your Father in heaven knows you have need of all these things. and He'll see to it that those things are needful. So here's what God wants most of all. Look at verse 33. First things are first. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things, what things? What you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear, where you're going to live, what you're going to need in life. All these things, Jesus said, shall be added unto you. if you seek first the kingdom of God. Yeah, but Brother Mike, I'm of the opinion that God expects a man to work. And I'm of the opinion that God don't want you to just lay down. I didn't say just lay down and say, okay God, rain her down. God will see to it that you have what you need to have to do what you need to do to where you can make Him first in your life. and he can add all these other things to you. If you quit worrying about being rich, if you quit worrying about trying to get a status in life, if you quit worrying about trying to make something for yourself in life and you just make Jesus your focus and you follow him, you'll be shocked when you get to retirement age what the Lord's done in your life. If he's first, you'll be shocked. You say, well, I don't know if I can believe that or not. Well, you see, that's where it comes back to the two masters. You either got to decide which one you're going to follow. Am I going to follow the Lord Jesus or am I going to follow Satan? You're not going to intentionally follow the devil, but I'm going to tell you what I've seen in this service and in this church and in other churches. I've seen you do this and I've heard you holler Amen and you go on doing the same old things you've always done. And you're going to wake up one of these mornings in eternity. And I'm not the only preacher that's told you this. You've heard this before. God wants you to put Him first in your life. What is the kingdom of God as Ryan comes to give us an invitation song? Your Bible will tell you in the book of Romans chapter 14. When you think of a kingdom, I can look at the United States of America, in itself it's a kingdom. We look at Great Britain, it's a kingdom. It's the place where your life is sustained in. And your life sustaining is in your soul, in your heart. How do I get this kingdom of God inside of me? There has to be a king that rules in a kingdom. And according to the scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ is the ruler of His kingdom. But in Romans 14, 17, the Bible says the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. When I say to Jesus, I'm sorry for my sins, I want you to live in me, you know what living in me means? He'll place his spirit within me. And his spirit is the power of God that will help me to keep the kingdom first. that is the king that is head of that kingdom first in my life. And his righteousness, because I have none and you have none. I have nothing which I can bring to God and stand before him in the judgment and say, here's why you should let me in heaven. And here's why that I'm worthy to come to heaven. I gave money to the orphans and I've helped the widows and I've done this and I've done that. And God will say, but your name's not here. It's not in the book of life. And do you understand why it's not? It's not because you would never invite me into your heart to be your Savior. I've purposely and intentionally preached a different way than I ever normally preach. And my church can tell you that's an amen on that. But if I can run around here and holler and hope and carry on and you go out of here and say, boy, that old boy is wild as a peach, orchard borer, ain't he? What good is that to you? I'm trying to reason with you from the depths of my soul to the depths of your heart about this sermon Jesus preached and how important it was to him that you understand there's two masters in this world and you're making a choice for one of them. Which one is it? As his ambassador, I'm trying to encourage you to choose Jesus. He'll be the best master you've ever had. He'll be the most precious friend you'll ever have. I don't have to be in church to be happy. I don't have to be in church to sing His praises. And no matter where I go in this nation or in any nation I go, He's always with me. He's promised me He'd never leave me and He'd never forsake me. And He promised me that because I have believed in Him, that He is preparing me a place in heaven, that when this life is over and my appointed day comes and I close my eyes here, I'll wake up there and I'll never, never, He's separated from him. You know what's wonderful about that world? There'll be no sicknesses and there'll be no sorrows. There'll be no sufferings. There'll be no unkind words. There'll be nobody being mean to other people. And can I tell you something there? There'll be no end of day and there'll be no night. My wife can tell you every time I read that, I say, glory to God. I don't like the night. I wish it was daytime always. And I'm living to go to a city where it's daytime always. Because Jesus said there's no need to shut the gates because there's no night ever comes. But only they who are in the Lamb's Book of Life can get there. So, I'm a Christian. And I'm not to run around tooting my horn, do anything. But what does God want? He wants my light to so shine that others can see the good works of God in me. And through that, God is glorified. Well, how do I glorify God on the Lord's Day if I'm off somewhere else doing worldly things on the Lord's Day? You're not glorifying God. You're glorifying the devil. Remember that. If you get mad, you just have to get mad. But I'm going to tell you straight up, you're not pleasing God when you do that. And you're joking yourself even if you are prospering, if you think the hand of God has made you prosperous. The devil can make you prosperous also. And he'll be a master to you that'll deceive you and destroy you if you believe his lies, because he's a father of lies and the destroyer of souls. If you're going to please God and seek him, you've got to follow his righteousness. And his righteousness, Jesus, is the only one that can make us clean and whole and pure with God. Let's stand. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Father, I feel like that I've been speaking to a people that are intelligent and capable of discerning and making right decisions. I am not about trying to make somebody be a preacher-server. I'm not interested in anybody serving me. If they serve me, they'll fail and they'll be destroyed. But I am walking with you and serving you, Jesus. And I do know what this book says. And I know, God, that we cannot. You said we may not or we should not. You didn't say that. You didn't say we may not or we should not or we would not, but we cannot. We cannot serve two masters. We'll either hold one and despise the other or we'll hate one and love the other. Somewhere it will be revealed who our master is. And all through my growing up days, when I thought about Mother's Day, and I thought about my mom this morning, and the thoughts that I had of my mom was this. I could see in her the life of Christ. I could see it not just at the church house, I saw it in our house. I saw it in every aspect of her life. I saw the same in my dad. I saw them error. But I've never seen them err without them in brokenheartedness pray to you and ask you to forgive them. And my mom used to tell me, son, I have rededicated my life over and over and over to God because I'm so humanly real that I'm going to make mistakes and God knows that and that's why He fixed it so we can often come and rededicate ourselves to Him. And that stuck with me. And God, today, there's people sitting right here in Oak Lane Free Will Baptist Church. They've convinced themselves that no matter what they choose to do, they're okay. And that's not what your Word says. And they've believed a lie, and the Bible says they're going to be condemned. And I don't want that blood on my hands. I don't want to make anybody angry at me or cause anybody to resent me, but you said preaching the gospel will cause people to reject and resent us. Rather than get angry, I pray God that even if they don't come to this altar and repent, that they'll find them a place somewhere, God, and tell you they're sorry and prove that they mean that by living according to the Word of God. I believe you softly, tenderly call today. If there's somebody here, Lord, that's never accepted Jesus as their Savior, it's so easy, God. You love them so much. You died for them. You arose from the dead. You ascended into heaven to sit down right by your Father so that on this day, if they would come and ask you to forgive them and save them, that you, Jesus, would be right there by your Father to pray for them and make it happen. And they can leave this place today knowing that they're forgiven and they're on their way to heaven. And so God, I pray that when Brother Ryan starts singing the invitation, that people will just come and talk to you and visit with you, God, and let you help them. And if there's somebody here that needs my help, I'll be there to do everything I know how to do. But ultimately, saving them is up to you, God, and them to believe you. Blessed now as Brother Ryan sings the invitation, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.