at the Koresh and the rest of us please can take our Bibles and get them out and get ready for some sword drills today because we are doing a textual message. And so we're going to be turning to several scriptures this morning. All right. And if you want to turn to one ahead of time, let's see, you could turn to Jeremiah chapter 31 and we'll look at some scripture there. And then we'll just, you'll see, we'll just be going along to other scripture and I'll try to clue you in when we're gonna be on a scripture maybe a little bit longer than other ones. I mentioned on Wednesday that I enjoyed running this week and listening to the book of Jeremiah. And as I was doing that, a phrase that stood out to me on Wednesday when I was running came from Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 16. It says, thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord. And that was a phrase that just kind of got in my mind, and as I was running, I'm thinking, for thy work shall be rewarded. What an encouragement, right? To stop and think, you know, the idea there being, it's gonna be worth it all. You know, when you get through this, that there's gonna be fruit for your labor. Matthew Henry said this about that, the reward of thy work, The suffering work shall be rewarded. The comforts of the deliverance shall be sufficient to balance all the grievance of thy captivity. God makes his people glad according to the days when he has afflicted them. And so there is a proportion between the joys and sorrows as between the reward and the work. the glory to be revealed, which the saints hope for in the end, will abundantly countervail the sufferings of the present time. Remember Jeremiah saying, you're going to go into captivity, there's going to be a judgment, but don't worry, it's not going to be forever. There's going to come a time where the blessing is going to come. And if you abide in that place, even God's going to meet your needs there. If you'll submit to God's judgment there upon you. But that again, that verse Romans 8, 18, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. All right? It's tough sometimes, a Christian life and experience. There's gonna be heartache that we face, but there's coming a day where we'll look at it and go, I can't believe that I didn't understand that I was investing in something so wonderful in glory. It's what the hymn says. when it says it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. And even in our text here in Jeremiah chapter 31, it speaks about that future blessing that God would give. If you look down to verse 13, it says, for I will turn their mourning. into joy, their sorrow, and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soul of the priest with fatness and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord. And there is hope, verse 17, there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, and my children shall come again to their own border. Verse 25, for I have satiated the weary soul and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. So they had present difficulties, but they could look ahead and say, but it's okay. because the day of reward is coming. Thy work shall be rewarded. So hang in there and God's going to make it worthwhile. And so the truth I want us to consider this morning is that our work shall be rewarded if if we're in a place of submission to God, if we're in the right place with God that there is coming a day of great reward. 1 Corinthians 3.10 says, and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." And that's a phrase that's key. I mean, think about what you're doing. Think about what you're living for. Think about what you're investing in because there is a day of reward coming for those that build right. For other foundation can no man lay that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold and silver and precious stones. And then it says, or wood, hay, stubble. Every man's word shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. So we live for the right thing, live for God, live for God's glory. That's precious, all right? That's gonna endure the fire. But the other stuff is gonna be burned up. Wood, hay, stubble. But it says in verse 14 of that text, if any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, survives the fire, he shall receive a reward. So that's rewardable. Remember, we're talking about that phrase, his work shall be rewarded. This person is going to be rewarded. But if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. So the truth is today, we can live our life for something that is rewardable or not. I mean, that's the truth, but I hope to say to us, thy work shall be rewarded, right? That we're living for those things that are eternal things. Jesus said about this idea of eternal treasure in Matthew 6, 19, he said, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through in steel. So if we live for this life, is corruptible. It doesn't last. This treasure is very temporary. In Midlothian, there's been a spate of cars that have been stolen, so be careful, lock your car, make sure of that. My car hasn't been stolen, but this past week, My car had a new exhaust put on it because it's corruptible, right? The rust has taken place underneath there. And that's the way this life is. It doesn't matter if that was a Lamborghini. It's not, but if it was, it wouldn't matter because it still is corruptible. And it goes on to say, verse 20 of Matthew 6, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through or steal." So God says, Jesus was preaching, lay up treasure in heaven. Okay, so there's gotta be a way to do that, that we can stop and think about this morning. That's really the crux of what we're gonna look at, the idea of living for eternity, the idea of laying up treasure where it's gonna be rewardable, because verse 21 of that text says, for where your treasure is. there will your heart be also." So what you treasure today is what has captivated your heart. That's going to be your treasure. And with that, it's going to help us identify these things. But I would challenge us this morning, you ought to treasure eternal things, because that's what's going to last. And somebody that doesn't take heed to that, somebody that doesn't think about that, is gonna get to eternity and think, I wish, I wish, I wish I had stopped and thought about what really matters about life. And it's not this. You know what I mean? It's not what we could, the here and now, what we could see, what we could grab, what we could get. It's that which is eternal. And it's very good in the word of God to look at those things and say, what really does last? What really is rewardable? and your work shall be rewarded would be a great thing for us to consider today in our lives. All right, so let's do that. Let's pray. Ask the spirit of God to help us as we come to the word of God. Father, we thank you that we could do a little bit of a textual topical type message this morning on treasures. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God, please just reveal to our hearts what we're living for. Father, even this past week, it'd be interesting to say, what did I do this past week of eternal value? This past month, this past year, we ought to be living for eternity. And I pray that the spirit of God would just open our eyes to this truth that you could truly say to us, your work shall be rewarded. You're going the right way. You're doing the right things. There is great harvest coming in eternity from that. The Lord, if somebody today in their heart just realizes, you know what, I am not living my life for eternity, then Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would reveal that. I pray, give them grace to deal with that and get today a new starting point and say, by the grace of God, starting today, I'm gonna live my life for that which really matters. And Father, I can't preach without your enablement. We can't listen without the same. And so we ask that the Spirit of God would give us ears to hear. And Father, I pray that you'd bless me with the ability to speak. I pray that I could preach biblically, practically, lovingly, powerfully. And Father, that you would help us, please, in our walk with you today. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Okay, so what I wanna think about where your treasure is, there where your heart be also. So as we think about living for eternity, let's think about what we need to treasure, right? Let's think about what we should treasure. So the first thing is treasure salvation. And just for your sake of knowing where we're at in the message, I got five points if we could make it through all of them. But the first is treasure salvation. Have you ever seen a raffle? They've got maybe a bunch of stuff that they're giving away. You put your name in a hat or in a bucket or something and somebody pulls it out. They might say your name or whatever, but if you're not there, They'll call the name a few times and they go, I guess this person's not here. So they don't get the reward anymore because they're not present. So somebody else is going to get that instead of them. You know, it's the same when it comes to this idea that we're speaking about. If you're not in heaven, you're not going to get rewarded. I mean, that's a starting point, isn't it? This morning that if we're going to treasure eternal things, the first thing about that is that somebody has to be a child of God. And so with regard to that, we've got to first obtain a place or Jesus' place as a child of God, right? We need to enter into that relationship with God as our father. When Peter 1.3 says, When I got saved, I got a lively hope. I got that understanding. There's a reward for me coming because I'm a child of God. For me, that was as a child sitting in church, listening to my dad preach a message on hell. And I've shared my testimony many times how the Spirit of God convicted my heart as a child. I went down to my dad's study. I said, dad, I want to get saved. He showed me I was a sinner. The punishment for my sin is hell, but that Jesus Christ died for me and that if I'd put my faith in Christ, I could be saved. On his little green couch there in his study, I knelt with my dad. My dad led me in prayer, something like, Dear Jesus, I'm a sinner. Will you please forgive me of my sin and save me? And by faith, I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and save me. When I did that, I became a child of God. I was begotten again. unto a lively hope. Has that happened in your life, right? Is there a time you can look back at and say, that's when I was begotten again unto a lively hope. Why? Because you're definitely not living your life for eternity if you have no eternal life. There is no reward, saith my God, to the wicked. We looked at that verse in Proverbs just, I think, last Sunday. It was one of our texts. The sin and that lifestyle of ungodliness is only to be judged, never to be rewarded. And so the first thing is, is to be born again, become a child of God. Why? Because then you obtain the privileges of a child of God. When you get saved, you enter into that precious inheritance that the Bible speaks about, Romans 8, 16 and 17. It says, the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. If we're saved, he testifies to us, you know what, you are saved. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. You know, when we became a Christian, We entered into the place of Christ's suffering. We entered into the place of his trial and what he went through and that type of thing. And if we suffer with him, yea, all that will of godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But if we suffer with him, we're also gonna reign with him. We're also gonna have the blessing. of partaking of His glory. You know, when somebody gets saved, they follow the Lord in believer's baptism, identifying themselves with Him, joining with Him as a picture of His death and His burial and His resurrection. You know, some people are scared to do that. They're scared if I get saved, what will my friends say? What will my family say? How will my friends respond? How will my family respond? What about my priest or what about my religious institution that I was in that didn't teach me the gospel? How are they gonna respond to that? And really for some people, it is a choice to suffer if they're gonna identify with Christ, but if they'll do that, We're talking about rewards. There's a reward for that. That's rewardable. You're gonna enter into all the blessing of God through that. You know, on Monday night, I was down in Edinburgh, and Benson, praise God, passed his driver's theory test. He took it late at night, eight o'clock down there, and I've never handed out literature in Edinburgh at that time, but I was down there, I thought, well, I'll just grab my bag, I'll go do some evangelism. So I'm doing some evangelism there on Monday night, and I get down by Waverly train station, the mall right there, and there's a gal standing there, young lady, probably early 20s, and just standing there on her phone or something. And I said, can I hand this to you? And I tried to give her track, and I can't remember whether she took it or not, but I said, do you believe in God? And she said, no. And I said, well, listen, he still exists and he still loves you. You know, she gave me the blank stare, like the stone face, the unemotional, no response, what forever. And I said, well, take it or leave it. And then I walked away. And as I'm walking, I'm thinking, you know, I'm passing out gospel flyers and I'm handing these things to people and praise God, a lot of people were taking them. But I thought about this, I am handing them something of immense value. There's nothing, I mean, nothing that I could have. I could have gold bricks, I could have diamonds. I saw this lady found this 2 million pound diamond, you know, a car boot sale, you might've seen that story. Listen, what I possessed in my hand was greater than that. but they don't treasure it. They don't see it as valuable. It has immense reward if they'd only take it. And so this morning as we're thinking about this idea of rewards and glory, the first thing is treasure salvation. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Treasure, salvation, why? Because that is of immense value. It's going to be rewarded. And then secondly, treasure doing God's will. Treasure doing God's will. Salvation's the beginning. Then we get a stewardship. Then we have a responsibility with how we use that stewardship for God. The parable of the talents that Jesus gave, the stewards were given by their master a certain amount of money different amounts of money. And they were to invest that in their master's absence. And then they were called to account for that. And there was one steward that did not do his master's will. He did not invest that. And because of that, he wasn't rewarded when the time of rewards were given. Matthew 25, verse 29 says, for unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath. They were all given something to invest for God, but the man that didn't do God's will in the absence of the master, that man had no reward. So again, to us today, what should we treasure? We ought to treasure today, doing the will of God. And so two aspects of that, and you could turn to this text, 1 John chapter two, So way to the back of the Bible, 1 John 2, and verse 15. So treasure doing God's will, but do God's will carefully, do it carefully. 1 John 2, 15 says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. It's all these trinkets that Satan has that allures and says, do this, do this, do this. It's outside the will of God. It's forbidden, it's lust, it's wicked desires. And he seeks to get people to go down that path. But you look at verse 17, it says, and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Okay, God has a plan for your life today. That plan is called the, Will of God. It's a very awesome path. It's the path of the righteous. It's the path that He leads us in as we seek His leading. He desires to lead us that way. But we think about these two paths, the path of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and pride of life. And we look at the will of God, and you think, which one of those is rewardable? Well, we look at the world, and the Bible says about that here in our text, it says, the world passeth away. and the less thereof. It's transient, it's temporary. It has no reward. But again, he that doeth the will of God, what? Abideth forever. There's a reward to that. In competitive sports, I played volleyball when I was in college. In high school and college, I loved playing volleyball. But there was a very satisfying feeling when you're on the defense, and you jump in the front row, and you go up above the net, and you do this, and somebody's spiking on the other side, and you feel the ball hit your hands, and you block them. and you succeed in doing that, you stop them from getting a score, a point, you know, in volleyball or in basketball, you know, you block a shot or in football, you got the goalie that's there and he blocks the, you know, the shot from going in the goal. He's doing his best, what? To keep you from scoring any points. You know, Satan desires today to do his very best to keep us from getting any reward, right? He desires to stop us. He's gonna do everything he can to try to get a young person or get an adult to live their life for something that's valueless, to block the potential spiritual shots that that person could have at an eternal goal that would achieve something for God and for God's glory and for God's team. He's gonna do his best to prevent that. And so he's gonna seek to stop that. But God would have us do His will. I mentioned C.T. Studd last Wednesday. C.T. Studd lived his life in the will of God for the glory of God. But C.T. Studd, before he got saved, he was a professional cricketer. He was called the Babe Ruth baseball of cricket. I mean, he had the records and things like that, but when he got saved and God called him into the ministry, C.T. Studd walked away from something that we look at and say, that's great. I mean, you're so good at that, but that is of no eternal value. And he walked away from that to live his life for God. He was a wealthy man. And he had all that man could desire. I mean, who wouldn't have wanted to trade places with C.T. Studd and be heir to a fortune and enter into the family business? And yet again, he set that aside because that had no value of itself to do the will of God for his life and follow the Lord into missions. C.T. Studd said this, only when life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last. You know, if God calls you into secular work, and let me say this, all ground is holy ground, every bush a burning bush, if somebody is in the will of God, God wants that person to be a janitor, God wants that person to be a school teacher, God wants that person to be whatever that vocation is, it's okay if they live that full out for the glory of God. Whatsoever thy hand find it to do, do it with all they might, right? We're to do it as unto the Lord. It is possible for us to live a secular life for the glory of God, but if God has called that person into missions or ministry, they ought not give up, they ought to give up this. so that they can follow God for that which has great value. Satan will seek his best to get us to live our life for that which is not valuable. We ought to live our life whole out in the will of God. So to do that, I do it carefully. And if I'm a secular in the world, having to do that, then I'm the light there. Then I'm faithful to my local church and I'm dedicated to the cause of Christ. And I understand the other things about what we're gonna speak about today. But I ought to be somebody that says, I'm going to very carefully do the will of God, because that's where the reward is. And so do God's will carefully. And then do God's will robustly. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 8. It says, now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Okay, the reward you receive is proportional to what you put into it. Okay, what you did with that. Kaylee's an ambassador. Everybody here understands that, knows that. But as a student there, There's a lot of homeschoolers, all right, that have come to Ambassador as students. There's about 120, I think, 130 students there at Ambassador. And she loves her teachers. She loves what she's being taught. And she's really enjoying herself there. But she has one teacher that has a good sense of humor. And, well, maybe more than one. But this man will come in occasionally, and he has on an apron. it says homeschool mom and he wears it he says just to make the kids feel comfortable you know on a test day or something you know that mom mom is there you know it's a bit of fun uh and you know what he's saying is you are homeschooled your mom was always there to help you and so i'm here uh to help you but we understand this if those young people are at a university to get into that university they had a test they had to make it on their own Certainly as they're there, they've got to make the grade. They're going to prove themselves. But let's imagine that there was a mom that always did the work for the child or a teacher that always did the work for the child. At some point, that child is going to get tested on another level, and then they're going to be rewarded according to their labor. The thing is today as we think about our church and what our church is doing, there's a lot that we can rejoice in. We support three missionaries, 125 pounds a month that we support. We've got the building fund and what we're praying about with the building. We've got our evangelism and the outreach. We've got flyers that we put out throughout our community. We've got different ministries taking place. at our church on Sundays. We've got Sunday school, Sunday morning. Then we've got a youth choir. We've got six o'clock on Sunday nights, our Bible study. On Wednesday nights, our kids club. And I mean, there's a lot of things that are going on. As a church, we rejoice in that and say, hey, that's great. But the thing is, as we rejoice in that, there's coming a day where God is not gonna reward us for what our church has accomplished. But God is gonna reward us according to our labor. our own labor. And so again, and I praise God, because I'm thinking about this this morning. Daniel, thank you for helping with the youth activity. We got Stacy, thank you for helping with drawings. We got Tommy, thank you, he's not here right now, for helping with going and seeing the minibus. And there's a lot of things, and there's more than that that I could name today that our church is involved in, but the thing is, according to our labor, And so as we do the will of God, we gotta say, you know what? I wanna do God's will robustly because there's reward for that. And so if you wanna reward, treasure eternal things. So treasure salvation and then treasure doing God's will, do it carefully and robustly. But then thirdly, treasure heavenly affection, okay? Now turn in your Bibles to Colossians 3. We're gonna read through the text that we've already read through, but now in light of what we're considering in the scriptures, all right? Colossians 3. Now, one of the main texts I mentioned as we started is Jesus saying, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Okay, so what I treasure is what I love. It's my affection, okay? And so Colossians 3, we'll be rewarded if our affection is on things that are heavenly. And so the first thing is do not love earthly things, okay? As we said, our affection on heaven. Do not love earthly things. Colossians 3. In verse one, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, for Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. So just stopping right there, what I really love, what I really care about, what I'm really interested in, ought to be eternal. There ought to be things that are heavenly things. So verse three says, for ye are dead, you're dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. That's what Paul said, isn't it? For me to live is Christ, right? And so this idea I'm dead to self, verse four, when Christ who is our life shall appear, "'then shall ye also appear with him in glory.'" Okay? So if I'm saved, God says, decide what you're gonna love. Set your affection, right? It's a choice. I could set my affection on something like the Lamborghini that I spoke about. I could set it on a lot of things on this earth, but the Bible says, set your affection, decide to love the things that are above. So as I do that, I'm to kill that which brings God's wrath. In my life, there's things that are not rewardable. In fact, they're things that destroy, and I'm to destroy those things out of my life. Colossians 3, verse 5. It says, mortify, that word means to put to death. Therefore your members, which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. Okay, so Paul is writing to who? He's writing to Colossae. In Colossae, he's writing to the? church, right? So this is to believers. He's saying, mortify, and he lists these things that you look at and say, that's like unbelievers, and that's what he says. That's what it used to be. That was your life before, but now kill these things lest they creep back into your life. Destroy these things out of your life. Mortify them, these things. You might have seen, also this past week, a Marine in the United States that stopped an armed robbery, or I might have spoken about it another time, but this man turned around as a robber came into the building, and in one move, he sees the gun in the guy's hand, he swipes the gun away, takes his hand, which was connected to a bag with two Gatorades and two fizzy drinks or something in there, connects with the guy and takes the guy out. But I saw later this week that the man was awarded, that they brought him in and they brought him up and they gave an award to this man that had done that. The other man they took and they put that man in prison. The thing is, we can live our life for that which is gonna be judged, or we can live our life for that which is rewardable. And so again, as we think about this, kill those things that are of no benefit, those things that destroy. And so cast off the old man and his deeds. Colossians 3, verse seven, says, in the which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them, But now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds. And so kill it, destroy those wicked desires, but then that's the old man. Set that man aside, cast him off, put him far, far away. There was a prison ministry that I did when I was in Bible college and we had extension ministries. Might go to a nursing home or might go to a mall and do evangelism or something. But I went to a prison and as you do prison ministry, you're aware that there might be people that convert because it looks good on the rap sheet to say, you know, they found God while they were in prison. But we had a man that professed faith in Christ. And again, I was always kind of a wee bit skeptical. And I went back the next week and he said, the weirdest thing happened this week. He said, I cheated on cards. And that's normal, he said, but I had to say, I had to go back to the, I felt bad about it. I really felt bad about it. I had to go back to the man that I cheated and say, I cheated. He said, I got angry at somebody. I cursed at somebody this week and I really got, he didn't say convicted, I don't think, but it really bothered me and I had to go to that man and apologize for that. You know, I look at that and I said, praise God, you know what he's doing? He's casting off the old man. That's the way I used to be. That was me before I got saved. And he didn't even understand what was taking place, but he was a new man. And so that old man had been set aside. So again, we're talking about treasuring heavenly things, setting our affection on things above. How do we do that? Kill those desires, cast off the old man. So do not love the world. But then secondly, love being made into the image of the Lord Jesus. Love being made into the image of Christ. The Dean of Men at Bob Jones, Jim Byrd, back when I was a student, wrote a book and it was entitled, Changed Into His Image. And it's from the scripture, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, where it says, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory. even as by the Spirit of the Lord." That's rewardable, right? As the Word of God, that glass that reflects our life, that shows us what James speaks about, the things in our life that are wrong, as we respond to the Word of God and put on Christ, that again is rewardable. So to come back to our text here in verse 10, It says, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Christ is everything. And so it is no longer what it used to be before it was our nationality, Scottish, South African, Irish, American, I mean, Before it was us pre-Christ, maybe religious even, or whatever was about our life. But when we got saved, God identifies us with Christ. Christ is all and in all. He's everything as we are made into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our identification is new, that's rewardable. 2 Corinthians 5.17. It says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, creation. Old things are passed away, the old man cast away. Behold, all things are become new. There's a great change that takes place. Now, God's making me into the image of the Son of God. That is, again, something that's rewardable. My identification is no longer Scottish. My identification is no longer American. My identification is a citizen of heaven. That's rewardable. And that's the way Old Testament saints lived their life. They didn't live as if they're of this world. Hebrews 11, verse 13, what these men and women of faith did, it says, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And so it's like this, I don't have to fit in with the world, in the world's dress, it's music, it's activities, it's actions, it's places, it's pubs, it's whatever, theaters, whatever it is, I don't have to exist there. Why? Because my identification is glory. And it's okay if you laugh at me and go, hey, you don't know about this, this, this, this, or this. That's okay, because you're not from here. because you're living your life as a believer ought to. And if I'm over there, that's rewardable. If I'm living my life as a citizen of heaven, I'm an ambassador for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us being reconciled to God, right? We understand if we're what we should be for our new citizenship, then that's rewardable. So where does it start? It starts with me loving that. Set my affection on things above. You know, you could tell, again, what you love by your affection, what you treasure. What is the thing today that you look at in your life and say, that's more important to me than anything? Listen, even if it's family, it's not eternal. Even if it's a job, a job's good. You ought to do your job to the glory of God, but a job is not worth living your life for. God is worth living your life for, right? We understand that today. We ought to love the things of God more than anything. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. So we want that reward. We want to hear that truth. Your work shall be rewarded. I ought to treasure salvation. I ought to treasure doing the will of God. I had a treasure setting my affection on heaven. But then the fourth thing this morning, treasure sacrifice, treasure sacrifice. Romans 12 verse one says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. You know, if you ride the bus this week, I want you to try something. So you get on the bus, and the bus driver, as you get on, just say, sir, would you come out here for a second? And as he comes out, say to the bus, hey, bus, this driver is a great driver, isn't he? And just reach in and toot the horn a little bit, maybe so some people would kind of look over and make sure to see what's going on. And say, let's all give him a little bit of applause here and just cheer him on for the great job he is doing driving this bus. And see how that goes over. Wait a second, he's a bus driver. That's his job. It's reasonable. Now, I get off a bus, and now we got the big buses in Edinburgh, you kind of get off in the middle, but when you used to get off in the front, I always say thank you to the driver. And I appreciate the fact that they drive their best or they drive well or things like that. I do appreciate that, but you know what? They're doing their reasonable service. They're getting paid to do that. The Bible says for us to offer our life as a sacrifice while we're living in holiness in a way that pleases God, it does not say it's exceptional. In other words, we do not, as a church, get up and say, hey, this is great. This person is putting their life on the altar to God. And this is something exceptional. God says, which is your reasonable service. So understand this, we talk about this idea of being rewarded. We will not be rewarded if we will not do what is reasonable. And that's to say to God, God, my life for his. Your son died for me so I could live for him, right? And so I'm just gonna put it there, holy, acceptable unto you while it's alive for your glory. And so we think about this truth this morning, treasure, sacrifice, treasure, dying to live, dying to live. Mark 8, verse 35. It said, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. Where's the reward? The reward is saying to God, okay, I sacrifice. I'm gonna lose my life for your sake and the gospels. You know, we don't like sacrifice. I've been doing some push-ups, I said, a few times a week, a few sets, and I'll tell you this, I sit back down on my bed and I think, I don't wanna get up again. I don't wanna get down there again. My body doesn't like that. But it's a sacrifice. If you're gonna physically do a discipline, whatever that discipline is, you gotta make yourself do it, and we sacrifice for that. Do you sacrifice anything for spiritual things? You know, for spiritual disciplines, we get up a little bit early and say, you know, I just gotta get to prayer. You know? I gotta get to church. I gotta get my Bible. I gotta turn that off. That's a waste of time. You know, I gotta go do something meaningful, knock on some doors. I gotta go hang out some tracks. You know, stop and think about it. Die to live. We're talking about rewards. I mean, rewarding is saying, no, I'm not gonna live my life as if it's my life, because it's not my life. It's a life to be lived for God, so I'm gonna sacrifice for God. Matthew 16, verse 24, it then said, Jesus, unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. You know, what's a cross? It's not a pretty emblem of Christianity. It's a crude piece of wood to whom a human body was nailed to die, right? Tozer said it this way. What do you know about a man carrying a cross? One thing you know about him is that that man's not coming back. It's one way. It's like the walk up the hill, Mount Moriah with Abraham and Isaac. He knew, Abraham knew his son wasn't coming back. because he's going to sacrifice him, die to live. You won't be rewarded if you don't sacrifice. And then forsake to receive, forsake to receive. Mark chapter 10, Peter, you know, as a spokesman for the group says, Lord, we've given up everything to follow you. You know, the Lord doesn't rebuke that. He doesn't correct Peter and say, Peter, you haven't given up that much. He says this, and Peter's words were, we left all and have followed thee. Jesus answered and said, truly I say unto you, verily, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake in the gospels, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life. This man doesn't earn this salvation by giving up these things out of obedience to God, but in obedience to God, he's willing to give them up. And God says this, in this life, there's great reward a hundredfold and even greater in eternity. And as we think about that, it could be somebody, again, that looks ahead and goes, you know, if I get saved, I'm gonna have to give up all my friends. If I get saved, I'm gonna have to give up my life, my job, maybe. I've got to give up this religious system. Whatever it is, I've got to give that up. Can I just say, whatever you give up for God, God's gonna give you so much more than you could possibly give up for God. And as a young person or a middle-aged person that could potentially be called into ministry, looks at their life and thinks, but I'm going to give up security. I'm going to give up my family. I'm going to possibly God's, you know, if I say to God, God, whatever you want me to do with my life, God may send me to Australia. He may send me to South America. He may send me to Alaska. I'm going to be, I'm going to be separated from my family. Listen, it would be better to give up your family and go for God. than to keep your family and not follow Jesus, right? Jesus comes along and he said, hey, Peter, follow me. We gave it up all, Lord. And he said, hey, that's all right. It's going to be rewarded. Will you leave all and follow him? Okay, so treasure sacrifice. You want to reward treasure salvation, getting saved, treasure doing God's will, treasure setting affection on things above, then treasure sacrifice. And lastly, really coming back in a circle to the beginning of kind of where we started, is treasure investing in eternity. Treasure investing in eternity. I've got some retirement accounts that I keep and that's wise. And it's a good thing to be laying up some future things for retirement. I own a house and so I'm putting money into equity and Lord willing, there's gonna be a reward someday from that. And that's wise and that's good. There are some financial things that we ought to do and consider. But as we think about our personal finance, We ought to think about how am I investing financially in eternity? What am I doing to invest in God's work? What am I doing to invest in the gospel? that's the most important investment we can make is financial investment in God's work. Matthew 6, remember that text, it says this, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. So when he says lay not up treasures here, what's he talking about? Is it financial? It is, right? I mean, it definitely is. I mean, the context of what he's speaking about, he's saying, don't, you know, get, in our day, get those nice cars, huge house, you know, and try to really amass riches in this life. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If financially I am enamored with this world, it's wasted. But if financially I'm invested in heaven, and part of that is, by the way, and we'll look at it real quick here, if I really love God's work and what God desires to do, I will be financially invested in it. And the truth that we'll consider, that's rewardable. That's rewardable, investing in eternity, that's eternal. And so praise God, we could use even our finances for eternity. As we think about this, we don't give to please men. Matthew 6 verse 1 says, take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward of your father which is heaven. Now we're talking about rewards, right? That's the context of where we're thinking about it. And Jesus in saying that says, hey, don't give to please men because God will not reward that, but there is a reward for it. Think about Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira got their reward, right? They gave to please men. They got the judgment of God. But again, it is rewardable. 2 Corinthians 9, 7. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give financially, not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loveth the cheerful giver. All right, somebody that gets excited, say, hey, praise God, I'm so glad that I get to participate in God's work. I'm just gonna invest in God's work. Guess what, who that pleases? That pleases God. Listen, if it pleases Him, don't you think He's gonna reward it? Now there's scripture that we can look at with regard to that. We understand that He will, but the thing is we don't give to please men, we give to please who? God. And so as we go on from that, don't give to please men, but do give to God's work. Now turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 16, all right? We'll go to another text here. Luke chapter 16. Do give to God's work. And just some quick truths about giving to God's work from this text, Luke 16. Your investment in God's work impacts the kingdom of heaven. Now that's amazing to think about, but I want to say it more clearly. What you give impacts the population of heaven. It impacts eternity in that specific of a way. Look at Luke 16, verse nine. It says, I say unto you, Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Now for sake of time, let me just recap where that scripture lies. Jesus is telling the story about the steward that he found out he was going to lose his job. So he goes to all his the debtors to his master and he forgives them half of their debt or a quarter of their debt. He makes a deal with them. Whatever they could pay, they could pay. He'd cancel the debt. And so when his master fires him, he goes out to those same people and they say, hey, we're going to take care of you. You took care of us. Now look at our text. It says, I say unto you, make to yourself friends. Now it's talking about people. People. Of the mammon of unrighteousness. How you use finance. that when you fail, when you die, they may receive you into what? Everlasting habitations. We don't have the time to do an in-depth study, but what this text is teaching is this, if you can use your money in such a way that someday when you enter into glory, there's gonna be people there that say, hey, I'm glad you're here. I got saved. because you invested in the Cleanse ministry. You invested in the Olmsteads. You invested in the Kellys. You invested in Free Baptist Church. I got saved through the ministry of that church. I got saved through the gospel that went out because you put finance. Listen, the bus that we're getting, 12,000 pounds. But that bus, Lord willing, is going to collect people and bring people to church. It's going to help build God's work. Those that have given, they're going to reap a reward someday when they enter into glory. Yes, there can be people in eternity because we invested. And I don't know about you, one of the best rewards that I could get for what I've given to God would be to shake somebody's hand and say, hey, praise God, I'm in heaven because you invested in God's work financially. then your investment in God's work is your smallest stewardship. Verse 10 says, he that is faithful in that which is least, money, is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in that the least, money, is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, you've not been faithful in tithes and offerings, who will commit to your trust true riches? God says, if I've given you finances and you have robbed God, where in have you robbed me? You say, in tithes and offerings. You haven't been faithful with that which is least. And as a steward of God's treasure, listen, what we possess is not ours. It is God's, it is given to us by God. When we give back a tithe, we're just giving it back a portion of what is God's to God. We continue to hold what he's given to us, right? And if I'm not faithful in that which is least, We're talking about eternal rewards, we're talking about living for eternity. If I'm not faithful in my stewardship of finance, God says this, why is he gonna give to us something of greater significance? This is the least stewardship. And so it's where it begins, it's learning to be faithful to God, tithes and offerings, and investing in God's work. Again, in the parable of the talents, Matthew 25, 21, his Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things. It was finance. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Few things. That's our small thing that we ought to do for God. God, I'm just gonna be faithful in my investing in eternity financially. You know, your investment in God's work reveals your future reward. Verse 12. It says, if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, it's all God's, who shall give you that which is your own? All right, if you haven't been faithful or these little things, how are you gonna be given your own thing? Remember those that were faithful, the Lord said to that servant that was faithful over the finance, I'm gonna make you ruler over many things. And I can't explain this today. I'm a steward of what God's given me now, but in heaven, I'm a possessor. So how I use what I have now impacts what I have there. I can't explain that, but that's what the Bible teaches about this stewardship, that it matters in eternity and that it's rewardable in eternity. And then lastly, with regard to this, Your investment in God's work reveals your master, who your master is. No servant, verse 13, 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 man. And you're thinking, pastor, you're talking about living for eternity. Now you're speaking about finance. What about our lives? Well, the thing is this, if I don't use my finance for God, I won't use my life for God. Because where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If my treasure's in eternity, I'm gonna obey the word of God when it comes to tithes and offerings. I'm gonna be faithful to God as a steward of the finances that he's given to me. I'm gonna invest in eternity because I know that it's gonna bring eternal reward. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If your treasure is financial, earthly, here, God does not have your heart. He does not have your life. You will not live your life for who? God in eternity. So yes, it's I think very fitting that we consider finance under this idea of rewards. C.T. Studd lived for God, not money. He gave up his inheritance to go as a missionary. He said this, if Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him. Jesus Christ emptied himself of the glories of heaven, everything to come. And so you start to look at that and say, hey, I emptied my life of everything to go, right? For God, I'm just going to obey God with my life. And I want to say to us as a church today, for your works shall be rewarded, take heart. But I can only say that if by the grace of God, we look at our life and say, you know what? I'm going to treasure the things that are rewardable. And so firstly, are you saved? There is no reward to anybody that's not gonna be there. It's not gonna happen. Somebody could live their life, all their life unsaved or they can get saved and begin investing in eternity, begin living for that which is eternal. Do you treasure doing God's will? Carefully, I'm just gonna, I'm praying today, Lord, what's your will for my day? God, do you want me to get that or not? Carefully, robustly. God, I'm gonna dig in. I wanna do something for God. I wanna get in there and accomplish something for God. Do you treasure heavenly affection? Love not the world. All those things that are temporary but living for eternity. Can you honestly say that, yeah, my affection's on things above. It's not on things that's earth. I'm not caught up with all this stuff. I'm caught up with that. I'm living like a pilgrim. Do you treasure sacrifice? Dying to live? Forsaking to receive? You know? All right. Lord, I wanna be rewarded. Take my life. Let it be. Do you treasure investing in eternity? What does your bank account say about that? I'm not trying to get personal. As a pastor, I don't really want to know what people give. And to be honest, God's been good to our church. It's not about our church or our church finance or lining our coffers or anything like that. It's about the fact that if God doesn't have my finance, God doesn't have my heart, and the tithe is the Lord's. And I have, beyond that, I've got an opportunity to say, God, I just love you today. Thank you for all the goodness that you've given to me. God, I wanna invest more in missions. I wanna invest more in eternity. God, I wanna give, because I love you, God. And I love living for eternity. You know, is there gonna be somebody there in glory that's gonna turn around and say, hey, I just gotta shake your hand? It's because of you, because of your church. that I'm here because you invested in eternity. God, help us to live for that which is rewardable. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God speak to our hearts. Father, help us to look at our life and say, you know, could you say to me, Lord, your work will be rewarded? This is comfort to those that are striving the Christian life. Seeking to live for God and for eternity, life's tough sometimes. But Father, it's not about this life. Very sadly, Lord, there's people that are living their life for that which is valueless. It's empty, it's gonna burn up. If they're a believer, they're gonna be saved, yet so is by fire. Yeah, they'll enter into eternity, they'll get the reward of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, but beyond that, they'll have nothing. And Father, I was thinking last night about what I'd like to give the Lord. I'd like to give you something of value. But Father, what can we give if we don't have anything? If we enter into glory and there's nothing, to lay at the feet of the Lord and say, Lord, this is what I live my life for. It's for you. I just pray today, Lord, work in the hearts of our young people. I pray that they look at their life and say, you know, by God's grace, I'm not gonna live my life for nothing. Our adults, God give us grace, say the same thing. If we've lived our life for nothing to this point, we've got tomorrow, we've got next week, we've got next month, next year. Lord, would you work? It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen, let's stand please, we'll sing a hymn. 405, trusting Jesus, that is all. 405, and as you find that,