As we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount, beginning in verse 19, we look at the title, Kingdom Treasures. Kingdom Treasures. So far as we started with the Beatitudes, that brought us to verse 20 of chapter 5, where Jesus said, except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, we don't enter the kingdom. That's the righteousness of the law that He fulfilled and is imputed to us by faith in Him. That righteousness, beginning at verse 20, was then experienced by the Lord's teaching in the heart and the spirit of the law as He unpacked to us what the scribes and Pharisees were saying and what Jesus said about the law and the spirit of the law. Then in chapter 6, verse 1, we began to see that same righteousness worked out in deeds, giving, praying, and fasting, sacrificing or sacrificial giving, self-discipline in prayer, and acts of self-denial. Now we transition into the same righteousness that values the kingdom, and the treasures of the kingdom. Kingdom treasures. This portion of Scripture will serve two purposes for us. Once, it will identify those treasures. What are they? How should we view those? And secondly, there are three metaphors that will serve as a diagnostic. So first, we'll see an echocardiogram spiritually. That tells us how the heart's pumping and how the chambers and valves are doing. Spiritually, the Lord's going to give us an echocardiogram. Where is your heart this morning? The next metaphor, He'll give us an eye exam. How clearly can you see the letters on the wall? Is it the letter K for the kingdom of God? Or the letter M for me only? How is your spiritual vision this morning? The light of the body is the eye, Jesus says. And then lastly, a service evaluation. You would know that to be an employee evaluation. You get those yearly, monthly. That's when you sit down with your boss and he's going to tell you how your service is going, how well you're doing your job. No man can serve two masters. So three metaphors, echocardiogram, spiritually, an eye exam, and a service evaluation. The diagnostic tools are gonna lead us then into where Jesus says, therefore take no thought for tomorrow. Anxious thought, worry. Now later we'll see there's a good worry and there's a bad worry in the Bible. So worry then, he's giving us a diagnostic because if we're accumulating treasures, on earth, that could lead us to worry. But then he says, if we're not really concerned about treasures on earth, we just want to know where our next meal's coming from, that can produce worry. And so in either context, there's a worry that Jesus says, an anxiety, a kind of panic way of living, that is being little in faith. So these three metaphors provide the gateway to the transition to anxiety or worry, which we'll look at later. So let's look at these three diagnostic tools today. The first one, where is your heart? How is it doing? And Jesus, of course, gives us this test based on earthly treasures and heavenly treasures. So let's read again, verse 19. "...Lay up, or lay not up for yourselves, treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up..." These are two imperatives. These are two commands. Stop laying up is the wording which suggests that someone in the audience is doing that very thing. Start laying up imperative for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth Neither rust doth corrupt, and thieves do not break through and steal." So let's define a few of the words. To lay up means to store up, to accumulate. It's where we get our English word thesaurus. A thesaurus is a collection, a storehouse, not just of words and their definitions, but synonyms, similar words. Now, for you computer people like I am, we just do it on the computer now, but used to, you had to go to Thesaurus if you wanted all the like words in this treasure storage of words. So, Jesus uses the word for Thesaurus. Greek word is pronounced different. We get our English word. He says, stop laying up accumulating treasures on earth and lay up or accumulate treasures in heaven. The next word, treasures, what are they? If we're going to know what Jesus says, what He's prohibiting and what He's telling us, we must know something about the treasures that He says, stop laying up. Well, in this ancient world, they were more simplistic than ours today. Hard currency, gold, silver, metal, garments, fabric, other things that had value. You remember Achan? He took the Babylonian garment, That was valuable. And shekels of silver and a wedge of gold. And he hid them under the tent. There were few banks in this day and they were unreliable and untrustworthy. So if you had valuables and you were going to store them up, you did like Achan and dug under your house or tent, or somewhere in your property you dug a hole and you hid that property, that treasure. Now in our day it's much broader than that. And when we look at Jesus' clue on what treasures are, moth, rust, thieves break through, we could define treasures as anything perishable. It's just that broad. Anything perishable is an earthly treasure. In the Old Testament, the moth became a symbol for destruction, decay. If you've ever had the experience where you stored away a garment and the moth got in it, it ruined the garment. It devalued it. It destroyed it. And it couldn't be worn. Ate all through the garment. Rust is corrosion. It means to eat away at something. Anything that's perishable is slowly being eaten away. And if you're thinking, well, gold is pretty non-perishable, well, then the last one gets you, doesn't it? Where thieves break through and steal. In those days, a house was made of clay, so the word thieves means to burrow. They'd burrow under it, or they'd burrow right through the side of the house, and you come home and all your imperishable gold is gone. So, don't accumulate, don't store up, don't hoard treasures, perishable things on earth, where moth, rust, doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal. Now here's the question, what exactly is Jesus prohibiting? And when would we know we've crossed the line? When we're hoarders? When we rent a climate-controlled storage unit to start storing all our stuff? Or we buy a bigger house because we just can't fit everything into it? And is storing up wrong? Now some would say, based on this text, that if you have much more than your day's need, then you're not trusting God. I had a conversation with a man one time that wanted to convince me that it was sinful to have insurance. That was quite a long debate. Is it? Is that a lack of faith? Should we just live? on one or two days worth and not store up anything more? Now, be sure we live in a culture of accumulation. We live in a culture on every corner there's these climate-controlled units where no moth will get in, no rust will decay, and no thieves can break through that security system, so we think. So first of all, let's point out the fact that in the Old Testament and New, the people of God did store up things. Let's first turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28 and read this text. Deuteronomy 28, God is going to tell the Israelites that His blessing upon them would include actual storage. Some amount of accumulation. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 8. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses. That would be barns and silos. That means they would be full. That means there's more than a day's supply. That means maybe there's a month's supply or even longer. And in all that thou settest thine hand unto, and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Verse 11. Verse 11 of chapter 28, Deuteronomy. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods. That's an overflow, that's an abundant. In the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Verse 12. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, in heaven, to give you rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand. And thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow." Now get this, not only will your barns be full, He will bless you in plenteousness of goods, but you'll be able, Israel, to lend to other nations, so that you don't have to borrow from them. Now, if it's sin to have more than a day's supply, to have any storage whatsoever, or any reserves, then certainly God would not have given it to them. This was a blessing of the Lord. Joseph, in Genesis 41, during the seven years of plenty, filled the silos full. Why? For the seven years of famine. That was prudent. That was a blessing of God. He saved his own family, the 70, that came into Egypt and all the land of Egypt. We might call that an emergency fund. This was an emergency situation where funds or goods had to be stored up for a time of crisis that was to come. And that was of God, and God used Him mightily to preserve the land and the people of that day. Psalm 144, David is looking to God to bless them with garners that are full. Those are silos, those are barns, those are granaries in the nation of Israel. We look at the New Testament, Ephesians 4, 28. This will radically transform the way you see work. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands that thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." All right? That he may have. That's for you. That's for your family. But if that's all you have, you can't give to him that needs. So the implication, the presupposition is you work to have and to have more than what you need so that you can let it go to those that have need. Now, that's the Apostle Paul saying that. That's from God Himself. Now, do you work with that mindset? Why do you want to work? Well, I want to provide for my family and then have enough left over so I can give it to someone in need. That's what God says work is about, in part. In part. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 14, Paul gives this principle. He's talking about himself as it relates to the church at Corinth, but he says, the children ought not to lay up to store up for the parents, but the parents for the children. So that implies to some degree you've got some surplus for tomorrow for your children. Maybe you've got some extra furniture that you put in a storage somewhere that you're going to give to your children one day. I see all the smiles on the children right now. See, you have something there. It may be a meager amount, it may not be much, but the idea is that the parents will have for the children. And then finally, in Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 5, which Proverbs gives us several principles teaching us about finances and financial planning and saving. And so this is what the Proverbs says, verse 5, the thoughts of the diligent, that is, the plans of the diligence tend only to plenteousness. but of everyone that is hasty only to want and need. So the diligent is the person that's working hard and planning, and through his planning and hard work, there's something left over. There's enough for himself and his family, but then there's something left over. So clearly, Jesus is not contradicting His own Word and His own blessing on Israel, and His own instruction on what work is for, to have surpluses to give, What then is He prohibiting? What is He saying to us? When have we crossed the line? If there is a line. Is Jesus saying, look, you need to take an inventory in your house and set some numerical amount that if you get about this many pieces of furniture, this much money, this many things, then you've gone too far. You're in the hoarding. You're in the laying up of treasures on earth and anything less than that is okay. No, and you probably already guess Jesus is saying what? He wants you to do an echocardiogram of your heart. He wants you to take an inventory of your heart, not your goods. And so he says, because Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. What you treasure, whether it's earthly treasures, no matter how little, no matter how much, that's where your heart is. Is it earthly treasures or is it heavenly treasures? Because the heart is always oriented. It's always disposed, and you know this from your own experience, to your treasure. Now we know one man's junk is another man's treasure, so that could be varied and sundry and all over the board here. But the reality is, our Lord says, whatever you're treasuring, whatever it is, and you may think about one man's treasure, I don't get that. That's where your heart is. And all it takes is a simple taking of inventory, and you'll start to know. You'll start to see the computer screen and diagnostic as to where your heart really is. Now, treasures on earth and treasures in heaven, and we're going to ask three questions to help us with that in just a minute. It's the difference in transient treasures and those that are durable, right? See, when Solomon said, I've seen all the works done under the sun, behold all this vanity and vexation of spirit, he didn't mean everything alike is useless and no value. Read the book of Ecclesiastes. That's not what he meant. He meant everything is non-enduring. Nothing lasts. That just perplexed him. That just made him depressed. Vanity is emptiness, vexation is grasping, feeding on something, and spirit is breath or air, wind. All to Solomon, the richest man that ever lived, the king with all this wisdom, was like grasping for air. That is things under the sun. That is perishable goods and treasures. What a tragic story. Solomon doesn't learn to this older age as he looks back and said, I have been consuming wind all of my life. You'll never get where he was, friend. You'll never own what he owned. You'll never have the gold he had. And yet this man said, it's just like trying to eat a bowl of wind. It's empty. So earthly treasures are transient. That just means they don't last long. And even if you have enough money to secure them and get goods that last longer than maybe the goods that somebody else can get, then there is differences in quality, right? Some things last longer than others. And you last a pretty good long time in your health because Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12, if your goods last, your taste buds, your eyes, your teeth, your stomach won't. I can't tell you how many times I've heard an older person over the years say, I can't eat that anymore. When I was younger, I'm thinking, why not? The stomach does some strange things with it that it didn't do when you were young. I can't enjoy that anymore. Right? I can't taste that like I once tasted. Read Ecclesiastes chapter 12, young people, because that chapter was designed for you. He's speaking to young people. Everything's working pretty good right now. Body's good. Strength is good. Job is good. But at the end, all that you amass, all perishable items, one day, what's going to happen? At the end, somebody's going to dig a big hole six foot deep and drop you in it. Isn't that vanity? Isn't that insanity? Does that make you feel like Solomon did? It's just vanity and grasping for wind. But eternal treasures That's a different story. Treasures in heaven. Kingdom treasures. The kingdom shall not end. It cannot fail. No moth, no rust, no thief will ever break through and steal treasure stored up, laid in heaven. So let's ask three questions as we take an inventory on this point. This echocardiogram, we're calling it, which just means the Lord's helping us take an inventory, not of the goods, but of the soul. Because when the soul has a right orientation with kingdom treasures, what happens to goods? They find their right place in the kingdom of God. The first question then, is your heart governed by earthly treasures? To govern means to be ruled, to be controlled by it. By heart, Jesus means the whole inner person. It's not your physical heart. It's your thoughts, your dreams, your ideas, your plans. Right? Your affections. and then your will of decisions. See, all the decisions you make, and I mean universally every single one, flows from thoughts, plans, dreams, affections. So you can take a quick inventory just this week. What did you think most about this past week? when you didn't have to think about the computer and the work and what you had to go do to earn an income. What are you thinking about through the week? What am I thinking about? When you think about the future, what is the aim and the goal of those plans? What are you after in the future? Is it earthly, earthbound? Or does it have anything to do with the kingdom of God? When you daydream, And who here doesn't daydream occasionally about something on earth, right? See, Jesus, your Savior, is not trying to condemn you. He's helping us, isn't He? But what do you most dream about? What do you most plan about? What delights your soul? What do you get most excited about? What draws your affections? That's all in the heart. And then your decisions, day after day after day, what's governing those decisions? Because Jesus says where your heart is, or your treasures, there will your heart be also. So if all your decisions, thoughts, affections, will are based on earthly treasure, then your heart is following. In fact, your heart is leading the way with regard to those treasures. James, as we pointed out, takes certain texts and principles that Jesus gives and He expounds on them. And I think James 4.1 is where He's doing this. He goes in a little different direction, but He has the same route when He says, From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence of your own lust? That's a hard issue. Which war in your members? You have not. You desire to have. You kill. You fight. You war. You ask and receive not, because you ask not. You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lust. Here's a man whose heart is earthbound. Who's seeking earthly treasures. And the warring and the fighting and the relationship conflict is owing to a misplaced treasure. His heart is governed and ruled by wrong desires. which means his heart is horizontal, at least at that moment. And everything that flows out of his life in conflict, whether it be in marriage, family, church, work, is owing to the fact that someone is stepping on his treasure, or he can't get the treasure he wants, so he's fighting, warring, killing with words, because nobody is cooperating with his kingdom. Do you ever experience that in your life? Yes, we all do. And it's called sin. It's called the flesh. So, we simply do an inventory. It's not about how much I have. It's about my heart's orientation to what I have. Is it ruling? Is it governing my life? Is it the basis for every decision? Every purchase? Everything I do. Or do your decisions have anything to do with the kingdom of God? The local assembly? Is it seeking the kingdom first of God and His righteousness? Then your decisions must then come out of a heart that treasures heavenly things, that then orient your life to start making decisions based on God's name, God's kingdom, and God's will. Rather than my name, my kingdom, and my will. See? So that's the first question. Is your heart governed by treasures? Not do you have any. Not do you have a lot of them. But are you ruled by it? Question number two, does your heart covet earthly treasures, long and crave? Now, these three questions you'll see are very overlapping and very connected, but they're three separate questions that we can ask. You see, the problem is laying up treasure for yourself on earth. But there's a way you're to lay up treasure in heaven for yourself. It's not selfish. It's God glorified. So consider where this parallel statement is made in Luke chapter 12 concerning the rich man who had a property, a businessman that brought forth plentifully. Now the parallel phrase that Jesus concludes with in the parable is, So is everyone that layeth up treasure for himself. That's a parallel. What's this man doing? He's laying up treasure for himself where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal. And is not rich toward God. Now Jesus replaces lay up treasures for yourself in heaven with rich toward God. So let's think about that parable for a moment. The ground of a rich man brought forth plentifully. Is that a problem? No, it is not. We just looked at several passages where God blessed the Israelites to do that. And if we work and it brings forth plentifully, then we're to have to give to those that need. So that's not the problem. Secondly, he thought within himself, saying, I have no room where to bestow my fruits. I know what I shall do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger. Is that a problem? No, it's not. What Christian businessman who has an influx And an increase of profit and business would not say, look, we've got to build a little bigger storage building here. We've got to buy more equipment. We've got to have more supplies to meet the demands of the customer. That's not wrong. That's not a problem. That's not the issue. So he did so. He pulled down his barns and built bigger where he could bestow all of his fruits and store them. Now, here comes the problem. He said, I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods for many years, still not a problem. Here's the problem. I will take mine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. On that statement God says, you fool. This night shall thy soul be required of thee. And then, who shall those things be that you have provided? So is everyone. Here's a universal application all over the planet. So is everyone that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Now, we said the question is, is your heart covetous? Because that's the whole reason Jesus gave the parable, isn't it? A man came to him and said, Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. He said, man, who may be a judge over you? Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. It's okay if he has an abundance, but his life is not based, it's not consisting in his abundance. That was the ground of a certain rich man. The whole parable is born out of covetousness, a longing, a desiring what? that whatever you have plenty of, you expect it to deliver on your expectation of gladness, joy, merrymaking, and taking your ease. This man had an early retirement. He didn't want to work anymore. He wanted to sit back, kick his heels up, and enjoy life on his own terms. God says, that's being a fool. What's the counter? Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Now, of course, the man didn't make it past his goods. So to lay up treasure in heaven is to be rich toward God. And what does that mean in the context of the parable? It means that we have goods, we may have plenty of goods, but we don't expect those goods to be our Savior and our Messiah. We don't expect them to deliver on our hope for happiness because we know as Christians, they cannot. And they will not. Because they're perishable. They don't last. It's wind. It's just wind. So to be rich toward God or to lay up treasures in heaven means you put your hope in God. to be the source of taking your ease, taking your rest, eating and drinking and being merry in God. He is the kingdom treasure, isn't He? He's the pearl of great price. He's the treasure in the field that was hidden for which the man stumbled over. And he went and sold all that he had just to have the treasure. And so God is eternal. God is not subject to decay, to decline, to devaluing. His value doesn't reduce, it doesn't get lower. No moth, no rust can enter heaven. And nothing can take away the treasure that's there. Nothing. So the second diagnostic question is, are we covetous? And the way to answer that question is, do you expect earthly treasure to make you happy. I can do it for a little while. But we're not in it for the little while, are we? We're in it for the long run. It's called eternity. There are pleasures that last for just a small time. And that's what transient means, just a short time. If your expectation that if I can just get ahead, if I can just have what I want, I will be a happy person. That is a clue that we're governed by earthly treasures and we covet earthly treasures to do what they were never designed to do. So you're going to believe God? Are you going to believe yourself or the devil? You're going to trust God and struggle with that tendency? Struggle against the temptation to think earthly treasure is going to give you your heart's desire or whatever it is in our culture. It may be something different in another culture. It may not be money or something like we value, maybe something else, but it's all the same. If it's perishable, if it's perishable, the moth, the rust, the thieves and death will ultimately claim it. Question number three. Are you trusting in earthly riches? Again, these are very overlapping. Are we governed? Are we coveting? And now, are we trusting in earthly riches? Let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter six, and Paul is going to tell Timothy to charge the rich, and Paul is going to use a synonymous phrase that Jesus uses. When Jesus says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 17. Now we should point out the chapter is about covetousness, right? He's already used that term. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after. Money is a resource, so we think, to happiness. Nobody loves money, right? Nobody wallpapers their wall with dollar bills. I just love the way that looks. It's a resource, it's a means to get us what we think we desperately need and we'll do what we think it'll do. So that's the context. He's telling Timothy this. He's warning Timothy. Fight the good fight of faith. That's how you battle covetousness. That's how you battle a heart that is governed by earthly treasure. And then now he wants to specifically talk to rich people in that day. Verse 17, "...charge them that are rich in this world." that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves." Now there's the parallel. You could complete that sentence by saying, laying up in store for themselves treasures in heaven. That's what Paul is saying. laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." So Paul, what he's teaching about earthly treasures and the rich in that day, connects with what Jesus is saying in our text. So let's work through these verses. First, you charge the rich that they be not high-minded. That's what we learned last week in Deuteronomy chapter 8, that when you come into the land where bread is without scarceness, and you didn't dig the wells, and you didn't plant the vineyards, and the vineyards are overflowing, there's water everywhere, the land is flowing with milk and honey, beware, lest when you're full, you have an abundance, you say, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. That's arrogance. Charge the rich that they don't do that. that they're humble, and they know that every single penny that they earned is from the Lord. Yeah, you worked. You may have worked hard. Every nickel is from God. So be humble about what you have. Be humble about any excess you have. Be humble about whatever success God has blessed you with. Secondly, charge them that they trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God. Now, the word uncertain means unreliable or you can't count on it. You ever met a person like that? You just can't count on them. You can't count on them to be there. You can't count on them to do the tasks they said they would do. You just can't count on them. You expect them to come. You expect them to do the job. You expect them to do what they say, but they just are not reliable. Paul uses that word and that imagery to say, don't elpidzo hope, usually translated hope or trust, in riches you can't count on. Now the question Paul wants us to ask is, you can't count on wealth to do what? I hope you just filled in the blank. Because if I'm doing what I'd want to be doing by the grace of God, I've already led you to the answer. Right? You can't count on wealth to make you happy. It won't do it, God says. God is saying to us, I never created the universe to do that for you. Never was in my thought. Which we would then ask, Lord, why did you give me an insatiable appetite to be happy? Why? Because that's what you have, isn't it? Nobody says my purpose in life is to be miserable, unhappy, depressed, and all that. We get there, but nobody sets it as an aim. Everybody sets the goal in life to eat, to drink, to get what they have, to have joy. I've said this multiple times. Nobody had to sit me down, my parents when I was young, and say, Michael Allen, I'm going to teach you. You need to try to be happy. Do everything you can to be happy. I'm just wired that way from conception. And you are too. The problem is the depravity of man has distorted it so that we think, we think, we think. All those things you're pursuing are going to do it. And the God of the Bible, today, is telling you, it won't work, because I'm your Creator, and I'm your Savior, and I didn't create it for that purpose. Stop laying up treasures! Stop it! Oh, how good is God for us, isn't He? How good is His instruction? Okay, if you created me this way, I'm just supposed to go through life saying, oh no, I don't want to eat that, I'm not going to do that, I'm supposed to be unhappy. Look at the text, please. If you've got your Bible open, I hope you do, put your eyes on the text, I'm just going to read it to you. That they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. Now, you tell me if I have been preaching in a good way, we'll say. What's the answer? Don't count on money. Count on me. To be for you what you think wealth will be. That's what God is saying. Yes, you need to pursue happiness. Yes, you need to have joy. Yes, it's in the living God, because the living God means what? He lives forever. That's why you can count on it. You won't reach heaven after the first, I don't know, millennia. I don't know how you express indefinite time. And say, Lord, it's all dried up. It's gone. I'm not happy anymore. It's unsearchable riches. Unsearchable. Infinite. There's no end. I can't get my brain wrapped around it. But we need to to some degree because That's how we lay up treasures in heaven. In heaven my choices treasure lie, not here. The devil is a deceiver, is he not? So count on me, the living God, to give you what you think wealth will give you because that's why I saved you. That's the whole point. and it's spiritual, it's in my presence, it's knowing me as the treasure. I'm the pearl. I'm the treasure in the field. I'm it, God says. Right now, why did He say this? Rich, don't be high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Now, did I just contradict the Bible? Isn't that perplexing? It sounds like God is saying, look, don't count on money to give you enjoyment. Count on me so I'll give you all the money you want so you can have enjoyment. That wouldn't make a lick of sense, as they say, and that's not what He's saying. Now, some people go away from this text saying, there it is, you see. I'm not counting on money. I'm counting on God to give me the money so I can be happy. I'll assure you God's not saying that. Well, that'd be a text for prosperity gospel, wouldn't it? There it is. That's not what he's saying. Let's look at a couple of reasons why. Paul includes himself in that, but he's not rich. The Lord richly giveth us, Timothy. I'm going to just say Paul was probably pretty poor. I can't find a text where he really had much of anything. But whatever he has, all things, whatever it is, all Paul's things were abundantly given to Paul. to enjoy. Now, either Paul's going to count on that or he's going to count on God. So what does he mean? The second thing we've already pointed out, that God would not be saying, don't count on money, count on me and I'll give you money so you can count on money to give you what you're supposed to be getting from me. That's not what he's saying. OK, what is he saying, right? The preposition to can be translated also for, for your enjoyment. God richly, abundantly gives you all things for enjoyment. That doesn't put the enjoyment on the all things, but just for enjoyment. So Paul wants us to ask, how would God have us take what he's abundantly given us and use it in a manner for enjoyment? And that's what he's going to say in the next verse. So put your eyes on this. who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, so that, or that they do good, that the rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. Now get this. Ready means you're prepared to make distribution of what God richly has given you. Now that wouldn't work if God's plan was I'm going to give you all this money for yourself so you can enjoy what you can buy. Why do I need to give it away then? Because that's not what he's saying. He richly gives us all things for enjoyment and that enjoyment is brought to its fullness when you do good, do good works, distribute and share it. Koinonia, communication fellowship. You charge the rich and you tell them God wants them to be maximum joy. How do we do that? Count on me. And when you are, let it go. Let it go. Because the two great commandments tell us that, right? Love God and then let it go. Love others. It's all over the Bible. It's all over the Bible. If the only thing we do is love God, and we never love anybody else, right? With what we have, what we do. That calls in question, if we're counting on God to be that superior joy for our souls. But if He is, and when He is, then the way God gives us everything for our enjoyment is by the enjoyment of God that comes to its completion. It's maximized when we fulfill the second commandment. Love your neighbor, distribute, share, give to him that has need. Now look at the participle. Laying. Paul has just told us how to airlift treasure into heaven. Good works, giving, sharing. If you're rich, if you have surpluses of any kind. Ephesians 4, 28. Laying up in store for yourself treasures in heaven. The good works you do and the giving you do will last forever, Revelation says. Their good works follow them. Whatever is done in the name of Christ for the kingdom of God, for the glory of God, it lasts forever. It's non-perishable. And so Paul says, when the rich are counting on God, and for their enjoyment they have and they give, that enjoyment is expressed through giving and distribution and communication, and then they are laying up in store for themselves. What? a good foundation against the time to come that they may hold on eternal life. Now let's finish with that particular section. What's the foundation? The time to come, and of course eternal life we have now, John 17, verse 4. This is life eternal, that they may know Thee and Your Son whom You have sent. But the consummation of kingdom treasures comes in its fullness in the time to come, the return of Christ. So from now till then, Paul says, laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come. That's the final judgment, but that's judgments along the way that get us there, right? A judgment comes on a nation, or 1 Peter says, judgment must first begin at the house of God. The fiery trial, the testing. I think that's coming for us, right? You see the signs. Something could avert it. God could avert it. Judgment must begin at the house of God. And it came in that century. It comes again and again. But the time to come ultimately is the consummation of the kingdom, the final judgment. The foundation is that part of the building that keeps the building from crumbling and falling, right? A good solid foundation. When it's not there, things start to crack. They're shifting. Because the foundation is crumbling, it's shifting. And the building begins to fall. It collapses. So what is Paul saying? When we are laying up in store, that is when we're not laying up treasures on earth, that is our hearts are not oriented to whatever treasures we have, But our hearts are counting on God to be the ultimate source of our enjoyment, which means now we're distributing, we're giving, we're laying up treasures in heaven. It produces a solid foundation for us against the time of coming judgment, whether temporal or when Jesus returns. Or as Jesus says in Matthew 7, the rain comes, the floods descend, and it starts to beat upon the house. Imagine yourself on a vacation, you get the word that a tornado just ripped right through your neighborhood, right down your street. Your heart is beating. You come home and it's foggy. You can't see very well. And as you drive down the road, you see house after house leveled, leveled. And you're just sure, you're just sure your house is gone. And then as you come close to the house, maybe you round the bend, the fog lifts and you see the house is standing. There's some shingles missing, there's some siding gone, shutters are on the ground, but the house is founded on a rock. The house is you, beloved. You're the house. The rock is Christ. When we count on money, and we put our el piso, our hope in money, and expect to deliver, when the judgment comes, there's no foundation. There's just quicksand. And you sink! And your house is destroyed. And your faith is made shipwrecked. Because you're counting on something transient. And when it goes, and it will go, where will you turn? So Paul charges the rich. When we're laying up treasure in heaven, we're not counting on the house, and the bank account, and the job. Because the Christian knows that, don't we? We know. These things are valuable. God gave them, but they just won't do it. You know that. The Christian knows. I can't count on that. So when the rain comes and the flood comes, the Christian is grounded, settled, rooted on the rock of Christ because his hope was in the living God. And the treasures that he had been distributing now are all gone. What does he say? It was all transient anyway, wasn't it? That's what Job said. He was hurting. They had value. But he worshipped. Because he was hoping in God. And counting on Him to be his rock. And so what did he say? Blessed be the name of the Lord. He worshipped. He praised God through the tears. Job was a rich man. If you read Job, you see he laid up treasure in heaven. There was never a poor person that came in his path that he didn't give something to. You read it. How could he do that? Because he trusted in the living God. The probing question Jesus wants us to ask, because He switches to treasures plural to treasures singular. He wants you to ask, where is your heart? Not have you been doing this perfectly. Not have you never had a failure. Not that you don't struggle with earthly treasure. Not that even this last week you had an occasion where you fell again. But where is your heart continually oriented? If you must confess, I have been placing my hope in treasure. I just confess it to God right now. He's faithful and just to forgive you. His arms are wide open. He's the one telling you, look, you're duped, you're deceived, it won't work, it'll never work. Solomon tells us through inspiration, Jesus tells us, God tells us, Paul tells us, all over the Bible. It comes to an issue. Will I trust God, His name, His kingdom, His will? Or will I trust myself? Really, that's where it comes down to. If you have been trusting earthly treasures, Jesus bids you come to Him. And He says, I'll never cast you away. He says, labor for the bread that'll never perish. That's a parallel, isn't it? Stop laboring for the bread that's not gonna satisfy you. Work, get it, eat it, share it, but quit counting on it to satisfy you. Rather, He says, Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laid, and I will give you rest." He'll give you rest from that. Take your yoke up and follow Me. He'll carry you. And Jesus says, "...all that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me." And whoever comes, whoever comes, no matter how deep you've been drinking from earthly treasures, no matter how far you've gone, no matter how bad it's gotten, He'll never, ever, double, triple, negative, ever cast you away. Let's pray.