The Great Decision

Matthew 6:19-24  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  (20)  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:  (21)  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  (22)  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  (23)  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!  (24)  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

INTRODUCTION:  What are our thoughts?            What do we think about?               Is it earthly or Godly things?

              What are we seeking?      Things of this earth or heavenly

things?

              To get us to thinking the right thoughts and to stir our minds, Christ has given us this text to stir up our thinking.

I.               THE CONTRAST                                                            (vv 19-20)

A.           Earthly Riches

1.               Materialism

a.               They do not lay up heavenly things

b.               They don't focus on heavenly things

2.               It is easy to covet earthly things

a.               Can be seen and handled, possessed

b.               Most people seek them

c.               Some are necessary

d.               They are, the here and now

3.               Earthly riches are corruptible

4.               Earthly riches insecure

a.               Stolen or eaten up

b.               Do not last waste away

c.               Can't take it with you

B.           Heavenly Riches

                             1.           Do lay up Heavenly riches

a.               Why? Not perishable things

b.               Seek that which gives

1.)             Meaning to life

2.)             Purpose to life

3.)             Significance to life

c.               That's what it is all about

2.               Heavenly riches are incorruptible

a.           Corruption can be escaped

2 Peter 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

1.)             An inheritance waiting

a.)             Incorruptible

b.)             Undefiled

c.)             Does not fade away

2.)             Reserved for you and me

1 Peter 1:4   To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

b.             Every "whosoever" that has existed            has or has had a potential to lay hold       of that inheritance

C.              Heavenly Riches Are Secure

1.               Thieves cannot break through

2.               They cannot penetrate the spiritual world of God.

a.           No one can separate us from God.

John 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Romans 8:32-39  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  (33)  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.  (34)  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.  (35)  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  (36)  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  (37)  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  (38)  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  (39)  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

II.              THE WARNING                                                                     (v 21)

A.              Two Kinds of Hearts

1.               The Good Heart

2.               Just like a good eye

a.               Gives entrance to the mind

b.               What a man looks at

1.)             He thinks about

2.)             What he thinks about he becomes

Proverbs 23:7  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

3.               His citizenship is in heaven

Philippians 3:20-21  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: ²¹Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

                             3.           He seeks eternal treasures that are:

a.               Incorruptible       (v 20)

b.               Secure                 (v 20)

c.               Filling his whole body with light)

d.               Showing him the true meaning of life                                       (v 24)

e.               Cause him to serve God   (v 24)

f.               Draw him nearer to God

2 Corinthians 4:18   While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

B.              The Bad Hearts

1.               Just like a bad eye; not able

a.               To focus upon the things of God

1.)             Blind and in darkness

2.)             So is the heart

2.               Earth is his home, not Heaven

a.               Seeks earthly treasures

1.)             They age, die, waste away, deteriorate and decay

2.)             Insecure

3.)             Full of darkness

4.)             Consume a person

5.)             Despise and hate God

6.)             Alienate others from God

III.            A CHOICE                                                                                (v 24)

A.              Between Two Masters

1.               Hate one; loves the other

a.               When both call

1.)             A choice must be made

a.)          He will favor one

2.               He either

a.               Cleaves to one

b.           Despises the other

B.              Clear Choice

1.               God or Material

a.               Earth and it's treasures

b.               God and His Treasures

2.               Each person you and I know has made a commitment.

INTRODUCTION:           Where Is Your Heart?  Is it with earthly riches and wealth?

Is it with unproductive activity, with so much relaxation, and recreation which shows the world a wasteful life?

              Do you have two masters?  Have you fulfilled either?  Are struggling making decisions in life?

              Make a choice, either the God of Heaven and His Son Jesus, or Satan the ruler of this wicked earth.

              You are the one that must make the decision.  No one will do it for you.  If you want a fulfilled life full of blessings, then discard the master who cannot promise you an eternal life in Heaven.  Only God and His Son can offer you eternal bliss.

              God promises us all our necessities of life and we need not question  Where does it come from?

Matthew 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

When I look at what we are at this Church, and I consider the finances, I have no idea How we manage to pay bills, but we do.  I have never asked God, Where did it come from, I never asked because I know He put it into motion and He aid the bills.  All from Him.  In my on life God does for Sharil and I unimaginable blessings.  All I know is that we as a couple trust In God and He makes possible those blessing, exactly the same with the church.

              Have you made the choice for God?  I pray that is so. 

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.                                   

John 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:28-30  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  (29)  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.  (30)  I and my Father are one.

It is the Trinity, that secures us, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.