But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
8 sermons cite this verse
… Matthew 6, Jesus says this. Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves can break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. There's that same phrase again. He says you store up treasures in heaven. The next verse, Job says this. Give up your lust for money, then the Almighty himself will be your treasure. Now how do I invest in this first fund? This is the one that most of you know about. Most of you don't know about the other four. This is called the treasury fund, and I invest in the treasury fund by using some of my money to express worship. To express worship. You might write that down. Now, why do I do that? Because it makes God happy. You know, when I was a little kid, I used to buy or make all these little cheesy gifts from my parents. And when I look back at them, they were really lame. but every time I would give my parents a present, they were overjoyed by it. …
… to happen one day. Throughout this passage is a reminder of why we shouldn't put our hope and build our affection around riches. Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 through 21, Jesus said, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Could I ask you, where is your treasure today? What is it you really value? If it's here on earth, remember, it's all going to either be destroyed or left behind when you die. But if your treasure is in heaven, nothing will ever destroy it for all eternity. verse 20 the acclamation finally of praise over Babylon God says in verse 20 rejoice over her oh heavens and you saints and apostles and prophets that is all believers because God has pronounced judgment for you against her Babylon is the system that oppressed people but especially Christians and that's why Christians can rejoice when God's justice is executed look at this verse 21. Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea saying, so will Babylon, the great city be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer. …
… This is Jesus helping us today. He said, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. Where moths and vermin, you gotta love that, destroy. And where thieves break in and steal. But, verse 20, here's the recommendation. If you're wondering where is the recommendation today, here it is right now. But, Jesus says, I recommend that you store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there is your heart also. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus is saying, hey, here's an idea. Don't just put all your stuff in an earthly account. Put your treasures in a heavenly account. In other words, what he's saying to us is, open a heavenly depository and start moving stuff to it. open up a heavenly depository and start moving stuff that way store up for yourselves here's key phrase we're going to come back to because god doesn't need our money god doesn't need our possessions god doesn't need our stuff he's saying this is i'm recommending for you to store up for yourselves our motivation and being generous isn't so we can store up stuff for ourselves He's just wanting us to understand. …
… This is one of the reasons Jesus said Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven Where neither moth nor rust destroys And where thieves do not break in and steal Your earthly treasures and savings accounts Are susceptible to all kinds of calamity And will one day, the Bible says, pass away But the treasure, the rewards you'll receive in heaven Will last forever Why will they last forever? Number eight, heaven is unshakable Heaven is unshakable Earthquakes, fires, and invading armies have brought many cities to ruin Well, this will never be the case with the city of the living God Why do I think that? Because the Bible says, Hebrews 12, verse 28 We are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Daniel 7, verse 14 says that God's dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. So the Bible makes it abundantly clear here that New Jerusalem will never crumble. It will never be overthrown or fall into disorder. …
… and in your secret actions, you were doing what was right. All right, so that's the first thing he teaches. Now, we're going to skip down a few verses. If you have your Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 21. And here Jesus says this, stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven where moth and rust don't eat them and where thieves don't break in and steal them. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. That's interesting. In this passage, if you look to the Greek, and I'm guessing the Aramaic behind it, which Jesus spoke Aramaic or Hebrew Aramaic. Aramaic's a variant of that. But it sounds like this in Greek, five times the word treasure shows up. So he says, don't treasure up treasures for yourself on earth. Instead, treasure up treasures in heaven where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So he's challenging us to treasure the right things, to treasure up the right things. …
… Matthew chapter 6, he says this, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. And then this line, why don't you say it with me? For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This is so interesting. Once more, he's talking about treasures. What do we do? and how often we're storing up treasures for ourselves here on earth. That may be our retirement funds. And by the way, he's not saying don't have savings to take care of yourself in the event of a crisis. Don't save up for your retirement so that you're not a burden to anyone else and you can take your, no. Those things are fine. What he's saying is be careful about your heart because if in your heart you begin thinking it's all about how much wealth I amass, how many treasures I have, all of these things that you can devote yourself to, you've missed it already. …
… Jesus himself said to us, don't lay up treasure on earth where moth and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. If we are following Christ and we are faithfully being discipled by him and we're faithfully storing up treasure in heaven, then all of our wealth is in our future. The best of the best of the best of the wealth that we're going to know in life is in the future. It's in the new heaven and the new earth. The enemy today is trying to trap somebody in this room in the past. And the enemy today is trying to make somebody afraid of the future. in both cases, stealing your joy.
… Verse 19, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. 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. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 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! 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. There are three basic truths in these passages that I have read to you. Many things, but three basic truths. Truth number one, we must possess real wealth. …