#113 Lu. 12:34  THE HEART IN THE TREASURE CHEST

Introduction:

    In recent texts Jesus has had quite a lot to say about
material riches.  In this text Jesus tells us that wherever our
treasure is, that is where our heart is located.

I.  A way whereby we can find out where our heart is located

    If I were to ask you where your heart is located, you would
tell me that it is located in your chest.  And, of course, if we
are talking about your physical heart, the organ that pumps your
blood, that is the right answer.  That is where your heart is
located.  Your fleshly physical heart is located in your fleshly
physical chest.
    But if we talk about the heart which is the inner seat of your
affections, the heart that pumps your inner motives, inner desires
and your decision making rather than blood, then your heart is not
located in your fleshly physical chest.  V. 34,  "For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also." Jesus said that where
your treasures are that is where your heart is located.  In other
words, Jesus said that your heart is located ---not in your
physical chest---but in your treasure chest.
    This leads to some questions:  Where are your treasures
located?  Are your treasures---your real treasures--- down at the
bank in a safety deposit box?  If so, then your heart is in that
safety deposit box.  The key that fits that safety deposit box is
the key to your heart.
    Are your treasures in the main vault of the bank?  If so then
your heart is in the main vault of the bank.  Are your treasures
in the stock market?  If so then your heart is in the stock
market.  Are your treasures in silver and gold?  If so then your
heart is in silver and gold.  Are your treasures in luxury homes,
luxury automobiles and other luxury items of life?  If so then
your treasures are in your home, your automobiles and your
luxuries.  Are your treasures in land, timber, cattle or oil?  If
so then your heart will be found in those things.  Are your
treasures in earthly things of any kind?  If so then your heart is
in earthly things.  That is, what your heart is centered on.  That
is what you love the most.
    In other words, Jesus is saying that if your treasures are in
earthly things then your treasures are not laid up in heaven.
Jesus is saying that you cannot have your treasures laid up here
on earth and at the same time have your treasures laid up in
heaven.
    Now let me repeat what I said in an earlier message.  Jesus
does not require that the Christian sell all that he has and give
it all away.  Jesus does not require that the Christian become a
pauper.  Even from the material standpoint, Jesus wants the
Christian to be well supplied.   He wants the Christian to be a
good steward of whatever material things God has blessed him with.
     But, just as God does not want the Christian to be a pauper
materially, neither does He want the Christian to be a spiritual
pauper.  He wants the Christian to have all that he needs
materially, and He usually does not object if the Christian has
more than he actually needs.  But Jesus especially does not want
the Christian to become so absorbed in storing up material wealth
that be becomes a spiritual pauper.  I am afraid that some
Christians have become rich materially but poor spiritually.
Jesus does not want that to happen to any of us.  Jesus does not
want that to happen to me and He does not want it to happen to
you.

II.  A way of determining where your wealth is located

    In our text Jesus gives us a means of checking up on ourselves
to see just where we stand in the spiritual Dow Jones Industrials.
He wants us to see where we stand in the spiritual stock market.
He said in V. 34, "For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also."  Just what do you value the most in life?  Just
where do you put your priorities?  How much value do you place on
your personal salvation?  Are your really thankful to God that He
has saved your soul and that He keeps you out of hell?
    How much value do you place on the salvation of your children?
Do you try to impress upon your children that they are going to
spend eternity either in heaven and in hell and that they need to
be saved?
    How much value do you place on the spiritual growth of your
children who are saved?  Do you bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord?  Do you bring them to church where they
will be taught the things of God?  Do you in your own home teach
your children the truths of God and the ways of God?  Do you teach
them to stand for the things of God?  Do you teach them to live by
the teachings of God?  Do you in your own choices of life set the
right example before them by putting God first in your own life?
    When there is a choice between being in the will of God or
making money, what choice do you make?  When it comes to a choice
between doing what pleases God and what will be the most fun, what
choice do you make?  When it comes to a choice between going to
Sunday School or laying up in bed and catching up on the sleep
that you lost on Saturday night, what choice do you make?  When it
comes to a choice between watching the Super Bowl and going to
BTC, what will your choice be?
    You will make your choice according to what you treasure the
most.  If you treasure earthly things more than you treasure
spiritual things then you are laying up your treasure in earth
and not in heaven.  At least the greater amount of your treasure
is being laid up in earth and not in heaven.
    If you continue to follow this practice in life then almost
all of the treasures that you will ever have will be right here on
earth.  You will have virtually everything laid up here in this
world and little or nothing laid up in heaven.  You may be saved
and know that you going to heaven, but you will go there without
the spiritual riches that the Lord really wants you to have.  You
will leave all your earthly possessions behind when you die and if
that is all the treasure you have then you will have none at all
in eternity.  How much better it would be to lay up treasures
where they will enrich your life throughout all eternity!

III.  A way we can lay up treasures in heaven

    Jesus in our text even gives us a formula whereby we can
change our lives and start laying up treasures in heaven.  He
said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
If we want our heart to be on heavenly things then we need to
start investing our treasure in heavenly things.  If we put our
treasure in heavenly things then our heart will likewise be found
in heavenly things.  Let me put it another way.  If we put our
money in heavenly things then our heart will also be in heavenly
things.  It is hard not to care about the things that we put our
money into.  It is easier to care about something if we put our
money into it.
    If you love God then give your treasures to God and you will
love Him all the more.  It is a never ending cycle.  The more you
give to God the more you will love God.  And the more you love God
the more you will give to God.  And the more you love God and give
to God the more treasures you will lay up in heaven.
    There is a difference, however, in earthly treasures and
heavenly treasures.  You can sit down with a pencil and paper and
an adding machine and you can tally up just what your estate is
worth.  You can list how many acres you have and what their retail
value is and list how much your land is worth.  You can tally up
all of your stocks and bonds and other financial holdings and see
just how much you are worth.  But you cannot sit down and figure
up just what your spiritual treasures are worth.  You cannot even
tell just what your spiritual rewards are going to be.  You have
to trust that matter into the hands of the Lord.
    But there are a few things you can know about the value of
your spiritual holdings.  For one thing, you know that God is
going to deal fairly with you when He gives you your rewards.
Everything that is coming to you, you will receive.  Furthermore,
you know that God is going to be very generous with you when He
gives you your rewards.  Even the very smallest of things that you
have done in the cause of Christ will bring great rewards in the
hereafter.  For instance, Jesus said that if you give a cup of
cold water in His name that your rewards would be great in heaven.
Another thing you know---you know that whatever your rewards you
may have in heaven they will be far more valuable than any of
earth's treasurers.  Those rewards will be far more valuable than
all the silver or gold of this world.
    To invest your time in the Lord's work is worth far more to
you in eternity than anything else you could do with your time.
To invest your time in Bible study, in attending Sunday school and
church, in coming to the Ladies Auxiliary or Wednesday night
prayer meeting, to go out on visitation, to take time to witness
to an unsaved person pays rich dividends.  I can guarantee you
that these things will be worth more to you in eternity than going
fishing or going to some sports event of staying home to sleep or
watch television.
    To invest your money in the Lord's work is worth far more to
you than putting your money in stocks or bonds or CDs or any other
kind of earthly investment.  Now please do not misunderstand me.
I am not saying that the Lord would not have you to make any kind
of earthly investments at all.  I want to repeat again that the
Lord wants us to be good stewards of whatever He has given us in
the way of material things.  To be good stewards of what He has
given us does mean that we will take some of it and invest it in
taking care of our future years.  But it also means that we will
not invest it all in material things for ourselves.  To be a good
steward means that we will invest a part of the money God has
entrusted to us in carrying on the work of the Lord in this world.
To be a good steward means that we will be far more anxious to
invest in the Lord's work than we are in investing in the material
things.
    Again we will see the cycle at work that I mentioned earlier
in this message.  The more we give to the Lord the more we will
love the Lord.  And the more we love the Lord, the more we will
give to the Lord.  And the more we love the Lord and give to the
Lord the more treasures we will lay up in heaven.

IV.  A solemn warning

    But let me point out something to you.  I have been talking to
you about the great benefits of laying up treasures in heaven
rather than here on this earth.  But if you do not go to heaven,
there is no way that you can lay up treasure in heaven.  Jesus was
talking to people who are saved about laying up treasure in
heaven.  But those who never get saved will miss heaven
altogether.  They not only lay up all their treasures in earth
where they will leave them all behind, but they themselves will
depart from this world when they die to go out into the fires of
hell where they will burn and suffer forever and ever.  Their
spiritual bodies will go into the fires of hell immediately when
they die and their physical bodies will go to the grave.  Then
after the millenniel reign of Christ their physical bodies will be
brought forth from the grave and their spirits will re-unite with
their bodies.  They will then stand before The Great White Throne
of God in judgment and they will be judged according to their
works.  At the close of that judgment they will be cast into the
Lake of Fire and Brimstone where they will suffer forever
according to their works.  The more sin they have committed the
greater will be their suffering.
    I want you to notice how this will contrast with the redeemed
of God.  At the close of the judgment of the redeemed, the more
they have worked for God the greater will be their reward and the
greater their treasures will be.  The unsaved will be judged in
their judgment and the greater their sin the greater their
punishment will be.
    What I am saying is this:  The matter of first importance to
you who are unsaved is to repent of your sin and trust the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Savior.  You cannot lay up treasure in heaven
until first you are saved.  The only thing you can lay up before
you are saved is a greater punishment for yourself in the Lake of
Fire and Brimstone.
    Today I preach to you on this first Sunday of the new year.
The old year is gone and a new year has begun.  Why not let this
be more than a new year for you?  Why not let it begin a whole new
life for you?  Come this morning and get right with God.  Come and
trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.  Come and get on the
road to heaven.  Come and get your destiny settled with God.  Come
and stop playing Russian Roulette with our soul.  Come and stop
taking a chance that you may go out into the fires of hell at any
time.  Come and stop letting the Devil have his way with your soul
to send you into hell-fire.  Come and get ready for an hour that
you know is surely going to come.  Come and call on the Lord Jesus
Christ and ask Him to have mercy on your soul.  Come and trust the
Lord Jesus Christ to save you and take you to heaven.
    There are some of you who are already saved who also need to
step out and come down this aisle.  Some of you who are saved need
to come and place your membership here in this church so that you
can better do the will of God.  Some of you may already feel in
your heart that this would be the will of God for your life.  Why
not come get this new year started off right by stepping out and
surrendering to the will of God.  Come and present yourself to
this church on promise of a letter or by statement.
    I am asking all of you who are saved and are already members
of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church for a greater
commitment to Christ during this year of 1993.  1992 is gone and
there is nothing you can do about whatever you failed to do in
that year.  But you can stop putting it off any longer.  Commit
yourself to the Lord right now and let the Lord have His way with
you.

Conclusion:  While our musicians come to prepare for the singing
of this invitation hymn, I am going to ask you to prepare your
heart to get up and come down this aisle and surrender yourself to
the Lord.  When that invitation hymn begins please don't delay.
Just step right out and come.