WEBVTT 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:13.439 Says, hope deferred maketh the heart sick. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:18.079 But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:25.039 I want to thank you all for being so welcoming and hospitable to me and my family. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:27.359 Of course, this is a home away from home. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:28.799 And I love you all very much. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:32.799 And please ask that you pray for the remainder of the service. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:33.840 Pray for myself. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.199 Pray for Brother Philip as he used to follow and pray for yourselves as well. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:39.599 This is a prayer is not a small thing. 00:01:39.679 --> 00:01:42.239 The Lord says at his house, we call it a house of prayer. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:43.680 Please pray. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:50.319 The writer here says that hope deferred maketh the heart sick. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.319 The word deferred doesn't just mean put off. 00:01:54.639 --> 00:01:58.079 It means to stretch something past its appointed time. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:10.800 You might think that, for example, that something is to be done tomorrow because someone told you it would be done tomorrow, and then they come back later and say, actually, it's later than that. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:11.919 They deferred it. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:13.039 They pushed it off. 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:17.599 Your expectation, your hope, was that it would happen tomorrow, and now it's not happening. 00:02:20.399 --> 00:02:22.560 Hope deferred maketh the heart of the sick. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:36.000 But when the desire cometh, that is to say, the substance of your hope, the deliverance of what the hope points us towards, when it comes, when it finally comes, it is a tree of life. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:46.319 It springs up within us as something that centers our mind on the Lord and on those things which are above. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:50.479 I want to turn to Matthew chapter 6, to the Sermon on the Mount, please. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:00.560 Matthew chapter 6 is where I'd like to spend the bulk of the time today. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:02.319 I'll try not to be too lengthy. 00:03:02.399 --> 00:03:04.800 I know Brother Philip has a message that the Lord has given him. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:06.639 Please pray for him as well. 00:03:06.959 --> 00:03:10.240 But my um my mind has been on this all week, really. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:15.759 I came down Sunday at church with this on my mind. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.400 It's been on my mind since Sunday, and it was on my mind all the way here. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:21.599 It's still on my mind now, so I'm trusting that the Lord is in this. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:28.799 I want to read starting in Matthew chapter 6, verse 19. 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:32.000 These are the words of our Lord. 00:03:32.079 --> 00:03:38.879 He says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:46.240 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.359 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:59.599 This uh sermon was not delivered to a general audience. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:08.159 This is not a mixed crowd, as it were, of disciples and non-believers, and maybe the the the the naysaying Pharisees or something like that. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.439 The audience of this sermon is his disciples. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:12.159 That's it. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:14.479 That's what it says at the outset of this. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:15.759 It says, he went up into a mount. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:26.000 He said, seeing the uh the the great multitudes, he went up into a mount, and his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and said, and this is what he said, among many things he said. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:29.600 So the audience of this sermon are his disciples. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:30.399 That's important. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.319 That ought to perk our ears a little bit. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:35.600 This is not something he says to the Pharisees to hush them up. 00:04:36.159 --> 00:04:40.159 Sometimes he has some things to say to the Pharisees, even the wicked ones that were challenging him. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:42.319 He has words to say that are harsh words. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:46.879 Those words were not toward us, they're for us for our learning, perhaps, but they're not to us. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:48.960 These words are to us. 00:04:49.840 --> 00:04:51.360 These words are to us. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.919 This is important for us to know. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:55.600 He says, lay not up for yourselves. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:57.759 So the implication of that is that we could do this. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.680 We could lay up for ourselves treasures upon earth. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:04.399 Again, these are what disciples could do. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:06.240 This is not what people out there could do. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:08.159 He's not concerned with those people out there. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:09.680 He's concerned with you. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:15.759 What is it that you and I could do, even as disciples of Jesus Christ, self-proclaimed? 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.799 We could lay up for ourselves treasures upon earth. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.000 What does that mean? 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:24.079 That term lay up really just means to set aside for future use. 00:05:25.039 --> 00:05:33.120 You lay up something in sort of maybe you have a savings account that you might think to use someday in case of emergencies, or maybe you want to pass that down to your children. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:38.080 You lay it up so that others could take the benefit, or you could take the benefit of it later. 00:05:38.320 --> 00:05:42.080 Lay up for yourselves, or lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. 00:05:42.159 --> 00:05:44.720 This this tells me that people have hope in things on earth. 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:47.919 They will place their hope in things that are on earth. 00:05:48.080 --> 00:05:50.639 What they'll find is that is an empty hope. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:57.360 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.720 You see, there's nothing on this earth that is everlasting. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:02.960 It all perishes, it all falls away. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:06.080 The Bible tells us that it will burn with a fervent heat. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:10.399 I'm made to chuckle sometimes when I think about my job because it's all virtual. 00:06:10.559 --> 00:06:11.360 It's all on a computer. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:12.799 You can't actually see it with your own eyes. 00:06:12.960 --> 00:06:14.559 It's sort of strange, isn't it? 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:21.200 And we all place so much importance around all these numbers that I see on a computer screen, and I can't even hold it with my hands. 00:06:21.679 --> 00:06:27.600 The stuff that I can hold that I can hold with my hands, like this podium right here, it's gonna burn up one day. 00:06:27.840 --> 00:06:28.879 Isn't that interesting? 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:32.639 We as human beings are liable. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:45.279 We are capable of laying in store those things which we think have substance, not just like physical substance, but have a quality that is a meaningful substance of hope. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.759 It is not a meaningful substance of hope. 00:06:47.919 --> 00:06:49.039 It's just not. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:52.320 The things of this world do not sustain us. 00:06:52.559 --> 00:06:58.559 They do not uh give us, I mean, they sure those things might have a natural sustaining power to it, certainly. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:04.879 And uh amen to the brother that said that, I think it was Brother David that mentioned that uh that man was given dominion over this earth. 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:08.320 We have those things in this earth that uh sustain us in a natural sense. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:17.200 But I'm saying what actually sustains us in a spiritual sense, at what points our minds towards the Lord and centers our minds on Jesus Christ, it's not the things of this earth. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:21.200 Yes, we can we can uh um uh revel in the beauty of creation. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:22.639 Many do that, and I've done that too. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:30.799 I've seen beautiful sights in the world, uh maybe not the most beautiful as some might claim, but I've seen some beautiful sights that at least they were beautiful to me, and they were incredible. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:37.759 And no doubt there is a majesty of some kind in those things, but they do not sustain us in our darkest hour, do they? 00:07:37.919 --> 00:07:38.080 Right. 00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:39.439 They just don't. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:49.679 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. 00:07:50.080 --> 00:07:56.399 He's saying, put in aside for future use those things that point you towards heaven. 00:07:56.559 --> 00:08:00.399 Those things which actually center your minds on those things which are eternal. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:05.519 He says, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 00:08:05.840 --> 00:08:11.840 We started reading in Proverbs chapter 13, where he says, Hope defer, maketh the heart sick. 00:08:13.919 --> 00:08:18.960 I want to um uh back up now to the beginning of verse uh of chapter six. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:26.000 Because I think there's some context here that is set for what uh our our Lord has just started saying in verse 19. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:34.240 The Lord is uh still in the middle of his sermon. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:39.919 In chapter 6, verse 1, he says, Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:42.720 Otherwise ye have no reward of your father which is in heaven. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:50.720 Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:54.480 Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:00.480 That term reward there really is talking about a paid in full transaction. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:03.519 This is a transaction not between a man and God. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:08.399 This is a transaction that this man is trying to enter into between himself and the public. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:10.639 That's what he's trying to do. 00:09:11.439 --> 00:09:14.159 He says that they may have glory of men. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.360 What they really want when they do this is the glory of men. 00:09:17.439 --> 00:09:27.439 They want the honor and the admiration and the applause that comes from those that see them do that pious thing, that holy thing that they're pretending to do. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:31.200 They do it publicly because they want to be seen. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.360 He says, Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. 00:09:35.439 --> 00:09:36.159 What is their reward? 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:37.840 They got exactly what they came for. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:40.159 They got the attention of men. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.559 They received the glory from men. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:45.199 Pretty meaningless glory, isn't it? 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:52.079 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:56.559 And thy father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:59.839 See, this is not a transaction between a man and the public. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.519 This is something that uh uh this is a sacrifice that a man is making to the Lord. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:08.399 Yes, this alms that he's giving is for others, but the others don't know about it. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:13.919 The only people that are party to this transaction are the Lord and the person that is giving alms. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:16.000 And the Lord shall reward. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:17.360 You see, there's the word reward. 00:10:17.439 --> 00:10:21.360 There's a paid-in-full uh uh transaction, as it were. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:30.159 The Lord rewards those who uh uh give glory to him, who uh pay their respects and give their sacrifices to him. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:31.360 That's what you're doing. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.120 Inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these, you've done it unto me. 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:38.799 And when thou prayest, so he talked about giving alms. 00:10:38.959 --> 00:10:41.439 Now he's going to talk about another thing that they do. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.759 And he calls all of these people hypocrites. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:45.679 Maybe it's the same people that do all three. 00:10:45.839 --> 00:10:50.240 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:55.759 They love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:58.559 Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:10:59.839 It's the same thing. 00:11:00.079 --> 00:11:04.959 These people, for the exact same reason, are trying to get attention from the public. 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:09.839 And so they do this thing that appears to be pious and holy only to get attention. 00:11:10.079 --> 00:11:10.879 Glory of men. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:13.759 They want the applause, they want to be seen, they treasure it. 00:11:13.839 --> 00:11:16.559 It says that they love to stand in the synagogues. 00:11:16.719 --> 00:11:17.279 They love it. 00:11:17.439 --> 00:11:18.159 They treasure it. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:19.519 It means something to them. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:24.799 It's almost as if they've placed their hope in this sort of thing, isn't it? 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:30.480 I'm going to skip now down to verse 16. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:40.240 Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.679 Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:44.559 It's the same thing. 00:11:44.719 --> 00:11:48.559 He talked about giving alms, he talked about praying, and now he's talked about fasting. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:53.279 These are all things that the disciples of Jesus Christ are to do, and they are to do them in secret. 00:11:53.439 --> 00:12:00.399 They're not for me or you to display to each other or to others out in the world, they're for us to do in sacrifice to the Lord. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:03.120 They have their reward. 00:12:03.199 --> 00:12:04.559 Again, the same concept. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:05.919 The Lord is laying out very clearly. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:09.199 These people are seeking one thing and one thing only, and they're getting it. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:10.159 They're getting it. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.639 They're getting exactly what they came for. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:14.639 This is so interesting. 00:12:14.959 --> 00:12:21.759 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father which is in secret. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:25.360 And thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:26.079 There it is again. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:29.120 The Lord is pleased to reward those who sacrifice to him. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:34.240 Not to others, not to gain the applause of men, but only to sacrifice to him. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.480 The Lord is pleased to reward that. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:39.759 And then he comes back into the verse we started at. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:42.639 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. 00:12:43.199 --> 00:12:45.519 I used to read this only in the context of like money. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:47.759 But I think there's other things that men treasure in this world. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.480 I think one of the things they treasure is the glory of men. 00:12:50.719 --> 00:12:51.839 That's what they want. 00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:52.719 Not all of them. 00:12:52.959 --> 00:12:57.839 I understand some do really treasure the silver and gold of this world, as it were. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:08.159 But you see, he says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, which uh uh where uh where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. 00:13:08.319 --> 00:13:10.719 Is there anything more fickle than the glory of men? 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:13.919 Opinions change, don't they? 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:16.159 Maybe your reputation falls. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:20.399 If you did something, you said something in public and now the public wants nothing else to do with you. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.839 Maybe it's just culture changes and they just don't care about you anymore. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.279 You see, people will seek that which has no substance to it. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:31.360 They will seek it and they will seek it and they will place their hopes in it. 00:13:31.439 --> 00:13:35.919 They'll place their treasure in it, they'll lay up for themselves something that has no substance. 00:13:36.079 --> 00:13:41.039 There's a hope that they have in something, in the glory of men, but there's no payoff to that hope. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:42.799 There's no payoff. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:45.919 He says, hope deferred maketh the heart sick. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:51.600 These people have a hope that will be deferred and deferred and deferred, and there'll never be a payoff. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.399 There's never a materialization. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:14:01.439 It never becomes substantive, the the the object of their hope, because they don't actually know what they're pursuing other than the glory of men. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:03.039 It's a short-term payoff, perhaps. 00:14:03.199 --> 00:14:08.480 Maybe they get a little high in a moment, so to speak, but they have no clue what it is that they're actually going for. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:13.199 They have no clue that the hope that they seek is not meaningful. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:15.360 It carries no substance. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.759 It does nothing for you, spiritually speaking. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.199 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:31.199 It is so easy for us to look to the the glory that men can give us, and man, if you've ever had even just a taste of it, it feels good, doesn't it? 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:36.719 Maybe you do something great at work and they want to applause, and it's it can be uncomfortable. 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:43.839 But man, if you've ever if you've ever tasted that sort of thing, it's it's it's it's it's a different sort of experience, I suppose. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.279 And these people have found a way. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:50.799 They found a recipe where they can get the glory of men in some way, uh uh in some form or fashion. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:51.839 They figured it out. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:58.719 And of course, they don't do it by just uh being good um uh citizens in the community in a general sense or of just helping others. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:01.279 They're they're doing it with religious practices, of course. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:04.000 They're giving alms and they're praying and they're fasting. 00:15:04.079 --> 00:15:06.639 These are things that they were instructed to do in the law. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:15.839 And as much as they were instructed to do it in the law, there's the heart that they're supposed to have when they do it, and they weren't doing it with that heart, they were doing it with a greedy heart, they were doing it with a self-centered heart. 00:15:16.719 --> 00:15:21.120 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt. 00:15:21.199 --> 00:15:27.759 These people have a hope in something that will be constantly deferred, because the the substance of that hope does not exist. 00:15:28.079 --> 00:15:29.679 There is no substance in it. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:33.519 See, what the Lord is teaching here is not just a moral lesson, it's a practical lesson. 00:15:34.079 --> 00:15:44.480 There's a practical lesson in this, and that's that if we want a meaningful life, a truly meaningful life, there really is one only one way to do that. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:50.959 If we want to live a life that actually brings peace and comfort in our lives, it's to center our minds on those things which are above. 00:15:52.719 --> 00:15:59.600 Because the things on this earth might, again, give us a temporary moment of joy or happiness, I suppose. 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:03.919 It might have a short-term payout, so to speak, but it doesn't sustain you. 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:09.439 And the Lord is saying, don't give your energy to these things that do not sustain you. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:10.240 Don't do it. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:22.639 Yes, there is something immoral in what they're doing, and that their heart is not centered on the Lord, but there's something impractical about what they're doing, and that they have to keep coming back over and over and over again, only to find that their hope is continually deferred. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.079 It's put off and it's put off, and there's never a payout. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:29.120 There's never a return on their investment, as it were. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:32.799 There is a return on the investment that you've made this morning. 00:16:33.199 --> 00:16:35.279 Today, you've invested your time. 00:16:35.439 --> 00:16:41.360 You've said, there are things that I could do out in this world, any number of things that we could be doing right now, and you chose to be here. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:43.039 You chose to be here, and you know what? 00:16:43.199 --> 00:16:44.240 The Lord has met with us. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.480 Your desire came this morning. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:51.120 He says that when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:56.799 When the Lord meets with us, when your desire, which is Jesus Christ, I know it is, otherwise you wouldn't be here. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:00.639 You'd be any number of other places, but you're here, and your desire is the Lord. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:02.639 You came here to see the Lord. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.200 And that's a tree of life. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:06.880 That's meaningful. 00:17:07.600 --> 00:17:09.839 That springs eternal life up in you. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:13.440 Not that you suddenly get it, but that you uh uh appreciate it. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:20.880 You see it for what it is, you see Jesus Christ high and lifted up, and you know, you know that there's nowhere else on this planet I'd rather be than right here. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:23.600 This little building here in Houston, Texas. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:25.759 The world doesn't look at it very impressively. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.000 They're not impressed by what we're doing here today. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.600 Let the world do what it wants. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:31.279 You came to the right place today. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:38.240 You came to the right place, and I am so thankful that we came here today to worship Jesus Christ and him crucified. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:42.720 There is no other place I'd rather be because the Lord came and our desire came. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:46.240 And I want him to continue coming the rest of this weekend. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:52.720 I want to see our desire come so that that tree of life springs up within us, and we feel a little bit closer to the Lord. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:18:02.640 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:05.120 This is a different order of security altogether. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.400 This treasure cannot be taken from you. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:17.279 You might cloud your own mind from this when we allow the world to distract us in some sense, but make no mistake, that hope is always there. 00:18:17.600 --> 00:18:21.440 That hope in Jesus Christ cannot be undone. 00:18:21.840 --> 00:18:23.519 We have a hope in Jesus Christ. 00:18:23.600 --> 00:18:27.040 We may not uh center our minds on that hope as well as we should. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:33.600 Again, we might let the world distract us, but your Savior, Jesus Christ, is coming back. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:35.120 At the appointed time. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:39.200 When that desire cometh, there will be no more deferring. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:41.759 He's not gonna put it on. 00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:45.920 It's not that there's an appointed time, and he's gonna defer it to some other appointed time. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:48.480 There'll be no point in appointing a time. 00:18:48.560 --> 00:18:54.400 He appointed a time, he's gonna come back at that time, and when he comes back, it is a tree of life. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:56.240 It's a tree of life. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.160 It will be the full manifestation of eternal life in his children. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:01.920 We will forever live with the Lord. 00:19:02.080 --> 00:19:05.120 I want to uh go now to Colossians chapter 3. 00:19:15.360 --> 00:19:17.680 Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. 00:19:19.120 --> 00:19:25.680 The Apostle Paul says, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 00:19:25.840 --> 00:19:29.840 He doesn't say seek those things which are above to be risen with Christ. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.840 He says, if ye then be risen with Christ. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:33.759 Now he's not saying maybe you're risen with Christ. 00:19:33.840 --> 00:19:38.800 If you read uh uh in uh chapter 2, he'll make clear that you are saints of God. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:40.240 You are risen in Christ. 00:19:40.320 --> 00:19:47.519 And he says, if you know that, if you know that you've been risen in Christ, that you are in Christ, then seek those things which are above. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.840 Again, the implication is that we can be risen with Christ and not seek those things which are above. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:53.759 He says, Don't do that. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:57.279 Seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.200 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:08.560 So easy to set our affections on the things we see around us, the shiny things of the world, as it were, the silver and gold, or the attention of men. 00:20:08.800 --> 00:20:12.880 He says, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead. 00:20:13.120 --> 00:20:15.600 That is to say, you're dead to the damning effects of sin. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.880 You're dead to the world. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:21.279 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 00:20:21.840 --> 00:20:24.560 You wanna know how secure that treasure is? 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:26.640 You want to know how secure that hope is? 00:20:27.040 --> 00:20:31.519 As sure as Jesus Christ is in God, your life is just as sure. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:33.279 Come ahead, Brother Philip. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:37.360 Jesus. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:15.840 Very much appreciate all that has gone before. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:27.600 As Brother Trevor was speaking this afternoon, it reminded me of a conversation that I heard my father and several other ministers have one time. 00:21:27.840 --> 00:21:34.480 That just because a word sounds peculiar to us as old Baptists doesn't mean it's automatically wrong. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:42.000 Because Old Baptists, we've heard things like election and predestination and eternal security and inheritance and particular redemption. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:45.040 You hear the word reward, you immediately go, ooh, you know. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.240 And the Bible's full of discussion about reward. 00:21:51.360 --> 00:21:59.600 And what's interesting about where Brother Trevor began is the way a lot of people read that verse is not how it's written. 00:21:59.840 --> 00:22:07.120 It doesn't say great is your reward of heaven, it says great is your reward in heaven. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.680 Us doing these things is not what brings heaven to us. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:15.279 What comes to us is from heaven itself. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:22.080 Now, if our reward is in heaven, as Brother Trevor mentioned, what is in heaven? 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:23.040 He is. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:28.800 When it says that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, you know what your reward is? 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:32.320 It's not a house, it's not a car, it's not a full bank account. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:33.920 It's the presence of God. 00:22:35.040 --> 00:22:38.480 Now, we may think healy's everywhere present, nowhere absent. 00:22:38.560 --> 00:22:39.120 What does that mean? 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:42.960 There's a difference between God being with you and you being with God. 00:22:43.360 --> 00:22:46.640 You can be in God's presence, but not be with God. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:52.240 Because friends, there's times that I'm with my wife, but we're not with each other. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:55.440 Do any of you married couples need any help to know what I'm talking about? 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:56.560 Or do you get it? 00:22:56.800 --> 00:23:00.800 I mean, you're in each other's physical presence, but you're not together in that sense. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.040 Friends, God's with us all the time. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:08.240 Paul says in the Sermon on Mars Hill, he's not far from every one of us, but how do you know he's there? 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:09.920 You have to reach after him and feel it. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:10.560 After him. 00:23:10.800 --> 00:23:17.040 That's how you have his presence with you, not just him being with you, but you also being with him. 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:29.040 I very much appreciate the thought that our reward is the presence of God, and as the bride sang about her husband, if he's been pleased to dwell with us here, may he not arise and stir up until he pleased. 00:23:29.120 --> 00:23:29.920 Let's not run him off. 00:23:30.080 --> 00:23:34.480 Let's be pleased for him to dwell with us as long as he has seen fit to do so. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:40.400 I'd like to draw your mind and attention to a verse this afternoon. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:47.120 I say this with all the wariness and caution that I'm about to say, preach this in front of Elder Galatians himself. 00:23:47.360 --> 00:23:49.519 If you don't know who that is, he's sitting right there. 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:54.320 It's a verse that will be very familiar to at least one person in this room. 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:55.120 I know. 00:23:55.360 --> 00:23:58.160 It's Galatians 2, not him, him. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:05.279 Galatians 2 and 21, Paul finishes the chapter by saying, I do not frustrate the grace of God. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:09.360 For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:11.279 Is that verse familiar to you? 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.640 I heard you quoted a lot of Saturday nights growing up. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:15.920 You've heard me say this. 00:24:16.080 --> 00:24:20.720 If you thought you had it hard growing up, I promise you, growing up in the Conley household was harder. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.200 Because on Saturday night you did not watch TV. 00:24:23.360 --> 00:24:28.080 On Saturday night you did not read anything except the Bible, you got your mind on church. 00:24:28.320 --> 00:24:32.320 And on top of that, you had to take a bath, which was cruel and unusual punishment. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:37.600 And then after your bath, then you had to quote your verses to dad, and God help you if you got them wrong. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:43.360 And then after you quoted your verses and got through that cruel punishment, you had to practice how to lead singing. 00:24:43.600 --> 00:24:47.440 You had to get your pitch right, you had to start right, you had to time right, and God help you. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:50.560 Those things took three hours for us just to get through it. 00:24:50.800 --> 00:24:55.759 And so I always knew when dad was in an extra cranky mood because James would struggle getting through his verses. 00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:58.560 And I remember one Saturday night he couldn't get through this one. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:01.200 I mean, he got every word wrong at some point or another. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:04.000 I said, Man, I'm never gonna get through my verses tonight. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:08.480 But I learned his verses just from hearing him say them every Saturday night. 00:25:09.360 --> 00:25:15.440 And this verse that I heard quoted ever since I was a little boy is one that I did not understand for a long time. 00:25:15.600 --> 00:25:19.120 I knew what it said, but I didn't understand it. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:28.640 And this verse is very, very precious to me because as I grow older and spend more time in the church, it reminds me of just how important what Paul says here is. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:37.440 Now, to get the context of this, and I've for the sake of time, I'm not gonna labor through all that goes before this, but in a nutshell, the churches of Galatia had a problem. 00:25:37.600 --> 00:25:46.720 And that problem was that they had very, very quickly, not in a long, bearing maneuver, in a very quick fashion, they had steered from the truth of the gospel. 00:25:47.040 --> 00:25:53.279 Paul says in the first chapter in verses 6, 7, 8, and 9, he says, I marveled this happened so soon. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:55.200 I mean, it happened quick. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:59.519 And it happened so quick that I want to tell you how bad this is. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:04.720 He said, This is so bad that it doesn't matter who preaches some other gospel to you. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.480 It doesn't matter who the man is, it doesn't matter if it's an angel from heaven. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:13.759 If you have something preached to you that's different than what we preach to you, that better be accursed. 00:26:14.080 --> 00:26:20.960 And then he goes even further and he says, if somebody preaches something different than what you've already received, that should be a cursed. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:27.120 You know, when we preach what we preach in the Church of Jesus Christ, we're standing upon two things. 00:26:27.360 --> 00:26:35.680 That we are preaching the same things that have always been preached, and that the church has received the same things down through the years that she's always received. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:39.200 Aren't you glad that we don't have to generate something new? 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.240 Aren't you glad we don't have to have firmware updates? 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:46.720 I mean, every time they update our computers at work, we can't work for about a day. 00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:49.360 Everything's broken when they're supposed to fix something. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:52.800 Well, friends, that's how man is when he tries to fix something of God. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.560 He ends up breaking everything. 00:26:54.800 --> 00:26:57.600 And Paul says, let that be a curse. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:01.759 I thank God that you and I have the same doctrine that the apostles did. 00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:07.840 I thank God that the church receives today the same old story that she's always received. 00:27:08.080 --> 00:27:15.040 Because this is the faith once delivered to the saints, because it's all the saints have needed until the Lord comes back. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:19.200 But this, these churches of Galatia had departed from that. 00:27:19.360 --> 00:27:24.000 And it wasn't that they had wholesale thrown out all the doctrine. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:28.320 It's not like they just rejected election and predestination and eternal security. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:30.000 They didn't just throw all that out. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.960 They pretty much held most of that, but then they added something else to it. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:39.600 Remember what Brother Mike said last night that Peter thought he had it figured out? 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:44.960 It wasn't that he was willing to get rid of Jesus, it was just Jesus plus all these other things. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:49.120 Friends, it's not Jesus plus, it's Jesus, period. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:55.680 And it's got so bad that in chapter 2 it says Paul even had to tell Peter, you're wrong. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:57.759 I mean, this is your fault. 00:27:58.080 --> 00:27:59.600 You see what happened to Barnabas? 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:01.120 That's on you, Peter. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:05.680 And then he gets down in chapter 2, and in verse 16, he makes a contrast. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:13.360 And again, I'm flying through a lot of stuff here because if it's the afternoon service, and if I don't do this, y'all will be asleep before I ever get back to verse 21. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:13.920 Alright. 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:19.759 In verse 16, he makes a contrast that our justification has to be one of two ways. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:28.160 It either can be the way you think it is, the way your fathers had it by the law, which we know that by the law no flesh is going to be justified. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:29.200 It can't be. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:31.920 Or it's by the faith of Jesus Christ. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:54.960 And friends, when it comes to the faith of Jesus Christ, when it comes to the confidence that the Godhead has within itself, there is no disharmony, there is no disunity, that when God the Father looks at his son and says, This is what I'm going to have you to do, he has every confidence that his son is going to do exactly what he said. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.519 You want to know how confident God is in his son? 00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:11.840 It says in Romans chapter 3 that God the Father had faith in the blood of his son, and because of that, he forbore all those sins in the Old Testament until his son arrived and paid for those sins. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:15.279 That means that Abel, when he died, went right into heaven. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:15.840 How? 00:29:16.080 --> 00:29:17.920 By the blood of Jesus Christ. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.360 That means that Samuel, when he died, he went right into heaven. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:23.840 Elijah didn't even die, he just went right into heaven. 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:24.640 So did Enoch. 00:29:24.800 --> 00:29:25.600 How did they do that? 00:29:25.840 --> 00:29:27.279 By the blood of Jesus Christ. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:28.800 It hadn't been shed yet. 00:29:29.040 --> 00:29:37.519 Didn't matter because the faith of God in his son was so strong that it was just as good as done, even though it hadn't yet been executed. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:45.279 That's why God could look at us, as he says in Romans 8 and verse 31, verse 30, that we are glorified past tense. 00:29:45.600 --> 00:29:47.360 Now I know you are not glorified. 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:50.800