Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 6-3] Live with Your Hearts on the Lord (Matthew 6:21-23)
(Matthew 6:21-23)
“For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the
body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be
full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great
is that darkness!”
Today’s
scripture lesson says, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore
your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” Our hearts are
fickle as the rainy summer weather. The mind of a man is, also, like
that. However, the Lord said, “The lamp of the body is the eye.” What
the Lord means by this is that the whole body will be full of light if
our eye is good, and that we must consider how we should put focus in
our mind that comes and goes.
Since
the eye is the lamp of the body, when the eye is good, the whole body
is full of light, but when the eye is bad, the whole body is full of
darkness. When our heart is gloomy, everything we see is dark. But, if
we meditate the gospel of the water and the Spirit once again, our heart
lightens up. When the Lord talks about the eye of a person, He makes
mention of our heart of faith.
Our
hearts are not steadfast. The heart of you and me comes and goes. Our
hearts are subject to being swayed at times. When we do meditate on the
gospel of the water and Spirit, our heart loves the Lord, but soon
after, we are prone to love the world due to our carnal thoughts. We are
talking about what our hearts should be considering.
The
eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, we must think about the Lord
and pour our hearts into spreading the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. When we think about how perfectly our Lord has cleansed our
sins, we realize how our hearts have been cleansed. Just as our Lord
said in the Old Testament, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall
be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18), the Lord has wiped out our sins perfectly by
taking on the sins of the world through His baptism from John the
Baptist and being crucified, in the New Testament.
We
must concentrate on the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Although
our heart goes back and forth occasionally between the Lord and the
world, we must focus our mind into the spread of the gospel of the water
and Spirit. We thank the Lord for wiping out the sins of your and me.
We must keep in our heart that the Lord has blotted out all our sins,
which had covered our heart like a thick cloud (Isaiah 44:22). Our
hearts are lit up when we think about the Lord, who wiped out our sins
as such.
“The
eye is the lamp of the body.” Since there is no other way without the
Lord that our hearts and souls can be lit up, our hearts become hearts
that are spiritually full of light before God when we think about the
Lord. Our hearts go back and forth between spiritual and carnal, but
when we put our heart on the Lord, who wiped out our sins, and think
about the gospel that tells us the Lord took on the burden of everyone’s
sins and blotted them out all at once, we cannot but give thanks to
God, and love the Lord even more.
Therefore,
we desire even more to spread this gospel of the water and the Spirit
to others. When we pour our hearts on the Lord, and His righteous deeds
that the Lord wiped out our sins, our hearts lighten up, and, as a
result, many souls receive salvation. When we think about the Lord and
thank Him with faith, our hearts become saturated with the Holy Spirit.
This is that they become moist with an abundant blessing of salvation
spiritually in the light. Then, our hearts become righteous, good, and
beautiful in God’s eyes, and they come to have big ambitions to do the
righteous works.
We
can leave our hearts in the dark or in the light. Where should we leave
our hearts? Surely, there is no mistake that we need to put our heart
in the area where the Lord has wiped out our sins. In addition, since
our Lord not only wiped out our sins, but also made us children of God,
we must concentrate our hearts on His heavenly Kingdom.
We
must thank God with our faith for his blessings that saved us, who
could not but die from our sins and become children of the devil, by
sending Jesus Christ, and having Him baptized, taking the sin of the
world to the Cross, and bled to death wiping out all our sins once and
for all. It is very important on where we set our hearts on. It is
whether our hearts cling to the blessings of salvation that God gave us
or to unrighteous carnal thoughts that come from the world and flesh.
Depending on where we set our hearts, the results differ greatly. We can
decide this way or that way, and even though we have swaying hearts, I
want to tell you that we must put our hearts on the salvation that God
gave us. We must devote our hearts to the fact that God gave us the
Kingdom of Heaven and the blessings of God.
When
we devote our hearts to the area where God has blotted out all our
sins, like a thick cloud, and make it as white as snow, and pray to God,
God listens and answers our prayers. We must devote our hearts to God
and to spiritual work with the belief that God is pleased in our work of
spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Then, we can
experience how our hearts lighten up and how much the work of God
progresses. We can become the men of His blessing by being used for the
joyful and blessed work of God.
Dear
brothers and sisters, when we devote our hearts to the spread of the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, our hearts are glad. When we live in
this world, we sometimes become discouraged and sometimes fall into our
carnal lusts. There is no righteous person, who does never fall.
However, even though we are such beings, what is important is on where
we set our hearts’ concern on. Where does each one of us focus our
hearts on? If, by any chance, you have it in the dark, I hope you bring
it out to the light.
We
try to spread the gospel to the rest of the world. How should we? I
feel anxious just like the Israelites felt when they were facing the
impregnable wall of Jericho when they first entered the land of Canaan.
The first obstacle to the Israelites was the wall of Jericho. The wall
of Jericho was very solid and secure. It could not be overthrown with
spears and swords. Since it was built with very large rocks, it could
not be easily collapsed. People of Jericho were up on the top of the
fortress, so regardless of all the efforts of the Israelites to collapse
the wall, they could just watch and ridicule the Israelites from the
top. As they put wheels on big tree trunks, the soldiers tried to push
and break and crush the city gate, but it was not possible since the
fortress was too secure. However, the city was crushed down when the
Israelites had faith in God and obeyed His Word of promise thoroughly.
We
are in need of the same faith. In our time period, if we do not put our
hearts on God, we cannot carry out our mission of spreading the gospel
of the water and the Spirit. However, if we put our hearts on God, I
know it is possible to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to
the rest of the world. If we do not have the faith in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, we cannot spread the gospel, and, as a result,
this world will head for destruction.
When
we tried to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the rest
of the world so far, there were many difficulties. We decided to publish
our mission books that are about the gospel of the water and the Spirit
in many different languages and send them to everyone in the world.
Therefore, the books of the gospel have been translated into many
different languages of the world. By publishing and distributing them,
we have been able to spread the true gospel to the entire world.
Now,
when we think about spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit to
the rest of the world, and devote our hearts to it, our hearts will be
lightened. You and I are still in the flesh, so if we devote our hearts
to the Lord, our hearts are glad and they become suitable to work for
the gospel before God. On the other hand, if we do not devote our hearts
to spreading the gospel, but to the worldly things, our hearts become
immeasurably filthy. Although our hearts go back and forth between that
of flesh and spirit, it is important to fix our hearts on the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. As it is written, “For where your treasure is,
there your heart will also be,” depending on where we put our hearts,
we can become people of light before God or we can become useless
people. When we devote our hearts to God, we can be useful people to God
and other people. And we can be the blessed ones like Abraham and God’s
workers who can share with everyone the gospel that gives life.
Let
us put our hearts on God. Although we live in this world, we must fix
our hearts on God. Although our hearts go back and forth, I hope that
you put your hearts on the gospel of the water and the Spirit and the
blessings that the Lord bestowed on you rather than on the world. How
many blessings of the flesh and the spirit has God given us through the
gospel of the water and the Spirit? Also, through this gospel, how much
has He given us the blessings of salvation? When we think about that, we
cannot help devoting our hearts to God. It is worth devoting our hearts
to God. It is also worth devoting our hearts to the gospel. It is worth
devoting our hearts to the great salvation that wiped out all our sins.
It is proper to thank the Lord and glorify the Lord, and it is worth
working for the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We also thank God
for making us His children. The Lord gave us Heaven and it is
justifiable that we devote our hearts to the Lord.
I
hope you fix your hearts onto the Lord. Your hearts and my heart can
sometimes be capricious and go back and forth, but we should always turn
our hearts to God and live for the work of the Lord. As we walk on the
street, if we see something nice, our eyes and hearts follow it for a
while, but we must take our heart back immediately and give it to the
Lord.
In
Matthew Chapter 6, the Lord specifically talks about materials: “For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What is the
treasure in our hearts? What is the treasure to you and me? Is it the
Lord? Is it the blessings from the Lord? Or is it this world? Is it the
money in this world? Which is it?
The
treasure is the Lord. If you believe the treasure is any kind of
material, please turn your mind around. In reality, materials are not as
valuable as the Lord. This is because the master of all materials is
the Lord. However, can we live without the materials? We cannot. On the
other hand, are materials not from the Lord as well? It is from the
Lord. He says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.” Therefore, if you put your hearts on God, everything comes to
you. Everything will be provided to you in the way of righteousness.
However,
some false preachers will teach this verse as “if you just give big
offerings, it means you have big faith.” “Do not lay up for your
treasures on earth, but in heaven, in other words, give big tithe and
offerings to the church.” And they put “For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also” in the offering envelop and shove it in.
This
is a false teaching. The purpose of worldly churches is to prosper in
this world, therefore, all they care about is raking in money. It is
fortunate if they use it for righteousness, but they use it to fill
their desire of greed. They are so good at raking in money, they quote
this kind of the Bible verses to ask the Christians for money, and make
them bring all the installment savings in their names to the church.
Some
preachers push for building new churches by taking money from the
church members. Is this righteous? “For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.” Since all they are concerning about is the
church building, that is their treasure. The church members brag about
their $15,000,000 church building as if attending such a church is
something very honorable and proud. If we x-ray their thoughts, it is
probably empty. Their hearts are, of course, empty, too. Since what they
put their hearts on is the $15,000,000 church building, they cannot see
that Jesus has blotted out all their sins, like a thick cloud with the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. There are many pitiful people who
cannot see that God has made them His children and given us the Kingdom
of Heaven.
On
the contrary, to us, who are born again, our Lord is the treasure. All
the blessings of mercy our Lord has bestowed on us—such as His
salvation, making us God’s children, giving us the kingdom of Heaven,
wiping out our sins, and making us the righteous—are our treasures.
There is nothing more valuable than these. As a hymn sings, “♫I’d rather
have Jesus ♪ than silver or gold,” there is no honor in this world that
is more valuable than having the Lord Jesus. There is nothing more
valuable than the salvation that the Lord gave us.
Therefore,
you and I must spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the
hearts of people. We must take hold of our hearts that go back and forth
and give it to the work of the Lord. If we give the Lord our hearts, we
will not be doing useless work, but be able to go to Lord’s Kingdom. We
sometimes do useless things, but if we do more of the useful work then
we will be praised by God, and respected by people.
Matthew
chapter 6 talks about this subject very deeply. “But seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
You and I must put our hearts on Him and on His work. We must seek first
His Kingdom and His righteousness. How did God save us? He wiped out
our sins white as snow by the water, the blood and the Holy Spirit. He
has blotted out all our sins, like a thick cloud, as white as snow. We
must thank God and thank the Lord who is our perfect Savior. And we must
seek first His Kingdom in our hearts.
It
is the will of God that the gospel of the water and the Spirit is
spread out to the entire world, so that those who are to believe in it,
believe in it, and those who do not, do not. We must give equal
opportunity of hearing the gospel to everyone to fulfill the will of
God. We must do such work.
By
the way, the true treasure to you and me is the Lord. Put your heart on
the Lord. Although we are people who have many shortcomings, let us fix
our hearts on the Lord. Let us set our hearts on the Lord and spread
the gospel of the water and the Spirit as often as possible.
Halleluiah. We thank God for helping us put our hearts on the Lord.
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