Series: The Importance of…
The Importance of Treasure
INTRO: Continuing with the series, “The Importance of…” I want to look at treasures. We need to have treasures in our lives. Things that are important for all to see and notice. Not a hidden treasure that people cannot notice, but, treasure that we have out in the open and that we use and share in our life with others.
Last week when I mentioned finding a “treasure egg” with a real hundred-dollar bill folded inside, there was a definite response. From the pulpit it looked like, if I had only known that, I would have found it first. Then when I told you the only reason the egg had a hundred-dollar bill inside was I put it there and tossed it where I could pick it up.
One thing I think of when I think of treasure is Beale Ciphers. Thomas Beale in 1825 supposedly gave an innkeeper for safekeeping three secret messages that he was only to open if he failed to return within ten years. After eventually opening them and figuring out the code, he determined there was a great treasure of gold and silver buried somewhere in Bedford County, Virginia. Well people are still looking. Many have been arrested for trespassing, and even one lady dug up a cemetery at Mountain View Church in February 1993. So they are still looking and still not finding what they think is important treasure. By the way, if it exists and is accurate, it is worth 38 million dollars.
I know, that sounds like treasure!
Just a little note…Often when we spend a great deal of time searching for a vast treasure we fail to notice a treasure we have close to us. This treasure might be family, marriage, health, church, job, friends, the Lord, etc.
Luke 15 tells a story about something important. Something important that was a real treasure.
Luke 15:1-10(NKJV) 1Then all
the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.
2And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man
receives sinners and eats with them.”
3So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is
lost until he finds it?
5And when he has found it, he lays it on his
shoulders, rejoicing.
6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and
neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which
was lost!’
7I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over
one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no
repentance.
8“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin,
does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
9And when she has found it, she calls her friends and
neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which
I lost!’
10Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner who repents.”
So, what is going on in this chapter?
Spent time with tax collectors (publicans) and sinners - 1
Spoke out (negatively) about Jesus’ relationships with sinners - 2
The Parable of lost sheep - vs. 4-7
The Parable of the lost son – Luke 15:11-32
Significance lost souls should play in our lives.
How important to you are things like…
Family?
Marriage?
The Lord?
Church?
Salvation?
Forgiveness?
Lost souls????
Repent means:
To ask for forgiveness
To quit the transgression or sin (do a 180 turnabout)
Definition:
1. To feel remorse, contrition, or self-reproach for what one has done or failed to do; be contrite.
2. To feel such regret for past conduct as to change one's mind regarding it: repented of intemperate behavior.
3. To make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one's sins.
Are you a lost sheep? Have you lost your way and in need of a Savior?
Important things are worth the effort
The missing items from your life are worth looking for diligently
Important things are great to share with others
Matthew
6:19-24(NKJV) 19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good,
your whole body will be full of light.
23But 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!
24“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 12:35(KJV) 35A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Stays with our walk or manner of life
1 Thessalonians 1:9(NKJV) 9For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
James
1:21-25(NKJV) 21Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of
wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save
your souls.
22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves.
23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a
man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what
kind of man he was.
25But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in
it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be
blessed in what he does.
Last Sunday evening I looked at the Prodigal Son – this is what I am referring to as the Parable of the Lost Son.
Luke 15:11-32(NKJV) 11Then He
said: “A certain man had two sons.
12And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give
me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his
livelihood.
13And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together,
journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal
living.
14But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that
land, and he began to be in want.
15Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and
he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the
swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s
hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I
have sinned against heaven and before you,
19and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one
of your hired servants.”’
20“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a
great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his
neck and kissed him.
21And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and
in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and
put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his
feet.
23And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat
and be merry;
24for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is
found.’ And they began to be merry.
25“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near
to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26So he called one of the servants and asked what these things
meant.
27And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has
received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
28“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came
out and pleaded with him.
29So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many
years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any
time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my
friends.
30But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your
livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I
have is yours.
32It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your
brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”
In this entire chapter, we can see Jesus want s us to know…
God’s forgiveness is good – 21-23
God’s forgiveness is waiting for you (and your friends and loved ones)
Gary Marcum – New Beginnings Church – 041810am