Treasures in Heaven – 7

33“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.

34Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.

35See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.

36Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”

We have good eyes when we take God at His Word.

What does it mean to have bad eyes?

Matthew 6:23 (NIV84)

23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Bad = πονηρός ponēros = an eye that enviously covets what belongs to another; a greedy or avaricious (extremely materialistic) eye.

A good eye is a generous eye—an eye that is not attached to wealth but is ready to part with it.

A good eye is single, devoted on one purpose to honor God.

This verse was mainly addressing an eye that either desires to focus on God, His ways, and how to please Him or an eye that is consumed with extreme greed to be wealthy.

Lamentations 3:51 (KJV 1900)

51Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.

Affecteth (brings grief, niv84) = עוֹלֵל olel = to deal harshly: to take harsh action with respect to someone or something.

The eyes are the gate to the heart. Whatever enters the eyes goes directly into the heart.

What your eyes see affects your heart. It penetrates into one’s inner being.

Evil Eyes

Jeremiah 22:13–19 (NIV84)

13“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.

14He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.

15“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.

16He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord.

17“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”

18Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

19He will have the burial of a donkey— dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

Jehoiakim was the second-born son of Josiah. The firstborn son was Johanan (1 Chronicles 3:15). Being the firstborn son meant he would be the next successor the throne. Scholars propose that Johanan never ascended the throne due to his early death, possibly even before his father Josiah died, which explains why other biblical writings outside Chronicles make no mention of him.

King Josiah, a good king, wanted ‘to side with Nebuchadnezzar against Egypt.’

Next in line to the throne should have been the oldest surviving son, Jehoiakim.

The people chose Jehoahaz, who was twenty-three years old and two years younger than Jehoiakim, because he, unlike Jehoiakim, wanted to continue his father’s anti-Egyptian policy.

Jehoahaz’s reign only lasted three months. Pharaoh Neco captured and imprisoned him, and took him to Egypt, where he died.

Against the people’s wishes, Pharaoh Neco, who had the military power to control Judah, placed Eliakim on the throne and changed his name to Jehoiakim (2 Ki. 23:34; 2 Chronicles 36:4), making him a puppet king that he could control.

Jehoiakim like the other successors to King Josiah had evil eyes. He conducted his business without justice and righteousness, used people and exploited the poor to surround himself with comfort and luxury.

Proverbs 27:19–21 (NIV84)

19As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.

20Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man.

21The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.

An evil eye is an eye that enviously covets what belongs to another; a greedy or avaricious (extremely materialistic) eye.

Arthur G. Gish: Tolstoy tells of a farmer who had a lust for more and more land. Finally, he heard of cheap land among the Bashkirs. He sold all he had, made a long journey to their territory, and arranged a deal with them. For one thousand rubles he could buy all the land he could walk around in one day. The next morning, he set out and walked far in one direction and then turned left. He made many detours to include extra areas of good soil. By the time he made his last turn, he realized he had gone too far. He ran as fast as possible to get back to the starting point before sunset. Faster and faster, he ran and finally staggered and fell across the starting point just as the sun set. He lay there dead. They buried him in a small hole, all the land he needed.41

The eyes represent human covetousness, since they look out farther and farther.

The sinful heart will not enable the eyes to be satisfied; both heart and eyes ceaselessly want more.

Some people feel that “The world is not enough.”

“This proverb is about the impossibility of fulfilling desires.”

Ecclesiastes 1:8 (NIV84)

8All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

The senses themselves are insatiable: eyes and ears perpetually crave more stimulation.

The root sin behind this is called insatiableness,

Greediness of appetite that cannot be satisfied or appeased.

The real purpose of Ecclesiastes is to force us to take our mortality seriously and to consider carefully how we should live.

Ecclesiastes knocks away all the façades by which we disguise the fact that life is short, and we deny that all our accomplishments will pass away.

Ecclesiastes 5:10–15 (NIV84)

10Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

11As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?

F.F. Bruce: More wealth, more parasites; more possessions to look at, but less enjoyment.

12The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.

13I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

14or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him.

15Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

You can love money and have a lot, and you can love money and have a little. The issue is not how much you have; the issue is the heart. The issue is failure to be content with what you have.

There was a time in your life when you would have jumped at the opportunity to have the income, family, and house that you presently have, but now it is not enough.

The sinfulness of the human heart causes us to see what we have right now as not enough.

Proverbs 17:24 (NIV84)

24A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

An understanding person has wisdom as the goal, directly in front. The fool is distracted and unfocused, looking everywhere, without ever fixing on the one thing that is necessary.

2 Samuel 11:1–4a (NIV84)

1In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

2One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,

3and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

4aThen David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.

It began with an idle moment and wandering eyes — and ended in devastating sin.

David should have left the roof and fled the temptation. Instead, he entertained the temptation by inquiring about Bathsheba. The results were devastating.

To flee temptation:

Ask God in earnest prayer to help you stay away from people, places, and situations that may tempt you.

Memorize and meditate on portions of Scripture that combat your specific weaknesses. At the root of most temptation is a real need or desire that God can fill, but we must trust in his timing.

Find another believer with whom you can openly share your struggles and call this person for help when temptation strikes.

Job 31:1, 4, 7–8 (NIV84)

1“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.

4Does he not see my ways and count my every step?

7if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled,

8then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

Made = כָּרַת karath = to cut; make a covenant: to make or enter into a covenant, conceived of as the cutting of a sacrifice associated with making a covenant.

Covenant = בְּרִית berith = a contractual arrangement between God and a person, or between human beings, which required binding action from one or both parties; one party often had higher status in the arrangement.

Covenant: A covenant is typically a solemn and binding agreement with specific obligations stated.

Sometimes there are reciprocal obligations on the part of all parties involved.

At other times, there may be self-imposed obligations by one party and/or demanded obligations on a secondary party.

Job’s covenant falls into this second category—it was self-imposed by Job upon himself and his eyes.

Job alone initiated the covenant and established its terms; his eyes did not negotiate or agree to anything.

Job one-sidedly bound his eyes to obedience as a means of ensuring his own moral integrity before God.

The eyes control the heart and will of the individual; a covenant with the eyes implies a decision to avoid all possible temptation.

Job knew that sin begins in the heart and that he was just as deserving of God’s punishment for looking at a woman lustfully as for committing adultery with her.

He determined in advance to guard himself by making a pact with his eyes not to gaze at a woman who might tempt him.

Just as the adulterous heart plans to expose itself to lust-satisfying situations, the godly heart plans to avoid them whenever possible and to flee from them when unavoidable.

Proverbs 4:20–27 (NIV84)

20My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.

21Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;

22for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.

23Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

24Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

25Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

26Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.

27Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

“As the heart is pure or corrupt, so is the whole course of a man’s life.”

Pure eyes are critically important, perhaps more so than any other body part. Look straight ahead on the road of righteousness; do not allow the attractions and distractions of sinful, impure things catch your eye.

Our heart—our feelings of love and desire—dictates to a great extent how we live because we always find time to do what we enjoy.

Make sure your affections lead you in the right direction.

Put boundaries on your desires:

Don’t go after everything you see.

Look straight ahead, keep your eyes fixed on your goal, and don’t get sidetracked on detours that lead to sin.

Those who live in righteousness and wisdom will be spared from many troubles.

Proverbs 23:29–35 (NIV84)

29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

31Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!

32In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

33Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things.

34You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.

35“They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”

Eyes are greedy, and there is a very quick telephone (swift communication) from them to the desires.

The lust of the eye soon fans the lust of the flesh into a glow.

There are plenty of depths of Satan gaping for young feet; and on the whole, it is safer and happier not to know them, and so not to have defiling memories, nor run the risk of falling into fatal sins.

Some have said, “You can look at the menu, but you can’t order from it.” This is wrong. If “looking at the menu” spawns lust through the lust of the eyes, then do not even look.

Psalm 101:2–3, 6 (NIV84)

2I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart.

3I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.

6My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.

Grasp this powerful truth: A person with an impure heart will have eyes that are drawn to impure things. But a person who looks at impure things will develop an impure heart.

Not only shall [no vile thing] not dwell in his heart, but not even before his eyes, for what fascinates the eye is very apt to gain admission into the heart.

Hatred of sin is a good sentinel for the door of virtue.

The deeds of faithless men I hate. Literally “doing deeds that turn aside” from the course prescribed.

Psalm 119:36–37 (NIV84)

36Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.

37Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

Worthless things = שָׁוְא shav = something that has absolutely no value or use.

Hebrews 6:9–12 (NIV84)

9Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation.

10God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.

12We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Colossians 1:13–14 (NIV84)

13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Selah.

Matthew 6:24 (NIV84)

24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

“I don’t serve two masters. This doesn’t apply to me.”

Let’s make sure that it doesn’t.

Next Week!!! (The Lord Willing)

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