GUARDING THE TREASURE
8/12/04
TEXT: 2 TIMOTHY 1:14;
"Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been
entrusted to you". (IISBV).
"Guard the good Deposit given through the Holy Spirit indwelling in us". (MKJV).
"You have been trusted with a wonderful treasure. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you". (CEV).
1 TIMOTHY 6:20
"O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge". (IISBV).
INTRODUCTION
Most of us have no problem guarding our material possessions. We have no problem putting our money in the bank. No problem at all keeping our cash money out of reach of thieves. But when it comes to our spiritual treasures, we tend to be careless. We expose our spiritual gifts and treasures for the devil, the thief to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). It is our responsibility as Christians to protect the blessings bestowed upon us by the good Lord.
BODY
What spiritual elements do we need to guard from the reach of the devil?
1. Salvation: The greatest and most precious gift given to us is our salvation. Salvation is freely given unto us but is not cheap. Jesus paid a great price to procure our eternal life with the Father.
Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Ephesians 2:5 (even when we were dead in sins) has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved).
From the scriptures above, we can see that our salvation is a special grace from God procured through our Lord Jesus Christ. It cost Him His precious life. Therefore we need to guard this treasure. How do we guard our salvation? Through the Holy Spirit indwelling in us.
Philippians 2:12 "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out (cultivate) your own salvation with fear and trembling".
Through the Holy Spirit, we guard our salvation by cultivating it as we do plants. Everyday we thank the Father for this precious gift and ask Him to show us what we need to do for His kingdom. Everyday, we reach out to the lost and offer them the gospel which is able to save their soul. We guard it as we become sober and vigilant. (1 Peter 5:8).
We have a precious promise that the Holy Spirit has begun a good work in us and He will complete it until the day of Christ. (Philippians 1:6). He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5).
2. Peace: Apart from our salvation the other spiritual grace we need to guard is His peace within us.
John 16:33 I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
The peace in the Lord is what the bible calls perfect peace. (Isaiah 26:3). It is a peace that is given to those whose heart trust in God. How do we guard this spiritual treasure?
Philippians 4:4-8) "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice!
Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
We guard the treasure of peace by doing the following:
r "Rejoicing in the Lord always".
Don’t allow things keep you off balance. Count all things all joy (James 1:2). Know that somehow, God will bring something good out of it.
r Letting your moderation be known to all men. That is, let it be such that others may see this peace of the Lord in your life. This does not mean that we were to make an ostentatious display of it, but that it should be such a characteristic of your life that it would be constantly visible to others.
r Not being anxious about anything: We guard the peace by not worrying about our lives. Instead, in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we constantly make our request known to God. (Read Matthew 6:25-33).
And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7).
3. Love: The most significant treasure embedded in us is God’s unconditional love. It is a measuring stick by which we are known as His disciples. Many Christians know very little about this treasure. 1 Corinthians 13 is devoted to teaching us about this virtue. Love is more than a fruit of the Spirit, because 1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. It will take our whole life to perfectly walk in His unconditional love. We never get to the point where we can say with all confidence that we are perfected in His love. It is a growing process.
As it is with other treasure given us, we need to guard it. How do we guard the love of God within us?
a. Refusing to hold anger and bitterness towards others.
Hebrews 12:15 looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness springing up disturb you, and by it many are defiled
b. Allowing the Holy Spirit to love you through people and them through you. You can not love people unconditionally on your own. When He does it, the love is unfeigned and genuine. When I try to do it on my own, it is canal and fake.
c. We guard this love by daily allowing the Holy Spirit to shed abroad in our hearts a fresh dose of His unconditional love.
Romans 5:5 And hope does not make us ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.
4. Faith: Faith is the element through which we deal with God. It is like an invisible rope that links us with God. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that "without faith, it is impossible to please God". The enemy is after our faith. He wants to bring doubt and unbelief in us. As a matter of fact if you let him, he will rid you of your faith to the point that you begin to walk by sight. I know many Christians who were once faith-filled but later on allow the devil to steal and destroy their faith. How do we guard this faith?
a. By hearing the Word of God.
Romans 10:17 Then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
As we read the Word of God loud daily, faith grows within us.
b. By exercising our faith.
We exercise our faith when in the process of preaching the gospel, we lay hands on the sick, cast out demons and spoil the works of the devil in Jesus name! These are Spiritual power and authority given us by the Lord. If we fail to exercise our faith, it becomes weak and subject to satanic attack. Then doubt comes in and we begin to do things based on human reasoning. We exercise our faith when we call things that are not as though they were. For example, the Shunammite woman exercised her faith when she declared "all is well" (2 King 4:23) even though her son was laying dead. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". (Hebrew 11:1). You will guard your faith as you exercise your faith moment by moment.
CONCLUSION
There are many more treasures within us that need to be guarded. The list is inexhaustible. For example we need to protect our anointing, our hope, our confidence in Him. We as Christians need to recognize they are precious gift purchased by the blood of Jesus on Calvary. We must make every effort to protect and value them. If our attitude towards these treasures is casual, then sooner or later we will be subject to opening them up for the thief to steal , kill or destroy. But if we place high value on them and guard them. we make it difficult to lose them.
INVITATION - ALTAR CALL
If you feel you have been careless with the treasure within you, I invite you to come forward to the altar and get restored. Perhaps you are not saved yet, this is your opportunity to give your life to the Lord.
