Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 13. Matthew
13. We're going through this blessed
chapter here and considering the parables of the Lord Jesus
Christ as He is setting forth to us that which is concerning
the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew 13 verse 44, our Lord relates this truth. Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field, the
which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof
goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Now, here the Lord is speaking. So that which he has to say,
we can say with complete confidence, is so. He said that the kingdom
of heaven is like this. He said it's like a treasure
that's hid in a field. From His instruction out of this
particular chapter in verse 38, He related that the field is
the world. So we know that the field of
this world holds within itself a treasure. But it's a treasure
that is unto the Lord of glory. It's His treasure. Now this treasure,
and I'll show you this, you can turn to Exodus 19 if you'd like,
and we'll see this. This treasure is none other than
the church, the bride, the elect of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the treasure. Let's look at Exodus chapter
19. Let's look at verses 1 to 6.
Exodus 19, verse 1. In the third month, When the
children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt,
the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they
were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of
Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And there Israel
camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and
the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus
shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children
of Israel, You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and
how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey
my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people. For all the earth is mine, and
you shall be unto me a kingdom of priest and holy nation. These
are the words which thou shalt speak under the children of Israel. So the Lord set forth to Moses
to tell the children of Israel. He said, you tell my people,
and of course you realize always that whenever we see the nation
of Israel being spoken of in the Old Testament, it's always
a picture and type of God's elect. So God's chosen people have been
set forth to be unto Him a treasure, a treasure in Christ according
to covenant mercy and electing grace. They are a treasure of
the Lord Jesus Christ because they are His bride that He has
betrothed unto Himself. These are the ones for whom He's
lived, for whom He's died, bearing their guilt. in His own body
and suffering the absolute judgment and wrath of His Father in their
stead, in their redemption. They are a treasure to Him. Now, in themselves, God's treasure. You know what they are in themselves? They're sinners. They're liars
from their mother's womb. Oh, but according to God's will
to show mercy and compassion unto them in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God calls them what He says they
are unto Him. Precious treasure. Treasure of His distinguishing
grace. Look at Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy
chapter 32. Concerning this precious treasure,
this is a truth we can only say concerning us being a treasure
unto Him. It is by the good pleasure and
grace of God. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse
8 and 9. When the Most High divided to
the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of
Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number
of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is His
people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found Him in a desert land,
in the waste, howling wilderness. He led Him about. He instructed
Him. He kept Him as the apple of His
eye. Now you can just stay in the
book of Deuteronomy. You can turn back to Deuteronomy
7 if you want to, but I want to make a comment on what we
just read. The Lord set forth that concerning His treasure,
His distinguishing people of His grace and mercy, when He
created the earth, the boundaries of all the people of the earth
were set. The church included, the bride
included, they were set and fixed by His infinite wisdom. All people
that's ever been born into this world were placed and the time
of their placing in history was all fixed by the Lord for this
purpose that they might minister to God's treasure. They were
His portion and the Lord Himself caused all creation to be where
they are. Well, somebody said, well, see,
personally, I was born in Louisiana. I was born in Louisiana, 1949. Almighty God placed my parents,
their parents, their parents, exactly where they did. My dad
was from Mississippi, moved to Louisiana, met my mama, And my
mom and dad married and in time I was born. But all of their
families, all of the people, everybody, all of the communities,
all the businesses were all raised up and placed exactly where they
were for this purpose. that Almighty God might accomplish
in a vessel of His election, in His grace, that He might bring
me to this place where I am right now. And then the people that
are here in West Virginia. All of them were placed just
exactly. It always has amazed me, I've told the folks here,
it always has amazed me how the Lord puts a group of people in
a certain place and then raises up a church. He puts a pastor
there. The Lord is set forth. These
are my treasure. They're my portion. His inheritance. And so here's the Lord setting
forth His inheritance and they're referred to as His garden in
the midst of this wilderness of the world. He says in Isaiah
43 verse 21, He said, Thy people have I formed for Myself. They shall show forth My praise. They are His beloved. Now in
Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6 to 8, the Scripture says, For thou
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all people
that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His
love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number.
than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But
because the Lord loved you, and because He'd keep the oath which
He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand, redeemed you out of the house of bondmen,
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." So I can tell you,
according to the Scriptures, as mysterious As it is for us
who believe to understand, those of us who see ourselves, that
is in our flesh, that there dwells no good thing, the Lord has declared
that His elect are the precious objects of His love and affection. Scripture says in John 3.16,
For God so loved the world. You know from Scripture, it does
not mean that God has set forth that He loves every person without
distinction, without any discriminating differences. He does not set
forth that God loves every man the same. I know Jacob He loved,
Esau He hated. I know some will say that that
means that He just hated him or loved him less. Look the Word
up. Almighty God has set forth this
truth, though. God so loved the world, the orderly
arrangement. He loves the arrangement. Jew
and Gentile loves the world. That He gave His only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. The fact of the matter that the
Spirit of God has set forth is that God loves creatures that
are fallen in themselves, chosen in Christ, everlastingly loved
by the Lord. He's got a people, He's got an
elect, He's got out of every kindred, nation, tribe, tongue,
a people that He's loved and He's not going to let them perish.
He loves the world. Jew, Gentile, out of this mass
of humanity, He has chosen according to Ephesians 1, According to
2 Thessalonians 2, they saw a people that He was going to save that
cut out of the same lump as everyone else, and He sent the Lord Jesus
Christ to save them. The Lord said, John 10, 15, I
lay down my life for the sheep. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. The Lord Jesus is not a failure.
He did not shed blood. It was not effectually applied
to a particular people. God Almighty loves His people
because He chose to. That's what Scripture says. He
pleased Him according to the good pleasure of His will. So in this
world, there's a treasure. A treasure that God loves. A
treasure that He's always loved. And they are the strangers. Now
they're in the world. Scripture says that 1 Peter 1,
1 and 2 There are strangers that are scattered through Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. So God's treasure
is found everywhere. Everywhere. They're in every
place that you could possibly Imagine. But now the Lord back
in Matthew 13, you turn back to Matthew 13, and the scriptures
set forth concerning the Lord's kingdom. It's a kingdom of heaven,
likened to a treasure, hid in a field, and when a man hath
found, when a man hath found. Now, the scripture sets forth
that the Lord's treasure, It was found unto Him eternally. He's always known them. Here
they are chosen in Christ according to God's everlasting covenant
of grace. They've always been known Him. He's always loved them. He always
knew them in God's electing favor and grace before the foundation
of the world. There's never been a time that
they haven't been found in Him. But though this treasure has
always been found in Him, the Scripture says that He's been
pleased to hide them. Now here's what it's saying. When a man has found, he hideth. He hideth. Their state of being
God's elect, being born in Adam, like all other creatures, is
hidden initially from the world. It's even hid from themselves. We all walked, that's just in
Ephesians 2. How much do you think God's people
knew concerning their electing grace? before the Lord called
them out of darkness. Listen to Ephesians 2. And you,
Hathae Quicken, verse 1, you Hathae Quicken who were dead
in trespasses and sins, dead to God, dead to God's will, dead
to God's love, dead to God's purpose. Wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. How much, you that believe, how
much did you know? of yourself being a treasure
unto the Lord. How much do you know that? You
didn't know that at all. Why? Because it was hidden to
you. It was hidden to your understanding.
Hidden to your eyes of faith. This is what the Lord thanked
His Father for. I thank you. It pleased you to
hide these things. The revelation of the Kingdom
of God from the wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes. They
were hidden. A man has found. He's always
found it. But he's going to find them in
time in electing grace. And that's when they're going
to know it. Because it was hidden to them. But the Scripture says
forth that it pleases God. They all, having walked in the
lust of their own flesh, they didn't know anything about God's
electing grace, about being a treasure. But it was hidden for this reason.
that Almighty God might receive all the glory and praise and
honor. The scripture sets forth in Ephesians
2, 4, and 7. Listen to this. Listen to the
glory that is given unto the Lord when God's people are, when
it's revealed to themselves that they are the treasure of God. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, didn't know it, hidden, hidden to ourselves,
hidden to the world, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you're saved, and raised us up together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Can you enter into something
of what he's saying right there? How glorious it is unto the Lord,
how glory it is to Him. How much glory He receives. Taking
this treasure that's hidden, hidden to the world, hidden to
themselves, and when it pleases Him, He comes to them regenerating
grace, and He calls them out of darkness. There's a discovery
of the grace of God. They say then, I am what I am
now by the grace of God. I know what I was before. I was
a rebel against God, but in quickening power, He came to me, put me
under the sound of the gospel, and He revealed Christ to me,
Christ in me, my hope, my confidence. of glory. Yes, they were eternally
found in Christ as being His. He was always their surety. But
He hid them according to His good will and pleasure that He
might gather them together in mercy, love, and grace to call
them out. And the Scripture says that man
found, He hideth, and for joy thereof He goeth and selleth
all that he hath, and he buyeth the field for the joy that was
set before him. Oh, for the redemption of his
people, for the glory that was given unto the Father in choosing,
in setting his affection upon them, for the joy, therefore,
he goeth and selleth all that he had. That joy to have his
own with him everlastingly in glory for the joy that was set
before him, he endured the cross that they might be redeemed and
saved. He sacrificed everything he had. He sacrificed himself, made himself
of no reputation, humbled himself, A servant of His Father that
He might obtain the treasure of His love, His bride, His church. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse
9 sets forth this beautiful, beautiful truth. 2 Corinthians
chapter 8 and verse 9. Scripture sets forth, For you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ Though he was rich, rich
in glory, rich in himself. He's God. God. Though he were
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich. When he's found, he hideth. And he goes and he sells all
that he has. Gave himself. And he buys that
fish. He willingly laid down his life
for the sheep. was made sin that she might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. And to have her, He paid
the debt that was due. He bought the field. What does
the Lord say? All souls are mine. The soul
that sinneth is going to die. Soul of the Father, soul of the
Son, it's mine. The earth is the Lord's. He bought
the field. The earth is the Lord's. What
does the Scripture say concerning all the power, all of the authority,
all of the earth? What is it? John 17, 2. As thou
hast given Him power, authority, the right to govern over all
flesh, that He should give eternal life to His treasure. to as many as the Father has
given Him. In this earth, the Lord said,
there is a treasure. And He said, the Kingdom of Heaven,
the calling out, the redemption of His Kingdom, it's like a treasure
that's hidden in a field. It's hidden in this world. It's
here. And He said, when a man is found, He knows, He knows
who they are. He's always known them. He hideth. It pleases Him to conceal it.
And powerfully, mysteriously, wonderfully, He comes and in
regenerating grace, He calls every one of them out. Same way,
all of them are going to come out. Here's how He's going to
open them up. Here's how He's going to reveal it. He's going
to put them under the sound of the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace. Paul, under the inspiration of
God's Spirit, said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
also to the Greek, to the Gentiles. I pray that the Lord bless these
words to our heart, give us some understanding concerning what
the Lord says concerning the kingdom of heaven in this world
for His glory and our good. Hey.