Matthew 13, verse 44. We're going
to look at two parables here, spoken by our Lord unto his disciples. In verse 44, he said, Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden afield,
the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof
goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking
goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now, as we consider
this text tonight, these two parables, I wanna present two
questions before us tonight. And I think these questions will
kind of begin to direct our hearts and our minds into really the
subject of this passage and what it means and what it declares.
The first question I wanna ask is, what think ye of Christ?
As we consider these two parables, I want us to consider that, what
think ye of Christ? And I wanna put the emphasis
there on the ye, what think you of Christ? Our Lord asked the
disciples at one point, he said, who do men say that I am? And
he followed that question with, who do you say that I am? And that's important, who do
you? And that's why I want the emphasis on that question, what
think ye of Christ? And this is an important question.
I consider it important because the Lord asked this question.
If the Lord asks a question, I think that it's important that
we enter into it and try to find out what the answer to that question
is. And this is a personal question. Like I said, it's what think
you of Christ? And this is, it's a question
that has, you know, eternal consequences. You know, our answer to that
question has eternal consequences. It determines whether we truly
know Him or not. It determines whether we believe,
whether we love Him. And that's my second question
for us tonight as we consider this text is, do you love Him? You know, our Lord asked Peter
that question not once, but three times. You know, Peter, do you
love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?
And so as we look at this, this parable of the treasure in the
field and this pearl of good Christ, I want us to just kind
of consider those. What think ye of Christ? And do you love
him? Do you love him? Now, first of
all, I want to establish that these parables are concerning
the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is Christ.
And, you know, we won't spend a whole lot of time looking at
that. We're just gonna, you know, kind of declare it, but you look
through the word of God and you'll see the kingdom of heaven is
Christ. And there are different ways
in which you can look at this parable, especially with the
treasure hidden in the field. Like, you know, you can see where
this applies to the gospel, right? Well, what is the gospel? It's
Christ, the word. In the beginning was the word
and the word was made flesh. It can relate to the church. What is the church? The body
of Christ. This book, everything from beginning
to end, it's all concerning Him. It's all Christ. And so this
parable, this treasure in the field, that's Christ. This pearl
of great price, that's Christ. And so, again, those two questions,
what think ye of Christ? Do you love Him? And understanding
that the kingdom of heaven is Christ. And so these comparisons
are being made. Christ compared to the treasure,
Christ compared to the pearl of great price. And it's a revelation
of Him and who and what He is to us, to the people of God,
to the children of God. And so what is your treasure?
What is your treasure? The first parable describes a
man that found a treasure hidden in a field. And treasure, as
it's defined, when you look at the meaning of this word, it's
the place where good and precious things are collected and laid
up. It is where valuables are kept. So your treasure is the
things that you desire, the things that you love, the things which
are precious to you. And I ask you today, what is
your treasure? Where is your treasure? We read in Matthew
chapter six, it says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon
earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break
through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal. And the important
thing, at the very end of this passage is what it says, okay?
So, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So, Where our heart is, that's
where our treasure is. Where the treasure is, that's
where the heart is. So are we laying up treasures on this earth?
Are we laying up treasures in this world? Or do we lay up treasures
in heaven? It's going to determine what
you love. It's going to determine what's most precious to you,
what you desire, what you're seeking after. And this world
has many treasures. It's consumed with gathering
and collecting treasures. They have their earthly treasure,
all the material or physical possessions of this world. And
this world does, I mean, it just craves more and more. There's
never any satisfaction with it. As soon as they get one thing,
they need the next thing. They need something better. They
need something new. They need something shinier. So it's all
about their material, their physical possessions. And on top of their
physical possessions, what does man crave? Man craves desire
or man craves power. You know, it's you give someone
a little bit of power and I'll tell you what, watch out because
this flesh is gonna crave more power and more power and more
power. It's all about power, the power to be able to make
things happen and to do this and to do this at your command.
And we crave, you know, status, you know, people, they want status.
You know, people are always concerned about, you know, the legacy that
they leave behind. And then this world also has
spiritual treasures, all the things they do in the name of
and for the sake of religion. They've got their decisions,
their baptisms, their works, their righteousness. These are
the spiritual treasures. And it's all about, you know,
how big is the church? How many people attend the church?
What is the position that they have in the church? What is their
power in the church? What is their influence? What
is their status? And this is all this religious
treasure. So you have the physical, you
have, you know, the spiritual treasure. David said in Psalm
49, verse 11, concerning man, he said, their inward thought
is that their houses shall continue forever. And they're dwelling
places to all generations. They call their lands after their
own names. And that pretty much does define man. Man, by nature,
for some reason, we do think that things are just gonna last
forever. We really do. We have this misconception about
the reality of human life and time. and that they pass on their
legacies. They think their houses and their
wealth and everything else is gonna last forever. You look
at even past civilizations, what did they do when they buried
their kings? They buried all their stuff with them because
they thought they were bringing it with them into the afterlife. So the afterlife
was more about what they were bringing with them. But God has
given us several examples of those who have laid up treasures
upon the earth. And I wanna look at a couple
of these. Look at Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12. Luke 12 and verse 16. And this is a very familiar passage
of scripture. He said, he spake a parable unto
them, saying the ground of a certain man brought forth plentifully.
And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because
I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this
will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater and there
will I bestow all my fruits and goods. And that's what man is,
you know, it's like, I've got all this, this is what I'm gonna
do, I'm gonna build down these barns and I'm gonna build more barns
so I can like put more stuff in there and collect more stuff.
This is his treasure, this is his treasure, it's what he has.
Then I will say to my soul, soul, take thou, or I will say to my
soul, soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years. Take
thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. That's what this world is consumed
with, right? I mean, we see that so many times,
you know, in the days of Noah, what were they doing? Eating,
drinking, and giving in marriage. It's all about, you know, this
world and the pleasures of this world. But God said unto him,
thou fool, this night shall thou soul be required of thee. And
then who will those things be which thou hast provided? And
in verse 21, it says, so is he that laith up treasure for himself
and is not rich towards God. Thou was his treasure, right?
All those things in his barn, that barn with his treasure,
but he wasn't rich towards God. He laid up for himself treasures
on this earth and not in heaven. And the Lord called him a fool.
And that's what he is. And that's what we are by nature.
We're fools. Look at Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 and verse 17. I need to get there. Mark 10,
verse 17. And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked
him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, why
callest me thou good? There is none good, but one that
is God. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, defraud not, honor thy father, thy mother. Then
he answered and said unto him, Master, all of these I've observed
from my youth. So we see here right from the
output, we talked about spiritual treasure. This is his spiritual
treasure. I've kept the law from my youth. I've done all this.
I've kept the law. I'm righteous. I'm, you know,
that's his spiritual treasure right there. And Jesus beholding
him loved him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy
way, sell whatsoever thou hast, give to the poor and thou shall
have treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross and follow
me. And he was sad at this saying
and went away grieved, why? Because he had great possessions.
What think ye of Christ? Do you love him? Where is your
treasure? We see his earthly possessions
there. We see his spiritual possessions there. We see the things that
he loved. In our text, it says that the
man that found the treasure and the man that found the pearl
of great price, they both did the same thing. They sold everything
that they had so they could buy that pearl, so they could buy
that field where the treasure is. He couldn't do that, could
he? He had great possessions. He had great possessions. He
couldn't do that. What are you seeking in this world? What we
are seeking when we reveal the desires and intentions of our
heart. It reveals what is truly important to us. And most in
this world are seeking the treasures and pleasures of this world.
They're not seeking the glory of God. What are they seeking?
They're seeking the promotion of self. They're not seeking
his righteousness. They're going about trying to
establish their own righteousness. And then so do trampling underfoot
the righteousness of God. They're not seeking Christ. They're
consumed with self, consumed with self. Look at Matthew chapter
six. And I want us to see these things
in the word of God. Matthew chapter six, verse 24. No man could serve two masters.
For he will either hate the one and love the other, or else he
will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and mammon, and that mammon there is money. You cannot serve God
and money. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your
life, what you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for
your body, what you shall put on. There's not the life more
than meat and the body more than raiment. It's not life more than
that, more than just meat. You know, we live by what? By
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Right now,
we're truly being fed. But the fowls of the air, behold
the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap,
nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father, he
feedeth them. They're not putting stuff in
the barns like that other man was. But what do they do? They wait for the hand of God
to provide for them what they need for that day, like the manna
that fell from heaven. God gave them manna every day
to fulfill the need that they had for that day. And that's
what they do. The birds do. They don't have barns to put
all their stuff in. Which of you by taking one thought
can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take you thought for
raiment, for clothing? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin. Yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory
was not rayed like one of these. So wherefore if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little
faith? Therefore, take no thought saying,
what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? For all these things do the Gentiles
seek." Okay, so the Gentiles, that's us by nature, okay? That's
what we are by nature, we're Gentiles. And that's what we
seek. We're seeking the clothing, we're
seeking the material possessions of this world. We're laying up
material possessions as our treasure. But he says, don't seek ye these
things. That's what the Gentiles seek after. That's what this
world seeks after. And your heavenly father knoweth
that you have need of these things. And we do have need of them,
right? But we look to him to supply that need. We look to
him to fulfill that need for us. But seek ye first what? The kingdom of God, the kingdom
of heaven. What are we seeking first? First,
the kingdom of heaven. And all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Everything
the child of God is seeking is found in Christ. Absolutely everything. Are you seeking wisdom, knowledge
and understanding? We do desire that, right? We
desire wisdom and knowledge and understanding. We want to know
him. We wanna know his gospel. We wanna know his word. We wanna
know his truth. Are you seeking that? Or are
you seeking the things of this world? Solomon clearly defines
unto us the importance of wisdom. And even in his later years,
he clearly revealed unto us what the things of this world was.
Solomon had everything. Had everything. The wisest man,
I mean, do you look at his possessions and what he had? And Solomon
says, you know, concerning the work and the labor of his hands,
he said, it's all vanity, vexation, and spirit. And that's all this
world is. That's all the things of this
world is. It's just vanity. It's just vanity. Are you seeking
peace and comfort and joy? Are you seeking forgiveness?
Are you seeking redemption? Are you seeking righteousness?
Are you seeking life? Are you seeking heaven? It's
all in Christ. It's all in Him and it's all
Christ. He is our heaven. He is our hope
and our comfort and our joy and our righteousness and all the
things that we need, truly need, spiritually need. You know, the
Lord said to that man, he said, this night will your soul, your
soul be required of thee. Your brother Angus talked about
that the other night. We're a soul, we're a spirit. We do have this body, this tent
that we dwell in in this world, but we're a soul. And these matters
are eternal matters. These matters are what matter,
what truly matter. Is Christ your treasure? Are
you seeking him? David said in Psalm 27, one thing
have I desired of the Lord, and that's what I'm gonna seek after.
He had one desire, and this is exactly what he was seeking after,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life to behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in his temple.
David sought one thing, to be with the Lord. He wanted to be
where Christ was. There's one thing needful. We
learned that from Mary and Martha, right? The Lord told Martha,
he said, you're cumbered about with so many things. But what
did Mary seek? Mary sought the one thing needful,
hearing the word of God at his feet. That's where she was, at
his feet, hearing his word. That's the one thing needful.
What did Paul think of Christ? What was Paul's treasure? Look
at Philippians chapter three. What was Paul's treasure? What
did Paul seek after? He said in Philippians 3, finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it's safe. And we
do, we need to hear the same things over and over and over
again, like our brother read tonight. We're prone to forget.
We're prone to forget. And we can forget very easily,
very quickly, and very frequently. We're very, very prone to forget.
And so we need to be reminded of these things. Peter talked
about stirring this up. He said, though you know these
things, I wanna stir it up. He said, beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he have, whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more." And Paul goes on to
talk about what it was that he was trusting in the flesh. He
was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. So that
was according to the law. He's talking about his keeping
of the law. Of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching
the law of Pharisee. He's talking about his heritage,
how he was born, the parents to whom he was born. concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But he said, what things were
gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. So where was
Paul's treasure? Well, what Paul's treasure used
to be was his works, his righteousness, his religion, that was his spiritual
treasure. That's what he trusted in for
salvation. That's what he trusted in as his security before God. But he said, what things were
gained to me, that's not my treasure anymore. God caused a light to
shine in my heart. The Lord knocked Paul off that
horse on his way to Damascus and humbled him and arrested
him there under his grace and revealed himself unto him. There
was a light and a voice that day. And that light and that
voice was Christ. And God revealed himself unto
Paul. And Paul says, that treasure that I used to hold dear, that
which I was seeking after at one point, I'm not seeking that
after anymore. I found a pearl of great price.
I found a treasure hidden in the field, and that's what I
want now. See, what things were gained
to me, those things I counted lost, that's nothing, yea, doubtless,
I count all things but lost, everything. Sold all that he
had, everything that he had, he sold it. I don't want this
anymore. I want that pearl, I want that
treasure, I want Christ. He counted all things but loss,
for what? For the excellency, and it is excellency, isn't it?
For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for
whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and I counted but
dung, that I may win Christ. All of that's worthless, it's
dung, it's nothing. But Christ is all, and I wanna
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. And then I may know him. That's
what we want to do, right? I mean, Christ is our treasure
and we want to know him. We want to know him more and
more every day. That's why we're here tonight,
so that we can grow in faith, so that we can grow in wisdom
and knowledge and understanding. And we desire that, and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I already had attained, either were already perfect,
but I follow after. I follow after that. That's what
he's seeking, right? He's following after that. If
by any means I may apprehend that for which I'm also apprehended.
Brethren, I count myself not to have apprehended, but this
one thing I do. So Paul now having, we've shown
us what his treasure is, shown us what is he seeking, what is
the one thing that Paul does? David had one desire. We saw
with Mary there's one thing needful. And Paul said, this is the one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which were before, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. What was Paul's treasure? What
was Paul seeking? What was he after? We read in
John chapter one, there was, You can turn there if you want.
It's John 1, verse 35 through 39, but the Lord came where John was baptized. And
the Lord came down there, and John, as he saw Christ approaching,
he said, behold, the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. And we read that as Jesus had
turned, when Jesus was leaving, there were two men that followed
him. And this is one of my, I love
this passage of scripture. It's one of my, just my favorites
that just, every time I read it, it just speaks to me. And
I put myself a lot of times, you know, in the position of
these two men. And I just kind of think about what that moment
was like. And some of this is, you know,
you're thinking about things, you know, it's, but I just, I
think of those two men that are there, they were disciples of
John and the Lord Jesus Christ comes and they hear John declare,
behold, the Lamb of God. And you can just imagine, you
know, the joy, the wonderment that was in their heart, you
know what I mean? Much like we wait for the return of Christ,
they waited for the Messiah. That's what they were seeking
all through the Old Testament. They were waiting for the Messiah
to come, the Christ to come. Even after that, it's like Peter
went to, I think it was when Nathanael went to Peter, and
it's like, we found the Messiah, come to see. And I just, I think
about these two men and, you know, I just can, you know, kind
of picture, you know, it's getting close to the end of the day and
the Lord's, you know, turned away and he's walking away and
they're following him. And as they follow him, the Lord
looked at them and he asked them, he said, what seek ye? And I
can just, I don't know, I can just hear the compassion in that. You know, these two men are following
the Lord, the Lamb of God, they know this is the Messiah, they
know this is the Christ. And he looks at him and he says,
what seek ye? What seek ye? And they said unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say being interpreted master, their answer
to that question was, where dwellest thou? Where are you going? Where are you sleeping tonight?
Where are you gonna be? And he said unto them, come and
see. And that to me just, it sums it up. What are you seeking?
What are you seeking? And their only desire was just
to be where he was. Where are you going? And that
by God grace, I pray is our desire. Where is he? Where is he? Because that's my treasure. That's
my pearl. That's my life. That's my everything.
Where he is, that's where I want to be. And I think I feel that
more and more right now. I really, truly do. I just want
to be where he is. I want to be found in his word,
learning of him. I want to be there when the gospel
is preached so I can hear him speak to my heart, because that's
what's happening tonight. God's speaking to your hearts
tonight. And that's what I desire. That's
my treasure. That's my pearl. And it's the
only thing I seek. It's the only thing I desire.
That's it. I don't want anything else. I really, truly don't.
And I think that's something over the last four months I've
learned more and more of. Do you seek to know Christ as
he's declared in his word and revealed in his gospel? Do you
seek his presence? Do you desire to see him more
clearly? We see through a glass darkly
right now, but do we desire to know him more? We do. When you
think about the things of God, the love of God, it says, passes
knowledge. The peace of God passes all understanding. The gift of God is unspeakable.
His judgments are unsearchable. His ways pass finding out. The
riches of Christ are unsearchable. We can't do these things on our
own. God's got to reveal it to us.
God's got to speak to our hearts. He's got to plant that seed in
the good ground. But that's why we seek him. because
his ways are unsearchable, and it does pass knowledge, and it
is indescribable. And so we need him to teach us.
His ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts higher
than our thoughts. David said, teach me, O Lord,
the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end.
You gotta teach me. Give me understanding, and I
shall keep thy law, yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein
do I delight. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies
and not to covetousness. Turn mine eyes away from beholding
vanity. Quicken thou me in thy ways.
Establish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to our fear."
God's got to do that. God's got to teach us and give
us understanding and incline our hearts and direct us and
guide us and make us go in the way. It's by nature we're stiff-necked
and rebellious. Your treasure and what you are
seeking will reveal what you love. And I asked the question
earlier, do you love Christ? And we're given the warning in
the word of God, love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. For all that's in the world,
what is it? The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the pride of life. And these things are not of the
Father, it's of the world. And the world passes away and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever. That's all that's in this world. The lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It's our flesh,
what we see, who we are, who we think we are. You know, and it's like, you
know, our brother prayed tonight in regards to our children. You
know, we have, We have some young children here and we have some
young adults. And so many of them are coming
to an age where the world starts looking real attractive. The
world starts looking real attractive to them. And it's so important that we
teach them, that we instruct them, that by example, we live
a life that's a testimony to the gospel. Every time someone gets up and
prays, it's for our children. Our children. And they are our
children. They're our children. As a church of God, united together
in faith. And it always comforts me And I do, I pray for those who
are young and hear this, to know what the consequences are, because
these are eternal matters. The decisions that we make, the
way that we see things. And I desire that God would reveal
unto them at an early age, what is the true treasure? What is the pearl of great price? And through these parables reveal
unto them and us what is truly important in this world. What
true treasure is. You know, the things of this
world will bring you satisfaction. They will. They'll appease the
flesh. They will. But what it pleases, the spiritual
aspect of us. And there's nothing wrong with
enjoying the things of this world. God has given them to us to enjoy. He blesses us with so many things.
And I'm thankful for the things that I have. I'm thankful for
all of it. But where your treasure is, that's
where your heart is. And that's where the difference
lies. Are we looking at the things? Everything that we have, God's
given to us. You know, David even said, you
know, who are we that we can offer unto you the things that
you've given to us? You've given us these things
and we're offering them to you. Everything that we have is given
to us by God. And by his grace, we're content.
God make us content and thankful. Contentment and thanksgiving. This world knows nothing about
because there is no satisfaction in the things of this world.
It will not satisfy you. It will not satisfy you. It will
only leave you craving more because that is our evil nature. And children of God do not love
this world or the things of this world. We understand that this
world is temporary and everything outside of Christ is just vanity.
And by God's grace, because he loves us, we do love him. We do. To the believer, Christ is their
treasure. He is the precious pearl of great
price. But like His disciples, we leave
all and follow Him. Like the men in this parable,
we sell all and we follow Him. When the Lord called His disciples,
that very moment, Peter left his boat and his father and he
followed after Christ. It says they left everything
at that moment and they followed Him. Like Paul, we count all
things lost for Christ. Christ is our all. He is the
one thing needful in life, death, and eternity. The one thing needful
in life, death, and eternity. We seek Him at all times for
all things. We lay up treasure in heaven
and not on earth. Christ is our heaven. Our desire
is to be with Him, to be like Him, to worship Him, to serve
Him. That's our desire. We wanna be
just like Him and we wanna spend eternity worshiping and serving
Him, glorifying Him as He deserves to be worshiped and glorified
in truth and in purity. That's what we desire. We desire
it now, but we've got this flesh that we have to deal with. But
our desire, our treasure is to be with Him. And where the King
is, that's where the kingdom is. That's declared in Luke chapter
21, I believe it is. Where the King is, that's where
the kingdom is. So where is our treasure? It's
where the King is because He is my treasure. And that's the
kingdom of heaven. That's the kingdom of God. And we don't love this world.
or the things of this world, we love Him. And there's nothing
that can be compared to Him. He is altogether lovely. His
name, His name is wonderful. Have you found Him? Have you found Him? Do you seek
Him? Have you come to Him? The Lord Jesus Christ receives
sinners. He's merciful, he's gracious,
he's kind, he's forgiving, he's long-suffering. He receives sinners. Look at Jeremiah chapter 21 and
we're done. Jeremiah 21. I'm sorry, Jeremiah chapter 29. Do you seek him? David said in
the book of Psalms, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger and of great mercy. We read in Isaiah 55, seek ye
the Lord while he may be found. While he may be found. While he may be found. Tomorrow's not promised. Now
is the time of salvation. Seek him while he may be found.
You know, the Lord talked about that when the elders said, you
know, let me go home and bury my father. No, seek him now while
he may be found. And let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return on
to Lord and he will have mercy upon him. He said, all of the
father giveth me shall come to me and I'll no wise cast out.
Look at Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11. Lord said, I know the thoughts
that I think towards you, sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and
not of evil. to give you an expected end.
And I love that, the thoughts of God towards us. If we could
just enter into that just a little bit to like truly know the thoughts
of God toward us, who has loved us with an everlasting love,
who gave his son, whose son came to this world and suffered and
died and bled for our forgiveness. If we could just enter into that
just a little bit, his thoughts toward us. And it's an expected end. He
declares the end from the beginning. It's an expected end. Then shall
you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you. I will. We have the promise of
God. Come to him, seek him as a sinner
in need of a savior, as a sinner in need of mercy and grace, as
a sinner seeking that treasure, as a sinner seeking that pearl. That man sought for pearls. That's what he was looking for.
And he found one. He found the pearl. He had no desire for all the
other pearls after that. He found the one pearl. And you
shall seek me, verse 13, you shall seek me and find me, when
you shall search for me with all your heart. And that's what
the Lord does. He gives us a heart to seek him.
And we seek Him with our heart. These are our spiritual matters.
These are matters of the heart. In verse 14, I will be found. I will be found. I will be that
treasure found. I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity. I will gather
you from all the nations and from all the places whither I
have driven you, saith the Lord, and I will bring you again into
the place where I caused you to be carried away captive."
And that's the promise of the Lord right there. Those whose
treasure He is, those who are seeking that goodly pearl when
they found it, that's what the Lord does. He frees us from our
captivity, our captivity by Satan, our captivity by the judgment
of God's law. or captivity of sin, he frees
us from all of that. And one day he's gonna gather
all his people together. Every single one of them, they're
gonna be gathered together in that day of judgment. And then we'll truly know what
treasure is. We'll truly know. We've got a
little bit of an understanding of it right now, but it ain't much. Not when you compare
it with what will be revealed to us when we see Him as He is.
We see that expected end come to pass. Look back at our text real quick.
Let me leave you with one last question tonight. Look at verse 51. Matthew 13,
verse 51. Jesus saith unto them, have you
understood all these things? Have we understood these things
tonight? Have we understood Him? Seek Him for understanding. Seek
Him. Lord, give me understanding that
I may know Thee. I pray that He'll give us understanding
tonight in what we've heard and in what we've seen concerning
Christ, the treasure, and concerning Christ, the pearl. Let's pray.