Honor. If you will, turn in your
Bibles to Matthew 13. Like several others, I know that
preach. Sometimes I'm like, this is it.
God's gonna save somebody today. I have that hope. If he's pleased,
he will. If I didn't think so, what am
I doing? Matthew 13, we'll try something
a little different today. Let's see if it works. I think
it will. In Matthew 13, the Lord gives us a parable of the sower.
But the four tops of ground, we looked at that together out
of Mark back in 2019. I went and looked it up, did
you know that? Been a while, hasn't it? And he says in verse
nine, Matthew 39, he said, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. I ought to find an ear that wanted
to hear something. Verse 10 says, And the disciples
came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And
he said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of heaven. But to them,
it's not given. To those who don't see. Let me
say this accurately. I chose my words very carefully. Those who won't see. Those who won't hear. It's not
given to them. It's not given to them. Those
that used to hear. It's not given to them. They
never did hear. If they had heard, if they knew the gospel, they
couldn't ever go to something else. They couldn't ever leave
it. God's worked in them. They're His forever. I can't
get off track. Then verse 15, it says the people's
hearts wax gross. They're fattened themselves.
They don't need to hear. I said this last week, I'll say
it again. They don't need to hear because all their ability
and all their study and all their diligence. And I'll read this
commentary and that commentary and brother Henry and brother
this and Spurgeon and this and that and this. And the preaching
just happens to be something that's just a little bit add
on and incidental. Oh, that's nice. It goes along good with
all the stuff I'm doing. And they could take it or leave
it. That's because their hearts wax gross. And it is gross. In our modern vernacular. It's
wax gross and their ears, they're dull of hearing. It's just the
same old thing. And look what it says next in
verse 15. Look at it. Matthew 13, verse 15. And their
eyes have closed. How many times I've closed my
eyes? to his word. How many times I've closed my
ears to his preachers? Think about anything else. Make time
go by quicker. How many times I've dozed off? Their eyes closed, lest at any
time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
and they should understand, because they're being given knowledge
and understanding, right? With their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal them. But he speaks to those
that he's telling these parables to. He said, but blessed are
your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. And here
in this chapter, our master goes on to explain the parable of
the sower. He gave a sower and he said,
whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. He threw the dynamite. So often after services, everything
that God's doing, I try not to do too much or explain too much.
Or if people ask questions after, you can undo everything that
God just did. You know what I'm saying? You'll
muddy up everything the Lord's just doing. Leave it alone. Wait. Wait. I've seen it happen
recently. Leave it alone. Leave it alone.
He explains the power of the sower, because these are his
people. They have ears to hear, and he loves them, and he's patient
with them. And in verse 24, he says that the king of heavens
likes a good seed sown in the field, but then these weeds are
sown by somebody's enemy. And he gives instruction. He
said, let them grow up together. Let them grow up. I know the
difference between a dandelion and a stalk of corn. And he says,
leave it alone. Just leave it alone. He put there,
he'll handle it. Verse 31, he said, another parable
he put forth of them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like
a grain of mustard seed. He keeps speaking about this
kingdom of heaven, kingdom of heaven. I'm interested to know
what God says about his kingdom. Are you, are you interested? Kingdom of heaven's like a grain
of mustard seed. Are you guys set on things above? Can we keep our eyes on it for
a little bit? I'm gonna do everything I can
to keep it under 30 minutes. I got to, so y'all can have a
break in between. Then in verse 33, another parable he's speaking
to them. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. And he goes
on, he explains the parable of the weeds, and here in verse
44. Matthew 13, 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a treasure hid in a field, which when a man hath
found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all
that he hath, and buyeth that field. Who's speaking? The Master's speaking. What's
been the subject of these parables in this chapter? The kingdom
of God, the kingdom of heaven. What else has been the subject?
His work of giving his people the gospel. Everyone has parables. That's his work of him saving
his people through the preaching of the gospel. To God's people, that's an unmeasurable
treasure. It's an unspeakable gift, as
Paul said. And we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, in an old, ugly, sinful clay pot. It ain't nothing. Knows it ain't nothing. And he
puts that treasure in them. Why? That the excellency of the
power, you know how much studying I did? It don't matter. I ain't lazy. I might be dim-witted. That ain't my fault. If I'm lazy,
it's all my fault. It don't matter. There's diligence,
but that don't matter. The power may be of God and not of us. I dreamed a believer's spouse
died, and they called me and told me, they said, my spouse
died. And I woke up. I was kind of like going to sleep
and waking back up. And I woke up bawling. And I
said, I gave it all I had. I tried. I know God has to do
it, but I tried. He wasn't pleased to give the
power. powers of him. But it's hid in
earth, isn't it? It's given to us in earth, but
we don't hide it. It's him speaking, what he's doing. Who hides the
treasure? The man did. The man hid the
treasure, didn't he? That's who's doing the work.
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. And he's revealed
them unto babes. Are we babes in Christ? Are we
elders? Are we grown up? Queen Victoria,
I hope to meet her someday. I don't know. She said, it went
around at Christmas time. Everybody's thankful for her
there in England. Everybody said what they're thankful
for. And she said, I thank God for the letter M. Ma'am, what
your honor, your highness for where we are, your majesty. Why
are you thankful for the letter M? She said, because the scripture
say not many noble doesn't say not any noble are called. Maybe she was a babe. I don't
know. And for the joy Lord's hid these things. And for the
joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth the
field. For the joy, he sells all he has and buys the field.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising
the shame and sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.
You see the theme? You see this is about this chapter? Down in verse 47, it says again,
the kingdom of heaven is locked into a net. Now, out of all these parables,
there's a lot to be said about them, the order, and everything,
but the one that caught my eye, ever since Wednesday, y'all remember
Wednesday's message? But ye see me? But ye see me? There was one that caught my
eye, it was the one of the pearl. Man saw a pearl. Do you see a
pearl? Look here in verse 45, Matthew
13, 45. 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." Who's speaking? Christ is speaking. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking.
Who's he speaking to? Not everybody. Not everybody. He's speaking to those who have
ears to hear. I wish the Lord would teach me
that and settle my heart on it. Those that have ears to hear,
they'll hear. Those that have eyes that want
to see, they'll stay open. He'll keep them open. He's speaking
to those that have ears. What's the subject? What the
kingdom of heaven is like. What are each of these parables
pointing to? The work of God in and for sinners. The kingdom,
what the kingdom of heaven is doing coming down to us right
now, uh, what it's doing in our hearts on this earth and, and,
and what the kingdom of heaven is going to be like to come.
That's all in one sentence. You get that? That's a compound
with a colon separate two verses. God's words are mighty. They're
unfathomable, ain't they? It says in verse 45, again, the
kingdom of heaven is locked into a merchant man. Who's the merchant
man? You know that word? It doesn't just mean somebody
that buys and sells. The word means a traveling man that does
business. Are you a traveling man? Long
time. I'm a traveling man. More than
one cent. Sojourning. Sojourning is another
way of saying that. People say that. I've seen few
that mean it. I'm just passing through this
pulpit. Ain't that funny? We cling to
the things of this earth so much that there ain't no blood left
in our knuckles, our fingers are so tight. I do. Maybe somebody else does too.
Who's this traveling person? Christ. He traveled a great distance,
didn't he? Where'd he go from and to? He
went from his throne, rightful place and glory to the sin-cursed
earth. He traveled. Again, the kingdom
of heaven is like to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. Seeking. What was he seeking? The Lord
looked down from heaven, didn't he? Upon the children of men
to see if there are any that understood. If somebody had to
understand, they got all kinds of knowledge. Anybody understand? How can they, unless a man come
tell them, huh? See if anybody ever says, then he sought God.
He sought to see if they were seeking him. What'd he seek?
We read this somewhere else here in Genesis 6. God saw that the
wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And he said, I'm gonna burn it
all up. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was
seeking. He found Noah, didn't he? Look here in verse 46. Who? When
he had found one pearl, he was seeking goodly pearls and they
ain't none. We said, Nathanael, there's a
Israelite indeed and ain't no guile in him. He found one pearl. I might've told you this before.
Salvation's one-on-one. You get that? I'm gonna keep
saying it till it sinks in. You may not remember I said it,
and that's fine. Salvation's one-on-one. Who did the seeking
and the finding? David said there in Psalm 53,
he said, none sought God. None sought after him. This is
the Redeemer seeking his own, one at a time, one-on-one, not
for somebody else, not through the ears of somebody else. He
seeks his own one at a time. Over in Luke 15, he said, he
spake a parable unto them saying. The Lord had a lot of parables,
didn't he? I was told years ago, man said, I don't think preachers
ought to use illustrations. And I was like, well, our Lord
preached in parables. I think it's all right with me to explain
it. He explained them too. He spake a parable to them saying,
what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go
after that lost one till he find? One at a time. One-on-one. Somebody called and asked me
how many people they had to have assembled for me to preach. I
need two people, me and somebody there. I look them dead in the eye and
say, I pray God save somebody today. Don't make them mad, they might
be paying attention to me. Text says there in verse 45,
again, the king of heaven is like to a merchant man seeking
goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl, of great price,
it was beautiful to him, went and sold all that he had and
bought it. Let me read some scripture to
you. Let me tell you what God's word says. John told us this,
it was manifested, in this was manifested the love of God towards
us because God sent his only begotten son into the world.
He didn't send 10%. He didn't send half of them.
He didn't send 99%. He sent His only. That's all. His begotten Son into the world
that we might live through Him. Here in His love, not that we
love God. I love Jesus. Bumper stickers
all over the place. Every day there won't be no bumpers.
I'm glad for that. Here in His love, not that we love God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for
our sins, set him to be the payment, set him to sell himself to be
the acceptable bloody sacrifice, mercy seat, atonement, the propitiation. He gave himself, didn't he? Paul
wrote this, he said, he that spared not his own son, Not he
that gave 99% of his own son, he spared not. He gave all of
himself. He spent himself. You get that? He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. How shall you not also with him
freely give us all thanks? Who shall lay anything in charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. How do we justify? Because he was sent and he gave
himself for his sheep. And we're his. Who? Those that have ears to hear.
Those have open eyes to see. What? Know ye not your body? My dad always said, I know my
body. He couldn't say body. There's an I in there or something.
He'd go, the doctor says, fine. He said, I know my body. Do you
know your body? You know when you're hurt and
what it feels like. I don't know when you're hurt and what it
feels like. We know our... He said, know not that your body's
the temple of the Holy Ghost. Have you been baptized with the
Holy Ghost? Don't you know? What are you
talking about, Paul? You don't know? You know that.
It's your body, your mind, your heart's in you. You have God. You're not your own. You were
bought with a price. I know I'm not my own. I know
I'm bought with a price. I got some inkling of what that
price was. It was a blood of God. Ain't something to flip it and
throw around, is it? Peter said this, for as much
as you know, that you were not redeemed with corruptible things
of silver and gold, and those vain conversations, that's brutal,
if God makes somebody hear it, your vain conversations received
by tradition to your fathers, but you were redeemed with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish,
without spot, without sin. And we're just a piece of sand
found in a clam. Ain't nothing. Rough, right? That's how you tell good pearls,
you know that? Pearl jewelry, I didn't know you wear it more
than that. You take fake ones, rub them on your teeth, smooth. You
take real ones, rub them on your teeth, it's gritty. You gritty? Or are we just sweeter than sugar? We're a pearl. He shed his blood for us. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us, for it's written, curses everyone that hang on the tree,
that the blessing of Abraham might come on to Gentiles. Old
Gentile dogs, old Gentile pearls. Used to diamonds and lobsters
were prostitutes in this nation back in 1800s, you know that?
Verse 45, again, the king of heaven is like a merchant man
seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl, great
price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. When the
Lord says, I was reading the Proverbs this morning, only,
contention comes only by pride. There's any contention, any disagreement,
any feelings hurt, any offending, anything comes only by pride.
Now, when God says only, what do you think he means? You say,
well, most of the time, or some, you know, yeah, it's a good rule
of thumb. It means only. When God says
all, this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. When he says all, he
sold all that he had. What does he mean by all? Unimaginable. God turned his
back on God for a gritty piece of sand, gritty piece of dirt,
earth. He gave all. You know what the
scriptures say too? Though he was rich for our sakes,
we have eyes to see, eyes that's been opened, ears that's been
opened. Though he was rich for our sakes, he became poor. He wasn't made poor. I typed
that out originally. I went and looked it up. That
was wrong. He became poor, willingly. he became poor, that we, through
his poverty, through him giving A-double-L all, we might be made
rich. How we made rich is we're just
an old pearl. We're his. Well, that don't sound like gold
streets. Who cares? It ain't important to them people.
It's dead. Dead. They don't care. I can
shoot the barbed arrows of the gospel straight into a dead man's
heart, and they don't flinch because there's no life in them. But to you who are alive, you
who have been bought, what's our inheritance? You're his.
Ha! We're sons. We're daughters. That's life changing. That's
life changing. Because it's a new life. It's
a new creation. Now, this is about the Lord Jesus
Christ seeking his people, him finding his people, him giving
all of himself for his people, him laying down his life for
his friends, for his sheep, willingly, and buying them. Buying them
for his own. The ugly ones. Have nothing in
them. He found it. What did that pearl
look like? I'm thankful we ain't told. It was a great price to him,
isn't it? He said it's pretty. Don't you
call something unclean, God called clean. Now, what about me and
you? What about me and you? What else
does this text tell us about the kingdom of heaven? The context
is what Christ does for his people, but this applies to us, don't
it? That's us. Peter said unto you, therefore,
which believe he is precious. Not to everybody. Not to those
that agree with theology. You take your theology and have
at it. I'll take him. He's precious. Christ is our one pearl of great
price. If he is, if he's given us eyes
and ears to hear, he's everything. When I got some other more important,
something important's coming up, then that's what's important.
What you put your time in, what you put your heart on, that's
where your heart is. Where your treasure is, that's where your
heart is. Where you put your time, where you put your effort,
where you put your worry, where you put your concern, your effort, your prayer, that's
where your heart is. For the believer, Christ has
made our one pearl, and he's of great price, isn't he? That
rich young ruler, he asked, what must I do to inherit life? And
he said, you know the commandments? You know these, don't commit
adultery, don't kill, don't steal, don't bear fault with us, defraud
not, honor your father and mother. And he said, I've observed this
from my youth. He was righteous. He kept a law,
didn't he? And Jesus beholding him loved
him. He told him the truth. And he said, you lack one thing.
You go sell whatsoever thou hast and you give it to the poor.
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and take
up thy cross and follow me. It ain't gonna be fun. It ain't
gonna be, we'll see it next hour. When you get to the house of
Bethel, people's gonna die. Sometime God kills people to bring his
people to the house of Bethel, to the house of God. And he went
away sad, he grieved, because he had great possessions. What'd
he have? Well, he was rich, and he was young, he had youth, he
had power, he was a ruler. And you know what else he had?
He says it right there, he has a righteousness. He picked the right gospel. He
read the right books. He tithed the right amount. He
did this, he did that. He put Bibles in the right place.
He prayed for the right things. He had a prayer list this long.
You ever seen me read from a prayer list? It's on purpose. I'm here
to be a good example for you. People don't care about my example.
Told you plainly and you ignored it. He had all those things and
he was sad because he won't give himself, did he? What do we sell
off for Christ? What do we give away for that
one pearl great price? He said, Matthew 10, here's the
cost of discipleship. Here's the terms of surrender.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not, well, they're just persistent. Now I gotta
keep mommy and daddy happy. I gotta go to church where mommy
and daddy goes to. Or my son, I just gotta move in with my
son. He just won't let up. There's no gospel church there.
I just, what'd God say? I wanna warn people before they
die, Bob. I'll sit back like Jonah one
day and eat my ice cream and say, I told you. Until then,
I got work to do. He that findeth his life, shall
lose it." Boys, this is my life. This is my passion. It's woodworking
or whatever, I don't know, filling the blanks. Fishing or desert
four-wheeling or something. He that loseth his life for my
sake shall find it. Forsake all. Take up your cross
and follow me. Cross means you're going to die.
You're going to die to this world. A gospel that costs you nothing
is worth nothing. A gospel that costs you nothing
is worth nothing. Now, Kevin, are you saying you
all have to work or give? No, I don't talk about that.
If we don't have to cast away all of our worldly things, if
we don't have to cast away our pride and our righteousness and
our good thinking and our good deeds and all this junk that's
filthy rags, used menstruation cloths. One day I'll get to steam
up to say it in modern vernacular. That's what it is. Do we count
that? Do we count it as done? All those years of church and
it was just so good and it was done. It's poop. Or is it not? God's people say
it is. It wasn't profitable. He said,
it shall not profit my people. Is he lying? Or do you know better
than God? I'm going to give you an old
illustration. And this sums it up well, it's
what got me hooked. A man went to buy some pearls one time and
he found the perfect one. He fell in love with that pearl.
That's what the Lord did for us. He loved that pearl and he
loved him to the end. And I'm my beloved, I'm his possession
and my beloved's mine. You get that? Man went and saw,
he found a pearl and he fell in love with that pearl. And
he asked the owner of that store, he said, how much is this pearl? And he
said, I'll take all that you got, whatever you got on it.
That's how much it is. And so he looked in his wallet,
and he said, I got $200. He said, I'll give you $195. He said,
what? No, I said all. You want this
pearl, you're going to have to give all. And he said, why are
you keeping $5? He said, well, I got to put gas
in my car. Oh, you got a car? I didn't know you had a car.
I'll need that car. You give me the keys. And he said, well,
how am I going to get to my business? Oh. Oh, you got a business? You give me the keys to that
business. Man, I really want this pearl. You're about to find
out how valuable that pearl is to this man, ain't you? And he
said, well, if I don't have a business, how am I going to pay for my
house? Oh, you got a house? Give me the keys to your house. There
won't be a roof. Here's where it gets me. I hope
I can do it without just crying. There won't be a roof over my
children's head. Oh, you got children? You give
me the children. Aunt gave his children, his two
daughters, for the gospel day. I can enter into that a little
bit. That was the last thing. Did
he give it that? Give your children. Give your children. You want
this pearl? So it cost you everything. That man wept. He said, it's
yours. Give me the pearl. Take it all. He started walking out of that
store and the merchant called to him and said, hold on, hold
on. Got some better news. That's the good news. You got
the pearl. That's life eternal. That's better news. You take
that pearl, but you keep everything you already have. You keep it
all. You keep it all. But you remember
everything that you have is mine. You got the pearl and everything
you've got is mine. You hear that? If my friends
come to town and they want to borrow that car you put $5 worth
of gas in, you give them my car. Ain't your car. It's on loan
to you. Give them that car. If someone
you know needs a job at that business of yours, that ain't
your business. That's my business. It's my friend. You hire them
and you pay them top dollar. Ain't your business. That's my
friend. One of my people comes by your
house, you put them up, you feed them, and you don't give them
ramen noodles. You feed them the best food you
got. Because they're my friends, and that's my food you're eating
in my house. If I take one of my children
back to my cell, because they're mine now, you say it's right. Job said, naked I came out of
my mother's womb. He said this after he ran his mantle and he
shaved his head and he fell down on the ground and he worshiped.
He didn't say, oh, hello, father. He wasn't some squeaky Christian,
he was a man of God. And he dressed appropriately
to worship God and he fell down and he hid his face. And he said,
naked I came out of my mother's womb, naked I returned there,
the Lord gave, the Lord's taken away, blessed be the name of
the Lord. And in all that Job sinned not, nor did he charge
God with folly. Well, how could you be hurt as
much as you're hurt? That ain't right. Hogwash, God
did it. He's right. Mankind's fools. And if he takes one of my children,
they're his, they're on loan. Whatever he did, I got the pearl.
And all this. And all this. What's he worth
to you? Paul said, no one, brethren,
your election of God. Paul knew they were God's elect.
Remember when I talked about feeding my dinosaurs last week?
I mean, my chickens. I've never seen an elephant and
a chicken yet. No one, brethren, your election of God. Our gospel
came to you not in word only. You didn't just memorize a bunch
of scripture. It came in power. The lights got turned on. And
then the Holy Ghost, and much assurance, He became followers
of us, not followers of others. Of us. And you received the Word,
and you were examples. You walked through this world,
Macedonia and Achaia, like people that believed God. And from you
sounded out the Word. You supported the Gospel, and
you went out and got a job, you did anything it took to support
the Gospel in your local community. And you made sure that you saved
up some more to support the gospel abroad. You sent it out, sent
out the word. They themselves show us what manner of entering
in. We had to do how you turned to God from idols. You turn from
that old junk. You sell it. Well, we don't sell
it, do we? We'll see that in another week
there with Jacob. Bury it. We'll read over Acts
and Sons of Seba. Then people took their curious
art. Well, that art sure is curious. They burned it, it was worth
50,000 pieces of silver. Why? So nobody else got it. Jacob
took those idols of Rachel, they buried them underneath the tree,
so nobody else find them. We don't sell it to somebody
else, we don't give a false gospel, so we don't encourage people
to go listen to wrong things. God's people, don't, stop it
if you do. Burn it, give it away, or bury it, don't we? We turn
or burn. Turn from your idols to serve
the true and living God, and you wait for the God from heaven.
Chick and the pig were, Walking along, both of them said, I'm
hungry. And there's a restaurant they walked past and said, ham
and eggs. And that chicken said, let's
go in and eat. And the pig said, well, hold on now. He goes, for
you, it's only a contribution. For me, it's total commitment. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, that's the
whole of you, A-double-L, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
to God, which is your reasonable service. We've been given the
pearl. Is there anything unreasonable
that could be asked of us? What's worth more? If he's precious,
nothing's worth more. Nothing is, isn't it? Let's pray
together. Father, thank you for this hour.
Lord, open the eyes of your people. Open ears of your people and
let us see Christ and hear of this good news, Lord. His love
for us and him giving his life for us. While we're still enemies,
while we're sinners, Stir up that love within us. Make that
our motivation for everything. Make his kingdom, the kingdom
of heaven, our one desire. And give us the patience to deal
with those that are dead. Give us tender hearts, knowing
that we too live with our eyes closed and our ears shut for
a long time. Give us that grace, Lord, to
be patient, long-suffering to those that are not yet yours. Forgive us. Forgive us for clinging
to everything in this world. Break us, Lord, at all cost,
that we may win Christ. Because of Him, we ask this,
and we trust your word. Amen. All right. I was shooting for 20 minutes.
I didn't do it.