I know that the day began early
for some of you, Wednesday, middle of the week, get out early and
go to work, and the day was long for some of you. Your day ended
just a short time ago, and you made an effort to be here tonight. It's already been worth the effort,
singing these hymns and seeing one another, fellowshipping in
Christ, having the posture back, hearing the Word read. I was
just glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of the
Lord. I'm glad I have the desire to
be here. That's from God. Many, many people
have no desire to worship God. They don't know Him, and they
care not to worship Him. But He's given me a heart that
desires His presence. I desire the presence of the
Lord, and that's grace. He could have left me alone,
and I wouldn't be here. And then I have the strength
physically to come here. I'm not bedside. I'm not in a
rest home. Many people my age are. And many people, their minds
are gone. We have a member of our church,
a lady now, that her son had to have her put in an institution. And she's not able to be in the
process. And there's just so many things that could be my lot. And I'm sure that's why
David said, I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house
of the Lord. And I was willing to go, and
I wanted to go. And he said another time, and
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell
in the tent of the witches and be one of their princes. At least,
I'd rather be a janitor in God's house. So I hope the Lord will
give me something for use. I prayed that. I said, Lord,
bless us with a word from thee. Let's hear from him. If my voice
is the only voice you hear tonight, accomplish much. But if we hear
him who speaks through his word, through his servant, from heaven,
much will be accomplished. Matthew 13 is where we'll be
studying. Matthew 13. First I'll read verse
34 and 35 of Matthew 13. Our Lord spoke to the people
in parables The Lord spoke to the people
in parables, Matthew 13, 34. All these things spake Jesus
unto the multitude in parables. Without a parable spake he not
unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things
which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world."
A parable is what? An earthly story used to illustrate
divine truth. Your pastor is very good at taking
the common, ordinary, everyday happenings and applying them
to the grace of God. And that's what our Lord Jesus
did. He took the whole Lift up your eyes upon the field, they're
white already to harvest. Consider the sparrow, not one
falls to the ground without your father. Consider the lilies of
the field, Solomon in all his glory, never raised like one
of these." The Lord just took the common, ordinary, everyday
things of life and used them to illustrate divine truth. That's
what a parable is. Perhaps one of the most familiar
parables is the parable of the lost sheep. When he said a man
had a hundred sheep, one of them was lost, will he not leave the
ninety and nine and go into the wilderness and seek that lost
sheep? Seek till he finds it. When he
finds it, he'll put it on his shoulders and bring it home.
And he'll say to all of his people, Rejoice with me, this my sheep
was lost, now it's found. That's Christ seeking his sheep.
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, and they'll hear my voice, and there'll be one
fold and one shepherd." And they'll rejoice. They're rejoicing in
heaven over one sinner that repented that God brings home. And here
tonight, in Matthew 13, there are just several parables. They're
just one right after the other. But there are three that I want
us to look at. Three short parables, and I just
feel they'll be a blessing. Starting in verse 45. No, verse
44. starting in Matthew 13, 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven,
this is Christ speaking, this is our Lord speaking, the kingdom
of heaven, kingdom of God, the kingdom of God's dear Son, call
it, you know, whatever, whatever word you want to call it, the
kingdom of God, is like unto 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 dies to thee." What
is this treasure? The kingdom of heaven is like
a treasure. What is this treasure? It's the
gospel. This treasure is the gospel.
Let me show you that Paul refers to it in 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Paul refers to the gospel. as
the treasure, the treasure which we have an earthen vessel. See,
in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3. Let's read several verses. But if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, the treasure hid in the field. If
our gospel be hid, read on, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus, But we have this treasure in an earthen vessel, that the excellence of the power
may be of God and not of us." What a treasure. Our Lord calls
it a treasure. He said, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. He hath adorned me to preach
the gospel to the poor. Deliverance to the captives,
healing for the brokenhearted, recovery of sight to the blind,
the acceptable year of the Lord was creature. Hannah in 1 Samuel
talked about this treasure. She said, He'll raise the poor
out of the dust. He'll lift the beggar from the
dung beetle and set him among princes and make him inherit
the throne of glory. Paul in Romans 1 said, I'm not
ashamed of this treasure, this gospel. It's the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believes it. To the Jew
first and also to the Greek. For this gospel enables God to
be just and justify us. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed in that gospel. What a treachery. Well, he said,
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field. What's the field? Now the treasure
is the gospel. What a treasure. Oh, I can't
even explain what a treasure it is. Oh, the unsearchable riches
of Christ. What a treasure. But what's the
field? Well, the field is the scripture. The gospel of Christ. The gospel
of Christ is hid entirely from natural men. If our gospel be
hid, it's hid to them that are lost. And then in 1 Corinthians
2, Paul says this, if they had known who he was, they wouldn't
have crucified him. But the natural man is blind,
and deaf, and his heart is hard, and the gospel is hid from him.
And the gospel religion was hid in some measure from these Old
Testament believers. Let me show you that in Hebrews
chapter 11. There's much that they did not
know and did not see. They saw enough, but Hebrews
11. Turn over there just a minute. Hebrews 11 verse 13. Hebrews
11, 13. It says, concerning Enoch and Abel and Noah and Abraham. It says in verse 13, These all
died in faith, not having received the promises. Oh, they received
the promises, but not the fulfillment of the promises. Abraham received the promises,
but not the fulfillment of the promises. They didn't see Christ
in Bethlehem's manger and on the cross, risen from the tomb.
They had the promise of His coming. And there He don't. But they
saw Him afar off. And they were persuaded of Him.
And they embraced Him. They were persuaded that these
promises are true. What God has promised he was
able to perform. That's what Abraham said. And
then the gospel is hid from the natural man. The gospel in a
sense was hid in a measure from even the Old Testament believers.
And sitting right here tonight are many of God's elect. And
there was a time when the gospel was hidden from you. You didn't
forget. You were in false religion or
no religion at all. Oh, the gospel was hid from us
too. There was a time when I saw the
gospel. I remember when your dad saw
the gospel. Did I ever tell you all that story? Her dad, Mindy's
dad, was brought up in a Christian church. I wish it were a Christian
church, but that was the name of it. He was an ascetic from
the time he was a little boy. Little boy's mother played the
piano in another church, went to church, he went to the Christian
church. But anyway, he reached about 35 or 40 years of age,
and he said he realized that what he was hearing was not the
gospel. He didn't know the gospel. He
just knew he wasn't hearing the gospel. And he quit. And his pastor had been his pastor
for 25 years. And he came to him and said,
Eddie, why have you quit church? He said, I quit because I'm not
hearing something. I don't know why I'm not hearing.
I just don't know what I'm supposed to be hearing. And so he asked
a friend of his about our church. And he came out one Sunday. And
he listened to me, and I knew it real well. And I was standing
at the door shaking hands when he went out, and I said, Well,
Eddie's glad to have you here. Come back. He said, I might.
You know, he's pretty sharp sometimes, telling you what he thinks. He
did that about three or four Sundays. I might. He'd skip a
Sunday and come and listen, but he'd listen with frown on his
face. One person. And he came out the door, and I shook
hands with him, and I said, Eddie, come back. He said, I'll be here
tonight. I'll be here Wednesday. I'll be here next Sunday. I see
what you're saying. I see what you're saying. Man said, that Mexico one time,
Nilsen and I had a service. He said, I've heard you fellows
a lot of times tonight. I heard you. I said, this time you didn't
hear the gospel. It's hidden. It was hidden. It was hid where? It was hid
right here. It's here all the time. It's
here all the time. But see, if I don't know where
something is, it's hidden to me. Paul said in Ephesians, hidden
in God. Well, this is God's Word. Christ
is called the Word of God. Is hid in Christ? Hid in His
Word. Incarnate Word and the written
Word. It was hid in the promises. Back yonder, the first promise
God made to Adam and Eve. He said, I'll put enmity between
the woman and the serpent and her seed will bruise his head
and he'll bruise his heel. That's the gospel. If you know
what it means. It's there all the time, but
I didn't know what it meant. The gospel, Isaiah 9, 6, under us
a child is born, under us a son is given. A child is born who
was never here, a son is given who was from everlasting. He
came and inhabited a body, and his name was Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
and the government on his shoulders. The gospel's there, you see it.
Here in the promises. who hath believed our report,
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. He'll grow up as a
tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form
of comeliness, no beauty that we should desire him. Here is
it where our faith is from him. He is despised and rejected of
men. A man of power is acquainted
with greed, but he was wounded by a transgression, bruised by
an infirmity. Catastrophes of our peace laid
on him. Fights, strikes were his. in the promises. It's there if
you can see it. It's there all the time. It's
here, and it's here in the tithe. The tithe over land, that's Christ. The smitten rock, that's Christ.
The brazen serpent lifted up, that's Christ. The cities of
refuge, that's Christ. The kinsman redeemer, that's
Christ. All the wisdom, it's here in the scriptures. And those Jews read these things
every day, did not understand them, and fulfilled them in crucifying
their Lord. And when they fulfilled everything
that was written of Him, they took Him down from the cross.
Were they following the blueprint? They didn't know it, but they
were. God's blueprint. God's purpose and God's plan.
But they were doing just exactly what they wanted to do, out of
hatred and rejection. But they did what God determined
before to be done. Oh, it's here, it's here in the
promises, here in the tithe, and you know something? It's
even hidden in the very gospel that's being preached in the
world today. Turn to John 6. Let me show you
that. John chapter 6. It's hidden in the very gospel
that men are preaching. In John chapter 6, verse 58. Our Lord is preaching, the greatest
preacher, who has the Spirit without measure. He said, I know
what I'm speaking. And yet, listen to their response. Verse 58, John 6, This is that
bread which came down from heaven. Not as your father did eat manna,
that's a type, and a dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. And many, therefore, of his disciples
said, when they heard this, heard, he said, I'm the bread from heaven.
When they heard it, they said, this is a hard thing. This is
difficult. We don't understand. Who can
hear it? He said, they said, who can understand
it? We can't. And when Jesus knew
in himself that his followers, these are not the twelve, these
are the followers, murmured at it, he said, does this offend
you? Do these words offend you? What if you'll see the Son of
Man ascend up where He was before? Wait till you see Him in His
revealed glory. If this offends you, that'll
shock you. Wait till you see that. It's
as fair as a quicken if the flesh profiteth nothing. The words
that I speak to you, they're fairer. They're lies. But there's
some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. He
said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me,
except it was given him of my Father. And from that time many
of his followers went back and walked no more. They heard the
gospel from the lip of the Son of God, and still they didn't
hear it. It's hid in the promises, it's
hid in the tithes, it's hid in the scriptures, it's even hid
in the preaching of the gospel, till the Holy Spirit opens the
ears to him. Matthew 16, turn over there just
a moment. Matthew chapter 16, listen to
this. Matthew 16, verse 13. Matthew 16, 13. When Jesus came
into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, whom
do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some
say you're John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. He said to them, but whom say
you that I am? And Simon Peter said, you're
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said,
Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. Bless him good. Didn't reveal
that to you, but my father. He gave the ears to hear and
eyes to see. Blessed are your eyes, they say.
And you sitting here tonight, and this preacher, blessed are
our eyes. The seeing eyes of the Lord,
the hearing ears of the Lord, the believing heart is of the
Lord. It's given unto us to believe.
All right, my text. Let's get back
to my text. Matthew 13. All right? Verse 44, the kingdom of heaven
is like a treasure. That's the gospel. Hid in a field. I told you what that field is.
The Word and the Word. It's hid in God, in Christ. How did he find this gospel? How did he find it? Did he just
happen up on it? Was it an accident? Did he have
superior intelligence to everybody else that was around? Debbie,
you found the gospel. How'd you find it? Was it because
you were smarter than anybody else, or because you just happened
up on it? Was it an accident? God revealed
it to you. He crossed your path, just like
He did the woman for Mary. He made an engagement to meet
you one day. You didn't know her. He knew
her. He sent the picture, and you heard the gospel. That goes
for all of us. That's what he said in 1 Corinthians.
He said, you can quote it, most of you can, 1 Corinthians chapter
2. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians
2, verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2, 9. But as it is
written, I have not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared. prepared for them that love him.
Christ said, I go to prepare a place for you. Prepare a place. This is nonsense. This is talking
about redemption. This is talking about a place
in glory. This is talking about acceptance with the Father. This
is talking about justification. Christ prepared it. What, did
he go up to heaven and start building a city? No. He went
to the cross and redeemed the sinners. He went to the tomb
and bore our sins, and He rose our justifier without sin. He
attended as our high priest and put His blood on the mercy seat
of glory. And He appeared there as our
forerunner, and we appeared with Him, and we seated with Him.
He's there, and because He's there, we'll be there. I go to
prepare a place, a place for you, a place. And listen, if this old tabernacle
be dissolved, this building, this tent—it's not a building,
it's a tent, nothing permanent about a tent—is a frail thing. It's subject to decay and rotting,
and it's worthless when it's got holes in it. And so we fold
it up and put it away. We have a builder. a building, a house not made
with hands, already prepared in heaven, prepared by God. Christ said, I did that. I did
that. All right, read on. But God hath
revealed them to us by His Spirit. That's how we found this treasure. God revealed it to us by His
Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. So this treasure, the gospel,
It's here in the promises, in the tidings, in the pictures,
in the scriptures, in the story, in the gospel. And God Almighty
revealed it to us. He found it. He found it. What did He do when He found
it? Matthew 13. He found it. You know, old Nathanael said,
Philip went and found Nathanael. He said, We've come to Christ.
We've found the Christ. And Nathanael said, Where? He
said, He came out of Galilee. He said, Can any good thing come
out of Galilee? He said, You come, Satan. That's
all I got to say. You come and I've found him of
whom it's written. And you know what he did? It
says here, and when a man has found, he hides it. He hides
it. And for joy he goes and sells
all that he has and buys that table. He heard this gospel and
he hid it. Where'd he hide it? In his heart.
That's where he hid it. It says in Psalm 119 verse 11,
this is what it says, listen, Psalm 119 verse 11. It says,
Thy word have I hid in my heart. that I might not sin against
thee." When this man finds this treasure, this gospel of God,
this gospel that enables God to be just and justify, this
gospel that fulfills all the Word, this gospel that justifies
the chief of sinners, This gospel, it puts away all of our sins.
This gospel, it saves us effectually and eternally. This gospel, it
keeps us. This gospel, it takes us to glory.
He said, I'm not going to let that get away. I'm going to hide
it in my heart. I'm not letting anybody go. I'm
going to hide it in my heart. I'm going to keep faith. I'm
going to find out more about it. I'm going to search the scriptures. I'm going to listen. I'm going
to be a healer. We talked about Sunday morning,
the woman at the well. She was a talker. Oh, she was a talker. Everything
God said, she replied back. Everything Christ said, she'd
reply right back at it. Just fire right back. Finally,
she shut her mouth and became a healer. And she said, when
the Messiah comes, he's going to tell us. He said, I'm he.
Now sit down and listen. And that's what this fella, he
got the word and he's ready to sit down and listen. He's not
going to let it get away. He's not going to let it get
away. And then he goes and sells everything
that he has and buys the field. The whole field. Everything about
Christ. Everything about Him. Not just
the free ride to heaven. Not just the one-way ticket to
glory. He buys the whole field. That's right. And He sells all
that He has. Well, man, did He go sell His
home and quit His job and sell His business? No. If He sold
His home, He had to move in front of you all. If he'd quit his job, somebody
would go out and buy him some food. If he'd have sold his business,
he'd have had to fire all of his employees. And nobody would
be making a living. No, that's not what he's talking
about. He realizes this. He cannot embrace this gospel
of redeeming grace and keep his religious tradition. Take it
with us. That's what Paul found then,
Paul of Tarsus. He said, does anybody think they've
got confidence in the flesh? I'm over it. He said, I was born
of the Hebrew of Hebrews, the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Pharisee
concerning zeal. I persecuted the church, concerning
the law. I was blameless. All of these
things I've sold out. I counted but lost. count them
but don't. And this man realized that his
religious tradition, your dad realized that his church down
there didn't fit this church here. So that one had to go. That's what we know. That one
had to go. And then he cannot embrace the
gospel and still brag about his righteousness. And it works. He can't brag about it. It's
Christ's righteousness, not mine. My righteousness is a filthy
rat. I gotta, they gotta go too. And
I cannot embrace the gospel and my friendship and comradeship
with the world. I can't walk with them that are
not walking with Christ. I can work with them, because
I have to. have to work in public works,
you do. You have to work among people, but you don't have to
socialize with them. You don't have to bring them
home with you. You don't have to talk like they talk, and cheat
like they cheat, and lie like they lie, and count them as your
broken buddies. That's what he sold out. He sold
all these things. He parted with them. He wants
that to heal. He wants this. He wants the whole
thing. He wants Christ and his friends. He cannot have two masters. He
knows that. The master that he's been serving
all his days, he's been the servant of sin, servant of this world,
has to go. He cannot embrace the gospel
of sovereign, free, redeeming grace and the gospel of free
willism. And that means a lot of his relatives
are going to become his foes. Unfortunately, it's just so.
Our Lord said, a man's enemies will be sometimes of his own
household. Like a lady, a mother said to
a lady in our church, her daughter, after several months and several
years of this conflict over the gospel, a mother, a very religious
woman, she finally said to her dear, beloved daughter, you and
I just worship in two different jobs. She said, Mama, that's
what I've been trying to tell you. Well, that's going to make
a problem. But you sell out, don't you? You sell out. I've got to have
this paid. All right. Let's look at the
next parable here, but I won't be as long on this. Well, this
one, when you get that He became identified with Christ. All right, verse 45. Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly
pearls. Now, who is this pearl? Let's
read the next verse to you. And who, when he hath found one
pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought
it. Who's the pearl? That's Christ. one precious,
precious pearl. Now here's a man, a merchant
man who's a seeker. He's a seeker. His mind and his
heart has been aroused to seek goodly pearls. What was he looking
for? He was looking for goodly pearls. He'd seen the imitations and they didn't appeal to him. That was what your dad said.
I've seen the imitations. I don't know what I'm looking
for. I'm looking for the real thing. See, the false messiahs, the
phony prophets, the phony saviors, the saviors that don't say. This
man's looking for goodly pearls. He hasn't found it yet, but he's
looking for the goodly pearls. He's examined and found flaws
in all the others. Have you ever seen that jeweler
when you take him a diamond, he sticks that thing in his eye
and he holds it up like this? He's looking for carbon. He's
looking for splits in that diamond. He's looking for flaws. And he'll
find them through that. And that's the way this merchant
man was. He'd seen all the flaws and the carbon in all the religion
of this world. He's looking for the one He's
looking for the true way of life. I'll tell you some fellas, the
eunuch was looking for that. The eunuch had been to Jerusalem.
Remember? He'd been up there to all the
feasts. He'd heard the Pharisees. He'd heard all these fellas.
He'd watched them go through the motions and all that. He'd
been to the big Bible conference in the capital city, Jerusalem. And he was leaving that, down,
down, down, reading the Word of God. And God sent him a preacher,
and he found the pearl. Cornelius. Cornelius was a member
of a Gentile bunch, but he was looking for the pearl. And he
looked for it so diligently, God sent it to him. He was a
seeker, wasn't he? He's seeking the way of life.
And God sent Peter to him. I'll tell you another one. Simeon,
that old man, God told him. He said, you're not going to
die until you see the Lord's Christ. And that old man made
a thousand trips to that temple. A thousand trips to that temple. His feet could have walked there
without his eyes being open. He'd been there, Simeon, looking
for this purple. He said, I'll know him when I
see him. And he saw a lot of babies coming in. A lot of mamas
bring babies in there. He saw a lot of people. He saw
a lot of false messiahs. But that old man's heart never
moved a peg. Not a peg. He said, I know him
when I see him. I'll know him when I see him.
And he came in there one day and Mary was there with our Lord
in her arms. And he took the baby out of her
arms. And he said, now Lord, According to your word, let me
leave here in peace. I see him. I found him. Have you found him? I tell you, if you're a real
seeker, you'll find him. John the Baptist found him. John the
Baptist finally went to prayer and he sent his two disciples
and said, go ask him if he's really the Christ. Go ask him. He's got to be. He's just got to be. But what
am I doing in jail if he's the Christ? This man's a seeker. And he knows
when he finds it. He'll know when he finds it.
He'll know when he finds it. And I'm telling you, if anybody,
your relatives of mine, or church members up there at 13th Street,
or friends, folks we invite to come to church, we want them
to come, we want them to come, our children, our grandchildren,
if they're real seekers, if they mean business, if they're not
playing games, they'll find it. That's right. If they're looking
for it. If you're looking for it. Seek you the Lord with all
your heart. He said, you'll seek me and find
me. God's not playing games with
sinners. You seek me, you'll find me when you search for me
with all your... This man says, I'm going to have
the good pearl, or I'm not going to have one at all. And he found
it. Oh, listen. He says here, Man's
seeking. He's seeking that pearl. When
he found that one pearl of great price, he went and sold all he
had and bought it. He found it. John, you read about
him Sunday night in the study God, who at sundry times in diverse
manners spake to our fathers with the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom he made the worlds, whose the brightness
of his glory, the exact image of his person, who, when he had
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of God." I recognized
him when you read it. I said, that's him. Didn't you? That's him. That's the one I'm
talking about. That's the one I'm talking about.
That's the one I'm going to preach about tonight. I felt that when
you read that. That's the one. That's the pearl of great power.
All others are phonies. That's right. And my sheep won't
hear him, he said. They won't hear another shepherd.
Another shepherd they will not follow. Another boar they will
not listen to. Not when you hear him. And this
man, he found the altogether lovely one, the chief cornerstone,
the bread of life, the unsearchable riches of God, the lily of the
valley, the bright morning star, the sure foundation, the faithful
witness, the great physician, the captain of our salvation,
the way, the truth, the life, the sower, the seed, and the
Lord of the harvest, our refuge, our hiding place, one pearl. one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father who is above all and in you all, one family. You'll know it. When you find
him, you'll know it. And you'll be like Moses. He
refused three things and he chose three things. He refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh, the grandson of Pharaoh. Pharaoh's
daughter's son. He refused the pleasures of sin
for a season. He refused the treasures of Egypt. He sure did. You talk about selling
out. He refused to be called Pharaoh's son. He refused the
pleasures of sin for a season. He refused the treasures of Egypt. And he chose three things. He
chose to suffer affliction. He knew it was coming. And our
Lord said, they'll cast you out of the synagogue. There are days
coming when men who kill you will think they're doing God
a favor because of the gospel you preach. They'll hate you
like they hate me. You'll suffer. But he chose to
suffer affliction. Secondly, he chose to be with
God's people. He said, this is my family. I
want everybody to know it. This is my family. These who
love God, these are my people. This is my nation. This is my
family. This is my loved ones. And then he chose the reproach
of Christ and esteemed his reproach to be greater riches than the
treasures of Egypt. Well, there's one more parable
right here with these, verse 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like a net that was cast into the sea and
gathered of every kind, which when it was full they drew it
to shore, sat down and gathered in the good fish and cast the
bad away. So shall it be at the end of
the world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire, and
there be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth." Well, the
treasure hid in the field is the gospel. The pearl of great
price is Christ, and the net is the preaching of the gospel
of Christ. the net that our Lord told his
disciples to go into all the world. Preach the gospel to every
Christian. Cast the net out there in the
sea, all around you, everywhere. Just cast that net out there.
And tell people about the good news. Proclaim the gospel. And
all whom you gather in the net will not be genuine. You see,
some followed our Lord because of the miracles. Didn't they
say that? He said, I know why you're following me. You saw
the miracles. Some followed our Lord for the loaves and fishes.
He said, you're following me not because of the miracles,
but because you ate and were filled. Some saw the great kingdom. They cast palm branches before
him and their clothes before him. They said, Hosanna to the
king. We're going to put you on the
throne. We're going to make you king of Israel. And it's not our business to
try to separate them either. Back there when he gave the parable
of the tares and the wheat, he said that a man went out and
sowed in his field and sowed wheat. And then an enemy came
that night and sowed tares. And they came up together. And
his servant said, Let's go out and pull up the tares. He said,
No, leave them alone. You might pull up some wheat
while you're yanking up tares. So just let them go together.
And at the end of the day, He said, I'll gather the tares and
bundles and burn them, and I'll gather the whip. So this is the
way with the net as we preach the gospel. We cast it out to
all men everywhere. And His people hear, His people
believe, and they'll continue in the faith. And then there'll
be people who'll come with you for a while and they'll grow
weary and they'll leave. There'll be people who'll listen
for a while and they'll get kind of joyful and say, that sounds
good. I tell you, when God really works
in your heart, it won't only sound good, it'll feel good too. See, it won't just sound good.
It won't just seem logical. It'll be life. life from the
dead. So he said, just leave them together,
and when the end comes, the angels of God will divide them. Well, he turned to his disciples.
I'm going to show you something here. Verse 51. When he finished the parables,
he said to the disciples, have you understood all these things?
They said unto him, yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore
every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is
likened to a man that's a householder, which bringeth forth out of his
treasure things new and old. Do you understand?" They said,
Yes, Lord, we understand. He said, Well, every scribe,
every true preacher of the gospel, every true messenger of God,
every scribe who's instructed in things pertaining to God,
who's truly instructed. That's what he said there. Every
scribe which is instructed, taught of God unto the kingdom of heaven,
he's like a man that has a household, a family, under his care. The household of faith, the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, sheep to feed. He's a household that
has a family. And what does he do? What does
he do? He bringeth forth out of his
treasure things new and old, things fresh and things familiar. You see, we're ever learning.
Every time we gather together, we go over the familiar, the
old, And we bring out the fresh, the new. And that's what your
pastor does, and what I try to do, and other men who speak,
who preach, who are true scribes, who are true, taught in the Word.
They'll remind you of the old, the familiar. They'll keep...
Paul said, to write these things to you, to me, is not grievous. To preach the same things to
you is not grievous, for you it's profitable. So we go over
the familiar, and every once in a while, we get something
new and fresh. I hadn't seen that before. The
other preacher I've heard before, that's right, we'll keep going
over the old. He gets out of his treasure new and old, fresh
and familiar. And we're thankful for both,
because it's part of God teaching us. All right, thank you, Pastor. Thank you. Let's stand and be
dismissed and pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for bringing us here and for revealing the treasure in
this great field of your Word. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
instructing us by your Spirit. and giving us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true. And this is the true God
in eternal life, Jesus Christ our Lord. Thank you, Lord, for
making us a part of his family. Thank you for this man. Ask your
blessings on him and give them a safe journey home. Be with
our people tomorrow as they go to work and let these things
sink down and bring forth fruit. In Christ's name, we've met together
tonight. Amen. We are now in the midst of a
crisis. We are in the midst of a crisis. We are in the midst of a crisis. We are in the midst of a crisis. We are in the midst of a crisis. We are in the midst of a crisis. We are in the midst of a crisis. God bless you.