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Bill Parker

The Pearl of Great Price

Matthew 13:45-46
Bill Parker November, 9 2008 Audio
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Bill Parker
Bill Parker November, 9 2008

Sermon Transcript

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Alright, now our text this morning
is Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, and we're
going to continue studying in the parables of our Lord. And
this morning we're going to deal mainly, here in Matthew 13, with
the Pearl of Great Price. That's the title of the message.
The Pearl of Great Price. You find that parable in verse
45, beginning Matthew 13, 45, when the Lord says, again, "...the
kingdom of heaven is likened to 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 this parable,
as you may see, goes right along with the one preceding it that
I dealt with last week in one verse, verse 44, the parable
of the hidden treasure, the treasure hidden in the field. Let's read
that verse too, verse 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to treasure hid in a field, the which when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth
all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Now, you may see
that obviously those parables are very similar, but there is
a difference, and I'll show you what that difference is. But
they go together. All these parables go together.
I hope I've been stressing that enough as we go through. These
parables are not just isolated stories that you can jerk out
of context and use them as you will, but they're part of a whole. The Lord is speaking of the kingdom
of heaven. And he's speaking of the nature
of salvation. He's speaking of the nature of
the church here on earth, the spread of the gospel. And we
need to remember that these go together. He talked about the
sowing of the seed, the gospel being preached, and how people
receive the gospel. There are different ways of receiving
the gospel. Some ignore it. Some embrace
it for a little while. Then they get distracted. either
by the things of this world or the cares of this world. Some
buckle under the pressure of persecution or derision of society
and false religion, and they leave it. But there is the seed,
the gospel word that falls on the good ground. And the good
ground is not a sinner who's better than other sinners. The
good ground is a sinner who's been convicted by the Holy Spirit. of sin and his need of Christ. And that's what this parable
is about here, too. We'll see that. Then we talked
about the wheat and the tares. As the kingdom progresses throughout
this world, there's going to be wheat, which are true believers. There are going to be tares,
they're false believers. We talked about the parable of
the mustard seed, the kingdom growing and outside influences
trying to get in. Then the parable of the leaven,
that's the influences from within, sinful influences. And here we
come to these parables of value. That's what they're talking about.
It's really a simple message. It's not difficult. The Word
is going to be preached. Some are going to value it. The
Kingdom of Heaven, some are going to value it. They're going to
see it as everything that they want and everything they need.
And the Lord is going to call all kinds of people into the
Kingdom. You know, it's not just for one
nationality or one set of people or one group or one ethnic group
or socioeconomic group. It's for anybody who wants it.
I'm going to tell you right now, anybody who wants to be saved
shall be saved. Saved God's way. By grace. The problem with man by nature
is he's like Cain. Cain wanted salvation. Cain wanted
to be accepted by God. Cain wanted God's approval. That's
exactly what he wanted, but he didn't get it. And the reason
Cain, you know the story of Cain and Abel, the reason Cain did
not get God's approval is because he brought the wrong sacrifice.
He brought the wrong offering. He didn't have a sacrifice, he
had an offering. He didn't bring the blood of the Lamb. You want God's approval? You
want salvation? You plead the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Bring the lamb like Abel. And
that's the point. So the gospel is going to be
received in all different ways. But here he says it's the pearl
of great price. And this parable is meant to
show how valuable Christ and the kingdom of heaven, the gospel,
salvation by grace, how valuable this is to God's people, true
believers. The scripture says in 1 Peter
chapter 2 and verse 6, listen to this as I read it for you.
He says, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold,
I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, that's Christ. He's the chief cornerstone of
God's church. He's the chief cornerstone of
the kingdom. And he's laid as the chief cornerstone
as elect. He was chosen by the Father to
be such. And he's precious. That means
he's invaluable. You can't live without him. And
he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Those who
put their trust in him, who plead the merits of his blood and righteousness,
who rest in Christ, shall not be confused or turned away. And
it says in verse 7, unto you therefore which believe, he is
precious. He's precious. But now unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient whereunto they were appointed." God has a people. He chose them before the foundation
of the world and gave them to Christ. He conditioned all of
their salvation upon Christ, His Son, the second person of
the Trinity. God the Son, eternal. And in
that covenant, he made a covenant that he would save those people
based upon the work that the Son would come and do in human
flesh, God in human flesh. And he came and he finished that
work. Now in this parable, it shows that that truth is precious
to God's people. That truth is the pearl of great
price. Christ himself is the pearl of
great price. And here's a man actively seeking
what he says, goodly pearls. He didn't want worthless pearls.
He wasn't just trying to con people here with this pearl thing. He wanted goodly pearls. He wanted
the real thing. And it says he was seeking, actively
seeking. Now you might remember in the
parable of the hidden treasure, the man was not actively seeking
what he found. But as we would say in our way,
it just happened that he found it. He found what he wasn't looking
for. Well, we know it's not by chance
or it's not that it just happened. We know that the Lord led him
to find that. The Lord has to lead all of us
to find it. But in the kingdom of heaven, some of Christ's sheep
find a treasure they really weren't seeking. Just going about their
daily lives. Just going about doing what they
want to do. Not even thinking about eternal
things. Some even, I'm going to show you some examples of
this. One great example. Some even actively against it. Actively against it. We'll see
that. And then God, in His sovereign mercy and power, one day crosses
their path with His Spirit and His truth, and as the Old Testament
might put it, He breaks the wild ass's coat and puts a bride on
his mouth As one old preacher said, unhorses him and makes
his headquarters in the dust, shows him who he is, who he really
is, not what he thinks he is, a sinner, and then drives him
to Christ. That's what that parable of the
hidden treasure is about. You know, the book of Isaiah
said that. And I know he's mainly speaking
of Gentiles here, and this Some people say these two parables
are about the difference between Jews and Gentiles, and it could
be. It could have that application. The Jews had the law. They were
seeking to be saved by their works. The Gentiles didn't have
the law. And Isaiah, in Isaiah 65, in
verse 1, he said, I am sought of them that ask not for me.
I am found of them that sought me not. That's what the parable
of the hidden treasure is about. But you see, This is the sovereign
work of God to bring a sinner to find this treasure or to find
this one pearl of great price. I'll give you an example of a
sinner who found Christ who wasn't looking for him. I have to say,
I don't have to tell you his name, Saul of Tarsus. When Saul
of Tarsus, you can read about him in the book of Acts, when
he was converted on the road to Damascus, He was not seeking
the Lord to believe in him. He was seeking to wipe the name
of Jesus Christ off the face of the earth. He was in total
opposition and enemy to the church and to the truth of the gospel
of God's grace in Christ. Here was a man who was a Pharisee. Not just a Pharisee, but a Pharisee
of Pharisees who thought he was righteous before God. He didn't
need what God was bringing forth in the gospel. He didn't need
what Christ came to do. He had it himself. He worked
his way. He was a son of Abraham. And
when he heard Stephen preach and the other apostles preach,
all he heard was a message that just against his natural grain,
and he hated it. And he set it upon himself by
commission from the Sanhedrin to arrest Christians. So on his
way to Damascus, he wasn't seeking the Lord. He wasn't seeking salvation. But he found it. He found a treasure
hidden in the field. And how does the Bible describe
it? Well, turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. Here's how Paul described it
as a treasure. Here's how valuable Christ is
to Paul. Philippians chapter 3. And I
want to tell you something. Here's how valuable Christ is
to all his people, not just to Paul. Paul says in Philippians 3 in
verse 3, he says, for we are the circumcision. Now, I don't
want to go into too much on this, but what he's talking about there,
the Jews claimed that they were children. One of their foundational
truths to prove to themselves that they were children of God
was the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham. They were Abraham's
seed, and that was proven by the physical act of circumcision
on the male children on the eighth day. And so they would refer
to themselves many times as the circumcision. We're circumcised.
We're children of God. That's what they meant by that.
But you're not, you see. If you're not circumcised, if
you're not a Jew and if you don't buy into the Jewish religion
and the Jewish way and the males become circumcised, you're not
saved. You're not a child of God. And so many of them, as
time went on, Many of them claim to believe the Gospel, but they
said, but you've got to be circumcised. Yes, Christ is our Savior, but
you've got to do this. It's like today, people, there's
a denomination that says, yes, salvation is by grace. You've
got, Christ is our Savior, but you've got to be baptized to
be saved. That's the same kind of thinking.
You say, you've got to be baptized, or you've got to do this, or
you've got to do that to be saved. That's why Paul said that we
can't handle that. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free. Don't be entangled again with
that yoke of bondage. That's death. So what Paul is
saying here is that those who believe in Christ are the circumcision. They are the children of God.
And he's referring to spiritual circumcision. Every person in
here who knows Christ has been spiritually circumcised. Now
what does that mean? That's the new birth. You've
been born again by the Spirit. That's the circumcision of the
heart and the ears and the eyes. In other words, and how do you
know you're the circumcision? Well, look at verse 3, which
worship God in spirit. Remember, I've told you that
that means we worship God as he reveals himself, and we worship
God from the heart. How do we know that? We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Now, that word rejoice there
is the same word that's translated glory. In Galatians 6, verse
14, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, my only hope
and ground of salvation is the work, the finished work of Christ.
I glory and boast in Christ. I have a boast of salvation,
but not in myself. It's in Christ. I brag about
him. And that's what Paul's saying here. I know I worship God. I
know I'm circumcised spiritually. I know I'm born again by the
Spirit. I know I worship God in spirit because I glory in
Christ Jesus. He's my glory. He's my hope.
He's my salvation. He's my all and in all and have
no confidence in the flesh. That's what I can do. I have
no confidence in anything I can do or am enabled to do. It's
all Christ, all of grace. Now look at verse four. Now,
here's Paul on the road to Damascus, and in his thinking, here's what
he's thinking, look at verse 4, "...though I might also have
confidence in the flesh." Now, what Paul's saying here is this,
if anybody could boast in the flesh, I could. Alright? In other words, if you wanted
to boast in your flesh, and you wanted to compare yourself and
see how you measured up to people, compare yourself to Paul, Saul
of Tarsus, rather. And here's what he said, well,
if any other man, think it, that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I more. I can go further than you. That's
what Paul's saying. That's a pretty big boast, isn't
it? It's almost like Paul's saying, I was the best fellow on earth. We might have somebody we think
about like that, but we certainly usually wouldn't say it of ourselves.
That's what Paul's saying. He said, if you could have, it's
basically like this. He's looking at you straight
in the face. He's saying, now, if you think you could be saved
and accepted and righteous before God, based upon your keeping
of the law, who you are, what you do and what you don't do,
I could go better than you. And here's what he said. Look
at verse 5. Circumcised the eighth day. That was valuable to Paul.
He was proud of that. Now listen, that's when the law
said, for a male child to be circumcised on the 8th day, not
the 9th, not the 7th, the 8th. You know what that means, the
8th day, because that 8 is the number of new beginnings. You
see, new beginnings, a baby, a male child. And then he says
of the stock of Israel, that's God's elect people in the Old
Covenant. Of the tribe of Benjamin, that was an honored tribe. You
remember when the kingdom was divided, the ten tribes went
north, two tribes stayed in the south, and made their headquarters
in Jerusalem, Judah and Benjamin. And then he says a Hebrew of
Hebrews. That means he had papers, he had pedigree. He was a full-blooded
Hebrew, no mixed blood here. And I've often said, I don't
know how Paul knew that, but that's what he said anyway. as
touching the law of Pharisee. That was valuable to Paul. I
go beyond the call of duty. I go beyond the call. You know,
like the Pharisee said, I thank God that I'm not like other men.
I fast twice in the week, not just once now. The law says once,
but I go two times. I do it more. And that's what
Paul's saying. It's touching the law of Pharisee.
I go above and beyond the call of duty. He was a super religious
man, not just your average one. And that was valuable to Paul.
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Now what Paul means
by that, he was so zealous for what he believed that anything
that challenged what he believed or that was against what he believed,
he was going to persecute it. And that was the right thing
to do under the law. And then he says, touching the
righteousness which is in the law blameless. What he means
by that is that other people could not rightly accuse him.
You couldn't look at Saul of Tarsus and say, look at what
he did. He broke the law. No, he says as outwardly speaking,
he was blameless. You know, even Christ said of
the Pharisees that they were outwardly righteous before men.
Outwardly. But then, now listen to me, now
here's Paul on the Damascus road thinking about how valuable all
these things are. That's my righteousness before
God. That's my salvation. That's my hope. That's my stay. That's my holiness. He's thinking
that now. He's not seeking the Lord. And
then all of a sudden on the Damascus road, the Lord appears to him
and puts him in the dust and says, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Saul said, who are you? He said,
I'm Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute. Why do you kick against
the pricks, the goads, pricking the heart and the conscience?
And the Lord, by his spirit and by his truth, showed Saul his
sinfulness, his depravity, his wretchedness, his vanity, and
showed him his need of Christ. and drove him to Christ for salvation,
for righteousness, for life. Paul found that treasure hidden
in the field. And here's what he says. Look
at verse 7. Now listen to this very carefully.
Here's what Paul says about his treasure. He says, first of all,
verse 7, But what things were gain to me, those things that
were gain, something that's gain to you, You consider to be a
treasure, don't you? But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Christ is my treasure
now, not circumcision, not stock of Israel, not the tribe of Benjamin,
not the Hebrew of Hebrews, not the works of the law, none of
that. I count that as loss now. It's not even If not even Christ
plus those things now, those things are lost. I didn't have
anything before God based on all of those things combined.
They're lost for Christ. He's the treasure, His blood,
His righteousness. Look at verse 8, it even goes
further. Yea, doubtless and I count all things but lost. There's
nothing that man can imagine. that could be added to or even
on the same level of Christ. All things but lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but dumb that I may
win Christ." How precious is Christ to Paul? Everything else
is dumb, he says. That's pretty bad. And he says,
"...and be found in him, that I may win Christ, and be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God my faith." You see that? Now that's a prime example
of one who found the hidden treasure. He wasn't looking for God. He
wasn't looking to be made righteous. He already thought he was. He
wasn't looking to be saved, he thought he already was. That's
a prime example of that. Now go back to the parable now,
Matthew 13. Now here this man was actively seeking, and we
know that none by nature will seek the Lord. The scripture
says that, Romans chapter 3 and verse 10, there's none righteous,
no not one, 10 through 12. Romans 3, 10-12, there's none
that do a good, no, not one. There's none that seeketh after
the Lord. Man on his own will not seek the Lord. The Scripture
tells us that. And we know that all who do seek
God find that He sought them first. We just read it, I was
found of them that sought me not. The Bible says Christ Himself
came to seek and to save that which was lost. You see, that's
our problem. Before we're saved, what are
we? We're lost. Is that right? What is to be
lost? It means you don't know where you are or where you're
going. In fact, when it comes to spiritual
matters, it doesn't matter how lost man is. Not only does he
not know where he is or where he's going, he doesn't even really
know where he's been. That's the truth. I mean, you know geographically
maybe where you've been, but spiritually you don't know where
you've been. You think maybe things have been happening in
a right way, in a godly way, but they haven't. But some here, he says, in this
little parable, are seeking goodly pearls. Plural. Now some people seek goodly pearls. What kind of pearls are those?
Well, commentators disagree on this, and I don't want to get
bogged down in it, but you could talk about the pearls of religion,
You can talk about pearls of good doctrine. There may be somebody
who says, well, I don't know the truth, but I'd like to and
I'm going to seek the truth. How to attain eternal life? There
was a rich young man who came to Christ one time and he said,
what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? And Christ
showed him that he couldn't do any good thing to inherit eternal
life, that eternal life was a gift from God in Christ. And the man
went away sorrowful. Some people say that he must
have been converted later on. The Bible doesn't tell us that,
so I'm not going to speculate on it. I don't know. Some people seek the goodly pearls
of this world, how to live, how to be good, how to be a good
husband, a good wife, a good employee, all those things that
we might seek, how to raise children right. Some seek the goodly pearls of
sincerity, morality, good job, a stable future, all of those
things. But here he's talking about those
who are seeking salvation, actively seeking salvation. I want to
give you an example of a man who was seeking goodly pearls.
I want you to turn to the book of Acts, chapter 8. I gave you
an example of one who was not seeking it, but found it. Look
at Acts chapter 8. Here's one who was seeking goodly
pearls. And by God's powerful grace and
providence, he found the one pearl of great price. He was
an Ethiopian. Look at verse 24 of Acts chapter
8. Here he's speaking, he says, Then answered Simon," that's
Simon Peter, said, "'Pray ye to the Lord for me that none
of these things which you have spoken come upon me.'" He's talking
about here, that's not Simon Peter, that's Simon Magus. This
is after Peter baptized Simon Magus. And Simon Magus was a
false professor. And it says, it says, "'And they,
when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned
to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the
Samaritans.' And it says, And the angel of the Lord spoke unto
Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he arose, and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch
of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for
to worship." Now he's seeking goodly pearls. He came to Jerusalem all the
way from Ethiopia to worship. And he was returning, verse 28,
and sitting in his chariot, he read Isaiah the prophet. Now,
apparently this was a wealthy man because he had a copy of
the scriptures. They were scrolls, and not just
everybody had those. You couldn't afford them. The
poor people couldn't afford them. The average man couldn't afford
them. But he had a copy, and that's Isaiah. He's reading the
scriptures. He's seeking goodly pearls. And
verse 29 says, Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and
join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him,
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I except
some man should guide me? I need somebody to show me what
this means. He's seeking goodly pearls. You
see, he wasn't just content just to read. He knew that he needed
a spiritual guide. Somebody sent of God to teach
him. What does that mean? He didn't
know. I want you to notice now, in man's pursuit of goodly pearls,
he's not going to find the pearl until God's time. This man had
been to Jerusalem. Now, you'd think that he could
find God in Jerusalem, the city of David, the city of God. But when he left Jerusalem, he
was just as empty as when he came. But here he was, he wanted
to learn, he wanted to learn. I've got to know the truth. And
so he's reading Isaiah and he said, and Philip said, do you
understand? Well, how can I? And verse 31
says, he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with
him. And the place of the scripture which he read was this, he was
led as a sheep to the slaughter like a lamb done before his shearers,
so opened he not his mouth. And in his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And Enoch answered Philip,
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of
himself, or of some other man?" He's seeking goodly pearls. I
want to know who this is talking about. Tell me about this Philip. Is he talking about himself?
Is Isaiah saying he's the man who was led as a sheep to the
slaughter? Or is it somebody else? And verse
35, "...then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same
scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." He preached unto
this man from Isaiah 53, Jehovah our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. It says in verse 36, As they
went on their way, they came unto a certain water, and the
eunuch said, See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered, and he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Now that's not just a statement
he made. That's an understanding of Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, the Messiah, from the scripture that
he read, which preaches substitution and imputation and satisfaction,
that Christ is God in human flesh who came to this earth to die
for his people in their place and satisfy the justice of God
for their sins charged to him and give them his righteousness. He's my salvation. What happened
to this eunuch? What happened to this Ethiopian?
He found the pearl of great price. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ, this Jesus, who's described in this scripture as the substitute,
the redeemer, my prophet, priest, and king, my savior, the Lord,
my righteousness. He's the son of God. And it says
Philip commanded the chariot to stand still and they went
down into the water and the Ethiopian was baptized. Now look back at
Matthew 13. Here's the merchant that finds one pearl of great
price. One single pearl, not many. We
can talk about various aspects of this pearl, but they're all
one and they all find their substance and their reality and their surety
in Christ. and Him crucified. He's the pearl
of great price. How valuable is He? The scripture
says all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Him.
In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body and ye are
complete in Him. I told the Sunday school class
how many times I say this in messages. everything that God
requires of me for salvation, I find complete in Christ." How
valuable is he? Like in the hidden treasure,
it says here, you remember, it says, this man, he sold all that
he had. Look at verse 46 again of Matthew 13. It says, who when
he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that
he had and bought it. Now again, just like in the parable
of the hidden treasure. This is not teaching that the
kingdom of heaven can be bought with our money, our riches, our
work. That's not what this is teaching.
It's simply showing a truth here, setting forth of how a truly
convicted sinner values Christ. There's nothing to compare to
Christ. There's nothing even worth anything compared to Christ.
If I have nothing else, I must have Christ. That's the pearl
of great pride. It's not trying to buy your way
into heaven. You can't do that. In fact, really,
I'm going to tell you something. Now listen to me. These parables
are not even talking about how sinners are redeemed. They're
speaking of how redeemed sinners come to value Christ and the
kingdom and the gospel. If you want to talk about how
sinners are redeemed, go to other scriptures. What Peter writes
in 1 Peter 1, for you're not redeemed with corruptible things
such as silver and gold from your vain conversation. He says
you're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The cost of
redemption is not our works, our tears, our repentance, or
even our faith. The cost of redemption and forgiveness
and salvation is the blood of the Lamb of God. Now, how much do you value that?
That's what this parable is about. Nothing can compare to Christ
or rival Him. No works of mine can rival His
righteousness. No suffering I can go through
can rival His blood. No feeling, experience, religious
or otherwise, can rival the glorious work of the Spirit in the new
birth coming from Christ, which is known first by His bringing
me to see my sin and the glory of Christ. Nothing the world
has to offer can rival what God has given me in Christ and what
God has enabled me to do in worship and love and service and prayer
and thanksgiving, bringing forth fruit unto God from Christ. How much value do I place on
Christ? Have you sold all that you have
for this one pearl? That's the question. What about
your past religion? Let me show you this. Look over
in John chapter 12. Now here's a group of fellows
here, John 12, who claim to believe on Christ. They claim they had found the
pearl of great price, or the treasure hid in the field. But
it was put to the test. And listen to what he says, look
at verse 42 of John 12. It says, nevertheless among the
chief rulers also many believed on him. Now what it means is
they claimed to believe on him. But because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the
synagogue. They didn't want to lose their position and their
reputation and their connection. Verse 43, why? For they loved
the praise of men more than the praise of God. Now let me ask
you this. What is the praise of men compared
to with the praise of God? It's nothing. It's dumb, isn't
it? What do you mean the praise of God? The praise of God that
can only be found in Christ. God praised the Son. Did you
know that? He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased, hear ye hence. You want the praise
of God? Don't go before him bringing
your friends and your family and your works and your religion
and your dreams and your experiences, come before Him in Christ. Because
He's honored in that. That's this pearl of great price.
How much do we value Christ? Let me ask you this. To a starving
man, what is the most valuable thing in his mind? Food. Is that right? Now you go to the buffet today
and you get filled up, the last thing you're going to be thinking
as you walk out to go home is, man, I want more food. Or I hope
you're not thinking that. But a starving man, I'm talking
about just absolutely starving. The most precious and valuable
thing to that man is food. To a thirsty man, I'm talking
about just dead dry thirst, desert thirst. Not having drunk in I
don't know how many days thirst. What's the most precious thing
to that man? Water. To a naked man, what's the most
precious thing? Clothing. Think about it. To a bankrupt
man, what's the most precious thing? Money. To a sick man, what's the most
precious thing? The cure. To a dying man, what's
the most precious thing? Life. Everything I've just described
to you is what we are by nature, spiritually. Starving, thirsty,
bankrupt, sick, dying. And every one of those sinful
consequences can be cured, can be remedied in full, abundantly,
in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is all. That's what this parable is teaching.
I'll never forget one of our dearest friends in Cottageville,
where Brother Ron is preaching this morning, Brother Jack Smith,
dear brother, When Debbie and I and Aaron and Nathan, when
we first started going to Cottageville, Jack and his wife, Adrienne,
just took us under their wing. And they just liked family. And we just had a special bond
with them. Well, when I moved down to Albany
a few years after that, Brother Jack was called home to be with
the Lord. But we were up there visiting one time before he died,
and he was sick. He was in one of those step-down
units. He had the disease called emphysema. You ever seen anybody die of
emphysema? It's not a pretty sight. Brother
Jack was unconscious, but he was laying there in this step-down
unit, and he was struggling to do one thing, breathe. He had bubbles coming out of
his mouth. He was trying to breathe so hard, just forced. And I couldn't
hardly watch him because I couldn't get my breath just watching him.
It was that bad. And I thought then, I said, you
know, the most precious thing to a man like that is just one
more breath. Now, you all can, most of you
all can just fill those lungs up with air and breathe out. But just think, one day that's
not going to be the case. That ability is going to be taken
away. I hope it's not as struggling as Brother Jack was, but I tell
you what, Jack's lungs are full of air now. He's breathing perfectly
now because he's with the Lord. But that's the most valuable. That's what these parables are
teaching. The treasure is Christ. He's
the breath of our eternal life. He's the pearl of great pride.
Now, is he to me? Is he to you? That's what we
need to think about. All right. Let's sing as our
closing hymn, hymn number...
Bill Parker
About Bill Parker
Bill Parker grew up in Kentucky and first heard the Gospel under the preaching of Henry Mahan. He has been preaching the Gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ for over thirty years. After being the pastor of Eager Ave. Grace Church in Albany, Ga. for over 18 years, he accepted a call to preach at Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, KY. He was the pastor there for over 11 years and now has returned to pastor at Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, GA

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