Would you open your Bibles with
me to the book of Matthew chapter 13? Matthew chapter 13. Now today I'm going to conclude
our study on the kingdom parables. Matthew 13 where the Lord has
been instructing his disciples on the nature And the plan of
God throughout the last days, the New Covenant, the New Testament
days leading up that go from the birth of Christ to His second
coming, or go from the death of Christ rather to His second
coming. And we'll talk about His birth too a little bit in
just a moment. The last days, the kingdom of God, God's rule,
his sovereign reign over all the earth, especially as it pertains
to his church, his true people, the elect of God. And these parables
are the mysteries of the kingdom. I've labeled each one a particular
mystery. Today, we're going to talk about
the mystery of things new and old. The mystery of things new
and old. It begins in verse 50. or that
parable begins in verse 52 where he says, then said he unto them,
therefore, every scribe, Matthew 13, 52, every scribe, which is
instructed or literally discipled in unto the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a man that is an householder, which bring a forth
out of his treasure, things new and old, the mystery of things
new and old. But in these parables, as I said,
the Lord's instructing them on the nature of the kingdom and
the main issue of these eight parables, the eighth one being
the one that we're gonna deal with today, just briefly, the
main issue has to do with the salvation, the sure salvation
of the true people of God. The sure salvation of the true
people of God. You can look at these parables.
I'm not going to go back through all of them, but you can see
how all that works out in the parable of the sower and the
seed. We see the gospel message going out to the world. And there'll be different hearers. There'll be some who just out
of hand reject the message. There'll be some who receive
it for a while, but then leave it. But then there's the true
people of God, the good ground hearers. That's the born again,
those who are born again by the Spirit, who've been convicted
of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, who have true faith
in the Lord, given them by God. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should
boast. The difference between the good ground hearer and the
other hearers who don't receive the truth savingly is the sovereign
mercy and grace of God, period. If you received it, it's because
God gave you a new heart. It's because God made you willing
in the day of his parish, not because you were better than
the fellow sitting next to you who didn't receive it, but it's
totally God's grace. That's what he's teaching in
that parable. Then you had the parable of the tares. As the
gospel goes out, Christ is going to sow his wheat. That's the
true people of God, true children. But Satan is going to be allowed
as a judgment against this earth to sow his false, his false people,
those who are called tares, darnel, they look, that's false Christianity. As we near the end time, this
world will be overrun with false Christianity. Now that's so. And you can see that in so many
passages. And that's why it's impended upon us to be in a continual
process of self-examination. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. Test ourselves. To test what
we're hearing, what I'm preaching to you today, you're responsible
to test it by the scripture to see whether or not I'm telling
you the truth. And no preacher should ever get offended at that.
I'm telling you. Satan, this world is overrun
with false Christianity. They come in the name of Christ,
but they deny the doctrine of Christ. And I mean, you'd be
amazed how many, well, most of you have been around a while,
you wouldn't be amazed at this, but how many people who claim
to be Christian and really don't even know what they believe.
They just joined a church and got baptized and boom, that's
it, they said a prayer. Repeat after me, step one, step
two, and that's it. And then they try to be a good
person, and there's nothing wrong with trying to be a good person,
but that's not what saves you. That's not what makes a sinner
righteous. It's the blood of Christ that cleanses us from
all sin. And then in the parable of the mustard seed, how the
kingdom of God is the product of just that one small tiny grain
of mustard seed planted into the ground. That's a picture
of the death of Christ. Christ who started out just as
a small grain, one individual. And think about his birth. That
babe in a manger, out of that babe who grew into manhood and
walked this earth and kept the law perfectly came the salvation
of his people. You remember when the angel came
to Joseph? and told him not to put Mary
away and said here's what you're going to that that child that
is within her that's of the Holy Ghost he said and he says you
shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins see that's what this is about salvation is he able
to save us from our sins well his name shall be called Emmanuel
which being interpreted God with us he's God in human flesh And
like that grain of mustard seed that goes into the ground and
literally dies, and out of it comes that great bush or tree,
however the scholars want to interpret it, it doesn't really
matter. It's something small, something starts out small and
grows into something big. That's what happened. Christ
built his church. Out of his death comes the church.
He told Peter, upon this rock, not Peter, but the rock of Christ
Jesus. upon this rock I will build my
church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."
So that no matter what happens during this last age and all
the chaos and all the opposition that we see to the truth of the
gospel and the church of Christ we can be assured that the gates
of hell will not prevail against it, that's the surety of salvation. That started in three measures
of meal. That's Satan sowing his false doctrine within the
visible church here on earth till it becomes so corrupt it's
not even recognizable according to the scriptures what the truth
is. So many denominations, so many
different beliefs. You interpret it your way. I'll
interpret it my way. We'll just go our own way. My
friend, that's not the way it's done. And then we see the parable
of the treasure hid in a field. That's Christ who finds his church. He came to this earth to save
his people from their sins. And he gave himself everything
that he had. And as a result of that, the
pearl of great price, he gives eternal life. He gives life to
dead sinners to where the most valuable thing that they can
possess is Christ and his truth, the gospel, his righteousness.
and every other what we thought were goodly pearls, they're nothing. They're worthless. All of our
religion, all of our efforts, all of our works that we were
so proud of, that we thought recommended us unto God, now
we see them in light of Christ. As Paul wrote in Philippians
chapter three, he said, I count them but loss, but dung 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 by faith. And then
we came to the parable of the dragnet, which is death that
sweeps under the oceans of of this world and catches every
person because it's appointed unto man once to die and then
after that the judgment where Christ and his ministers stand
and Christ as the judge and his ministers as witnesses and he
separates the good fish from the bad. What is a good fish?
That's a sinner saved by the grace of God. That's what it
is. It's not somebody who did a lot
of good works or racked up a lot of points with God. It's a sinner
saved by the grace of God who stands before God at judgment
washed in the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness
imputed. That's what it is. And now we come to this last
parable, the mystery of things new and old. But I want you to
look at verse 51. Now this is the reason I had Randy read 1
Corinthians 2. Because Christ asked a question
of his disciples, it's very important, before he concluded with the
parable of the householder. And he says this in verse 51,
Jesus saith unto them, have you understood all these things? And they say unto him, yea, Lord.
Have you understood all these things? And I want you to notice
first the necessity of understanding. Turn back there to that passage
that Randy read, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. What does this passage actually
teach? It teaches this. First of all,
that everything in salvation is wrapped up and finalized and
completed in one person and one act. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In other words, it's not about
you and it's not about me and it's not about what you can do
for God or what I can do for God, it's about what Christ did.
Who is Jesus Christ? He is Emmanuel, God with us.
What did he accomplish on the cross? Now that's the question. Did he make us savable if we
would just do certain things? No, if that's the truth, we're
all doomed, according to the Bible. Or did he save his people
from their sins? By his blood and righteousness
did he ensure the complete salvation of all his sheep, his church,
all for whom he died. And that's what the gospel says.
And then it says this, he says that the only way a person is
going to believe that is by demonstration of the power of God. It takes
the power of God to bring a sinner to faith in Christ. That sinner
doesn't come to faith in Christ by his own free will. The will's
not free. The will's in bondage to sin.
That's what the total depravity of man's all about. We don't
have righteousness. We can't work righteousness.
And here's the third thing. We don't want it God's way. We
want it our way. Religion, works, decisions, baptism,
all kinds of things. But you see, God's way is the
way of pure, free, sovereign grace in Christ. So it has to
come by demonstration of the power of God in his spirit to
give us new birth. You must be born again. You must
be given a new heart. When Christ asked that question,
do you understand what you read or what you hear? Remember back
over in Matthew 13 and verse 10 when they asked him, why do
you speak in parables? He said, because unto you it
is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. He said, blessed
are your eyes for they see. Your eyes see things their eyes
don't see. They have physical eyes but they
don't have spiritual eyes. They have physical ears but they
don't have spiritual ears. Man by nature is dead in trespasses
and sins. He has no spiritual life. And that's why he goes his own
way, the way of work salvation, the way of free willism. Because
that's what gives him room to boast, room to glory. But if God ever gives you a new
heart, you're going to be like the Apostle Paul. God forbid
that I should boast glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he says that nobody,
not even the most noble people, the smartest people, the most
moral people, the most sincere people on earth ever conceived
of this way of salvation. They didn't know it. Man by nature
doesn't know the right way of salvation. He thinks he does.
But as the book of Proverbs states two times, there's a way that
seemeth right unto a man, but it's the way that ends in death.
In other words, this knowledge of this kind of salvation by
God's grace through Christ alone, that knowledge has to be given
and revealed by God. Now look at verse 9 of 1 Corinthians
2. He says, as it is written, I
have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things that which God hath prepared for them
that love him. You say, well, he's just talking about future
things that we don't realize. Well, hold on, read the context.
Go on, verse 10. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. These things have been revealed
to somebody. The us here. For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, even the deep things of God. What are the deep
things of God? Well, he's talking about the
reality of salvation. He's not talking about some deep
intellectual doctrine here. And the reason they're so deep
is the natural man can't go that far. He says in verse 11, for
what man knoweth the things of a man saved the spirit of man,
which is in him. Men can only know what they know
as human beings. who are dead spiritually in trespasses
and sin. But even so the things of God
knoweth no man but the spirit of God. If I'm gonna know anything
about this matter of salvation, who God is, who I am, who Christ
is, it's gonna have to be given me by God. Now look at verse 12, this is
important. Now we receive not the spirit of the world, but
the spirit which is of God. Now what is that all about? Look
at it. That we might know the things that are what? Freely
given to us of God. That's the key. You see, man
doesn't want salvation totally free. Totally free. That we don't deserve and don't
earn and cannot appropriate with our cooperation. That's why preachers
go up and down this country saying, God's done everything for you,
now the rest is up to you. See, that's not free salvation.
If the rest is up to you, whatever that rest of is, that's what
it costs. It's not free. But God bestows it freely. What
are the things freely given to us of God? Everything in salvation,
forgiveness of sins comes freely by the blood of Christ. Righteousness
that gives me a right standing before God. His righteousness
imputed. The scripture says there's none
righteous, no not one, to be found among men. There's none
that do of good. There's none that seeketh after
God. If I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice, where did it come from? It came from God in
Christ and it was freely given, imputed to me. Somebody said,
well, but you had to receive it. Yes, and by the grace of
God, freely I did. It wasn't just the product of
the fact that I'm better than somebody who doesn't receive
it. That's what he's talking about here. Freely given. Verse 13, which things also we
speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches. Have you
ever heard a gospel preacher and somebody said, well, that
just doesn't make sense to me? Well, I'll tell you why, right here.
Man's wisdom doesn't enter into this. It doesn't buy into it. He says, by which the Holy Ghost
teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. If the
Holy Spirit has shown you the holiness of God and His justice
against all sin, if the Spirit of God has shown you the sinfulness
of yourself, like Isaiah of old, woe unto me, for I'm undone,
I'm cut off. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. That I'm in need of a righteousness
I cannot produce or even contribute to. That I don't even have faith
to believe by nature. If the Holy Spirit ever shows
you that, then this gospel is the only thing that'll make sense
to you. That God chose a people before the foundation of the
world gave them to Christ and sent Christ to redeem them and
out of that sends his spirit to give them life. You say, well,
that doesn't make sense to me. Well, here's why. You're going by man's wisdom
and not God's. Verse 14, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the spirit. Who's the natural man? That's
all of us as we're born naturally. dead in trespasses and sins for
their foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they're
spiritually discerned they're spiritually understood now Christ
back over in Matthew 13 he asked his disciples do you understand
these things and they said yes now this understanding is more
than just knowing the facts it involves believing and loving
Christ and his truth This understanding is given of God. 1 John 5, 20,
listen to this. We know that the Son of God is
come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true and we are in him that is true, even his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God in eternal
life. And once God gives a sinner this understanding in the new
birth under the preaching of the gospel, it opens up a whole
new world of understanding, doesn't it? So look at what he said, look
at verse 52. Then he said unto them therefore every scribe,
what's a scribe? Well the scribes of old were
those who were the copiers of the scripture. They copied the
scriptures out, the Old Testament scriptures on scrolls. Many of
them were learned men who were interpreters of the scripture,
they wrote commentaries. Many of these scribes in our
Lord's earthly walk were associated with the Pharisees, the scribes
and the Pharisees. They were the ones who perverted
the scriptures. We have that today. The religious
bookstores are full of books that pervert the scriptures.
I'm not just being critical, folks. You've got to be a discerner
today. You've got to watch what you
read and you've got to test it by the word of God. you say well
that person had such a miraculous experience you don't judge the
scriptures by their experience you judge their experience by
the scriptures but look at what he says every
scribe what he's talking about here is one who knows the scriptures
now he's talking a scribe here is not in a negative sense like
it was with the scribes and the pharisees but every scribe which
is instructed that is literally discipled into the kingdom of
heaven he's talking about a believer here some say well he's talking
about his ministers yes he is but Christ he uses this to identify
men who by the grace of God have been discipled into the kingdom
of heaven and have been given an understanding of the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven they know the gospel they know the
word of God like Philip of old being brought out onto the backside
of a desert and he found an Ethiopian eunuch out there who had bought
a scroll in Jerusalem and it was Isaiah, the book of Isaiah
and that Ethiopian was in his chariot reading Isaiah 53 and
he had no idea what was being said there. He couldn't understand
it. And Philip ran to him, the Holy
Spirit sent Philip to him and Philip ran to him and he asked
him, this is Acts chapter 8, he said, do you understand what
you're reading? And the Ethiopian said, how can
I except some man show me? God sent him a scribe named Philip,
a gospel preacher. And if you read that passage
on down, it says where he was reading is Isaiah 53, that great
passage on the substitutionary death of the suffering servant
Christ. And it said, Philip opened the scripture where he was reading
and preached unto him Jesus, salvation through Christ. Sent
him a scribe. That's who Christ is talking
about here. And these are preachers of the gospel. and the scriptures,
pastors, elders, teachers. And he says here in verse 52,
these scribes are likened unto a man that is a householder.
A householder means master of a house. And the house here refers
to the house of God, the family of God, the true children of
God. Now the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the master, the master
of this house. I'm not the master, you're not
the master, Christ is the master of the house. He's the builder
of the church. He's the heart of the church.
He's the head of the church. You see, he's the master. But,
and all, and his house is made up of, they're all, it's a hospital
for sinners. It's a sinner saved by grace,
Jew and Gentile, everyone who's been called, who's been given
life and called into the kingdom by the power of God under the
preaching of the gospel. And all his ministers are servants
under him. Another way to put it, he's the
shepherd, we're under shepherds under him. But we who've been
given this understanding, who know the truth, we have the authority
of the master and therefore are likened unto the householder
here. It's like Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
5.20. He says, when we preach the gospel,
we stand in Christ's stead. Now we are not the vicars of
Christ. There's no vicar of Christ. Understand
that. The word vicar comes from vicarious.
That means Christ's substitute. I am not a substitute for Christ.
There's no man on earth or in heaven who's a substitute for
Christ. All right. But we are, as Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 5.20, ambassadors. Our only authority is when we
preach the authority of the King of Kings. That's it. And so,
as Isaiah said in Isaiah 8 20, to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, there's no light in
them. If I can't back up for you, what I tell you based on
the authority of the word of God, the King of Kings, then
it's no good. You understand that? So what
he's talking about here is in this parable, he's liking these
scribes unto those who have the authority of the master of the
house. So I'm preaching God's word.
Now I know there's a lot of people who claim to be preaching God's
word, but you need to check it out. You need to study it. Study
to show thyself approved unto God, workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That's not
just a command to me as a preacher, it's a command to all of God's
people. So Christ compares us to a householder,
one who has charge of caring for the household just like the
master of the house under his authority. And as a minister
of Christ, I'm to have the same love and care and concern for
this household that he has. But look back at verse 52, look
at the last phrase, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things
new and things old. Bringeth out of his treasure.
Well, we know that in the parable of the treasure hid in the field,
the treasure there was his people, his church. Christ was the man
there. He came to earth, he found his
treasure, he knew where they were all along, and he died to
save his people. So we can view this treasure
in various ways that are consistent with the gospel. He says he brings
out of his treasure things new and things old. Now, new and
old can mean first and last. In the parable of the treasure
hid in the field, the treasure of the church for which the Lord
Jesus Christ gave himself a ransom to redeem, the church was his
treasure. In this case, things new and
old would refer to the saints in the new covenant as well as
the old covenant. Did you know that when Christ died on the
cross, he died for a man named Abel? Back in Genesis chapter 4, didn't
he? In other words, the blood of Jesus Christ is what washed
away Abel's sins. Abel's righteousness before God
is the imputed righteousness of Christ. When Abel was justified,
way back then, He stood before God based upon a righteousness
that he couldn't produce. And you know, Abel knew that,
and he believed that, and he testified to that. How do you
know that? Because he brought before God the blood of a lamb,
which was a picture of Christ. Now, you claim to be a child
of God. Well, when Christ died on that cross 2,000 years ago,
he died for you, just like he did Abel. And the last one of
God's sheep to be brought in the foe, he died for him. Things
old, things new. The church of God, which Christ
purchased with his own blood. In other passages, we're taught
that we as believers have been given the treasure of God's grace.
You know, over back a few pages in Matthew chapter six, when
God saves us, we have a treasure, don't we? And what is that treasure? Well, that treasure is Christ
himself. That treasure is the word of God. says in verse 19
of Matthew 6, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth
where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through
and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither
moth nor rust nor doth corrupt and where thieves do not break
through nor steal for where your treasure is there your heart
be. What is our treasure? Our treasure is Christ, our treasure
is the gospel, our treasure is His righteousness, our treasure
is the grace of God. Some people say, they use that
verse and they say, well, you're laying up treasures when you
do good works. Your good works are not your treasures. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things will be added. Your treasure is Christ, the
grace of God, the mercy of God, the love of God in Christ, the
righteousness of God in Christ. You're not buying stock in heaven. You're not investing in an investment
program by which you earn a return on your investment. That's not
what salvation is all about. Salvation is by grace to the
most undeserving sinners of all. Isn't that right? Let's put it
to you this way. Here's the thief on the cross
who was converted by the Holy Spirit under the preaching of
the gospel in the last minutes of his life. Here's the apostle
Paul who preached everywhere he went, who used of God to write
half the New Testament, who died, who suffered and bled and died
as a martyr. And here's what I'm telling you,
Paul the apostle has no more rewards in heaven than the thief
on the cross. It's all of grace. And Paul would
be the first one to tell you that. They both stand before
God in the righteousness of Christ, freely imputed and received by
faith. You say, well, that doesn't seem
fair. My friend, fairness didn't have anything to do with it.
If any, listen, the next breath you take, it's not fair that
God gives that to you. You didn't earn it and you don't
deserve it. And it's the same way with salvation. It's not
fairness. If God gave me what was fair,
it would be eternal damnation. That's right. Salvation is not based upon what's
fair to you. Salvation is based upon God's
grace to the chief of sinners. And grace reigns through righteousness,
not what you can do for him, but what Christ did for his people
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can talk about our new state
by the power of God in Christ. We're in Christ. We weren't born
that way as far as our understanding is concerned. We were put in
Christ. If we're saved today, we were
put in Christ before the foundation of the world. The scripture teaches
that. Somebody said, well, I don't believe that. Well, you don't
believe the scriptures. The Bible talks about a second Timothy
one of a salvation that was given to his people in Christ before
the world began. And then read Ephesians 1, read
Romans 8 and 9. We get so many. We were in him,
but we fell in Adam. And we're born dead in trespasses
and sin, and there's no difference between us by nature than the
children of wrath. And then what happened? God came
in power by his spirit under the preaching of the gospel.
and showed us the holiness of God and who we are by nature. And we were made new. We were
given a new heart, a new mind, new affections, new will, new
spirit. All of this, old and new. See, these are the mystery.
These are the parables that Christ spoke to his people. He gave
them a new commandment, he said, in 1 John 2. A new commandment that you can
love one another, but that new commandment was the old commandment
too. Somebody said that means old, new, it just hadn't been
used before. You see, these parables are all
aspects of God's grace. Old Testament Judaism had become
totally a works. Salvation. Self-righteous. They
perverted the law, but Christ set the law before the people
in its right purpose. First of all, he fulfilled it
in time. That's a new thing. That's why it's called the new
covenant. The new covenant is the establishment in time of
the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. The old covenant
is called the first because it came first in time, but then
Christ came into the world. He was born of a virgin. He lived
a perfect life. And then he went to the cross
and died. And that's when he said a new covenant, he hath
made the first oath, now that which decayeth and waxeth old
is ready to vanish away. This was all prophesied in the
Old Testament. It was all fulfilled in Christ. And in Christ were made new creatures.
New creatures in Christ. And as a result were raised with
Christ to walk in newness of life. and not in oldness of the
letter. That's the mystery of new and
old. Out of this treasure of Christ
and him crucified comes all of these things. And what he does,
he's given us this charge as householders that we persevere
in the faith, that we continue in the faith. And we know that
it's only by the grace of God that we'll continue. It's only
by the sovereign mercy and grace of God that we will persevere,
isn't that right? That's the whole issue of salvation
in Christ.