Do you care to open your Bibles
to Matthew chapter 13? Matthew, the 13th chapter. Before
we begin, let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our Father, we bow in your awesome
presence this morning. Giving thanks that we can come
before a throne of mercy, not before a throne of justice, but
one of mercy and grace. Thankful that we can come before
you boldly, knowing that we're accepted and heard in our Lord
Jesus Christ. How we thank you for him. How
we thank you for such a savior. To save sinners to the uttermost. You cannot fail to save all of
the people that you gave him to save. Father, we pray that
this morning we might be enabled by thy spirit to worship thee,
to worship in spirit and in truth, that the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ might be exalted and magnified. Father, we pray that you'd show
us your glory. Reveal to us your redemptive glory this morning. Let us set aside every other
thought of the goings on and responsibilities of this life
and set our affection our mind, our heart on the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, give us faith to
believe him, we pray. What we pray this morning for
ourselves in this class, we pray for our children's classes, we
pray for your people who meet everywhere around this world
this morning. Father, bless your word where it's preached and
cause it to go forth in power. Shine forth, we pray, in your
glory in this dark, dark day. Father, we're thankful for so
many blessings, how you've blessed us. We're thankful. Thankful
that you brought Gary back to us. Others, Father, who've been
ill and hurting, we're thankful. And for those who are still in
a time of great need, Father, we pray for them. Heal and comfort
according to thy will. Bless us, Father, as we look
into your word and enable us to see the Lord Jesus Christ,
the incarnate word and the written word. In his precious name, we
pray and give thanks. All right, Matthew chapter 13,
I've titled the lesson this morning, Purchasing the Kingdom of Heaven. Our text begins in verse 44. Matthew 13, verse 44. Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field,
which when a man hath found, he hideth. And for joy thereof,
goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is 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. These parables teach us something
about love and commitment and purchasing the kingdom of heaven.
This is how the Lord describes the kingdom of heaven. These
two parables, I'm going to deal with them together. I feel like
they go together. This first parable teaches us
about Christ redeeming love for his people. The treasure hidden
in the field pictures God's elect. The field is a picture of the
world and the man doing the buying is the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Savior. And I want to give you three points from this parable
that show us Christ redeeming love for his people. The number
one, the treasure that's hidden in the field is God's elect.
Now, no one, who has any idea and true recognition of themselves
will claim to be a valuable treasure to God. We're worthless in ourselves. I hope that's our estimation
of ourselves. Nothing higher than that, that we are worthless
in ourselves. As it is written, there's none righteous, no not
one. There's nothing in us by nature
that God would want because all we are is sin. There's nothing
that we can do that would add any value to God because everything
that we do is sin. We're useless to God. By nature,
we're only fit for the burning. But look at Exodus chapter 19.
Even though that's true of us, God set his love upon his people
and they're precious in his sight. Those people that God chose to
save are precious to him. Now we wouldn't dare think that
about ourselves, would we? Unless God wrote it in his word.
Look here in Exodus 19 verse four. You have seen what I did
unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought
you unto myself. Now therefore, if you'll obey
my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall you be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. You're a peculiar treasure unto
me. And look at Malachi chapter three. Here in Exodus, The Lord
said, you're a peculiar treasure unto me. David repeated that
in Psalm 135, you're a peculiar treasure. Malachi chapter three, verse 16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard
it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that fear the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall
be mine, saith the Lord of hosts. In that day, when I make up my
jewels, my special treasure, I will spare them as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him. Now, we never would have thought
about ourselves that way as God's peculiar treasure, a special
treasure, his jewels. We would not have thought that
about ourselves, but God loves his people. And that's what makes
them precious. That's what makes them his jewels,
his peculiar treasure. Almighty God set his love and
affection upon them. That's what makes them special.
That's what makes them his treasure. All right. So the treasure is
God's elect. And secondly, the field is the
world. Now the whole world belongs to
God. We just heard the Lord say that
in Exodus 19 verse four, all the earth is mine. It's all belongs
to him that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
And God's elect are in the field. They're out there in the world.
They're in the world, but they're not of the world. They're not
of the world because God's given them a different nature. Just
like a vein of gold. You find that if I'm not mistaken
in the rock. Now the gold's in the rock, but
it's not of the rock. It's not like the rock. It's
got a different nature. It's got a different makeup than
the rock because God made the gold to be different than the
rock. That's the believer in the world.
The believer is in the world, but they're not off the world.
God's made them different. He's made them have a different
nature, a different makeup. The believers in the world, but
they're not staying in the world. Now they got a different makeup
than the natural man and they got a different home. This is
not our home. We've been translated into the
kingdom of God's dear son. We've got a different nationality,
a different home, and we're not staying here. Sooner or later,
we're leaving this place and going home. Because the believers
are not from this world, not of this world. But right now,
we're in the world, aren't we? The treasure is scattered all
through the field, all across the world. Now the whole field
isn't valuable. The field's probably just full
of rock. Nothing valuable at all, but the treasure hidden
in it's valuable. Look at 1 Peter 1. God's elect
are scattered all through the world. They're scattered in different
places, at different times in history, all through the world.
Well, how'd they get scattered? 1 Peter 1, verse 1. Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us. I'm in the wrong place. Through
the righteousness, I'm in second, you're in first
Peter, aren't you? I'm in second Peter, all right.
First Peter, well, here we go. That's a good verse too, but
it's not the point I'm on. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to
the strangers. Now they're strangers to the
world, not strangers to God, they're strangers to the world,
they're scattered. They're at Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia and Bithynia. They're scattered. These people
that Peter are writing to believers are scattered all over the place.
They're not in one place all gathered together. They're in
different places all over the world. Well, how'd they become
scattered? Well, first of all, they were
scattered away from God by our sin. Isaiah said in Isaiah 59
verse two, your iniquities have separated between you and your
God. Our sins have scattered us from God. Throughout Israel's
history, how many times did the Lord tell them, I'm going to
scatter you among the nations. It was always because of their
sin. And the sin almost always that the Lord was dealing with
is idolatry. That sin caused them to be scattered
among the nations. Some nation would come in and
take them captive and they'd be scattered all over the place.
Now, eventually God would bring them back, wouldn't he? Bring
them back to Israel. But they were scattered for a time because
of their sin. After the Tower of Babel, The
Lord scattered men across the whole face of the earth because
of sin. So because of sin were scattered
away. And look at Isaiah chapter 54. Second, God's elect are scattered
across the whole world by the will of God so that he can show
his glory in bringing them back together, his mercy and his grace. Isaiah 54 verse five. For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. He
owns the whole field, the whole earth. For the Lord hath called
thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife
of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God, for a small moment. Here's why God allowed that to
happen. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great
mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath, I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness, will I
have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. God scattered
his people so that the whole earth could see the glory of
his redeeming love and gathering his people to himself. All right,
now look at Acts chapter eight. Here's the third reason God's
elect are scattered across the whole field, across the whole
earth. They're scattered there. by the redemptive will of God. You think how did the believers
from all the 12 tribes of Israel, how did they become scattered
away from Israel, away from Jerusalem, scattered all over the world?
How'd that happen? It was by the will of God, by the redemptive
will of God. Acts chapter eight, verse one. And Saul was consenting unto
his death, unto Stephen's death. He stood there holding the clothes
of those that, were stoning Stephen. Saul was consenting unto his
death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against
the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad
throughout all the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the
apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for
Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and
hailing men and women, committed them to prison. Therefore, they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Those believers there at Jerusalem
were scattered everywhere. They had to run from their homes,
run from their hometowns, running for their lives. Saul was going
to kill them. He's going to put them in jail
and kill them. They're scattered. But everywhere they went, they
went preaching the word. They were preaching Christ. They
went preaching the gospel. The Lord used that persecution
and that hatred of his people to spread the gospel across the
whole world, to spread the gospel to other sheep that the Lord
had, which are not of this fold. So he must bring them to himself. How's he going to do that? We're
going to do it through the preaching of the gospel. But how's the
preacher going to go there? The Lord said, I'll show them.
And he sent persecution and scattered them. They never would have left
their hometowns. They never left those places
where they grew up. They never left those places where they
had jobs and roots and things. The Lord sent that persecution
and drove them out. And lo and behold, God's sheep
heard the gospel. Somebody went preaching to them. It was the
persecution of the Jews that sent the gospel to the Gentiles,
just like the Lord promised that He would do. Now, only God could
do something like that. Only God would do it that way.
But that's the way He did it. And that's been repeated throughout
human history. But here's something else that
only God could do. I find this very interesting
and very comforting, and I hope this will be a blessing to you.
I don't think I've ever thought of it this way before, but the
Lord used Saul of Tarsus to bring this horrible persecution upon
his people. Saul hated the gospel of Christ
so much. He loved his self-righteous works
religion, He liked the credit that he got. He liked that he
was above all of his equals, you know, he was a Pharisee of
the Pharisees. He was the top dog. And he wasn't
going to give that up. He hated the gospel of Christ.
He hated the name of Christ. He was determined to stamp that
name out from human history. He was determined to stamp this
message out from the world so that it could not be spread anywhere.
And he, I mean, he was determined to kill people over it. And Lord
used that persecution to scatter believers all over the world.
The treasure was scattered because of Saul's persecution. And then in great mercy, God
saved old Saul, changed his name to Paul, and he used Paul to
go over all the world and gather treasure. Isn't that something? Only God would do something so
gracious to use the very man that causes persecution to cause
such trouble to God's people, to go out and preach the gospel
to them, to give them life and comfort their hearts. Only God
would do that. That's God's mercy. God allowed
those people to be scattered so that his redemptive glory
could be seen. God's people, his treasure, they're
scattered everywhere. In one way or another, the Lord's
going to have them all. He's not going to leave any of
that treasure in the field. He's going to gather all of his people,
his special, peculiar treasure. He's going to gather it to himself
in his treasure house. And that brings me to the third
thing. The Lord Jesus Christ, he came and he redeemed God's
treasure out of the earth. Now, when we say this is a parable,
and you know, you can't make parables 100% true now, it's
a story that illustrates a spiritual truth. When we say that the Lord
Jesus Christ bought the field, which is the world, he bought
the world. Now, scripture never means by that that Christ came
to die for every son of Adam in the world, to give everybody
in the world a chance to be saved if they would just decide to
accept Jesus into their heart. Scripture never, anywhere, in
any way teaches universal redemption, universal atonement, never. Christ
came to die for his people. Not the whole world, but for
his people. The scriptures teach that the world belongs to Christ. It belongs to him. It belongs
to him by creation. Who spoke and said, let there be light?
The word. The Lord Jesus Christ. He created
it. He owns it. But the scriptures
also teach this. Look at John chapter 17. The
scriptures also teach it is his by creation. But the world is also Christ
because he bought it. He bought the right to rule over
it. He bought the right to dispose
of us, of everything in it as he pleases. It's his by purchase. John chapter 17 verse two, as
thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Now the father
has given his son power over all flesh because he bought the
right. He bought the field. He bought
it all. The father gave it to him. That's why the Lord Jesus
said the father's committed all judgment unto the son. It's all
his to dispose of as he pleases. And by his sacrifice, the Lord
Jesus Christ bought the right to redeem his people out of the
field, to redeem them out of the world. Now, like I said,
the scriptures never teach universal atonement. Never. But they do
teach limited atonement. Now, the atonement of Christ
by his blood is not limited in his power to save. It's limited
in scope. It's limited in who he died for. He died for God's elect. He died
for those that the father gave him to redeem. The death of Christ
did not satisfy justice for the sins of the whole field, did
it? His death satisfied justice for the treasure, for his elect
who were in the world, to redeem them out of the world. And Christ
the Savior is going to have them. He bought them. He redeemed them.
He paid the price in full. Now he's going to have his treasure.
Look at John 17, if you're still there, verse 9. He says, I pray
for them. I pray not for the world. Nobody
can mistake that. He didn't pray for the world.
He wasn't trying to redeem everybody out of the world. I pray for
them. I pray for them, which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. All mine are thine and thine are mine, and I am
glorified in them. And now I'm no more in the world,
but these are in the world. The treasure is still scattered
in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are. And he's gonna have that prayer's
answer. Look over at verse 24. Father, I will. And the only
reason he can say this is I will. The only reason he can say that
is he's paying the redemption price in full. Father, I will.
That they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. That they may behold my glory
which thou hast given me. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ is gonna
have his special, peculiar, treasure. He's going to have all of his
jewels. He bought them. They belong to him. He's going
to have them. And you know what's more? God's justice demands that
they be glorified. God's justice demands that they
be saved out of this world because their sin has already been punished
in the person of their substitute. So God's justice demands that
they be glorified. Not only does God's mercy and
grace demand it, God's justice demands it too. The price has
been paid. Now notice this back in our text. Well, you turn to Hebrews chapter
12. I'm sorry. Hebrews. I'll just
read you. This says that the man, the witch,
when the man had had found, he hideth and for joy thereof go
and sell all that he hath and buyeth that field. The Lord Jesus
Christ bought the field. He bought his people. in joy. It was a joy to him. Hebrews
chapter 12 verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on
the right hand of the throne of God. This was a joyful thing
to our Savior. Now there was no joy in his suffering. There's no joy in the sufferings
of Christ. There was no joy to him in being made sin. Just the
thought of being made sin, he thought was gonna kill him. He
thought it was gonna kill his body. There was no joy for him in suffering
justice at the hand of his father. He cried, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? That was pure agony. But he was
willing to go through all that for the joy that was set before
him. the joy of paying the price and
redeeming his special treasure, redeeming the people that he
loves. Christ loved his people so much,
he gave all that he had to buy the people. All. Christ gave,
he sacrificed everything that he is, everything that he had
to redeem his people from their sin. He gave everything that
was in him. He gave everything that he is,
both body and soul, to redeem his people from their sin. He
was glad to do it, willing to do it because he loves these
people. They're his special treasure.
Now doesn't that sacrifice? He gave everything that he had
to redeem his people from their sin. Does that tell you how much
Christ loves his people? It does, doesn't it? I'll tell
you what else it tells us. It tells us just how sinful we
are. It took everything that the Son
of God is to put away the sin of His people. That's how sinful
we are. It didn't just take some, it
took everything that He had to pay for the sin of His people.
Now what makes us think, since that's what it took to redeem
His people, the Son of God gave everything that He had, what
makes us think that fallen men and women like you and me can
do something to put our sin away? We can't. And if you're trying
to do that, quit and just trust Christ. Just trust Christ. He gave everything that he had.
He's the only one capable of doing it. He's the only one capable
of giving what it takes to put away the sin of his people. So
just trust him. Christ gave everything that he
had and that was enough to purchase the whole shooting match. He
bought the field so he could redeem his people out of it.
But I tell you what, because of that price being paid. One
day we know God's elect are going to be glorified, aren't they?
But you know the world will be too. He bought the field and
he's going to make this world back to its original glory. He's
going to take all the sin out of it. He's going to burn it
up. He's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. Not only
are God's people going to be glorified because Christ bought
them, the earth is too. It's going to be glorified because
Christ bought the whole field with his sacrifice. Now that
brings, that's the redemptive glory of Christ. That's his love
for his people. And that brings a response of
love and commitment from God's people. That's Christ's love
to his people, but that brings a response of love from God's
people. Now look back in our text, Matthew
chapter 13. Now this is the response to Christ giving all that he
had to buy that field, to redeem his people out of it. Again,
the king of heaven is likened to a merchant man selling goodly
pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went
and sold all that he had and bought it. Now in this parable,
the merchant pictures a sinner who's seeking a savior. He's
seeking a treasure for his soul. The one pearl of great price
pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, the one savior of sinners. Christ
is the pearl of great price. He's the believer's portion.
He's the believer's treasure. Christ is all that the believer
wants, and he is the treasure that we must have. The believer
must have him. Peter said, unto you therefore
which believe, he is precious. He's the pearl that is precious.
And that word Peter uses precious there is actually preciousness.
Christ is such a special treasure to his people. He is preciousness
itself. Now this merchant man, like I
told you, he's the picture of a sinner seeking a savior. But
when he begins his search, he's not exactly sure what he's looking
for. He's just looking for pearls, pearls, plural. And that is how
often how a sinner begins seeking a savior in him. He's looking
for pearls, plural. It's just something to make him
feel better. Maybe he might find as he goes looking, maybe the
first thing he finds is the pearl of good works. He finds somebody
telling him you've got to do enough good works. Have your good outweigh
your bad to get into heaven. He may find the pearl of morality,
the pearl of outward holiness. You know, you've got to clean
up your act now before God will save you. He may find, God help
him, the pearl of reformation. He may find some reformed doctrine.
He may find a changed life, which normally makes him hard. Maybe
he'll find the pearl of just looking for more happiness. just
looking for more material and blessed life. He might try to
find the pearl of physical healing. Who knows what he'll find? He
may find the pearl of religious rituals, the pearl of church
membership that just make men feel better about themselves. He's looking for pearls. He doesn't
know. He just look at any pearl he can find. That's what he's
looking for. And he's willing to give up a lot to get them.
And you know, that's why false prophets get so rich. They take
advantage of people's desperation to feel better about themselves.
They take advantage of people's desperation to feel better about
eternity, to feel better, to just to feel more religious and
just to feel like I got a sense of belonging and something, you
know, a sense of security. And people are willing to give
anything to get it. They're looking for pearls. And they'll find
a false prophet offering them to them. But when, by God's grace,
a sinner finds the Lord Jesus Christ, he says, stop everything. I found everything my soul desires. I found everything that my soul
needs. And when that sinner, by God's
grace, when he finds Christ, I tell you what, he's gonna sell
everything he's got to get to Christ. Nothing's gonna stop
him. Let me show you what I'm talking about here. Philippians
chapter three. If the Lord will ever show us
Christ, we'll sell everything, give up
everything that we hold most dear to have it. These are the
things that we hold the most dear. This is the apostle Paul
here talking about how he was all his past circumcised eighth
day in the stock of Israel. He was a tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of the Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee and verse
seven, He says, but what things were gained to me? Those things
that I held the most dear, that are the most precious to me,
those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things, all those things I've done, all those things about
me, all those things about my flesh, I count them but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I've suffered the loss of all things. And it's not a great
big loss, because Paul says, I do count them but done. I count
my own righteousness, all those things that I did under the law,
I count them, but done that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having my own righteousness, which is other law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which
is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable into his death. If by any means I might attain,
unto the resurrection of the dead. Now that's what a sinner
will do if he ever finds Christ. He'll give up his works for Christ
who finished the work. Now you'll notice I didn't say
he'll give up his works for the finished work of Christ. No,
he'll give up his works for Christ who finished the work. He'll
give up his rags of righteousness for the perfect righteousness
of Christ. He'll give up everything he's
ever done to have Christ our righteousness. He'll give up
all the glory and all the credit that he thinks he can earn in
man's religion because he sees all the glory rightly belongs
to Christ and that's the way he wants it. He'll give up religious
ceremony and religious feelings so that he can worship God in
Christ in spirit and in truth. See, that sinner who finds Christ
will sell out to have Christ. Sell out to have him. Now I know
nobody is ever saved by our works. No one is saved because we sought
Christ better than somebody else sought him. We were more serious
and more earnest. Nobody's saved that way. We're
saved by the faithfulness of Christ. God's people are saved
because Christ came, he sought us, he bought us, and he found
us. Isn't that right? I know that
we're not saved by our choice. We're not saved because we decided
to let Jesus into our hearts. We're saved by the choice of
God. He elected a people and sent his son to accomplish their
redemption and redeem them out of the world. That's how God's
people are saved. You believe that, don't you?
But I tell you this, this is also true. Nobody will ever enter
the kingdom of heaven until they take it by force. This is what
I mean by that. They won't quit. They won't quit
begging God for mercy. They won't quit seeking Christ.
They'll be like that, that poor widow woman who was just hollering
at that judge and kept knocking on the door, you know, and he
finally just came down just to shut her up, you know, That's
taking the kingdom of God by force. I just won't quit begging
God for mercy. I will not quit seeking him.
You'll never have Christ until you're willing to give up everything
to have him. You'll never have Christ if something's
more important to you than him. And let me ask you this. If by
faith you see Christ lifted up as a sacrifice for your sins,
how can he not be that one pearl? great price that you must have. How can that not draw you to
him? If you see Christ lifted up for your sins, I promise you
this, that'll draw you to him. He'll be the one pearl of great
price. And that reaction comes as a response. So that doesn't
save us. It comes as a response to Christ's
love for his people. He tells his people, I've given
everything to redeem you, all that I have. And I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. I'm committed
to you. And God's people say, oh, I'm
so thankful. I'm so thankful. But I tell you
what, by God's grace, I'll never leave you nor forsake you either.
To whom shall I go? Not only do you have the words
of life, you are my life. And I'm committed to the Lord. I must have him. Now that's selling
all to have Christ. because he sold all to redeem
us. All right, oh, glory bless that
too.