For a scripture reading, turn
with me to Matthew chapter 13. This has a little bit of length to
it, so if you'll bear with me, I want to read through it. Beginning
with verse 1. The same day went Jesus out of
the house and sat by the seaside. And great multitudes were gathered
together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and
the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many
things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went
forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds
fell by the wayside. The fowls came and devoured them
up. Some fell upon stony places where
they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness
of earth. And when the sun was up, they
were scorched. Because they had no root, they
withered away. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others fell into good
ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered
and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath
not, From him shall be taken away even that he hath. In another one of the Gospels
it says, even that he seemeth to have. Therefore speak I unto
them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they
hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing you shall hear and
shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted. and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen
them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not
heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth
the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word,
and ane him with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself,
But doeth for a while, and when tribulation and persecution ariseth,
because of the word, by and by he is offended. And also that
receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word,
and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke
the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receiveth seed into
the good ground is he that heareth the word, understandeth it, which
also bringeth forth fruit, and bringeth forth some a hundredfold,
and some sixty, and some thirty. And another parable put he forth
unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man
which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his
enemy came and sowed tares among the weak and went his way. But when the blade was sprung
up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the
servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst
not thou sow good seed in the field? From whence then hath
it tares? He said unto them, an enemy hath
done this. The servant said unto him, wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? No, lest while you gather
up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. Let both
grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I
will say to the reapers, gather ye together, first the tares,
and bind them in bundles and burn them, and then gather the
wheat into my barn. Another parable put he forth
unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain
of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field,
which indeed is the least of all seeds. But when it is grown,
it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that
the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Another parable spake he unto
them, the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. All these things spake Jesus
unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he
nothing 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. Then Jesus sent
the multitude away and went into the house. And his disciples
came unto him, saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares
in the field. And he answered and said unto
them, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. The field
is the world. And the good seed are the children
of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked
one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil, and the harvest
is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom, all things
that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them
into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears
to hear, let him hear." And again, the kingdom of Heaven is like
unto a treasure hid in a field, in which a man hath found, he
hideth, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath,
and buys the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. When he had found
one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had,
and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto 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 the good into vessels, and cast the bad
away. So shall it be in the end of
the world. The angel shall come forth and
sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into
a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Now I'm going to get to my text.
Jesus saith unto them, have you understood all these things? Have you understood? I gave you
the parables. I gave you the interpretation.
Do you understand what I say? And they say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore
every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his
treasure things new and old. May the Lord add his blessing
to the reading of his book. I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to Matthew 13. Just hold your Bibles open
there. In Matthew 13, our Lord gives
to His disciples seven very instructive parables concerning the Kingdom
of God. Very needed, very needful parables. Teaching them something about
the kingdom. God has a kingdom. You remember Pilate questioning
the Lord and he said, are you a king? They say you're a king. And he said, well thou sayest
that I am. To this end came I into this
world. But he said, if my kingdom was
of this world, he said, then would my servants fight? And
you'd lose. If his servants, if he called,
he said, I could call 10,000 angels at a snap of my finger. But my kingdom is not of this
world. God has a kingdom. It's a kingdom made up of elect
angels and chosen sinners. It's a kingdom invisible to this
world, yet very real, very powerful, and very present at all times. It's a kingdom like Israel of
old, typified, established by grace. God called Abraham. Where'd he find him? Working
for his daddy, the idol maker. A child did. It's established by grace, it's
preserved by God, and ruled over by God. In Psalm 2, the Holy Ghost tells
us that the issues, commandments, and rules of this kingdom, everything
about this kingdom, is resisted by men. Listen to this. He said, the kings of the earth
set themselves and the rulers of this world. take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed. That's His kingdom. Now they took issue. They took
counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed
saying, let us break their bands. Let's get rid of their rule. Let's stop this thing. Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us. Listen to what the Holy Ghost
says. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. He'll laugh. I had a little puppy one time.
I called him Little Bub, Little Yorkie. He was just a baby and
he sat right in my hand. He slept in my tennis shoes the
first night at home. That's how little he was. And
you mess with him a little bit and he goes growling and I just
laugh. I just laugh. I can't imagine,
I can't imagine the infinite, omnipotent God looking down on
a bunch of angry maggots talking about breaking his cords and
doing this and staying in his hand. He'll laugh. He'll laugh. He that sitteth in the heaven
shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them in derision. He'll
put their heads in the stocks, and they'll throw rotten tomatoes
at them. He's gonna shame them publicly, and how often he does. Yet God says, In spite of all
these things, God says, I have set my king upon my holy hill
in Zion, his church, his kingdom, that holy nation that he chose. Oh, what are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying God has a kingdom. He has a kingdom and Christ is
king in it. And all of its citizens willfully,
lovingly submit to his rule. They wouldn't have it any other
way. I love that one of the last verses
in the Bible. It said, even so, come Lord Jesus,
even so. They all submit to his rule,
be it in the first person or delegated. It makes no difference.
He that heareth you, heareth me, I would say. All its occupants
make up a chosen generation. Peter calls them a holy nation,
a peculiar people, which in times past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy. And this kingdom is a spiritual
and heavenly kingdom. It cannot be seen except by its
fruits and by eyes of faith. The kingdom of God, he looked
right at him and said, the kingdom of God cometh without observation. You don't even know what's going
on. That thief on the cross looked
at Jesus. I don't have time to take you
back and show you all the references, but the scripture said he was
marred more than any man. You could look at him and see
his bones where they had beaten the skin off of him. He was a
bloody mess and here he is on the cross and he's dying and
you can't even recognize him and the blood is gushing from
his head and his eyes and his arms and his back. It's just
a bloody mess and they come along and throw a spear in his side
to make sure that he's going to die. And here's this one thief,
and he's hearing them talk about the King of Glory. He's hearing
them talk about these things all around the cross, and they're
mocking his kingship. And that thief looked at that
bloody mess, and he said, Lord, Lord, Lord, would you come into
your kingdom? Remember me? And that bloody mess of a man
said to that thief, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. God has a kingdom. And Christ
is king in it. And all of his citizens willfully,
lovingly submit to his rule. whether it's in the first person
or whether it's delegated. And all its occupants make up
a chosen generation, a holy nation, a peculiar people. And this kingdom
is spiritual, it's a heavenly kingdom, can't be seen except
by faith. God has this kingdom, this invisible,
spiritual, heavenly kingdom, a glorious kingdom, and daily
He adds to it such as should be seen. Well, that church in
Antioch, man, they argued, they went back and forth, and the
Jews lambasted them, and this happened and that happened. So
he said, Paul turned and he said to those Jews, seeing you judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, I turn to the Gentiles.
And he quoted Old Testament scriptures, which included the Gentiles.
And when they heard that, he said they were glad. and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. God saved them. Saved them right in the midst
of their enemies, didn't he? Oh. This king is God over all, blessed
forever. He God over creation. Our Savior,
our Savior, our Redeemer, is the God of creation. Did you
know that? He's God over all, blessed forever.
He's God of creation. Everything that is owes its being
to God. In Him we live and move and have
our being. He's the firstborn of every created
thing. By Him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible. ungodly kingdoms and spiritual
kingdoms, principalities and powers, thrones and dominions. All things were created by him
and for him, and he's before all things, and by him all things
have a continuance. He's the God-man mediator. He
alone mediates the redemptive will of God. Scripture said God
was in him, reconciling all things to himself, having made this
peace through the blood of his cross. God has a kingdom over
which his dear Son sits and rules for the glory of God. And in
spite of man's resistance and Satan's influence and anti-Christ
presence in this world, yet God has a people he chose to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the
truth. And he calls them through his gospel to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. They become beneficiaries of
his glory. Oh, my soul. He did all the work. We collect
all the benefits. What a salvation. God has a kingdom,
it's a mighty and glorious kingdom, a work undisturbed by Adam's
fall, unmolested by man's sin, and untouched by Antichrist's
religion. God's working by the means He's
ordained and always delivers His people from the power of
darkness, and then what happens? Translates them into the kingdom
of His dear Son. Our Lord accused him of casting
out devils by the power of Beelzebub. He said that ain't possible.
Kingdom can't be divided against itself. The strong man armed
keeps his palace secure. He don't fight himself. He's
armed to fight you. He keeps his palace secure with
his lies and deceit, armed with ungodly attractions and with
powers of darkness, and he keeps his goods at peace until a stronger
than he comes upon him. And when he does, he takes him
down. He takes all his weapons away
from him. He leaves him before him powerless. Powerless. He overcomes him and
spoils his goods. And our Lord said to those who
defied him, he said, if I with the finger of God cast out devils,
You know this, the kingdom of God has come upon you. Boom. Gone. How often we look
at men and say, I don't know about him, now I've got a cousin
and he has a little interest and maybe we ought to bring him
down here to the gospel. That guy there, man, that might
be the guy you're going to save. Paul said, He saved me first
to show you how far down in the barrel He'll go. He'll go all
the way to the dredge. That's where He found me. His kingdom is so mysterious,
so different, so alien to everything we've been told that our Lord
gives to us seven perils to let us peer into the mystery of His
kingdom. He first talks about the soul. This parable illustrates the
various effects of the gospel preaching upon them that hear
it. That's what's going on in the kingdom. Everybody don't
hear what you hear. Blessed are your ears, they hear.
Why are you preaching them parables? It's given to you to understand.
That's why I'm doing this. That's why I'm breaking it down
on your level. Well, you're offending these
highly educated, proud Pharisees. You're offending them. Well,
it's not given to them to know the mysteries of God. It's given
to you. I'm ministering to you. This parable illustrates the
various effects of gospel preaching upon men who hear it and why. Gospel preachers are sources
of seed, gospel seed, regenerating seed, fruit-producing seed, incorruptible
seed. Paul told the Corinthians, you
are God's husbandry. You're His garden. You're the
seed He planted. And we're fellow laborers with
God. And this seed only grows and produces seed where the Holy
Ghost breaks up the fallow ground. He comes in and rips that old
heart apart. And then the second parable is
about the wheat and tares. The good seed was planted, watered,
and fed. And the good seed grew and brought
forth fruit. But all at a moment was where
the enemy sowed tares and the weeds come up. The weeds come
up. useless weeds, fruitless weeds,
plants springing up right beside the wheat. And this is showing
to us that in his present visible churches, I don't care where
they are or who pastors them, in the present visible churches
there are believers and unbelievers, every congregation. Well, if they quietly grow like
the tares did, we leave them alone. Just leave them alone. Don't do anything. Every now
and then, one of them will, by some outward radical activity,
have to be judged by the church. They ought to be put out. But
as long as they Sit there and grow quietly among them or leave
them alone. Leave them alone. And most of the time they do
that very thing. They just sit there quiet. The third parable
is that of the mustard seed and it's a picture of real saving
faith. Born of a tiny seed. When that man first believed,
you don't even know it. You don't even know he's a believer.
That seed is so tiny you can't hardly see it. But after a while,
it matures. It's the greatest of all the
herbs. That thing gets about that high. It's got big old branches. It reminds you of a small tree.
And the birds come and sit on its limbs and eat the seeds. The fourth parable is about living
hidden in the meal. Me and Walter like good rolls,
don't we? My wife used to make the best rolls. She'd make bread
and she'd mix all in the dough and put it in a bowl and put
oil or butter or something on it and then she'd take a piece
of that saran wrap and she'd put it over the bowl and she'd
set it over here in a warm spot and I'd just keep watching it.
Come out of my study, get me some coffee or something, and
I'd look over there. After a while, that dough comes up and lifts
the plastic right off the top of the bowl. This parable illustrates the
effect of gospel preaching by the power of God's spirit
in the inward working in the hearts and lives of God's people. You can't just sit and watch
it. It don't happen that way. But slowly, slowly, slowly. And you can't stop it. The world
can't stop it. You can't stop it yourself. It
just takes place. He establishes His kingdom in
your hearts. And then the fifth parable is
about treasure discovered in a field. And the man who discovers
it, he goes and buys the field. And the first thing this parable
illustrates to us is the love of God for His elect and our
Lord's purchase of the world. To have His treasure, to have
His purse. Not His redemption of the world,
but His rightful possession of it. He says in His high priestly
prayer, He said to glorify Him. He's about to go to that cross
and He's asking His Father to glorify Him with the glory that
He had with Him before the world was. And listen to this. Here's the very next thing He
says. As thou hast given Him power over all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And whether we live, Paul
said, we live unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the
Lord. Whether we live, therefore die,
we're the Lord's. For to this end, Christ both
died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. He bought this world that he
might have. And this also pictures the man
who discovers Christ through the gospel in the Word of God. And all of a sudden, he ain't,
you know, used to, used to he'd run over here. I tell you, when
I was in religion, we'd have quote time. God not willing for
any to perish. That's not what that verse said.
That's not what it says. It says God is longsuffering
to usward, talking about his elect. not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. And we grab these
little isolated verses and things and, well, you can make the Bible
say anything you want to if you do that. But that man who discovers
Christ, boy, he buys the farm, don't he? That's my treasure. This thing is full of treasure.
Full of treasure. Not a little bit here and there.
But buried in the context is the mysteries of God from the
foundation of the world. Such treasures. No greater privilege in this
world. And that's the third thing I want you to see here. The man
who hears the gospel, wherever it is he hears it, he joins himself
to that church, he buys the whole farm. Lock, stock, and barrel. He sells that. That's where I'm
going. Oh, you don't want to go down
there. Yeah, that's exactly where I want to go. That's exactly
where. Oh, you'll get tired of it. No,
I don't think so. Don't think so. No greater privilege
in this world than to be in a gospel church rejoicing with the saints
of God. And then the sixth parable is
about a pearl of great price. This parable illustrates the
love of Christ for His church and the love of the church for
Christ. We love Him because He first loved us. Why a pearl? Man, there's diamonds, there's
rubies, there's all kinds of jewels. Why in the world would
the Holy Spirit use the word pearl? You know where a pearl
comes from? The slimmest, nastiest, looking
thing that there is in the ocean. Conchs and oysters. My soul. Most unlikely place in the world
for God to manifest His treasure in a man. Huh? In a man. He that hath seen me has seen
the Father. Just an ugly old mollusk living
at the bottom of the sea, most unlikely place in all the world
to find a treasure. Even so, the Son of Man was born
of a woman, made flesh, made in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Imagine the very treasure of heaven being found in a man. The Jews wouldn't believe it,
would they? I'm being a man that's made thyself
God. No. No. I didn't make myself
God. I am God. I'm God come into the
flesh. And all those who see this one-of-a-kind
pearl have to have it. And then the seventh parable
is about a great net. Brother Don said this is called
a drag net. And I've watched them do this
down in Yucatan, Mexico. We went over on the Gulf side.
Walter took me over there and we watched. And they anchored
this net off. It had a boat full of net. And
they anchored it off on the beach on an old log. And he took that
boat and he went way out and made a big half a circle. And he come back to land. And
when he got back to land, they just sat there for a little while
and had floats on top of the net that just sat out there.
And then all the fishermen came over and they started pulling
that net in. And that's what he's talking
about in this parable. Those who preach the gospel are
setting out a great net. He's making them as he told them
he would, fishers of men. And all sorts of things get in
the net. Undesirable things, bad things,
nasty things, junk, useless things, dead things. But some good things. Some good thing. And that's the
whole reason for the net. And he said, when they get the
net in, they sit down. They sit down. And they start
picking through it. The Lord shows us that these
things will not always be as we see them now. He takes those
useless, bad things and He just throws them back in the sea or
throws them out on the land. But the good things, that parable
said, he puts in vessels. Oh, my soul. In Christ. Take that good thing. Put it
in Christ. Put it in Christ. In him by faith. Things not always going to be
as we see them now. Soon his kingdom shall be full,
and the church of God complete. And after that, the judgment.
And the sitting king shall put away all good things into himself,
into heaven, into a place he prepared for us, and all the
bad he'll cast away forever. And his fishermen are gospel
preachers, the net is the gospel, the sea is the world, and the
ship into which the good are put is his church, his church. And then in verse 51, our Lord
asked them, He said, now do you understand? I'm going to ask
you that. I just went through these seven
parables. Do you understand what I see? That's what He asked. Do you understand what I see?
I'm not talking to hear myself talk. I'm talking to teach. I'm talking to communicate. He
said, do you understand what I see? And they said, yeah, Lord, we
do. We thank you. We thank you. We had to ask you, but you told
us, and we thank you. We understand. He's going to
have them to understand what he said. These men were to be
preachers and apostles over his church, writers of the scriptures. And there's two things that preachers
struggle to do. One is to be faithful to the
Word of God, rightly dividing the truth. The other is to preach
it in such a fashion that even a child can understand what you're
talking about. If you hadn't done that, you
hadn't done anything. And then he tells them this.
You're like a certain householder. A householder. Who's the householder?
Christ is. Whose house are we? That's what
he said. Moses was head over his own house,
but not like Christ. He's a son over his own house,
whose house are we if we hold fast to the rejoicing. The rejoicing,
that truth, that glorious truth, firm unto the end. Christ is such a householder,
and he's the key to a happy house, a secure house, a safe house,
a house preserved by faith and love. His provisions are inexhaustible. They're eternally reserved in
heaven and sealed by God the Father. But also, he's talking
here by way of the stewards of his house, which are gospel preachers. We preach not ourselves, Paul
said, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servants,
for Christ's sake. Now, I have nothing of my own
to contribute except my service And that I do by the grace of
God and for Christ's sake. And what I draw from is my treasury. My treasury is the word of God
and the gospel of Christ and what I've learned about Christ
over the years. And Christ is every scribe, every
pastor, every preacher, every faithful householder which is
instructed and understood what I say. He's instructed under the Kingdom
of Heaven, He brings out of His treasure things new and old. Now listen to me, there are no
new truths. Somebody comes to you and starts
talking about, I had a vision, God spoke to me, told me to do,
there are no new truths. Somebody said one time, if it's
new, it's not true. And if it's true, it's not new.
Search for the old paths, that's what the scriptures say. And
this passage is not talking about new and old doctrines, but things
newly made known. I'll never forget our studies
in Genesis. When I first started in Genesis,
oh my soul, I knew those things were, but how old? We're talking
about the beginning of the world, the creation of the world. And
here's Christ in His glory. Here's that environment that
we're looking at in which men could live and survive and live
out their days. And how do we live? We live by
the grace of God. He's created an environment for
us. He put us in Christ. We exist in that. I was seeing
these things and opening it. Was it not a treasure? It was
to me. These things are newly made known,
newly discovered, newly revealed. Old doctrines newly manifested. And oh, how I remember the first
revelation set before me of Ruth and Boaz. How I cried. Abraham and Sarah, David and
Bathsheba, Hosea and his prostitute wife. Old, yet newly discovered. Old, yet new to the faith of
God's elect. And every gospel preacher has
been instructed on the Kingdom of God, and he tells what he
knows. He tells what he knows. Henry
had ten things he had us to look at before we preached. And one
of them was this. It was the third thing. He said,
tell only what you know by experience. I can read any of the Word of
God to any man, but I can only bring forth that which is in
my treasury. Things I know in my heart, things
I can rejoice in and rest in and glory in. And this man has
in his possession the very treasure of God, yet it doesn't make him
proud. It rather makes him humble. He knows all too well his inabilities,
yet like David his tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Here
you go. I've been pacing the floor all
morning. He knows his weaknesses, yet
like Jeremiah his word is in his heart and it's a burning
fire shut up within him. And this phrase, this kingdom
and this treasure, it also takes in a variety of gospel provisions
which he brings forth in his house, and it's suited to the
various needs of those in the house. One writer said, some
things are laid up to ripen in our hearts, while other things
are like vegetables picked from the garden that best serve fresh. Boy, I look forward to that first
tomato. I don't want it after it's six
days old. I want it right then. Pick it off the vine, slice it
up, and eat it. If it makes it to that. And then notice this. The householder
holds nothing back. Whether he has two people to
talk to or 200, doesn't make any difference. If they come
with a need, he has something to give them. The householder
does not try to maintain his house with a single treasure.
He uses the whole treasury. Whole denominations are formed
over single verses of scripture. But Paul told the Ephesian elders,
I've kept back nothing profitable unto you, but I've showed you
and have taught you publicly from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews and also the Greeks, repentance toward God
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. testifying, he said,
the gospel of the grace of God, so that I have not shunned to
declare unto you the whole counsel of God, the householder. Oh, may the Lord, our householder,
enable me to feed his church, the church of God, which he purchased
with his own blood, and to take heed to myself and to all the
flock over which he's given me, Holy shit.