Matthew 13 and verse 51 this
morning, Jesus saith unto them, Have you understood all these
things? They say unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then said He unto them, Therefore
every scribe... Now that word there is not the
same as when The scribes and Pharisees are mentioned that
that word scribe there is teacher someone who is Qualified to teach who has learned
and understands and is qualified to teach Have you understood
these things? Yay, Lord All right every scribe
which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is Is like
unto a man that is a householder. Now you think about this. Is
this you? Have you understood what God says? Is this me? Then here's what
we are. A householder. What's a householder? It's someone
who is responsible for some things. More importantly, responsible
for some people. As the householder of my house,
I'm responsible for my family. And the one who's instructed
unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that's a householder
which bringeth forth some treasure. He has a treasure. And he doesn't
hide it like a miser under the bed and keep it for himself. He brings it forth, things new and old. He's talking here, of course,
to his disciples, first confirming that they understood the things
that he had taught them concerning the kingdom of God, not for his
own information. He knew exactly to what extent
they understood it He knew what they didn't understand. And he
knew why. He knew why they understood what
they did. And I do too, don't you? Because he's the one that opens
the understanding that we might understand his scripture. And
he knows why we don't understand what we don't understand. Because
without him, we can do nothing. I believe them when they said
yes, don't you? I believe them. They had an understanding. But he didn't ask for his own
information, but to cause them to examine themselves. Do we
understand the truth of God? And then he describes those who
do understand. They're teachers. If you know,
you're a teacher. I don't really, I don't, I'm
not qualified to teach. You are if you know, if you understand. If you've been taught. Where that come from, it's given
to you to know. Now you teach. It's not everyone's gift to teach
in front of people. I know what it is to not be able
to get up in front of people. That's me. If you'd have told
me when I was a young man that one day you'll stand up and speak
in front of people, I'd have told you, you're crazy. But everyone that knows is a
teacher. You're going to tell what you
know. You realize that? Even in earthly things, if you
know something, you're going to tell somebody. Sooner or later,
somewhere, if you know who God is, you're
bound to tell somebody, aren't you? You're bound to. First of all, let's talk about
what it is to be instructed under the Kingdom of Heaven. This will
be something of a review of all of these parables that our Lord
has taught, because that's what He's talking about being instructed
in. The Kingdom of Heaven. got through teaching them. The
kingdom of heaven is like this. All these parables that our Lord
spoke concerned the kingdom of heaven. He said as he taught
them, in verse nine, he said, who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. Have you heard? Do you understand
that there are those who were not able to hear? He said in another place that
Isaiah prophesied Hearing you will not hear and seeing you
will not see But those who have ears Let him hear There are those
who were able and those who were not in this he explained in verse
11 where he said it is given unto you to know The mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. It's
given to you. Now. Do you understand? I Yay,
Lord. So to be instructed unto the
kingdom of heaven is a gift. If that's you, if you have to
acknowledge, I know who God is. I don't know like I ought to
know. Don't know like I want to know. But I know who God is. I know that God is sovereign
and holy and awesome. I know a different God than this
religious world speaks of. Do you? And I can tell you, by
God's grace, I know how God saves sinners. That's a question most
people would have an answer to, but most people can't answer.
Not rightly. It is given to you. It's a gift
from God. He asked them, have you understood
all these things? And they said, yeah. And if you
are saying yay this morning, then thank God. Thank God. Because we know how that happens.
It ain't because we're smarter than somebody else. It's because
he opens the understanding. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you, not yours or anybody else's. God reveals it. I thank the old father. You've
hid these things from the smart alecks. and revealed them to little babies.
Thank God. So being blessed of God to hear
the gospel and to understand they were instructed unto the
kingdom. He instructed them. They knew
what religious zealots do not know. Do you know this? That God's kingdom is not a contingency. It's not God having made his
best effort. The Son of God is like a householder
too. In our text, it says, if you
know what I say, if you understand what I just taught you, you're
like a householder. But you know, in verse 27, he
compared himself to a householder. He's a householder that sows
good seed in his field. It's a purposeful work done by
somebody with an inevitable result. inevitable result. He came to
finish a work, not to attempt a work, not to make anything
possible. You'll never see that or find
any language like that anywhere but in the pulpits of heretics.
It's not in God's Word. He came to accomplish a work
and having done so, he said it's perfect, it's complete, it's
finished. And he's that householder that
plants, and the result is inevitable. And we're like that householder,
the Lord Jesus Christ, we're called in our text householders.
We're like him in this sense, we're doing what he did. We're
sowing the same seed that he sowed. He said, as my father
has sent me, even so send I you, even so, even so. I'm a householder,
you're a householder. John 20, 21, I send you just
like my father sent me. Now, if I plant an earthly crop,
I may get results and I may not get results. Some years I get
some results and some years I don't. I remember one year in Texas
when everybody else's gardens were dying, we couldn't pick
enough because my backyard was very low. Both of my neighbors
had built up their yards and all the water ran into mine.
And so when it didn't rain, I had plenty of water in my backyard.
We were picking tomatoes like they were going out of style.
But the year after that, I couldn't get a tomato to grow to save
my life. But God's not like us in that. Let me remind you what he said
about his crop. He's a householder, you see. He said, as the rain cometh down
and snow from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth and maketh it bring forth. He always gets a crop and it brings forth and it buds
and it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. And he
said, my word is just like that. My word that goeth forth out
of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void. It won't return
empty. It won't return not having accomplished
what I sent it to accomplish. But it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it. What does that tell us now? If
the thing whereto he sent it is to save the whole world, then
the whole world's gonna be saved. Is that right? So what is the thing where to
he sent it? We're fixing to find out. In the end of the world,
you'll know. Everybody he sent it to save.
Until then, we're still looking. He's still finding. He's still
sending his word. And it shall bring forth. It
will not return for it shall accomplish all of his pleasure. And that's, that's what we're
doing. We're, he uses us in that work to sow seed. That's Isaiah 55, 10 and 11.
If you want to make a note of that, when God plants a garden,
he gets a crop. And he said in exposition of
that parable. of the householder who sowed
good seed that all of the good seed shall in the end shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their father
that's what we're talking that's the one we're talking about we're
householders but he's the householder The Lord Jesus said concerning
his work on this earth, all that the father giveth me shall come
to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. We could think on that one simple
verse for the rest of our lives. And never plumb the depths of
it. All that the father giveth me shall My sheep, all of them,
every one of them hear my voice and every one of them follow
me. And I'll raise them up again at the last day and nobody will
pluck them out of my hand in the meantime. We also know that there are in
this world the reprobate. How do we know this? Because
we're instructed unto the kingdom. He just said my kingdom is like
unto a householder. that plants good seed and there's
also tares. There's also weeds. We don't
know who they are. We can't separate them from the
weed. He said you're not qualified to do that. If you tried to do
that, you'd pull up some wheat. And sure enough, we would. We'd
have pulled Saul up, wouldn't we? We'd have pulled King David
up if we were spectators at the right time or the wrong time
in his life, however you want to look at it. We'd pull just
about certainly everybody up eventually, wouldn't we? Because
we're not merciful like he is. We just not qualify. We leave
that to God. God said, I'll send my angels and they'll do the reaping and
I'll separate the wicked from the good. But we are to be aware
of them. They're sown by Satan. And our
Lord said in Matthew 10, 16, in the same context of the same
teaching, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of
wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. So we watch for the enemy. We
avoid the enemy and we recognize the enemy, but we throw seed
everywhere. knowing that not all of it will
take root. We know now that the kingdom is Christ sowing His
good seed into His good ground, and we know the inevitable result
of that. He shines His sun upon the seed
and sends His rain down upon the seed, and it shall accomplish
the thing whereto He sent it. It will prosper in that thing.
So we preach with confidence in the infallibility of his success. Paul said, the Lord maketh us
to triumph everywhere. Every time the gospel is preached,
it's the savor of life to some and death to others, but it's
always a victory. He always makes us to triumph
when the gospel is preached. And we cast the seed everywhere,
life to some, death to others. And we have confidence in his
good purpose. But also we know this, that some
of the seed will fall among thorns. Some will fall on rocky ground,
some by the wayside. And we're warned about this in
advance. And so our message is a message
of warning. Ezekiel 33 6 if the watchman
see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and The people be
not warned if the sword come and take away any person from
among them He is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will
I require at the watchman's hand? If you understand all these things
Then you are a watchman you're a householder And this warning is given in
the context of the gospel of Christ's justifying sacrifice
in Acts 13, 38. Paul said, all those who believe
on Christ are justified from all things from which the law
could not justify them. And then having said that, having
preached the justifying righteousness and sin cleansing blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, And his effectual sacrifice, he said, now you beware,
lest that come upon you, which the prophet spoke. When he said
that in the last day, somebody will stand up and declare these
words in your ears and you won't hear them. Beware, lest that
come upon you. And so our word comes with a
warning, doesn't it? We know that there's, there's
different kinds of ground. Why does he tell us about that?
so that we can tell others about it. What will keep you from Christ,
from believing upon Him, from casting your soul upon Him, the
cares of this world? That's what the thorns are, the
concerns of this world. You can't serve God and yourself,
and this world calls upon you every moment to serve yourself. the concerns of this world. And
I'll tell you this, Satan will snatch you away with the promises
of fame and fortune in this world, everything that you dream of.
All these, he said, I'll give them to you. He can't give you anything. And
if he did, it wouldn't be worth having. Do we understand that? Judas went to the enemies of
Christ and said what will you give me? To betray the Son of
God Have you gone to this world and asked that question? What
will you give me? He'll promise you everything But he can't deliver
and if he was able to give you this whole world If you were
to gain the whole world and lose your own soul, what would it
profit you? You see what he's teaching us
Some of the seed now are going to fall among thorns. And some
of them are going to be snatched away by Satan. Some are going
to fall by the wayside. Will you be offended now? Some
of them now, he said, for a while they spring up, but then when
the sun comes out and there's persecution and tribulation,
they're offended. Will you be offended when persecution
or tribulation arises, when your faith is tested? Is it God-given faith or is it
something you worked up? We'll find out, won't we? If
you're offended and go away, then we'll know why. And I'm warning you from the
Word of God Nothing's worth leaving Christ over. You're forsaking
your own mercy if you reject the message of justification
by the blood of Christ. And we know by God's grace, having
ears to hear his truth, since it's given to us to know, we
know that what we're doing, it seems
a small thing to this world. We go forth with a grain of mustard
seed that most people can't even ever see, knowing something that
most people will never know, that that which seems the least
to this world is in reality the greatest. Some were able to walk away from
the Lord. He taught them the truth, and
they went and walked no more with him. You think about that.
They counted the Lord that day. They decided that the Lord and His gospel
were not worthy of their time anymore. And they walked away. But a few, by His grace, were
compelled to say, if we were to leave you, where would we
be going? And by God's grace, we're like
those little birds that nest in a mighty tree. He's our home.
He's our safety. He's our comfort. He's our rest. To whom shall we go? We know
that what God has done in sending his son into this world has transformed
the entire world. That every sinner who receives
this gospel, who receives Christ, is a new creation. by the almighty
all-transforming power of his grace the kingdom of heaven is
like a woman who had a little leaven in three measures of meal
and the whole is leavened. We understand by grace because
it's given by his gift that a sinner who sees the Lord Jesus Christ
who has eyes to see, the seeing eye, the Lord made it, by means
of the preaching of his gospel, faith comes by hearing, that
sees him, by that means, by the preaching of the gospel, we know
that a sinner, whoever lays eyes upon him will count him as unspeakable,
inestimable treasure, and must have him at all costs.
Have you ever seen that happen? I've seen that happen. I've seen
a few people in this world willing to sell everything they have
and lay hold on Him. In other words, I've seen His
grace in sinners, and it's a glorious sight. And what are we doing? We're
just putting that pearl on display. The kingdom of heaven is like
that. You don't have to beg a merchant man seeking goodly
pearls to buy this pearl. All you got to do is put it out
there on display and the Lord will bring him and he'll see
it and he'll go sell everything he has and say, I got to have
him. That's what the kingdom of heaven
is like. And because we know that, we're not begging anybody.
We're not shaming the kingdom of God by being, by putting the
Lord in a corner like they do and begging sinners to put what
you please, do something for Him. If you ever see Him, you'll do
something all right. You'll lay hold of Him and say,
I can't let go. I can't let go. And all we're doing is just displaying
him, declaring him, and waiting for a seeker to come
by. We don't use enticing words of
man's wisdom. We're not used car salesmen that
talk about, that have to make things up, you know, in order
to make the gospel palatable to people. That's what they're
doing. They just like to use car salesmen. They'll lie about
that car to get you to buy it. And religious people will lie
on God in order to make him more appealing to you. Oh no, the
kingdom of heaven is not like that. It's not like that. We just display the pearl as
he is. And we know this, a sinner chooses
Christ. There's no question about that.
He'll say, I want that pearl. Moses chose the reproach of Christ
and counted it greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.
But I know this too, there's a reason why a sinner chooses
Christ. Do you know what it is? Paul
said, we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you. to salvation. He chose to save
you. And the way he did it was through
sanctification of the spirit, through the spirit setting you
apart from everybody else, giving you life and making you holy
and Christ and belief of the truth by God given faith. God from the beginning chose
you. You didn't choose him from the
beginning. You chose him, but not from the beginning. A sinner
loves Christ. The Lord asked Peter, do you
love me? And Peter said, you know that I do. But there's a
reason that a sinner loves Christ. We're not born loving him. We
don't grow up loving him. We don't naturally love him.
You know why we love him? We love him because You see, the kingdom of heaven
is locked into that merchant man seeking goodly pearls who
sells all that he has to buy that one pearl. And the kingdom
of heaven is locked into a net that's cast into the sea that unfolds itself around you
and wraps around you and pulls you in. The Lord told the disciples that
morning, after they had fished all night, he said, you launch
out into the deep and let down your net. Peter said, we've been doing
that all night, Lord. We hadn't caught a single fish,
not one fish. And then the Lord said unto them
in Luke 5 10, fear not. After they had let down that
net at his command. At his command. And they couldn't draw it because
it had so many fish in it. They couldn't draw it. And he said unto them, fear not,
from henceforth thou shalt catch men. You think about that. You see, the merchant man, he
sees the pearl and he must have it. But also our Lord said, no
man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw
him. And so the kingdom is like a
net that falls over you and draws you to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you're a fish. You don't want to be caught when
the net catches you. You're going to flop and try
to get away. Is it hard for you? But be drawn, you shall. And once he draws you to himself,
well, what happens to a fish when it's drawn in a net? It
dies. And so will you. But the death of you is life. You've got to die. You've got
to die. Paul said, when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died like a fish in a net. But I never
knew what life was until I died. Regenerated by the Holy Spirit
of God. He gives life to whomsoever he
will. And he throws out his nest, he
brings them by his grace, his irresistible grace. Do you understand
all these things? Not picking out one or two things
that sound good to you, but all these things, all these teachings
concerning the kingdom. Are you instructed unto the kingdom
of heaven? Are you a scribe? Can you teach
them? Can you give an answer, a reason
for the hope that lies within you? Then the Lord Jesus said,
you're like a householder, a ruler of a house. The ruler of a house
must rule with wisdom and discretion and above all with love. And this is primarily those who
are under shepherds in Christ's church, preachers and teachers,
those who preach and teach the word publicly. First Timothy
3.4, This is in this chapter in 1
Timothy 3, the qualifications for a pastor are given there. And here's one of them. One that
ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with
all gravity. For if a man know not how to
rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of
God? It's like a householder. But also in another sense, if
you're head of your earthly house and you're instructed unto the
kingdom, then you have a responsibility that goes beyond putting food
on the table. Your responsibility to your wife
and your children is more than just feeding them and putting
clothes in their closet and shoes on their feet. It's more than
that. You have a responsibility before
God. If you're a scribe, if you're
one who understands all these things, you're a householder
in a whole other sense. And the ladies are not excluded
utterly from this. Do not your children look to
you for guidance and for an example? And what will you do? What will
you say as their example and as their guide? Isn't everyone who is instructed
unto the kingdom a debtor to some degree, wherever there's
opportunity? Paul said in Romans 1.14, I'm
debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the
wise and to the unwise. What do you mean? Well, as much
as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at
wrong. There's danger there, Paul. That's called the seat of Satan.
That's a terrible place. Yeah, but I'm a debtor. I got
to go tell them. I thought about God's law where
we're studying Exodus 22. Even if your worst enemy needs
help with something, one of his oxen had broke down the fence
and is going off, you know, you're supposed to stop what you're
doing, stop your business and go help your enemy. You're a
debtor. Well, I'm just minding my own
business. That's his business. I'll mind my own. No, you're
a debtor. Even in natural things, earthly
things, And can that be true and we be unconcerned about those
who are without Christ and without hope in this world? I'm preaching
to myself and to you. Because notice this
in our text, we have a treasure. This is why we're responsible.
This is why we're a debtor, because we have a treasure. Paul had
a desire for those to whom he wrote in Colossians 2. He said,
my desire for you is that your hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and
unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. I want you
to understand by God's grace what I, by God's grace, understand. to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God. What is it you understand, Paul,
that you want us to understand? The mystery of God, the gospel. And of the Father and of Christ,
Christ. I want you to understand the
mystery of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures I have some treasure I want you
to know about. And by God's grace, I want to
bring it out. In Christ are hid all of the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Do you have a treasure? Are you
a householder? 2 Corinthians 4-7, Paul said, we
have this And the kingdom of God is like
that, you see. It's like a treasure hid in a
field. It's like a pearl of great prize. Do you understand these
things? Then you're a householder. You're responsible. You're a
debtor. You're a teacher. And you have
a treasure. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, and that's alright. Because you see, God did it that
way on purpose that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. It doesn't matter that we're
unworthy of the treasure. You're not trusting in us, you're
trusting in the treasure. You're not buying us, you're
buying the treasure. The glory's not of us. The treasure
is the glory. And we bring forth things that
are both old and new. Not some things that are old
and some things that are new. The things of God are all both
old and new. The truth of God is as old as
time, older than that. Paul said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. What we're speaking,
Paul said, God has ordained it before the world was. The gospel's
old, but I'll tell you this, if you ever hear it, it'll be
new. His gospel is called the new
covenant. Though it's older than the old,
though it's older than time itself, His mercies, David said, are
new every morning. Is the gospel like that to you?
When you hear the old truth, do you say that's new every day? Our Savior himself is the ancient
of days, and yet he has the dew of youth on his brow. And every time I hear this old
truth, I learn something new about you. May God make us faithful householders
to bring out the treasure for his glory. We have this treasure
like we do in earthen vessels that the excellency may be of
God and not of us. May it be so. Let's bow in prayer.