You'll take your Bibles now and
turn with me to Matthew chapter 13. We're going to be looking at verses
44 through 51. But primarily this morning, I
just want us to look at verse 44. But in these verses, verses 44
through 51, the Lord gives three parables concerning the kingdom
of heaven. The first parable he gives is
of the treasure hid in the field. And then the second parable is
the pearl of great price. Now these are all things we're
all familiar with. And then thirdly, this parable
is probably the lesser known of the three, a net cast into
the sea. Now these are the three parables
that he gives, and these parables are to be considered All teaching
the same thing. He's teaching about the Kingdom
of Heaven. But in a 30-minute discourse,
I can't begin to cover these three parables. That's an impossibility,
even though they are all teaching the same thing. So I've decided
to break these up into two or three studies. And this morning,
What I want to do, what I hope to accomplish is two things.
I want to talk to you first of all just a little bit about the
kingdom of God so that we know what he's talking about. The
kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, all of these things.
What is this kingdom? It's not going to do us much
good to go over here and see what the kingdom is like if we
don't know what the kingdom is. And then the second thing, then
we'll look at this first parable, the treasure hid in the field.
So let's begin here, the kingdom of heaven. It says that John
came preaching. John the Baptist. I'm going back
to the beginning of Matthew now. And he talks about John the Baptist
coming on the scene, and it said he preached the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And then after John was put into
prison, it said the Lord Jesus Christ came into that area preaching
the kingdom. He preached saying, repent for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then He anointed the 70 and
sent them out to preach the gospel of the kingdom. Now Matthew 8,
verse 11, the Lord said that many shall come from the east
and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom
shall be cast out into outer darkness, and there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth." And then in Matthew chapter 9,
it says, he went about all their cities and villages teaching
in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. What
is the Kingdom of Heaven? What is it? Are you guilty like
I am of reading through and reading things like that and just having
no perception of it whatsoever and just going on to the next
thing? What is the Kingdom of Heaven?
He spends a lot of time in the four Gospels talking to us about
the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, the dictionary tells me
this. A kingdom is the realm over which the sovereign rule
of a king extends. That's the kingdom. It's everything
over which a king rules sovereignly. That's his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar
had a kingdom, the kingdom of Babel. All these other kings,
the Persian king, he had a kingdom. And his kingdom extended as far
as his power would let it. And all of these men who sought
world conquest, they went out and they all conquered nations
and cities and things. But their rule only extended
as far as their power would let it. That king, he's a king. His kingdom is a realm over which
the sovereign rule of a king extends. It can go no further.
England's rule could not conquer the United States, and therefore
we didn't fall under their kingdom. You see what I'm saying? It just
extends as far as that king's rule would go. So what then is
the realm over which God's king reigns? What does that include? What does it include? Is it limited
to heaven? I get that idea listening to
today's preacher's talk. He rules in heaven, and he rules
in the church, so he don't rule in the world. You see what I'm
saying? How far does his kingdom extend? As far as his sovereign power
extends, his kingdom extends. Is His power just limited to
certain things, certain parts of the earth? Is it limited to
only certain groups or denominations? What is the realm of God's kingdom? Is it only in the hearts of those
who are willing to receive it? Now, that's another thing preached
in our day, making Jesus your Lord. Now, I tell you, I don't know
a whole lot about the Kingdom of Heaven, but I do know this.
He's your Lord whether you let Him or not. He's your Lord whether you know
it or not. He's the Lord of the dead and the living. He's Lord. He's Lord. So what is the realm
of God's Kingdom? Well, turn with me to Colossians
chapter 1. God has a Kingdom over which
He has appointed His King. God made this kingdom. He created
this kingdom. It's His by right of creation,
and it's His by right of sovereign rule. Now let's see how much
He claims to be included in this kingdom. Colossians chapter 1
verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." Now, the
Apostle uses a strange word here. A very strange word here. He said, He hath translated us. Did you ever look at that word? I went down to Yucatan, Mexico
some thirty years ago. and went out into the jungles
there with a missionary and preached to the Mayan Indians. And we
were in such a remote place at one time that we had to have
two interpreters. And one of them translated what
I said, he translated that into Spanish, and then the fellow
in the Spanish translated again into Mayan. Hardest preaching
I ever did in my life. You say something and then five
minutes later, Time to say the next thing. It's like an echo,
except it's coming in different languages. But my point here
is that what I said, they didn't understand. It had to be translated. Now, He said, He hath translated
us into His kingdom. Translated us. What a strange
word. But spiritually speaking, this
is exactly what takes place in the hearts of those who are made
meat to be partakers of God's inheritance. They become saints
in light. You see what he said after that?
Made us to be meat. to be partakers of the saints
in light. God's elect were not removed
from one realm to another. God simply translated things
to them. He made them to see, to acknowledge
and understand His Kingdom and His King. God's Kingdom didn't
change a bit when the Lord saved me. When He regenerated me, nothing
changed. I didn't go to another realm.
I didn't go to another country. I didn't move. I didn't move. But He made me to see the Kingdom. Except you be born again, you
cannot enter the Kingdom of God. And except you be born again,
you cannot see the Kingdom of God. It's a matter of seeing. He translated. the promises and
the prophecies and the types, and He gave all these things
enlightenment, and we become saints in light. They were in God's kingdom, but
they served another king. They belonged to Him to do with
what He pleased, but they didn't understand that. I didn't understand
that. Did you? Did you grow up understanding
that? That it was in His hands to do with you whatever He pleased
to do? I never heard that before in
my life. He made the ground that I walked
on. He made the food that I ate and
the air that I breathed. But I didn't know that. I didn't
know that. He ordered the very providence
that dictated all the circumstances of my life. But I didn't know
it. I didn't know it until He gave me eyes to see. He translated
me into His kingdom. Oh, when the sinner is translated
into God's kingdom, he sings a different tune, don't he? His
song changes, and he sings a different tune. Old Nebuchadnezzar stood
a proud and evil ruler. And he stood up on those big
hanging gardens of Babylon, somebody said, that he gave as a gift
to his wife. And sitting up on that lofty
perch, he looked out over Babylon and he said, it is not this great
Babylon that I built by the might of my power and for my majesty. While the words was yet in the
king's mouth, he heard from God. And these words fell down from
heaven and said, O King Nebuchadnezzar, thy kingdom is departed from
thee. That's what happens when a man
is regenerated. His kingdom departs. Everything
that he knows about the realm of the king disappears. All disappears. Everything that he thought he
had rule over and a hand in, it all vanishes before his eyes.
Everything that he takes pride in, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, look
down on Babylon, that was his pride. That's what exemplified
his power. That's what exemplified his majesty
and all of those things. It vanished. It vanished. And God caused that old king,
He broke him and sent him about on all fours eating grass like
an ox until seven times, ever how long that was, passed over
him. Oh, I'll tell you what. At the
end of the days, he said, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my
eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed
the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever
and ever, whose dominion, now listen to this, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or even question what he does." Now how far do you
think God's kingdom reaches? It incorporates all things. All
things. That's what these early preachers
preached. They preached the Kingdom of
God. They preached God's absolute,
sovereign rule over all things. All things. The Kingdom of God
is inclusive of all things and all generations and all places. The Kingdom was given to His
Son to create and to rule over and to manifest the Father's
glory in the redemption of a people. Now, let's consider this parable. Knowing those things, let's look
at this parable and see if this parable doesn't take on a whole
new side. Matthew 13, verse 44. He said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field,
the which when a man hath found, he hideth. And for joy thereof
goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buys the feed." The
Lord Jesus Christ, by divine appointment and according to
God's eternal counsel, created a world and populated it with
all the animals and creatures and trees and grass and herb-bearing
vines and all of these things. He did this thing, and He did
it for a purpose. He did it because this was going
to be the backdrop. This was going to be that thing
out of which He would redeem a people. He was going to manifest
His glory. And man fell in the garden. Before
he ever produced an offspring, Adam sinned, and by his sin plunged
his whole race under the curse of God and the condemnation of
sin. That's what the Scripture says. But before his fall, and back
in old eternity, God hid His people in the field, didn't He? He hid them in the field. He
said, your life is hid with God in Christ. Isn't that what Colossians
3 teaches? Your life is hid with God in
Christ. When did He put it there? When
did He hide it there? Before the foundation of the
world. That's what it says in Ephesians 1. Those He loved, those He chose
in sovereign grace, those for whom all things come to be, He
hid them in Christ. He hid them in Christ. And in
these earthen vessels, God would display the treasure of heaven,
treasures of His grace and glory. Though the presence of Satan
in this world has caused a rebellion and has gathered like David's
rebel son an army to defy the king. You remember old Absalom?
He got up an army to defy the king. Looked like he was going
to overcome him for a little while. But that ain't how it
wound up, is it? Yet the Lord sees his treasure
hid in the field. Why didn't a just and holy God
destroy all creation at the fall of Adam? Because he saw the Father's
treasure in the field. That's why. That's why. Hidden there by the eternal counsels
of God. Hidden there by divine election.
Hidden there by order of eternal predestination. All spiritual
blessings, Paul said, were ordered by the Father in heavenly places
in Christ. according as He had chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, and also to the praise of the
glory of His grace. And seeing as only God can see
by His determinate counsel, the Lord Jesus Christ sold all that
He had and bought the field." You remember in Revelation 5,
you remember that John wept because he looked and all the scrolls,
all God's eternal counsels, was in the hand of Him that sat on
the throne. And nobody was worthy to take
them from His hand and open those counsels, open that purpose of
God. Not only they couldn't take them,
they couldn't even look on them. Couldn't even look on them. Couldn't
see them. They were hidden of God and held in here. But one
was worthy. Do you remember who he was? The
Lion of the tribe of Judah. As of a lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. That's right. He bought the field.
Bought the field. And he didn't buy the field to
redeem the field. He bought the field for the treasure.
He wasn't interested in a bunch of thorns and thistles. He had
no desire for vines and thorn bushes. He had but one thing
in mind when He gave Himself on the cross, His treasure. His
treasure. Who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross. What joy? What's He talking about?
He's talking about His own. His own. He's talking about the
redeemed. He's talking about God's treasure.
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. And then turn with me to Romans
chapter 14. This chapter has to do with believers
judging other believers. He tells us here in Romans 14
verse 4, He said, Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth
or falleth. Huh? Is that right? It wasn't up to him. If it's up
to you, you're going to fall. I can tell you ahead of time.
You're going to fall. If a man says, surely I stand,
whoo, he's going to fall. Write it down. Pride goeth before
the fall, don't it? But to his own master, to his
own master, he standeth or he falleth. Yea, he shall be holding
up. Ain't that what that says? For
God is able to make him stand. For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's." Now listen, here it is. For to this
end, Christ both died and rose and revived, that He might be
Lord both of the dead and the living. Now, we're not talking
about, and I hope you understand what I'm saying, we're not talking
about abstract sovereignty. Abstract sovereignty, what do
I mean by that? I just mean a general sovereignty, an acknowledgment
that God rules. That won't do you any good. That's
not going to bless your heart. That's not going to give you
any comfort to know that God rules over everything that is.
But seeing that rule in a savior. Now, we've got to hold another
ball game. Seeing that sovereign rule in
a savior who cannot fail. Whom none can stay His hand.
Huh? Now I've got some hope and joy.
You see? And that, whenever I'm talking
to you, and a lot of times I use the term in a negative when I
say Calvinism. There's nothing wrong with the
doctrine of Calvinism, but you can preach Calvinism and not
preach it in the light of a Savior. And it won't do you any good.
It won't make your heart bubble up. It won't do anything for
you. It might win an argument, and that's about all it's going
to do. But I tell you, you see God's absolute sovereignty and
a Savior, now you got some hope. Now you got some hope. The wisest
man, the strongest man that ever lived, the most faithful man,
Adam, stood back in that garden and one confrontation fell. Huh? I need something more than
what I got. I couldn't hold a light to him.
I couldn't hold a candle to him. And he fell in one confrontation
with Satan. And it says in the New Testament,
he said, to pray for those who are falling under his influence,
perhaps God might save him after all. For he goes about and takes
men captive at his will. At his will. We're no match for
him. But he's no match for sovereignty. You see what I'm saying? I have
hope in him. And we look at all that. Election.
You take election apart from God's eternal love. You talk
about a cold doctrine. Everybody's standing out here.
He just strips men of their rights and all that kind of stuff. And
he says, I'm going to save Bob and Sally, but I ain't going
to save Caleb. And I'm going to skip over him.
And I might save this one and go on down the line. That's pretty
cold, ain't it? But now you see all mankind falling. All mankind worthless. All mankind
without excuse. All has sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And now you see the love of God
that chose whom He would. He put some in a Savior. Huh? Now that ain't a closed door,
is it? That's an open door. That's an open door. The buying of the field in this
parable does not teach universal redemption. It teaches God's
universal sovereignty. and salvation by grace through
the particular redemption of Christ's death on the cross.
In John 10, verse 11, he said, I am the good shepherd, the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. That particular redemption. Peter said, you know that you
were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold received
by your vain interpretations of men, traditions of men, And
so on, he said, but with the precious blood of Christ as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot, who barely was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in
these last times for you, now listen, he doesn't stop there,
who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him from the dead
and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. that particular redemption. Now
turn with me to Romans chapter 8, and I'll try to wind this
up. The Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed God's creation, His creation, from the curse
of sin. And as the result of that redemption,
this world shall be purged from all of its sin. And when He's
finished, I love this phrase. I keep copying. I copy things
off of Don all the time. This is one of his sayings. He
said, in the end, when everything is said and done, all things
are over, not one trace of the serpent's slime is going to be
able to be found on this earth. Not one evidence that he was
ever even here is going to be found in God's creation. Romans 8, verse 18, Paul said,
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed
in us. For the earnest expectation of
the creature, that word is creation. Creation. waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same and all. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God." Think about that. All creation. And then in 2 Peter 3, verse
13, he said, nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Our God is longsuffering, Peter
said, usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repent. God's kingdom is the sovereign
realm of Christ who rules over all things and arranges all things
for our good in His glory. David said, the heathen rages.
You remember over in the beginning of the Psalms. He said, why does
the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain
thing. And their kings and their rulers take counsel together
against God's king. Why do they do that? Why do they
do that? saying let's break his bands. We don't want his rule. We don't
want his authority. We want to be free, free moral
agents. I had a member of the church
down in Ball years ago and I went up to visit him. He was building
a new house and he wanted me to come up and see it. So Kathy
and I drove up to see it and he had these two painters in
there. They were both Pentecostals. preachers, from what I understood.
And when I got there, he said, boy, he said, I've got two guys
been chomping at the bit to talk to you. And I thought, if I'd
have known that, I'd have stayed home. But anyhow, I went in. He introduced
them. And boy, they couldn't wait.
Now, they looked like a horse getting ready to get led out
of the stall. He said, We heard that you don't believe
that man is a free moral agent. And I said, no. I said, I don't
believe he's free or moral, either one. How can you be moral when he
said we drink iniquity like water? You can't be moral and do that
at the same time. That rich young ruler, when he
come to Christ, he had that kind of outward notion of righteousness,
didn't it? And he said, good master, and
the Lord just stopped him and said, why are you calling me
good? Why are you calling me good? There's none good but God. Oh, God's kingdom is the sovereign
rule of Christ who rules over all things, arranges all things
for our good and His glory. Men want to break His bonds.
Let us cut His cords. Let's seize His sovereign rule
over us. The Lord will laugh. That's what
it says in the psalm. God will laugh. Like they used
to take the old man and put him in the stock so everybody could
look at him and laugh. That's what that word derision
means. He said, Y'all have them in derision. I'll make a public
ridicule out of them. God has set His King in Zion. He said He is King over Israel. Spiritual Israel. And He'll do
all that He asks of Him. But now, if God's rule is over
all things, it's not so much what we do with Him, but what's
our Lord going to do with us? What are we going to do? This
is the best advice anybody will ever give you. Kiss the Son. Ain't that what He says? Kiss
the Son. lest he be angry when his wrath
is kindled but a little.