Turn with me, if you will, to
Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. I'm going to speak to you here
in the next few minutes on one of the parables from Matthew
chapter 13. The parable of the pearl of great
price. But before we get into the parables
and the teaching of the parables, I want to call your attention
to some things. Now, years ago, I preached a
message here just a few weeks ago on the Beatitudes, and I
remember the first time hearing them when I was just a small
child growing up in a church up in northern Ohio, and they
talked about those Beatitudes. And then over the years, by the
revelation of God, I found out what was going on before, and
what led up to, and what the content of those Beatitudes were
all about. It changed the entire teaching
of what I read. And so it is with these parables.
And I want to call your attention to some things that years ago
I didn't see. And the first thing is this,
the Jews came, and you'll see here in just a little bit that
this becomes a controversial matter to the Jews, these parables. But the Jews believed in a Messiah. They believed that God was going
to raise up a man from among them like their father David.
And that being in captivity, this man that God raised up,
he was going to anoint him like David and he was going to gather
the people together and he was going to restore again unto them
the kingdom of Israel. He was going to make them a prominent
nation in the world. He was going to restore to them
the glory that God gave them in the days of David and Solomon. And so these Jews selected from
among themselves, even in captivity, they selected from among themselves
men of renown and men of, I guess what we would say, men of reputation
and men of potential. And they gave these men every
advantage. They trained them in the finest
schools in Winston. They took them and they taught
them all the doctrines and they showed them the promises and
all these things concerning the Messiah. And this group, this
council that they gathered together, they called the Sanhedrin. And
among other things, one of their jobs was to be always on the
lookout for the Messiah. And when this man Jesus became
a man of reputation and his renown began to go out into the world,
the Sanhedrin was sent out to see what the fuss was all about.
and they came out to him and these were just men, I mean,
as soon as they walked on the spot, I mean, everybody just,
you was real careful how you shook their hand and to be sure
and shake their hand and greet them and so on. I mean, they
were just, they were feared by the people because of their renown
and their reputation and their education. They were brilliant
men. And they came out and our Lord began to teach. He just
didn't even give them any recognition. He didn't even... He just acted
like they weren't even there. He just walked right past them.
It was business as usual. And the disciples saw that and
they wondered. And then He began to teach and
He began to teach in parables. Now this is... I've got three
children and I can remember when those children were growing up
and I wanted to teach them something, I'd have to find something that
I could relate to those children with. And so I'd find some little
illustration or some little something that I could come down on their
level and speak to them and that's exactly how the Lord began to
speak. Like He was speaking to a little
child. He said a sower went out to sow.
And he cast some seed here, and he cast some there, and some
fell on the rocks, and some fell among the thorns. Some fell out
in the middle of the trail where they were trodden down, and some
fell into the ground. And all these things he said
were, he said, the kingdom of God is like unto these things. And he talked to them like he
was talking to little children. And here's this Sanhedrin sitting
there. And these men came to hear Him.
They came to examine Him. I wouldn't be a bit surprised
it doesn't say this. I'm just reading between the
lines and I know how things are from experience. It wouldn't
surprise me a bit. But what the disciples didn't
encourage them to come, come and hear Him. You'll see, come
in here, this is the Messiah. And they came out and the Lord
just ignored them. And then when He began to speak,
He began to speak below them. He began to speak like He was
speaking to a little child. And I don't know, I told Brother
Don, I kind of got a little look from him when I left, but I know
that he understood what I was saying, but I believe it, I'm
reading into this a little embarrassment on the part of the disciples.
You go home and study it and see what you see. Because they
came to him, when he first began, when he started talking about
the sower going out to sow and the seed falling on the rocks
and just talking to a little child, they came to him and they
said, Master, why speakest thou imparable? You know what they're
here for. You know why they came. You know
who they are. Why are you talking to them in
parables?" And he said, "'Cause it's given
unto you to know." What's he telling them? He's telling them, I'm not talking
to them at all. That's what he said. I'm not
talking to them. It's given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of God. Except you become as a little
child, you're not going to enter into the kingdom of God. He treated
them like little children. He came down on their level.
I remember another example over in John chapter 3 of a man called
Nicodemus that came. He was a man of renown, a man
of education, a master of Israel. Came by night, didn't want to
be seen, ashamed. came to talk to Jesus, and Jesus
told him, He said, except you be born again, you cannot perceive,
you can't see the kingdom of God, you must be born again.
And he left the man talking to himself, this learned man, this
educated man, this master of Israel, talking to him, how can
you be born again? And you know what the Lord told
him? He said, if I told you earthly things and you don't understand,
What are you going to do if I tell you heavenly things? If you can't
understand the simple illustrations, what are you going to do if I
just lay it out straight? You recall the Apostle Paul talking
over in the book of Acts about he was caught up to the third
heaven and he said, there I saw things that's not even lawful
to utter. What if God were to send a man
who spoke on that level? Wouldn't do you any good. That's why He sends men. He doesn't
send angels. He doesn't send very few. Paul said over there in I think
it's 1 Corinthians, he said, you see your calling, brethren.
Not many noble. Not many mighty. Not many men of potential. You sit down and you say, well,
here's what I want for a pastor. And you start marking, God's
not going to send it. And if He did, it wouldn't do
you any good. It wouldn't do you any good. No, He's going
to go get the base things. He's going to take the things
of no reputation. He's going to take those things
that are not. I mean, they just wouldn't even
be considered. That's what He's going to use.
Somebody told me the other day, he said, why are you going down
to Taylor, Arkansas? There's a handful of people there.
Most of them, if they lived a long life, are not going to live very
long. What kind of potential can you... I said, here's the potential,
right here. And I read it to them. This is
the very situation that God will use. Get in, you got too many
men. Too many? I just got this little
group. No, we're going to take some
away. Why? Because I'm going to have the glory. That's why. Why is he talking to them like
little children? Because he's going to have the
glory. And as long as you're up here, he's never going to
speak to you. He's not going to speak to you. I'm not speaking to them. It's
given unto you to understand. And if I have any understanding,
any concept of spiritual truth, it's because it's given. Do we
understand that? Everything concerning salvation
is the gift of God. It's given to you. You can't
earn it. You're not born with the potential
to one day have it. It's given to you. It's the free
gift of God. That's what grace means. Unmerited
favor, it's given. Salvation's a gift. Hearing's
a gift. Understanding's a gift. I sat
up there last week in that conference and I listened to those men expound
from Scripture that I've read and didn't mean anything to me.
And listened to them expound from it and my heart just burned
inside. I was just so full I couldn't
even, I told Brother Don, I said, I can't even answer the telephone
without getting all choked up. It's just, he just fills you. And I just kept thinking, thank
God he'd give me ears to hear. Because there was a time when
I'd have just sat there and I'd have listened and I'd have got
up and went home. I wouldn't have had a comment. The gospel sent Not a message
of chance and accident. How shall they preach except
they be sent? Why is He sending them? Because
it's given. That's why. It's given. It's given unto you. Oh, it's preached in men's hearings.
It was preached in their hearing. They sat right there and listened
to the parables just the same as the disciples. But He didn't
take them aside and say, now here's what this means. But He
did His disciples. Men are present at the meetings.
They hear the words. They see the speaker. But the
Spirit, the Spirit of God doesn't open the heart. He don't open
the mind. And that's what has to take place.
You've got to be quickened. The Spirit of God has to take
that message put it into your heart. And it wasn't because
God restrained His gift from somebody who really wanted it.
That's not what's taking place here either. I don't want you
to get that idea. They didn't want it. That ain't what they
come for. It wasn't what they were looking
for. It wasn't what they were seeking after. They held it in
contempt. Nothing upset them any more than
the gospel message. Nothing. They despised But never
get the idea that you're in a vacuum when you come to hear the Word
of God. Like the one king said, he said,
I'll hear you again in a more convenient season. I'm just in
a vacuum right now and I'll consider these things. Maybe I'll come
back. Maybe I won't. Maybe you won't. Maybe God will
just give you over to believe a lie and be damned. Maybe He'll
just make you satisfied with that concept of your head. Maybe
He'll just let you be satisfied with that religious experience,
that walk down the aisle, that hand that you shook, or that
experience you had, or that dream you held so tightly to, or that
confession you made out on the battlefield, whatever it is.
He might just let you be satisfied with that and die with it and
go out to meet God with it. You're not in a vacuum. And if you read the next several
verses, you'll see that all their rejections and all their rebellions
and all these things that they did were just the fulfilling
of God's purpose and counsel that was foretold in the Scriptures
long before that day. He said that the Scriptures might
be fulfilled concerning them. All the kings of the earth got
together, and Pilate got together with Herod, and all the people
of Israel got together with the Gentiles, and they all hated
each other, but they all got together to crucify Christ. And you know what he said? What
they did? They did what God before determined
to be done. That's what they did. And that's
what men do in their unbelief. That's what they do. Oh, He said, Blessed are your
ears, for they hear. Blessed are your eyes, for they
see. I want to talk to you for the
next little bit here about the Pearl of Great Price over here
in Matthew chapter 13. Let's look here in verse 45.
There's just two verses here. And you can develop these things.
I was telling some of the folks, I had a sinus headache that was
just reverberating in my head last night, and I had an awful
time. I wanted to develop this a little more, but I just didn't
have time. But you look at these things, and the Lord will, I
think, give you the gist of what is being said. He said in verse
45, again, the kingdom of God is like like unto 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." Now, the first
thing I want you to see is that first word, he says, again. This is not the whole story.
This is just part of it. Because there was a sower who
went out to sow, and there was a treasure he hid in a field.
There was a lot of things taking place, but he said again, again,
and you want to read all these parables in the light of redemption
and in the light of salvation, in the light of Christ, you want
to read all these parables because they all teach one story. But let's look at this parable
and see if we can rejoice in the gospel that it teaches. I
want to point out several things to you here this morning and
the first thing is this. This parable of the pearl is
about a man seeking goodly pearls. You remember the story of Zacchaeus?
The Lord come by and he was real short of stature and he climbed
up the tree and the Lord looked up at him and he said, Zacchaeus
come down. He said, today I must, I must
abide at your house. Come on down. Do you ever read
what the next verse says? For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. The Son of Man. It is the man Christ Jesus, God
come into the flesh, that came to seek and to save
that which was lost. He does the seeking. Well, you
say, I thought we done the seeking. Well, there's none that seeketh
after God. That pretty much takes me off the list. I'm not going
to seek Him until He seeks me. I may sit around and talk about
it. I may seek some God, but I won't seek the living God,
and I won't seek His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, until He seeks
me. Sometime read over there in the
first few chapters of John, and you'll find out where the Lord
found, I think it was Nathaniel, He found Nathaniel. Then a little
bit later on, Nathanael said, ìCome see, we found the Lord.î
He said, ìWhat you said, the Lord found Him.î But thatís how
it is. He finds you first and then you
seek Him. Itís the man Christ Jesus. Heís
seeking goodly pearls. Now hereís the thing. Hereís
the key to this whole thing. What is a pearl? I read this and preached on it
and I was sitting there the other night and Clay had had a seizure
and Don just, he loves to do that to me. You'd be ready in
the morning to preach and this was like 9.30 at night. And so
I went home and I stayed up the rest of the night preparing this
message. But here's what came to me as I was looking at it.
What is a pearl? What is it? It's the only jewel
formed inside of a living organism. Did you know that? I just punched
it up on the internet. I said, well, I wonder what the
definition of a pearl is. Here it is. It's the only jewel.
There's diamonds, there's rubies, there's all kinds of jewels just
formed out here in the ground, formed by natural disasters and
whatever, formed over time, all these things, the compression
of the earth, who knows? But this is the only one formed
inside of a living organism. In the wisdom of God, he chose
this ugly, slimy, think about it now, smelly, clam-like creature
whose habitation is on the bottom of the sea, underneath the realm
of understanding. He's way down here. He's not
up here where intelligent life is. He's down on the bottom. He don't run around hunting something
to eat. He just lays there on the bottom
and whatever God and his providence sends by, he nibbles on. You know what else about this
old oyster? They call them oysters. He's all mouth. Yes. He's all mouth. No defense. He didn't have a defense. Got
no teeth. Got no arms. Got no legs. Got
no weapons. He just lays down there. Hides
in the sand. Old sifting sand. He just lays
down there. Something floats by and he jumps
up and eats it. Whatever it is. He'll eat anything. Way down here on the bottom.
He's a bottom feeder. Dog mouth. And God takes something
from without that oyster. Something he don't eat. Something
he wouldn't eat. And God puts it deep inside of
him. And that old oyster. He begins to fester. And he begins to shake and quiver
and go through convulsions and blows and tries every way in
the world to dislodge what God put in him. And he can't do it. And then he begins to react to
it. And God, in his wisdom, inside that ugly, slimy old bottom feeder,
creates a pearl. Created of God and purposed to
live in the depths of the sea is a creature inside of whom
is the jewel of heaven, the pearl. Every gate going into glory is
made out of pearl. And the only way you can retrieve
the pearl, you got to go down where the
pearl's at. And you got to dig him out of his hiding place and
put him in your hand and bring him up to the surface. That's
the only way you can get it. The only way you can get it.
You got to get him out of his hiding place. Are you with me?
You understand what I'm talking about? Before ever the earth
was created, before ever a man set foot and breathed air, before
ever a creature walked on this earth, God took His Son and put
us in Him. And when we were created way
on down the road, why did God have favor to some and others
He didn't? because he's looking for the
pearl. That's right. The only thing that gave that
old smelly, ugly oyster any value whatsoever was that God put in
him his pearl. And he's going to retrieve it.
He's going to retrieve it. By one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. Sunk to the bottom by our nature,
made to live in the depths of ignorance and darkness, he comes
down from glory and becomes flesh and bone of our bones, flesh
of our flesh, and takes that pearl. and raises it up and makes it
sit together with him in glory. Now watch this. It says here
when he found one pearl. He didn't find a bunch. He didn't
find a handful or a storeful or a basketful. He found one
pearl. Now this was somebody who knew
pearls. This was a merchant man. This was a man whose living had
to do with pearls, whose purpose had to do with pearls. And this
man found one pearl, just one. And it says he took everything
he had and sold it and bought the pearl. In the fullness of time, the
Holy Spirit came to a little Jewish maiden. Her name was Mary. and she was overshadowed by the
highest itself. And he put in her the seed of
God. And Mary's only claim to fame. You know why we know who Mary
is today? I can say Mary. I don't care
who I talk to. I can talk to people who don't
even go to church and talk to them about Mary. Oh, that's the
mother of Jesus. You know why we know who she
is? What her claim to fame is, why
God causes her to be remembered, because He put in her His Son. That's right. And you know why
He's going to remember you if He remembers you? Because He
put inside you His Son. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. That's the pearl. in you by the
purpose of God, in you by eternal union, in you by the sovereign
power of God in regeneration, and in you by the faith of God's
elect. He seeks one pearl. He finds
one pearl. He buys one pearl. When he sees you, he just sees
Christ. That's all he sees. Now I see the oyster. And I can
tell you about the bottom. And I can tell you about all
the junk I've ate over the years and still eat. I can tell you
all kinds of things about the oyster, but only he sees the
pearl. He sees the pearl. One pearl. That's all he sees. Thousands, unnumbered multitudes
that he's going to one day set before the throne and Winston
all he sees is one pearl. He just sees Christ. And then
thirdly, look at this. It says he emptied the house
of everything he had. Now we're talking about God.
Emptied heaven of everything of value and sold it. He sold it. It says He gave Himself. Isn't that what it says? He gave Himself. He didn't give
out of His riches. He emptied Heaven. Turn with
me to Romans chapter 3. You see, that's what it takes
to satisfy God. That's what it takes. Perfection
demands perfection. The eternal living God is perfect. It's His perfections that make
Him God. It's His attributes, His perfections,
His character, that's what makes Him God. Folks run around down
here all religious, and you can get religion. And you can go
do this and go do that, and you can talk about God did this and
God did that, but you can't say those things when you come to
see something of the perfections of God. Talking about wiping
your slate clean, and I remember one old preacher had a little
blackboard over here at the side that they put notes and things
on, and he just took an eraser and he said, that's what God
does with your sins. That's not what God does with your sins.
Them sins have to be paid for. God's justice is not going to
allow him to just erase those sins, to just blot out those
sins. Those sins have to be paid for.
Why? Because God is just. We say God's
merciful, yes, but He can't compromise His justice to show His mercy.
He can't compromise His mercy to be just. All these things
have to happen in unison with one another. He's God. That's
what makes Him God. And perfection demands perfection. It cannot and it will not accept
compromise. Perfection demands that God come
into the flesh and become a man. And as a man, keep the law of
God without spot. Without one flaw, without one
false motive, without one less than perfect affection. Not a
doubt. Not a fear. You see what I'm
saying? And as a man, he's got to go
and he's got to suffer the whole wrath of God on the cross as
your substitute. That's the only way God can save
a sinner. Listen to this here in Romans
chapter 3 verse 24. Being justified, bound without
sin. No sin. God Himself who sees
all can't find anything. Faultless, Paul talked about
before the presence of His glory. Without spot. Being justified
freely by His grace. Through the redemption, that's
what we're talking about. Selling something to buy something
back. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are past. Now, that's not talking
about your past sins. That's talking about the sins
of the Old Testament saints before Christ came. And here's the key
to that understanding right here at the end of that verse, through
the forbearance of God. Verse 26, to declare at this
time. That's what was declared for
that time. His death declared it for that time and it declares
it for this time. At this time. His righteousness. that he might be just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. God must be just in order to
justify. To justify, God must be just. The perfections of his character
will not compromise. The pearl must be bought, but
the cost is everything. That's what he's telling you.
That's what this kingdom is all about. That's what it takes to
establish the kingdom of God. It takes everything God is and
everything God has. Now watch this. The pearl has to be separated
from the oyster. You're not going to walk around
with an oyster under your arm. You're going to walk around with
a pearl. He wasn't interested in the oyster. He was interested
in the pearl. In the pearl. And throughout this life, the
pearl's hiding. You can't see the pearl. It's
still in the oyster. Watch this over in Isaiah, Isaiah
chapter 54. I was reading this this morning. And when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should
desire. All we saw was a man. Men didn't
see the pearl. They didn't see the pearl. Well,
you got to act this way or else folks won't see Jesus. Folks
who saw Jesus didn't see Jesus. Now, that's the truth. Why? Because
the pearl is hidden in the flesh. It's hidden. You can't see it.
And you wouldn't know what it was if you did. They saw no beauty
in Him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it
were our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. We didn't see the pearl. And folks see you, they don't
see the pearl. God sees the pearl. This world finds no beauty, no
glory, no deity in the Son of God. They can't see the pearl. And they can't see the pearl
in us. But one day in death, God is going to gently separate
the pearl from the oyster. And the pearl is going back.
He's going to raise it up. Now one day he's going to raise
that oyster up. He's going to give him a new
body. There ain't going to be no oyster no more. He's going to give him
a new body. And he's going to bring him up.
But right now, he just touched the pearl. He just takes the
pearl. And I don't pretend to know everything,
but I do know this. When the fullness of His time
has come, He puts within His elect that pearl. He doesn't
just do it and then somewhere down the road you accidentally
hear some truth or learn some truth. No, He does it through
the preaching of the gospel. I don't understand how that works. They were having a, I guess for
all practical purposes just to communicate the truth, they were
having a revival down in Jerusalem. And God come in and took, was
it Philip? He took Philip out and told him
go out in the wilderness. And here he is out in the middle
of the desert. Why? Because there's an Ethiopian
eunuch out there that needs to hear the gospel. He's one of
God's own. And Philip just ran. He didn't know what to do. Here's
a eunuch with this big caravan. He evidently was a wealthy man.
He had all his stuff. He'd been down there. He'd already
been down to the big times. He'd been down there to Jerusalem,
to the feast. He saw all these things that
didn't mean anything to him. And he's just riding along reading
in the Bible. He doesn't know what he's reading,
but he's reading, trying, seeking the truth. God created an interest
in him. He wants to know, but he can't
know, and there he sits, and he's reading and reading. And
here's Philip running along beside him, and finally Philip says,
you know what you're reading? He said, well, how can I understand
what I'm reading unless somebody tells me? He said, scoot over. Scoot over. That's how it works. I don't understand how that works.
You don't understand how that works, but God does. And the
reason you get an interest is because he puts that pearl in
there. And he's going to let you fester a little bit and blow
a little bit and shiver a little bit and try to get rid of it.
And then after a while, you're just going to ignore it. And
it's going to grow. It's going to grow. In spite
of everything you do, that pearl is going to grow and form and
its beauty is going to mature until one day God takes it out. comes through the preaching of
the gospel. God's own time He'll harvest
His treasure, take it to glory. I believe that's what I'm doing
here this morning. Hunting for the pearl. The one pearl. See, He wants
one pearl to honor His house. He wants one pearl to honor His
name. He wants one pearl to honor His
covenant. He wants one pearl to honor His
promise and His oath. Christ is the pearl. Our Father, we pray that You
take these words And by your Spirit cause us to
rejoice in Him. To see Christ on every page and
every verse. To see Christ in your providence.
To see Christ in your creation. Through the bugs that fly and
the snakes that crawl and all that is, let us look for Him. and find glory in Him. Use this message for Thy name's
honor and glory. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.