Matthew chapter 13. There are
seven parables found in this chapter. And we have seen some
of them in the past. The first four we looked at.
And today I want to look at two more found in verse 44 and verse
45 and 6. These two parables here found
in Matthew 13. Again, verse 44, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto treasure. and to treasure that's hid in
the field, in which when a man hath found, he hideth for joy
thereof, and goeth, he sells all that he has, and he buys
that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man, a businessman, a businessman
who is seeking something, he's seeking goodly pearls, who when
he found the one pearl, The one pearl of great price went and
sold all that he had and bought that one precious pearl. We know the treasure here is
Christ. We know the pearl here is Christ. Now, the Lord willing,
we'll take a look at these two parables, the parable of the
hidden treasure, and then the parable of the pearl of great
price. In these two parables, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our King, is giving
to us by way of another earthly story. And that's what a parable
is. It's an earthly story that tells
us of a spiritual truth, a heavenly truth, by way of another earthly
story showing us the great value of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And both those parables have
that one lesson. We know that Christ is that one
treasure that we must have. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
is that one precious pearl. The Lord Jesus Christ, often
it says here, the kingdom of heaven is like We know the Kingdom
of Heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You cannot separate the Gospel
from the person or the person from the Gospel. He is the Gospel. We know that salvation is in
His person. He that hath the Son hath life.
We know that salvation is based upon His blood atonement. Salvation
is based upon His priestly work for us. It's not based upon our
work. It's not based upon our sacrifices,
it's based upon His person, His work, His sacrifice, and His
righteousness. Salvation is never said to be
based upon our righteousness, because ours is just filthy rag. That's why Paul said, I count
all my law keeping as dung, that I may win Christ and be found
in Him. You see, the point is, The Apostle
Paul, when he met the Lord Jesus Christ, he was brought into submission,
bowed to the lordship of Christ. And that's what happens when
God confronts a sinner. He breaks him and puts him under
his lordship. This is a record, John writes,
he that hath the Son, excuse me, this is a record that God
hath given to us, the eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He is salvation. Salvation is of Him. Salvation
is found in Him. And Christ in you is the hope
of glory. He's done a work for us at Calvary. In regeneration, He does a work
of grace in our heart, making us new creatures in Christ Jesus.
We know that Christ is that one great treasure. He's the treasure
of God's mercy, grace, and love to us. We know Christ is the
only pearl, the pearl of great, great price. And that price was
his blood, his blood. He bought a church with his own
blood. Both these parables teach one
plain lesson. And you already know what that
lesson is, right? In salvation, Christ is all. He's not part
salvation. He's all of our salvation. He's
the whole of it. He's the whole of it. Now, let's
look at verse 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like, it's like unto a treasure that's hid. It's hid in a field
which a man, when he found it, and for the joy thereof, he goes
and sells everything he has. and looks at that one treasure,
enjoys that one treasure. Now we cannot repeat this truth
too many times. The Lord Jesus Christ and the
gospel of Christ are found to be a great treasure. To you who
believe, he's precious. A great treasure, a great wealth
of all spiritual blessings we have in Christ. Listen to this
scripture, Paul writes this in Ephesians chapter 3, unto me
who am less than the least of all the saints is this grace
given that I should preach among the Gentile the unsearchable
riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. His richness is unsearchable. You see, in the Lord Jesus Christ
we have not some spiritual blessings, we have all spiritual blessings
found only in Him. Paul writes this in Ephesians
chapter 1, we bless God who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. John writes this, of his fullness
have we all received grace for grace. He's the treasure chest
of all spiritual blessings. The apostle Paul said in him
dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily and we are complete in
him. We stand absolutely complete
in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ we have a great inexhaustible
storehouse of mercy You cannot exhaust His mercy. His mercies
are new every morning. His mercies are eternal. We have
a storehouse of mercy. We have a storehouse of grace.
God giving us what we do not deserve. We have a storehouse
of love for He's loved us with an everlasting love. We have
a storehouse of redemption. He's redeemed us from all our
sin. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. These things will never be diminished. They're eternal riches. eternal
riches in Christ forevermore. Now it says in the parable there
that the treasure that we have, we know that treasure is Christ,
this treasure is hid. It's hid in a field. Now I believe
this field here represents the Word of God. It's hid, the treasure
of the Gospel is hid in that book you hold right there. The
treasure of the Gospel is hid in this field in the Word. This word hid means concealed. The field in which he treasured,
the treasure of the gospel hid is the word of God, which contains
all the rich promises of God, all the rich promises of God.
You remember Peter called them exceeding, great, and precious
promises. All the promises of God in him
are yes, and in him, amen, and to the glory of God by Christ
Jesus. Paul says all the promises of
God, all that he has promised, he's able to perform. David,
when he writes Psalm 119, and almost every verse in that one
particular Psalm, Psalm 119, it has like 200 verses, but almost
every verse in that Psalm 119 has to do with the Word of God. And he says, I rejoice at thy
word as one that finds a great treasure. His word is full of
blessed treasures, blessed promises of mercy, grace, and love. All
the promises of God. How many of God's promises have
failed? All the promises of God, all
that He had promised, not one word has failed, not one. His
promises never fail because He cannot fail. Our Lord said to
those Jews, search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life, but there they would testify of Me." What's
the Word of God about? Christ. And then He said, you
will not come to Me that you might have life. The Lord Jesus,
the risen Lord, met those two men on the road to Emmaus. And
He drew nigh unto them, and they did not recognize Him until He
revealed Himself unto them. But the Lord said to those two
men, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto
them in all the Scriptures the thing concerning Himself." The
Word of God, Old Testament and New, is all about the Lord Jesus
Christ, His person, and His work. All Holy Scripture we know is
given of God. It teaches one lesson. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified is all salvation. He purchased all salvation
with His blood. We sing a song sometimes, Show
me thy truth concealed, in thy book revealed, show me thy truth
revealed within thy word, and in the book revealed I see the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this book reveals Christ
unto us. No man naturally understands
these things. They're hidden. They must be
revealed unto us. You remember that scripture in
2 Corinthians chapter 4. It's God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
us a light of a knowledge of the glory of God that shines
in the face of Jesus Christ. I would have you turn back to
Matthew 11, but you already know that scripture. He's hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes,
even so, Father, it seemed good in your sight. No man knoweth
the Father, but the Son. No man knoweth the Son, but the
Father, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. The Gospel of Christ is hidden
in the Word. And it's revealed by God the
Holy Spirit. And when you can read this book
and see Christ as all your hope of salvation, it's been revealed
to you. When the gospel is revealed and
made known unto us, we treasure it up in our heart. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Look what it says in that parable
again, verse 44. which when a man hath found,
he only found it because it's been revealed, he hides it for
the joy thereof. Remember what we read in Philippians
3? We are the true Israel, which worship God in spirit, that rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have no confidence, no confidence
in the flesh. We joy in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have joy in our heart. The
apostle writes this, Let me read it to you, don't turn. Romans
5 verse 1, Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and we rejoice in the
hope of the glory of God. We rejoice in Him. We rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Alone. We joy in Him. Now I want
you to turn and read this one with me. You were right over
there in the book of Philippians, but just past the book of Philippians,
one book is the book of Colossians, chapter 2. Colossians, chapter
2. I'm saying this treasure Christ,
it's hidden in the Word of God and when it's revealed we see
the beauty and glory of Christ. Colossians chapter 2 Verse one,
for I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you
and for them at Laodicea, and for many of us have not seen
my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted being
knit together unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father
of Christ. Look at verse three, in whom
are hid all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. All hid in Christ. It's all hid in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, when we are made willing
in the day of His power to lay down and quit and sell out all
other false ideas and false hopes that are contrary to the gospel,
and when that happens, we rest in Christ alone. That's why I
read Philippians 3. I count everything else lost,
dung, and ruined, that I may win Christ and be found in Him.
This man in the parable here, who represents a believer, who's
had the gospel revealed to him, he has joy in his heart, and
he sells out everything else. He sells out any other hope he
has, and he puts all of his eggs in one basket, Christ. He sells
all that he has, and what does he do? He buys that field. What is the price of salvation?
It's free. The price is free because the
Lord Jesus Christ has paid the price for us. We are made willing
to quit our false ideas, our false hopes, and everything that's
contrary to the gospel, and we rest in Christ alone. Remember
what we read in Philippians 3, this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, I reach forth unto the things
which are before, in Christ Jesus, all things. Believers are totally
committed and sold out to the gospel of Christ. They say, with
Paul I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. We buy this field, we buy this
treasure, because this field and this treasure is Christ.
How do we buy it? Listen to this scripture. He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with them also freely give us all things? I
thought of this scripture about buying. Isaiah 55, remember? Ho, everyone that's thirsty,
come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, Come buy
and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without
pride. We sell out everything we have and by the grace of God
we lay hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We studied this in Revelation
chapter 3, remember? Verse 18 says, I counsel thee,
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest
be rich. white raiment that thou mayest
be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear,
and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. You remember over here in Matthew
13 verse 16, blessed are your eyes
for they see, and your ears for they hear. That's the blessed
man who has eyes to see the glory of Christ, is to hear the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When God reveals the gospel to
us, we have joy in our heart, we hide that gospel in our heart,
we lay hold in that gospel, we sell out on every false hope,
and we lay hold on Christ, and buy him by faith, look to him
by faith. Now the second parable is likened
to the last one, with some difference, verse 45, and again, The kingdom
of heaven is likened to a merchant man. Now a merchant man is a
businessman. He's in business to buy and to
sell, right? He's seeking Goodly pearls, he
must be a seller of precious stones, but he's looking for
goodly pearls that he might buy, that he might resell, who when
he had found this one pearl of great price, the one he's been
looking for all his business career, he finds that one great
pearl. What does he do? He sells everything
he has, and he lays hold of that one precious pearl. And he knows
in that one precious pearl is the great wealth of salvation
in Christ. Now, no doubt the Lord Jesus
Christ is exceeding great pearl of unlimited power and wealth. He is the pearl of all pearls. He is that one diamond, if you
will, or the pearl, if you will, that one golden nugget, if you
will. To you who believe the Lord Jesus
Christ is altogether lovely, to you who believe He's altogether
precious. He is that treasure hid in your
heart. He is that pearl of great price. We know that Christ is the pearl,
Christ is the treasure. And he is the one that the sinner
must have. He's the only one that's been
provided of God. God provided this treasure. God
provided this pearl. God will only accept that which
he has provided for us. We are accepted in the beloved.
Now we know this. There's no other savior but Christ,
is there? Is there any other savior? There's
no other Savior but the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Peter
said to those Pharisees that day. Neither is there salvation
in any other but the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The Lord said,
I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. You don't come to God
but by Christ. No man. No man. He's the only
Savior. He's the only one pearl that
we must have. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only Redeemer. How are we going to put away
our sin? I sinned pretty hard to put away. Well, I'm just going
to stop sinning today. What about yesterday, the day
before that? What about tomorrow? You can't
put away your sin. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. So there's no other Savior. There's
no other Redeemer in whom we have redemption. He's a pain
for us eternal redemption by His blood. There is no other
mediator. You cannot come to God apart
from Christ. God's too holy. We're too sinful. We must have a mediator. And
that mediator is none other than Christ, the precious pearl. One
God, one mediator between God and man, that is the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other righteousness.
You remember what we studied in the book of Matthew where
it says, except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and
Pharisees, you cannot enter in? How righteous must this sinner
be to stand before God? Absolutely perfect. I must be
as righteous as God. Well, preacher, how can that
be? Only in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Lord our
righteousness. He is personally, to me, my righteousness. Blessed is that man to whom God
would impute righteousness without works. I'm a sinful, wicked man
in this flesh. In Christ, I'm holy as He is. That's the blessing of the gospel.
He is my personal righteousness before God. when the believers stand before
the Lord in that day in which all men will give an account.
And then someone might ask, by what right are you here? I'm
not here on my right. I'm here on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. That's it. It's only by God's
sovereign grace that any sinner has any idea about seeking goodly
pearls in Christ Jesus that's revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who seek Him will find
Him. We studied in Matthew chapter
5, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,
they shall be filled. Once this pearl is found or discovered,
revealed and made known in the Word of God, we sell out just
like that man who found that treasure in the field. We sell
out everything and we lay hold, by faith now, we lay hold of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a good hope, it's a
good hope we have in Christ. Like the treasure hid in the
field that is found and like the one pearl of grace that is
found The sinner then fully realizes, to some extent, the priceless
value of the gospel, the gospel of Christ. He willingly lets
loose of all other ideas of salvation by works of the flesh, deeds
of the law, and he looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Alone. You see, the hope we have in
Christ is a good hope through grace. It's not hope in a hope. It's not our faith in faith.
Our faith looks to Christ. Christ is our hope. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that sat before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Now, I want to give you, in closing,
and I'm almost done, I want to give you, by way of closing,
two examples of someone who sold everything out and rested in
Christ and someone who was just merely religious and walked away
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Right here in the book of Matthew,
turn to Matthew 19. Here's the first example. The
young rich ruler kept his riches and walked away from the Lord.
Matthew 19, look at verse 16. And behold, one came and said
unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have
eternal life? And the Lord said, what do you
call me good? There's none good but one, that's
God. But if you will enter into life,
keep the commandments. And he said unto him, which?
And the Lord said, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not
commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother.
And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That's what the law
demands, absolute perfection. And the young man said unto him,
all these things have I kept from my youth. What do I lack?
Is that the same thing Saul of Tarsus said? According to the
law, he said, I was blameless. And the Lord said to him, if
thou wilt be perfect, go and sell everything you have and
give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. Come
and follow me. You remember that man who found
that treasure? He sold everything out and bought
that field. The man who found that one pearl
of great price, he sold out on everything he had and bought
that one. But when the young man heard that saying, he went
away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Now this man's problem,
and some people think this was Saul of Tarsus. Some people think
this was Saul of Tarsus. This man's problem was not that
he had riches. His problem was that his riches
had him. He was trusting himself. And
the Lord, the young man heard that saying and went away sorrowful
for he had great, great possession. Then the Lord said, look at verse
23. Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter
into the kingdom of heaven. That is those who trust riches.
Again I say unto you it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
of God. And when the disciples heard
it, they were exceedingly amazed and said, well, who then can
be saved? And the Lord said unto them, with men, it is impossible. With God, all things are possible. So there's an example of one
who walked away, who refused to trust the Lord alone. And
here's the other example. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. We've been going through the
book of Hebrews. I think this illustrates the story of the
man who, when he found the treasure, sold out everything. And when
he found the pearl, he sold out everything, laid hold of the
treasure, laid hold of the pearl. You remember the story in Hebrews
11 verse 24. You remember the story of Moses? When he was come to years, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. You remember the story
of Moses. I won't go back and bring you
up to that, but he was a Hebrew and he was raised up in the house
of Pharaoh. Considered a son of Pharaoh.
He was in line to the throne of Egypt. But look at verse 25. Choosing rather to suffer the
afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater
riches. than the treasures in Egypt. He had respect unto the recompense
of reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing him
who is invisible. He counted all things lost, that
he may win Christ and be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
the scripture that Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 8, For
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he
was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through
his poverty might be made rich. We have all riches in Christ
Jesus. He that findeth his life will
lose it. He that loses his life for my
sake shall find it. Matthew 10, 39. Do you see in
the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified as the treasure of
salvation? You see in the Lord Jesus Christ,
His blood and His righteousness, the pearl of salvation, the pearl
of forgiveness, the pearl of His love in the Lord Jesus. He said, I'm the way, No other
way. The way. I am the truth. You
should know the truth. The truth will set you free.
He said I am the life. He that hath the son hath life.
He that heareth my word and believeth on him hath sent me hath eternal
life and shall not come in condemnation but is passed from death unto
life. unto life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I listened to a message
this morning, early this morning, by Brother Mahan, and he made
this statement. It's no miracle to make a sinful
man religious. That's not a miracle, is it?
That's not a miracle. You can make a religious man
to reform. That's not a miracle. But it's
a miracle of God to make a man righteous in Christ. God made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And as I was thinking
about that point, about the miracle of the new birth, our Lord said,
except a man born again he cannot see, cannot enter the kingdom
of God. And then I thought of a chorus
to a song And I looked it up. I looked it up on my phone. Do
you believe that? I asked my phone about this song,
It Took a Miracle. And I just, you know, I just,
surely they don't know that. I asked my phone and it came
up. I couldn't believe it. But the course of that song goes,
it took a miracle to put the stars in place. It took a miracle
to hang the world in space, but when he saved my soul, cleansed
and made me whole, he took a miracle of love and grace. Love and grace. He's that treasure. He's that
pearl. I pray he is that to you.