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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew 13, I'll begin reading 
in verse 34, I'm sorry, verse 36. We'll read to verse 52. And our focus this morning will 
be on the parables on the value of the kingdom in verses 44 to 
46. But beginning in verse 36, Then 
Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And 
his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of 
the tares of the field. He answered and said to them, 
he who sows the good seed is the son of man, the field is 
the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but 
the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed 
them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the 
reapers are the angels. Therefore, as the tares are gathered 
and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 
The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather 
out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice 
lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There 
will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. then the righteous 
will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. 
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Again, the kingdom 
of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found 
and hid. And for joy over it, he goes 
and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom 
of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who 
when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all 
that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven 
is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea, and gathered some 
of every kind, which when it was full they drew to shore. 
And they sat down and gathered the good into the vessels, but 
threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the 
age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among 
the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will 
be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus said to them, Have you 
understood all these things? They said to him, Yes, Lord. 
Then he said to them, Therefore, every scribe instructed concerning 
the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out 
of his treasure things new and old. Amen. Well, let us pray 
and ask God's help as we look into scripture. Our Father, we 
come to you now and we thank you for the Word of God. We pray 
for the illumination of your Holy Spirit. We confess our sins 
and our transgression and iniquity and everything that would darken 
our understanding this morning. We pray that you would wash us 
afresh in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. that you would 
cause your spirit to lead us and to guide us into all truth. 
And God, for any and all who have come here this morning, 
strangers, to your grace, those who have not found this pearl 
of great price, those who have not found this treasure, we pray 
that today would be the day of salvation. We pray that your 
spirit would work by the word and that you would bring conviction 
for sin. and cause men and women and boys and girls to see Jesus 
Christ as the only one who can save. We pray that you would 
just do this for your glory's sake. We pray that you would 
do this for the good of souls. We pray that you would do this 
for the strengthening of your church. And we pray through Christ 
our Lord. Amen. Well, this morning, as 
I said, we're going to look at the parables on the value of 
the kingdom. Remember that we are in chapter 
13, which is Matthew's third discourse. And it is parabolic 
in nature. That means the Lord, by a series 
of parables, is teaching on a common theme. And that common theme 
is the kingdom of heaven. Last week, we looked at the parable 
of the tares explained. Remember that when Jesus gave 
the parable of the wheat and the tares, One of the emphasis 
was that when the tares are discovered in the church, or tares are discovered 
in the world, we're to leave them alone. Because if we upbraid 
them, then we risk injuring the wheat as well. But when Christ 
comes to interpret and explain the parable of the tares, the 
emphasis does not fall upon the current age. It does not fall 
upon, let the tares alone. but rather Jesus shows us what 
the judgment to come looks like. And it is a very graphic description. He says this in verses 40 and 
following. He certainly appends or he certainly 
deals with the judgment of the righteous in verse 43. but the 
emphasis falls upon the condemnation, the judgment of the tares, the 
wicked. Christ does a similar thing in 
the parables that follow our parables this morning. This kingdom 
of heaven like a dragnet. Again, Jesus causes us to reflect 
upon the future judgment, the reality that when that dragnet 
is brought in and there are those bad fish, they will be cast off 
and they will go to that place where there is weeping and wailing 
and gnashing of teeth. And that is a motivation, that 
is an exhortation, that is an encouragement for all of us to 
consider the judgment to come. We need to realize that we live 
beyond this day, that God did not put us on this earth simply 
to spend ourselves in pursuit of our own lusts. There is a 
reckoning coming, there is a day of judgment at hand, and God 
the Lord Most High is full of wrath and full of vengeance, 
and He will indeed display that upon the ungodly in the age to 
come. But lest we think that the only 
motive is to look forward to the judgment that befalls us 
for our wickedness, we need to realize that in coming to Christ, 
there is value. In coming to Christ, there is 
everything. I think that sometimes we do 
err when we tell people, you have to give up everything to 
come to Christ. I realize That's what Jesus says 
here, we need to sell all, but we sort of emphasize that as 
if the sinner loses. No sinner ever loses giving up 
everything he has to gain Jesus Christ. That sinner gains everything. And that's the emphasis in these 
two parables. Remember the parable of the sower 
and the parable of the wheat and the tares are sort of big 
picture parables. The third and the fourth then 
teach or indicate what growth and transformation look like 
within the kingdom of heaven itself. And the stress falls 
in the fifth and sixth on the exceeding value of the kingdom 
of heaven. on the surpassing worth of the 
Kingdom of Heaven, on the supreme glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. And so for Christians this morning, 
you ought to ponder that if you are financially strapped, you 
are physically challenged, you are distressed in a whole host 
of ways in this world, if you have Christ, you are the richest 
man, the richest woman, boy or girl on the face of the earth. 
To have Christ is to have everything. To have the Lord Jesus is to 
possess all. And realize that if you do not 
have Jesus Christ, Christ tells you to forsake all, to get rid 
of everything, and to come to Him for blessing and benefit 
and privilege. and every spiritual gift that 
God has promised to those who pursue His dear Son. So let's 
look at these parables. First, the parable of the treasure 
in the field, and then secondly, the parable of the pearl of great 
price. The subject matter, very evidently 
again, is the Kingdom of Heaven. Verses 44 and 45. There are other views concerning 
these two particular parables. There is one that says that Jesus 
is the man who finds the hidden treasure in the field. And this 
refers to the Gentiles, or to the Jews rather. And then Jesus 
is this pearl merchant who goes after the church. Well, this 
is certainly evangelical, and it is true, because the Son of 
Man did come to seek and to save that which was lost. That's not 
the point of the parables. The parables illustrate for us 
or demonstrate for us what the kingdom of heaven is like. Not 
what the shepherd of souls is like, but rather what the kingdom 
of heaven is like. And so the common traditional 
interpretation is what will be followed here. The kingdom of 
heaven is like this treasure hidden in a field. The kingdom 
of heaven is like this pearl merchant going after a beautiful 
pearl. And then there are those, and 
we just sang it, it's fallen into popular hymnody to equate 
Jesus with the Pearl of Great Price. Technically speaking, 
it is the Kingdom of Heaven here that is likened to the Pearl 
of Great Price. But since Jesus is the Gem and 
Darling of Heaven, there is nothing incongruous with referring to 
Him as the pearl of great price. He is heaven's chief boon. He is heaven's darling. And as 
a result, the kingdom of heaven, there is nothing wrong with equating 
our Lord Christ with this pearl of great price. Now note the 
analogy that Christ uses in verse 484. The kingdom is like treasure. The kingdom is like treasure. 
Notice that Jesus uses a situation that hardly ever occurs. I mean, 
this is a once in a lifetime find, isn't it? Now, interestingly 
enough, in February of this year, a couple in Northern California 
stumbled upon a jar that contained $10 million worth of gold coins. Unfortunately, they're probably 
going to have to pay half of that to the Internal Revenue 
Service via taxes. Let me just appeal to you now. If you hate the idea of taxation, 
there's no taxes associated with the Kingdom of Heaven. You don't 
get a bill at the end of the year. They're not clawing a bit 
away for your retirement or whatever it may be. God's grace is gracious. When He confers the kingdom upon 
us, which Jesus tells His disciples, do not fear, little flock. It 
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It is 
graciously deposited to the soul of man. In another instance, 
in Luke's recounting or Luke's rehearsing of the Lord's Supper, 
Jesus uses the language of covenant conferral. I covenant to you 
the kingdom. There's no taxation involved, 
but the situation that is envisioned here is a once-in-a-lifetime 
event. Now you remember, early 1st century 
Israel didn't have safe deposit boxes. You didn't just throw 
it under your mattress. There were invasions, there were 
this, there was that. So it was very common to take 
your prized possessions, to put them in a jar and to bury it. 
And so what Jesus says is that the Kingdom of Heaven is like 
treasure hidden in a field. Hidden serves the context well. 
Because what's in view here is that Christ is dispensing with 
the Jewish notions of the Kingdom of God. It doesn't come in its 
inception in this apocalyptic power. But rather, as the parables 
of the leaven and the mustard seed teach us, it starts off 
imperceptibly, it starts off small, it starts off almost unobservable, 
but it grows and it powerfully moves forward. And so what Christ 
is saying is that the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden 
in a field. Remember again in Matthew 11, 
Jesus praises His Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Why? For 
thou didst hide these things from the wise and the prudent, 
but you did reveal them on the babes. In Matthew's gospel, in 
this very discourse, in chapter 13, at verse 11, when the disciples 
come and wonder why He's speaking to the multitudes in parables, 
He says to you, it has been given to know the mysteries of the 
kingdom of heaven. but to them it has not been given. God is sovereign in the dispensing 
of grace. And here what we have is a man, 
probably a day laborer, probably a tenant farmer, but a man who 
did not own this particular field. He happens to be out there, he 
happens to be digging, and he happens to find this treasure. 
So what does he do? He goes, he sells everything 
that he has, so that he can purchase that field. The idea being that 
the property that is buried in the field would belong to the 
owner of the field. And so this man concludes, if 
I don't go and sell everything and purchase the field, then 
the treasure will not be mine. Now there are those who deal 
with the ethics of this. Was this fair? He should have 
told them. That's not the point of the parable. The parable is 
very clear. It is very obvious the surpassing 
value and the worth of God's kingdom is what's in view here. The man sells all that he has 
in order to purchase the field to lay claim to the treasure. 
You can see his mind working. But notice that the man does 
this with joy. So something that jumps out, 
at least in this particular parable, I think it's implied in the next 
as well. The idea that we grudgingly and 
unhappily and with a grimace on our face sell everything we 
have to acquire this particular hidden treasure is foreign and 
contrary to the biblical data. How many times have you met people 
that you've presented the truth of the gospel to them, and they 
say, well, I don't want to give everything up. I don't want to 
stop doing these particular things. I don't want to stop going to 
this particular place. It's always looked at as a negative 
transaction. And sometimes Christians present 
it that way. Well, if you just stop this and 
stop this and stop this and do this, well, then you'll be fit 
and meet for the kingdom of heaven. No. Come to Christ for everything. This is what Paul says in Ephesians 
1.4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, or 
verse 3, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the 
heavenly places in Christ. What was God's statement to Father 
Abraham in Genesis 15 before they transact that covenant with 
the bloody animals? God says, I am your shield, your 
exceedingly great reward. Abraham never looked at himself 
as a loser because he left Ur of the Chaldeans, because he 
left the idolatry of his father's house. Abraham never celebrated 
the reality, look what I gave up. Sometimes in the Christian 
testimony circuit it almost becomes this parading of what someone 
gave up. You didn't give up anything. 
You may have given up everything by the grace of God to get Christ. That's the point. The man finds 
this hidden treasure. He runs, he sells everything 
he has, and with joy in his heart, he goes and he purchases that 
field. The man recognizes the exceeding 
great value of the treasure and does everything to obtain it. 
Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that glorious? You've heard 
the preaching of the gospel before, the glories of Christ, the forgiveness 
of sin, the imputation of righteousness, and you've not run for it? You've 
not said, where is this Messiah that I might have Him too? Where 
is this blessed Savior and Redeemer that I may have all that He offers? Learn from this particular tenant 
farmer or day laborer. You ought to forsake everything 
for Christ. You ought to forsake everything 
for this hidden treasure. And for joy over it, he goes 
and sells all that he had and buys that field. So a few lessons that we glean 
from this particular parable, the kingdom of heaven is supremely 
valuable. The kingdom of heaven is supremely 
valuable. Nothing compares. There is nothing 
greater. There is nothing more blessed, 
more glorious, more wondrous. You may have money in the bank. 
You may have a clean bill of health. You may have children 
that are polished and upright. You may have all those things 
and be nothing but a bankrupt sinner. The man who has Christ 
has everything. The man who finds this hidden 
treasure and forsakes his sin and forsakes his good works by 
God's grace in faith and seizes upon Christ is the richest man 
on the face of the earth. I submit there is power in this 
passage to encourage even the hardest heart. Think about this sometime this 
week when things aren't going your way. Think about this sometime 
this week when it seems that everything is against you. Think 
about this sometime this week when you're counting your curses 
instead of counting your blessings. Think about this this week when 
you look at your bank account or when you look at your issues 
or when you look at your problems or when you look at your whatever. 
Say, but I own this hidden treasure. What do you do with an Abraham 
after God says, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward? 
What do you do with an apostle Paul who says, for to me to live 
is Christ and to die is gain? You kill him, he goes to be with 
Jesus. You let him live, he gets to 
continue on with Jesus. Is that the way that we think? 
We have found the hidden treasure of God's holy kingdom. We are 
possessors of and possessed by this kingdom itself, and yet 
very often we don't have the joy that definitely manifested 
itself through this man. When you saw him carrying Whatever 
it was that he had to carry to sell off. It wasn't like this. It wasn't like, oh, look at what 
I got to do. He's happy. He's got a spring 
in his step. He's joyful. He's not the loser 
in this exchange. He's the winner. He has everything. The kingdom of heaven. is worth 
sacrificing everything for. What does he do when he finds 
that hidden treasure? He says, I've got to sell everything 
that I have. I've got to part with everything 
that is dear to me. I've got to get rid of everything 
that I've held on to. Jesus teaches this concerning 
the kingdom elsewhere. So likewise, Luke 14.33, whoever 
of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. 
Matthew 6.33, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 
and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 10.39, 
he who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life 
for my sake will find it. The emphasis here is contrary 
to that type of here evidenced in chapter 13 verse 22. Look at the parable of the sower 
and the type of soil that Jesus describes in 13.22. Now he who receives seed among 
the thorns is he who hears the word. And the cares of this world 
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes 
unfruitful. cares, carnal anxiety, riches, 
deceitfulness of riches. What happens to the word that 
at least perceptively took root in his heart? It's choked out. 
What's Christ teaching us? The kingdom means everything. 
The kingdom is what ought to shape and define you. Your place 
with Christ is all that matters. What is the Apostle saying? Colossians 
2. And you are complete in Him. How many of us seek our identity? And I don't want to get all weird 
evangelicalism and this whole idea of identity being everything. I certainly don't want to get 
psychological or psychiatric with you. But there is a fundamental 
disconnect with the people of God very often. Is your completion 
in Him everything? Is the sufficiency of Christ 
your all? Do you bank your life, your soul, 
your body, your strength, your everything on Christ? This is 
what Paul says you ought to do. This is what Christ calls us 
to do. Notice, secondly, the parable 
of the pearl of great price. Again, it is the subject matter. The subject matter is the same. 
Verse 34. I'm sorry, verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven 
is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. Pearls were highly prized 
in this society. They're highly prized today, 
aren't they? Jesus is talking about something we can sink our 
teeth into. Jesus is talking about something 
that we can all connect with. Hidden treasure, who wouldn't 
like to find that? Well, not me, because I'm just 
content with everything I have. Well, Jesus doesn't assume that. 
Jesus assumes that when men find hidden treasure, they want it. 
He uses the analogy of a pearl merchant. Champlin says pearls 
were highly prized in antiquity and could be esteemed above gold. 
Secured by divers or nets from the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, 
and the Indian Ocean, pearls were used for adornments, especially 
for necklaces. Some were worth millions in today's 
Currencies. So Christ is dealing with something 
that the average Joe would have connected with and said, yes, 
hidden treasure. The average person would say, 
yes, the pearl of great price. Notice a difference between the 
two men. The day laborer, the merchant 
farmer, the tenant farmer, he's not looking for this particular 
treasure. He stumbles upon it. This pearl 
merchant, however, is seeking after a beautiful pearl. He knows 
what he's looking for. He's trained. He's got an eye 
for these particular things. The lesson, I think, by way of 
corollary, is that God is sovereign. There are some who say, there's 
nothing in me that was seeking after the kingdom of God. I was 
out in the field one day. I was digging up some dirt, and 
I found this hidden treasure. And there are those who have 
something in their hearts to be after, the things of God. 
Perhaps Jesus is referring here to the history of Israel, seeking 
after the God of heaven and earth. And here the Messiah is standing 
before them, and they haven't got the wherewithal to see that 
He's the Pearl of Great Price. Remember, that's a broader theme 
in Matthew's dealings here, is the unbelief, the sinfulness, 
the evil of this adulterous generation. So that might be at play here. 
You've got a nation of people that are seeking after something 
and they're not finding it, because they're not looking for Christ. The merchant finds one pearl 
of great price. This indicates again, just like 
the kingdom is hidden in verse 44, so this pearl had to be found. It's not evident to everybody. You see, at the second coming, 
when Jesus comes in glory again to judge the living and the dead, 
you will not be mistaken about that. when He comes, as He describes, 
with all of His holy angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance 
on those who know not God and on those who do not obey the 
gospel. You're not going to scratch your head and say, I wonder what's 
going on here. But when you heard about Bethlehem being the birthplace 
of Messiah, and Him coming as a babe in the womb, and Him being 
born in very humble circumstances, you might miss the reality that 
the Kingdom was here. This is what Christ is indicating 
to the people. The kingdom is hidden and it 
must be found. The kingdom here is described 
as a pearl of great price. And again, look at verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven 
is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found 
one pearl of great price. This man is different from the 
day laborer. This man is different from the 
tenant farmer. This man more than likely is 
a man of great needs. This man is a merchant that probably 
travels to various places. He's the guy that's got that 
little thing that you look at, you know, the little magnifying 
glass that you look at the jewels. He's that guy. He brings it out 
of his coat and he surveys the particular pearl to make sure 
it's the genuine article, to make sure it's not a knockoff, 
though I don't know that they were knocking them off like they 
do today. This guy knew what he was doing. This was his business. This was 
his job. What happens when he sees this 
pearl of great price? He sells everything too. He parts 
with all that he has so that he can secure this particular 
pearl. Now think about this with me 
for just a moment. The tenant farmer sells everything 
he has to purchase this field. Supposedly or ideally, that treasure 
that he brings out of that field is going to be his livelihood. This is going to be his milk 
money. This is going to put his children through school. This 
is going to be how he eats. This is what he's going to live 
off of. The pearl merchant seems a bit different. The pearl merchant, 
unless he sells the pearl of great price, doesn't now have 
anything. In many respects, the acquisition 
of the pearl of great price impoverishes him physically. You follow me? Unless he gets on eBay, or he 
goes to the pawn shop, or he makes a transaction on Craigslist 
to sell that pearl, it's not yielding him anything. You don't 
shave off a little bit of the pearl to go buy milk. If you 
have gold bars, you could probably do that. But with a pearl, you 
don't want to damage the jewel itself. He doesn't care. Getting rid of everything, his 
pearl collection, his house, his riches, his cars, his summer 
homes, whatever it takes, it doesn't matter to him because 
he has seen the pearl of great price. His eyes have feasted 
upon it. I get the idea that he just takes 
it, not even to home anymore because he sold that. Does he 
go sit under a bridge somewhere? Whatever he does, all he's doing 
for the remainder of his life is gazing at that pearl. It's 
captured him. It's ravaged him. It's everything 
to him. He doesn't want other stuff anymore. He has it all. It's the possession 
of it that matters. It's the goodness of it. It's 
the value for the value itself. It's not what he can get. It's 
not what he can traffic. I'm not blaming the first guy. 
I'm just showing there's a bit of dissimilarity in the parables. 
The idea is the same. The supreme value of the kingdom 
of heaven. That's the point of connection 
between these two men. There is a bit of dissimilarity. 
The first man stands to gain a livelihood. The second man, 
unless he trades the pearl or sells the pearl, he's impoverished 
now. But it doesn't matter. Do you 
think he walks around with this pearl in his pocket with this 
face? No, he's probably like, let me 
show you what I got. Let me show you what's mine. 
Do you think Abraham did that when he says, God, Yahweh, Lord, 
is my shield, my exceedingly great reward? Is that how we 
portray our Christianity? We're believers. Or is it, we're 
believers, we have Christ, we have the pearl of greatest price. 
When we sing 592, we mean it. Christ is my prophet, priest 
and king. Christ speaks to me through his 
word and his spirit. Christ died for me and rose again. Christ rules over me, he defends 
me, he protects me. What more could I want in this 
world? What more is there? When you have given me the jewel 
of heaven, God most high, I want no more. The kingdom of heaven, some lessons 
here, supremely valuable. Where have we heard that? We 
just heard it with reference to the hidden treasure in the 
field. The kingdom of heaven is supremely valuable. The kingdom 
of heaven is something to be sought. That's something we learned 
from this man. He's a pearl merchant. He's out 
seeking. It's good that you're here. If 
you're an unbeliever, I encourage you to continue to come here. 
You need to be under the sound of the Word. You need to hear 
the Gospel. You need to hear the call. Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. You need to hear the threatened 
judgment to come on that day when Christ shall come again 
in the glory of His Father. You need to understand that you 
as a tare will be bundled up and thrown into a furnace of 
fire where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. 
You need to understand there's a reality beyond today. There's 
a reality beyond what is physical. There is a reality beyond what 
we can see, taste, feel and hear right now. There is a day coming, 
a great reckoning from God the Lord. But you also need to hear 
the value of the kingdom, the surpassing value. And you need 
to hear about the glory of Christ. Seek after these things. Do not 
rest till you find these things. How many times do people spend 
their efforts seeking after earthly things that only bring discouragement 
in the end? You ever notice that sometimes 
it's not enough with people? I gotta think, if somebody has 
10 billion dollars, they could stop? How many more billions could 
you have? I mean, even with inflation and 
all of that sort of thing right now, 10 billion seems to say 
that I'm probably okay for the next 40 years. But they're not 
like that, are they? It's not like that. I've got 
to have more. I've got to have $11 billion. 
I've got to have $15 billion. I've got to have $20 billion. 
It's never enough. And see, young people, it's sort 
of like that with other types of things as well. It's never 
enough that this group accepts me. I've got to be accepted by 
everybody. I've got to be the king of the school. It's not 
enough just to take this one puff. I've got to keep smoking. 
And then I've got to snort. And then I've got to drink. And 
then I've got to shoot. And then I've got to do all those 
things. It's never enough. The proverb says that the leech 
has two daughters. You know what they say? Give! Give! It's what sin does. It's like a big leech in your 
heart. All it does is say, give! Give! Feed me! Feed me! Sexual 
relations, same type of thing. It's never just a little bit 
of a particular sin. We want to have it all. But what 
happens in the final analysis? Emptiness, guilt, shame, all 
those things. Men spend their lives pursuing 
and seeking that which brings nothing. And then you talk about 
the gospel, you talk about Christ, you talk about the kingdom of 
heaven, you talk about the certainty of a judgment to come. And what 
do people say? Well, I'm not interested. What 
do you mean you're not interested? You ever want to just nicely 
grab people and say, you should be interested. You should pay 
attention. You should open your eyes. I 
love it when they depict Christians like the ostrich. You know the 
ostrich, how it evades being seen, puts its head in the sand. There's a brilliance to that. 
It's wrong, but there's a brilliance to that, right? Don't we think 
that way? If I can't see them, they can't 
see me. Who's putting their heads in 
the sand? Who's evading? Who's hiding? Who's pretending there's not 
a just judge of all the earth that will do what's right? Who 
is the one that's trying to escape accountability? It's not the 
believer who buries his face in the Word of God, and searches 
these things out, and learns who Christ is, and learns what 
the Kingdom's about, and learns what faith and repentance are 
like. That's not the one hiding their face. It is the unbeliever 
that wants nothing to do with the truth of God's Holy Word. 
That's the reality that we face today. And I suspect that's the 
reality that probably we face in this very room. I've said 
it before, I don't mean to pick on children or young people, 
but you all think you're going to live another 80 years. You 
think that everything's just going to go the way it goes now. 
We're uniformitarian in our philosophy. Things will always be the way 
they are. Why? Because you say so? Why? Because it would be inconvenient 
for you to drop dead? Why? Because you actually think 
that God the Lord has promised you 85 years? Don't delude yourself. Learn this from the pearl merchant. 
He knew there was a beautiful pearl out there and he sought 
for it. He went after it. He pursued it. And when he found 
it, he sold everything that he had in order to acquire it. That's 
something else consistent between these two men. Christianity isn't 
about what we gave up. what we put aside, the things 
that we sold. Christianity is about what we 
acquire, about what we now possess, about what we are now possessed 
by. Chamberlain describes it this way, the accent is not on 
what he relinquishes, but on what he acquires. The value of 
this treasure, together with the field, exceeds all that he 
formerly possessed. Don't you love that statement 
concerning Moses in the book of Hebrews to this effect? Hebrews 
chapter 11, that great hall of faith, tells us this about Moses. It says in verse 23, By faith 
Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, 
because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid 
of the king's command. By faith Moses, when he became 
of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to 
enjoy the passing pleasures of sin." That's great, isn't it? 
Doesn't your heart just beat and say, yay, Moses, good for 
you! That's glorious, that's awesome, 
that's the pursuit, that's the way you ought to go, that ought 
to be what defines you. He would rather suffer reproach 
with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of 
sin. You say, Moses, what is it that makes you tick? Why is 
it that you would suffer with the people of God rather than 
to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin? Notice what the Apostle 
goes on to say in verse 25. I'm sorry, verse 26. Esteeming 
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in 
Egypt, for he looked to the reward You see, for Moses it wasn't 
a give up sort of thing and everything will be miserable. For Moses 
it was a give up, of course, because there's great riches 
that God has for me. He esteemed those things as more 
prize worthy, as more valuable. It was not a hard decision for 
Moses to suffer reproach for the people of God. Not when he 
with the eye of faith saw Him who is invisible. when he saw 
him who promised to Abraham that I will be your shield and your 
exceedingly great reward." This one who spoke face to face with 
Moses. Moses wants God. He doesn't want 
the passing pleasures of sin. Moses wants Christ. He doesn't 
want all the Egyptian literature. Moses wants Jesus. He doesn't 
want all the entertainments associated with Egypt. And when you looked 
at Moses and he said no to those things, again, it wasn't with 
a heavy heart and with a grimace on his face. No! He's a Christian. He's a believer. He's the Lord's. He has the pearl of great price. This is the point of the parables 
in question. So you go back to Matthew 13, 
and we draw out some lessons. The exposition isn't difficult 
in these two short parables. Let's just draw out some lessons. 
First, I've already highlighted this, but we need to remind ourselves 
the two men in the parables, Both men discovered. Both men 
discovered. One man haphazardly, he was digging 
in a field that wasn't his own, and he comes across this jar. It's like those people in Northern 
California. Could you imagine finding a jar 
full of gold valued at $10 million and then getting a tax bill? 
That's just unkind. What kind of a world have we 
become? Guy finds $10 million in gold, leaving him alone. We tax people at their death. 
I love it. No, I don't love it. When people 
say, oh, the God of the Bible this and the God of the Bible 
that. What's the modern state look like? It's terrible. Horrific. Guy finds $10 million 
in gold. Well, you got to pay the IRS. Anyways, both men discovered 
the kingdom, both men sold everything they had, both men purchased 
the kingdom of heaven, both men had this in common. If they would 
have bumped into each other in the city square and they started 
to report to one another what had happened, The first man says, 
I found this treasure hidden in a field. I sold everything 
I had so that I could acquire the field so that the treasure 
would be mine. And then the pearl merchant says, 
you know, I was out looking for beautiful pearls and I found 
this one and I sold everything I had so that I could purchase 
this one pearl of great price. The thing that these men had 
most in common is the supreme value of their acquisition. That's 
what Jesus wants His hearers to understand in the first century 
context, when many are rejecting, and many are despising, and many 
are forsaking, and many want nothing to do with it. Jesus 
holds out to His disciples, you are the possessors of something 
great. You own something that evaluation 
can't be placed on it. You own something that exceeds 
everything. You are the possessors of the 
pearl of great price. Don't be discouraged. Don't be 
downcast. Don't be distressed. You know, I often think of passages 
like this. I hope that if I was afflicted, and I was in a bed 
tomorrow, and I couldn't get up, my toot would be the same. 
I really hope and pray that would be the case. If I dropped dead 
today, or my wife did, or my children, that I could say with 
Job, naked I came into this world, and naked I shall leave, blessed 
be the name of the Lord. We have to resolve, brethren, 
in good times that this is the reality and this is what will 
buoy our souls in the bad times. We need to understand. We need 
to get it in our minds. We see this in the book of Judges. 
We see this in the Old Testament. We need to internalize the glory 
of God in the best of times so that in the worst of times we're 
not jumping ship. It's too easy. Could the devil be right in Job's 
scenario with us to say he only serves you because everything 
goes right? People look at Christians that way. North American Christians 
generally have jobs, they have cars, they have, you know, everything 
going on. Would you still serve him in 
the misery of the third world? Would you still serve Him in 
physical distress? Would you still serve Him if 
you got laid off? Would you still serve Him if 
you were under a bridge eating meow-meats? Is that the reality 
of your Christian profession? Brethren, we need to decide it 
now. We need to resign ourselves now. We need to hold fast to 
the kingdom of heaven now, so that if deprivation does come, 
we say with that godly man, He gives, He takes away, blessed 
be His name. And in all this, Job did not 
curse God. Secondly, I've already foreshadowed 
this. This explains Jesus' ministry. In the first century context, 
Lord, why do you speak to the multitudes in parables? Well, 
to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, 
but to them it has not been given. I thank you, Father, Lord of 
heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and 
the prudent. If you've got a problem with sovereignty, read Matthew 
11, 25, and roll that around in your head. Jesus praises the 
Father for hiding gospel truth. This explains what's going on 
when Messiah Christ is wandering around first century Israel, 
and people despise Him, they reject Him, they're forsaking 
Him, and the Pharisees are plotting against Him and raging in their 
hearts how they might destroy Him. Because they're like men 
who have not seen the exceeding value of the kingdom of heaven. 
They have not laid eyes on the pearl of great price. They have 
not believed the gospel of the Lord Jesus. But it also explains 
why there were disciples. Why there was a degree of success. 
When Jesus preached and taught, when he lived and moved and had 
his being, there were people that followed him. What do you 
think makes a Matthew leave his tax table and follow Jesus? What is it that makes an apostle 
Paul say, circumcise the eighth day, the stock of Israel, tribe 
of Benjamin, concerning the law of Pharisee? What is it that 
makes a man like him say, that stuff's done, it's rubbish, it 
is fit for dogs? They've seen the value of Christ. They've seen the glory of Christ. They've seen the surpassing worth 
of Christ. They've heard Yahweh, through 
Christ, say, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. Certainly men give things up 
at that point. They want Christ. Thirdly, the explanation of the 
value of the kingdom for us, right here, right now. I want 
to remind you, believer, you've not lost anything coming to Christ. 
Have you ever seen this? You know, when I was not a Christian, 
I made a lot more money. And when I was not a Christian, 
my relationships were better. When I was not a Christian, everything 
seemed to go well. So, you've got Christ now. Did you ever read the Proverbs? That godly man says it's better 
to have some herbs on a table in a house of peace than a fatted 
calf in a house of strife? It's pretty no-brainer, isn't 
it? I'd rather eat broccoli every night of the week if my honey 
and I are getting along together than steaks and whatever if there's 
strife and turmoil. That's a no-brainer, isn't it? 
Of course. Christian, you've not lost anything. 
You've gained everything. You're not sacrificed. Now again, 
I want to qualify and nuance that. I realize every time somebody 
gives to the church, every time we part with something, that 
that is a sacrifice, and the Bible recognizes that, to be 
sure. But in the grand scheme of things, 
we are never the losers when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
The kingdom of heaven has been given to you by the grace of 
God. I referred to Luke 12 and 22 earlier. Do not fear, little 
flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the 
kingdom. Isn't that great? Okay, you can have it. It's His 
good pleasure. It's conveyed, it's given, it's 
grace. And I bestow, a form of the word 
covenant, I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one 
upon me. And consider, what makes heaven, 
or the kingdom of heaven, surpassingly glorious? What makes it surpassingly 
valuable? What makes it surpassingly excellent? The triune God. I am your shield, 
your exceedingly great reward. There's a section in our confession 
of faith that's come under fire in recent days. And it is this 
small statement in chapter 2 that says that God is without passions. God is without passions. Now what these divines meant 
was not that God was devoid of love, God was devoid of anger, 
God was devoid of hate, God was devoid of justice and that He 
was like the rock of Gibraltar, just sitting out there stoic 
in nature. The idea behind this statement, 
he's without passions, means he doesn't react, he doesn't 
grow, he doesn't change, and he doesn't become. This is why 
in the self-same paragraph, it can describe God this way. He is most holy. He is most wise. You see, if you have a passable 
God, a God with passions, He can't be the most. There's something 
He has to grow in. There's something He has to evolve 
in. There's something He has to acquire. 
But the fact that He's impassable, He is without passions, means 
that He is everything all the time. It's glorious. See, today we want a God who's 
going to suffer with us in our sufferings. No, we want a God 
who doesn't suffer and can rescue us in our sufferings. It goes on to say, He's most 
free. He's most absolute. He's most loving. Why is the 
Kingdom of Heaven surpassingly valuable? Because of this God. He is most gracious. How do you 
explain the fact that you are in the kingdom of heaven? Because I did this, and I did 
that, and I went... No, because He's most gracious. He's most merciful. Don't we need that? I love this 
next section. He's most long-suffering. He bears with us. He's patient 
with us. Not because He's becoming alongside 
of us, but because He's an immovable rock that is described in these 
terms, and He's always this for His elect. He is abundant in 
goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and 
sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and with 
all most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, 
and who will by no means clear the guilty." Why is the Kingdom 
of Heaven exceedingly valuable? Because it's about that God. I mean, we can describe the Father 
and His electing love. We can describe the Father and 
His purposes in salvation. We can describe the Father with 
reference to predestination and the eternal decree. We take just 
a moment's reflection upon why the kingdom is valuable in light 
of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we 
consider the God-man, we consider the darling of heaven, we consider 
that in the fullness of the time God sent him forth, born of a 
woman, born under the law. How many of us would do something 
like that to deliver, to rescue, or to help a friend? How many 
of us would leave the glory of heaven and come be born in the 
womb of Mary, and then live a life not of celebration, live a life 
not of exaltation, but for 33 years live a life of humility, 
live a life of deprivation, live a life as a man of sorrows who's 
acquainted with grief. Why is the kingdom of heaven 
exceedingly valuable? Because of Christ. Because of 
the Lord Jesus. because of the doing and the 
dying and the rising, because of Golgotha, because of Gethsemane, 
because of the fact that God made Him who knew no sin to be 
sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
And then we consider that third person of the Triune God, the 
Holy Spirit. What does Paul pray for the Ephesians? 
I pray that the Spirit would dwell with might in your hearts 
through faith. Do you realize that when you 
and I don't know what to pray, the Spirit makes intercession 
for us? Do you realize that in our weakness, 
with our remaining corruption, with all of our foibles and issues 
and problems, the Spirit of Almighty God secures us? He's the down 
payment of our final inheritance. He is the guarantee that we will, 
by God's grace, make it to Emmanuel's land. The idea that God gives 
the Spirit and then a sinner falls from grace is absolutely 
deplorable. The Scripture knows not such 
a teaching. When a man has the Spirit, he's 
sealed. When a man has the Spirit, he's 
guaranteed that he will, by God's grace, enter into the Kingdom. So don't ever say, I wonder what's 
important about the Kingdom of Heaven, God. And the Kingdom 
ought to promote joy in your heart. and in your lives. Some of us, by nature, are stoics. 
Some of us, by nature, don't walk around with big smiles on 
our face. But all of us, by grace, ought 
to have those smiles in our hearts. All of us, by grace, ought to 
rejoice in the fact that Jesus is mine. I'm His. Doesn't matter what happens, 
does it? It seems to be the apostle's argument in Romans chapter 8 
when he closes that blessed chapter. There's nothing that can separate 
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's nothing. There's nothing 
out there. Thieves and robbers can't steal 
it from you. The government can't tax it. 
The government can't take it. Your worst enemy can't deprive 
you of it. No, you can always sing 432. 
I am His and He is mine. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. May God indeed promote that joy. Paul says in Romans 14, For the 
kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness 
and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy, that's a fruit of 
the Holy Spirit. There's times when we pray, God 
forgive me, I don't have the long-suffering, the spirit, it's 
a fruit of the spirit. God, I don't always manifest 
the love, that the spirit is the, you know, fruit of the spirit. 
God, I don't always manifest joy. Lord, in a world that is 
filled with shadows and fleeting dreams and thoughts of what joy 
looks like, let me be a bastion, or let me be a testimony, or 
let me be something that stands in the midst of this and says, 
you know what? There is something better. There is something more 
glorious. There is a shield and exceedingly 
great reward, and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. I told 
you before, I love that description in the Song of Solomon. I don't 
believe it's a manual for lovers. I believe it's Christ and His 
Church, or God the Father and His Old Covenant Church there. 
There's a description of the bridegroom by the bride. You know that section where it 
says, he's altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand. 
My beloved is ruddy. She describes this man in all 
of his glory and detail. What do the daughters of Jerusalem 
say after she describes him? Where is he? That we might seek 
him too! Well, we thought if Christians 
lived that way, if we described our beloved as altogether lovely 
and chief among 10,000, then someone might actually say, where 
is he that I might seek him too? And then finally, the entrance 
into the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven demands 
that you sell all income. That's what the text says. I 
hate commentaries where they say there's a disparity between 
Matthew and Paul. Paul says it's by grace through 
faith in Jesus Christ, and Matthew seems to teach that if you just 
get rid, there's no disparity. If we charge that with Paul and 
Matthew, we ultimately charge it with God. How does one sell 
all and forsake everything he has? It's by grace alone, through 
faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. And may I say to you that 
one of the things that this text, I believe, demands from you is 
not just a forsaking of your sins, but forsaking of good works. It's easy for preachers to get 
up and pick on all those dirty, rotten sinners that are out in 
the world. you know, murderers and drug dealers and prostitutes, 
and never ever say anything to the self-righteous hypocrite 
sitting under the sound of preaching. I like what Gerstner said, it's 
not so much your sin that's the problem, but your damnable good 
works. people don't come to Jesus and 
save me because of all these sins that I've accomplished. 
Do they? Do they think their sin commends 
them to God? Do they say, Lord, look, I broke 
all your commandments and I've done it so well. As a result 
of that, would you save me? No. It's God be merciful to me, 
the sinner. But how many persons do God And 
they say, Lord, Lord, look at what I've done. Look at how I've 
performed. Look at how good I've been. People 
do think their good works commend them to God. Forsake it. You need to understand that good 
works are a consequence of God's grace. Those who believe the 
Gospel are justified freely by His grace, and as believers now, 
they go in the strength and power of the Spirit according to God's 
holy law, which gives definition and substance to good works. 
They go out and do them. They delight. They want to be 
zealous for good works, according to Paul and Titus. But good works 
in presenting yourself to God for acceptance is wrong. Forsake it. Sell all and throw 
yourself by the grace of God on the mercy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Believe on Him. A second thought with reference 
to the entrance into the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven trumps, 
that means destroys, batters, is more valuable than anything 
you hold dear. I'm just gonna tell you that 
right here, right now. If you ask anybody in here that's 
a possessor of the Kingdom of Heaven, who's possessed by the 
King of Heaven, they will say, there is nothing on this earth 
that's more valuable than Jesus Christ. They will say that, no 
matter what their problems are. They will say that, no matter 
how difficult it may seem. They will say that, because the 
Spirit of God is in them, and they will not deny their Lord 
Jesus. They will say, that this world and everything in it comes 
up short in comparison of our Lord Jesus Christ. It trumps 
it. It destroys it. There's no contest. There's no 
comparison. Do any of you believers say, 
man, I wish I was unconverted again? Never! Never! I mean, we could say some pretty 
brutal stuff. We talked about the church and 
the need for us to go to each other, deal faithfully to each 
other. Christians, with remaining corruption, 
can do some pretty bad things. But I've never met a Christian. 
I don't think they're out there. They would say, you know, I want 
to be unconverted again. What are you talking about, I want 
to be unconverted again? They just don't do that. I want 
to live more in light of my conversion. I want to live more worthily 
for my Savior. I want to pursue those things 
more intently. I want to glorify Him more. I 
want to love Him more. But never do you find one that 
says, I just don't want to be a Christian anymore. You say, 
well, I met someone like that. My Uncle Chewie. He didn't want 
to be a Christian anymore. Then he wasn't one to begin with. 
John tells us that. They were not of us. For if they 
were of us, they would have not gone out from us. 1 John 2.19. So if you've met ten people that 
used to be Christians and then said, I don't want to be anymore, 
they weren't Christians to begin with. I know that's shocking, 
but not all that glitters is gold. And the kingdom of heaven 
is worth pursuing at all costs. Do not stop. I'm always a bit concerned when 
after a sermon, it's just bedlam in here. Think about what I'm saying. Not because I, Jim, am saying 
it, because I think it's an accurate exposition and application of 
God's Word. You shouldn't just immediately 
forget what's being said. Do you ever go home and ponder? 
Do you ever go home, like, think about the reality that I'm going 
to stand before God someday? Do you ever stop and think that 
this man was saying that the kingdom of heaven is far more 
valuable than everything I count near and dear to my life? I need 
to try and understand that. I need to go after that. I need 
to reckon with that. How many times does the devil 
gain a victory after a sermon because everybody just forgets 
it immediately? This is the Lord's day. It is 
the Sabbath rest. This is a day carved out by God 
for the soul. This is a marketplace for the 
soul. Spend the day reflecting. Spend 
the day considering. Spend the day contemplating. 
Ask the hard question. Am I in Christ? Listen to Ryle. When a man will venture nothing 
for Christ's sake, we must draw the sorrowful conclusion that 
he has not got the grace of God. That may be true in here. Don't 
rest. Don't stop. Ask. Seek. Knock. Come after the Lord. First and foremost, the emphasis 
is, believe. Believe the gospel, believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and as God's word says, you will be 
saved. It is a believing repentance, 
it is a repentant believing. When we come to Christ by faith, 
we forsake all. We sell off. We don't want it 
anymore. We don't want those good works to try and commend 
ourselves to God. We don't want those sins because 
they do not commend us to God. We want Christ, the darling of 
heaven, the pearl of great price, and we want to hold Him up, and 
we want to marvel at Him, and we want to rejoice, and we want 
to praise. That's what we need to take away from these parables. 
concerning the value of Christ's kingdom. Well, let's pray. Father, 
we thank you for this, your word. We thank you for these simple 
parables instructing us in a most important truth, that your kingdom 
is exceedingly valuable. I pray that you would cause these 
things to penetrate our hearts. I pray that you would cause us 
as Christians to rejoice, to be glad, to be those, Father, 
who testify concerning the reality that our God is a shield, an 
exceedingly great reward. For those outside of Christ do 
the work that we're unable to do, God, do that which is impossible 
with men, but is possible with you. I pray that you'd open hearts 
and cause sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And 
we ask in his most blessed name, amen.