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Our passage today is from Matthew chapter 13. We'll be in verses 44, 45, and 46. As you're turning there, I want to read this headline from a British newspaper from October 22nd of last year. Friends find a real-life buried treasure in a farmer's field. Sell it for millions.

It's like winning the lottery. Adam Staples and his six friends were treasure hunting in a southwest England farm field when Staples' metal detector alerted him to a life-changing find. After 30 years as a treasure hunting hobbyist, Staples and his companions discovered a hoard of over 2,500 silver coins buried below ground for nearly a thousand years.

The coins were minted between 1066 and 1068. They were hidden in the aftermath of William the Conqueror's conquest of England. In 2019, they were discovered, and they finally made its way to a museum after being processed according to the British Treasure Act, which requires archaeological finds to be turned in for government assessment.

Once the valuation of the coins was set, Staples and his treasure hunting team were paid $5.6 million to split between themselves. The idea of Finding hidden treasure is exciting. It captures the imagination. Humphrey Bogart said it's the things that dreams are made of. Books are written about it, movies are made, stories are told about it.

And this was true in Jesus' day as well. In this passage, these two parables, the Lord told not one, but two stories about someone who found something of great value. Let's read, I need to turn in my Bible to Matthew chapter 13. And this is the fifth and sixth in a series of parables that Jesus was teaching to the crowds about the kingdom.

Two parables, three verses. We ought to be out of here before noon, right? Okay. Let me get to the next. This thing is tricky, Tom. All right, hit the next one. There we go. I don't know what happened there. It's the priceless value of the kingdom. Anyway, here we go.

Verse 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a 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. Verse 45, 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.

Just a little background here, we're in Matthew chapter 13, and this is Jesus is explaining the mysteries of the kingdom. After Matthew chapter 12, where the Pharisees, the nation of Israel, has rejected Christ. And so the kingdom that would have been ushered in then as the king is delayed in God's providence.

And Jesus is explaining what this kingdom is going to look like as it is delayed. And so Matthew chapter 13 begins with Jesus revealing these mysteries of the kingdom. He makes it clear that the mysteries are hidden from some who are unable to hear, unable to see, unable to comprehend these truths.

He explains this in verse 35 when he says, So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet. I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world. So in the crowd, there are those whose hard hearts resulted in ears that were not able to hear, and eyes that were not able to see, and hearts that were not able to understand these truths.

Now, the men in these two parables represent those whose eyes are opened by the Spirit and are. Able to see spiritual truth and understand its great value. So, previously, I've preached the first four parables in Matthew chapter 13. The first was the parable of the four soils, where the lesson there was that not everyone who says they believe, who appears like they believe, has genuine faith, only those who produce fruit.

The next parable was the parable of the wheat and the tares, which teaches that in this kingdom, we can't tell the genuine believers from the false believers. We're all mixed in together. But at the end, God will sort them out all out. The third and fourth parable, I think I preached that in November, about the mustard seed and the leaven or the yeast, teaches us that the kingdom will start small and it will grow large, and it will be a blessing to the entire world.

So, here we have another pair of short and related parables that demonstrate the unmatched value, the priceless value of the kingdom of heaven. We know them as the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price. Yes, the Mormons plagiarized the title of their book from this parable.

Both parables involve a man who sold everything he had to possess the kingdom. In fact, both parables are remarkably similar in structure. You have Something that was valuable that was hidden or it was hard to find, then it's found. Then the finder sold everything and he bought it.

Both parables follow that pattern, so that's my outline. Hidden, found, bought, and sold. The truth I want you to learn from these parables is this: the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is of priceless value because Christ is the king. These parables illustrate the absolute worthiness of Christ and the costly call of the Christian to follow Jesus.

The pearl and the treasure represent the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation he offers to gain entrance to the kingdom. And while we cannot pay for our salvation by selling all our worldly goods, once we have found the prize, we are willing to give up everything to possess it.

So let's look at this first parable, the one of the hidden treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. So, like his other parables, begins with the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is comparing the kingdom of heaven to something, and again, he's having to teach these lessons about. The kingdom of heaven because they were not previously revealed. This is something unexpected that is concealed in the Old Testament. And Jesus is revealing this to his disciples who are among the crowd, but he's telling it in parables so that those who don't have ears to hear will not understand.

So he's teaching that his kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. That's what they were expecting. But instead, this is a heavenly kingdom, an invisible kingdom. It is a hidden kingdom. It's hidden from plain view. And he's teaching them that so they might understand what is about to happen in the days and weeks and years and centuries to follow.

So he's teaching that to them. He's teaching that to us. But he says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. Why would there be a treasure hidden in the field? Well, in the days before banks, it was common that people would hide their valuables by burying them in the ground.

This is probably why there are so many buried treasure stories and legends, because there has been a lot of treasure that was buried, like we read about this morning. Whether you're keeping it safe from robbers or from the tax collectors, people would bury their valuables and keep the location a secret.

Perhaps nobody would know, even what In the family, where the treasure was hidden. And if the owner died, his family may not know where it was buried. So the treasure was lost to be found later, maybe years or centuries later, by someone else. Hidden treasure would be stumbled onto by accident, like our man in this parable.

That sounds like a hoard of coins or other valuables was buried for safekeeping in this field, and it was probably buried a long time before the current owner of the field came into possession of it. I'll tell you why I think that in a minute. So, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field when a man found it.

So, here we have a man. We're not told anything about the man except that he found it. What was he doing in the field? We don't know. We're not told. There's many possibilities. It could be that he was working for the owner of the field. Maybe he was plowing.

That kind of makes sense. A plow hits something and turns it up. Or it could be he was just passing through. We're not specifically told. But the plain indication here is he was not looking for the treasure. He just stumbled onto it. Perhaps he was plowing the field and the plow turned it up.

Perhaps he was just walking across the field and something unexpected caught his attention. The soil perhaps it eroded away. But what we do know is that when he found it, he hid it again. He hid it again for safekeeping. He recognized that he had found something of great value because the text tells us he had great joy.

So this treasure produced great joy in him, but he had to keep the treasure hidden while he made arrangements to buy this field. So after hiding the treasure, he went and sold all that he had and bought that field. He sold all that he had, everything, all his possessions.

This treasure was worth more than all he owned. When he added up his life and all that he owned, he saw that the treasure that he had found was what was worth much more than that. But he wanted to make sure he was able to purchase this field.

So it sounds like he paid a lot for it, certainly everything he had. So the owner of the field probably got a really good deal on this piece of land. So he bought the field, and by law, he had a right to the treasure as well. Now, I know what some of you are thinking.

Is Jesus using an unethical argument to teach us a lesson here? Now, certainly, this is not the part, the point of the parable, but consider this. The man who owned the field didn't know the treasure was there, or he wouldn't have let it go for this price, right?

If the owner of the field had hidden the treasure there himself, it belonged to him. If it would have belonged to him, he wouldn't have sold the field without. First, receiving that treasure that he would have known was there, but he obviously didn't know it was there. It's much more likely that this treasure was lost from another time.

Now, rabbinic law of that day acknowledged this. There was no way of proving who was the rightful owner of something like this. This was a common occurrence, apparently, so the law maintained a finder's keeper's policy. It stated this: if a man finds scattered fruit or money, it belongs to him.

So, the hearers of this parable did not consider this situation to be unethical. The lawful owner of a hidden hoard like this was the one who found it. Also, consider that the man did just not, he didn't just take the treasure, he could have just taken the treasure and left by dark of night.

He purchased the field. So, according to the law of the time, he did what was right. Notice, he didn't take a portion of the treasure and purchase it with that. He sold all his goods, he took his own money and purchased the field. But the point here is not all that.

The point is, this treasure was so valuable, he was willing to get all that he owned to possess it. Now, let's look at the second parable: the pearl of great value, according to the New King James Version, the pearl of great value. Verse 45, again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.

When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. So again, what's hidden or what's hard to find is found, and then he sells everything and buys it. Same outline. The kingdom of heaven is like this. He's teaching about the kingdom to those who were in the crowd, revealing truths that would remain hidden to those who did not have ears to hear.

But in this parable, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. So here we have not just a man wandering aimlessly in a field, we have a merchant. We're told a lot more about this man. He's a merchant who deals in fine pearls. That is his specialty.

His job, his profession, his career is buying pearls and then selling them for more than he paid for them. That's how he makes his living. We would call him a wholesaler, right? He's made a career of knowing where to look and what to look for in the pearl industry.

He's an expert in his trade, and he's looking for the finest pearls so he can sell them to others who are in the market for fine jewelry. Notice that unlike the man in the field, this man is looking and looking, going here and there, examining pearls, only selecting those.

He considers superior to others. He's a merchant looking for fine pearls. He probably is well traveled and has been all over the region, perhaps the Orient. But in this parable, the day comes when he stops in his tracks because he found one of great value. Like the man in the previous parable, this merchant finds something, and what he finds is a pearl of great value.

But this is not just one of many other fine pearls that he's seen before. This one is different. It is of such great value that he decides he wants to keep this one. This one is so precious, it completely changes his outlook on life. After years of searching for fine pearls and selling them, this one is so unique there is none like it.

He realized he has to have this pearl. He will pay any price for it. So, what does he do? He sold everything that he had and bought it. His whole inventory, this man obviously undoubtedly had much fine jewelry in his inventory. He probably had come across some of the finest pearls money can buy.

When he found this special pearl, he sold them all. As a matter of fact, he sold everything else, whatever houses and wealth he may have owned as a result of his trade. He had seen many fine pearls before, but this one he could. Could not live without. Again, the point of this parable is: here's a man who found something so valuable, he sold everything he had to get it.

He changed his life. His whole outlook on life was different because of what he found. So, let's see if I can get to the next slide here. The kingdom of heaven is number one. I'm going to hold it down until something happens. All right, go ahead and advance it.

I'll tell you the numbers. Number one, the kingdom of heaven is hidden. Okay? It's hidden. Like the bullet on my slide. It's hidden. Where do you have to point this? Let's get the expert up here. All right, let's see here. Thank you. It's hidden and it's found. I may have to call you back up here.

The treasure of salvation through Jesus Christ is not obvious to men. Therefore, it's not something that we seek naturally. Jesus is the light, but we who are spiritually blind do not see him. We read in John. Chapter 1, starting in verse 9. The true light, this is talking about Jesus, the true light who gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

So it's hidden, but it can be found. As a matter of fact, salvation is hidden from all of us due to our own sinful state. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. So the kingdom is hidden because of our sin, but it's found by those who are drawn to it by the Spirit of God.

People find the kingdom, they come to faith in Christ in various ways, and these two parables represent the two extreme ends of this spectrum. What we have here is a man in a field in the first parable wandering through his life aimlessly, distracted, maybe he's hard at work, too busy, discouraged, down and out, hopeless.

He's not even giving the kingdom of heaven a second thought. And they may not even know that it exists. Now, the merchant in the second parable represents those on a spiritual quest. Solomon wrote that God has set eternity in man's hearts. Don't you know that? There is something within us, that there's something more than this physical world.

Man is made to worship God, but in our sin we find other things to worship. We put other gods before him. Like the merchant, these spiritual seekers are searching for something, something to satisfy their longing, for something beyond themselves, something to worship. In the world, they find poor substitutes.

New Age mysticism, secular humanism, works righteousness systems like Catholicism, pantheistic systems like Hinduism or Buddhism, even satanic witchcraft and the occult. But after going on that journey, looking at all those other fine pearls, when they find the truth of God's word and the redemption found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, they found the precious one, the pearl of great value, and they leave all the counterfeits behind, like our merchant in this parable did.

So, whichever of these two represents you, we do not find and recognize the value of Christ. In our own wisdom or in our own intellectual assent. It's God Himself through the Holy Spirit that regenerates our hearts. We don't figure this out on our own. It's He who convicts us of sin, gives us faith, gives us the faith to believe and to see the value of Christ and His kingdom.

Paul said in Romans chapter 2, he said, We speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which he destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Rather, as it is written, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

And in verse 10, he says, But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. So it's hidden and it's found as God reveals it to us by his Spirit. The second lesson of the kingdom of heaven, it is of great value. It's of great value. And in these parables, it's compared to a treasure and a pearl, an exceptionally fine pearl.

The value of our salvation through Jesus Christ is priceless. It's worth everything we have. Jesus Himself is the treasure, and the blessings of being a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Christ are utterly without measure. Now, Jesus teaches in Matthew chapter 6 in the Sermon of the Mount, Matthew 6, verse 19, he teaches about the difference between worthless treasure and lasting treasure.

He says this in verse 19, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

And in verse 21, he says, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Peter describes it as an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

That's from 1 Peter 1, verse 4. It's of such great value, he compares it to an inheritance that's incorruptible, undefiled, doesn't fade away. Think of it as the sum of God's promises, eternal life, abundant life, a peace that surpasses all understanding, immeasurable joy. I could go on and On, but really, you can sum it up that the value of the treasure is found in Christ Himself.

Christ Himself is the priceless pearl, He is the treasure. Let's look at people in Scripture who have responded after discovering the value of the kingdom. You can turn to John chapter 4 if you want to. We're going to look at the woman at the well. There's a woman who came from a town in Samaria called Sychar.

I'll sum it up here. She went to Jacob's well to draw water. It was the heat of the day. She was looking for, all she was looking for was water for her pitcher. But she found more than water. Who was waiting there for her? The king himself. She wasn't expecting him to be there.

She wasn't even looking for him. She did even not know he existed. But she came to get earthly water, and she went home with living water. And in John chapter 4, verse 28, listen to her testimony. The woman then left her water pot and went away into the city and said to the men, Come, see a man who told me all the things I ever did.

Could this be the Christ? And skipping down to verse 39, many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, he told me all the things I ever did. She went to get water, she came away with living water.

She saw the value. In this man that she just had a chance encounter with, and it changed her life. She testified about him. We find another in John chapter 9. Jesus healed a man blind from birth who was a beggar. And he has him wash in the pool of Siloam.

And when the people brought this man to the Pharisees after he had been healed of his blindness, the Pharisees were upset that Jesus healed him on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees try to get this man to discredit Jesus. And in verse 24, it says, Give God the glory.

We know this man is a sinner. They're referring to Jesus. And this man who was formerly blind answered and said, Whether he is a sinner, I know not. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see. This man testified to his healing. It goes on, when they pressed him on the matter, this man challenged him and said to the Pharisees, verse 30, Why, this is a marvelous thing.

You do not know where he is from, yet he has opened my eyes. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will and hears him, he hears him. Since the world began, it's been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.

Verse 33, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him and said to him, You are completely born in sins. Are you in teaching us? And they cast him out. This man who had been healed of blindness professed his faith in Christ, testified to his faith in Christ, and it brought him great scorn.

And he was cast out of their assembly. His faith came with a cost. Like the men in our parables, he exchanged everything he had in exchange for Christ. Which brings us to our third lesson. The kingdom of heaven is gained by surrendering your life to the king, surrendering your life to Christ.

We must yield control of our lives and our possessions to the Lord. That's what it means to call him Lord when we surrender our lives to him as Lord. And in these two parables, Jesus emphasizes this surrender, this surrendering your life, giving it all. But you find it elsewhere besides these two parables.

He teaches this over and over again to his followers. And I'm just going to back up to Matthew chapter 10. In Matthew 10, verse 35, Jesus says, Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than worthy of me.

More than me is not worthy of me, and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. And in verse 39, he says, Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Later in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus would repeat this lesson.

In Matthew 16, 24, Jesus tells his disciples, If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In verse 26, he asks this amazing question: What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

These parables make some people uncomfortable because it might seem like Jesus is teaching that salvation can be bought with money. Of course, the whole of Scripture teaches just the opposite. For by grace you've been saved by faith, not that of yourselves, lest any man should boast. All our righteousness are like filthy rags.

So all throughout Scripture, we're taught that we cannot buy our salvation. It is a gift of God. Sadly, in Luke chapter 18, we meet a young man who was not willing to make this sacrifice. He finds himself face to face with Jesus. And in Luke chapter 18, verse 18, he asks him, Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Here's a man face to face with Jesus. He's at the right source. He asks the right questions. He knows that Jesus has the answer to this question. So Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, and that is God. You know the commandments?

Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother. And he said, and this man replied to Jesus, all these things I have kept from my youth. So when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, You still lack one thing.

Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come follow me. In verse 23, one of the saddest verses in Scripture, but when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. Unfortunately, this young man did not see the value of what Jesus offered, and he turned away from the kingdom right to the king's face.

He was not willing to surrender his life or the treasure. Of this world to gain the heavenly treasure of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And so I ask you: what is it that you are holding so tightly that you're not willing to yield it to the Lordship of Christ?

Is it riches, like this young man? Is it worldly pleasure? Your pride, wanting to control your life, or unwillingness to give up a lifestyle or an addiction? We're all confronted with that question in these two parables. When you find the hidden treasure and you're face to face with what am I going to do with it, am I going to yield control of my life to the king or am I going to hold on to it myself?

These earthly treasures may seem valuable to us at the moment, but there's one last lesson that we need to consider to conclude this parable. The kingdom of heaven is worth it. It is so worth it. There's another man in Scripture that confirms this: that when compared to the kingdom of heaven, the things we value here on earth seem insignificant.

He was Like the pearl merchant that we read about. He had seen the finest that earthly religion had to offer. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was a student of Gamaliel, one of the great teachers of the law. He'd been in on the persecution of the Christians from the beginning.

He even witnessed the killing of the first Christian martyr. He was Saul of Tarsus. He was a rising star on the fast track to the finest pearls that man's religion had to offer. But one day, as he was heading to Damascus on his spiritual quest for these fine pearls of religion, he found the pearl of great price when he unexpectedly was confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ appearing to him in a blinding light.

And I suppose at this point he is more like the man who stumbles onto the hidden treasure in the field than he was like the merchant because he was not expecting that. After his conversion and years of service to the Lord Jesus Christ, this same man, now known as the Apostle Paul, wrote in Philippians chapter 3, verses 7 and 8 are some of the greatest testimony to the worth of the kingdom.

Philippians 3:7, Paul writes, But what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost. For Christ. Yet, indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.

If you have a King James Version, it says, you count them as dung. And I hesitate to explain what the Greek word may actually mean there. These things that Paul treasured, he counted them as rubbish. It was no sacrifice to give them up when he encountered the pearl of great price, but he did.

Paul says the kingdom is so worth it, all those credentials and wealth and position and religion he had previously had were nothing compared to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not purchased with silver or gold, but there is a transaction that is made. No one comes into the kingdom who does not yield control of his life to Christ.

Like the man in the parable, you surrender it all. You yield control of your entire life in the service to the king, who, by the way, gave his life for yours. Well, as we conclude, there is one more thing to notice here, and I can't help pointing this out.

The merchant. Who spent his entire life looking for fine pearls? When he found a pearl of great price, he stopped looking for more pearls. He found the one. Eternal life, the incorruptible inheritance, and the love of God through Christ, they are the pearl which, once found, makes further searching unnecessary.

Christ fulfills our greatest needs, he satisfies our longings, he makes us whole, he makes us clean before God. He calms and quiets our hearts, he gives us hope for the future. The great price, of course, is not what we pay, it's what Christ paid for our redemption. He emptied himself of his glory, he came to earth in the form of a lowly man, one of us.

He shed his precious blood on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. It's worth it. Does anyone recognize the men in this picture, or has anybody seen that? Probably you older folks may. This picture was taken in 1956 by a man named Nate Saint. This airplane is on a sandbar in a river in Ecuador.

The men in the picture are Ed McCulley, Roger Euderian, Jim Elliott, and Nate Saint is the man behind the camera. I heard about Jim Elliott 25 years after his death when I was a student here at Texas AM. At the BSU, there were many of us, and I know many of you have been inspired by his story and his dedication to mission work.

Generations of believers have been inspired by his faith and how he lived it. Jim was born in 1927. He professed faith in Christ at an early age, and in college, he felt the strong call to the mission field. He and four other friends were determined to evangelize a very remote part of the South American jungle, specifically a tribe known as the Auka Indians, who were known to be especially violent and unreachable.

These missionaries dropped things from their airplane to build a relationship with these tribesmen, eventually landing to make face-to-face contact. The four men that landed were Pete Fleming, Roger Euderian, Nate Saint, the pilot, and Jim Elliott. Their first meeting ended in tragedy as they were speared to death by the men they were trying to save to share the gospel.

Their story was immortalized by Elizabeth Elliott, Jim's widow, and his enduring quote sums up the lesson of these parables better than I can. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. The kingdom of Jesus Christ is of inestimable value because Jesus is of infinite value.

He paid for our redemption by trading our death for his on the cross, by trading our sinful life for his righteous life. Our lives without him are worthless, and when we give up our lives and all that we hold dear and relinquish control to him, we give what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot earn and can never lose.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these two parables, these short verses, which teach us so much about you. Lord, about your great value. Lord, about our need for you and your willingness to provide for our salvation as you have so surely done. Lord, help us to recognize as we encounter you that your great worth.

Help us to yield all that we own to you. Help us not to hold anything back. Lord, I pray that prayer for each person here today. In Jesus' name, amen.