In the preaching of the word this afternoon, we'll be considering Matthew 13, verses 45 and 46, the parable of the pearl of great price. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who when he hath found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. All men are merchantmen. All men are seeking that which is of value, man, woman, and child. Every one of us is like a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. God has put eternity into the heart of man, and God has made it so that man longs for that. which has meaning, that which has value, that which satisfies the soul. Our hearts are restless by nature. And men try to fill that void with all the things of this world, with careers, with family, with possessions, with pleasures of the flesh, and with all number of things, with carnal religion, all sorts of things men use to try and fill the void as they're seeking goodly pearls, seeking that which is satisfying, seeking that which will bring meaning and value to their lives. All men have this longing that seeks satisfaction. And so I would call you today to examine yourself, where are you seeking your goodly pearls? Where are you seeking that which satisfies your soul? Where are you seeking that which brings satisfaction to your heart? We come to, this man finds this pearl of great price. When he had found one pearl of great price, What is this pearl of great price, this for which he sold everything to buy it? What is that which is of greater value than anything in heaven or in earth and is offered to men? It's the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Various commentators will say that the Pearl of Great Price is everlasting life, or the kingdom of God, or is heaven. All of these things are subject to Jesus Christ. All of these things fail in value in comparison to Christ himself. His person is that which is above all value. And all of those other things, all of those other good and spiritual things, we only have through Jesus Christ. There are benefits we have when we have Christ. And so that which is of greater value than anything in heaven or in earth is Jesus Christ himself. He is of surpassing worth and of incomparable value. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it everything else failed to satisfy all his goodly pearls all that which he had sought out in his life failed to satisfy his longing and it's only when he catches a glimpse when he catches a vision of the pearl of great price, and he sees its value, and he sees how incomparable it is that he sells everything that he may have, that one thing that satisfies, the one thing worth having, the one thing needful. He'd spent his life amassing his goodly pearls. delighting himself in them. He'd spent his life collecting goodly pearls. This was his trade, this was his business. He was a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. And so he could have gone to his collection and looked at all his nice things, all of his goodly pearls, all of that which seemed to have value. But when he caught that vision of the Pearl of Great Price, all of those other things, dimmed in comparison. All the other things faded when he saw this incomparable value of the pearl of great price. This merchant man is no fool. It's not as though this is a reckless act in selling everything to just buy one pearl and then all he's got is a pearl. No. The fact is he recognizes being expert in his business, expert in this merchandise of goodly pearls, he recognizes that this pearl of great price is of more value than everything he owns. He's buying it at a deal. This is the deal of a lifetime to sell everything that he might have the pearl of great price. Nothing else matters if he has not the pearl of great price. And so he sells everything and buys it. In the same way, Jesus Christ calls all men to forsake all and follow him. To forsake everything and follow him. To be willing to part with everything. Christ will admit of no rivals. No man can serve two masters. Christ calls you to forsake all and follow him. Sell everything. to buy the pearl of great price. There was a young man who came to Jesus during his earthly ministry like a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. We read of him in Mark chapter 10. He's in all the synoptic gospels, but we'll consider him from Mark chapter 10 in verse 17. And when he was gone forth in the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? He's like a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. He's seeking that which is of value. Good master, what may I do to inherit eternal life? He's seeking from Jesus that which is of value, even eternal life. He's a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Defraud not. Honor thy father and thy mother. And he answered and said unto him, master, all these have I observed from my youth. We see here that this young man has some goodly pearls. He has that which he thinks is of value. He has good works. He has outward morality. He has the outward things of religion. And he says, all these things have I kept from my youth. What do I lack? I've got all these goodly pearls already. I've got morality. I've got religion. So he's seeking his goodly pearls in the outward things of religion and morality, but Jesus is testing him here. If you notice all the commandments that Jesus lists here, they're all covered in the second table of the law and they cover all six of the commandments in the second table of law except for one. Thou shalt not covet because Jesus knew all men and he knew that this was a covetous man. And so he's testing him pressing him with the commandments of God and he leaves off that one commandment until the young man proclaims his self-righteousness before the Lord Jesus Christ saying he'd kept the commandments of God that he has that which is of value. Then Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him one thing thou lackest go thy way sell whatever that whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. and come take up the cross and follow me." Jesus puts his finger on this man's idols because it says, and he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions. You see that he's unwilling to part with his possessions. So we see here. He's not only been seeking his goodly pearls in the things of outward religion and morality. He's been seeking his goodly pearls in the good things of this life in earthly possessions. He has great possessions. He has great wealth and he values those things. And he's not willing to part with those things. Jesus challenges him to sell everything. Sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shall have treasure in heaven. Sell everything you have if you would buy the pearl of great price. He puts his finger on that which he's unwilling to part with. and he goes away grieved for he had great possessions. This young man had the pearl of great price put before his eyes and he undervalued it. The Lord Jesus Christ was before his eyes and told him what he had to do and he was unwilling to part with his possessions. He thought that his goodly pearls that he'd amassed in his possessions and his morality were of more value than Jesus Christ. He undervalued the pearl of great price, and he went away sorrowful, went away grieved, for he had great possessions. But now consider this man. We're never told that this man repented of his sins. Perhaps he did. We're never told that. If he didn't repent of his sins, If he didn't repent of his covetousness and buy the pearl of great price unto himself, that man is right now in hell with none of his goodly pearls, none of his possessions, none of his so-called morality, none of his religion. It's all vanity, vexation of spirit, no value in them. There was another merchantman that we read about in the book of Philippians. The apostle Paul was a merchantman. Philippians chapter three, starting in verse three, for we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." Goodly pearls. outward things of morality and religion, very similar to that rich young ruler. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. So the Apostle Paul catalogs all his goodly pearls and he evaluates them. And he finds them to be unprofitable. It's all loss. Why? Because as long as he holds on to those things, he cannot have Jesus Christ. As long as he's unwilling to own that his so-called morality is nothing but dung, is worth nothing, that there is no value in it, he cannot have Christ. What things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ. The Apostle Paul was very similar to that rich young ruler. Not only did they have the morality, not only did they have the outward things of religion, they're both church officers. Saul of Tarsus was a rabbi, and the other man was a ruler, a governor in the Church of the Jews. They had reputation. No doubt that young man, who was rich and a ruler, had reputation. The Apostle Paul had reputation. But Paul saw that when... Paul had that vision of the Pearl of Great Price. Paul saw the inestimable value of Jesus Christ. and all of those other things were counted loss. Notice that language of finance here. Those things, what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. This is the language of the merchant man. There is no profit in these things. There is no gain in these things. Those things which I thought were goodly pearls have proved unprofitable to my soul. What things were gained to me, those I counted, loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them, but dumb, that I may win Christ. Paul sold everything to buy the pearl of great price, He suffered the loss of loss of all things that he might have Christ if you consider the illustration of a merchant ship that's on the sea. And a storm comes on the sea, and the ship is tossed with the storm. The ship is heavy, top heavy with all the merchandise. Well, what do they do when it seems that the ship is going to capsize? They begin to jettison all of the merchandise for that which is more profitable, their own lives. To save their own lives, they're willing to part with everything that they thought that they could profit from. that begins to get at what Paul's saying here. But consider this. Consider a merchant ship whose merchandise is in animal manure. It's in fertilizer. And this ship is heavy laden with dung. And they think, these merchantmen think that they're going to go and buy and sell and trade in another country and profit from their dung. It seems that it's that which is going to be profitable unto them. And people do make their merchandise and their business in this commodity. But that merchant ship comes upon an island. And upon that island are gold, silver, precious stones beyond value. It's all been abandoned, and it's there for the taking. What do they say? Do they say, oh, well, it's too bad. We can't fit any of this stuff on the boat because we've got all this manure. No. They see the unsearchable value of all of that treasure, and they jettison their manure. They jettison their dung. They count it loss. compared to the gold and silver and precious stones. And so they dump the manure and they fill their ship with these unsearchable riches. That is what is held out to you this day. To have the pearl of great price, to have that which is of profit to your soul. Everything else is unprofitable apart from Christ. It will not do your soul any good. And the Lord is calling upon you to count all things but loss for the sake of Christ. Trade all things for Christ. But you ask me, What is the value of the pearl of great price? What are these unsearchable riches? What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us? Well, you heard something of him this morning, that precious son of God, who is blessedness itself and took on sorrow and misery and taking our nature to himself, who suffered and died for the sins of his people. That one who rejoiced before the Father from all eternity and was his delight in these unsearchable and mysterious interrelations in the Godhead, that one who is perfection itself. that one who was prophesied from the foundation of the world when our first father traded his riches for dung, traded his communion with God for what seemed to be of value, but was lost to his soul. And our Lord Jesus, this pearl of great price, was prophesied as the one who would come into the world and crush the head of that swindler who fooled our first parents and restore us unto the favor of God and more than that to be exalted co-heirs with Christ, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. Do you want to know what the unsearchable riches of Christ are, the value of Jesus Christ. There are riches in Jesus Christ for justification. Are you without God in this world, spiraling on toward hell? And do you need salvation for your soul? There is justifying grace in Jesus Christ offered to you. It's only for you to receive it. Do you need sanctifying grace? Do you see sins in your life that are unmortified? Sins in your life that you cannot get the mastery over? and that you just fall again and again and again into the same sins and you seem powerless against it. It's only in Christ that you can be sanctified and delivered from the presence of sin in your life. He says, abide in me and you shall bear much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. There is sanctifying grace, sanctifying riches in Jesus Christ. There is adopting grace in Jesus Christ. the one who feels cast off in this world, and there is a measure to which each of us is on his own in this world, whatever family we may have, whatever friends we may have, and to be received into the favor of God, and to be like Mephibosheth, that lame one who was unprofitable in himself and was worthless in himself, but was brought to the table of the king and sat at the table of the king as one of the king's sons, all his days, that's the adopting grace, the adopting riches that are in Jesus Christ. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, and he is offered to you. He is held out and offered to you to be the portion of your cup, to be the lot of your inheritance, to be your all in all, and all that you have to do is sell everything else and buy him, forsake everything else and follow him. There's application of this for each and every one of us. To the assured believer, you may be thinking to yourself, well, I've already bought Christ. I've already forsaken all and bought Christ. Friend, we have to forsake all daily. Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Idols arise in the heart, rivals of Jesus Christ, and we begin to think that we can serve two masters. We begin to seek our pleasure in the things of this world. We begin to seek our value in the pleasures of the body, in luxury. We begin to seek our value in career or in family, in innumerable things. This is forgetting the value of the Pearl of Great Price and forgetting how satisfying Jesus Christ alone is and going and trying to seek satisfaction in other things, going and seeking your goodly pearls elsewhere. This is what every sin of the Christian is. It's a little forsaking of Christ and going after other things. But Christ is yet offered to you as a believer. Christ is yet offered to you. What can you sell that you may have more of Christ? What can you sell that you may have more of Christ? What do I mean by having more of Christ? I mean enjoying more of him. I mean having more communion with him. I mean having more experience of his grace operative in your life. What can you sell that you may buy Christ? What are the things which take you away from Jesus Christ? Are they entertainments? Do you, think about time wasters in your life and think about them in this way. What do you waste your time on? Entertainments, video games, sports, whatever distractions. Now these are lawful things in themselves. but insofar as you use them in a way that takes you away from Christ, sets your affections on things below and draws you away from the enjoyment of the Lord, you're using those lawful things in an unlawful way. It's going and seeking your goodly pearls there. We can do away with these things. What can you sell that you may have more of Christ? Consider your conversation with your fellow brethren. How often do we burden one another and ourselves with just talking about the vanities of this life when we could be building one another up in our most holy faith? Can you sell some of your conversation and buy more of Christ for you and for your brethren in the Lord Jesus? What can you sell that you may have more of Christ. I also want to speak to the unassured. There may be some here who say, I'm not so sure that I'm a true believer. I don't know what the state of my soul is. To you, I say, the market day is open to you. This day, the pearl of great price is held out for you to purchase, don't let the day pass. It's really not your great concern to say, am I a believer, am I not a believer, and to just kind of leave it at that. It's for you to embrace Jesus Christ now. It's for you to embrace Jesus Christ as he is offered to you. And oftentimes people won't have an idea of when they were converted, when they were not converted. The important thing is that you are receiving and resting upon Christ now. The true believer has to receive Christ fresh every day. Receive and rest upon Jesus Christ. Make sure today, lay hold upon Christ today and say, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. There's no sense, it's insanity for someone to be more or less contented without knowing that he's on his way to heaven. For you to be in a state where you aren't assured of your salvation and just to leave it there is to be slothful in the things of God. Press into the kingdom of heaven. The violent take it by force. Press into the kingdom of God. and give him no rest until you have peace in your own soul. Buy the Pearl of Great Price today. Then there's the fence rider. The fence rider, perhaps you love the world. Perhaps you're thinking that in your own heart. I don't want to give my things up. I don't think they're that bad. Yes, I get a little overly distracted by them and so on. I'm going to hang on to them. And I can have the things of this world in this hand. And I can have Jesus Christ in this hand. And then I'll have the pleasures of this world and the pleasures of heaven both. That's not the way it works. unwilling to forsake the world for Christ, not willing to take Christ as your all and all. This is sitting on the fence. The one who sits on the fence will neither enjoy this pasture nor that pasture. You won't enjoy the things of this world and you won't enjoy the things of the next. If you're trying to have the world and to have Christ both. Hear the words of Jesus. If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. You cannot seek your goodly pearls in this world and have Jesus Christ too. Why halt you between two opinions? If the Lord be God, serve him. And if Baal be God, serve him. If possessions are God, serve them. If entertainments are God, go serve them. If the pleasures of this world, sensual pleasures are God, go serve them. If your career or your family or whatever it may be is God, go serve them and stop offending Christ by courting his rivals when you pretend to love him. No man can serve two masters. No man can serve two masters. Then I want to speak to the unbeliever here this afternoon. Perhaps the children among us, perhaps some of you know that you're not converted. If I asked you, are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? You might say, I know Jesus is real. My parents are Christians. But you haven't owned Jesus Christ for yourself. I want to say to you, he's offered to you today. He's offered to you to be received today. Will you take him? Will you take him to be yours, to be your possession, to be your salvation? Are you willing to forsake everything to buy him? And you may be, you may be young and you may think this isn't, this doesn't have anything to do with me. This is for my parents. No, no. Jesus Christ calls to you today and he calls you to forsake everything for him to come away and be with him. Will you forsake all for Christ? Will you take him? Will you take him for yourself? And lastly, I want to speak. to the devil among us, the devil among us. The Lord Jesus said, have I not chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil, the religious hypocrite, the Judas. Will you betray the son of man with a kiss? Will you kiss the Lord in the singing of the Psalms? Will you kiss him in the prayers? Will you kiss him? and hearing the sermon, all the while you know in your heart that when the opportunity arises that you would sell him for silver, that you would sell him for pleasures, that you would sell him for the things of this world, that you would sell him for the esteem of men, that you're not truly seeking your goodly pearls in Jesus Christ. You see, Judas himself was a merchant man as well. And he had the pearl of great price within arm's reach for three years. But where was he seeking his goodly pearls? He was seeking his goodly pearls in wealth. He was a covetous man. And though he had an outward profession, he was really an opportunist. And if this is your state, I want to warn you that your time is short. Your time is short. Just like Judas, God will give you over to a strong temptation, which you will not be able to resist, and you will sell Christ forever. Thousands have done it before you you'll sell him forever never to return that you may have that which you truly desire that which you're really seeking your goodly pearls in and That will sink you down into hell and there you'll be you and Judas those who forsook Christ in order to purchase something else who are seeking their good in something else while they pretended to to love Christ when they were just using him to get what they really wanted. Repent while you still have time. Repent while you still have time before Christ says in heaven, the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, and you sell Christ forever, being given over to the corruption of your own heart, being given over to your corrupt desires. The danger is great. You cannot afford to tarry. The market day is today. The day of grace is today. Now is the day of salvation. Will you forsake all for Christ? And I'm speaking to each and every one of us here. Will you forsake all for Christ? Will you buy him? Will you take him? He's held forth to you. Unsearchable riches, unsearchable riches. Let's stand and call upon our God in prayer. Lord God, Thou dost search the thoughts and intents of the heart of each one. Lord, Thou knowest. Thou knowest. Father, we pray that Thou wouldst be, that Thou wouldst move by Thy Spirit and that Thou wouldst incline each and every one of us to take Christ, to take Christ, to come away from the distractions of this world, to come away from the cares of this world, to come away from all of that, which would seek to capture our hearts, to sell it for Christ, to sell it for Christ, that we may have Him that we may know him, that we may enjoy him, that we may have a communion with him, that we may have a participation in that great salvation which he has wrought, that we may have a fuller experience of him and of all his benefits, those unsearchable riches which are in Christ. So be gracious unto us. Pour out thy spirit. and work in the hearts of each one. Grant that we might not be unprofitable hearers, but doers of the word. So stir us up to press in and to persevere therein. For we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.