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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/norman-crawford/the-worth-of-the-lord-jesus/
You've heard will not be easy for me to follow. God grant that at least I will not distract from anything you've heard. Please read with me in Colossians chapter 2, verse 1. For I would that you knew how great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
And I will be sharing the time, by the way, for a brother who is exercised, I think I should say that right now, that their hearts might be comforted being nipped together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God.
Now can I read to you the translation which Mr. Darby prefers and many many others including the revised version, the mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures, in whom are hid, or in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Now Luke chapter 6 please. I want to read four passages and then I'm going to try to link them very simply. Chapter 6 of Luke and verse 45. A good man, Luke 6 and 45, out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good.
And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh, and then you have why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say.
A 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, 2nd Corinthians 4 verse 3 says, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world, this age, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. And my last passage you may already know, it is Luke 12, because this is the passage I would think of in reading the three passages already read.
Verse 32, one of the most beautiful statements of the Lord Jesus in all the Gospels, and the only time in the Gospels that he ever used this expression, fear not, little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell that you have and give alms. Provide for yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Let your loins be girded about and your lights, your lamps burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding. Our brother has closed this message by telling us that we are enabled to do all things through Christ, who pours strength into us.
I would like to continue at that point if I can, and speak to you of the worth of the Lord Jesus. I think that you will see very clearly in Colossians 2 that Christ himself is the treasure. I have had discussions with brethren at various times, is Christ the divine treasure chest, which some have suggested here from Colossians 2, and all the treasures then are found in the chest, that type of thing.
I have a little problem with that because normally the treasure box contains treasure far greater than its own worth, and I would have difficulty in imagining Christ as the treasure chest with all the treasures in him.
Rather, I think the meaning is very simple, and if you take this reading of verse 2, you will see the mystery of God, even Christ, the mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
Why do we treasure things? This is a question that immediately comes to my mind. Why is anything treasured? Why do you place value on anything? Mind you, there are tremendous artificial values in our world.
I think of a little stamp that's less than an inch square. Oh, I'm supposed to talk in different terminology in Canada, forgive me, but most of you understand what an inch is anyway, don't you? But it's magenta in color.
It originally cost two pennies. The last time it was sold it was 1 .7 million dollars. Who put that value on that little piece of paper? Men did. You know, that's what men do. They put a value on something and they say it has this value.
Now look at it, it doesn't really have that value. It's artificial. It's not really there. So why do we treasure things? What is the genuine reason? What is the true reason for treasuring? What is the true reason for something having worth and value?
Let me give you some answers to that if I can. You know them all. I'm going to suggest to you that the first reason is because of our need. You know, you've heard the story that gospel preachers tell of the two lifeboats floating fairly close to one another on the bosom of the sea after the ship had gone down.
And in one boat there is a chest with tremendous currency in it, a regular bank of it. And in the other boat they have water. How much do you think they'd offer for the water? You see, a thing has value according to the need for it.
Excuse me for using the word thing, but Lord Jesus, our blessed Lord, he has fully, entirely, completely met our needs before God's throne and all its demands. And as a poor guilty sinner there was a moment when I became satisfied with all that the Lord Jesus had done to meet my need.
And the grounds of my satisfaction was God is fully satisfied with his blessed Son. You see, a thing has worth because of its need and value. And all worth is in him. He not only met our need as sinners lost and bound for hell, but oh how well this afternoon we have heard of how he stands able amidst the storm to meet every need of every one of his own.
Why would that be any more difficult for the Lord than one? How failingly we limit him, how poorly we grasp his power. He has met all our need, and God with him also will freely give us all things. We value things for their rarity.
If a thing is totally unique, if that's all there is, nothing else of its kind, men, even in this world, understand that a unique thing has tremendous worth. Could I describe to you one who in his person is unique?
No mortal can with him compare among the sons of men. Fairer is he than all the fair that fill the heavenly train. Have you wondered what it means when it says he's anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows?
Could I suggest to you from Psalm 45 that it's the beauty of the King that is there? And the whole subject of Psalm 45, 46, 47, and 48 is the King in his beauty, the King in his victory, the King in his coronation, the King in his palaces.
It's the reigning sovereign. It is the Lord of all. And you see, when he's anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, if you came down through the long line of all rulers who ever ruled, of all kings who ever reigned, if you took the consummate sum of all who ever held authority, there is a unique one.
Oh, I love the expression that is used of him in Revelation chapter 1. He is the prince of the kings of the earth. He is the princely one. And in chapter 21 of the Revelation, that city that comes down from God out of heaven, and the glory of God lightens it.
I'm glad it doesn't stop there because this thrills my heart. After it tells you that the glory of God lightens it, it says, its light was as a stone most precious. Is there a stone most precious? Yes, and listen, listen, that's not the end of the story about that light.
You move down the chapter to about verse 23, and it says the Lamb is the light of it. Did you see those three things? The glory of God lightens it? Its light is as a stone most precious, and the Lamb is the light.
He is the glory of God. He is the gem beyond compare, the Lamb who is the light. A thing is valued for its beauty. The workmanship that is in it, or the natural beauty that is inherent in it. Let me tell you about a beauty today.
I say this, but you understand that I have your deep interest in my heart. Dear sister, don't go in for the beauty that comes artificially. Go in for the beauty that is incomparable. There was a man who walked this earth, and he had beauty.
Did you know that's the meaning of the word that's in Hebrews 7 and verse 26? Such a high priest becomes us, became us, who is holy. He became us, who is holy. Did you know that's not the ordinary word for holy that is found so often in our Bible, so often in our New Testament about the throne of God and the character of God?
Did you know that that's a special word? Did you know that it compares to the word of the Septuagint, there is no beauty in him that we should desire him? Did you know it compares to the prayer at the close of the beautiful psalm that says let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of thy hands upon us?
Do you want to know what beauty really is? Look at the beauty of holiness in our blessed Lord. Look at the man who walked in this world, a perfect man. I don't know why that is, but that expression has been thrilling my heart for the last few days.
A perfect man. Oh, I've known all my Christian life he was a perfect man. But somehow or other the more I see of the imperfections here and around me, the more I'm amazed at the beauty of a man who walked here, never one step out of line, never one thought amiss, never one word misspoken.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to say you never misspoke a word, never an act, but brought glory to his Father in heaven. He was beautiful. And I sang it when I was a boy in this city. I'm still singing it.
Simple hymn, it suits our hearts. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All his wondrous compassion and purity. Oh, thou spirit divine. Oh, my nature refined. Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. He's the treasure, all right.
He's the treasure known for its beauty, the beauty of holiness. Treasures are held very dear by some because of the memories that are attached to them. You've ever gone into a home and here's a little thing lying there on that, what we used to call the sideboard, remember that term?
And it's just lying there and nobody says anything about it. And maybe in conversation someday the lady or man of the house says, you see that? I'll tell you about it. And then they tell you why that's so precious and why that's there where they can see.
And they tell you the story behind it and you learn it has wonderful memories. And when they look at that, the memories come back and they say that's why it's precious, the memories, all the memories of that thing.
Do you know, my friends, you couldn't remember the Lord Jesus once if you didn't learn about him first. You can't have memories of what you don't know. You can't have memories of what is not dear and what you have not pondered, what you have not contemplated, what you have not communed with the Father of us.
You can't have memories. Is this one of the reasons that our memories are so poverty stricken? That when we come to remember him on the first day of the week, we imagine we can draw from something that isn't there.
I can remember times, I lived in the town of Midland and one day of the week they had a ministry meeting in the Wabashene home which had just opened. Just that year. And I was just a lad. I won't tell you how young I was.
And there wasn't anybody else to really go and speak at the Wabashene home and I got stuck with the job again and again. And you know, here I was a boy standing up in front of these people and many of them, they knew more about the Word of God in the first two years they were saved than I knew.
And they'd been saved, some of them, for 50 and 60 years. And here's a boy trying to tell them something. I tried to draw on something I didn't have. I didn't have the understanding of the Word of God to be able to move in its truths.
Ever feel like that when you tried to get up to speak to God's people? You didn't have any sea room. There was no latitude. You couldn't move. You didn't have anywhere to go. You have to have something to draw on.
And if you think, if you think, my dear friend, that this comes easily, let me stop and remind you, men who can give you truth like you've heard this afternoon, I'm not referring to the present speaker, they've spent their life in this book.
They've spent their life contemplating it, pondering it, looking at it, reading it diligently, carefully, and rereading it. And if we're going to be able to truly have precious memories of our Lord Jesus, then we have to spend time with Him so that in memory we can go back to the blessedness of His presence.
Now, I'm getting too long. We treasure things because of their abiding quality. You know, the trouble is that the values of earth are fading. And dear young Christian and dear older Christian, and the man who's standing right here, and every single one of us old, young, or whatever we are, look, don't ever, don't ever, don't ever think that you can find any satisfaction in the treasures that fade.
We are so material. We live in this age of plenty. And we just expect it, and it can't help but affect our hearts. It can't help but rob us of the true treasure. Because the things of earth are fading, but there's a treasure that never fades.
I'm amazed at 2 Corinthians 3 where it tells us that the glory of Sinai with the giving of the law was a fading glory. Yes, it was fading, and that's why Moses put the veil on his face, because the glory was fading.
But in contrast to that, there's a glory that is unsurpassed, that never fades, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh, my dear friend, that's an unfading treasure. I hope you go in for it, and I hope I do.
There are people who have shown me a letter. And I had one, I had two letters given to me just the other day in the state of Iowa, and one of them was a letter I had written in 1947. The man handed me the letter and he said, I was going through the old letters and I picked this out and here it is.
Well, it didn't have a great deal of meaning to me, but he gave me another letter. And it was written by a dear servant of the Lord that I worked with and preached with for years. He said, here's another one.
Now, I'm sure I'm not going to throw that letter in the trash. That letter has very, very special meaning to me. And I have some letters like that that I've kept through the years. The last letter of an assembly correspondent of a dear godly man, and I treasure it.
You see, it's who it comes from. It's not that the paper has value or the ink that produced the words or anything like that, but it's a treasure. It's a treasure because of its source. Do you treasure the Word of God?
Do you treasure the blessed Son who came from the Father? Who came from the highest heights of heavenly glory? No wonder it says in Him are hid all the treasures, or in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
Where is the treasure? It is hidden, it says. That word is in the text, by the way, hidden. But it's not hidden so you can't find it. It's hidden so that it requires search. It requires diligent search.
It requires desire. It requires incentive. It requires motive. There must be an attraction. There must be something that draws my heart. It can't just be a mechanical thing. And if I'm drawn, and I search, oh, there's the treasure.
Do you look for Christ as you read your Bible? You know, Mr. Chivas, remember how quaint he was in his expression. He said, told the story of a dear man who said to him, when I read the Scriptures, he said, I think of that verse, unto them that look for him shall he appear.
I know that's very simple, but that's very good. That's very good, and I think if you look for him in the law and in the Psalms and in the prophets, and I think if you look for him in the Gospels, oh, I think if you look for him, he'll appear.
And your heart will be entranced with the worth of his glorious person. And this great treasure, as I read these verses, let me tell you very quickly, it feeds the mind. And the minds are being fed with lots of things that are garbage, but feeding on Christ feeds the mind.
It forms the character. I'm taking this from Colossians 2 now. I'm not pulling this out of thin air, but I don't have time to try to go over these verses with you. It forms the character, Christian character.
That's what verse 2 is all about. Christian character is being formed. It does something else that reminds me of Mr. Hunter's address again. It firms the step. Are the steps faltering and trembling? Are you afraid of what the next step might bring?
Ah, look at the treasure. Feed on him. It'll firm your step. The fourth thing it does, it fills the heart. And that's my next subject very quickly. Because I have said that in Colossians 2, the treasure is Christ.
Then in the passage we read in Luke 6, the heart is the treasure chest. If I didn't get any further than that, that would be good enough. The heart is the treasure chest. The immediate context is his sayings, his words.
And you know what? It makes me think of Ephesians 3, that Christ may dwell in the heart by faith. Faith rests upon what he has said. And faith grasps him. And faith enfolds him. And faith makes him at home in the heart as the treasure chest.
Christ in you, Paul wrote to these very Colossians in the first chapter, the hope of glory. But I was thinking particularly of 1 Peter 3, verse 15, that Christ, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. You know, that amazing verse is a quotation from the book of Isaiah, chapter 8, verses 12 and 13.
And Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, is the one who is sanctified there. And that verse is quoted by Peter. He has no difficulty in quoting it. He's telling us that this blessed Christ is the Lord Sabaoth.
He is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord of all. Just to think that the Lord of all can be crowned in my heart, sanctified in my heart, set apart in my heart, the Lord of all. That's why in some translations that verse says, sanctify God in your heart, because it actually is Jehovah Sabaoth in the Old Testament.
Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. Dear young believer, Christ must be Lord over your affections, and therefore he must reign in your heart. He must be Lord over your ambitions, and therefore he must reign in all the goals of your life.
He must be Lord in your time. Oh, where we fail, how miserably we fail in that. He must be Lord in your marriage, in your home, in your occupation, in your reading material, in your social life. And what is this other word?
In your recreation. Does that recreate you? Well, I have no complaint whatever about physical exercise. It does have profit, but don't make that your goal. Don't make that your treasure. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart.
The treasure chest is to hold him. Ah, haven't we failed so much in this? Other things are treasured in the heart. That's the reason. Things of the world are treasured. Things of time are treasured. Material things are treasured.
And the real treasure, the real treasure is crowded out. May God speak to my heart. The heart is the treasure chest. And in the treasure chest is the greatest treasure from God himself, the blessed Lord Jesus.
Just let me say very quickly now that the treasure is linked to the gospel in 2 Corinthians 4. This is no contradiction of what we read. In fact, both the previous passages are found here in 2 Corinthians 4, that actually the treasure is in the heart and that the treasure is Christ.
And the treasure, of course, is that the glory of Christ is in the gospel. The source of the message is it's out of heaven. The subject of the message here in this chapter is Christ himself. The simplicity of the message is Christ crucified.
The success of the message is Christ glorified. Glory to him. What a treasure there is to preach. What a treasure to proclaim. As long as God gives me breath and I stand on these two feet, God grant I'll never give up the preaching of that blessed message of salvation to lost sinners.
Ah, why is it, why is it, dear brethren and sisters, that so many have ceased to preach the gospel? I don't think there's a man or a woman or a child here that could find a single excuse from the Word of God for dropping a Sunday evening gospel meeting and series of gospel meetings where night by night the gospel is preached.
And yet it is being done wholesale all around us. But the glory of Christ is in it. And God has put the treasure in earth and vessels. And, of course, the unfailing treasure is in heaven. Am I going to change now?
Am I going to tell you that the treasure in heaven is a reward? No, I'm not. I'm going to tell you that the treasure in heaven is Christ. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And I can assure you that you cannot have the kingdom which is described here without the king.
And this is a treasure that draws them. It must be Christ. You couldn't tell me, could you, brethren, that it's the reward that is making you heavenly? Could you really argue with me that the reason I'm so anxious to get to heaven is I'm looking forward to getting a reward for what I've done?
Nobody would suggest that for a moment. That's not the treasure that draws our hearts. The treasure that draws our hearts is the Lord Jesus who is there. And there's a testimony that occupies them while they wait.
And there's a transport that awaits them eventually when they see him. But in the meantime, the truth of God girds their hearts and minds. God grant that his truth may gird our hearts and preserve us and preserve our appreciation of his lovely Son.