The Parable of the Hidden Treasure (04/02/2000)

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure in Matthew 13

Matthew chapter 13 and we're going to be starting with verse 44 and Ending with verse 44 this morning. That's what we'll study is the parable of the hidden treasure. Now we will go ahead and read about the parable of the of the pearl of great price.

We won't have time to discuss it today but There is a slight difference between these two parables or the Lord wouldn't have told them both especially not one with the other and so Part of what we'll be studying this morning is what is the difference between the two because they sound very similar when you read them At first so let's start with verse 44 and read down through verse 46.

Matthew chapter 13. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field the which But when a man hath found he hideth and for joy there thereof Goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly poor pearls who when he hath found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and Bought it and I'd like you to look at verse 36 Just before we begin here.

Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house and His disciples came unto him saying declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. I just wanted to point out that The parables were studying this morning or parables that were not told to the multitudes they were told only to the disciples in a room and That might have something to do with With This I want to point it out.

It's funny. I've read it Many times and studied it and I knew verse 36 showed that he went away from the multitudes and explained the previous parables and I was reading Morgan who is a great older writer and expositor of the Bible and he pointed out that these following Parables are told only to his disciples which is obvious from verse 36 and I do believe it's important to recognize that difference because he he's speaking here to people who have spiritual eyes to see whereas before he was speaking to a mixed multitude and So let's look at verse 44 specifically this morning again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to treasure hid in a field.

The Treasure Hid in the Field and the Peculiar Treasure of Israel

The which when a man hath found he hideth and Because of the joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth the field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field. Well, he's gonna give us another picture of the kingdom of heaven.

This is a picture. He's given giving only to his disciples and The first question I think we should ask is what is the difference between verse 44 This parable and the parable of the pearl of great price.

Is there a difference in the treasure. Is the treasure in verse 44 different than the pearl in? Verses 45 and 46 and I believe there is a slight difference. But an important difference. I think that verse 44 Probably includes the pearl.

Which I believe as we'll discuss next time the Lord willing when we talk about the pearl of great price that that's the church. I believe the pearl is the church and I believe that this hidden treasure Includes the church, but I believe it's broader than that.

I believe it also includes the people that were saved under the Old Testament economy. And so I think that's the basic difference. So really verse 44 is going to point Maybe more specifically at Israel the true Israel those who were circumcised of heart and I believe that the pearl of great price will point more specifically at the church.

Those who are saved during the church age, but I do believe verse 44 would also include all of God's children. So it's a it's a Larger context here than then the pearl of great price is well. Let's look at.

I want to look at a couple of Old Testament verses. Look back at Exodus chapter 19 in verse 4. And then we're going to look at Psalm 135 in verse 4 some couple of important phrases in those verses that will help us see that this does Speak to the Old Testament Saints as well as the New Testament Saints.

You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and How I bear you on eagles wings. This is Exodus 19 for How I bear you on eagles wings and brought you unto myself and that beautiful. And you've also seen what I did to the Egyptians now.

Let me ask you this does it seem in that verse that God is as fond of the Egyptians as he is of these Whom he bore on the eagles wings. Doesn't to me and yet the theology of today says that God's love for them is the same as his love for you.

I don't know about that, but I don't think so. I don't think so at all and I thought Katie sang beautifully this morning. But I thought she's saying more beautifully than you thought she's saying because she's mine.

You're gonna mess up the illustration here. But we don't want God to be partial to his children. Do we well, let's look at verse 5. Now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant.

Then you shall be a peculiar Treasure and that's the phrase. I want you to see a Peculiar treasure because this morning we're talking about a treasure hid in a field. You will be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.

That tends to indicate to me that there is a partiality. Does it to you? This is not just me. Is it now? He says for all the earth is mine now. We know that Satan is called the God with a little G of this world.

But does this world belong to him? Whose is it? God's the whole world is God's but Even though that is a true statement Doesn't mean that he loves Every person in the whole world at all. I started to say the same but at all.

Now you won't hear that on the radio or the television. And you won't hear it most churches. But some of you who have been around on the face of this earth for a while and heard preaching back in the good old days.

Probably have heard this before. But God has said from the beginning of the Bible to the last page of the Bible that his children are Peculiar to him or a peculiar treasure. Above all the other people that are in this world the cosmos in the Greek language is what is called Which belongs to God and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. So we see here pictured in the book of Exodus a kingdom within a kingdom. We see a nation within or among nations. Now look at Psalm 135 in verse 4.

You're gonna find the same word treasure found in Psalm 135 for it's the Hebrew word say gulag which means to shut up as To have wealth and to closely shut it up in a safe place. So it not only speaks of the treasure, but it speaks of the thing that you put it in to protect it.

Are you with me? It's not just the treasure. It's the vessel in which the treasure is hidden. Psalm 135 for for the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar Treasure, I looked all through the Bible and I was unable to find any place where it called anything a peculiar treasure other than the children of Israel.

Now it calls us a peculiar people. But it calls them a peculiar treasure. Now in Psalm, you don't need to look this one up because we're gonna go elsewhere quickly. But in Psalm 17 verse 14, the word treasure is used again, and it's called a hid treasure.

Which I thought was an interesting phrase to look at because we're talking about specifically a hidden treasure in our New Testament passage. It comes from a little bit different Hebrew word. But it is a synonym of the word say gulag and this word is sought fun.

Which means to hide by covering over? To hide by covering over it can imply to hoard or reserve. To hide something in a place in such a way as to reserve it preserve it keep it where nothing can happen to it.

Now we go to Matthew 13 44 again. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field. Well, I believe this treasure first and foremost speaks of the nation of Israel, but it speaks of the true Israelite the one who is circumcised of heart and I believe more specifically it deals with the saved.

All right. I'm gonna be redundant if I say it that way. Let's just put it this way the Old Testament saint. The person who was saved during the Old Testament time. Now it's interesting that our definition for treasure in Matthew chapter 13 is a word that means a Deposit or a place where the wealth is kept and it comes from a root word in the Greek which is Literally means the place in which it's kept not so much the treasure and that's the same sense that we had in the Old Testament.

In the Hebrew language, so this is a depository or a receptacle. Holding the treasure which had been placed in the field is what we're talking about here and it is his. The field then I think we would all agree if we go back into the previous parables.

Especially in verse 36 and following where it explains. Verse 38 specifically says the field is the world. Now remember the world is the cosmos in the Greek language. It does not always mean the people.

It never means only that well. Seldom means only the people it nearly always means God's order. Which means his creation of order. If you want to see a beautiful picture of the cosmos. Look at the Garden of Eden before the fall and if you want to see another beautiful picture of.

That approximates it look at the beginning of the Kingdom Age. And if you want to see a very clear picture of it, look at the ages to come after the new world. The old world passes away and God makes all things new.

Then you see this perfect order of God's cosmos. Now we've had an interference with that as Satan came into this world in the Garden of Eden. Did we not and Man fell in sin. There were some curses proclaimed and we now have thorns and thistles and and yet.

This is still God's world and we have to understand now we have a world within a world. And I believe that's what we're gonna see in this parable. And I think God only teaches. Jesus only teaches this to his chosen ones behind closed doors.

He didn't teach this one out in the open like he did the other ones. I believe that might indicate to us that this particular parable and the pearl of great price. And even the explanation of the parable of the wheat and the tares if you remember he told that parable.

But he didn't explain it until he got behind closed doors with his own. I believe that implies that some of the material found in these parables is Certainly not suitable for the world the lost world and it's even difficult for a brand-new baby Christian.

Okay. So we have to have wisdom when as we study the Bible just because God reveals things to us doesn't mean that it's acceptable and easily digested by every Christian because everyone's at a different stage of their growth and.

So we have to understand that. Now as we go into this parable Let's look at the field for a moment. All right, look at there's a key word here. Did you know that every jot and every tittle in the Bible is important?

God placed it there. There are no words that are insignificant. Look at the little word a at the end of the first sentence or the first long Phrase there in verse 44. Again the kingdom of heaven is likened to a treasure hid in a field.

I believe the word a is a very important world. And it ties in with another very important little word. Did I say world? I meant word ties in with another important little word at the very end of verse 44.

Look at this and he bieth that field. Now the word a in the word that implies that there are at least that there is at least one other field. There may be more than that. But just the grammar itself implies that this is a field that he bought but there is another field.

Would you agree with that? Grammatically. Otherwise, he would have called it the field. It's interesting in some of the other parables that he told out to the crowds. He didn't speak of a field or that field.

He speaked he spoke of the field or the man's field. But in this one he uses words that imply there are more than one field. Now this field I do believe at least includes the cosmos order of God God's world.

Let's just put it that way. God's world of order which includes God's children. Okay. Now let's go on. What about this concept of it being hid in a field the word? Crypto, which means to hide or conceal to be hid.

To conceal in such a way that it cannot be known by others is what this word means. It is past perfect, which is very interesting. Because it indicates the time in which this treasure was hid in this field.

Past perfect indicates a completed action that is completed in the past once and for all. Not needing to be repeated. So this was a once-and-for-all act that was done in the past and will never need to be done again.

Is this hiding of the treasure? So whatever this treasure was God had all of it and he placed it all in a Depository in a safe place. Others could not see it. Others were not even aware that it was there necessarily.

But he did that in the past and it's a done deal. That is known by the grammar. It's in the past perfect tense. It's also passive which means this treasure did not hide itself. It was hidden by this man.

You might translate it this way having been hidden in the field. It's a good English translation. Well, let's look at some concepts. Elsewhere look at John chapter 10. For a moment this this sermon turned into a study.

So There's just so much I've got ten tight pages here from this one verse. Charlotte told me never to tell you that. But I didn't tell him how many points were in it. Now I got to learn not tell how many pages.

But that just tells you there's several Sundays worth of material here in this one verse. Look at John chapter 10 verse 14. The only thing I don't like about it when a sermon goes over several Sundays.

You don't have exactly the same people each time and it makes me want to go ahead and do it all. That y 'all had two three hours. We'll just promise to come back next Sunday then and I'll just do part of it.

How about that? Let's vote how many of you want me to do it all now or you'll promise to come back next Sunday? So we all right next Sunday, okay. John 10 14. I am the Good Shepherd and I know my sheep and am known of mine as.

The father knoweth me even so know I the father and I lay my life down for the sheep now. Let me ask you from that verse of Scripture. Anyway, who did Jesus die for? What does he call him there? Sheep and It says he lays his life down for the sheep and He says he knows these sheep.

He also says the sheep know him. Isn't that wonderful? To think about. Have you ever? Been overly worried about the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons and how they are the first ones to have the evangelistic efforts.

The Iron Curtain came down the first ones over there with the the Jehovah's Witnesses in that amazing Zap, I mean they're over there soon as soon as you could get into the former Soviet Union. They were there weren't they with their little briefcases knocking on the doors?

If we didn't have mixed crowd this morning, I'd tell you a story about Jack pulling and how he deals with the Jehovah's Witnesses, but I can't tell you that this morning, but it is so funny. But they come to the door.

They're the first ones there, but you know what the Bible teaches Jesus sheep hear only the true Shepherd. How many of you know Elnora Allen over in Mahia? Sweet older lady that was a member of our church in the early days and she got where she couldn't she drove over from Mahia as long as she could and She all she had a flat tire going home one day and decided that's the end of it.

I'm not gonna make that drive anymore, but she grew up studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses. And then she studied with the Pentecostals and the faith healers and the tongue speakers and Then she just kept studying her Bible and she had a strong concordance in an Ungers Bible dictionary and 15 other Commentaries.

You go into that woman's house. He's got a card table sitting over there did books on it. She never moves them because she studies every day and I guess what? She's not a Jehovah's Witness. She's a follower of the Shepherd.

My sheep know me. He says now look at verse 16, though and Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Now I wanted to bring this verse out because Jesus speaks first of the Jewish fold and Then he or the Old Testament saint predominantly the Jewish.

Well strictly the Jewish fold. But then he speaks of other sheep which are not of that fold and that's the Gentile church that we talked about in Sunday school and I wish we had church first because then we could use all my verses for the sermon instead of in Sunday school.

So we see now these other sheep would be the Gentiles that are saved here in the church age. But the first fold is are the Jewish believers some of whom were saved in the Old Testament. Some of whom are saved now a few of them saved now and many of whom will be saved here in the tribulation period.

John chapter 17 jump forward to that and look at verse 6 I Have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Now I want you to begin to picture a world that God created a World that was then changed because of the fall.

And now all of a sudden you still have the cosmos but it's actually a world Within a larger world that is the world of disarray. That's why we're called the remnant. We're the small group now. God's world is the subset in the larger set of the whole world which includes Satan and his children and his destruction.

So it's like you have a world within a world. But Jesus says I've manifested my name are the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest them to me. When you start talking about thine they were that means before the foundation of the world.

They already belonged to the father and Then the father gave them to Jesus as a love gift. But they came out of this larger world that includes both God's cosmos in Satan's world of disarray and They have kept thy word.

That's one of the greatest signs of a saved person symptom of salvation. They love the word and they keep the word. I Pray for them. Now I want you to notice the next phrase. I pray not for the world.

Now I've got to ask a question at this point. And it looks like almost to me. We have the disciples behind closed doors this morning as I look around. So I don't believe this will disturb anyone. But isn't it interesting that if people contend that in John 3 16 where it says for God So loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that that has to mean That Jesus was given for the every human that ever lived that he died for every human because it says the whole world.

It doesn't say holy. But it says for Jesus for God so loved the world that that has to mean every human in the world. Then isn't it interesting that where the same word world is used? In verse 9 Jesus did not pray for it.

Now. Look what he's praying. He says I pray for them, which obviously is not the whole world. If we're thinking of world as God's world of order plus Satan's world of disarray put together into one place.

If we look at it that way then he has two groups one group he prayed for in another group, which he didn't. He said I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine. While I was with them in the world.

I kept them in thy name's sake. Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost now. If you look at verse 15, you'll see what the prayer is that he's praying. I Pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but thou should keep them from the evil.

That word the evil is a person not a thing. It's the evil one. He prayed not for the world. But for those which God had given him out of the world that God would keep them From the evil one. He did not pray for others in the world.

That God would keep them from the evil one. Now we have to see this and these are the words of Jesus. They're in red letters. So they got to be true. If your doctrine doesn't fit this then change it. Because like Gary Plumlee told me one time don't ever let your doctrine make you be unscriptural.

It's very clear that Jesus did not pray this prayer of keeping now. Let me ask you this did Jesus prayers always get answered what you're thinking about the one he prayed in the garden. Take this cup from me, but that's not where he put the period in the sentence.

He said nevertheless Thy will be done. There's never a possibility of Jesus asking and it not be being answered. Someone tell me why exactly. Now, let me ask you this if you ask in the will of God. Is there a chance your prayer might not be answered?

No chance at all. That's why it's so important to understand that true prayer originates with God. Comes via the pipeline of the Holy Spirit into your heart and mind which God placed there and moved you to pray for it.

Because he wants you to be a part of what's about to happen. It's a good rabbit trail, but we better get back to this. These that are kept. See, you made me forget my original question. Why did y 'all do that to me?

Where was that somebody tell me what the original question was because I wanted to keep on with that for a minute. Y 'all weren't listening either. Okay. Let's Start back with verse 12. It'll make me remember it.

Maybe while I was with them in the world I kept them in thy name those that thou gavest me I have kept and now look at the prayer in verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.

But that thou should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Well, I don't remember the question, but I remember this. There are two worlds here. There are the world of God's elect and the world of those that are not and We see it so clearly now this Treasure has been hid in a field.

All right. It is kept there. It is protected there. Just like Jesus said those which you have given me I have kept of Them. I shall lose nothing. They're safe in a safe place hidden now. Let's think about this.

Look at verse 44 again again. The kingdom of heaven is likened to a treasure hid in a field the which when a man hath found. Let's look at this phrase a man has found first of all, who's the man? Can you tell from the previous parables who the man is?

Jesus. Jesus is the man and he's the one who found this treasure. Now the word or the phrase hath found is in the Aorist tense. Which English doesn't have but it's a fascinating thing to think about because probably the most difficult thing for us to understand Are to get around I would say is the concept of time the fact that we're in time and we do everything in sequence.

And that God is not. He is not bound by time. And he does not have to function that way and he doesn't function that way. And in fact with God everything is already done. Doesn't that blows your mind blow your mind?

He is the eternal. I am it's the present tense and so As as we look at this It's in the Aorist tense when it says this man has found and Aorist does not mean past present or future. It means exactly on time.

Isn't that great? It happened exactly on time. Exactly on time is the best definition of what the Aorist tense means. It is active which means the Sun did this and the interesting thing is it's participle.

Which means it's like has an ING in the English. So you might read it this way which a man having found. Exactly at the right time. Now when you go into Romans chapter 3 It talks about the Jews the saved Jews.

And in verse 24, it says being justified freely by his grace through the redemption. That is in Christ Jesus and most of us apply this to us. Those of us who are saved Gentiles. But if you read verse 25, you're gonna see that this particular couple of verses does not primarily apply to us.

It says whom God hath sent for sent forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. That's talking about the sins that were committed by the Old Testament Saints.

So primarily where it speaks of this redemption in Romans chapter 3 verses 24 and 25 in the whole passage all the way up to verse 19 it talks about them who were under the law and It talks about these whose sins of the past.

That these people were redeemed. I believe this is primarily the hidden treasure that we're talking about in this particular passage the Old Testament Saints. If you look at Romans 11 26, which we talked about a little bit in Sunday school this morning says all Israel shall be saved and we talked about that's at the end of the tribulation period every Israelite that's left alive when Jesus returns Will be saved and go into the millennial period.

Look at I'm in Romans 3rd chapter 3. I told you I wouldn't have time to talk about it. So I'm glad we discussed it a little bit in Sunday school Romans chapter 3 verse 30. I want you to take note of it.

We're not going to talk about it this morning for sake of time, but we are going to talk about it. And it'll give you time to think about it do a little research of your own Romans 3 30. Seeing it as one God which shall justify the circumcision.

Who's that? As the Jews. By faith now remember this whole chapter is talking about the sins that are past so it's looking back. It's talking about how the Old Testament Saints had their sins covered. That's called the atonement.

The word atonement is not really a proper New Testament word it's translated in English atonement sometime in the New Testament, but it should never be new atonement in the New Testament because Atonement is an Old Testament concept.

It's a covering of the sin in the New Testament. The sin is done away with it's gone. It's removed. It's separated from the center in the Old Testament. It was covered and it was pictured by the Blood of those sacrificial animals it pictured the coming Messiah who would shed his blood for those sins.

And at that moment they were then removed from the Old Testament Saint as well. And that's why Jesus was able to take them from Shoal. Directly into the presence of God in heaven before that they were not there.

Because their sins had not been removed. They had only been covered. So all of that's coming to play here, but what's interesting to me is in verse 30. It says he shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith and you might do an interesting study this week on the difference between the word by and the word through in that verse there is a difference and The Old Testament Saints were saved.

By faith the New Testament Saints are saved through faith and we're gonna talk about that at a future date now. Let's talk about this hiding. It says it's kind of interesting in verse 44. It says and again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field now.

Remember that's something that was done in the past once and for all never to be done again. But it says when the man comes that's Jesus and he has found in the aorist tense at exactly the right time.

He then hides it again. Is that strange? He goes and he finds it. He uncovers it he finds it and then he hides it again. And that's the part we're talking about here now this part is aorist active Indicative which means it's just a statement of fact and Jesus does this just at the right time he goes and he hides this back in the field.

Now this primarily refers to the lost tribes of Israel. But it also as I said this verse does include. I believe it includes the pearl as well. It includes the church age as well, but predominantly it's certain looking back at the Old Testament Saints in Jeremiah chapter 31 in verse 10.

It says hear the word of the Lord. Oh you nations and declare it in the Isles of far off. Some people believe the Isles is the United States. I Don't know if I can go that far with it but it certainly would refer to places in the world that are far off from the Middle East and.

So it could include places like the United States declare it in the Isles of far off and say he that scattered Israel will gather him and Keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. The Lord hath redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

Now we we don't you know, I have fun or study and then you have. It's easier to study and stand up here and talk than it is to sit there and listen. So I can't cover all this but I want us to focus on this little part for the end of the message this morning and then be back for the rest of it later and In Jeremiah 31 10, it says very clearly that God scattered Israel and he will gather him again.

It also says in verse 11 that the Lord has redeemed Jacob and ransomed. Those are two very important words and I'll show you why as we close here in a moment. At least the first close. He redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him.

That was stronger than he. Who might that be? Who. Who did he get redeemed from? Well in a sense. The hand that's stronger than Israel is Satan. That's why I don't like you letting your children sing those little songs about Satan sitting on a tack.

You don't make fun of him. He's stronger than you are. He's stronger than Israel was. But he is not stronger than the Redeemer is he. So God scattered his people in a world within a world. He placed them within a world if you want to talk about just his people.

They're in this Depository this safe place this thing that the treasure is in and then the whole thing is hidden in The the larger world which also includes Satan's Catastrophic effect on this world as well and God has Scattered his people throughout that entire world.

But the world of God's order and the world of God's Children as seen so beautifully in the Garden of Eden as we talked about earlier. We'll see it in the trip in the Millennial period we'll see it at the end of the age in the coming ages.

Was one of these places and then we also had God's Saints hidden within this world of disorder and confusion. Which is spoken of as the world of which Satan is the little G God. So you have God hiding this precious treasure in this greater world that includes both.

You have here God's cosmos and you have Satan's evil world system both from time to time called the world and the only way you can tell the difference is by the context of the passage that is found in.

We see that these two worlds are contrasted again and again. From Genesis all the way through the Old Testament and then on into the New Testament that which contains God's treasure saved Israel Has been hidden.

In other words that world has been hidden within a field or a hidden world. That we call the greater world. Now, that's why we go back into Matthew 13 44 it says that it was hid in a field and in a minute.

It's gonna say he purchased that field. We have to distinguish these two fields. Remember the field pictures the world. So we're distinguishing two different worlds. Now he says that for the joy thereof.

He goeth and selleth all that he has. So the man locates this treasure that was hidden before the foundation of the world. It was hidden before anything was. It is God's special treasure God's children.

The man discovers this and he hides it again in this world that includes Satan's catastrophic part or effect on this world and Then for the joy of it. It says he goes and he sells all that he has. Now you would need a lifetime to discuss what this means.

He goes and sells all that he has. Because of the joy that he sees. You know The Bible talks about that in Hebrews 12 to looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross?

Despising the shame. With joy he goes. And he sells all that he has. If you ever tried to think about what it must have been like to step down from the glories of heaven and Put on flesh in this world and to lay aside some of the characteristics and attributes of deity to become holy man.

He sold all that he had. Proverbs 8 22. Jesus says the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old. I When there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no fountains.