SPEAKER_01: Today's scripture reading comes from Matthew 13, verse 44 to 46.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.
SPEAKER_01: Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
SPEAKER_01: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
SPEAKER_01: And so read God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Over eight years ago, I asked Becky to marry me, a lucky woman, on the 2nd of November 2013.
SPEAKER_00: She probably wouldn't remember that.
SPEAKER_00: She's not the romantic one I am.
SPEAKER_00: And we were both on a beach digging in the sand to find this chest.
SPEAKER_00: Digging to find this chest.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's obvious that it didn't just happen.
SPEAKER_00: We're not those people who are going along the beach with those little metal detectors looking for things.
SPEAKER_00: No, I had planned it all.
SPEAKER_00: Up to this moment, I had planned every step along the way.
SPEAKER_00: We had set off that morning from York.
SPEAKER_00: That's where Becky's from on a car treasure hunt.
SPEAKER_00: And she thought it was for her dad because to see whether it would work as a church activity, silly woman.
SPEAKER_00: But Becky, Becky didn't realize what was happening.
SPEAKER_00: And it was around two hours that we were going along, stopping at different locations where I had planned for little clues to be along the way, leading us to the next location, to the moment, to the final moment to find this chest.
SPEAKER_00: And inside this chest were a number of things that I had I had organized to put in things that were significant to us, that meant things to us, that had significance about our relationships, that pointed to many moments that brought us to this very moment.
SPEAKER_00: That is when I asked her to marry me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you think about that, when you think about that story, you could ask Duncan, why did you bother?
SPEAKER_00: Why did you go to all that effort, try and spend all that time?
SPEAKER_00: And if I responded by just saying, Well, I just thought that's what I should do.
SPEAKER_00: It felt like the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: That would seem a bit weird and odd.
SPEAKER_00: It would seem strange if that was my response.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't show the value I have for Becky.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't show the value I place upon our relationship.
SPEAKER_00: If it was all just about, I guess this is what I should do, I've got to do this.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't show anything of my affection toward her.
SPEAKER_00: The reason I did it, the reason I spent nearly two months planning and sorting the ring and getting it all ready was because how I view Becky.
SPEAKER_00: How I view our relationship, the joy of being able to call her my wife.
SPEAKER_00: The love I have for her, the longing I have to show and display my love for her.
SPEAKER_00: It was one of the best days of my life.
SPEAKER_00: Yet, even though that moment was such a big moment in my life, it does not compare.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even come close to the moment I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't come close to the joy in which he gives me.
SPEAKER_00: What is plain from both of these parables is that he is of supreme worth compared to anything else this world has to offer.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is how often we lose sight of that.
SPEAKER_00: How often we easily forget the joy he gives, the joy he gave.
SPEAKER_00: That moment of excitement and joy.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we consider our relationship toward God, we can act as though it's just merely functional.
SPEAKER_00: As if we are here just to fulfill a duty.
SPEAKER_00: This is what I need to do.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are even here, sat here right now, and you're sat here because you're like, this is what I do.
SPEAKER_00: This is part of what I should be doing.
SPEAKER_00: We go through the motions with little to no affection toward him.
SPEAKER_00: And yet for us as Christians, our faith is not primarily about just a right choice, but rather about hearts captured by him.
SPEAKER_00: How beautiful, how good he is, reminded of even that first moment, when it seemed so easy, when we just overflowed with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe if you're here and and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, my prayer has been for you that you might today see him, truly see him for who he is, not just as someone who's been written about, but a personal savior for you.
SPEAKER_00: So simply let us consider our journey to Christ, our experience of Christ, and our response to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is obvious to say people are different.
SPEAKER_00: Even we've mentioned that today, that in this room we are different.
SPEAKER_00: We have different experiences, we come from different places, we have different and unique characteristics, and yet, with all the difference, there are also similarities.
SPEAKER_00: And this is also true when we think about how we have come to faith.
SPEAKER_00: The journey to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, if you know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you can think about that time, that journey that led you to knowing him.
SPEAKER_00: And in these two parables, I think we have two examples of that journey.
SPEAKER_00: What I like to call is the stumblers and the searchers.
SPEAKER_00: See, in verse 44, we find the stumbler.
SPEAKER_00: We find this man in this field who, to me, is part of my story.
SPEAKER_00: I'm more of a stumbler.
SPEAKER_00: That is what happened to me.
SPEAKER_00: Coming to faith was just like this man in this field.
SPEAKER_00: And you can imagine him that day.
SPEAKER_00: He just headed out.
SPEAKER_00: It was a normal day.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing different about this day, just a normal day.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have a clue what was happening, what was about to come.
SPEAKER_00: And he walks along in this field and he trips up and he's like, oh, and he goes to look and he expects to see a rock on the ground and he's like, oh, that's weird.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a rock.
SPEAKER_00: That looks like wood, like a corner.
SPEAKER_00: What is that?
SPEAKER_00: And he begins to dig and and he he suddenly realizes there's a box and he brings it out, and to his amazement, it is filled with treasure.
SPEAKER_00: He could have been in another field, he could have walked a different way in that field, and yet here he is with his chest full of treasure.
SPEAKER_00: The excitement, the joy, you could just imagine it.
SPEAKER_00: If you were like me, this is what happened to you.
SPEAKER_00: You were just doing your thing, living your life.
SPEAKER_00: You weren't really thinking about Christ and the implications of what he has done.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly you heard the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly you heard the gospel and you were not expecting it, but you found yourself being captured by him.
SPEAKER_00: You found yourself seeing him for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't have all the answers, but you knew I need him.
SPEAKER_00: You knew in that moment everything had changed.
SPEAKER_00: This happened when I was four.
SPEAKER_00: So funnily enough, at four, I wasn't a rebel.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't going out every night, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But I had not met Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I had not seen him for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And one Sunday, just like any other Sunday, I was there in church, there for the children's address.
SPEAKER_00: We used to come up the front, and I was sat there and I saw him.
SPEAKER_00: I realized who he was.
SPEAKER_00: It was very simple, it wasn't complex.
SPEAKER_00: I probably couldn't answer many doctrinal questions at that age.
SPEAKER_00: But I knew I needed him.
SPEAKER_00: There was no other option for me.
SPEAKER_00: That was the day that I came to faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Over 27 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you might be sat there and thinking, I did not grow up in a Christian home.
SPEAKER_00: That was not my experience.
SPEAKER_00: I had zero knowledge of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And you were just doing your thing, living the dream, and suddenly you heard the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was a friend.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you found yourself at an evangelistic event and you heard the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And as you heard about the love of God for you in Christ Jesus, you could hardly believe your response.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, I actually think this is real.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't think you would.
SPEAKER_00: But you knew in that moment you were gonna follow him.
SPEAKER_00: That he was yours and you were his.
SPEAKER_00: It felt like a U-turn in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know in this room there are some stumblers among us, but from one stumbler to another, let me tell you about those searchers in the room.
SPEAKER_00: Because those searchers were probably listening, being like, what a bunch of weirdos.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you heard the gospel and just believed.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's so simple.
SPEAKER_00: Because for the searchers, they think, you know, no, you needed to ask more questions.
SPEAKER_00: There were things that you should have pursued before you accepted.
SPEAKER_00: And for the searchers, they they are like this merchant.
SPEAKER_00: They don't just stumble across it, the kingdom of heaven, but rather they have been searching, searching for answers, longing, longing to find the answers that they desire to know.
SPEAKER_00: And they have been considering the big questions of life, wanting truth.
SPEAKER_00: For many of the searchers, you would have looked into maybe other worldviews, other philosophies, and and longing to see what is true, and you began to consider Jesus, to consider the Christian faith.
SPEAKER_00: And the further you pressed, the further you pushed upon Jesus, the more you saw, oh, he does have the answers.
SPEAKER_00: The more you saw him to be true.
SPEAKER_00: You might even not know what happened, but you began to really grow a firm foundation upon him, upon Christ Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_00: And the questions that you asked have become such a foundation of confidence for you.
SPEAKER_00: Having asked those questions because you believe him, but not just out of belief, but also because you believe it's true.
SPEAKER_00: You see that he is true.
SPEAKER_00: These parables speak to both groups.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are stumblers, those who are searchers, and the journey to saving faith might be different.
SPEAKER_00: But whether we're a stumbler or a searcher, we have all come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Come to know that He is enough.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here and you don't know that, if you don't know Him as Lord and Savior, we're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: We're so glad you're asking questions, and we want to be a place where you can ask those questions.
SPEAKER_00: So I just invite you to continue to ask, continue to pursue, continue to realize that you're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: People sat around you were in that position.
SPEAKER_00: Just continue to consider Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because for us, our journey might be different, but our Savior is the same.
SPEAKER_00: We have encountered the one who causes the dead to rise to life.
SPEAKER_00: The one who, spiritually speaking, has given life to us in him.
SPEAKER_00: And we can testify he is the one you long for.
SPEAKER_00: Each of us have come to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This has been our experience.
SPEAKER_00: Our experience of Jesus Christ, of Christ Himself, has been transformative.
SPEAKER_00: No matter the path you came to him, no matter the experiences that led you there, you have come to truly see him.
SPEAKER_00: And in our narrative, both are wanting us to know the value and worth of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That is the purpose.
SPEAKER_00: To see him for who he is, to realize what he has invited us into.
SPEAKER_00: Right now in this cinema, in this moment, is he truly still your treasure?
SPEAKER_00: Do you still see him like that one-of-a-kind pearl?
SPEAKER_00: Or have you lost sight of him?
SPEAKER_00: Has your heart become dull toward him?
SPEAKER_00: It's so easy for us to forget.
SPEAKER_00: I know that in my own life.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that's true for you.
SPEAKER_00: We can reflect on the moment when we came to fate.
SPEAKER_00: And we think, oh man, I wish I had that joy again.
SPEAKER_00: We can reflect and think, oh I was just so passionate about it.
SPEAKER_00: So passionate.
SPEAKER_00: If you meet someone who's come to fate recently, they don't shut up about them.
SPEAKER_00: They just go on and on.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's so natural, it's so easy.
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, what is being revealed in those moments, in this moment, is we've taken our eyes off of him.
SPEAKER_00: We have lost our true view of him, our true view of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we come to Jesus, he brings a clear need of our need.
SPEAKER_00: We don't come to Jesus in a position of strength.
SPEAKER_00: We come to him in a position of utter poverty.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we hear from Jesus in Matthew 5.
SPEAKER_00: What he declares, he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Not the strong.
SPEAKER_00: To be someone who is poor in spirit is not talking about someone who's down, someone who's negative.
SPEAKER_00: No, it is talking about our posture before him.
SPEAKER_00: Before God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: How we come, how we see Him, realizing and recognizing with utter clarity our need is so great that there's nothing we can do about it.
SPEAKER_00: We so easily push ourselves up at times.
SPEAKER_00: We so easily think we're better than we are, and we bring God down, the holy one down, to think that we're not as bad as we truly are, to think God is not as holy as he truly is.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible brings clarity and correction to us.
SPEAKER_00: Here in Matthew's gospel, but also we see this in Isaiah 64.
SPEAKER_00: How does Isaiah describe the good things that we do?
SPEAKER_00: He describes it like this we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like polluted, polluted garments.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Before God, without his grace, any good we do is like a poo-stained clothing.
SPEAKER_00: This morning I was in our room and I was like, Becky was like, get me a vest.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, got a vest.
SPEAKER_00: And I dropped it.
SPEAKER_00: It's disgusting.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how many times I see it, I will always be repulsed from it.
SPEAKER_00: It is revolting.
SPEAKER_00: And when we look at this, when we see this description, it is not subtle.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't a passage that is having a complicated interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: God brings true sight to us.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit illuminates our desperate need, our desperate standing before the Holy God.
SPEAKER_00: But what is key, what is so important is if you think about that, if you think about all the wrong, all the sin, all the bad, that you do not allow to yourself to be just captured by that.
SPEAKER_00: Our sin is so serious, it is so disgusting to a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: His desire, though, is to reveal it to us in order that we might not be crushed.
SPEAKER_00: In order that we might not just feel sorry for ourselves, but rather we might turn to him that we might realize and wonder at what he has done.
SPEAKER_00: To see him for who he truly is, to truly appreciate him.
SPEAKER_00: To appreciate Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, to know he is our treasure.
SPEAKER_00: And there is no greater.
SPEAKER_00: To know that without him we are lost.
SPEAKER_00: Without him, we are without hope.
SPEAKER_00: It is vital that you hear this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is our savior.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is your savior.
SPEAKER_00: Do you right now in this moment appreciate that?
SPEAKER_00: Do you in this moment truly know the sort of savior he is?
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that he delights?
SPEAKER_00: He delights in being able to save you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you really know that he is not tired?
SPEAKER_00: He's not fed up.
SPEAKER_00: Strung out thinking, oh I gotta go again.
SPEAKER_00: Have to save them.
SPEAKER_00: Can you appreciate that our Savior did not have to save, but he chose.
SPEAKER_00: He chose to lay down his life for us.
SPEAKER_00: For all the brokenness, all of your sin, you can right now think of the deepest, darkest parts of you.
SPEAKER_00: Parts that no one else can see.
SPEAKER_00: Parts that when you think about it, it makes you feel sick.
SPEAKER_00: He is a savior that came to save that.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't save us in part.
SPEAKER_00: He came to bring complete salvation, and there is not a moment in which he is unwilling to save.
SPEAKER_00: But rather he constantly is calling to us Come.
SPEAKER_00: Come to me.
SPEAKER_00: Constantly reminding us I've done it.
SPEAKER_00: I've done it.
SPEAKER_00: I am the one you need.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, sister.
SPEAKER_00: Have you lost sight of him?
SPEAKER_00: Are you being diligent in seeking to be reminded constantly?
SPEAKER_00: Constantly of your Savior.
SPEAKER_00: About who he is and all that he has done.
SPEAKER_00: George Muller said this.
SPEAKER_00: We need to fight for that.
SPEAKER_00: We should not take it lightly.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, sister in Christ, when you Begin to speak about your faith in terms of duty rather than delight.
SPEAKER_00: It's clear that spiritually you are in need of encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: In need of the gospel to be reminded once again.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we all need.
SPEAKER_00: We never part away from the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He calls us back time and time again, inviting us again and again.
SPEAKER_00: You did not deserve anything.
SPEAKER_00: You did not, I did not deserve anything.
SPEAKER_00: Yet you he saw you in that pit.
SPEAKER_00: And he saw you and decided and chose to come to save.
SPEAKER_00: The more you are able to embrace your need, the more that you are able to be like, I don't have anything, the freer you will be, the more you can fling yourself upon him.
SPEAKER_00: Delight in him.
SPEAKER_00: When we allow our hearts to be captured by entitlement, by thinking we deserve, joy will be far from us.
SPEAKER_00: But when you know, when we know the undeserving, how undeserving we are, his goodness, his beauty, his love, his faithfulness, his grace become overwhelming to us.
SPEAKER_00: This should make our heart rejoice and to sing.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoicing with David in Psalm 16.
SPEAKER_00: Hear these words.
SPEAKER_00: Make these words your words.
SPEAKER_00: I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: My flesh also dwells secure.
SPEAKER_00: For you will not abandon my soul to shoal, or let your holy one see corruption.
SPEAKER_00: You make known to me the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: In your presence, there is fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: This song is our song, brother, sister in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in him, this should be your song.
SPEAKER_00: A song in which we declare with everything that is within us, he is faithful, he is with us, he is for us, he gives us life, he brings fullness, fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: Because what we find in these parables is a glimpse in how those who are in the kingdom respond to our King.
SPEAKER_00: That when we see Him, when we become see Him and put Him and place Him as the one who is supreme over all, there is no greater treasure for us than Him.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is our response to Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It is our joyful sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Both of these parables reveal this.
SPEAKER_00: That the response is to sell all.
SPEAKER_00: A heart that is captivated by Him.
SPEAKER_00: It isn't reluctant, it isn't unwilling to lay down our possessions, to lay down our relationships, our money, our experiences, our popularity.
SPEAKER_00: But rather joyfully doing that.
SPEAKER_00: In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be so clear that as Christians, there is nothing more valuable, nothing more precious than him.
SPEAKER_00: The question for you, the question for me is do we see him?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to lay anything down in your life in order to make him your treasure?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to accept when other things take his place?
SPEAKER_00: Right now, if I were to ask you, what do you fear losing most in this life?
SPEAKER_00: How would you respond?
SPEAKER_00: Because what we fear often reveals a lot about our heart.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, sister, you you need to consider where your treasure is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says in Matthew 6, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: What you can be sure of is that Jesus is not going to compete.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't here, oh please, please make me make me important.
SPEAKER_00: No, he doesn't place second place.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it is that relationship or your money or success or experiences or being liked, whatever it might be, if you seek to place these things as your treasure, if these are more supreme than him, you are in grave danger.
SPEAKER_00: And we will face extreme disappointment because they will never give you what you want.
SPEAKER_00: There are things in my life I need to be careful about that I need to keep a watch on.
SPEAKER_00: When I answer that question, what do I fear losing most?
SPEAKER_00: It's easy.
SPEAKER_00: My family.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you know how much I love them, but the truth is I could easily make them my treasure.
SPEAKER_00: It could easily become that I believe my joy rises and falls with them.
SPEAKER_00: To begin to subtly allow my heart to believe they are more precious than anything or anyone else.
SPEAKER_00: But the fact is that will be crushing for them and utterly devastating for me.
SPEAKER_00: Because they are not able to meet the longings of my soul.
SPEAKER_00: Because they are not able to meet the longings that I have, they are not able to complete my joy.
SPEAKER_00: In no way are they able to fulfill my hopes and my dreams.
SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is, I was not made for them, and you were not made for them.
SPEAKER_00: But rather, I was made for my God just as you are.
SPEAKER_00: Made to know him, made to enjoy him, made to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: To realize and appreciate that he is the greatest treasure I could ever know.
SPEAKER_00: That I don't deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't deserve him.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you are going through.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how you see Jesus in this moment, where how you've come into this room.
SPEAKER_00: We've all come into this room from a different perspective.
SPEAKER_00: But I know that there is nothing greater, nothing better than him.
SPEAKER_00: And all I can do is say, look at him.
SPEAKER_00: Come to him.
SPEAKER_00: My favorite verse in the Bible, not that you should have favorites in the Bible, is to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.
SPEAKER_00: For me, those words from Paul are just so clarifying, so helpful to consider my life and realize that me living for anything else other than Christ is worthless, is pointless.
SPEAKER_00: It will leave you just empty.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Sister, as we conclude, this time together, let me invite you to treasure Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let me encourage you not to look elsewhere but to see him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the eternal one, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Son of God, God made flesh, the righteous one, the holy one, the faithful one, the one with all authority, the beginning and the end, the righteous judge, the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus, who is brought us from death to life, who gives joy everlasting, who makes an orphan a child of the living God, who quenches and satisfies the longing of our souls, who treats us with compassion and gentleness, who brings healing and restoration to the brokenhearted, who deals with all our guilt and shame, who brings wholeness to the empty, who shows love that is unwavering, who is our guarantee of our future, who is who leads us in each moment of our life, who is bringing us home, Jesus, our suffering servant, dying for his own, dying for you, risen and reigning, defeater of sin and death, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see him?
SPEAKER_00: Where else will you go?
SPEAKER_00: Why would you go anywhere else?
SPEAKER_00: Come to him.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one we need.
SPEAKER_00: He is our treasure.
SPEAKER_00: Let us enjoy and rejoice in Jesus together.
SPEAKER_00: That he might be magnified and glorified through us.