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The
Pearl Of Great Price
I know that God is working
in a greater way than ever before. Christ is still setting
at the right had of the Father, our great high priest. He
has never tired from His efforts. And if the people of God
will let their prayers ascend it will move God on His
throne. I believe that meant not just to pour out His
Spirit on all flesh, the Day of Pentecost, but from then
on He poured His spirit out on all flesh---that will give
Him a place where He can pour His Spirit out. Thank God
for His goodness.
The first thing the devil
did, was to work on the preachers and get them to feed the
people chaff and wood and stubble and got God’s sheep so
weak, that they began fighting the battle within
themselves and trying to overcome the devil---let alone,
take the world for Christ. But, if we will turn back to
God’s Word and feed God’s sheep, and after all,
that’s what He called us for, to feed the sheep, feed
the Church, which He purchased with His own blood, and so
get God’s sheep fat and flourishing so they will
produce. God, over in the Songs of Solomon, when Christ
tells there of the beauty of the Church---Let’s turn
over there a minute. I just feel impressed---for I love
those Songs of Solomon. I have sung them many times.
The 4th chapter of the
Song of Solomon, when Christ is telling of the beauty of
the Church; let’s listen to Him. “Behold, thou art
fair, my love; behold, thou are fair: thou hast doves eyes
within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that
appear from mount Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of
sheep that are eve shorn, which came up from the washing:
whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among
them.” There’s the church; my friend. How do they
look? They look like a bunch of sheep that have just come
up from the washing. And every one of them brings forth
twins. Healthy sheep will have twins and triplets, but if
you’ve got a bunch of old sheep running on a hillside
taking stubble, they will do good if thy can bring forth a
live lamb.
Now, the reason a lot of
congregations are not bringing forth new babes is because
God knows the mother is not strong enough. She would die
in the attempt. God wants us to feed the church. He told
Peter back there, when He spoke to him, “Feed my
sheep.” If you love me, Peter, feed my sheep. If you
love me, Peter, feed my sheep. If you love me, Peter, feed
my lambs. Why did he say feed my sheep twice? If you do
not feed your sheep you will not have lambs to feed. I
declare unto you, that all a lot of congregations need is
just some new babes. That will heal a lot of their
conditions. You know, children can grow up and as they
grow up together it seems like they let a lot of little
things get between them and get certain attitudes, but God
blesses their home with a little baby and they all forget
their attitudes and all go to loving that baby. We’ve
got to have congregations; we have to have babies born in
just every little bit; that is what helps us to keep that
love and concern. It will cause the other children to
forget about themselves and go to helping that babe to
make it and while they are helping the babe, God will be
strengthening them. God has ordained, that if we will
follow His plan, there will be children born,
periodically, right down along and it will do something
for us in the body of Christ. We will be edified by it.
Turn to the 13th chapter
of Matthew, verse 45; we are on the 6th parable. “Again
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking
goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great
price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” We
studied that of consecration, the last parable…that of
the kingdom was like a treasure hid in the field. We
proved by the Word that the field is the Word of God and
within that the Kingdom is here. We must be born again of
the Spirit of God, to find it within the Word. Jesus told
Nicodemus, you can’t see it, unless, you are born of the
Spirit of God. Then that individual, after he had found
that treasure, found the kingdom, he goes and sells all
that he has, nothing more then speaking of consecration to
God’s eternal Word, selling out---and buys the whole
field, or buys the truth.
Now, we take one step
farther. I thought that Christ was the pearl of great
price and here the man has even got Christ already and
he’s consecrated already, but here he has found a pearl
of great price. Well, let’s see what the Word says about
it. That is why we are studying this thing. I want us to
see that a real experience with God, spoils us for the
things of this world. When we really love God and find
this treasure, we will be through with the things of the
world. We will, just as Peter said, be as new born babes,
desire the sincere milk of the Word and we, my friend,
will come, and consecrate to its completeness, and when we
consecrate to its completeness, God will give it to us in
its completeness. We won’t know it all, we will be ever
learning, but it will be all ours. And the very Spirit of
God in our hearts, will begin to lead us through this
precious Word, hunting more gems and rich things.
A man that has
consecrated to God’s Word---how will he be? He will be
as a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. I want you to see,
before we go any farther: He will be seeking through that
Word, for other truths. Pearls, my friend, are symbols of
truths within God’s Word. The Word of God answers the
symbol. You all know what it means over in Matthew, when
Jesus said, “Cast not your pearls before swine.” What
did He mean? He meant, my friend, when you see an
individual that has an attitude that he just raises up
against the Word, you are just wasting your time to pour
out the truths on him. So, Jesus used pearls as a symbol
of truths within God’s Word. He said not to cast your
pearls before swine or they will turn and rend you, and
trample them under their feet. When we see people today
tramp this precious truth under their feet and turn around
and knife us in the back, we know what they are. So we see
this individual that has sold out to God; you know it was
true in our experience. We began seeking through God’s
Word to find these truths and every one we found was a
little richer; you know that is so. Let me tell you, as
long as the Spirit of God is within us He will keep
digging up truths here from His Word and our heart with it
and that will stir up an anxiety within us to go after
something better. He would liken it unto a merchantman
dealing with pearls or dealing in truths, my friend, and
he is going through this Word hunting richer things and a
better pearl.
In the opening, in this
sixth seal age, we have a picture of the kingdom. Men and
women who had been justified by the message preached by
Luther, and had been consecrated by the Wesley age. Now,
here’s the picture of the kingdom at the beginning of
the sixth seal age. And what were they doing? They were
going around in the many religious shops, hunting a
greater truth than they had where they were before. God
had His people in a “state of unrest” before He sent
out the great message of coming on back to Mt. Zion. And
people today, before they ever find the truth, get in a
state of unrest. As the Word of God in prophecy speaks,
they wandered from “hill to hill”, seeking their
resting place---and couldn’t find it. Even so, he would
show us a kingdom right here before 1880 made up of men
and women hunting pearls of truth. They had an attitude;
they consecrated to God’s will; they wanted all the
truth and here, they went around in the many religious
shops. Everywhere they could hear of someone preaching
more truth than what they had, they went over and bought
that. Just here and there, wherever they could hear
somebody that was dealing more truth than they had, my
friend, they went and took hold of it. He likened it, my
friend, to pearl merchants, if you please. God help us to
see! Many are easily satisfied, but this individual that
Jesus pictured is a merchant man---one that really went
into the pearl business.
We want you to see, that
if you don’t get this experience, you will never find
the pearl of great price. This individual is already
dealing in pearls and truth, before he ever found the
pearl of great price. That’s just another preconceived
idea we had. Christ did not come at a price. God sent Him
and brought Him and I am going to preach on something else
this morning that was bought with a price and it is the
pearl of great price. This individual was already a
merchant man dealing in pearls of truth, before he ever
found the pearl of great price. He had to have Christ, he
had to have had a born again experience, or he could not
have known anything about the truth.
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