Take your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew chapter 13. I want to speak to you tonight on the subject of a treasure hidden in a field. Hidden in a field. I'm using one of the parables our Lord gave in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 44 as my text. But if you will, stick a bookmark here and just flip back a few pages, or you don't have to. I can give you the gist of what's going on. I want you to see the first time He mentions this subject of the treasure. It's back in chapter 6 of the book of Matthew. where he's pointing out the self-gratifying activities of the Pharisees in this religious world back here in Chapter 6. And if you'll glance through this chapter, you'll see what he's saying. He's saying to them, don't do your alms like these men. Don't follow them as your example. Because they do what they do to be seen of men. That's why they do it. To be seen of men. They blow a trumpet, he said. Blow a trumpet. How many times have I seen that? How many times have I done that? Blow the trumpet. Be sure everybody's looking. And then do what you have to do. He said they love the crowded public places so they can stand on the corner and pray. They like the chief seats in the synagogues. They like to be called on. And then finally, he points out their covetousness. They serve the flesh, he said. They serve the flesh. And to this issue, he says to his disciples in Matthew chapter 6, verse 19, he said, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. Four, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Find the treasure, find your heart. Wherever and whatever my treasure is, you fill in the blanks. That's where my heart is. He says in verse 24, no man can serve two masters. He'll hate the one and love the other or else he'll hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot. It is an impossibility. You cannot serve God and man. And that's what these fellows were doing. That's what they were doing. They wanted the benefits and blessings of God. They wanted that. That's why they were there. That's why they were doing what they were doing. But they also wanted the fellowship of this world and all the comforts and treasures this world has to offer. They wanted both things. The Lord said, don't follow them. Don't go there. Don't go there. You can't serve two masters. Whatever this treasure is captivates my heart. All right. Now look with me at Matthew chapter 12. Here's the second time he mentions this treasure. In the first 25 verses of Matthew chapter 12, the Pharisees were criticizing the Lord and his ministry and his ways. And they compared what he did with their customs. They compared what he did in the light of their traditions and their understanding and their religious ways, their doctrines. And even when he performed an undeniable miracle right before their eyes, Ron, they were standing there and watched him heal a blind man and a deaf man right before their eyes. And they said, he casts out devils by the spirit of Beelzebul. Right before their eyes. And he said to them in verse 26, he said, if Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, Then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man, and then he'll spoil his house? Verse 30. He that's not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Verse 33. He said, either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by his fruit. He's talking about the fruit of one's ministry. Verse 34. Old generation of vipers. I reckon why he called them vipers. I thought about it while I was sitting in my study. You know what happens when you get bit by a poison snake? You swell up. You swell up. That's what happens when religion bites you. You swell up. That's exactly right. That's the first sign of the poison of religion. They fill you full of self-righteousness and they blow you up. And you swell up and walk out of that place on the air. And two or three hours later, you're at the bottom. Poison begins to work. Old generation of blackers. How can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, where the treasure is, the mouth speaketh. Now listen. Verse 35. A good man Out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they're going to give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Now I'm not going to spend a lot of precious time on this subject. But I'm hearing a lot. My wife was telling me one of the women at church or at the school where she works come running over all out of breath and asked this lady, she said, is Obama the Antichrist? I'm hearing a lot of talk about the Antichrist, aren't you? That this incarnate evil that's supposed to come into the world, that son of perdition and all those things. And I won't spend a lot of time on that. But Antichrist is what our Lord was just dealing with. That's what he's just talking about. It's not a single man, but the natural man under the spell of religion. That's what it is. Under the deception of the God of this world, and he's more prevalent in our day than any other time in history. He's called Antichrist because he will not be subjected to the preeminence of Christ. He's called Antichrist because he will not commit himself into the hands of Christ alone for salvation. He's called Antichrist because he will not rest in the righteousness of Christ alone. He's called Antichrist because he is not satisfied with the blood of Christ to justify him alone in the presence of God. He called anti-Christ because he cannot find motive enough and affection enough in Christ to cause him to serve the living God. He called anti-Christ because he cannot be satisfied with the revelation of Christ as the wisdom of God. They did not have the good treasure. in their heart. That's what he's telling them. Those who had the good treasure of Christ speak in unison with Christ and in unison with the perfections and glory of God. And they're in agreement with God against themselves and see themselves as they are. All right. Now, Matthew chapter 13. Our Lord left them, went down by the sea. And a multitude, a great multitude, gathered around him. And he climbed up one of those little fishing ships, and he pushed himself just a little bit out in the water, out away from the crowd, and got up on the side of that ship. And he began to teach them in parables, something everyone in that crowd could understand. He said a sower went out to sow. He went out to sow. Had a bag full of seed, Bobby. Reached his hand down there and he throwed out some seed. Reached his hand down and throwed some seed over there. Reached down and got some and throwed it over there. And some of it fell on the way. It fell by the way. And the birds seen it there on that bare ground, that hard packed ground where everybody walked that path or whatever that way was, road, whatever it was. The birds came down and they picked it up. And then some of it, it said, fell on the rocks. And the hot sun come out and just baked it, just scorched the sea. And then some of it fell among the thorns. And they grew together, aggressive like weeds do, and choked out the sea. And some of it fell into the good ground. Fell into the good ground. You see what he's saying? It fell by the way. It fell on the rocks. And it fell among the thorns. But it went into the ground. It went in. It went deep in the ground. where it could bring forth fruit, hidden beneath the surface. Among this multitude was the highest trained religious leaders and lawyers and scribes that Israel could produce, highly esteemed. They were the Billy Grahams of their day. If you mention their name, everybody in Israel will know who you're talking about. You know, I thought for years growing up in religion that Pharisees was a few smart alecks in the church. A few hypocrites in the church that ran around and made trouble. Now, this is the elite. This is the elite. This is the leaders. This is the choice of Israel. The best they could produce in this craft. Lawyers and scribes and Pharisees. people who had studied the Bible and studied theology all their lives. Can you get the picture? And our Lord stands up and talks about somebody throwing seeds. And his disciples looked out there at those men, those highly esteemed men, and the way they were reacting, and they said, Lord, why are you preaching in parables? Why are you talking to them like a bunch of little kids? Why do you belittle those men with these simple stories and simple illustrations? Why don't you address them in a manner more fitting their station? That's what they were asking. That's what they were asking. And he answered, and here's what he told them, verse 11, because it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But unto them, it's not given. I'm not talking to them. Is that what he's saying? I'm not talking to them. You needn't worry about their station. You needn't worry about how I'm not even talking to them. They're just out here. They're just out here. That's some of the stony ground. That's some of the way. That's the thorns. I'm not talking to thee. And that's enough said for me. He answered and said unto them, It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the King to heaven, but unto them it is not given. That's enough said for me to know that God will never use religion or religious things as an open door or influence to preach the gospel. I'm not going down here under some kind of a pretense and join the First Baptist Church hoping that I can sneak a little bit of medicine in the milk. Because it ain't given to them. It is flat ain't given. Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and had not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and had not heard them. Now, now, hear the parable. You see what he said? Now you know where I'm coming from. Now you know what I'm talking about. Now you know to whom I'm speaking. Now, he said, here's the parable. And he gives them again the parable and tells them what it means. And then in verse 44, Matthew chapter 13, verse 44, again he said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure, hid in a field, the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buys the field." In all these preceding chapters, our Lord's been teaching His disciples and illustrating to His disciples the gospel ministry. That's what He's been teaching. He is the treasure laid up in heaven, where moth and rust can't enter in. He's the good treasure of the heart, out of the abundance of which the mouth speaks. He's the seed sown to all who hear it, but enters deep within the ground which he has prepared. And here in this parable of the treasure, he's not changing subjects. He's still talking about the same thing. And he said, It's like a treasure, he said, this gospel ministry, he said, it's like a treasure hid in the field, hid in the field. And I believe the first meaning of this verse is this. There was no New Testament at this time, Ron. He's talking about the gospel being hid in the Old Testament in the types and the symbols and the sacrifices. The Lamb slain, the priesthood, the washings, the tabernacle, the kinsman redeemer, and on and on and on we could go. The gospel of Christ was hid. It was hid in those things. It was not clearly revealed. And to this day, over in 2 Corinthians 3.14, remaineth a veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. There's still a veil there. Men still look at those things. The Catholics still have a priesthood. They still go around with incense things, blowing smoke and doing all the things that they do. They still wear the miters on their head and the dress. It's just a carryover. The veil is still there unto this day. But I believe there's a wider and more expanded view to see here, which goes on to encompass the whole of the New Testament. So let's look at this parable and see if I can make good on what I've said. And the first thing I want you to see is where this treasure is hid. He said it's in a field. In a field. Now there is no doubt in my mind, and I've got good authority agreeing with me, Brother Mahan, Brother Don, some of the old writers, that this field is the Word of God. This is what he's talking about. As I said, it was hid in the Old Testament, because there was no New Testament up to this time. So this field is the Word of God, and he calls it a field. It's hid in a field. What's a field? What's he talking about, a field? Boy, I looked at that for the longest time. I was looking out the window, and I've got a neighbor, Mr. Case, and he raises cattle. I'm sitting there looking. You know what a field is? It's a piece of ground that's on the surface. It's a place where on the surface, it's covered with grass. It's just covered. That's all there is. There ain't a tree out there. There ain't a bush out there. There's nothing out there but grass. As far as you can see, it's just grass. What did the prophet say about grass? All flesh is grass. On the surface, the Word of God is grace. It's grace. What are you talking about, Preacher? I'm talking about, on the surface, the Bible's just a book of facts. That's all it is. You go through there, and it's a fact. God created the heavens and the earth. He created everything in seven days, six days, and rested on the seventh. You've got the account of man's fall in there, the fact of it. You've got genealogies in there, all the way through. You've got laws and statutes. You've got stories, great events, mysteries. You've got establishing of kingdoms, record of man. You've got an account of this man called Christ who was born in Bethlehem, an account of his life, where all he went, account of his ministry, the fact that he died, the proclamation that he was raised from the dead, the account of the witnesses, the establishing of apostles and the churches and the ministry and all these things. full of this type of thing. And man likes to graze in the field. Now, he likes to wander out in the field and nibble a little bit. He'll nibble a little bit on some prophecy and then he'll walk over here a little bit and he'll eat a little bit of genealogy, get a taste of that. And then he'll wander over here somewhere and he'll maybe just get a little bite of law and ceremonies All this type of thing and history and all he likes to graze in the field. That's what man does. Grazes in the field. Munch a little bit here on doctrinal issues like baptism and the Lord's table. And man sees things in the field. He walks out there in the field and he sees things. They see days and years to be kept and commemorated. They're celebrating one today. They see rules and regulations to be obeyed. They see great catastrophes like the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They see a nation of people and they're superstitious about how they talk about them. Don't talk about Israel. Just in case. Just in case. They see extraordinary gifts and evidences of the spirit. They see moral reform. They see all kinds of things out in the field. But they never see the treasure. Our Lord said, you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life. But you won't come to me that you might have life. They never find the treasure. Because on the surface, it's all grass. They can't see it. How come they can't see it? Because God hid it. God, this is God's field. This is God's treasure. And he hid it in the field. He hid it in the field. And men, all kinds of men, walked through the field. And usually they can find something that suits their taste. I remember one time, I was just a little fella and we moved. We lived in this little house. It was pretty run down. My family was poor. He began to work a little bit and gain a little bit of money, and we bought this little piece of a farm. It was about 10 acres. And this old lady that lived there was like a hermit. I mean, I never seen anything like it in my life. She never threw anything away. We went upstairs, and there was just issue after issue after issue. The walls were just covered with Time and Post and Look magazines that dated clear back through the war. And cans, where she'd open canned goods and things, just threw them out there. And there was a pile. It wouldn't fit inside this church. She didn't throw anything away. She saved everything. Newspapers, you could just go on. It was a mess. And it didn't have any good drinking water. And so we set about and we cleaned everything up and tore some of the old sheds down and began to clean the mess up. And we had to dig a cistern. There was just no good drinking water there on that place, and we had to make a cistern and buy city water and have it trucked in, which is what we were going to do. And we went out there, and we just didn't have any money, so we took picks and shovels, and me and my brothers, it was our task, and I was just a little fella. I think I was in the second grade, maybe still in the first grade. I guess I was still in the first grade. We went out there and began to dig, and I was listening to them, and they was digging in that hot sun, that old hard clay, and they was picking the thing out. And then I'd get in there and help them shove a little bit, and they'd pick some more. And all of a sudden, somebody hit a glass jar. And man of all commotion, they were all over there. It looked like a bunch of chickens down there in the dirt, just raking things away with their hand. And what they found was an old quart jar, one of those old, with the glass lid and the thing. It pulled money. It's old. It's just changed. I mean, there probably wasn't $10 in there. But some of it was old. Maybe it was valuable. I don't know. But you'd thought they found the Ark of the Covenant. I mean, they were just, boy, I mean, into this. They pulled that jar out of there. And mom and dad came out and pretty much settled who owned the jar. They took it. And after that, I can remember. I mean, it was great treasure to me. I was just a little kid. And after that, I can remember, I don't care if we was digging a fence post hole, either my mom or my dad was sitting there watching me dig the hole. They wanted to see if there was any treasure come out of the ground. When you find this treasure, every time this book's open, you're going to look. You're going to look. Maybe God will show us that treasure. I spent all my life walking through the field, nibbling on the grass, nibbling on them old bitter weeds. Bless God, one day he showed me the treasure. I saw something glimmering out there in the grass. And I ran over there and started digging. And the more I dug, the bigger it got. Until I began to see the redemptive glory You know what I did? I bought the field. Right there, right then. You say, how can we buy the field? The prophet said, come by, didn't he? I don't have any money. Don't matter. Come by without money and without price. Buy the field. by the field. And I bought the field, lock, stock and barrel, Genesis to Revelation. And now I can walk in it, cause it's mine. Mightn't say a promise, mightn't say it's mine. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Brethren, salvation is an inheritance. To this man, he just happened on the treasure. He just happened on it. I just happened to be in a meeting one night. Didn't you? That's what I thought. Salvation is an inheritance. And let me tell you this, if you'll take time to read the opening remarks to all these epistles, I don't care which one it is, you'll discover that they're not written to this world. They're not written to this world. They're written to people who own the field. Paul's letter to the Ephesians begins this way. He said, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. He's got nothing to say in this book to this world. It wasn't written in there. You remember what I told you our Lord said to his disciples? Don't worry about them. It's not written to them. Don't worry about how they react. I ain't talking to them. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you. Philippians is to the saints at Philippi. Colossians is to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae. There are no promises, no comforts, no consolations to those who have no special interest in the field. I recently lost two people that my wife and I know very well. My nephew was murdered, shot in the back down in South Carolina, lay dead out on the beach. They found him. And my mother-in-law, who died from natural causes. And when the relatives and friends who were troubled by the passing of these people, when they talked to us, people we know that are not believed, They began to quote different promises and passages from the Bible, taking comfort from what they read. It's not written to them. It's not written to them. I don't want to be hard or seem callous, but the promises of God are to believers. It belongs to those who bought the field. Do you ever examine the disciple's prayer? Nowhere in the prayer does the Lord exhort us to pray for this world. He says, pray thy kingdom come. Pray after this man. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Do you ever read the Lord's high priestly prayer in John 17? He said in verse 6, I don't pray for the world. I'm not even going to pray for them. I pray for those which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee. and they have believed that thou didst send me, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Now look over here in chapter 1 of Ephesians, verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself, his will about what? Verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth, even in him. What's going on today? What's going on? Worldly powers flexing their muscles. Nations are up in arms against one another. All around we see moral decline. See drugs, alcohol, all these things. What's going on? Here's what's going on. It's a gathering. That's what it is. It's a gathering. They're gathering the men. Gathering the men. in whom, verse 11, also we have obtained an inheritance. How on earth we get it? Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of the treasure, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. We buy the field without money and without price, because the treasure hid in the field is our inheritance. And then he hides the treasure again. Isn't that what he said? The treasure was hid in the field. The man found it, ran out, bought the field, and then he hid the treasure. What on earth is he talking about? Paul said, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. And I can stand and I can talk to men about the glory of Christ. and the perfections of God, and the redemptive glory of Christ, and all them things, and they looked right through me. They can't see the treasure. God hid it in a pot. But I suspect the reason this man found the treasure to start with, because somebody else was out there saying, Come look what I found. Come look what I found. If our gospel be hid, he said, it's hid to the lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded their minds, lest the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. Amen.