Pearl of Great Price

Driving home: We need and get not only different pictures of the same object. But also the same pictures repeated in different colors and on different grounds.

William Arnott's analogy of different colored birds (red vs. yellow) with the same shape illustrates how different parables, though conveying the same core truth, can appeal to and impress different individuals more effectively.

But there, the diversity is broadly marked, amounting in one aspect to a specific contrast. In view of this difference on the one hand, and of the example of the Lord on the other, I think it right to open and apply the parable of the pearl as fully as if the parable of the hidden treasure had not gone before it. We need and get not only different pictures of the same object. But also the same pictures repeated in different colors and on different grounds. One eye may be more touched and taken by this color and another by that. Although the outline of the objects be in both cases essentially t...

7:46 - 8:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We need and get not only different pictures of the same object. But also the same pictures repeated in different colors and on different grounds.

The analogy of hammering on a rock multiple times to create a crack illustrates the usefulness of repeating a lesson in different ways to ensure it penetrates and is understood.

And so although the lesson of the second parable had been more nearly identical with that of the first than it is, it would not have been expedient to dismiss it with just a passing notice. But it is a fact of natural revelation. By a full examination of the principle under the picture of a precious pearl, we shall obtain the advantage which in moral questions as in material operations is often unspeakably great. Namely, that of a second blow upon the same spot.

9:18 - 9:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the man as a wholesale pearl merchant, an expert 'gemologist' continually seeking high-quality pearls. He details the merchant's activity: his diligent search…

Explaining the Greek word for 'merchant' (emporas) as a wholesale dealer versus a common street vendor (kapelos) clarifies the high-level expertise and quality of pearls this merchant deals with.

And the word used for merchant could be rendered a wholesale dealer. It's the Greek word from which we get our English word, an emporium. The opposite of the word emporium. the emporas was a kapelos. He would be your common street vendor. He would be the retailer who's dickering in the bazaar or in the marketplace with pearls of various worth. But this man is a sure enough expert in pearls. He is a real gemologist who traffics not in cheap stuff, but he's a wholesaler who traffics in first grade pearls. He is described as a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. That is, he's engaged in seeking t...

12:20 - 13:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the man as a wholesale pearl merchant, an expert 'gemologist' continually seeking high-quality pearls. He details the merchant's activity: his diligent search…

Referencing pearls with gold and precious stones in Revelation and 'cast not your pearls before swine' in the Sermon on the Mount emphasizes the extreme worth and preciousness of pearls in the ancient world.

pearls that are of unusually high quality. This word for pearl, or the word pearl, used several times in the New Testament, enables us to understand that pearls are not just pearls. They are pearls of great quality. They are pearls of great quality. They are pearls of great value. They are pearls of great value. They are pearls of great value. And we need us to recognize that when our Lord spoke these words, the pearl was a gem of unusual worth because they did not yet know how to have cultured pearls. And there were all kinds of romantic and superstitious notions as to how the pearl was forme...

13:16 - 14:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the man as a wholesale pearl merchant, an expert 'gemologist' continually seeking high-quality pearls. He details the merchant's activity: his diligent search…

The analogy of a gemologist's trained eye distinguishing high-grade diamonds from others illustrates the pearl merchant's expertise and his ability to recognize the 'one pearl of exceeding great value'.

Continually seeking fine pearls. Like a good diamond merchant who knows that there are diamonds and there are diamonds. Most of us with our untrained eye, we couldn't tell the difference. If it glistens and sparkles and looks nice, well, that looks like a lovely diamond.

15:37 - 15:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the man as a wholesale pearl merchant, an expert 'gemologist' continually seeking high-quality pearls. He details the merchant's activity: his diligent search…

A vivid narrative describing the pearl merchant's life revolving around pearls, his trained eye, and the moment he encounters a pearl so magnificent it takes his breath away, illustrating the overwhelming discovery of Christ's worth.

Now try to live out the scene. Your life is pearls, and you've become an expert in pearls of great worth. You're not dabbling in the stuff that is market-wear junk. You're dealing with high-class stuff, so your eye is trained to look at those characteristics.

16:54 - 17:13 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the man as a wholesale pearl merchant, an expert 'gemologist' continually seeking high-quality pearls. He details the merchant's activity: his diligent search…

An extended narrative of the merchant liquidating all his valuable possessions—a ten-room house, vintage Corvette, baseball memorabilia—to acquire the pearl, emphasizing the radical and total cost involved.

He comes close to it. He examines it and does everything with it that a pearl merchant who's an expert would do with his pearl, and he is an expert. He is so taken up with the exceeding great worth of this pearl that he strikes a deal with the merchant on the spot, and he says, all that I possess for this pearl, and this merchant happens to know that back home, this guy's got a ten-room house. He knows that he's got a vintage Corvette sitting out in his garage.

17:51 - 18:23 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies the man as a wholesale pearl merchant, an expert 'gemologist' continually seeking high-quality pearls. He details the merchant's activity: his diligent search…

The merchant closing his safe deposit box at the bank and auctioning off his prized pearls illustrates his complete re-evaluation of worth after finding the 'one pearl'.

See the verbs? He went, he sold, he bought. Here's a man who is a pearl merchant in first-grade, high-class pearls. Perhaps he had a safe deposit box in his local bank with the best of his good pearls.

19:42 - 20:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's wonderful when people want to see Christ in every passage of scripture. But when you put Christ where he didn't put himself, you don't honor Christ.

The historical example of the Church of Rome selling indulgences and Tetzel's practices is used to strongly refute the idea that salvation can be purchased with money or deeds.

Well, there was a time when multitudes were duped by the horrible practice of the Church of Rome and its sale of, quote, indulgences. And basically, the indulgence was a provision whereby, for so much money, you could pay for the release of someone out of purgatory. That's what it was. It was purgatory by neutralizing the temporary punishment for their sin.

24:20 - 24:47 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It's wonderful when people want to see Christ in every passage of scripture. But when you put Christ where he didn't put himself, you don't honor Christ.

A quotation from a commentator suggesting the pearl's formation in an oyster (an irritant covered by secretions) is a picture of the kingdom's growth from sin, which Martin refutes as an incorrect interpretation of the parable's purpose.

I read from a commentator, very, very helpful in some ways. But then he writes, if our suggestion regarding the cause and manner of the pearl's growth is correct, that an irritant goes into that bivalve, into that oyster, and then it secretes things that envelop it, et cetera. He says, now listen to what he says. If our suggestion regarding the cause and manner of the pearl's growth is correct, the kingdom of God in the gospel of his son was generated in the same way.

26:02 - 26:31 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The core lesson is that the discovery of Jesus Christ's supreme worth and salvation causes a sinner to dispense with everything that hinders possessing Christ. This leads to an…

The story of the Philippian jailer asking 'What must I do to be saved?' is used as an example of the 'all-absorbing passion' that arises from discovering the 'pearl'.

That's the first thing that happens. The acquisition of the one pearl becomes the all-absorbing passion. When he found it, he went, he sold, he purchased. This is the Philippian jailer,

31:42 - 31:57 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The core lesson is that the discovery of Jesus Christ's supreme worth and salvation causes a sinner to dispense with everything that hinders possessing Christ. This leads to an…

The story of the Ethiopian eunuch, seeking truth in the Old Testament and then eagerly desiring baptism after Philip preached Jesus, illustrates the diligent search and immediate identification with the 'pearl'.

And now only one thing matters. It's the Ethiopian eunuch, who down there in Ethiopia finds no satisfaction in the pagan gods with which he was reared and that are all around him. And he sees in the scriptures of the Old Testament and in Yahweh, the God of Israel, something that looks like excellent pearls. There is something here not to be had there.

32:36 - 33:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The core lesson is that the discovery of Jesus Christ's supreme worth and salvation causes a sinner to dispense with everything that hinders possessing Christ. This leads to an…

John Bunyan's character Christian, crying 'Life, life, eternal life' while fleeing the City of Destruction, illustrates the grand obsession of a soul that has discovered the 'pearl'.

I found the pearl. I want to be identified with him. The kingdom has come. It's Bunyan's Christian who has discovered from the book in his hands that the city he's in is doomed to destruction.

33:56 - 34:10 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If you say you know Christ and He's a commodity that can in any way share your portfolio, you are deluded, my friend, utterly deluded.

The analogy of buying a car, where both buyer and seller believe they are getting the best deal, illustrates the mutual conviction of gain in a business exchange, and how this applies to the spiritual realm with Christ.

Right? Isn't that what happens when you buy and sell and trade and barter? You go down to a local car place and you look at the car. It's got all the features.

38:37 - 38:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The acquisition of the pearl at any cost is seen as the only rational thing to do, involving a radical devaluation of all other things. This is reckoned as an immeasurable gain…

A hypothetical conversation where someone asks the pearl merchant if he misses his Corvette or memorabilia, and he laughs, saying 'You don't understand, I've got this,' illustrates the overwhelming joy and lack of regret in gaining Christ.

tears, you don't have your Corvette in your garage anymore. What about your Mickey Mantle memorabilia? And your stand usual glove? And he would laugh and say, you don't understand.

40:05 - 40:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The joy in the getting swallowed up any pain in the giving. Now it is in this that the truth resembles, I'm sorry, that he truly resembles the true Christian convert.

A quotation from William Taylor emphasizing that the perception of salvation's value makes one happy to part with everything inconsistent with it, and that the joy of getting swallows up the pain of giving.

I have it. I have this pearl of exceeding great worth. William Taylor, who expounds both of the parables together, has captured this element so beautifully. This parable, these parables, he says, teach us that the perception of the value of salvation in Christ makes a man happy to part with everything that is inconsistent with its possession.

40:40 - 41:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The joy in the getting swallowed up any pain in the giving. Now it is in this that the truth resembles, I'm sorry, that he truly resembles the true Christian convert.

The story of the rich young ruler going away sorrowful is used as a negative example, illustrating that his refusal stemmed from an inadequate conception of Christ's value, as his riches had him.

And the joy, the joy of getting the thing swallowed up in itself, all of the pain of his giving. The joy in the getting swallowed up any pain in the giving. Now it is in this that the truth resembles, I'm sorry, that he truly resembles the true Christian convert. You remember how the young ruler went away sorrowful, wedded to his possessions?

41:54 - 42:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Cry to God that He will help you to see the pearl, the true worth of Jesus, so your heart will run out to Him.

The analogy of an ugly oyster shell, which some see when Christ is preached, illustrates how unbelievers fail to see the intrinsic beauty and worth of Christ, only perceiving external, unattractive aspects.

Ugly looking oyster. You ever see anyone get excited about the outside of an oyster shell? It's ugly. Dark ridges, sand worked in.

47:20 - 47:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the key contrast: the treasure is found unexpectedly, while the pearl is diligently sought. This illustrates the full spectrum of how God brings people into the…

The story of the woman at the well, who came for physical water but found living water unexpectedly, illustrates how the kingdom comes to some 'unsought'.

In them, Isaiah 65, 1 is fulfilled, where God says, I was found of them that sought me not. The woman at the well. She's coming out to the well for one. Carry back water for herself and any in her house.

49:33 - 49:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the key contrast: the treasure is found unexpectedly, while the pearl is diligently sought. This illustrates the full spectrum of how God brings people into the…

Zacchaeus climbing a tree merely to 'see' Jesus but finding salvation instead, illustrates how the kingdom can come to those not actively seeking it.

Think of Zacchaeus. He's heard about the buzz and excitement about Jesus of Nazareth. Scripture says he went up in a tree just to see. That's all he wanted.

49:55 - 50:03 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the key contrast: the treasure is found unexpectedly, while the pearl is diligently sought. This illustrates the full spectrum of how God brings people into the…

The conversion of the thief on the cross, who initially reviled Jesus but later sought Him, illustrates an unexpected discovery of the 'treasure'.

Their life is not in any way focused in seeking the things of God, yearning after something more noble and elevated and satisfying. Think of the darling thief. In the beginning of his time on the cross, the Bible says the thieves, both of them, cast the same reproaches into Jesus' face.

50:26 - 50:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the key contrast: the treasure is found unexpectedly, while the pearl is diligently sought. This illustrates the full spectrum of how God brings people into the…

Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night and later showing his love for Christ by tending to His body, illustrates someone who sought and eventually found the 'pearl'.

He comes to Jesus by night. Probably didn't want to be known that he was interested. He talks. Jesus exposes his real need.

51:24 - 51:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the key contrast: the treasure is found unexpectedly, while the pearl is diligently sought. This illustrates the full spectrum of how God brings people into the…

The Bereans diligently searching the Scriptures daily are presented as 'merchants seeking goodly pearls' who found the 'pearl of great price'.

But by the time we come to the end of John's Gospel, he's one of the two men that takes down the body of our Lord Jesus and shows his love for the pearl by washing it and wrapping it in clean cloth with spices. Think also, of the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily. They were merchants seeking goodly pearls. And they found the pearl of great price.

51:35 - 52:02 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the key contrast: the treasure is found unexpectedly, while the pearl is diligently sought. This illustrates the full spectrum of how God brings people into the…

Lydia, a seller of purple, whose heart the Lord opened like a flower to the sun, illustrates someone with a yearning heart who found the 'pearl' through Paul's preaching.

Think of Lydia, this seller of purple, who's part of a lady's prayer meeting, a yearning, a reaching out for far more than she could find in her pagan environment back in her hometown. And it says, when Paul came and preached, whose heart the Lord opened like a flower opens, to the sun. And I believe our Lord has given us those two ends of the spectrum to cover everything in between. The kingdom comes to some like the treasure came to that man.

52:02 - 52:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not stop a foot short of being anchored to Christ; acquisition of Him is everything.

The analogy of an anchor chain stopping one foot short of the bottom, rendering it useless, illustrates that merely coming close to Christ is not enough; full acquisition is necessary.

Acquisition was everything. One commentator used a vivid analogy. If you were in a ship, in the midst of a heaving, tossing, turbulent sea, all the powers of the wind seem to have broken loose and you fear that the boat is going to capsize unless you can find some sure anchor. This writer said, if the anchor chain stops one foot from the bottom, it may as well never have been cast. It's when the tines of the anchor sink into the ocean.

56:51 - 57:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not stop a foot short of being anchored to Christ; acquisition of Him is everything.

The analogy of a drowning man whose hand falls six inches short of a life preserver, still drowning, reinforces the point that almost grasping Christ is not salvation; full acquisition is essential.

But it remains stable. My friend, don't stop a foot short of being anchored to Christ. Being anchored to Christ is everything. The drowning man who cries for help from the life preservers sent to him and his hand falls six inches short of grasping that donut, which is his way of escape from death.

57:30 - 57:59 Read in full sermon