Weekly Sermons

Give All to Gain All - Matthew 13:44-58

When the child of God
Looks into the word of God
And sees the Son of God
They are transformed by the Spirit of God
Into the image of God
For the glory of God
- Warren Wiersbe

When King Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He was offering Himself up as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)
9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus came into Jerusalem on the very day the sacrificial lambs that would become the Passover lambs were brought into Jerusalem from Bethlehem. Jesus is the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Psalm 118:25-26a (ESV)
25Save us, we pray, O Lord!
O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26Blessed is he who comes in the name [authority] of the Lord!

Let’s do the math: 10 sins a day x 365 days = 3,650 sins per person per year; Multiplying that by 30 years per person equals 109,500 sins per person in a lifetime. Multiplying that by the 117 billion people who have lived in history = 12 quadrillion, 811 trillion, 500 billion sins.
- Jim Denison

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Matthew 27:46 (ESV)
46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

John 19:30 (ESV)
30When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished [Tetelestai]," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Matthew 13:44-58 (ESV)
44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” 53And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. 

Two little parables about the Kingdom’s inestimable value - V. 44-46

What is the point to us of the parables in verses 44-46? To get the greater treasure the man had to first give up everything he previously treasured. And for us to really get Jesus we have to do the same. But when we give our all to get Jesus, two things happen: we gain more than we could ever imagine, and we also gain what was ours back better than before.

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so Divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. - Isaac Watts, Verse 4 of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Learn to know Christ and Him crucified. Learn to sing to Him and say, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon Yourself what is mine and given me what is Yours. You have become what You were not so that I might become what I was not." - Martin Luther

Another parable about the great ‘sorting’ to come - V. 47-50

Are you ready for the ‘great sorting’ to come after Christ returns?

Hebrews 9:27-28 (ESV)
27And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Remember from Matthew 13 that we are called to be sowers not sorters! Catch all the people you can for Jesus – He will sort out whether they were truly saved or not. 

True Disciples will bring forth Scripture treasure - V. 51-52

In chapter 13 Jesus spoke of making what was a mystery in the past known now. Those who love Jesus will be able to explain how New Testament truth  comes out of Old Testament truth.

If you don’t take who Jesus is, what He has taught, and what He has done for you seriously, you won’t see God do much either. But if you recognize how valuable this faith is, you will give up everything to gain Jesus!