Good morning, everybody. How you doing? Loving this rain, aren't you? Anyone with joint problems in this room, you feeling it, aren't you? It's called an easterly wedge pattern and it hurts.

So if you have joint problems and your head's hurting today, there's your reason. Well, I'm so glad to be back. Summer's not really over because I know we're going to pay for this rain and this cool weather. It'll probably be 110 Hades in about three weeks. But I'm so glad to see you all back from traveling, spending time with your family, and that is so, so important.

And I'm just going to go ahead and give a shout out because I'm a part of this group of people here today who are about to move some kiddos into college. And I'm just praying for you, you know, some of you, there's a lot of you that are moving to this place at a city nearby. I can't say it. I'm sorry. I'm channeling my inner Billy Shaw right now.

I just. It starts with a G, that's all I'm saying. But, no, I'm so proud of you guys that graduated, that have already been in college. We're gonna hate to see you go, but we know that that is you leaving the nest and branching off. And so for those moving into that city nearby, yeah, you and, you know, you moving in and some over here wishing you the best as you settle in.

For those moving. I know there's some moving in the next week over to Anderson and different places, but I'm praying for you moms and you dads and grandparents that gotta give you that comfort to know he's got them. He's got them right here. Don't ever doubt it. If they belong to him, there's no one that can take them out of his hand.

And so we pray. As we've been talking about these parables and stuff, they're being sown into the world. And so we're just praying that God will use them exactly where they are. Why? Because God has called us to do two things.

He's called us to do two things. If you ever doubt what your purpose in life is, I want you to remember these two things. He's called us to preach the gospel and make disciples. He didn't just call us to live or to get by. He's called us as believers in Jesus Christ together united as the church, the body of Christ, to preach the gospel and make disciples.

And we express that here. At Ebenezer, if this is your first time here or you're visiting or haven't been in a while, let me just tell you, this is what we believe. This is what unites us together as a church. H, O, P and E. We are. We believe we are a place of hope.

That we are a people of hope. And as a people of hope, we believe in four things. That we help others connect. We help them know. We want them to know us and to know God as a result, that we believe that we own our faith.

That growing in Christ and learning about Christ and then multiplying that in other people's lives is vital. We believe that we're called to pursue God daily in our devotion, in our commitment of honoring God and praying in our giving. We believe that's important, that our worship is important. And finally, we believe that our mission to extend his hope. We believe that that is what drives us to serve and to reach out to people and to go around the world and to do what the two things are.

To preach the gospel and make disciples. And that's who we are. And I hope if you're like kind of dipping your toe back into church or maybe this is your first time here, we want you to know who we are. And that's who we are. We are Ebenezer.

We are a place of hope. And we're honored that you would come and hang out with us today. Because our greatest hope, it's a treasure. We've been studying these parables for the last two months. And I was going to start a new series today.

And about two or three weeks ago, I was like, you know what? No, I'm going to back up. So I want you to turn to Matthew 13. We're going to back up and catch some of the parables that we didn't cover. Not because I wanted to skip over them, but in thinking about this, I thought, you know, there's some additional nuggets.

Is that not what a treasure is? Is a nugget something that you discover that has great wealth and value? Like, we're just going to take some time to skip back to that. Because in the midst of our world and suffering and loss and persecution and tension and whatever may come against you, I want to remind you that there's coming a day when Jesus Christ is going to subjugate this earth, that Satan will no longer have reign and rule in this world. And he will judge Satan and his angels, but along with that, he will judge the dead.

We don't like thinking about that. Do we? But you can't read the parables in Matthew and ignore the judgment that's coming someday. You just can't. It's all over the pages.

Like one scholar wrote in there. He said it was refreshing to kind of be slapped across the face a little bit and reminded that God, in sending his Son, died to pay the price for his church. And his church has been called to live holy and separate lives from this world, to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. And you can't read these parables and not see that. When we did our study in Philippians, we read this verse in 3, 20, and 21.

For our citizenship is heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with a body of his glory. He wants to change you and me. Yes. This is not our final destination. But if you die before Jesus Christ comes back and they put your body in the ground somewhere, there's going to come a day when the trumpet will sound and there'll be a shout from heaven.

And the dead in Christ will get their bodies back. And all of us who are alive and remain with them will be caught up into the air. The Latin word rapturo. It's where we get rapture. We'll be caught up into the air to be with them forever and ever.

Because this King Jesus is going to come back someday. But because he's gone does not mean he doesn't expect us to live in the kingdom. Now, some of those parables that talked about a man had a. Had a vineyard and he left. That's why he told those stories, that the kingdom didn't disappear, didn't cease to exist.

But we're waiting for that day, as that passage says, that he would subject all things to himself. That's our king. So let me ask you a question before I ask you to stand and read this passage. How important is that king and his kingdom to you? Have you discovered the blessings of living in the kingdom of God?

Now, I'm going to meddle a little bit in this message, so let me just go ahead and do it Now. I love being American. I love living in America. I love living in Georgia. I don't know that I want to live in another state.

I love living in America.

My priority is the Kingdom of God before I'm an American. And I think too often we kind of saturate that down because we think that God wants us to be the best American we can be. No, he wants you to be the Best kingdom liver that you can be. And that supersedes any nation, nationality, ethnicity. To be in the kingdom of God and in his family is something so precious that if you haven't discovered it yet, I hope by the end of this message I motivate you to find out what rich kingdom living is all about.

So would you stand with me as we read the last four parables of Matthew 13? Some scholars will argue that there's only seven, I'm going to argue that there's eight. And we're going to review some of the parables we covered. But I want you to read these last four, because the formula is it says, the kingdom of heaven is like. And it gives a word.

It does that three times. And the last one, though, it's not a kingdom but a scribe. So listen to the word starting in verse number 44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and he hid it again, and from joy over it say joy. Now say joy like you have joy, and sells all that he has, and he buys that field.

But again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant that's seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, say one, he went and he sold all that he had, and he bought it that pearl again. The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea. Now he's changing direction, but there's a reason, and I hope that when we get to that part in the message, you'll see what's going on here. And gathering fish of every kind.

And when it was filled, they drew it to the beach and they sat down, they gathered the good fish into some containers, but the bad fish they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age that the angels will come forth and take out of the wick, take the wicked out from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood these things? Jesus said.

The disciples were like, yeah, yeah, we got it. I don't know if they did the last one. And Jesus said to them, therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like, there's the parable language. A head of a household who brings out of his treasure things that are old and new. Father, as we dig into this message, as the psalmist wrote, let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.

O Lord our rock and our Redeemer in Jesus name, amen. You can have a seat. For centuries, people have been obsessed with buried treasure. Now, at the 9 o' clock service, I tried this. Let's see if you can beat first service.

Do I have any Pirates of the Caribbean fans in this room? There was one in the first service. I told them that you guys could counsel them. No, I'm just kidding. But I mean, even in the classic work by Alexandre Dumas, you'll know I'm a fan of the Count of Monte Cristo.

As he's in prison and meets the priest, he receives a map to the family treasure of the family of Spada. And the whole book hinges on him finding that treasure. That supplies the means for him to become the Count and exact his revenge on his enemies. Treasure. Buried treasure.

But we don't hear that in modern times very much, do we? We don't find treasure maps with an X that marks the spot. I mean, no one in here is going through their grandfather's attics finding a map to One Eyed Willie's treasure room. Are you? I'm so glad y' all got that reference.

Thank you. Now, those of you who are puzzled, there was a movie in the 80s called Goonies.

And for my Marvel fans, did you know that Tony Stark calls one of the aliens One Eyed Willie? Just go back and watch it. You'll find that little nugget. I want you to imagine you go to the bookstore and you buy this book and you're reading this book and you read a poem. And in this poem it says there's a chest that's filled with gold and jewels worth over a million dollars hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

Where are the Rocky Mountains? West. That's exactly what happened in 2010 when a wealthy art dealer made Forrest named Forrest Fenn, which I believe there is a three series show on Netflix that tells this story. So if you want a little more detail, go and watch that or read the news reports. He published this poem in his memoir, the Thrill of the Chase.

And inside was this mysterious poem filled with clues that led to a real treasure. And over the next decade, from 2010 to 2020, tens of thousands of people went searching. They quit their jobs, they spent their savings. In fact, if you read the news reports, and some of them are conflicting, five people lost their lives looking for the finished treasure. Why?

Why would they do something like that? Because they believed that the treasure was real and. And it was worth not something, but everything. You know, I may reference this illustration again later, but it kind of blows my mind that about every seven or eight months, the Powerball will get up to like $20 million. And people who don't normally play the Powerball will go buy a ticket for the 20 million pot.

But they wouldn't buy a ticket for the 1 million pot. You know why? Because it's worth everything.

That's why we go after buried treasure. That's why you spend years in school. That's why you work hard in your job to get promoted. Why? Because there is treasure in your heart.

I want you to imagine that your heart is like this gigantic safety deposit box. And inside that deposit box are things that are most valuable to you. Maybe in there you've got your kids first pair of shoes, or you've got birth certificates, or maybe you have some old bonds that you bought in the past. But you put all of these valuables in this safety deposit box, you lock it with a key and you leave it in a vault. My question to you this morning is if Jesus is correct, and I believe he is, that where your heart is, there is your treasure.

What do you treasure in your heart? See, because here's the truth. I could sit down with you and have a conversation, talk about your life. And if you were really transparent and honest, the words you speak and the things that you do reveals what's really valuable in your life.

I had a family member who was a workaholic. And he didn't make a lot of money, but the work became his treasure. He took away time from his family and his friends and his faith to work and work and work and work. Someday when you leave this world, you'll realize you came in this world naked and you'll leave naked. You didn't bring it into the world with you and you can't take it with you.

Jesus said that you don't want to store up treasure that moths can eat and that rust can corrupt, like you can't take it with you. So if I'm telling you that there's something outside this world that is so much more vastly valuable than anything you can ever have or experience in this world? Would you want it if thousands of people would sell everything that they have to go into the Rocky Mountains and look for a buried treasure they weren't even sure existed?

I'm telling you there's a treasure in the kingdom that is the kingdom, and it's more valuable and more precious than anything that you'll ever own this side of heaven. Why would you not want to live for that? In fact, my proposition to you is I think there's a lot of spirit Filled believing Christians who have never tapped into the blessings of the kingdom. Now they've decided to kind of, I hope it's not you, but if it is, you've just kind of decided to live at the very lowest level. Like, I don't have time for the kingdom.

Like, I've got so many other more things going on in my life that are more important. Sometimes that's even family. But if I draw out of your safety deposit box all these things that are valuable, important to you, if they don't fall in under the umbrella of the kingdom of God, then your priorities are out of whack and you can't experience the fullness of the blessing of the King Jesus Christ, who wants to bless you in his kingdom. But because we live in a kingdom, we need to live by the kingdom's commands and its rule and its reign. But at the same time, we live under its blessing and that relationship that we have with the King of the universe.

Have you considered and realize the depth and the greatness of the value of the Kingdom of God? I think that's why as Matthew is recording the words of Jesus, that he gets to this place and he says, you know, I need to tell them how valuable this is. These parables that we're about to dig into, follow a context. Just back up to 13:1 for a moment, you can follow along with your finger. We started this journey with the parable of the sower and the field being the world.

And the Word is being sown into the field, looking for good soil. And when it found good soil, what did it do? It germinated and it took root and it began to grow. After he tells that parable, he pulls the disciples aside. In verse 11, he tells them that through the parables he's revealing the mysteries of God that would be hidden to some and revealed to others.

So what that means is for you and I to gain the true meaning of what is inside these parables and the richness of the kingdom. It's something we have to depend on God to do. It's illumination. He's got to show us what it means. And so Jesus then explains to them the parable of the sower.

Then after that, he tells the parable of the wheat and the tares that we talked about a few weeks ago and how the kingdom was like the man sowing these plants. Now that the Word has taken root, it's become a plant, and those plants are being distributed through the world, sown among the tares. But he wanted to make a point that there will be true believers and false believers, and that when he returns at the end of time and comes back, he's going to separate the wheat and the tares. But patiently we have to wait for that harvest to come in before those things are separated or you will hurt the wheat. He makes the point of the distinguishing mark of the kingdom, that there may be some that say, lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and we healed and did all these things.

And he says, depart from me. I never knew you. That's why last week I begged and I pleaded with you that if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, don't play with fire, or you will spend eternity in fire. And then he goes from there. And Grant did a great job talking to us about how it started in a seed and it took root, became a plant.

And now you're growing and I'm growing, and we're growing together as the church. And it's like this mustard seed that took root and began to grow into a tree, that the birds would come and nest in the branches. The growth is expected in the kingdom. Like God's not up there just going, well, maybe someday they'll get it right. We have an unlimited supply of power by the Holy Spirit to live holy living and to do the work and the will of God that he's called us to do.

He's not called you to do something that he won't equip you to do. So it grows. In fact, the parable that follows that, the fourth parable of the book is the book of leaven and bread. And I've never. I mean, Laura has taken one of those Mason jars and, like, done some of these yeast rolls.

But you got to let it do what that leaven has to grow. And he says that this leaven will permeate the kingdom of God, will permeate throughout the world until that time when it reaches its fullness.

So then they retreat into the house. And Jesus then goes back and explains the wheat and the tares because he wants them to understand, yes, it takes root with the word. It begins to grow. It grows together. It begins to kind of under the radar.

It's growing, not necessarily in secret, but it's growing unobserved, but it's growing large and big. And he makes the point that at the end, even this plant, there will be this judgment about those that are truly believers and those that are not. Well, why is that important? Why does that have bearing on this context? Well, now we pick up with this idea of the kingdom of heaven.

The formula throughout this entire chapter, except with the first parable of the Sower, has been, the kingdom of heaven is like. And he gives a word and he gives explanation.

What he says now is that if the kingdom of God is a work of God and it's the word of God growing in to produce growth within those who truly believe, then there will come a time when those who truly believe and those who do not believe will be separated. And you know why that's important? Because what God has done is valuable.

Jesus didn't die for a church to stay unholy. Jesus died for the church to separate the church from the world. And that's what makes the church valuable. If the church continues in sin and those who are in the church continue in sin, it becomes unholy and it becomes unrighteous, and it's not fit for anything.

So the value. Listen to this. First Corinthians 6, 20. It says, Therefore you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

Why? Because the price Jesus paid for you with his own life, giving everything he did because he's valuable enough to pay the price. And now what he's purchased is valuable because he makes it holy. So I want you to look at four principles in these remaining parables, and I just want us to see again. My goal is to help us ask the question today in my heart, is the kingdom properly valued as a place of indescribable, immeasurable value in my life?

Principle number one, Treasure, true joy is magnified when. When the kingdom is prioritized.

I truly believe this is one of the reasons why people get stuck in their faith after a few years or maybe a couple of decades, because they lose. They lose the joy of salvation. They lose the joy in knowing that they're participating in something that is supernatural, outside this world. In fact, if you pick up with me again at 44, it says, this is like treasure hidden in. In a field.

It was common practice back then, like, maybe some of your grandparents to take maybe some money and stick it in a Mason jar and hide it away. Especially during the Great Depression, I would hear stories of people after their ancestor or their grandparents would die and they would go and start cleaning out the house and they'd find these Mason jars full of money. And they were like, whoa, man, there's like 500 bucks stashed in here. My grandfather was. He wouldn't spend a dime.

But he grew up in the Great Depression, having lost his dad at 10 years old. Like, he guarded his money. When he needed money, he'd just sell an acre of land. That's how he operated. He just.

Like, he'd sell a piece here and sell a piece here, and that's just how he lived. But, I mean, he was so, like, I never saw him wear anything but his work clothes. He would wear his work, close the church. He was so stingy with his money. But he grew up in a time where if you didn't save it, you didn't have it.

And so back then, they would take their treasures and they would bury them in a field. Well, along comes this guy, and he's not. Check this out. He's not looking for the treasure, but he has a Bugs Bunny moment. Y' all remember watching Bugs Bunny?

Please tell me you've watched Bugs Bunny. I saved all of my movie and TV references for this day. There's an episode of Bugs Bunny where he's tunneling through the ground, and he hits his head on a rock, and the rock comes out of the ground, and it's a huge gold nugget. How many of you would freak out if you went out in your backyard to plant a bush and you're digging down and you hit a rock, said, oh, it's just another rock, and you get to turn it around. You bring out a nugget this big around, what would you do?

All you introverts would even scream.

But, you know, back then, they didn't. Just like in that Bugs Bunny Carter, they didn't have banks and they didn't have a place to keep it safe. And so he gets ripped off. So whoever owned this field, this guy finds this, accidentally finds this treasure, he puts it back in the ground to protect it. Not so he could hide it, necessarily, but because it was invaluable.

And he wanted to do it right. Because he knew two things to be true. Number one, either the person who owns this land, that treasure belongs to them, or number two, whoever owned the treasure, has died and forgot about it. So what does the Bible say? He went and sold everything he had to buy the land.

That seems extreme, doesn't it? Not if you understand the value of the treasure. It was immeasurable. But what motivated. What did the text say make?

Motivated him to sell everything that he had? Come on, say it again. It was joy from joy. He sold everything he had so he could own that land. Might have been a piece of trash land, but because the nugget was there, because the treasure was there, he was willing to do whatever it took.

And in Your life. And in my life, if the kingdom of God is so precious and. And good, are you willing to give everything you have to live in that kingdom? Because here's the truth. If we are the kingdom present on earth, did Jesus not give everything he had because you had value?

And when we discover that value, we'll be willing to give everything we have to have that treasure and do it right. The second point is likened unto it. It's a man who is a merchant, and he is seeking. It says, find pearls. And here's what we find.

If in the first one, we find this joy being magnified because of the pearl, we find true honor being expressed. I've got hunters in the room. We were talking about this yesterday. Some of you have some really nice trophy bucks on your wall, don't you? Probably took a lot of work and tracking to find that trophy buck.

And when you shot it, you didn't go to some cheap taxidermist to get it mounted. You went and paid the best money. Why? Because it's a valuable trophy. And you hung it on that wall and you hung it proudly, even though your wife's like, I don't like dead animals in my living room.

But you hung that thing on your wall. Why? Because you found the one of great honor to be displayed and to be honored above all things. This merchant would know what the perfect pearl looked like. In fact, it said first that he was looking for pearls, plural.

But then he found the one. He found the one. And so what did he do? He sold everything that he had to buy that one pearl. You know what's interesting to me?

If he's a merchant and he's going around the seas, he had to go back home on a long journey with the hope and expectation that he would return and that pearl still be there. He took a risk. Maybe he made a deal with the owner of that pearl. But he went, sold everything he had and came back because, just like the other man, he had joy because he wanted that one pearl. Few weeks ago, I talked about when I proposed to Laura and I went to buy that ring.

I didn't know a lot about what good diamonds looked like and which ones didn't. Here's the two things. I knew. My wife was worth any amount, and everybody said, amen, your spouse is too. All I knew is that how much it cost, and I could afford it, and it looked good.

Now, when I started breaking it down to the color and the cut and the clarity and the carrot and all that stuff, all that was important. But what I knew was that I was about to slip something on her hand of immeasurable value, because she had immeasurable value. And this man expressed great honor in buying that one pearl. And when we discover just how valuable the kingdom of God is, we'll do whatever it takes to seek. Notice the contrast here.

In the first one, the man stumbled across upon the treasure. But in the second one, he looked for it. How different would your life look if you searched for the values of the kingdom of God? Everyone knows Jeremiah 29:11. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.

Some of you've got it plastered on your car, in your house. You. You might even have it written down on a card. But do you know what verse 13 says? God says, you will seek me and find me when you seek after me with your whole heart.

What treasure are you missing out on? Because we're not seeking the kingdom of God. You see, Jesus knew. He knew his kingdom. He knows his kingdom.

And even though he's gone away, just like the parable read about the man who had a vineyard and he went away, he's been telling his disciples that he would go away. But just because he went away didn't mean he stopped being king.

In Matthew chapter four, when Satan is tempting him, he tried to say, hey, look, if you want the kingdoms of the earth, you got to go through me. He said to him, the devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship him. But Jesus didn't bite. You know why? Because he already knew their mind.

Anyway, if you go back to Psalm 2:7 9, God says and says, surely I will tell the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. Jesus didn't need Satan to have the kingdoms.

He's going to subjugate them. We Read in Revelation 11:15 this at the last trumpet sound of the seven trumpets, there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he will reign forever and ever and ever.

This kingdom that Jesus bought with his blood is beyond anything you and I can measure.

Maybe you did stumble across him. Maybe you're like me in your story. I wasn't necessarily looking for the Lord, but I'm sure glad the Lord was looking for me. He valued me enough to call me to himself. If he's called you to himself, what an honorable, humbling invitation that was.

What better way to live in respect, in worship and honor than to value the kingdom of God above anything else?

Is that true for your life? If I opened up the safety deposit box of your heart, what would I find? But how valuable is that treasure? Well, let me kind of pivot now, because this next point feels like it's at the opposite end of the spectrum. But I want to make an argument so.

So kind of. Hang on with me. Third point says this. As with the tares, the separation of true and false believers in the end should produce reverence, obedience and humility. Why?

Because the kingdom of God has value. Well, why does the kingdom of God have value? Because Jesus Christ died to make his church holy and separate. Otherwise it's not. Do you want bread made out of the tares?

Remember we talked about how the tares has a certain level of poison? Do you want some bread made with poison in it? Well, look at the dragnet. This dragnet was a large net that either they strung between two boats, or they would tack one end of the net to the beach and then sweep the boat around and just scoop up anything. You ever watched anybody drag these nets in?

They got all kinds of trash fish in it. You see, to a Jew and their eating rules, there was only one kind of fish you could eat. It had to have two requirements. It had to have fins and it had to have scales. I'm sorry for all my friends in the room that like catfish, it has fins, but it doesn't have scales.

Now, I don't know anybody that likes shark meat. I caught shark one time. Ugh. Nasty stank. So bad sharks are out.

Any of you eat eel? That's disgusting. Don't eat an eel.

But what it tells us is that as he drugged this net through, there was no discerning. It was just scooping up. That's what the gospel does. It comes along to whosoever will, and it drags it to the beach. Now, but here's the discerning mark.

How are you righteous if you're a believer? Are you righteous because you've done a lot of good stuff? Are you righteous because you read your Bible? Are you righteous because you came to church today? Look how holy I am.

Whoo.

Don't forget, there's just a few chapters in a few chapters following here. Jesus is Going to tell the Pharisees. They're like whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. Don't put stock in your own personal self righteousness. You are righteous because Jesus Christ gave you his righteousness.

So at the end of time, when he's sending his angels forth, like he said earlier, it's not going to come till the swooping has taken place. The net's been drawn to the beach and they begin to stoop down. There's about 20 different species of fish in the Sea of Galilee. Some of them you might want to eat, but they don't taste good. Like, I've caught carp before on Lake Lanier, but I don't want to eat it.

Have you, you ever had bad fish? Now I love grouper. Oh, my gosh. Especially tuna. I am a tuna.

I love tuna. I'd eat tuna steak before I'll eat beef. Don't throw anything at me. I just love tuna. But he said the angels would come and they would begin to pick up the good fish and throw them into buckets and the rest would be cast away.

What does that have to do with the value of the kingdom of God? Because I trust that God will value his kingdom, that in the end he will separate that which is wicked and does not know him from that which is good. We don't like that, do we? I know some very well meaning people who come to church every week, but they're no more a Christian than Satan is. Whether it's because of a lack of repentance or.

Or a lack of humility or no fruit in their life. I mean, all those things we need to assess in our life. Because, guys, I want to be in the good bucket. I don't want to be cast away. And it's interesting because Jesus said, do you get this?

Do you get that this is what's happening right now? Things are being sewn, the net's being drugged. The gospel is going out and it's going out through you.

And at the end, the efficacy of that gospel will be judged. And those who have truly believed and have been born again by the spirit of God will pass the test and will be in the kingdom in the end. But those who are not, unfortunately, will be throwing bad. They didn't just put the fish back in the water, they threw them in the furnace. He said, why?

Because God doesn't want those fish reproducing. Why? Because it makes his church unholy. Let me. Let me meddle.

Can I meddle? Write down First Corinthians 6, 9, 11. I'm going to find a way to wrap this message up a little quicker.

Listen to what it says directly, because when I read this passage, there's people maybe even listening online that'll be offended by what I'm about to say. But this is the Scripture says In verse number nine of First Corinthians 6, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Now wait a minute.

Some of us used to carry those titles, but I'm not that way anymore.

God called me out of that. The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God, right? If I've truly repented of my sin, not trying to go, well, God, this is just the way I am. This is the way you've made me, I'm going to keep doing it because it makes me feel good. Not to quote Waterboy, but that's the way it rolled off the tongue.

I told you, I just saved up all my movie references for this one day.

As much as I hate it for those who remain in fornication after they've made a decision for Christ will not be in the kingdom of God if they continue living in that sin. There's a difference in someone pursuing sin and someone struggling with a sin issue and trying to get out of it. Because at least the person who's trying to get out of it understands the value of the salvation, understands the price Jesus paid, and in honor and in humility wants to live the way the one who died for his sin wants him to live. I don't choose how I get to live as a Christian. I want to follow the king who paid the price for me to be in his kingdom and in reverence.

I want to understand that someday he's going to judge me about whether or not I've even fit to be in that kingdom that's based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ to rebirth you. And if you haven't been reborn by the Spirit of God, repented of your sins, and trusted Christ, you got to ask yourself, which bucket am I going to end up in? And I would say, if you take that depository out of your heart and you begin to look in it, if there's nothing of the kingdom of God that you value, then maybe something didn't happen to you. You can cry all the tears you want in the decision that you make, but how is it bearing out in your life? Let me meddle a little bit more.

The only person in the scripture, according to the apostles, that we get kind of conversion stories for is a little bit of Peter's and Paul's. You know why? Because they didn't focus on their story of conversion. They focused on the fruit of their life. And even with Peter, his conversion story was Jesus said, come, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men to show how beautiful that net is.

Right?

And it says they dropped everything they had and followed him. I don't have John's testimony. You see, I think as a Christian culture, we focus so much on the security of, well, I've got a story to tell you and not how it's impacting my life as I live. Are you following what I'm saying here? Read the Scripture and tell me if I'm wrong.

The only two. I see Paul's story, but I don't hear him making decision for Christ. He got up and started living for him and was baptized. And he went. When I read about Peter, yeah.

He dropped down and said, leave me, Lord, I'm not worthy.

But he got up and he did what? And he went. Christianity is about following, not about decisions. So what will you do? If you value the kingdom, you will see that God wants a holy kingdom.

Does that mean you're not going to mess up? I'm going to mess. I probably already messed up today. But the blood of Jesus cleanses us from unrighteousness, and his sacrifice gives me righteousness. So why not live in that point number four?

I embellished that one a little bit longer than I intended to the head of the household. And this is where it kind of all come to me. It's like everything wraps up.

So when someone gives you a quiz and they say, how many parables are in the book? In Matthew, chapter 13, you can say at least seven. But just say Jamie said eight. I believe this one is a parable. But listen to what it says.

A disciple experiences the blessing of the kingdom by growing in the word of God. A disciple experiences the blessing of the kingdom by growing in the word of God. So here we go. We got a scribe. Jesus in chapter five said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and the scribes.

Why is a scribe so important? Well, scribes knew the Old Testament. The way they practiced copying transcripts and manuscripts as they're writing if they messed up, you know what? They had to do the entire thing, throw it away.

And they start writing again. Like, aren't you glad we got, like, Microsoft Word, Google Docs? Those of you in high school and college, aren't you glad that you can, like, show you. When the words misspelled. Well, they didn't have that.

They had a science of copying and copying and copying. Who would know the Word of God better than a scribe? But listen to what he said to the scribe who becomes a disciple. Not one who makes a profession, not someone who just kind of dabbles his foot in Christianity, but the one who becomes a student who and a follower of the kingdom of God, is like the head of a household who goes into his treasure and brings things out that are old and new. You see, this started with the Word of God, right?

He sows the Word to take root, to grow, to grow together, to expand, to grow because it's valuable. And in the Word of God is immeasurable treasure that teaches us how to live in. In the kingdom that what Jesus brought when he appeared on this earth just supplemented what had already been written about him in the kingdom in the Old Testament, and the full counsel of God, old and new, bearing forth into the life at that moment. So I saved this to last. Do you know what the Greek word for treasure is?

Thesaurus. Did you know that? Thesaurus, if you want to put the accent where it's supposed to be. How many of you have a thesaurus or used a thesaurus? Would you agree with the definition that a thesaurus is a book richly filled with words?

And it said that the scribe went into his house and brought out of his thesaurus old and new. It seems like this is the theme that we keep going back and hammering and hammering and hammering. If you love the Word of God, you'll live by the Word of God and you will grow by the Word of God. I want to call your attention that I put in your notes. Psalm 119, 9, 16.

Would you go back sometime and read that? Because when you do, I want to tell you what it will do for us. If you want to live in the kingdom according to the Word of God, commit to live by the Word of God. Commit to live by the Word of God. We had a beautiful Service Friday for Mr. Alton Herron and what his family kept telling me over and over and over again, if God said it, he believed it and he did it.

And I think we could live by that. Today we need to seek to internalize the Word. It needs to become a part of our heart. We need to speak forth the Word as we read in this psalm. We need to rejoice in it.

I mean, we read those passages like First Corinthians where it says, these won't be in the kingdom of God because God wants his church holy. He wants his kingdom holy. But. But there's something in which to rejoice, that God is in charge of judging my life, not me. I get a pass on judging other people's lives, and that's a good thing.

We need to daily meditate on His Word. That's why we pursue God daily, so we know what he says and what he's commanding. And we get to draw from the life that's in that. We delight in His Word. Would you describe.

Would you describe your devotion time with the Lord as something that you delight in, or is it burdensome? Well, maybe you need to rethink the way that you're doing your quiet time or your devotion time. And then lastly, I think the whole paragraph is to keep his commands. Jesus said, if you love me, you won't sing louder. If you love me, you won't lift your hands higher.

He didn't say, if you love me, you'll come and kneel at the altar every time it's open. He said, if you love me, you will keep my commands. It's not about the emotional, it's about the faithful. If you've truly been born again, there's something driving deep inside of you to live for the Lord. Here's that final point, and I know you like to fill in the blanks.

Here you go. The kingdom has come to bless those who value it most. Don't store up treasure for yourselves on earth where moth rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourself treasure in heaven. For where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. Thank you for letting me go a little bit longer.

I'm going to close with a story. You ever heard of a guy named Walter Samasko? I didn't think he did. He was a reclusive guy who lived in Carson City, Nevada, where the actual mint was, where they were bringing in the gold and the silver and they'd make it into. Into coins.

He died in 2012. No one knew it because he didn't have family around. He didn't really have friends. He just kind of lived all by himself.

No one even knew he died until a neighbor was coming by his house and smelled a terrible smell. He'd been dead a month.

Was News reports tell the story. As investigators began to go in, they started finding numerous ammo boxes. And they opened those ammo boxes, and inside those ammo boxes were gold coins, literal gold coins. Some of them dated all the way back to 1880. One man valued the amount of gold coins in his house to be $7 million.

But let me tell you the sad side of that story. Because of the way he lived, he had treasure in his house that he didn't treasure. He hoarded it, but he didn't treasure it. He owed $800,000 in back taxes.

So here's what happened. The government comes in, seizes all those things, and according to one news report, they go to auction with it. And you got 3 million. They got $3 million out of those gold coins so the government could get their peace. They found a living cousin somewhere in California who then got the rest of his estate.

But they were so estranged, she didn't even know he died.

So here's my challenge to you guys. Why live valuing the kingdom way down here when you can live the full blessing of the kingdom way up here? What? Your heart reveals a value for the kingdom of God. Don't ask you to stand with me.

And as I've said every week, I'll say again, I really believe that one reason why God led us to do this series on the parables is for us to refine our view and our respect and even our valuation for the kingdom of God and our own salvation. Do you value what God has done in your heart, in your life? Do you? Because if you do, you'll live according to that. You'll go and sell everything you have.

You'll give everything away. Have you had a moment where you said, lord, take my life, it's yours. What do you have in your life more valuable than your life? I want to give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and let him use me however he sees fit. Have you ever done that before?

Maybe you are a believer, but have you said to the Lord, whatever you ask, wherever you call me, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Or maybe you realize that your depository is just full of stuff that keeps you from truly valuing the kingdom of God. You got too much stuff in your box. What if this morning you came down and you laid it here on the altar? There's nothing mystical about this altar.

But what is truly, truly beautiful is other believers coming around you and laying hands on you and praying for you to help carry your burden, to help ask the Lord on your behalf. That's the value and the beauty of the Kingdom of God. Father, we love you God. Move on people this morning. Whatever their needs are, they know they've got pastors and others down here that can minister to them.

But God, I'm just asking, Lord, reach into our heart and help us know and experience the full value of the kingdom in our life that we will want to live according to to the kingdom of God in our life. Why? Because we know and have tasted that the salvation you've given us is so sweet. Lord, I love you. Ask you now to work in this room in Jesus name, Amen.