A Sermon by the Rev. James S. Sinclair, John Knox’s, Glasgow: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto 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 buyeth that field.”—MATT. xiii. 44

JESUS frequently spake unto the people in parables. These parables set forth the things of the Kingdom of God in the form of similitudes, drawn from natural objects or common events, that the people were familiar with in their every day life. They were admirably adapted to convey spiritual instruction, and to make that instruction find a resting place in the memories of the hearers. But the parables, notwithstanding these advantages, were not always the saviour of life unto life. The general hearers were satisfied with the figure or illustration; they did not seek to penetrate into its hidden spiritual meaning, and so did not profit in a saving manner by the teaching of the parables. The disciples of Christ, on the other hand, who were true seekers after heavenly learning, were anxious to understand what they heard, and so when any parable was dark to them, they made inquiry at Christ that He might explain it unto them. Thus they attained an acquaintance with the mysteries of the kingdom of God, that others fell short of. In this, however, there are direction and encouragement for all who desire to know in a saving way the things of God. If any part of the Scripture or experience is dark to such persons, let them ask the great Prophet of the Church to teach them by His Spirit, and they shall receive instruction, for He has compassion on “the ignorant and them that are out of the way.”

In this and other parables, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God on earth as the kingdom of heaven. The reasons for this are not far to seek. The kingdom of God in connection with the coming of Christ had entered upon a newer and more heavenly dispensation. Heaven had come down to earth in the person of the Redeemer Himself; and heaven was also about to come down at a not very distant period in a rich and abundant manner in the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. But at any time the kingdom of God on earth may be fitly spoken of as “the kingdom of heaven.” It is heavenly in its origin; God Himself is the founder of it. It is heavenly in its character; it is regulated by principles that are spiritual, divine, and heavenly in their nature. It is also heavenly in its end; it leads to heaven; every soul that has the kingdom of God established within it in time shall infallibly enter into the kingdom of heaven in eternity.

Let us now look, in dependence on the teaching of the Spirit of God, at the parable specially before us. We shall notice:—

I.—The comparison of the kingdom of God to treasure.
II.—The field in which the treasure is declared to be hid.
III.—The relation in which the treasure stands to the field.
IV.—The finder of the treasure, and what he did.

I.—The comparison of the kingdom to treasure.

1. It is very clear that this comparison is designed to set forth the exceeding preciousness of the kingdom of God. It is no common good; it is an object unspeakably excellent; something which, when its true value is perceived, is made choice of at the expense of everything else which the world counts dear. It is a treasure of such incalculable worth that, when a man finds it, he is willing to sell all that he possesses in order that he may enjoy it as his own. And truly what earthly thing is to be compared for a moment to the kingdom of God set up in the soul of a sinner by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost? It is a kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The soul is emancipated from the power of darkness, the bondage of Satan, and the curse of the law, and gets the earnest of an eternal inheritance of happiness, and holiness beyond the skies. All earthly treasure is nothing to this. “What shall it profit a man though he should gain the whole world, if he lose his soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

2. Our second remark is that, as it is the exceeding preciousness of the kingdom of God that is pointed out in the parable, the word treasure may be fitly taken as referring to Christ Himself. He is the most precious object in connection with this kingdom; He is the supreme treasure of the soul. If anyone desires to find God Himself, the most glorious of all beings, who fills heaven and earth with His glory, and the most valuable portion that any finite creature can enjoy, it is in Christ alone that He is to be found. God is in Christ in all the glory of His perfections; He is in Christ, reconciling sinners to Himself. If anyone desires eternal salvation, that salvation is in Christ alone. Deliverance from never-ending misery, justification in the sight of a holy God, renewal in the divine image, and a right and title to eternal life—all these incomparable blessings are treasured up in Christ Jesus. In fact, all that a poor sinner needs for soul and body, in view of time and eternity, is to be found in Him. That rich word—”all things are yours”—is spoken to those that are Christ’s. Who can describe the matchless excellencies of His person as the God-man? He is the chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely one. Who can measure the height and depth, length and breadth, of that love which He has shown to sinful men? It passeth knowledge; it is a boundless ocean, without a bottom and without a shore. It will take eternity to show forth all His praise. The ransomed of the Lord will have fellowship with Him, and will sing His praise throughout the endless ages of a holy and a happy eternity. Christ, then, with the blessings of the everlasting covenant in Him, is the chief treasure in the kingdom of God. And happy are those souls who have seen, by the light of the Spirit, the beauty and preciousness of this matchless treasure, and have made an everlasting purchase of it at “the market of free grace.”

II.—Let us notice, in the second place, the field in which the treasure is hid.

The treasure is in a field. Christ is personally in heaven; but He is declaratively in His Word. We take the field, then, to represent the Bible, the Word of God. Christ is in the Holy Scriptures. This is a blessed commonplace of sound theology. No enlightened mind can read the Bible without observing that Christ is its chief and pervading theme. The book of Genesis speaks of Him, and the book of Revelation is full of Him. He is the beginning of the creation of God, and He is the end of all things; the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; Creator, Redeemer, and Judge. The Scriptures have certainly been written to exhibit the glory of a Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and it would be presumption to exalt one of these ineffable Persons at the expense of the others. Nevertheless, inasmuch as the Triune God is revealed in Christ for the salvation of sinners, and the Word has been written for the purpose of bringing sinners nigh to God through Him—the love of the Father and the power of the Holy Ghost concurring to this end—it is absolutely necessary that Christ be held forth as the treasure whose presence in the Word is of supreme interest for immortal souls. All the promises, sacrifices, ceremonies of the Old Testament exhibit Him; and every page of the New Testament is replete with His glory. Notice two things concerning the field.

1. The field is nigh at hand. It is not at an immeasurable distance from us. No one requires to climb up into heaven, or dig under the earth, to find it. Nor do we in Scotland need to go to the ends of the world, to China or Japan, to discover this precious field. “The word is nigh thee.” It is at our very doors. We have heard of it with our ears and seen it with our eyes from our very infancy upwards. It is one of the most familiar objects that we are acquainted with. What a remarkable privilege this, and yet a privilege that, by reason of this very familiarity, is but lightly esteemed by the greater number of young and old. Many persons will go thousands of miles across the seas, will sacrifice the dearest comforts and encounter the greatest risks, expend their most precious energies in order to get a little handful of earth’s perishing riches, while most of them forget that in the Word of God, which has been in their hands from childhood, there is a treasure more valuable than all the wealth of all the millionaires in the world. The field in which Christ and eternal life are to be found is very nigh unto us. Great is the privilege; but solemn is the responsibility, and terrible will be the consequences if we neglect this field. If we treat the Word of God as a thing of little value, we despise our own happiness, and choose eternal misery as our portion. The day is coming when we will be removed from all access to this field, and if we do not before then seek and find the matchless treasure, we shall be poor for ever. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans x. 8, 9.)

2. The field is open. The fields of the natural creation are often walled around by their owners, and only a very few privileged persons are permitted to walk through them. Placards are set up warning the ordinary passers by of the punishment to which they expose themselves if they venture to trespass upon these fields. Now, God has put up no wall around the field of His Word. Far otherwise; all are invited, yea, exhorted to walk through it and survey its beauties; more than this, all are commanded to search for Christ the priceless treasure, in it. Christ Himself says, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.” In fact, on the other hand, there are placards put up warning those persons who neglect and despise this field of the fearful consequences of their sin, “To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” “And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?”—(Heb. iii. 18.) Though God has raised no wall of exclusion around His Word, yet Satan has for centuries, by the instrumentality of men, tried to shut out the common people from the privilege of traversing this noble field. The great enemy has made use of the Pope of Rome and his officials for this end. They have declared and are still declaring that it is only the priests who have a right to free access to the Word of God; and they have been successful in deluding multitudes of immortal souls with this pernicious idea. At the glorious Reformation, the Spirit of God moved our forefathers to rise up against this monstrous tyranny, and they threw down the unhallowed barriers that stood between the people and the Word of life. They preached an open Bible, and free access to Jesus Christ, the treasure of the soul, without the intervention of a man-made priesthood. But what do we observe, friends, at the present time but a strong movement in this country back towards that Romish bondage from which God delivered us at the Reformation? It is a movement to drive immortal souls out of the field of God’s Word, and to deprive them of the privilege of seeking and finding for themselves Jesus Christ the Saviour of sinners. The priests of Rome will give them a false Christ in return for their subjecting themselves to this unspeakable loss. Again, the Higher Critics are engaged in no better work than this. They undervalue the field, and declare it is not much better than common ground. They would blot out the marked distinction that exists between it and other fields, and so leave souls uncertain where the precious treasure lies. According to their theory, it is only the learned who can point out the inspired portions of the Divine Word, and these are divided among themselves on this all-important matter, so that a mist of learned delusion is cast over the field of God’s Word, and poor souls are left wandering on in utter darkness to eternity. The Higher Critics are another class of persons who are bent on robbing souls of Christ and eternal life. Let us then prize our present privileges; let us reject with righteous indignation the ideas of both priests and critics. The field is nigh at hand, and is open to every creature under heaven. Let us see to it that we are not satisfied with a mere general survey of its beauties, without attaining to the possession of Christ Himself who is hid in it. This leads us to the third point.

III.—The relation in which the treasure stands to the field.

1. Christ is to be found only in the field of the Word; He is not to be had in other fields. If He is found in any other book than this, it is because He was first found here in this Book of books. It is only through the Word of God that we come to the knowledge of Christ. The Lord may often make use of events in providence for giving an awakening to sinners out of the sleep of indifference as to the interests of their souls; but sooner or later He brings the Word to them or them to the Word, in order to enlighten them by His Spirit in a saving knowledge of Christ. They are born again, not of the corruptible seed of human opinion, but of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

2. Christ is hid in the Word. This is to be taken only in a relative sense. We are not to suppose for a moment that the Holy Scriptures are obscure on the subject of Christ. They set Him forth clearly and fully so that he who runneth may read and recognise Christ in them. But there is a very important sense in which the treasure is hid in the field. (1) Christ cannot be savingly seen by the carnal eye. People may be reading the Bible from childhood to old age, and yet all the time continue ignorant of Christ in any spiritual sense. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are spiritually discerned.” It is possible certainly to become acquainted with the doctrine of Christ by the power of the natural intellect, and even to attain by this same power a far-off superficial admiration of Him, but to come to a direct spiritual acquaintance with Him with saving results is not possible to the natural man. All the intellect, learning, and morality in the world will not discover the true Christ of God in His real glory to a soul. This is the reason why many able scholars and preachers are manifestly destitute of a real knowledge of Christ; and their lack of this fundamental requirement shows itself in their erroneous views of the Bible and Christ. (2) Again, Christ is so hid in the Word that He can only be sought and found in it by the illumination of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who glorifies Christ, who reveals His glory to the souls of men. This teaches us that we stand in absolute need of the Spirit in order to get savingly acquainted with Christ, and we firmly believe that every soul that ever came to the knowledge of the Saviour felt deeply convinced that it was not by any might or power of man that this blessed knowledge was reached, but solely by the supernatural operations of the Holy Ghost. This does not, however, shut out the exercise of seeking on the part of the soul. The prophet Isaiah says, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near,” and Jesus Himself says, “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” The treasure is hid, not for the purpose of preventing souls from the finding of it, but rather with a view to impress upon them its supernatural divine glory and the necessity of making a diligent search for it. “They shall seek me and find me, when they search for me with all the heart.”

IV.—The finder of the treasure, and what he did. “The which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field.”

1. Our first remark here is that the man was in the field when he found the treasure. We are not expressly told that he was seeking for the treasure at the time he found it; it is possible, even probable, according to the character of the parable that he was otherwise engaged when he came unexpectedly upon the precious spoil. But one thing is absolutely certain, he was in the field; and while this does not relieve any from the positive obligation to search for Christ in the field of the Word, yet it affords strong encouragement to persons to be diligent even in the ordinary exercise of reading the Word. The Spirit of God is sovereign in His operations, and in the time of them. No one knows at what moment He may apply the truth with power to the soul. And, therefore, you who may be engaged in reading the Scriptures daily, and may be tempted by the great adversary to give up the practice because your conscience testifies you are getting no real benefit by it, be encouraged to go on; ye know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh in the day of grace as well as in the day of death. He may reveal Himself to you at an unexpected moment, and pluck you as a brand out of the burning. Reading the Bible of itself wont save you; but the not-reading of it, if persisted in to the end, will seal your eternal damnation. See to it then that you are daily walking among the green pastures of God’s Word; you do not know what glorious discovery may await you at some unexpected moment.

2. The second thing that may be said is that the man was searching below the surface when he found the treasure, for it was hid in the field. Thus, while we may be encouraged to visit the field of God’s Word by the thought that the Spirit may sovereignly reveal Christ at any moment to us, yet we have no real warrant that we will find Him unless we seek. Seeking is the divinely appointed path to finding. And surely the treasure is so infinitely precious in itself, that although a lifetime should be spent in seeking it, yet if it be found at last, the reward—not of merit, but of grace—will be glorious. But the Lord does not usually keep seeking souls very long before finding; and so do not be discouraged by delays and disappointments if you are heartily seeking Christ.

3. The finding of the treasure illustrates the soul’s first saving discovery of Christ. Christ is found by the seeking soul; the glory of His person with the excellency of His salvation is blessedly opened up to the poor sinner, and he is ravished with the sight. He may not be able to say at this first discovery, “Christ is mine”; he may not have the full assurance of faith; but he is brought to see such an infinite excellency in Christ and salvation that he is made willing to sell all that he has that he may buy the field and the treasure in it. This is the scope of the present parable. It teaches that the soul gets a discovery of the preciousness of the Redeemer before, and in order to making an unreserved choice of Him as its all and in all. The Spirit who convinces of sin, enlightens the soul in the knowledge of Christ, and renews the will and affections with a view to the embrace of Christ as offered in the Gospel.

4. The finder hides the treasure. Fear springs up in his heart, fear lest he should lose his precious prize, fear lest some passer-by should deprive him of it; and so he hides the treasure. Is not there a similar feeling in the soul when it gets the first revelation of Christ? Is not the sinner afraid he will lose the blessed discovery, and be left as poor as ever he was before? He therefore takes precautions to avoid this calamity; he uses means for preserving the experience he has got. For one thing, he hides the treasure within the covert of watchfulness. He guards against every enemy that would steal it from him. He now breaks with his former worldly companions; he feels that their society will not benefit, but injure him. He keeps a jealous watch over his own heart. There are enemies there, carnality, unbelief, evil desires, and gross affections that would take Christ from him if they could. He resists the inroads of the devil. This terrible adversary walketh about seeking whom he may devour; and so the enlightened soul trembles lest Satan should come with a mighty assault and carry off the precious treasure. At this stage of spiritual experience the believer is very tender and watchful, more so it may be than in after years. He hides the treasure in the secret place of private devotion. He goes apart from his friends and acquaintances to retired spots for meditation and prayer. There he meditates upon the truth as it is in Jesus, and communes with the God of grace. He hides it in the secret place of his heart. “Thy word,” says the Psalmist, “have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.” The gracious soul buries Christ in the depth of his affections. He hides the treasure in the secret place of God’s power. It must be “kept by the power of God.” He commits the treasure into the hands of the Lord that He may keep it for him. “Thou maintaineest my lot.” If it be left to his own keeping, he will soon lose it for ever.

5. The finder joyfully sells all that he has, and buys the field.
   The soul that finds Christ rejoices with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. There is no joy comparable to this. The happiness of the world is vain and empty at best; it will soon give place to endless misery. The joy of the gracious soul is rich and satisfying, and is the earnest of everlasting bliss.

The finder now goes away and sells all that he has that he may buy the field. He sees that the treasure is so valuable that he is willing to part with all his possessions that he may get it. It is clearly taught here that there is a selling and buying in connection with Christ and salvation. The lesson, however, is not that we buy the field by meritorious works of righteousness; it is not a buying by personal merit at all; but it is a process of exchange whereby the soul renounces everything that comes into competition with Christ, and freely chooses and appropriates Him as its one everlasting portion.

What are some of the things which the finder sells? (1) He sells all those things that are positively sinful in themselves. If he has been an open transgressor of God’s commandments, he gives up his evil practices. He renounces every course of action that is not in harmony with God’s revealed will. He begins to hate and mortify his heart evils, his love of sin, self, and the world, his pride and vain glory. (2) He sells his good things in respect of his former esteem of them. Paul gloried in his birth and privileges as a Hebrew, and in his zeal and righteousness as a Pharisee. These things were not absolutely worthless in themselves, they had a certain value of their own; but he had an undue esteem of them; they formed his foundation for eternity. But when he got a knowledge of Christ Jesus, he counted his former riches to be but loss and dung, and was willing to part with them all that he might win Christ and be found in Him. He was an eminent example of a soul that found the hidden treasure, and sold all that he had and bought it. And everyone that truly comes to the knowledge of Christ and beholds His matchless beauty and preciousness will, in his or her own measure, follow the example of the apostle. There are many at the present day who think they can serve God and mammon, and who imagine they may sell nothing of their own, and have Christ at the same time; but these persons are under a great delusion. The thing is essentially impossible, however people may deceive themselves about it. Sin must be given up, self must be mortified, the world must become little to us, if we are to have Christ seated on the throne of our affections, and His kingdom established in our hearts.

Notice it is the field he proceeds to buy. The field and the treasure go together; they are not to be separated from one another. He knows that when he gets the field he gets the treasure also. And so it is in the spiritual sphere. Christ is in the Word, and it is only by getting the Word in reality as our own that we can get Christ also. And so poor souls, that have seen the glory of Christ as revealed in the Gospel, buy the Word, part with everything else, and venture their all for eternity upon the Word of the living God. Men in our day are telling us that we may have Christ without the Word, but they have not the mind of Christ; they do not hear His voice. The teaching of Christ here is that the soul must buy the whole field in order to get the treasure that is in it. “Buy the truth and sell it not.”

The finder buys the field. The merchandise in the present case is of the rarest kind. The buyer is now a poor man; he has sold his riches, and has got poverty instead—poverty of spirit; he has sold his own righteousnesses, and has now a sense of sin and guilt; he has sold his carnal ability, and has now a sense of utter helplessness; and he comes to the market where he may buy the field. This is the market of free grace. The divine Merchant sells His goods only to the poor and the destitute—those without money and without price; and here the poor sinner joyfully makes a bargain with the Merchant. He asks for the field in which the treasure is hid, and seeing that he has come in the right way, the Lord gives him what he asks for. He applies the truth concerning Christ so powerfully to the sinner’s heart, and enables him to embrace the Saviour in such an appropriating exercise of faith, that the poor soul may now say, “The treasure is mine; Christ is mine; I am made rich for eternity; my cup runneth over.” We do not say that all who receive Christ obtain an equally clear assurance of their interest at first or afterwards, but we certainly think that all of them, in their hearts, turn from sin unto God, prefer an interest in Christ to all other things in the world, and look to Him constantly as their prophet, priest, and king, that He, by His Spirit, may teach, cleanse, quicken, and bless them.

Happy, then, are they who have had a saving discovery of Jesus Christ as the Divine Saviour, and who have been constrained by a loving esteem of His infinite excellency, to count all things but loss and dung that they may win Him and be found in Him, accepted in the Beloved.

On the other hand, let us warn with the utmost solemnity those souls who are seeking everything but Christ; who are found in every field but the field of His Word. Many there be who are solely taken up with the field of their worldly occupation, and give but an occasional glance at the Word of God. You of whom this is true are selling your soul and Christ for eternity for the sake of a mess of pottage. Others again find their chief happiness in the field of carnal amusement. The young, for most part, are swallowed up in the pleasures of this field. There is undoubtedly a recreation which is lawful; but supposing our particular recreation be lawful in itself, yet if our hearts are wholly given to it, it will be our eternal destruction at last, unless we turn in a day of mercy. And one other field we may mention, which many people wander in at the present time, is the field of light literature. The novel is a thousand times sweeter to multitudes than the Bible. Many are the false Christs that are to be found in this field. The novel is generally pervaded by wrong views of sin, wrong views of God, and wrong views of salvation. Sin is treated as an error or mistake; God is described as all love and no righteousness; and salvation is handled as not of pure grace but of works. All the pernicious errors that are to be found in modern theology are distilled through the pages of fictitious literature. May the Lord, in infinite mercy, preserve the young of our congregations from the poisonous atmosphere of this ensnaring field! O seek now, in the day of your merciful visitation, Jesus Christ, the most glorious of all treasures, and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Him unto you as your own personal Saviour. This is what will make you happy in time and through eternity. May the Lord bless His own word!