35  Entering the  Kingdom (13:44-46)

The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (13:44-46)

In the first four of the eight kingdom parables in Matthew 13, Jesus focuses on men’s various responses to God’s kingdom, on its present coexistence with Satan’s kingdom, and on its power and influence in the world.

A basic question that would naturally have arisen in the minds of Jesus’ hearers was, “How does one become a part of God’s kingdom?” “Are people simply born into it, like they are born into citizenship of their country?” they wondered. “Or is it like being a Jew? Are we, as Jews, automatically citizens of the kingdom because we are descendants of Abraham, or must we do something else?”

In this third couplet of parables the Lord teaches about appropriating salvation and thereby becoming a citizen of God’s kingdom and a member of His family.

THE PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. (13:44)

As He does in the other parables, Jesus builds this simple story around an experience or situation familiar to His hearers. Few, if any, would themselves have found such a treasure; but the practice of hiding valuables in the ground was common. Because there were no banks or other public depositories, most people protected their valuables in a secret spot in the ground. When they needed money or decided to sell or trade a piece of jewelry, for instance, they would go to the place at night, uncover the jar or storage box, take out what was desired, and rebury the rest.

Because Palestine had been a battleground for hundreds of years, families would often even bury food, clothing, and various household objects to protect them from plundering enemy soldiers. The famed Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “The gold and the silver and the rest of that most precious furniture which the Jews had and which the owners treasured underground was done to withstand the fortunes of war.”

Over the years, the ground of Palestine became a veritable treasure house. When the owner of buried treasure died or was forcefully driven from the land—sometimes deported to a foreign land such as Assyria or Babylon—the treasure would be forever lost unless someone accidentally discovered it, as occasionally happened.

No doubt that was the fate of the treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again. The man may have stumbled over part of the treasure or seen some of it protruding above ground as he happened to pass through the field. Or he may have been a hired hand who inadvertently dug it up while plowing or cultivating. In any case, the field did not belong to him, because, from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

Many Christians are embarrassed by this story, thinking Jesus used an unethical act to illustrate a spiritual truth. It seems to them that the man was obligated to tell the owner of the field about the treasure, since it was on his property and therefore rightfully belonged to him.

The point of the parable does not involve the ethics of what the man did, but rather his willingness to sacrifice everything he had in order to possess the treasure. But what he did was not unethical or dishonest.

In the first place, it is obvious that the treasure was not hidden by the present owner of the field and was unknown to him. Otherwise, he would have retrieved it before he sold the field. The man who bought the field obviously knew the owner was not aware of the treasure or he would not have offered to buy the field, knowing the treasure would not be included in the deal.

In the second place, rabbinic law provided that “if a man finds scattered fruit or money, it belongs to the finder.” If a person came across money or other valuables that were obviously lost and whose owner was dead or unknown, the finder had the right to keep what was found.

In the third place, the basic honesty of the man is testified to by the fact that, had he been dishonest, he would simply have taken the treasure without any thought of buying the field. But he did not even use part of the treasure to buy the field; rather, he sells all that he has, and buys that field.

THE PARABLE OF THE PEARL OF GREAT

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (13:45-46)

An emporos (merchant) was a wholesale dealer, whose business was to buy and resell merchandise. He would travel about the country, perhaps to many countries, looking for items to buy and then sell for a profit. This particular merchant spent his time seeking fine pearls. He probably made regular visits to the various coastal areas where pearls were harvested and haggled with the divers or their employers over prices. Diving for pearls was extremely hazardous, and many divers lost their lives or ruined their health in obtaining the oysters that contained the beautiful gems. That fact, in addition to their scarcity and natural beauty, made pearls extremely precious.

Pearls were the most highly valued gems in the ancient world and were often bought as investments, much as diamonds are today. In the form of pearls, a great amount of wealth could be kept in a small space—concealed in one’s clothing while traveling or buried in a field for safekeeping, as was the treasure of the previous parable.

The Jewish Talmud spoke of pearls as being beyond price, and some Egyptians and Romans held the pearl in such awe that they worshiped it. Adorning their heads with “gold or pearls” apparently was a common practice among both Jewish and Gentile women (see 1 Tim. 2:9). When Jesus warned against believers’ casting their pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6), He was emphasizing the priceless value of the gospel and its attendant truths, which unbelievers disdain as worthless. In John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, the city had twelve pearl gates, and “each one of the gates was a single pearl” (Rev. 21:21).

It was reported that the wife of the Roman emperor Caligula often wore a vast fortune in pearls in her hair and on her ears, neck, wrists, and fingers. Cleopatra is said to have owned two extremely valuable pearls, each of which would be worth several million dollars in today’s market. When an extravagant ruler wanted to flaunt his wealth, he would sometimes dissolve a pearl in vinegar and drink it in his wine.

When the merchant came across one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Obviously the merchant considered that particular pearl to have been worth more than all his other pearls together, because they would have been included in the sale of all that he had.

Because the emphasis of these parables is personal appropriation of the kingdom of heaven, the message is obviously one of salvation. In this context, the kingdom of heaven represents the saving knowledge of God through trust in His Son and all the benefits and glory that relationship brings.

LESSONS FROM THE PARABLES

From the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price we can learn at least six valuable lessons about the kingdom, and therefore about salvation: it must be personally appropriated, it is priceless, it is not superficially visible, it is the source of true joy, it may be entered from different circumstances, and it is made personal by a transaction.

THE KINGDOM MUST BE PERSONALLY APPROPRIATED

The central truth of these two parables is that the kingdom of heaven must be personally appropriated. It is not obtained by natural inheritance, as one automatically becomes a member of his parents’ race or a citizen of their country. Both parables center around a single individual who sacrifices all that he has in order to personally obtain that which has become immeasurably valuable to him.

Every human being is under God’s dominion in the sense that he lives on the earth—which is under the Lord’s ultimate control, despite Satan’s temporary and limited power over it. And an unbeliever who associates with believers can benefit from many blessings of the kingdom because of that association. Nevertheless, although an unbeliever may attend an evangelical church, enjoy biblical preaching, and be a professing and baptized member of a church, he is not a citizen of the kingdom. Such superficial and nongenuine “sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness,” where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12).

As Paul reminded his Jewish brethren, “They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants” (Rom. 9:6-7). Even under the Old Covenant a person could be a Jew racially, nationally, and religiously—fully identified with God’s chosen people in those outward ways—and yet have no part in the true, spiritual Israel. In the same way, a person can be born into a family who traces its church membership back for many generations, and yet have no part in Christ’s true church. Although it gives many advantages, even being born into a family of godly believers does not make a person a Christian. To be saved, he must make his own decision to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

THE KINGDOM IS PRICELESS

The parables express the value of salvation through the idea that it is worth selling all one possesses in order to receive it.

A major diamond mining company in South Africa specializes in mining certain coastal areas where the rough gems have been deposited below some fifty or so feet of stone, gravel, and sand. After giant earth movers remove the cover layers, the diamond-bearing conglomerate is dynamited and then excavated by hydraulic water pressure. Using large nylon brushes, workers sweep out all the crevices and hollows to be sure nothing is lost. The loosened conglomerate is then pounded, crushed, washed, and sifted to discover every possible diamond. It is estimated that some 180 million parts of earth are processed to yield one part diamond.

Though written at least 3,000 years ago, Job’s description of man’s tireless quest for riches sounds amazingly contemporary:

Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where they refine gold. . . . Man puts an end to darkness, and to the farthest limit he searches out the rock in gloom and deep shadow. He sinks a shaft far from habitation, forgotten by the foot; they hang and swing to and fro far from men.... Its rocks are the source of sapphires, and its dust contains gold. The path no bird of prey knows, nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it. ... He hews out channels through the rocks; and his eye sees anything precious. He dams up the streams from flowing; and what is hidden he brings out to the light.” (Job 28:1, 3-4, 6-7, 10-11)

For all the efforts taken to find, mine, refine, cut, polish, mount, sell, and buy precious stones and metals, none of them offers anything truly worthwhile or lasting. They cannot heal a broken relationship, give peace to a troubled mind, or forgive a sinful heart. They offer little for the present and nothing for the future.

“But where can wisdom be found?” Job asks. “And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can silver be weighed as its price. . . . Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living. . . . God understands its way; and He knows its place. . . . And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding’” (Job 28:12-15, 21, 23, 28).

On the immeasurable worth of the kingdom of heaven, the nineteenth-century Scottish preacher Thomas Guthrie wrote, “In the blood of Christ to wash out sin’s darkest stains, in the grace of God to purify the foulest heart, in peace to calm life’s roughest storms, in hopes to cheer guilt’s darkest hour, in a courage that defies death and descends calmly into the tomb, in that which makes the poorest rich and without which the richest are poor indeed, the gospel ‘has treasures greater far than east or west unfold, and its rewards more precious are than all the stores of gold’” (Thomas Guthrie, The Parables [London: Alexander Strahan, 1866], p. 213).

The blessing of being a child of God through faith in Christ is utterly priceless, more valuable than all the possessions the richest man could acquire. There is absolutely nothing to compare to it in worth and beauty, because it is “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away” (1 Pet. 1:4). It is forgiveness, love, peace, happiness, virtue, purity, righteousness, eternal life, glory, and more.

When Robert Herbert Thompson—who owned 180 newspapers, controlled 290 other companies, and was personally worth more than 300 million dollars—was asked how much he would give to buy the New York Times newspaper, he is said to have replied, “I’d mortgage my soul.” If they could, many people would do just that in order to achieve the possessions, fame, or power for which they lust.

The value of God’s kingdom far exceeds that of all earthly riches and advantages together—and would still exceed them in worth even if they brought the satisfaction they promise. Yet God offers His priceless kingdom to any person, no matter how poor, how insignificant, how sinful, who trusts in Christ. The price is the same for everyone—all they have. For those whose hearts are genuinely turned to Christ, whatever values they have clung to in the past will be exchanged eagerly for this priceless treasure.

THE KINGDOM IS NOT SUPERFICIALLY VISIBLE

When Jesus was “questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!’” (Luke 17:20-21). The kingdom will not be observable until Jesus returns and establishes His millennial rule over the earth. At that time He “is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels,” and men will “see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:27-28). But the present kingdom “is not of this world” (John 18:36).

“A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,” Paul tells us; “for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). In his next letter to Corinth the apostle further explains that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). Even when the truth of the gospel is clearly presented to him, the natural man cannot see it. As long as he resists the moving of God’s Spirit on his heart, he cannot see past the spiritual blinders Satan has placed over his eyes. He is completely content to seek his ephemeral pleasures and the things which can never satisfy, considering the trinkets of the world to be of great value and the gospel of salvation to be worthless.

One writer expresses the truth in these words: “Under the form of a man, under the privacy and poverty of a Nazarene, was the fullness of the Godhead hidden that day from the wise and prudent of the world. The light was near them and yet they did not see it. The riches of divine grace were brought to their door and yet they continued poor and miserable.”

The treasure of salvation is not obvious to men, and it is therefore not something they naturally seek. They do not understand why it is so prized by Christians and why some people give up so much—their self-dependency, sinful pleasures, and sometimes even their social, political, and economic freedom and welfare—to gain what seems to be so little. They cannot understand why believers willingly live by standards of ethics and morality that go against man’s deepest drives and lusts. The way of the kingdom is narrow and unattractive to the natural man, and that is why so few find it or desire to walk in it once it is found (Matt. 7:14).

The full value of a pearl may not be evident to the average person, who may admire its beauty yet be unaware of its pricelessness. Many people have passing admiration for Jesus and the gospel but are totally unaware of the supreme and priceless gift that could be theirs in belonging to Him. They see the pearl in plain view, but to their worldly eyes it has little worth. Jesus “was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:9-11).

THE KINGDOM IS THE SOURCE OF TRUE JOY

It was from joy that the man sold all he had in order to buy the field that held the priceless treasure. Joy is a basic desire in every human being and is the desire that all the others either directly or indirectly serve. We like to eat because food brings joy and satisfaction to our palate and a good feeling and health to our bodies. The desire for money is primarily based in the joy we hope to find in the things money can buy. Fame, power, knowledge, and all other things we long after are desired for the joy it is hoped they will bring. Even the miser, who seems to love money for its own sake, hordes his possessions for the joy the hording brings. Some people thrive on misery, because they find joy in feeling sorry for themselves.

Yet all of those joys are temporary and disappointing. The only true and eternal joy is the joy found in Christ and His kingdom, because man was made by God for Himself. Human satisfaction can be found only in God’s divine provision.

After Jesus exhorted the twelve to abide in Him and to have His words abide in them, to prove their true discipleship by bearing much fruit, and to keep His commandments and so abide in His love, He said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:1-11). A short while later in the same discourse He said, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full” (16:24).

The apostle John declares in the opening of his first letter, “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete” (1 John 1:4). Paul tells us that “the kingdom of God is . . . peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17); and in the beautiful benediction of that letter he prays for his readers, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (15:13). True joy comes only in the discovery and appropriation of Christ and His kingdom through trust in Him.

THE KINGDOM MAY BE ENTERED FROM DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES

A fifth principle found in these two parables is that a person may come into the kingdom out of different circumstances. There is no precondition for turning from sin and turning to Christ in faith. A person does not have to become anything else before he becomes a Christian, and he can come from wherever he may be.

The two parables are much alike in that the main character in each is a man who discovers something of extreme value and sacrifices everything he owns to buy it. But the ways in which they come across their precious treasures are vastly different, almost opposite. In the first parable the man comes upon the treasure completely by accident. As far as we are told, he was not looking for anything and certainly not a priceless treasure. In the second parable, however, the man was diligently looking for the very thing he eventually found and bought.

In the course of going about his normal business of earning a living, the first man was working in the field or perhaps passing through it on a journey. Finding a treasure was the last thing on his mind.

In a similar way, many people come across the gospel while pursuing the activities of their daily life, with no expectation or concern for salvation or anything else spiritual. While busily occupied with earning a living, caring for a family, getting an education, or building a career, they hear a sermon, read a book, listen to a tape, or have a conversation that presents the gracious claims and promises of Christ. By the Spirit’s gracious power they recognize the priceless value of the message, and they believe, are saved, and inherit the kingdom.

That is what happened to Paul. His experience was unique in that it was a dramatic, awesome, and audible encounter with the risen Christ and in that he was called to be an apostle. But it was not unique in the fact that trusting Christ as Lord and Savior was not his intention. He was, in fact, in the midst of zealously persecuting those who trusted in Christ. In the nearly two millennia since then, millions of others have been convicted and converted by the power of God while in the midst of a life of denying and opposing Him. Some have come to church or to an evangelistic meeting to mock the preacher or ridicule the gospel and left a child of the kingdom.

The woman at the well near Sychar had come there simply to draw water and go on about her chores, but she encountered the Source of living water, went home redeemed, and led many others to redemption (John 4:5-42). The blind beggar in Jerusalem whom Jesus healed by applying clay to the man’s eyes and having him wash in the Pool of Siloam did not even know who Jesus was—much less ask Him for healing and still less for salvation. But he was healed immediately and eventually received salvation as well (John 9:1-38).

Charles Haddon Spurgeon grew up in a Christian home, but as a boy he attended church only because it was the proper thing to do. He was not immoral or rebellious but was basically satisfied with his life and was not seeking any more religion than he had. One New Year’s morning, when he was fifteen years old, he decided he ought to attend the service at his church. When the snow and cold wind became too fierce for him, he ducked into a little storefront type of church, as much to get out of the cold as anything.

“When I could go no further,” he writes of the event, “I turned down a court and came to a little Primitive Methodist church. The preacher who was to have conducted the service never got there because he was held up by the weather, and quickly one of the officers had to be brought forward to conduct the service with the congregation of perhaps fifteen people. The man was really stupid. His text was, ‘Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ And he just kept repeating it because he had nothing else to say.” But something about Spurgeon caught the man’s eye, and he said, “Young man, you look very miserable. And miserable in life and miserable in death you will be if you don’t obey my text.” He then shouted, “Young man, look to Jesus! Look, look, look!” “I looked,” said Spurgeon; “and then and there the cloud was gone and the darkness rolled away and that moment I saw the Son.”

Like Paul, the woman of Sychar, the beggar in Jerusalem, and countless others, Spurgeon was looking for nothing but found everything.

The second parable, on the other hand, depicts a man whose life business was searching for the thing he eventually found. He represents the seeker after God who for years looks everywhere for meaning and purpose in life, trying one religion or philosophy and then another. He finds nothing that satisfies but believes that the true way is out there if he can only find it, and he never stops looking.

That was the experience of the Ethiopian eunuch whom the Holy Spirit led Philip to intercept on the road to Gaza. The man was a Gentile proselyte who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and as he returned home he was reading from Isaiah but understanding nothing of what he read. After all his seeking and study, he was still confused and unsatisfied. But when Philip explained that Isaiah was writing about Christ, the Savior, the Ethiopian immediately believed. His long quest was ended, and he “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:26-39).

Another Gentile, Cornelius, was also a God-fearing proselyte, who “gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually.” God honored his sincere seeking by sending Peter to explain the gospel and lead him and his household to salvation (Acts 10). In similar ways, the Gentile Lydia (Acts 16:14-15) and both Jewish and Greek worshipers in the synagogue at Berea (17:10-12) sought and found the Lord.

Several years ago I met a couple attending our church who were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary. The husband had been blind for a number of years, and they were visiting from a distant state. They told me they had sought God all of their married lives, trying one religion after another and finally ending up in the Unity cult. They soon came to realize that that religion was just as empty as their lives, and they went home from a service one day in utter despair. They turned on the radio and came across one of my broadcasts. After listening intently during the first half of the message, they both broke down in tears and said to each other, “This is the truth for which we’ve been searching for fifty years. At last we’ve found it!”

All of those men and women were looking for spiritual pearls and found the one that was priceless beyond their greatest hopes.

THE KINGDOM IS MADE PERSONAL BY A TRANSACTION

In both parables the priceless object was bought at the expense of every possession the finder owned. For that reason some Christians feel uncomfortable about these parables, because they seem to teach that salvation can be bought. But from beginning to end, Scripture makes abundantly clear that salvation is totally the free gift of God. Yet interpreted in the right way, salvation is bought in the sense that the person who accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior surrenders everything he has to Him.

In all parables, the physical and earthly is used to illustrate the spiritual and heavenly. In these two parables the economic transaction of buying represents the spiritual transaction of surrender. There is an exchange in salvation. The old is exchanged for the new.

A familiar Old Testament passage that speaks of salvation as the free gift of God uses the expression “come, buy” twice in one verse. “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters,” Isaiah wrote, “and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isa. 55:1). The buying is not with money or any other possessions, material or otherwise. But in this passage, just as in the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price, a transaction is clear. The sinner gives up all the worthless things he has while freely receiving all the priceless things God has to give in Christ. What we give up in no way pays for salvation. To the contrary, what we give up not only is worthless but worse than worthless. Even the “righteous deeds” of an unbeliever “are like a filthy garment” (Isa. 64:6).

In eagerness to defend one truth of the gospel, it is possible to contradict or compromise another. In order to defend the freeness of the gospel, some interpreters deny or underplay the cost of salvation to believers as well as to Christ. Only Christ’s payment purchases salvation, but the true believer will also be willing to pay whatever cost salvation involves. Apart from the willingness to yield all he has, a person’s profession of faith is hollow and worthless. The rich young ruler of Matthew 19:16-22 is the classic example of one who saw the value of the pearl but refused to submit all he was and had to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

It must be noted that such surrender is not a human work to gain salvation but a part of the saving work of God wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit.

Several other men who declared their intention to follow Jesus made various excuses for not doing so, proving their insincerity by their unwillingness to do what Jesus required. Of one man He demanded the sacrifice of comfort by joining “the Son of Man [who] has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20); and of another He demanded the sacrifice of an inheritance the man wanted to receive when his father died (v. 21). Of another He demanded the sacrifice of family ties (Luke 9:61-62), and of still another He demanded surrender of wealth already possessed (Luke 18:22).

Surrender of possessions, whether great or small, present or prospective, cannot buy salvation. They have no spiritual merit and are of no value to God. Surrender is necessary not because it can buy anything but because it is inevitable when salvation is truly sought. Salvation that is not desired above everything else is not truly desired. Salvation costs nothing in the sense of payment but everything in the sense of surrender. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,” Jesus said, “and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 10:37-39). On another occasion the Lord said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). To take up the cross is to forfeit everything, including physical life.

Speaking of coming to Him for salvation, Jesus said,

For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks terms of peace. So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. (Luke 14:28-33)

Jesus could not have made clearer the truth that the person who will not surrender his old life will never have the new.

Most people who consider receiving Christ as Savior and Lord do not consciously inventory all their material, social, and other possessions to see if He is worth sacrificing those things for. When they discover the infinite value of salvation, they simply yield to Christ. Their focus is not on what they give up but on what they receive. But if their redemption is genuine, their lives will evidence a willingness to surrender whatever stands between them and faithfulness to their Lord.

Some of men’s most cherished possessions are their sins; and these must certainly be surrendered, because it is from sin that Christ saves us. No one can come to Christ by stopping his stealing, cursing, immorality, lying, or a dozen such sins. But the one who truly belongs to Him will long to give up those sins and every other. This is the attitude taught by Jesus in the Beatitudes—poverty of spirit that recognizes the bankruptcy of all human resources, mourning over sin, meekness in the presence of God, and hunger and thirst for righteousness in exchange for sin and guilt. God’s sovereign, saving work incorporates that response.

In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul recounts his many personal advantages and achievements before he was saved. I was “circumcised the eighth day,” he says, “of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me,” he continues to explain, “I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Phil. 3:5-7). No New Testament writer more staunchly defends the freeness of salvation than does Paul. Yet he testifies that, in coming to Christ, he counted as loss—that is, he willingly surrendered as worthless—everything he was and had. Like the men who bought the treasure in the field and the pearl of great value, he liquidated everything he had for the priceless Treasure he had discovered.