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Restoration Ministry

Restoration 2007: Connected

Ivor Myers

Jury Selection

Escape from the Black Hole

The Spell

Holy Rebellion

The Art of War

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Grasshopper

Weapons of Our Faith

Steve Toscano

The Pearl of Great Price

Chain Reactions and the Verity of the Third Angel’s Message

Question and Answer and How to Study the Bible

A Love Story

Before we begin, let us bow our heads once again.

Gracious God of heaven, We are here gathered together as children of the kingdom.

And Father, we recognize that this is not just an ordinary day, but this is your blessed Holy Sabbath.

And Father, we ask for a special blessing this morning.

We ask that you may speak to every heart and to every mind under the sound of my voice.

And Father, we understand it is not about the person it is not about the instrument, but it is about your message and your spirit And This is why I lo I plead that Your Spirit may fall upon us this morning.

And throughout the activities of the day, that Your Spirit may convict and convert.

Please, Father, answer our prayer this Sabbath day, lest we perish.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Matthew.

We read this for the scripture reading, but it bears repeating.

Jesus says again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who when we wouldn't he had found 1 pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Jesus shares this very, very important parable.

And yet in Scripture it is merely 2 verses long.

And yet so often we are tempted to read through this quickly and to not take the words of Christ seriously.

But this morning, By the grace of God, we will unpack the significance of this parable.

Jesus begins by talking about what kind of man, what kind of profession.

He's a merchant man, Or in the modern vernacular we might call him a what?

And this merchant man has a special business.

And so this businessman has this business and in his business his sole objective is to find good pearls.

And the Bible says that when this man finds, Notice this 1 pearl of great price That it takes everything that he has he sells it so that he can buy this 1 pearl Very very interesting This businessman who is in the business of finding pearls, of finding many wonderful, beautiful pearls, when he finds 1 pearl, how many pearls?

He finds that this 1 pearl is so valuable, is so special, that he is willing, notice what the Bible says, to go and sell all that he had.

Can you imagine having a business and what your objective was to find pearls all throughout the land?

And yet just upon stumbling upon 1 pearl, not 2, not 3, but 1 pearl, you make the decision to take everything that you possess, your wardrobe, your nice car, Your bank account, whatever may be in there.

Every single thing that you possess, all that You have, and you sell everything so that you can obtain this 1 pearl of great price.

The Bible is very clear as to the meaning of this pearl.

You see, all of us are searching like this merchant man.

And we're looking for things that will bring us joy and satisfaction.

We're looking for something that will appease the longings of our heart.

We're looking for something that will make us happy and content.

But the Bible says, like this merchant man, that if we were to find this 1 pearl, the response that we would have is a manifest willingness, now listen carefully, a willingness To give up everything.

Turn with me to the book of Colossians chapter 2 real quickly.

Notice what the Bible says regarding Jesus says regarding Jesus Christ.

Colossians chapter 2, when you get there please say amen.

The word of God says, in fact let's begin with verse 1.

For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea.

And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, verse 2, That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the Acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of who?

Christ verse 3 referring to Christ in whom the Bible says are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge you see brothers and sisters the Bible is very clear in Jesus Christ and in Jesus alone is hid all of the treasures, all of the wealth and splendor of wisdom and knowledge.

And so when we think about the parable of the pearl of great price, we must understand that when this merchant man finds this great pearl of great price, he finds Jesus Christ.

Because it is only in Jesus can that we can find all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge It is in Jesus and Jesus alone that we can find the satisfaction that our soul so longs and desires after.

Jesus Christ is the pearl of great price.

Is there anything else greater than Jesus?

Is there anything else of more value than Jesus?

Is there anything else that can bring us true joy and true happiness in this life.

And the thing I find most interesting about that parable in Matthew 13, verse 45 and 46 is the response of the merchant man.

You see the Bible says very clearly that when the merchant man finds this great pearl of great price which represents Jesus Christ, which represents the riches of the gospel, The Bible says that he goes and sells all that he had Just so he could obtain this 1 pearl.

How many of us are willing to do the same?

How many of us here are actually willing to give up everything in our lives.

And we're not just talking about things that you don't desire.

We're not talking about bills and student loans and this sort of thing.

I'm sure you want to give those up But when the man sells all that he possesses He gives up even those things which are most important and dearest to Him.

Jesus is so wonderful that in order to obtain this pearl of great price we must be willing to make room for him.

We must be willing to surrender everything.

And we know this is much easier said than done.

We know that for so long we have heard that song I surrender all And yet when we come to church, It is so interesting that we can come to church Sabbath after Sabbath, and yet, throughout the rest of the week, our lives are no different than that of a worldling.

The way we talk, the way we conduct ourselves, our overt interest in the opposite sex.

While we cannot earn salvation, while there is no way we can somehow work our way to heaven, the Bible is very clear that if we are to seek for this pearl of great price we must be willing to abandon everything in this world for it.

We don't have much time here this morning, but I want to read you a statement.

We don't have much time here this morning.

But I want to read you a statement found in a very powerful book called Christ Object Lessons, written by Ellen G.

And in Christ object lessons we find a very powerful yet sobering quotation Christ object lessons page 118 notice what the pen of inspiration says regarding this parable.

She writes, there are some who seem to be always seeking for the heavenly pearl, but they do not make an entire surrender of their wrong habits it's pretty serious huh there are people profess Christians profess Seventh-day Adventists who always seem to be seeking after this pearl of great price.

But unfortunately, many professed Christians, many professed Sabbath keepers do not make an entire Surrender of the wrong habits She goes on to write they do not die to self that Christ may live in them.

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Series

Restoration 2007: Connected

The Pearl of Great Price

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Summoned to Court

57m

Preparing for the Time of Trouble

Keeping Up with God

45m

WYC 2009 Plenary Sessions

Likeness of Man

34m

Lessons From A Nameless Prophet

40m

God With Us

50m

The Parables

The Two Sons

40m

Enough Excuses

1h 5m

Restoration 2005: To The Point

What I Like About Mohammad

39m

Time No More

49m

It Happened Because of Prayer

Give Him Not Silence

42m

Obedience vs Sacrifice

41m

The Three Angels' Message for the Millennial Generation

6. Keep the Commandments of God and Have the Faith of Jesus

50m

Sound Doctrine