The Pearl of Great Price

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a Merchantman, seeking goodly pearls: who, when He had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that He had, and bought it." (Matthew 13:45,46) THERE are characteristic chapters in God's most Holy Word which we can never forget, neither can we lose sight of the position they occupy in the record of Divine truth. Here we have a parabolic chapter, one of dark lying beneath the surface of Divine inspiration. We have also that glorious panorama of faith in Heb. 11, which none of us who are acquainted with God's blessed Word can ever forget. We may experience a little hesitancy sometimes in finding other portions, but we are sure about that. There is John 6, in which our Lord is described feeding the multitude with bread and fish which multiplied in the eater's hand, then dispensing to them the Bread of Life only to be hated by their natural mind. Carnal reason loathed and cast out such heavenly and spiritual provision. Who of us can forget that glorious chapter, John 10, where the Good Shepherd is revealed feeding, leading, guiding, governing, and glorifying His flock? Neither can we erase from our memories that blessed seventeenth of John, where the Surety of the covenant, the Father's Righteous Servant is rendering a faithful account of His stewardship to Him who appointed Him, and in which account no discrepancy, want, or failure can be seen. All that a precious Christ undertook on behalf of His people He accomplished perfectly; I was going to say, to the very letter; for we find it was accomplished to the very word, or words. Listen to His declaration: "I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me;" (verse 8) and again, "I have given them Thy word." (verse 14) This was not only in sound and sign, but the Word of life in the power and spirit thereof. And who among us can fail to remember Ps. 107, with its various stanzas describing the dealings of the LORD with His redeemed people, their gracious deliverances out of their distresses, His finding them just where they are, and bringing them by gracious lifts and sweet encouragements to Himself? The chapter before us is one of these characteristic portions of the sacred Scriptures, which from a child I have known and never could forget. The question arises, Why did the Lord Jesus Christ speak and teach in parables? No wonder the question should interest us when the disciples asked Jesus privately, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?" Notice the answer Jesus gave: "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." (Matt. 13:11) Come to verse 34: "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." (Ps. 78:2) Our blessed Lord, as the Great Prophet of His Church, is still revealing the secrets of His Father's purposes of grace to the hearts of His people. Yes, by the grace, indwelling, and enlightening power of His blessed Spirit He declares things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. What are these secret things? God's elect and their whereabouts. These, being the persons for whom the blessings of the everlasting covenant were designed, must be sought for, found, and brought to light. The Spirit of Christ searches and finds the very persons upon whom God the Father fixed His everlasting love, whom the Son redeemed with His most precious blood, and who are the fruit of His sufferings and agonies. These are distinguished from the corrupt mass around them by the Spirit's indwelling, and His gracious witnessing of the Father's electing love and the Son's redeeming grace to them. He still speaks to them in parables, that gracious reciprocity and mutual enjoyment may exist between JEHOVAH and the numbers of His one family, according to that blessed declaration in 1 John 1:3: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." Ofttimes Satan seduces and beguiles by his false glosses and erroneous expositions of Scripture, thus hiding the fair beauty of inspired truth from the gaze of those for whom it is designed; but who must in the fullness of time, the set time of favour, be brought into the experimental possession of its blessedness. It is ours for a short time to contemplate the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in the parable which I have read for my text, and spoken by Him for the instruction of His disciples, and for the building up and establishing of His Church throughout all time. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a Merchantman, seeking goodly pearls: who when He had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that He had, and bought it." We will notice THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. THE MERCHANTMAN. THE SEARCH. GOODLY PEARLS SOUGHT. ONE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE FOUND. THE SALE "Went and sold all that He had." THE PURCHASE "And bought it." I. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The parable commences, "Again, the kingdom of heaven." Why this word "Again?" Because the Lord Jesus Christ in patient grace will see to it that His communications and lessons shall be impressed upon the minds of His disciples. He repeats, ay, reiterates the same truths to meet the ignorance and infirmity of His scholars. We see this in that precious declaration in Mark 10:1, "And, as He was wont, He taught them again." This mode of teaching is Divine, and is revealed under the old dispensation of law and in the new dispensation of grace. See Isa. 28:13, "But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." Here we see the effect of the precept being brought home to the heart by the power of God the Holy Ghost; but, as we stand upon new covenant ground, we are not snared and broken by the precept, but counselled and comforted by the promise. Yes, blessed be God, led from the uncertain regions of cold legality, and standing upon the sure and certain ground of covenant love, we are taught and encouraged by promise upon promise. It is not the precept to tell me what I must do; but the promise revealing to me the Father's mind, the accomplishment of that mind for me by the Son of His love, and the communication of it to my heart by His Spirit. In the mode of teaching appearing in the ministry of the apostles we see the very same thing. Paul discovers it to us in Phil. 3:1, "To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe." Peter was one in spirit and testimony with his beloved brother Paul, and writes thus, "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance." (2 Peter 1:12,13) Again and again we see this revealed in the pages of Divine inspiration. It is said of the Master, "And, as He was wont, He taught them again." (Mark 10:1) As it was with the Master, so it will be with His disciples. He says in our text. "Again." After giving many parabolic representations of the kingdom of heaven, He comes to the one before us and says, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a Merchantman." That expression, "the kingdom of heaven," is a characteristic of the Gospel by Matthew. It always refers to the real surrounded with the artificial, the genuine found in the midst of the counterfeit. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net containing good and bad fish." (Matt. 13:47,48) Mark! Bad as well as good fish in the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a field with tares sown in it as well as wheat. Do you see? Tares along with the wheat, the children of the devil mixing with the children of God in the kingdom of heaven. You have the same truth under the term "heaven" in the book of Revelation, which means the Gospel dispensation, from the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost to the ascent of the last elect vessel of mercy to glory. During this time the people of God will be scattered among the corrupt and reprobate mass of mankind. Here we find a solemn and heart-searching question for ourselves. In every congregation we may expect to find reprobates mingling with God's elect, unredeemed ones with God's regenerate saints, dogs and swine assembling themselves with the lambs and sheep of Christ's flock. This is the question, Where are we individually this morning? Does this congregation answer to the description of the mixed multitude described throughout this chapter? Well may each of us ask the question, and that by the searching power of the Holy Ghost, "Lord, is it I." Throughout the Gospel by Matthew we see the Lord Jesus Christ revealed preaching to crowds. You see this at the commencement of Matt. 5, "And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain, and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: and He opened His mouth and taught them." The Gospel of John reveals the great Teacher dealing with individuals. The spirit of Matthew's Gospel is, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." The burden of John's Gospel is, "The kingdom of God is within you." The ministry of the Master, as set forth by the evangelist John, takes not into account hypocrites and outsiders. The spirituality of His teaching here is only for those in blessed and hallowed association with Himself. But see we not crowds in John's Gospel? Yes; but the Vindicator of His oppressed people soon scatters them. In chap. 2. He is seen driving a crowd of worldlings out of the temple with a scourge of small cords. Come to chap. 6, and there you behold a great company feeding upon bread and fish; but loathing the spiritual provision He set before them, and scattered by its power. Come to chap. 8. Here you see a throng of scribes and Pharisees bringing to Him a poor outcast upon whom His affections were everlastingly fixed, accusing her of the sin of adultery. He stooped and wrote upon the ground, according to an ancient copy of the New Testament, "the sins of every one of them." Be this as it may, they read upon the ground that which scattered them, and drove them from His sacred presence. Has a precious Jesus to do with crowds? He drives them from Him. Has He to do with the weak and retiring ones of His flock? He draws them to Him, and gently folds them to His bosom. Thus, you see the distinction between the two expressions in Matthew and John. The kingdom of God reveals God's gracious work as wrought by the power and grace of God the ever-blessed Spirit, which hypocrites and mere professors can never understand, but brought home to the hearts of reserved and retiring ones by Divine power. We come to notice, II. THE MERCHANTMAN. Who is this Merchantman? Some have endeavoured to explain this parable as a sinner seeking Christ, but, according to my judgment, this is a perversion of God's truth. These see in the merchantman the individual sinner seeking goodly pearls of truth, pearls of grace, pearls of blessing, and at length finding and buying the Lord Jesus Christ the one pearl of great price. Now, this will not do for me. Jesus Christ God's salvation, is far above all price. The Merchantman is not a seeking sinner, for a seeking sinner is a bankrupt beggar. In the Adam fall he became a bankrupt. By the convincing and convicting power of the Holy Ghost he became a beggar. By the application of God's perfect, spiritual, and fiery law to his conscience, he was burnt out of house and home, and possesses nothing by which he can count upon the notice or favour of a just and holy God. Thus brought and taught, he experiences that state described in Toplady's matchless hymn: "Nothing, in my hand I bring, Simply to THYSELF I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for dress; Foul, I to the Fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die." Look through the Scriptures of truth for the description of the condition of those who are brought by rich and distinguishing grace to seek a precious Christ. Are these found as merchantmen with a stock-in-hand to do business on their own account? Are these able to purchase God's salvation or gracious favour? Listen to the experience of one who was cared for by his loving Lord: "But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: "Thou art my Help and Deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God." (Ps. 40:17) Look at the declaration of our Lord Jesus Christ to Simon the Pharisee, who thought he had something with which he could buy or demand the favour, love, and mercy of God. "Jesus said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And He turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet: but she hath washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed My feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven." She had nothing whatever to recommend her to the Saviour's notice, yet, her sins were all forgiven. She had nothing to pay, yet she came into possession of the unsearchable riches of Christ. She deserved hell, but her Saviour brought her heaven. We see this in the experience wrought in all the children of God as set forth in Romans 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God," or "subject to the judgment of God." What is the judgment of God? That universal man is corrupt, depraved, bankrupt, dead, with nothing whatever to recommend him to the notice and favour of a sin-hating God. You may ask, Will all the world become subject to that judgment? I answer, yes. All the elect will be graciously taught it, by the Holy Ghost in this life, and all the reprobate will feel its power when before the throne of King Emmanuel's glory, when their boasting mouths will be stopped with His withering rebuke and final proof that they never wrought a good work during the whole course of their miserable existence, nor possessed the smallest coin that would pass current in His spiritual dominion. By this we see that the Merchantman of the text, according to the positive declarations of God's most Holy Word, and the experience of God's loving children, cannot be a seeking sinner. He must be a seeking Saviour. We now notice, III. THE SEARCH "A Merchantman seeking." From Genesis to Revelation a seeking God is revealed as the glory of the Gospel. You may depend upon it, had it not been His good pleasure and delight to seek His people, they never would have sought Him; had it not been His determination to find, He never would have been found by one of those whom He brings into blessed and hallowed association with Himself. Let us look at the wonderful chapter, Genesis 3. Here we see Eve beguiled and fallen, and we see that "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." (1 Tim. 2:14) Satan threw the dust of fleshly expectancy into the eyes of Eve, and blinded her to his designs, but Adam sinned with his eyes wide open. He sinned not like a dupe or a sneak; he sinned like a man. Why? Because he sinned out of fondest love to his wife, but for want of love to his God. You will see here a great disparity between the type and the Antitype. Adam was natural; Christ was spiritual. Adam was earthy; Christ was heavenly. (1 Cor. 15:46-48) Adam's way was from God; Christ's way was to God. Adam's will was unrestrained; Christ's will was in perfect subjection to that of His Father. When Eve stood in the midst of the ruin in which sin had plunged her, Adam forsook her not. He sinned with her, was lost with her, and before he would be parted from her, down to the depths of her doom and degradation he willingly plunged himself. In this we have a glorious type of the last Adam, our most glorious Christ. The first Adam parted with all that he had for the sake of his Eve. The last Adam left all He had for the sake of His bride, the Church. In this we see some little indication as to who the Merchantman is. When Adam discovered the plight he was in, he and his wife tried to hide themselves from the presence of God behind the trees of the garden. They hid, but God sought them; they ran, but not beyond His reach; they hid, but not beyond His gaze. His searching question, "Where art thou?" found out the guilty pair. The truth of Genesis 3 is not, that these two sinners were set to seek their God, but, that He sought them. Yes, a covenant God sought, found, and preached His Gospel to them. He gave the blessed assurance of His love by driving them out of an earthly Eden, to find their All in Him, and to hold spiritual communion and fellowship with Him. You see the same searching God in the case of David. His is an awful state to contemplate. David sinned foully. He looked, he lusted, he fell. He caused Uriah to get drunk, and planned his destruction. How long remained he in his wandering state from God? So long, that if many of us were to see a poor weak child of God remaining in sin the same time, without satisfactory signs of repentance, we should come to the conclusion that he was wholly destitute of the life of God. But God loved David, and sent His servant Nathan, who spake to him the parable of the ewe lamb, by which the Holy Ghost wrought conviction in his heart, bringing forth the bitter confession, "I have sinned against the Lord." (2 Sam. 12:1-13) In this narrative we see a sinner hiding in his sins, and a seeking and finding God. Now look at that three-in-one parable in Luke 15. In it the Good Shepherd is seen seeking His lost sheep, the woman seeking her lost piece of silver, and the Father seeking His lost son. This illustrates the love of the great Three-in-One to all the eternally-saved ones, without respect to their peculiarities or experiences. Blessed be God, our sins, follies, and changes can never affect His love and interest in us. This is sure to wound the conceit of those who pride themselves in high favours or deep teachings. If I am loved of my God, it is with the same love that he bears to the whole of His elect and redeemed family. In this blessed chapter we see the Good Shepherd going forth in search of His lost sheep, "until He find it." He never stops short of that. "And when He hath found it, He layeth it on His shoulders," and carries it rejoicing all the way home to glory. The second part of the parable sets forth the finding of the lost silver. There is no life in silver, yet there is intrinsic value to the owner. A woman seeks it. Why is this? In the woman we see the Church, moved by the indwelling Spirit, declare the mind and will of God, and thus find lost elect ones in the most unlikely spots. It has been my lot to experience this joy of bringing precious souls, through the power of the Gospel, to the enjoyment of their perfection in Christ. In the last part of the parable the lost son is sought for and found. A great way off the Father saw him; the Father ran; the Father fell upon his neck; the Father kissed him. You see, all the activity is on the part of the Father. What a glorious sight! A seeking God! The Saviour seeking His lost sheep. The Spirit seeking His lost silver. The Sire seeking His lost son. I do love that precious declaration of the Saviour to the Samaritan woman, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John 4:23) Well might the Holy Ghost declare by Isaiah, "I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me." (Isa. 65:1; Rom. 10:20) IV. GOODLY PEARLS SOUGHT What are pearls? White, shining, precious treasure found in the ocean. In the deep wide sea of this world the precious pearls of JEHOVAH are hidden until the time for their manifestation. In spots untraceable to human fisherman, that is, to Gospel ministers who are fishers of men, Christ seeks and finds His own. He holds the means in His own hands wherewith He brings them forth to light, life, love, and liberty in spiritual oneness with Himself. What is the origin of the pearl? A distemper in the shell of the fish in which it is found. This cannot direct our minds to our Lord Jesus Christ. There was no distemper in His origin, no defect in His Person or perfections. It leads us at once to contemplate the Church of the living God, those sinners whom He seeks and saves by His rich and sovereign grace from all distempers, washes from all sins, and carries them to glory, to fill all heaven with unceasing praise and adoration. May we ever be kept humble before Him, remembering the hole of the pit whence we were digged, the rock from whence we were hewn, and the deep, dark sea of depravity from whence we were drawn. The sea is used by the Holy Ghost to illustrate the awful depravity of human nature throughout this wide world. See Isaiah 57:20,21: "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Out of this sea, precious pearls are cast up at the command of Christ, and though they are surrounded with mire and dirt, they lose none of their value in His estimation. He came to seek, and seeking finds, and brings them to know something of their preciousness in Him and to Him, to share His grace down here, and at length, be partakers of His glory up yonder. The members of the Church of Christ are as pearls in His eyes, goodly, beautiful, graceful, and comely. V. ONE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE FOUND Why goodly pearls, and then one pearl of great price? To set forth diversity and unity. I will not say uniformity. There may be uniformity where there is no unity. Blessed be God, there is unity where, according to our judgment and the sight of our eyes, there is no uniformity whatever. I thank God from the depths of my heart that I am spiritually one in His sacred and solemn presence with many who stand at a distance in outward things. Ay, and many stand aloof in respect to their experimental grooves, with whom we are unchangeably one in the glorious realities of the Gospel. This one pearl leads the mind to behold and admire the unity of the Church in Christ Jesus. The heavenly Bridegroom looks with "love's own thrilling gaze" upon that lovely one of whom He declares in Solomon's song 6:9, "My dove, My undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bear her." We see the diversity, yet oneness of the body of Christ set forth in the testimony of Paul, in Romans 12:4,5: "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." And again, in 1 Cor. 10:17, "For we, being many, are one bread and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." Come to the 12th chapter and 12th verse: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ" that is, Christ mystical, Head and members one glorious whole in the unceasing view of the Father. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." We see this diversity and unity in Ephesians 4:3, "endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Then, after showing the nature and offices of the Christian ministry, he describes its design: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Now read at the 15th verse: "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: from which the whole body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." The Merchantman found this one pearl. Where did He find it? He found it in the purpose of the Father before the worlds were framed. In rendering an account of His stewardship He said to the Father, "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy Word." (John 17:6) Again, "I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." (John 17:9-11) Now come to the 21st verse: "That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one." There you see the one pearl of great price, a glorious Church standing in all the glorious perfections of its Husband and Head in the presence of the Father before all worlds. Good old John Kent sang so sweetly of this: "Then, in the glass of His decrees, Christ and His bride appeared as one; Her sin, by imputation, His, Whilst she in spotless splendour shone." In time He found it in a desert land, and in a waste howling wilderness, for such this sinful world was to Him. We may murmur and complain, as we experience the desolations wrought by sin and Satan around us and in us; but we may rest assured, there never was desolation, isolation, or loneliness like that experienced by our suffering Lord. From heaven's bright glory to earth's dark gloom He came to seek and to save His long-lost pearl. "Forasmuch then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:14,15) He sought, He found, He saved His pearl. By the power of the Holy Ghost, He finds it in the varied members of the one body whom He knits together in one glorious whole. This is beautifully expressed in one of the collects of the Church of England, "O Almighty God, who hast knit together Thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of Thy Son Christ our Lord." There you see spiritual oneness. The pearl lies hidden in the deep sea of human depravity and corruption, until found by the Merchantman, when, blessed be His name, He washes, cleanses, and purifies it in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, gives it to know that it ever appears before the face of the Father, clean every whit, and not one spot of sin, pollution, or depravity to be seen by His all-searching eye. We now come to notice VI. THE SALE The Merchantman "went and sold all that he had." Surely this cannot mean poor bankrupt beggars as we know and feel ourselves to be. What have we got to sell? What have we to dispose of? Nothing but that which deserves God's eternal wrath and condemnation. Am I a merchantman? A petty merchantman! I am utterly ruined. Ofttimes my spirit bows in sadness before my God and cries: "Not on me, Lord, not on me, I am all iniquity; Look on Thine Anointed One, Who before Thy glorious throne, On His breast bears my poor name, All my load of sin and shame Look on Him, my Surety." In the Surety of the covenant I see the Merchantman. This is He who sold all that He had to purchase His Church, His pearl of great price. Turn with me to Phil. 2:6-11, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Look at that glorious testimony of Paul in 2 Cor. 8:9, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." He who was rich indeed parted with all that He had for His Church, His pearl. My dear friends, I might multiply Scripture proofs, but the time is gone. Look at that precious declaration in Matt. 20:28, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Again, in Gal. 1:4, "Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Yes, He gave Himself, His life, His blood, His righteousness, His reputation, ay, all that He had. Devils tempted Him. Hypocrites persecuted Him. Pietists hated Him. "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." (Isa. 53:7) Just think that this was all on your account and mine. Now turn to Isaiah 43:3,4: "For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life." Men and nations are as nothing to JEHOVAH-JESUS, and, He tramples them under His feet, for the sake of His Church, His bride, His pearl. VII. THE PURCHASE "And bought it." Look through the Scriptures, search them, and may God give you an intelligent understanding of this precious truth. I ask you on the ground of both Divine teaching and spiritual experience, when you hear persons speaking of Christ buying anything, but His Church, do not believe them. I do not believe in purchased blessings, comforts, or mercies, for there are no such things. Christ purchased the Church to enjoy the blessings freely given to her by Him. In every portion of the New Testament, where He is said to buy, purchase, or redeem, the Church is the object. See! "The Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28) "Ye are bought with a price." (1 Cor. 6:20) "Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ." (1 Pet. 1:18,19) "Thou art worthy, for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." ( Rev. 5:9) In this short parable we have a store of spiritual treasure. It will take eternity to explore it. May you and I so understand it here, as to be able to say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Gal. 2:20)