Five Pearls of Great Price

Five Things Every Person Can Have This Christmas

Selected Scriptures

DATE: 10 Dec, 2000   AM          PLACE: BBC Blarney

 

I.         Introduction (Matthew 13:45,46)

 

Be content with what God gives you, but don't ever be content with less than God has for you.

 

A.      Can you imagine ever being satisfied? Really satisfied, to the point where you cease your cribbing about things? Where you just don’t whing and complain about ANYTHING anymore? Where the world just can’t affect you like it used to? I really believe that the world is so full of cribbers and whiners because our churches are full of them!

 

1.        People probably cribbed about some of the food last night – wicked

2.        People in this room probably crib after church: about how long it goes on, about how far it is to travel tonight out to Bill and Geraldine’s – so sad

3.        You know, I think we need a revival! Something that will take our breath away – not something new on the outside, but rather on the INSIDE!

 

B.       If only everyone in this room had a pearl or two of great price – your life would be changed, and you know it!

C.       Let me show you the five great pearls of great price out there for the finding (there are at least five more, but they are for another message)!

D.      Our man in Mt 13 can be related to Jesus finding us, but it relates to US finding Him as well! Oh if you only had a few GREAT PEARLS folks!

 

II.       Background

                                              

A.      Everybody is looking for goodly pearls – looking for something better

B.       But pearls cost some big money – depends upon what you want

C.       There are not only poor quality pearls, but also counterfeit pearls

D.      A person who only finds poor pearls will definitely get discouraged

E.       But a person who finds exquisite pearls of great beauty and value will never be the same – two incredible pearls that I have found on the internet: £10M (bigger than a golf-ball) and £60M (more perfect)

F.       What if I could show you where to find FIVE of the most exquisite and priceless pearls in existence? Would you get them?

 

III.     Message - Five Pearls of Great Price (Selected Scriptures)

                                              

A.      Jesus - There is No Better Saviour (2Cor 11:2-4)

 

1.        Look at verse 4 first

 

a.       Do people think there are better jesus’ out there? Yes they do

b.       Do churches promote “another spirit” – you better believe it

c.       Do churches each seem to have their own gospel these days? Different from Christ’s? YES!

d.       Why do they get accepted? Because people have been blinded by the beauty of a counterfeit pearl! They have found religion, good works, a rebel kind of ‘jesus’ - but nor Jesus!

e.       The other saviours are not real

 

1)       Drugs

2)       The Self-help books

3)       The charismatic leaders

4)       The government policies and programmes

 

2.        Folks, look now back at verse 2 and 3

 

a.       Only HE is worth any struggle to stay pure – like a virgin at marriage. Only HE made me pure to begin with at salvation!

b.       Thankfully, He is so simple

 

1)       It is not the works that I do that please God - It is the finished work of Jesus Christ in my life that pleases Him

2)       He asks us to by faith repent of everything about ourselves, and totally lean upon Him

3)       And that is it!

 

3.        We are talking about a substitute, made in your behalf

 

a.       Where GOD took all your sinfulness, and placed it upon His Son

b.       And then took all of Jesus’ righteousness, and placed it upon YOU

c.       There is NO OTHER SAVIOUR like THAT!

 

4.        What a Pearl of Great Price, of Great Value is Jesus (1Jn 1:1-4) – and if it cost me everything to get saved, I would give it all (Mk 8:36,37)!

 

B.       Bible - There is No Better Bible

 

1.        The most valuable book in the world is a An original four-volume subscriber set of J.J. Audubon's The Birds Of America was auctioned for $8,802,500 by Christie's, New York City, USA on March 10, 2000.

2.        This is what makes Christianity what it is

a.       Not because of a feeling, or a hope, or a stab-in-the-dark

b.       But instead, because of a rock solid foundation that is more valuable than all the books in the world

3.        What am I talking about:

 

a.       A Bible that is true from the beginning (Ps 119:160)

b.       A Bible that is pure (Ps 119:140) – holy, clean, not filthy!

c.       A Bible that is right (Isa 45:19) and I mean, RIGHT about everything – not guesswork, no debate, no leeway – what it says, it means!

d.       It is the King James Bible of 1611  I hold in my hand (Mt 24:35)

 

4.        Folks, we may wish for a Bible that was:

 

a.       Not so big – could be read in a sitting

b.       Not to hash – needs to be modified to no longer offend people

c.       Not so hard to understand – right – I believe it is not generally the case of it being hard to understand anymore than a book on geometry is hard to understand – if it was written by God that way, then that is how I need to train my mind to think! AMEN!

d.       But do you know what that “book” would be – “just another book” that ain’t worth reading! What I want, and so need is something true, real, testable, verifiable, and powerful as God’s Holy Word!

 

5.        What a Pearl of Great Price, of Great Value – and if it cost me everything, I would give it!

 

C.       There is No Better Life (John 10:10)

 

1.        The highest paid people in the world

 

a.       Bill Gates (£40M)

b.       John D. Rockafeller (£900M - equivalent to $189.6 billion today.)

c.       Woman - Liliane Bettencourt (France), heiress to the L'Oréal fortune, has an estimated net worth of US$15.2 billion.

d.       Basketball Player for the Chicago Bulls (£7,000 a minute)

 

2.        People KILL to be able to have the things a Christian has:

 

a.       The peace of God

b.       Peace with God

c.       And finally, peace with themselves!

 

3.        I don’t know what kind of life you have

 

a.       Maybe lots of money, prestige, great future

b.       Maybe lots of pressures

c.       Maybe lots of nothing

 

4.        I just know what I got when I was saved – I got a LIFE that is:

 

a.       Brand spanking new – not something old and worn-out but FRESH and sweet and wonderful

b.       In the will of God – there is no greater Pearl to have than the knowledge that you are doing just what God wants you to be doing today!

c.       Full of effort and labours yes, but - FOR God instead of against Him now (Pr 12:11)! AMEN! I work hard ON PURPOSE for Jesus!

d.       Clean (Pr 13:25)

 

5.        I don’t care what the world thinks, there’s no greater life than being a follower of Jesus Christ – a Christian! That is what Jesus calls us to – not just to heaven, but to a life worth giving up everything you have got!

6.        I am sad to inform you that MOST Christians don’t have this. Oh yes, they may have received Christ, and gotten saved, but the life they now live is NO DIFFERENT than the day before they got saved! What a loss!

7.        If you are saved, start living like it (1Cor 6:9-11)!

 


D.      There is No Better Future (Col 3:1,2)

 

1.        Folks, it is all not down here that is valuable

2.        Folks. Do you know WHY heaven is such a Pearl, a TREASURE of Great Value (Rev 21:21)?

 

a.       Because we will be with Jesus (Psalm 17:15)

 

1)       That’s what Moses yearned for

2)       That is what Paul yearned for (Philp 1:21-24)

 

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.  For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:  Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

 

3)       Job looked forward to a better future – got him through the rough times (Job 19:26)

 

b.       Because there will be Seven no mores (Rev 21:4)

 

1)       No more sin

2)       No more sorrow

3)       No more tears

4)       No more death

5)       No more pain

6)       No more baggage – our old nature will be dead!

7)       No more night

 

c.       You couldn’t find something better than THAT! Find me something better than HEAVEN! Buddhists tied it and came up with NOTHING! That’s all!

d.       Because we will not be alone (Rev 5:9-11) – may look like a small operation, but it’s NOT!

 

E.       There is No Better Time – right now you have an opportunity

 

1.        To get saved (2Cor 6:1,2)

2.        To make things right – to say “I LOVE YOU!”

3.        To get right – don’t let PRIDE blind you to a pearl of great price

4.        To lay up treasures in heaven – don’t wait until tomorrow even!

 

IV.    Conclusion – folks, there could be some very rich people in this room!

 

A.      With Jesus

B.       Having THE VERY WORDS of ALMIGHTY GOD in their hands

C.       Having a LIFE, that is eternal, and worth living NOW

D.      Oh what a FUTURE each Christian has in this room – BRIGHT is not the word for it!

E.       Finally, the very fact you have an opportunity to POSSESS these great pearls. Don’t waste the chance – get saved today. Get right today. Get busy today!