The Picture of Gospel Faith in Matthew 13:44
December 8th, 2011
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Matthew 13:44
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
- This verse is the picture of True Gospel Faith. Biblically, you don’t spell Faith R-I-S-K, you spell it S-I-G-H-T. When you see something in the Spirit, whether the carnal agrees, that alone gets you to do what seems out of place to the world, to obtain the desired end. The only time DOUBT, hence risk,comes in is when the carnal mind converses with the spiritual mind.
- All spiritual pursuit and “gifts” work through the principle of Seeing, Selling, and Buying to receive, even Salvation. When you see Jesus, you must forsake everything else. Consider the parable of the the mustard seed: there are not multiple types of seeds sown to produce the entirety of the Kingdom, one seed produces everything. Not only would you find many gifted people with a testimony of “selling” to obtain what they saw, similar to this, you will not find any other. Whether it’s salvation, prophecy, healing, or anything else, it is the knowledge of the treasure that propels.
- The person in faith is a “prisoner” to joy, to happiness. Here, it is depicted in the Joy. Considering Matthew 5, true Faith, rooted in God and Christ, results in happiness at expected deliverance, comfort, or other promise. The man poor in Spirit, knowing he is all right with God, is happiest then, in that place, because the Kingdom is his. Those in mourning are happy then, because heavenly comfort will come. The man in the “dire straights” of sell all is joyful because he sees the treasure. There is no fear. Emotional warfare breaks off. You sit at the door awaiting salvation. You accelerate into your deliverance instead of limping into the ambulance when it arrives. Hugely Happy are those… Because. It is the treasure that results in happiness.
- The work of the gospel is truth, not performance or striving or guessing. The thing that keeps you going is the treasure itself. If the man in the field wavered half-way through, he would not have to work harder, he would simply go sneak another peek at the treasure. Denial is the Devil. Truth keeps you going. Obstruction is an opportunity for more faith.
- Unless you see, you cannot receive. Even if you happened to buy the field, without the revelation, it continues to be empty to you, despite the treasure within. John the Baptist said a man cannot receive anything unless it is given to him by heaven.
- A Focused life is essential to walking by the Spirit. It is only by the selling that we can receive. When the eye is single (incorrectly translated “good”), the whole body is full of light. The fires of the passions of the heart are not inexhaustible, and we will simply run out of enthusiasm. Unless we let go of what we have invested in bitterness, unforgiveness, and pain, we cannot fully receive the Kingdom. When the fullness of the treasures of our hearts are fully invested in the right place, the purchase is not hard. It follows that we generally do have the resources on hand to do do what needs to be done to see the treasure become ours, it is just a matter of being willing to part with the familiar and mundane to procure the sure divine.
- The presence and purity of faith, not its quantity, is the only thing required. It didn’t take a big mind to make this transaction. The only thing that could stop the man was only doubt that it was there or worth it. It was there. Simply the vision of the true, and a recognition of that was ll that was ever required for the simplest to the most complex to become the richest. Faith becomes the “extension cord” from God’s supply to you, not the power itself, according to Jesus (Mark 11:23).
- You can only have faith for what you’ve seen. No one else agrees with your wisdom, because no one else sees the treasure. While every criticism has a grain of truth they say, for the man in the field, everyone points out the worthless field, to which he agrees, and the value of the possessions, to which he agrees, but continues on straight ahead based on perfect logic, confidence, and truth of that which is “hidden”. The proof of faith is treasure in hand, not procurement of the field. You can keep all the fleshly manifestations, the thing that matters is the gold, silver, and precious gems. But, you might not get the goods without them.
- The Gospel is always Good News. No one is “losing” anything, at least permanently, only gaining. The only reason for apparent asceticism is the greatness of something better, God Himself. Religion uses mental agreement and “imagination”. Kingdom uses revelation and true sight. It’s a matter of discovery and correct appraisal.
- The gospel is as simple as a good business deal. The point of sale looks like to death to the blind, but life to the one who sees. It cost Kathryn Kuhlman everything every time she came out to the platform, but I’d take a hundred of what she had and lose everything else if I could. It’d be worth it a billion times over. The world cannot see nor enter this. We cannot all expect to be Kathryn, but we can all receive a “word” (or vision) from heaven and step out into it. We can’t all be “that”, but we can all be “all that God has called us to be” and nothing else. The only thing truly “deadly” is selling some and not buying the field in the end, or going and “fleshing out”, buying something else so you no longer have the resources to buy what you originally intended to buy.
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