Month: January 2018

PART 1: THE PEARL, CONT.

THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST’S WAY OF SALVATION

Gold, silver, and precious stones are very interesting items to study. In their common uses as jewelry they have very little utility. Ideally, they bring joy by looking upon them and a demonstration of status by showing them off. But they do not perform any great work for their owners in this life and certainly not the life to come. However, the one pearl that the merchant finds is worthy of selling all to gain it, for it does not lack any value and utility. It is not merely for show but it also gives something. To have this pearl is to have benefits from this particular pearl. So to have Christ, to be in Christ, is to have the benefits of Christ. Christ is not separate from his benefits. To have Christ is to have all His benefits. What is it about His benefits that we should so desire?

Like with Christ’s origin and attributes, we find again that Christ’s Word and Benefits are also perfect. Unlike the Old Testament prophets and even the angels and John the Baptist, God’s Word tells us that Jesus Christ is the perfect prophet revealing to us His Word (Heb. 1:2); Jesus Christ is the perfect priest and sacrifice, holy, harmless, and undefiled (Hebrews 7:24 – 8:2); and the perfect King who subdues all enemies and conquers death even with His own death on the cross as evidenced in all of the gospels. The Lord Jesus Christ is perfect in all of His works. And that which flows from Him, even His benefits, they also are perfect.

We could spend significant time and ink considering the perfect inheritance he has given (I Peter 1:4); the perfect redemption He has accomplished for us (Col 1:13-14,22); the riches, value, and treasure of redemption through His blood (Ephesians 1:7); the perfect benefits flowing from Christ who unites us to Himself in our effectual calling, namely justification, adoption, sanctification and those accompanying benefits, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, Increase of Grace, and Perseverance to the End. These are almost too great to consider together in one paragraph! We may cry out with Paul, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.”

Jesus is the perfect way of salvation and the perfect way to these benefits. They flow from Him. There is no life, no justification, no sanctification, no nothing apart from Him. How much the Lord emphasizes this by referring to Himself even in this way, “I am the door…by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.”

The merchants of the Earth sell their many pearls and buy their pearls and have nothing to show for it. They do not chase after the one perfect pearl; they chase after the many fleeting pearls. It is a sad thing and the subject of another study entirely, that the book of Revelation has been so poorly abused by well-meaning men of the past 150 years. Instead of the seeing the riches of the mystery and glory of God who defeats His enemies, of Christ who destroys all evil, of Christ who is reigning even now and will be reigning forever more, many see mystery, confusion, and strange prophecies. But if we put the confusion aside for a few moments, and if we come toward the end of the book, we can see something profound about the merchants of the world.

As the final book of Scripture draws towards a triumphant close, we read of the end of the world in chapter 18. And we find in verse 11 that there are merchants in the world at the hour of judgment, but they are not merchants in the Kingdom of Heaven. As the world is ending, the merchants of the world are weeping and mourning over her destruction. Why? Because no men will buy their merchandise any more. They have gold, silver, precious stones, and verse 12 tells us, they have pearls! All mannerof merchant materials are present: sweet spices, fine linens, foods, precious metals. As these merchants gaze upon the place that made them rich with the things of the world, they will stand afar off saying…

“Alas Alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what city is like unto this great city!…Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! For in one hour is she made desolate.”

In but one hour, merely a moment in time, the merchants of the world with their worldly, imperfect, destitute pearls will lose all they worked for, all they longed for, the hope of their well-being, the sustenance of their joy, the pleasure of their souls. It will vanish away and they with it. They have a pearl like many other pearls, of very little value, of no true benefit, that performs no great works, nor provides any eternal reward.

But my friends, he who has the one pearl of great price has salvation! He who has Jesus Christ as His Lord and as His Savior, he who has been born again of the Spirit, he who has been given the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and who has tasted and seen that the Lord is good, has everything! He who has Christ has eternal life! He who has Christ Jesus has the Father also. He who has Christ has that which is perfect. He who has Christ has greater wisdom and riches than the wise and wealthy men of this world.

With Christ Jesus who is the one pearl of great price; with Christ who is the way, the truth and the life; with Christ Jesus who said, “I am the door”; is it any wonder that when John sees the vision of heaven in Revelation 21 that he sees the walls, the streets, the foundations of precious metals and rubies and then in 21:21, he sees the twelve gates which are made of…pearl! Even the world is familiar with this concept of the pearly gates of Heaven. Why the one pearl for the door? Well, Christ is the door. Life eternal in the heavenly city is through Him and only through Him. And Christ is the one pearl of great price!

Do you see the sin and misery that is Rome and every other false religion? Jesus Christ is the one perfect pearl. He is sufficient. Rome takes Christ and says, “He is good, but you need more. You need other pearls which you can work for and receive.” The one perfect way of salvation, the only way, the only hope for lost and dying men, and Rome says…not so fast. The work He said is finished, Rome says, it is still being done in the mass and by your works. The once and for all sacrifice is the once started and forever continuing sacrifice of Rome. The only mediator between God and man is more like the first of many mediators between God and man in Rome. The one pearl of great price in Matthew is to Rome the one of many pearls of good price. The perfect pearl of Matthew is the blemished, dull, distorted pearl of Rome. Those in the Kingdom of Heaven know nothing of Rome’s pearls and will not have such bondage, lies, and destruction. Jesus Christ is the one perfect way of salvation!

My friends, have you seen the perfection of this pearl in Matthew 13:46? Have you tasted of the perfection of Jesus Christ today? Will you, like Pharaoh, harden your heart at these sayings? Or will you, like Paul, “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ (Phil. 3:8).”

If Christ is in you (Col 1:27) you have all things! Press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ, and you shall greet with joy the great day of the Lord, when with your eyes you will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and glory. My friends, by any means possible, attain to the resurrection of the dead. And here is the means – Christ Jesus and Him crucified!

Ben Stahl, Elder

PART 1: THE PEARL, CONT.

THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST IN HIS ATTRIBUTES

Have you known a man or woman who was always concerned to show to others the wealth they had accumulated? Perhaps they never had earned much income while working, but had made wise investments and over the years and multiplied that wealth many times over. As the years drew on and they grew older, they talked to you and whoever would listen of their wealth. After years of delighting in this wealth, they eventually drew their final breath and never spoke, saw, or experienced anything of that wealth ever again. Like a bird, it spread its wings and abandoned them.

The merchant found something very different when he found the Pearl of great price. He didn’t find a pearl like the many other pearls he had. He found one pearl. He found a special pearl. He found a unique pearl. He found a perfect pearl. We have seen that this pearl was perfect in its origin. For this pearl is Jesus Christ, who is from all eternity and to all eternity. He is from God and He is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is also a pearl with perfect attributes.

Christ’s attributes display His perfection, for His attributes themselves are perfect. As the most expensive pearl is free of blemishes, perfect in reflection of light, ideal in color, and great in size, so the Lord in all His ways, Words, and works is perfect.

Time would fail us in our short discussion to speak of God’s perfect attributes. But if we are to embrace this pearl that is Jesus Christ, the treasure that is more valuable than all else, we must know this treasure better than all else. For to have eternal life is to know Jesus Christ. Too many have an idea of Jesus. Too many have a concept of Jesus. Too many think they are best friends with Jesus because he is said to slay all their giants and help them all the time. But too many do not know Jesus Christ. They embrace an idea of Him but do not care to know Him. The merchant found the one pearl by searching out its attributes. From a distance it may have looked like most other pearls. But the merchant did not simply embrace the idea of a perfect pearl. It was close examination that brought its perfection into observance.

As we examine the Scriptures we find it full of the perfection of God’s attributes. We see the perfection of His work (Deut. 32. 4); the perfection of His knowledge (Job 37:16; Isaiah 40: 14); the perfection of His ways (Psalm 18:30); the perfection of his law (Psalm 19:7); the perfection of God manifested in each of the three persons of the Godhead; the Father (Matt. 5:48); the Son (Heb. 5:9); the Spirit (John 14:16); and the perfection of His beauty (Psalm 50:2); all just to name a few of God’s named perfections. Over and over in the Words of Holy Scripture we come face to face with the perfection of the Lord in all that He Is as God and our God and in all that He does.

Consider the summary of the perfection of Christ – His beauty. “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us…” (Psalm 90:17); “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (I Chronicles 16:29); “…he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth forever. (II Chronicles 20:21)”

The perfection of the Beauty of the LORD is also described in His holiness. He Himself is perfect in Beauty because He Himself is perfect. This beauty is displayed in many ways but perhaps above all else, in His Mercy. When the Moabites and the Ammonites came against King Jehoshaphat to battle against him, the king called out on his smaller army to praise the Lord, namely to praise the beauty of Lord. And they did this by praising the Lord for His mercy that endureth forever. God is not a god of change. He is the unchangeable God and His mercy knows no end.

One way to see a merchant in the Kingdom of Heaven who has found the pearl of great price is to see his love of Christ’s perfect beauty. Consider the Word’s of the Psalmist, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.(Psalm 27:4)

My friends, what is your greatest desire of the LORD  this day? Is it for treasures of the world? Is it for success in this world? Success in your work? Success in your family? Or do you, like the Psalmist, desire above all else to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of your life, so that you may behold the beauty of the LORD and enquire in His  temple? David is the greatest and most loved of all Israel’s kings. David is blessed with riches uncountable. And this king of Israel desires one thing above all else – To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord! Why? Because the Lord is perfect in beauty, His mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. When the merchant found the one pearl of great price – he found a pearl perfect in all its attributes. Perfect in Beauty. Have you found Him? Do you like the idea of the pearl, or is it your one desire above all else to know Christ and to gaze upon His beauty?

Ben Stahl, Elder

PART 1: THE PEARL, CONT.

THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST IN HIS ORIGIN

Here is a topic that no writer can fully script, no minister can fully expound, no mind can fully comprehend – the perfection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ told His disciples that to see Him was to see the Father (John 14:9). Who can fully know the mind and ways of the infinite God whose ways are not our ways and whose thoughts are not our thoughts? And yet, while the infinite God by His very nature is incomprehensible to His finite creatures, His creatures can know God truthfully and sufficiently for salvation. You can know Him not because of your wisdom or because you have ascended up into the heights and brought the knowledge of Him down to man but because He Himself, the infinite God, has condescended to His creatures to reveal Himself truthfully, sufficiently, and perfectly. He has revealed Himself in His creation showing the glory of God and He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures showing the only way of salvation through Jesus Christ.

In the Scriptures, you and I are brought face to face with the Triune God of Glory, Father Son and Holy Ghost. In the revelation of God to man this 2nd person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, takes upon Himself the nature of man and therefore has two distinct natures, fully God and fully Man. In the God Man Jesus Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3). You and I see in Christ the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col 2:9). You see that it is the Father who has delivered His people into the kingdom of His dear Son, Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption from our sins (Col 1:13-14).

A pearl has greater value based on its origin. If it is harvested through man made techniques it is less valuable than natural pearls found in certain places in the ocean. The One Pearl of Great price is the perfect pearl. There is only one. There is none like it in its attributes, beauty, and origins. And this perfect pearl is a great picture, for Jesus Christ Himself is like none other because of His origins.

We confess that the Scripture teaches what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. What is it that man is to believe concerning God? Perhaps second only to the Triunity of the Godhead is that Jesus Christ is God! Jesus Christ has no beginning. Before Abraham was, Jesus Is. Before the foundations of the world, Christ was with God the Father and God the Spirit. Christ is like the order of Melchisedec, not like the order of Aaron for Jesus is a priest without beginning or end. Jesus Christ is from all eternity. To speak of His origin is something of a contradiction as God has no beginning and yet God Himself uses this anthropomorphism to help us understand the perfection of His origin. What else has no beginning? What other person or thing finds its beginning before Christ who has no beginning and who created all things by the Word of His Power? There is none else! He is the first and He is the last and before him there is no God!

Who hath measured the waters in the hallow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him , and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? To whom then will ye liken God?…Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I am the LORD; and beside me there is no Savior…I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” (Excerpts from Isaiah 40-44)

Jesus Christ is God, the only God. He is before all else. He is the first, and He is the last. He created all things. Like the one pearl, the perfect pearl of great price, so Jesus Christ is perfect because of His origins. My friends, Jesus Christ is the one perfect treasure for His origins are unlike any other. To have Him is to have eternal life. Do you consider the perfection of Christ in His origins? Who else can you compare to Him? Do you have Christ as your own today because He has made you His own? If you are uncertain, do not rest, do not sleep, look to Him and be saved!

Ben Stahl, Elder