Hidden Treasures (Pastor Greg Hudson, 05/24/25)

Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you

do for us. We thank you for bringing us to this

place. Lord, we want to pray for the folks down

the hill that they'll have some meaningful conversations

and meaningful contacts. And somebody will get

a book or a Bible study that will help them to

start thinking about you and their relationship

with you. And be with us as we open up your word

today. May you inspire us. May you impact our

life. And may we leave here more in love than

when we came. In your name we pray. Amen. So

Ludivine went out in the morning and didn't return

for a while. Now, Ludivine's a two -year -old

bloodhound, a dog, and they opened the door like

they do every morning, and Ludivine went outside

and didn't return, but people didn't think too

much about it. But when... this dog finally got

back, it had an unexpected treasure. You see

this two -year -old bloodhound as it went out

into the yard and ventured out a little bit further,

it saw people running. And Ludivine decided,

hey, I want to run along too. It turned out it

was the Elkmont Half Marathon was happening,

and Ludivine joined this group of people running.

And they were running 13 .1 miles. And Ludivine

decided, you know what? I want to run 13 .1 miles.

And so as these people were running, this dog

joined in. It ended up actually coming in seventh

in the half marathon. A few people were a little

faster. And the owner did not know this was happening

until people's friends started sending pictures.

Hey, your dog is down here. at the finish line

of the race. And when Ludivine got home, they

had received a little race medal as a finisher

of the race. As I said, an unexpected treasure

as this dog came in seventh place. Now, we love

treasures as humans. We love stories about treasures

and hidden treasures and sunken treasures and

all the different things. And we as humans, we

love stories. Whether you're a child getting

told a story by a parent or grandparent, or whether

you're the one telling the story. We love stories.

Whether you're a pastor telling a story or a

congregation listening to a story, let me just

remind you or inform you, you may or may not

realize this, but the part of the sermon that

you remember is going to be the story that gets

told. You may remember a story about a dog that

ran a half marathon. And you may not remember

much else of what I said, but you're going to

remember the story because human nature, we love

stories. And guess what? Jesus told stories.

Throughout his ministry, one of his ways of getting

important messages across was to tell stories.

And so today is our first of a new sermon series

called Stories of the Kingdom. So over the next...

Several weeks through the summer, when I'm here,

we're going to be exploring some of the different

stories that Jesus told and the truths that are

behind them. So our scripture reading this morning

that Colton did such a good job was in Matthew

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13. And let's go back there and look

at Matthew chapter 13. We'll start in verse 10.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

It said, the disciples came and said to him,

why do you speak to them in parables? Why do

you tell stories? And Jesus answered and said

to them, because it has been given to you to

know, and then it says, the mysteries of the

kingdom of heaven. But to them it has not been

given. And we recognize that as we look at many

of Jesus' parables, There were times when a certain

group kind of understood or they recognized what

was happening in the story. In a couple weeks,

we'll look at the parable of the sower and the

different soils that were there. And many people

were farmers and understood bits and pieces of

that. Or they understood different concepts.

But there were players to the stories that Jesus

told. So he could tell a story, and whether it

was a young person, They could get a moral from

it, whether it was someone who was wanting to

follow God, they could get a lesson from it.

And even one of the religious leaders who were

maybe opposed to the ministry of Jesus, they

could gain some kind of lesson if they would

listen to it, if they would hear that message

that was there. But Jesus said they could understand

the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Now that's

an interesting phrase, kingdom of heaven. Because

only, only the Gospel of Matthew talks about

the kingdom of heaven. There are other Gospels

that talk about the kingdom of God, but only

Matthew talks about the kingdom of heaven. And

that phrase is used about 31 times in the Gospel

of Matthew. Let's look at one of those. Let's

go to Matthew chapter 4. So way back to the very

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

beginning of the Gospel, to the beginning of

Jesus' ministry. Matthew 4, verse 17, as Jesus

Matthew 4:17

is just starting his ministry, notice what his

message was. John, excuse me, Matthew 4, verse

Matthew 4:17

17. It says, from that time, Jesus began to preach

and to say, this was his message, repent, for

the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom

of heaven is at hand. And so as Jesus was beginning

his ministry, he said, this is the message. The

kingdom of heaven is here. As the people of that

day had studied those prophecies from the prophet

Daniel, where it talks about 70 weeks, 490 years,

they could begin to do some math and realize,

hey, we're coming down to a close of that prophetic

time period. Something... must be happening.

There must be this Messiah, and Jesus came, John

the Baptist came, the disciples proclaimed this

message, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is

at hand. Now, this is a different kind of kingdom

than maybe what the people were anticipating.

This was not a kingdom of armies, not a kingdom

of swords, not a kingdom of victory, of conquering

nations. not a kingdom of castles or anything

like that, but this was a kingdom of grace, a

kingdom of love, a kingdom of acceptance. As

Jesus came, he reached out to various ethnicities,

to various socioeconomic levels, to various,

whether it was a leader or a servant, whether

it was a soldier or a priest, Jesus could reach

out to people across the spectrum. with this

kingdom of grace, with this kingdom of acceptance.

And he says, now the kingdom of heaven is at

hand. Now that was a message, this kingdom of

grace that goes all the way back to the Garden

of Eden. As soon as Adam and Eve fell, there

was a sacrifice that took place. There was a

promise of a Messiah, of a Savior that was to

come. And it was a, throughout the Old Testament,

this idea of a coming. kingdom of grace was there.

Now, it was kind of intertwined sometimes with

this kingdom of glory, which is also talked about.

And that's a kingdom that's not quite here yet.

That's the one we're still anticipating. That's

the one we're looking forward to. That's the

one that the Bible mentions and Jesus also talks

about. But this kingdom of heaven, Jesus could

say, is here. It's at hand. And as Jesus proclaimed,

as he told stories, as he preached messages,

he talked about this kingdom of heaven. For instance,

the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

Those three chapters are almost entirely those

red letters. Those are the words of Jesus, and

we refer to that as the Sermon on the Mount.

And as Jesus begins that Sermon on the Mount

with what we refer to as the Beatitudes, Beautiful

passage, maybe you've memorized it at some point.

The very first one, the very first beatitude,

it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for

theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is proclaiming

and talking about this kingdom of heaven. Just

the chapter before that we read, repent for the

kingdom of heaven is at hand. Blessed are the

poor in spirit, for theirs is... the kingdom

of heaven. And if you were to read through that

Sermon on the Mount, a great Sabbath afternoon

activity, you would find there a description

of what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom

of heaven. It doesn't mean we have to wait until

we're in the clouds of glory, but we can begin

to live out that citizenship in the kingdom of

heaven even now. Because the Bible tells us You

are the salt of the earth. You are the light

of the world. The city set on a hill cannot be

hidden. He goes on and talks about we need to

turn the other cheek. If someone is mean to us,

if someone speaks ill of us, we don't have to

fight back. We can turn the other cheek. He talks

about being a people of prayer. And he shares

the Lord's prayer, which we... shared together

just a few moments ago. That's part of what it

means to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

He talks about the law of God, but in the Sermon

on the Mount, Jesus actually expands it. It's

not just 10 things to do or not do, thou shalt

not, but Jesus expands it. So it's not just those

actions, but it's our thoughts and our attitudes.

You've heard it said, Do not kill. But I say

to you, don't be angry with your brother. Don't

be angry with the people around you. So it's

not just an action, but it's a thought, and it's

an attitude, and it's an intent. And he goes

on and says, seek first. Seek ye first the kingdom.

We can live out our lives as citizens of the

kingdom even now. And as we begin to look at

some parables today, we're going to see how Jesus

talks about these parables of the kingdom of

heaven. And we're going to look at two different

ones, very short little parables, but both of

them are about the kingdom of heaven. And we

can understand that as Jesus talks about these

different things, they're not contradictory.

They're not saying different things, but they're

looking at the same object, the same truth from

a different angle. So we can perhaps get a fuller

picture. of what it means to be part of the kingdom

of heaven. So let's turn back to Matthew chapter

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

13. Matthew chapter 13. And as I said, we're

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

going to come back to the beginning of Matthew

13 on a future week, but we want to just look

at two short little parables here, starting in

verse 44. Matthew 13, starting in verse 44. Notice

what it says. Again, the kingdom of heaven is

like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man

found and hid. And for joy over it, he goes and

sells all that he has and buys that field. That's

it, just one verse. The kingdom of heaven is

like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man

found and hid. And for joy over it, he goes and

sells all that he has and buys that field. So

you could imagine perhaps someone who doesn't

own a plot of land, but maybe rents it for a

season. I'm going to pay someone some money.

I'm going to plant some seeds, some wheat or

some barley into this land, and then I'm going

to harvest it, and I'm going to make a little

profit even though I'm paying for the land. And

so as this man is turning the soil, plowing up

the soil, moving rocks out of the way, getting

everything ready, But suddenly, you know, he

hits something, and it doesn't sound like a rock.

Maybe it clinks a little bit. Maybe it sounds

like metal or something. And so maybe he takes

his spade or his shovel, and he digs around,

and was it a chest? Was it an old leather bag

that maybe had some holes rotted out in it? But

he sees something of value, a treasure, as it

says, that had been hidden. A treasure had been...

hidden. Now think about the day and age that

they lived in. They didn't have, you know, an

ATM that they could go get cash from. They didn't

have a credit card to use at the marketplace.

There weren't even banks. You couldn't, you know,

go deposit your check into the bank where it

would be safe. And so people would want to protect

their valuables, their treasure that they had.

And one way that they would do that, they would

bury it. In the ground. And so the way this seems

to be written is this wasn't new. This wasn't

newly placed. Perhaps somehow you could tell

it had been there a long time. So you could imagine

if someone hid some treasure, what happened to

that person? Maybe raiders came and killed them

in some sort of battle that took place. Or maybe

they had gone on a journey and... and died of

sickness or disease or whatever happened. Whatever

happened here, this man recognized that this

money, no one knew about it. It had been there

a long time. And you would think, well, he could

just take it and got some money now. But apparently,

he wanted to make sure that he had an honest

deed, an honest right to this land. And so he

doesn't just take the money, but it says he hides

it again. He buries it again. And then, for the

joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has

so that he has enough money to purchase that

field. Think about it if your spouse came home

tomorrow and started selling everything in your

house. you know, pitting on Facebook Marketplace

or a giant yard sale. Silverware, yeah, we could

sell that silverware, couldn't we? And the couch,

we could sell that. That'd be worth, you know,

50 bucks, 100 bucks. What about the bed? What

about the quilt that your mother gave you? We

don't need that. And the spouse would be like,

have you gone crazy? What are you doing? Why

are you doing this? Well, there was a reason.

There was a purpose. It wasn't just to get rid

of the things that he had, but it was to get

something better. It was to get this treasure.

And it says the kingdom of heaven is like this

treasure that is hidden in the field. This treasure,

this kingdom of heaven is of more value than

anything that we could possibly have, that you

have in your presence, in your existence. That

is what we need to do, even if we have to get

rid of everything else. It was about the 1940s,

and there was somewhere in the vicinity of southern

Israel, there was a young boy who was taking

care of the sheep, and one of the stories says,

well, one of the sheep was missing, and he was

trying to find it, and well, maybe it went up

into that cave up there, and so... Let me throw

a rock up there and see if I can make this sheep,

you know, make a sheep noise. And then I'll know

that that's up there. And so he's throwing rocks

into different caves looking for this lost animal.

And he doesn't hear any sheep noises. He just

hears the rock clanking on other rocks until

he throws it up into one. And it's not the normal

sound, but it's a crash. Something broke. Something

that you wouldn't expect to be in a cave. And

so he scales up into the cave and they find a

broken pot, big clay pot, and in fact there's

many, many of these clay pots. Not just in that

cave, but in many of the caves around this area

of Qumran. And it turns out this was the beginning

of the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These

scrolls that had been handwritten by the Essenes

had been... placed into these caves for protection

and had been sealed up into these clay pots.

And in the 1940s, they began to discover these

dead sea scrolls, these handwritten pages of

God's word. They were valuable as historical

artifacts from, you know, BC time, like 100 BC

in that time frame. They were valuable as artifacts,

but they were priceless. Because they showed

the process of copying God's Word, of copying

the Scripture. Because these Dead Sea Scrolls

were a thousand years older than any other manuscripts

that people had. And when they compared them,

this is Isaiah, this is a page from Isaiah, they

found that what they had discovered from a thousand

years previous to what they had, matched almost

completely exactly that as people were copying

these biblical pages by hand that they were doing

such a meticulous job that changes had not taken

place because as they went back and study it

when when the people were writing by hand when

they finished well they would like count how

many words and how many letters they had And

if they had, you know, sometimes, oh, you skip

a word, you write the same word twice, you leave

out a letter. Oh, if they had messed that up,

then that page, guess what they did with it?

They trashed it. They got rid of it because this

was God's word. This was a hidden treasure, and

they wanted to make sure that it was preserved.

And so this Bedouin shepherd boy, he wasn't looking

for a treasure, but when he threw that rock and

broke that jar, this incredible treasure of priceless

value was discovered, was found. These words

that reveal to us this kingdom of heaven, as

we can have this word of God preserved, that

we can examine it, that we can... explore it

that we can seek after that incredible treasure

and so that's one aspect of the kingdom of heaven

it's like a treasure hidden in a field and whatever

we do we need to try to to get that in our life

but notice the next couple verses verse 45 it

says again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant

it's not hidden this time but he's seeking he's

looking for something seeking beautiful pearls

who when he had found one pearl of great price

he went and sold all that he had and bought it

so this is a merchant this is his job this is

his his employment he goes to to purchase things

from different places and to bring them back

and to sell them and this particular trip he's

looking for things of value he's looking for

beautiful pearls Where does he go on this journey?

I don't know, but he's seeking something of great

value, and it says that he found one pearl of

great price. Was it bigger? Was it more perfect

in its form and its shape? Whatever it was, this

was the one that he had to have. This was the

one that he needed. And just like the man with

the hidden treasure, as he was seeking for this

beautiful pearl, he found the one pearl. of great

price. And it was of more value than everything

else that he owned. And so again, he went back

and he began to sell all the things that he had.

He began to get rid of everything else so that

he could get this thing, which was of more value

than anything else. And we can understand that

salvation through Jesus Christ is a free gift.

We don't have to money to purchase that free

gift of salvation. But what this understanding

is that we must be willing to surrender all that

we have in order to accept this free gift that

Jesus gives us. We cannot earn salvation, but

we are to seek for it with as much interest and

perseverance as though we would abandon everything

in the world for it. We can't pay for it, but

we have to seek after it. We have to understand

that that is the most important thing in the

world as we seek after that incredible treasure.

Let me tell you one more treasure story. This

was from the 1920s. There was a gentleman named

Howard Carter. He was seeking for something in

a place called the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

And he thought for sure that there was at least

one more tomb. of the ancient pharaohs, which

had not yet been discovered. And he had someone

who was sponsoring his archaeological expeditions

there in the Valley of the Kings, but he'd been

told, you've got one more season. He'd been at

it for about 10 years. You've got one more season,

and then I'm not going to sponsor you anymore.

And so they begin in November, and they had one

more season to hopefully find this. which they

thought was there, but they didn't know where.

And just a couple days after they started this

last season, the story is that there was a young

helper, a young servant who was off at another

part of the camp and stuck something in the ground

and it hit something hard. And when they dug

just a little bit further down, they found a

step. Just one step. But then, well, they started

going a little further. And there was another

step, and they started clearing out the dirt

and debris, and the steps went down. I think

it was 17 or 18 steps that they went down until

they found a wall. This was a tomb. This was

a tomb. And so they call the sponsor, Lord Carveron.

I'm not sure if I'm saying that right or not.

And when he comes, they wait for him to arrive

from England a couple weeks later. And when he

finally gets there, they get to this wall, and

they... they break open the seal and they open

up the room and Howard Carter shines a candle

and he holds it up and his sponsor says, do you

see anything? Do you see anything? And he says,

yes, I see wonderful things. That was the phrase

he used. I see wonderful things because that

flicker of the candlelight was glinting off the

gold and the treasures. of King Tut, King Tutankhamen.

That was the tomb that was discovered in the

20s, and it was full of these treasures, and

this was the one tomb that had never been touched

by grave robbers. And so in all of its wonder,

in all of its glory, they began to pull all of

these things out, and it became one of the most

famous archaeological discoveries in modern time,

because they found this treasure. of a boy king

who had died, and they saw wonderful things through

the glitter of that candlelight. They were seeking

for a treasure, and they found what they were

hoping for. They found what they were looking

for. I want to tell you the story of Joyce. She,

not too long ago, about a year ago, saw an advertisement

on the internet for some Bible studies. And she

sent in, yes, I want to take some Bible lessons.

She lives over in Chickamauga. And I showed up

at her door a couple of weeks later with some

Bible lessons. And she began to do some Bible

lessons and did one set. And do you want the

next set? Yes, I would like to look at some more.

And then she said, hey, where do you go to church?

So I mentioned the Rossville Seventh -day Adventist

Church, which is close to where she lived. And

a few weeks later, she came to church. And about

a month ago, she decided that she wanted to get

baptized. She was seeking after something. Whether

it was a hidden treasure, whether it was a treasure

that she was seeking after, she was able to find

something and begin to have a new connection,

a new walk. a new relationship with Jesus. And

she found this treasure that was hidden that

she was seeking after. Now, so many people in

Jesus's day, even though they had these prophecies,

even though they were anticipating a Messiah,

they missed it. Notice what this says. It says,

the Jews misinterpreted and misapplied the word

of God, and they knew not the time of their visitation.

The years of the ministry of Christ and his apostles,

the precious last years of grace to the chosen

people, they spent in plotting the destruction

of the Lord's messengers. Here's the Son of God,

Jesus Christ himself, and they're planning, how

can we get rid of this guy? Earthly ambitions

absorbed them, and the offer of the spiritual

kingdom came to them in vain. So today, The kingdom

of this world absorbs men's thoughts and they

take no note of the rapidly fulfilling prophecies

and tokens of the swift coming kingdom of God.

Because Jesus came and he said the kingdom of

heaven is at hand and he showed us what it means

to live as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

But as we said, the Bible also talks about another

kingdom and the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.

Matthew 24 and other places, they point to the

fact that I think Jesus is coming very, very

soon. And as it says in Matthew 24, at the end

of Matthew 24, it gives a little description

here, starting in verse 30. It says, then the

sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,

and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn,

and they will see the Son of Man coming in the

clouds of heaven. with power and great glory.

And he will send his angels with a great sound

of a trumpet, and they will gather together his

elect from the four winds, from one end of the

heaven to the other. That's not here yet, but

that's coming soon. And could it be that we are

so absorbed in the things of this world, in our

daily work, in our daily routine, that we're

missing out on this? pearl of great price on

this hidden treasure we're missing out on the

most important thing and we're surrendering that

for the busyness of life i want to look at one

more verse here in revelation chapter 11 way

Revelation 11 · chapter mention

back to the very last book of of the bible revelation

Revelation 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 and verse 15 and we see what it says

here in revelation 11 15 then the seventh angel

sounded And there were loud voices in heaven

saying, The kingdoms of this world have become

the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and

he shall reign forever and ever. If you're into

music at all, you may have heard those words

sung probably around Christmas time because that's

a line from the Hallelujah Chorus. If you were

listening to that song, it would go on and say,

Hallelujah! hallelujah the kingdoms of this world

have become the kingdoms of our lord and of his

christ and he shall reign forever and ever and

yes i think we can say hallelujah to that and

so we must make sure that as we are living out

our life as we are seeing how prophecies of this

world are being fulfilled that we are pursuing

that greatest thing that treasure that is hidden

let's be willing to get rid of anything in our

life which is preventing us from grabbing hold

of that hidden treasure. Let's do anything that's

going to prevent us from grabbing hold of that

pearl of great price as we look forward to the

day when Jesus comes again in the clouds of glory.

I hope that as you go through this week, as you

live out your life, that you will say, Lord,

thank you for this precious gift. Help me to

receive it and accept it each and every day.

Let's bow our heads for prayer. Dear God, we

thank you that there's promises that you are

coming again. That there's promises that the

kingdom of heaven is like something, maybe we'll

find it unexpectedly. It'll be brought into our

life. But when we see it, Lord, may it bring

us great joy. Or Lord, maybe some here are seeking

after something different, seeking something

better. And Lord, I just hope that you will show

them that incredible gift of salvation. like

a pearl of great price, that they're going to

be willing to set everything else aside in order

to receive that free gift that you want to give

them. God, thank you for all that you do for

us, and may we live our life for you. In your

name we pray. Amen.