Number one, the kingdom is priceless in value.  The kingdom is priceless in value.  Both parables are designed to teach us the incomparable value of the kingdom of the Lord.  And when we talk about the kingdom of the Lord, we’re talking about salvation; we’re talking about Christ Himself and the gift of salvation that He gives.  The knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, the preciousness of what it is to be in His kingdom, the preciousness of fellowshipping with the King, the preciousness of being a subject of the sovereign. 

The blessedness of the kingdom is so valuable that it is the most valuable commodity that can ever be found, and only a fool is not willing to sell everything he has to gain it.  Nothing comes close in value.  In Christ and in His kingdom there is a treasure.  There is a treasure that is rich beyond comparison.  There is a treasure that is rich beyond conception.  There is a treasure that is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading, eternal. 

The kingdom is not superficially visible.  The treasure was hidden, right?  And the pearl had to be sought.  It isn’t just lying around on the surface.  The treasure is not obvious to men.  The value and the preciousness of the kingdom of heaven, the value and the preciousness of salvation is not viewed by men, they don’t see it although it stands there and looks them in the eye. 

The world looks at us and they don’t understand why we’re all about this business of worshiping God.  They don’t understand why we want to give our lives to Jesus Christ.  They don’t understand why we want to live and obey a code of ethics and rules that goes against the grain of our deepest lusts and drives.  They don’t understand why we price this so highly when it means so little to them.  No, the kingdom is not superficially visible.

It says in I Corinthians 2, “The natural man understandeth not the things of God, they are foolishness to him.”  And in II Corinthians 4, it says, “That the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ should shine unto them.”  So, it isn’t that apparent.  Even though the message is here and the Word is here, they don’t see it.  They’re blind.  It is not superficially manifest.  In both cases, one, there is a seeking; the other there was a discovery and a pursuit of that which was discovered. 

Some people never bother to look beyond the surface.  They’re so busy fiddling around with the baubles and the trinkets and the toys and the pebbles that lie on the surface, they never get to the treasure underneath.  One writer put it this way, “Under the form of a man, under the privacy and poverty of a Nazarene was the fullness of the Godhead, hidden that day from the wise and Prudent of the world.  The light was near them and yet they did not see it.  The riches of divine grace were brought to their door and yet they continued poor and miserable.” 

And that’s true.  And there have been multitudinous times that I and you, as well, have gone and given the description of the treasure and the pearl to people who have turned their backs and walked away.  And they do not care.  They do not want that.  They do not understand its inestimable value.  It is not superficially perceived.  That is why it says in Matthew 7:14, “That narrow is the way and few there be that find it.”  And that is why it says in Matthew 11 that the kingdom is taken by the violent who take it by force.  In other words, it must be pursued.

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