A convert to Christ is someone who discovers the gospel (meaning the momentous news) of Christ, and the new life that He gives, and who surrenders all to Him. Here are the tremendous differences between the materialistic life and the Christian experience of life.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great or greatest price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

And our subject is The Riches of a Life Knowing God. Now the very brief first parable in these verses that we read, the man who found treasure hid in a field. Well the Lord speaks of him, probably a tenant farmer, would most likely in that land have his own smallholding but it isn’t quite enough for him to make a living and to support his family. So maybe he rents an additional field nearby at a distance – who knows. And he tills that field and works in it and he comes across hidden treasure. It Isn’t so unlikely actually. In those days there were no safes, there were no safe places to keep things. There were many local wars and skirmishes and so on. And on many occasions, I daresay, plunder or treasure or riches had to be hidden, and the best thing to do was to wrap them up in leather, keep them clean and safe and bury them deeply in some place. So it wasn’t unknown.

And I expect every village in ancient times had a story concerning somebody finding hidden treasure. And the Lord Jesus Christ employs this in a parable. But here’s the significant thing about this miniature parable. For joy thereof he goeth and selleth all that he hath and buys that field. I don’t suppose he had much and the things he had he set a value on, but they were probably relatively worthless things.

But by getting everything together and parting with it, he could just about to afford that field and he bought it and the treasure was his. What would set him up at his family and his children for life. He gave up everything he had as worthless, in order to secure that treasure. And the following miniature parable is very similar. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls. And no doubt he’s got quite a stock of them. He buys and sells, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

There was nothing to be compared with this, nothing equal in value. He had never seen a pearl like it. It was so perfect and of such a size and such a quality. It was worth vastly more than all his stock and all he possessed. He treasured that stock, no doubt he’d valued it. He would have been like a miser with that stock, reviewing it and assessing his own wealth and good fortune. But once he had seen that pearl of greatest price, it was worthless in his estimation, all that he possessed and he gave it up for that treasure that he’d found.

And the meaning of these miniature parables is pretty obvious to all of us in the context of the New Testament, in the context of the gospel. When you discover the gospel and conversion and the life with Christ and you see your needs, you consider all that God is ready to give, you give up your attachment to this world, you give up all your fond opinions, all your highest estimation of yourself, all your old ideas, you give up everything to gain this all surpassing treasure.