Pearl of Great Price

Pearl of Great Price # 1

According to Matthew 13:45-46 Jesus said unto his disciples, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." In this parable, the man who was seeking goodly pearls is like any man seeking good things and the pearl of great price is like unto his finding the way to someday dwelling with God in his heavenly kingdom.

Now, since this pearl which represents salvation was expensive, yes, so expensive it cost the man all that he had, then it must follow that the pearl of salvation will cost us all of something which we have accumulated. First, let us consider what the scriptures say it will not cost us. It will not necessarily cost us our wealth, family, friends, business or occupation (Acts 5:1-4; I Corinthians 7:10-16; and I Corinthians 6:20). No, it will not cost use these and other things. Yet the scriptures do teach that it will cost us all the sin in which we are involved.

Revelation 21:27 says no one guilty of sin will be permitted to enter heaven. Romans 3:9 and Romans 3:23 declare that all have sinned. So the only way for one to become free from sin is by receiving forgiveness. However, Acts 2:37-38 and Acts 3:19 both teach, rather plainly, that one must repent in order to be forgiven. In the process of becoming a child of God, a person’s sins are washed away by the blook of Christ (Revelation 1:5).

It is true, all of one’s sins are forgiven, never to be remembered again (Jeremiah 31:31-34). However, since one must repent in order to receive this forgiveness and inasmuch as Matthew 3:8 teaches that repentance is a change of the mind which leads to a change of actions, then it necessarily follows that the person forgiven must turn away from all the sinful things they were involved in previously.

Then, too, this is what many scriptures strongly declare:

	They that have been forgiven of all their alien sins are to consider themselves as those that are dead unto sin (Romans 6:11).
	They are no longer to use the members of their body as instruments of unrighteousness but as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13).
	They are not to live the rest of their time in the flesh to the lust of men but to the will of God (I Peter 4:1-3).
	They are to lay aside all malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking (I Peter 2:1).
	They are to abstain from fleshly lust which wars against the soul (I Peter 2:11).
	They are no longer to walk as other Gentiles, who have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness (Ephesians 4:17-19).
	They are to put off the old corrupt man and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
	They are told not to let sinful, ungodly things be once named among them (Ephesians 5:3-4).

We are instructed to put away fornication, uncleaness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication and lying (Colossians 3:1-9). Ephesians 4:28 states, "Let him that stole steal no more." John 1:5 says it would be a lie, to say we have fellowship with God if we are walking in darkness. In I Peter 2:22, Peter affirms that Christ did no sin and John in I John 2:6 says if we say we abideth in Jesus we ought also to walk as he walked.

These scriptures certainly prove that just as the material pearl mentioned in Matthew 13 cost the merchant all the wealth that he had accumulated, the spiritual pearl will cost us the giving up of all sinful things. Experience and many scriptures, such as Acts 8, I John 1:8, and I John 1:9 say it is impossible to put away sin to a state of becoming perfect. However, this is what we must attempt to do for the remainder of our lives. There are scriptures that teach when we are overcome and falter, the blood of Christ is available to cleanse us from such shortcomings (sins) if we repent, confess, and pray unto God. This priviledge is not open to us if we turn our back on God and accept a willful life of sin. Christ died that we might receive forgiveness, but he did not die for the purpose of granting us continued license to sin.