Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and the importance of valuing the words of Jesus in our lives. He encourages believers to develop a deep hunger for God's Word, likening it to a newborn's craving for milk, and highlights that true treasure lies in sharing in the sufferings of Christ. The sermon underscores that the mysteries of the kingdom are revealed to those with childlike faith, and that following Jesus may lead to personal loss but ultimately results in the joy of knowing Him. Beach Jr. calls for a renewed passion for Scripture, urging the congregation to prioritize the teachings of Jesus above all else.

We thank you, Lord, for the Holy Spirit, who faithfully and without fail, always turns the eyes of our heart to our blessed Lord Jesus and to His Word. And Lord, we pray that you will continue the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God into our lives today and that you would continue, Lord, to speak this living Word into our spirits. The very words of Jesus, Lord, of being able to see, having eyes to see, the great value and treasure of Jesus Christ and the value and treasure of being called to not only believe in Jesus, but to suffer together with Jesus, to suffer the reproach of this world, to suffer the torment and misunderstanding of this world. What treasure, Lord, what value when we have eyes to see, Lord, that to share together with the sufferings and the rejections and the misunderstandings and the reproaches of our Savior will result ultimately in the sharing together with Him of His resurrection and His life and His perfections and His glory and His purity and His unspeakable, unmeasurable love. Oh, God, please open Your Word to us today. Open Your Word to us today, Lord, that we might see Jesus and hear Him. Oh, God, please, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. I'd like to invite you to go ahead and turn your Bibles to the Scripture that was read this morning, as we should read it this morning here. Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. The wonderful work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of God's children is seen by their ever-increasing capacity to see the things that are of true value and to be found pursuing after them. That's the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Matthew chapter 13. Pablo, did you find that, Matthew? Okay, Matthew chapter 13. The Lord blessed him with a new Bible today. Praise the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? So, that's a wonderful gift, a brand new Bible. Looks so nice over there, doesn't it? Makes you want to go over and start reading it with them. You can't wait? That's good. That's good. Matthew chapter 13. Keep your finger there. And here's a Scripture for our brother this morning. This is found in 1 Peter. I just want to read this for our brother. What was your first name again? Pedro. I want to always say Pablo, but Pedro. 1 Peter. This is a Scripture for you, dear brother. And I pray that the Lord will make this very real in your heart now. Okay? 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Here's a word for our dear brother who has just come to the Lord. So, be done with every trace of wickedness and all deceit and insincerity, hypocrisy and grudges, slander and evil speaking of every kind. Like newborn babes, you should crave, thirst for, earnestly desire the pure, unadulterated spiritual milk of God's Word that by it you may be nurtured and grow up in your salvation. Since you have already tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord. As newborn babes, crave and earnestly desire with all of your heart, with all of your soul, the milk of God's Word. And that's the word here. Crave it. Long for it. I can remember back many years ago, 25 years ago, just as a teenager, Jesus saved me. And I can remember that the most remarkable change that occurred in my life, certainly the Lord saved me and He gave me peace and joy, but I can't say that my behavior changed overnight. I can't say that. I can say one thing, that Jesus came into my life and I knew that He was real. But I continued to tell lies from time to time, and God convicted me. I continued to be unkind and judge harshly and wrongly people, and God convicted me. There was a pattern in my life of God slowly changing me, but one of the overwhelming things that occurred immediately in my life when Jesus came into my spirit and saved me, was I was given by God this insatiable, unquenchable desire for the Word of God. I remember the first Bible that I had was a Good News Bible, Good News for Modern Man translation. I think it's still around. And I can remember having become saved, and the person who led me to the Lord gave me a Good News Bible. And brother, I'm telling you, I slept with that Bible. I slept with it. I put it under my pillow at night. I put it on my chest at night when I slept. I was so hungry for God's Word. And I can remember reading the book of Romans over and over and over and over and over again, because God was using the book of Romans in my life at that time to just fill all these questions I had about God and about sin and about my salvation. And God put such a hunger in my heart for His Word. And then the book of Ephesians. I read it over and over and over and over and over again. Then I discovered Colossians. Then I discovered the very words of Jesus in the Gospels. And before I knew it, I just became obsessed, a godly obsession with a desire to know and love and read the Word of God. As newborn babes crave and desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. I want to encourage everyone, if you have found that your appetite and your craving for God's Word has become in some way lessened over the years, or maybe you never even had a real hunger and thirst for God's Word, I want to strongly encourage you to go to 1 Peter 2 and read through those first few verses and then go to Psalm 119. And in Psalm 119, there's 176 verses. Did you know that? That's the largest chapter in the Bible. Psalm 119 has 176 verses. And do you know that every single verse, I think maybe the exception of one, but I'm not sure which one, but every single verse in Psalm 119, every single verse, talks about God's Word in some way or in some form or in some fashion. And so I challenge you that if you want God to renew and rekindle in your life a passion and a hunger and a desire for His Word, that you go to Psalm 119 and you begin in Psalm 119, verse 1, and you start prayerfully meditating and reading through that psalm. You will find as you consistently do that, that God will begin to create a desire within your heart for His Word, an insatiable desire. And you'll find that His Word will become precious to you like silver and gold. It will become sweet to you like honey and the honeycomb. It will become valuable to you like treasure. It will become your counselor. It will become your guide. It will become light to you in darkness. It will become hope to you in discouragement. It will become wisdom to you when you don't know what to do. The Word of God will become the very means by which God speaks to you. And you will find more and more that you are developing an appetite and a hunger for God's Word that surpasses, listen carefully, that surpasses any other appetite that you have. Now, not all of our appetites are unlawful, are wrong. It's quite normal to have a desire to want to eat food. It's quite normal to want to have a desire to sleep. These are lawful desires and cravings. It's quite lawful to want to rest. It's quite lawful to want to be with your family from time to time. It's quite lawful to want to just go out and walk in a park someday. All of those are lawful desires. But there's one desire, dear friend, that should eclipse all other desires. There's one desire, dear friends, that should be greater in your heart than all the other desires in your life. And that desire should be an insatiable craving and longing to love God and to know His Word. The Holy Spirit gives us this desire. And so I can't emphasize enough by the Holy Spirit this morning. I cannot emphasize enough the desperate need that we have as Christians to pray that God will give a great, great place in our hearts for His Word. His Word should be first place in our hearts and in our lives. His Word should be the first place we go to every morning. His Word should be the thing we go to every night. And if God gives you extra time and spare time, His Word should be what you go to to commune with Him. In His Word, He speaks to us and reveals to us the beauties of His Son, Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, before we move on, we pray, God, that You would honor Your Word today and that You would create within our hearts a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. A hunger and a thirst and a craving and a longing and a spiritual appetite for Your Word. We pray, God, that You would heal any heart that has become dull from its craving for Your Word and that things have taken the place of this all-important desire in our heart. We pray, God, that this morning You would restore and renew and refresh our spirits with a heaven-born passion for Your Word. And may Your Word lead us to Jesus Christ and an ever-increasing life of intimacy and obedience to Him. We pray, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Matthew 13, verse 44. Matthew 13, verse 44. These are mysteries. Jesus spoke of a number of parables in Matthew chapter 13 and He described them as mysteries of the kingdom. Now, the word mystery is a word that means a secret thing only revealed to a select few. A secret thing only revealed to a select few. Now, Jesus said after He realized that people were blinded to much of His teaching, He looked up to His Father in heaven and He prayed and He said, Father, I thank Thee and praise Thee that Thou has hid these things from the wise and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Babes. Little babies. And so there Jesus reveals to us that the mystery of parables are hidden from the wise and the prudent. The wise and the prudent. Those who are quite confident walking in the light of their own understanding. Those who are quite confident in relying upon their own strength. Those who are quite confident in living life based on what they feel is best for them. The wise. The prudent. If you would turn your Bibles quickly to 1 Corinthians 1. Beginning in verse number 23. Paul talks about the wise and the prudent. And now, it's very important for us to understand this because all of God's Word is veiled. It's all a mystery. Unless God gives us hearts that are like little children. Little children. Didn't Jesus Himself say, except you become converted and become like little children, you can in no wise enter into the kingdom of God? What is it about a little child that Jesus was so attracted to and so long that we would become like? What is it about a little child? Well, there's a lot of qualities. But some of the most predominant features of a little child is they have unquestioning faith. They just believe their mom and their dad. They just have childlike faith, Carl. They just believe what mom and dad says. I know that when the kids are so young, I mean, they look at mom and dad and you could tell them anything and they'll believe, won't they? You could tell your little boy when he's two years old, did you know that daddy's Superman? And you know what he'll do? Really? Really? You're Superman? And he'll go tell his friends. He'll say, guess what? My daddy's Superman. And he really will believe it. Why? Because you told him. And that's what Jesus was saying. He's saying, become like little children. Become like little children. Become innocent in your heart. Ask God to give you a trusting heart in God's Word. Just believe it because He says it. You see? And so in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23, we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a scandal and an offensive stumbling block. And to the Gentiles, it is absurd and utterly philosophical nonsense. So the Jews and the Gentiles here are missing the message of Christ. But to we who are called, whether Jew or Greek, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. That is because the foolish thing that has its source in God is wiser than men. And the weak thing that springs from God is stronger than men. For consider your own call, brethren. Not many of you were considered to be wise according to human estimates and standards. Not many influential and powerful. Not many of high and noble birth. No. For God selected deliberately what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame. And what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. And God also selected what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt. Even the things that are nothing that He might bring down to nothing. The things that are. So that no mortal man will be able to glory or boast in the presence of God. And so there you have it. God is saying, I don't choose the wise. I don't choose the prudent. I don't choose those who glory in their own wisdom and in their own knowledge and understanding. God says, but I select those who realize that they're needy. I select those who realize they can't make it on their own. They've sinned. They need help from a Savior. That's who God selects. Okay. Matthew chapter 13, beginning in verse number 44. The kingdom of heaven. That means the reign of heaven. The reign of heaven. The sovereign rule and reign of God over the affairs of men, over the earth. This is what is in the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is like something precious buried in a field, which a man found and hid again. Then in his joy, he goes and sells everything that he has and buys that field. Verse 45, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a dealer in search of fine and precious pearls, who on finding one single pearl of great price went and sold all he had and bought it. And so here we find these precious words of Jesus. And we see a radical, radical life here. And this is a mystery. A mystery. Something that's hidden, but revealed to God's children. Revealed to you and I. This radical life, this radical action, was first and foremost demonstrated by whom? Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the first one to demonstrate such utter devotion and love. For He, being the King in heaven, left everything, sold everything, emptied Himself from heaven's glory and from heaven's gates. He came and became a man. Why? Because He saw a great treasure in the earth. And the treasure was you and I. Jesus said the field is the world. And what does the Bible say? God so loved the what? The world that He sent His only Son. Jesus saw hid in the world a treasure. He saw a bride. He saw a companion. He saw someone who would be able to live with Him forever. Who would be able to share His heart, share His love, and share His likeness. And so what did He do? He left everything. And He came. And He purchased the field. He bought the world. He died for the world so that He would own the treasure. What love, what commitment, what value Jesus placed on you and I. Enough to want to die for us. And then, of course, having seen such incredible love that our God demonstrated toward us in sending His only Son, He then puts that love into our hearts. And then what happens is that having seen the incredible love that God has in laying His own life down for us and becoming a partaker of that love, we begin, because of that love, to what? Follow in the very actions and footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ. And something begins to happen in our hearts. And God begins to show us the value of Jesus Christ. And as Jesus gave up everything, He starts working in us the capacity to give up everything for Him. How many here are experiencing God working in your heart by His Word and by His Holy Spirit that is awakening you daily to see the value of Jesus Christ as the all-surpassing treasure that God has given you? And you are becoming more and more willing and more and more able and more and more desirous to lay aside anything or anyone or any affair that would hinder or prevent you from pursuing Christ in totality? How many are finding that to be true? That's the work of God's grace. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful? And so, let's begin to further develop what the Lord is saying to us through His Word, okay? First of all, I want to invite you, if you would, to turn your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6. And I want to show you in the Scriptures the standard that the New Testament church, the Apostle Paul, used in order to authenticate a person's or group of people's profession of faith. 1 Timothy chapter 6. This is very important for us to understand. Just listen carefully, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. Excuse me. Verse number 3. Listen carefully. If any man teach otherwise, teach otherwise, if any man believe something that is contrary to what Paul is now teaching, what he's just begun to teach, listen carefully, and consent not to wholesome words, listen, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, he knows nothing, but is just dabbling about questions and strives of words, where comes envy and strife and evil surmisings and perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth. Now, I want to show you right here in the Scripture. Paul said if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so what Paul is doing here is he is using a standard that authenticates whether people are really following the Lord or not. And it's this. Whether a person consents to and believes and obeys and loves the words of Jesus Christ. The words of Jesus Christ. Now let me ask a question. Where do we find the words of Jesus Christ? In the Bible? In the Gospels? If you have a red letter edition, then you've got the words of Jesus Christ all outlined. What do you think the basis of Paul's teaching was? All of the epistles. All of the epistles that Paul taught. All the epistles that he wrote. All the epistles that Peter wrote. All the epistles that James wrote. Where do you think they derived their foundation in order to teach all of these things? The words of Jesus Christ. Everything that's taught in the epistles. Everything that's taught in the letters that Paul and Peter and James and John wrote and have in our Bible. Everything that's taught there has its roots and its foundations in the words of Jesus Christ. And so an overwhelming evidence that the Holy Spirit is in us and working in us and is being given more and more place of preeminence in our life is that our hearts and our minds are constantly, constantly, constantly going back to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Seeking to understand them. Seeking to live by them. Seeking that they might bring us to a living, real, ongoing knowledge of our God Himself. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's read some of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, alright? We're leading toward going into the letter to the Philippians and reading through that together. We're leading toward that. As the letter to the Philippians is a letter that shows us so very clearly, beloved, what a life looks like. What a life looks like when Jesus Christ has the first place and preeminence. What a life looks like when somebody sees the treasure and sells everything they have in order that they might possess it. First of all, let's just look at the words of Jesus here. And these are the words that Paul was referring to. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Which, by the way, at the time when Paul was writing this, they were circulating in the churches. The Gospels had been written. John's Gospel hadn't been written yet, but the account of Luke was being written as Paul was traveling. The account of Matthew. So they had the words of Jesus. Matthew 10.38 I'm just going to read the words of Jesus now as a foundation. Matthew 10.38 Beginning in verse 34, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I am not come to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Now these are the words of Jesus, aren't they? These are the very words of Jesus. This is what Paul said constituted the right thing to believe. The right thing to trust in. The words of Jesus. This is what the Holy Spirit will bring us to. The words of Jesus. This is what God will give us. A desire for the words of Jesus. The whole Bible, of course. But the whole Bible is about the words of Jesus. Everything the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation have their origins in the words of Jesus that Jesus spoke to us. And a man's foe, verse 36, shall be of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and forsaketh after me is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. And so here we see the picture of the man who sells everything he has because of the treasure. And that relates to you and I as the church, as the treasure being Christ Himself. Paul said in Colossians, in Him, in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and understanding. But the consequences of following Jesus and making Him the treasure of our life is not peace but a sword. It's division. It's being set at variance against mother and father. Now what this does not mean is that we become unkind toward family members and we become obnoxious. What this is simply saying is Jesus is saying that when you embrace Me by virtue of My presence in your life, there's going to be separation between light and darkness. There's going to be separation between value systems, between things that are important. When you become a follower of Jesus Christ and God works in your heart and you say, I've got to sell everything. Nothing can be of value to me. I can't place money as the most important thing in my life. I can't place a career as the most important thing in my life. I can't place entertainment as the most important thing in my life. I can't place wanting to possess material things as the most important in my life. I can't make owning a new car or a new house the most important thing in my life. I can't value the things that the world values. My heart has been changed. Oh, but you begin to bring that. You begin to bring that value system out of the closet. Bring it out of the closet. Bring it out of the quietness of your own home. And dare in love and meekness to begin to let this value system be seen by mother and father and brother and sister and aunt and uncle and cousin. And suddenly, suddenly you're going to discover that where's the peace? There's a sword, Norman. A sword comes. A divide. Variance. Trouble. Misunderstanding. Why, Lord? Why? Jesus is saying, because the presence of My light, the presence of My Word in your life always brings distinction. It always brings separation. And Jesus is saying that he that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. In other words, He's not saying that you cannot love your mom and dad. You cannot honor your family. But He's saying that if your value system based on the words of Jesus Christ... What does Jesus say about treasures? Don't store up for yourself treasure on earth. Now, how many believe the words of Jesus? How many are trying to store up treasure on earth? Now, you believe the words of Jesus and you interact with your family and they wonder what kind of retirement account you have and you say, well, I don't have one. Jesus said not to store treasure on earth. What? You're irresponsible. You're crazy. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. Well, maybe you're right, Mom. Maybe I'll compromise what God has said. Maybe I'll compromise what the Lord has shown me in His Word. You don't even need a revelation. It's there. Well, in red. Store not up for yourself treasure. Don't place value on earthly things. It's the words of Jesus. He that loveth mother or father more than Me is not worthy of Me. Or He that letteth the values of someone who doesn't love the words of Jesus. He that let's those values rule them and He that let's those values govern their life is not worthy of Me. Now, let me ask a question. Did I say that or did Jesus say that? I just want to get this straight because I don't want to be for lunch this afternoon. Who said that? Who said that? Is this the epistle according to Phil? Or is this the red letter edition of the New Testament? It's the red letter edition. It's right here. Jesus said it. That's what He's saying. Now remember what Paul said. In the New Testament church, especially toward the end when the apostles were getting old and ready to die, they had one test to determine the genuine from the phony. And that was this. What kind of value do you place on the words of Jesus? What kind of value do you place on the teachings of Jesus? What kind of value do you place on the very Word of God? Many had a form of godliness and many had an emotional experience and many seemed to be hearing voices. But, they departed from the words of Jesus and from the doctrine of godliness that He taught. And Paul said, from such, what? Turn away. Don't have anything to do with them. And so, verses 34 through 39 in Matthew 10 is telling us that the words of Jesus are leading us and teaching us what our lives are going to look like. What our lives are going to look like when we find that treasure and we sell everything to possess that treasure. The Lord Jesus Christ and obedience to Him. Time check. Okay, we've got five minutes. Now, do you see the words of Jesus? I want to challenge everyone. We don't have a whole lot more time here this afternoon, but I want to challenge everyone. Get into the words of Jesus. Get into your Bible. I especially want to challenge you to begin to meditate on the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Let the words of Jesus, let them sink into your heart. Let them sink into your mind. Let them sink into your spirit. Let the Holy Spirit speak the words of Jesus into your heart and into your mind. Matthew 16. One more Scripture. Matthew 16. Matthew 16, beginning in verse 21. The first section we read, we saw that Jesus was saying that without following Him and His words, without obeying His words, we're not worthy to be His disciples, His pupils. Now, in Matthew 16, He's telling us this. The meaning of the cross is to obey Jesus even when it is to our personal loss. Personal loss. Not the loss of the kingdom of God. Not the loss for God's glory. Not the loss for the increase of His name, but our personal loss. Notice the words of Jesus. Verse 21, chapter 16. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go to Jerusalem and be crowned as the Prince of Jerusalem and be honored by all the men, and there His disciples would sit around Him as great leaders and esteemed highly among all Jerusalem. Is that what it says? No, that's not what it says at all. But that would have sure been good for the apostles, huh? That's the green letter edition, Norman said, right? Who would that have been good for? That would have been good for the apostles to associate themselves with someone who was going to give them those kind of positions of prominence, huh? But what does Jesus really say? He must go to Jerusalem and suffer. Oh, wait a minute now. Wait a minute. Suffer? Jesus, you suffer? This is what the apostles are thinking right now as they're listening. If I'm committed to You, and I'm supposed to follow You, and You're telling me that You're going to start suffering, what does that mean for me? It might splash over on me. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This doesn't sound too beneficial for me. Jesus began to suffer many things of the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. They didn't hear that. Listen, I just want to say real quickly, you can't hear the victory and glory that God gets when we lose our life if all we're concerned about is our personal life. See, they couldn't hear that. It was going to end in victory. He was going to be raised, and they would be raised. But they couldn't hear that because all they could think about was how this was going to affect them personally. That's a little note to just pray about. Now watch this. Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from You. Or another version says, Have mercy upon Yourself, Lord. This shall not be to You. But He turned and said unto Peter, Get behind Me, Satan. You are an offense to Me. For you do not understand the things that are of God, but only the things that are of man. Then Jesus said to His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, let him disown himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever will save his life will lose the whole world and lose his own soul. For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Here's what Jesus is saying. The true meaning of the cross and what it means to follow Jesus and obedience to His words is this. I do not seek pleasant things for myself. I do not seek to please myself. Christ is the center of my life. Christ is the frame of reference. Christ is the object of first importance in my life. Christ is the center. Christ is the meaning of my life. And therefore, I deny myself my selfishness, my pride, my vainglory, my personal selfish ambitions that have nothing to do with following and obeying the words of Jesus. I deny all those things. I know I will suffer personal loss. But, like Paul, I see that the value of possessing Christ far exceeds any personal suffering that I might experience. And therefore, I gladly, with joy, turn from all of my own things that I would do that would benefit me personally. I let them aside. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, I embrace Jesus. And by the Holy Spirit, I obey the word of God. I let God work this salvation in and through me. And I experience the all-surpassing joy and all-surpassing peace and all-surpassing glory of knowing that I am following my Savior who is my reward. He is my reward. Now, that's all we have time for today. We're going to continue with the words of Jesus, but then, we're going to transition into the book of the Philippians. And we're going to see the whole book of Philippians, all four chapters, talks about the practical expression in the apostle, in the elders, in the leaders, and in the church itself. And what it looks like when men and women are living this life of self-emptied out before the Lord Jesus Christ. It's going to get very instructive and very exciting as we go on. Let's bow our hearts. Father, thank You for Your Word today. Thank You for the Holy Spirit. Thank You for the challenge. Thank You for Your love. Thank You that You promised to do these things. And we simply, by faith, offer ourselves to You. And we trust You to perform all Your promises in Christ Jesus for the glory of Your Son. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. God bless everyone today. Stay in His Word all week.