Telling the Truth

Narrator (Male): Today on Telling the Truth, Jill Briscoe concludes her message Finding the Kingdom and shares about the priceless gift that's yours through Christ. Far too many Christians avoid the Book of Revelation because of its mystery. But this final book of the Bible is filled with hope for you.

Stuart Briscoe wants to help you unravel the mystery of the end times with his eight-message series, End Times: What's Going On? It's our thanks for your gift today to keep this broadcast going strong. So call today to request your copy: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Jill Briscoe with the conclusion of her message Finding the Kingdom.

Jill Briscoe: Jesus hid the secrets of this life of spiritual reality in his teaching, in his parables. But the good news is, he says those of you that have faith, those of you that count yourself seekers after Jesus, Jesus lovers, Jesus knowers—he will reveal them to you. He'll show you where to dig. He'll show you where the treasure is.

God didn't leave his treasured things lying around on top of the soil to be trampled underfoot and ignored. He buried it and then he called us human beings to seek it, to search for it with all our hearts.

So when we do find Jesus as a spiritual reality in our life, it is a real spiritual find. Now, I want to look at the very first of these parables in Matthew 13. There are two little parables: parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl. Verse 44: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, went and sold all that he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he finds one of great value, he goes away and sells everything and buys it."

Two little parables, and we'll take the top one. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, then in his joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Now, the field is the world, and the treasure is that sphere of spiritual experience where God is king. Basically, he is saying there is a calling to find this. God calls human beings to find it. We're going to talk a little bit about what that call is. There is a sense of pulling toward. There is a sense of "I'm missing something." There is a sense of, as we search for Jesus, a sort of affirmation: "Yes, yes, I'm on the right track. Yes, this is truth. This is the truth, the true truth. This is what I was made for." The sense of that is almost like a magnet that you can't resist. So when we respond to the call, we find the true truth. We say, "Yes, sounds true." It's got a ring of truth in the middle of all this other stuff I'm hearing this way and that way, all the stuff I'm reading. This sounds true. This sounds real.

Are you living for something definite? Half the problem with people is they're not living for anything definite. They are so indefinite. Kierkegaard put it this way: "The goal is to find the idea for which I can live and die for." That's the goal. Have you found a goal to live and die for?

People don't live and die for goals anymore. I stayed with a woman and a man in Paris who had a goal. She worked for the secret service during the Second World War. He won the highest honor for being in the French Resistance. It was one of the most fascinating four days Stuart and I have ever spent in anybody's house in our lives. We listened to stories of how men and women had a goal to live and die for, and they did live and die. These two nearly died. They happened to live through hell behind the Gestapo barracks and so on. But they did it because they had a living goal.

As I listened to them, I thought, they were so young in those days. They were in their 20s. They represent so many young people in those days who had a goal, who lived for something definite. Yes, it wasn't a spiritual goal, but it was a high and holy goal. They gave up their freedom that others may have their freedom. They had a goal.

I think when I look in my own heart, I realize that this call to follow him, this call to allow him to be king in the kingdom of my life, is a serious thing. It is a call to have a goal, to live for something definite, something that's worth living for and something that's worth dying for.

Now, I'm not talking about a call to the priesthood or a call to missionary work. I'm talking about the call of God's spirit to enter the kingdom of God and discover his kingship in our lives. It does go beyond the call. You say, "Well, I've got a call, a high and holy one. It's a call to family. It's a call to marriage. It's a call to vocation." It's the call to prosperity. It's the call to fame or achievement. It's a call to something good or it's a call to something frivolous. But I do have a call.

But what about the call to know God through Christ? Jesus said that should be the highest call, superseding any other great call of life. When he called the disciples, they physically had to do that. We don't always have to do that. We have to do it internally. We have to respond internally whether he ever asks us to do it physically as they did. When we do that, amazingly, we find the treasure in the field.

You notice the man with great joy found the treasure. You know, the devil has a lie. He says, "You'll never smile again. You'll never smile again if you make Jesus king of your castle, if you ever give him permission to tell you what to do with your little boat as you go through life." It is a spiritual find, and responding to the call means you reorder your priorities in order to enjoy fully the kingdom of God.

Remember the rich young ruler? He came to Jesus. He saw right into his heart and he saw a good man. He said, "You just lack one thing. Those things that you own have got a grip on you. You do not have things; things have you. You need to just get that priority straightened out. So why don't you just give it all away to the poor and come and follow me?" It says the young man went away sad. He kept his riches, but he went away sad.

In Luke chapter 9, there were some people who came to Jesus and said, "I'll follow you, I'll follow you." Jesus turned around and said, "Well, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but I don't have a branch to perch on." That's the importance of the word. So he said, "You're not ready to follow me." He looked right into his heart and saw that it was all words. "These people honor me with their mouths, but their heart is far from me," says the Scripture.

Jesus said to another, "Follow me." He called him. He invited him, like he had his other twelve disciples. Jesus said to another, "Follow me." This is the message. He said, "Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father's funeral." Jesus refused. "First things first," he said. "Even before your father's funeral? Your business is life, not death. Life is urgent. Announce God's kingdom. What comes first?"

Then another said, "I'm ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home." Things needed straightening out at home. Maybe his marriage wasn't very good. Maybe he had some debts to pay off. Jesus said, "No, don't procrastinate. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off until tomorrow. Seize the day. Seize the day."

That message is the same. No, Jesus isn't here physically, but he is here spiritually. Actually, he's in my boat talking to you right now. He's telling you, seize the day. Seize the day. Get your priorities the right way around so that spiritual priorities are first in your life, absolutely first in your life. Easier said than done. As we do that, however, and we search for how to do that, he'll help us. We've got to ask the right questions. We've got to listen to the right answers.

It's a big field. It's a big field. How do we know Jesus is the only way? How do we know that? How do we know that all these other people who are offering us advice—"Dig here, dig there, I found spiritual treasure, here's a shovel, get to it"—it's a big field, and there are lots and lots of people telling us where the treasure is.

Yet it says in Colossians 2:2, "If you want the full riches of complete understanding in order to know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Then you need to make him king of your castle. Then Paul adds, "I tell you this so no one may deceive you with high-sounding arguments." I tell you this so people that say dig here in this religion, dig here in that, may not confuse you. There is no religion in the world that claims its founder was God—only Christianity.

Narrator (Male): How do you experience the joys of living in God's kingdom? That's what Jill Briscoe is talking about on today's Telling the Truth, and she's coming right back with more.

Before we hear from Jill, we want to share a note we received from a listener named Sandy, whose words are a reminder of what your support to Telling the Truth makes possible. She writes: "The teachings I hear are a delight to my soul. I am so thankful for the Briscoes' understanding of the Scriptures. Hearing their teachings each day uplifts my soul. I'm a relatively new listener, and I wish I had discovered Telling the Truth earlier."

Thank you, Sandy. So glad we connected. That's the kind of impact your partnership has on listeners around the world. So if you've never given before, please consider a gift today to help more people experience life in Christ. We'll show our appreciation for your support by sending you Stuart Briscoe's eight-message series, End Times: What's Going On?

In this series that Stuart prepared for years to preach, he'll dive into the Apostle John's writings in the Book of Revelation to help you uncover how God is unveiling his prophetic plan and what it means for you today. You'll discover how to read the Book of Revelation, the promises God makes for the end times, and how its prophetic words can strengthen your faith today.

You don't want to miss this hopeful message contained in the Bible's final book. So request your copy of End Times: What's Going On? when you give today. And thank you for helping more people around the world experience life in Christ. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now we head back to Jill Briscoe.

Jill Briscoe: People are looking for salvation. People are looking for satisfaction. People are looking for assurance they'll know where they're going when they die. Christ is the only way. He's the king of the only kingdom that there is after death. He is the ruler of this sphere of spiritual experience now and then. He's the only savior.

How do we enter that kingdom? We enter through humility. Jesus took a little child once, Matthew 18:3, and said, "If you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, you have to humble yourself and become like this little child." It is a humbling thing to say, "I've been wrong." It is a humbling thing to say, "I've been digging in the wrong corner of the field." It is a humbling thing to say, "I've spent most of my life looking for spiritual reality, and you're telling me that I haven't even started looking in the right direction." It's humbling, but it's got to be done.

When we visited the Holy Land this last summer, in the Church of the Nativity—famous church, you've seen it I'm sure on postcards and you've heard about it—there is a very, very tiny door that has been built down. The reason is that when the Turks came in those awful crusade days, the commander was just taking city after city after city, and he rode up on his horse to the Church of the Nativity to enter on his horse. But the people had built down the door, and he not only had to dismount off his high horse, he had to bow his head to get in that church. He had to bow his head. Actually, you have to bow almost double to get in that door.

I always think about that every time I go through it and we all line up to get into that Church of the Nativity. I always think of Matthew 18:3: unless you become as a little child and humble yourself. You have to get off your high spiritual horse or your high horse thinking that you can find the way and all the rest. You have to come to Jesus like a little child. You have to be born again because you cannot even see the kingdom of God unless his spirit comes into your heart. The kingdom of God is within you when the king is within you. It makes perfect sense. That's what you've got to do.

Know how worth finding it is. Paul says, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I've lost all things, but I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ." He'd found the treasure in the field. It is a priceless, priceless treasure, priceless, priceless gain.

When you come into the kingdom and you get to know the king, you renounce every other allegiance and you become a citizen of the kingdom. You become a citizen of the kingdom. I became a citizen of America and it was quite a wonderful experience. Now I'm a citizen, I have a little book called "A Welcome to USA Citizenship." It's a wonderful book, and it tells me five qualities of a good citizen.

A good citizen cherishes—and I'm going to change this—Christian values, bases his actions on them. The good citizen practices Christian human relations in the family, school, community, and the larger scene. The good citizen recognizes social problems and has the will and the ability to work toward their solution. A good citizen is aware of and takes responsibility for meeting basic human needs. The good citizen possesses and uses his knowledge and skills in a Christian society.

You see, when you become a citizen of heaven, the whole of your life's changed. You renounce every other allegiance to every other, as it says in that book, king or queen in my case, and you give your allegiance to the President who's resident. That's what happens when you become a good citizen. You're not born a citizen; you're born again a citizen, spiritually if you like.

There are three privileges this book tells about. You have the right to vote; your opinion matters. You have the right of appeal. Paul says, "I'm a Roman citizen. I have the right to appeal to Caesar." We have the right to appeal to the king when we are accused. He is our judge. Thirdly, you have the right of ownership. You own property. You're allowed to own property when you become a citizen in the USA. When you become a citizen of heaven, you've got a mansion. You've got a mansion.

One day Jesus said to the disciples, "I'm going away. I'm going to prepare a place in the kingdom for you, one of the streets of gold, a mansion. And I'm going to come back and take you home." One day the king will come, the King of the Kingdom, to take us home to the kingdom of heaven.

Now, my main question to you as we start this series: Are you in the king? Have you put the drawbridge down? Can you remember when you did? Maybe if you can't remember, you haven't. Maybe you'd like to. You know, when I became a citizen of the United States, I needed somebody to help me, to teach me how to do that. I found somebody that had done it before me, Lay Ocean Pastor. I said, "You became an American citizen years ago, didn't you?" And he said, "Yes, I did." I said, "Would you help me to become an American citizen?" He laughed; he fell off his chair, he was laughing so much. "What do you mean, you want me to help you, Jill?" I said, "Well, I don't know how to become an American citizen. You've done it. You've got the books. Where do I get the books? If I just came, would you go over the 50 questions I have to learn the answers to and would you help me with them?" And he said he would.

Because he had become a citizen, he was able to help me become one too. Now, I'm a citizen of heaven, and I want to help you become one too. So why don't you pray with me? Perhaps if you want to ask the King of the Kingdom into your heart and you're not quite sure what to say, maybe you'd like to borrow my words. Maybe say something like this:

Oh, King Jesus, thank you for leaving your throne in heaven to come down to my world, to live your life and tell us about the kingdom—how to get into it, how to enjoy it, how to live in it as a good citizen. Lord, I know that you've said the kingdom of God is within me. I'm not quite sure if you're there. I've heard about you. I know about you. I know a lot about you. But I'm not quite sure, and I'd like to make sure.

So I let down the drawbridge of my life. I invite you, King Jesus, to walk over it, take your place and your rightful place on the throne of my heart. I pray that I may renounce all my allegiance to any other potentate, that I may bow my knees before you and serve you and pledge allegiance to you. Be willing to fight for you, make a difference in my world. Welcome, Lord Jesus. Take your throne. May I have you high and lifted up on the throne of my life from this point on. I ask it for your kingdom's sake. Amen.

Narrator (Male): This is Telling the Truth and you've just heard Jill Briscoe with her message Finding the Kingdom. Jill's not done yet though, she's back in a moment to answer some questions about today's message.

Do you ever wonder where this world is headed or what the end of days holds for humanity? If so, there's no better place to search for answers than the Book of Revelation. And while many shy away from this final and mysterious book of the Bible, it contains so much encouragement for you today. That's why we're excited to send you Stuart's eight-message series, End Times: What's Going On? as our thanks for your gift of support to keep broadcasts like today's message coming your way and going out through Telling the Truth's global ministry.

This series helps you unravel the mystery of the end times and discover the hopeful assurance it brings for you as a Christian. We pray this series motivates you to holiness, obedience, and hope in Christ. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now let's hear from Jill one more time.