"Hidden Treasure"

 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:28 KJV)

  ""The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to but the field."" (Matthew 13:44 NLT)

 Before you think about the significance of this connection, think first about the importance of the eternal life that Jesus has already given you. This is not something that He will be giving you, it is already yours: you have already been given eternal life; now that is yours, you need to own it! 

 Hopefully that puts this Hidden Treasure thing into a little better perspective, as if we could ever buy the Treasure that is found, because it cannot be purchased; but you can purchase the land that the Treasure is buried in, and that makes the Treasure your own: no one else can claim it or take it from you! 

 This might not click quite yet, but it should allow you to see the significance of what Jesus is saying to these Jews, who are all about the religious aspect of righteousness, as if that will get them what they want. Jesus is offering something totally different than anything they have known before, and they cannot see the forest for the trees! 

 To put this into a little better perspective, we given salvation freely by putting our faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on that cross, there is nothing else that can purchase something that is freely given; the land is you...

"Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that you become a slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey the teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery of sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living." (Romans 6:15-18 NLT)