Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 13. Matthew
chapter 13. Now we've been going through
the parables of our Lord. There's seven parables that the
Lord has been pleased to preach and teach through this blessed
chapter in verses 3 through 8. chapter 13, he taught how the
effect of the Word of God is wrought upon his people. He taught in this parable that
the Kingdom of Heaven is like a sower that goes through and
sows the seed of the Word of God. And as the seed is sown,
it falls on different types of soil. You've got wayward soil,
stony ground, thorny ground, and finally, good soil. And from that, we learn that
God's Word has a lasting and effectual effect only upon that
soil made good in regenerating grace by God's Spirit. And then the next parable he
taught was found in verses 24 to 30, and what that parable
was about was how found within the kingdom of heaven, there's
always mixed types, mixed people, mixed company. It's like a man
that sowed good seed in his field, but an enemy comes and sows tares
in the same field that the Lord has His people, sown throughout
all the world, and Satan has sown reprobates in the same places. And we learn that there's always
going to be found every true assembly of God's making. There's always going to be tares
found among the wheat. They're always there. And then
in verses 31 and 32, in that particular parable, he talked
of how the way that the church, the kingdom of heaven, prospers
in the world. He said it's like a grain of
mustard seed. Now, when a grain of mustard
seed, which is the tiniest of all seeds, is planted, It's setting
forth that the church appeared in its earliest conception into
this world. It appeared so that it was just
almost insignificant. But by the grace of God, His
kingdom would grow to be the greatest among herbs. It set
forth the glorious expansion of God's people in God's timing
to His honor and to the eternal good of his people. And then
in verse 33, he taught concerning the kingdom of heaven. He said
how the kingdom grows in grace. He's teaching something different
about every one of these parables is teaching something different
concerning the kingdom of God. In that particular parable, he
was talking about leaven that's placed within meal. Now this
is not leaven. as we think of leaven as a type
of sin, but it's leaven as a picture of the life of Christ, a living
thing, as it's set and placed within God's people. It's set forth in the gospel. Life is imparted into the vessels
of God's mercy, And then it's placed in grace, in regenerating
grace, and it graciously has a consuming effect upon the whole
of a believer. Everything about a believer is
new. Old things passed away, all things are made new, so they
grow. And then in verse 44, concerning the the kingdom of heaven, it's speaking
of the humiliation of Christ to come into this world, to be
made flesh for His people, to find them, of which He's known
them eternally. but he's going to find them in
calling them out. It says that the parable of the
treasure hid in a field, and the treasure is the church. And God has a people throughout
all the world, every nation, kid, tribe, and tongue, and he's
got some sheep, and they are his treasure. And the parable
said to be found by a man, that man that loved the church and
gave himself for her, the man, Christ Jesus. And He, because
of His love for ourselves, all that He has, He humbled Himself,
laid aside the essential glory, which He never relinquished,
but He veiled it in human flesh, and He came as the Servant of
Jehovah to buy the field of the whole world, that He might gather
out of the world all of His elect. And then in verse 45 and 46,
he told a parable that revealed the quickening effect that the
gospel has upon his people. How his people, in regenerating
grace, are caused to see and made willing in the day of God's
power. It says his sheep, they're like
men before they're converted. that are looking for goodly pearls. You know man by nature, he's
looking for these the goodly pearls of this world's false
religion. He thinks one's just as good
as the other. But when the Lord stops him in his tracks, he arrests
him like he did Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. He stops
him, gives him a new heart, and then that man in regenerating
grace rejects everything that he ever thought that he wanted,
and now he realizes he sells all that he has. Paul the Apostle
says, those things that were gained to me, he said, now I
consider loss for the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
he buys that pearl, that Christ is the pearl of great price.
He buys Him by faith, purchased without money and without price. So those were the first six parables
that the Lord taught us in Matthew chapter 13. Now today we're going
to look at the last of these parables in this chapter and
it's going to be found in in verses 47 to 50. Now let's just
let's look at Matthew 13 verse 47 to 50 and let's read these
verses. Again the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of
every kind which when it was full They drew to shore, and
set down, and gathered the good into vessels, cast the bad away.
So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come
forth and sever the wicked from among the just, shall cast them
into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth." Now, this last parable is going to set forth how God
is gathering His people, gathering His kingdom unto Himself. This is the God-ordained way
that God's kingdom, His church, His bride, His elect is gathered. It's not gathered by the man
honoring ways of self-righteous works, but it's gathered like
a fisherman fishes with a net. Now, this net, it said in verse
47, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net as cast into
the sea. Now, when the gospel which is
the net, that is the gospel, a net is cast into the water. We cast the water, I mean cast
the net into the water like a fisherman that's casting his net. I mean
we cast the net into the world, I'm sorry, like a fisherman casts
into the water. And when he casts, he throws
his net out there and it just hits the water and he can't see
what's out there. All he can see is the top of
the water. So what he does, he throws the net out. And the net
goes out, and it hits out in the water, and there's all kinds
of fish out there. He don't know what kind there
is, he just knows that he's fishing. And so he throws the net of the
gospel out. Hold your place right there,
and turn to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16, verse 15 and 16. Here's what
the Lord said concerning the throwing of the net. He said,
you go into all the world and you preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. So here's what we're doing. When we cast a net into
the world, whether it be by internet, whether it be television, newspaper,
whatever it is, what we're doing is we're going to cast a net
into the world, and we're going to let that gospel go forth. God's people are going to be
called out like this, but we don't know who they are. We don't
know where the sheep are, so we do what the Lord has instructed
us to do. And we tell all men, when we
cast this net, Acts 17 30, in the times of this ignorance God
winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Now let me tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to preach
the gospel of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'm going to tell all men, God commands all men
to repent. to think differently on how God
justifies a sinner. And so we throw that net out,
and we're gonna trust God. We're preaching the same gospel
to everybody. As Mr. Spurgeon said, if you
just mark everybody that's one of God's people with an E for
elect, I'll just preach to them, but I don't know who they are.
So I'm gonna preach to everybody. So we preach the gospel, And
we believe that God's going to bless it. The Lord said in John
6.37, He said, All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and
him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. But I don't
know who they are. So I'm going to take the only
means that God Almighty has set forth that He's going to bless
and this net goes forth. We don't try to improve on it. I'm not going to tie little prizes
on it and give little rewards on the net and promise the fish.
I'm going to throw the net. That's all I'm going to do. I'm
going to set forth the net of God's gospel and I'm going to
providentially, I'm going to trust God to providentially bless
it. So we know that the Lord is going to call out His own. So as that net is cast into the
sea of this world, God has promised that there shall be found in
that casting, here's what you're going to pull in. You're going
to pull in all kinds. That's what he said. Look at
verse 47 again. It says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like
a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind. Gathered of every kind. You're
gonna have all kinds that are gonna come in here. This same
truth was set forth. Hold your place. Turn to Matthew
22. Matthew 22. Matthew 22. Let's read verses one to 10. Matthew
22, one to 10. The same thing. We preach the gospel, we tell
all men to repent, as we cast that net out, all kinds come
in. Matthew 22, 1 to 10, Jesus answered
and spake unto them again by parables and said, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for
his son. Now here's the father that's
made a marriage for the Lord Jesus Christ. He sent forth his
servants, preachers, Call them that were bidden to the wedding.
And they would not come. That's a picture of the Jews
that rejected the gospel, that rejected Christ. Again, He sent
forth other servants saying, tell them what you're bidden.
Behold, I've prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fat ones are killed,
all things are ready, come to the marriage. They made a light
of it. Went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.
The remnant took his servants and treated them spitefully,
slew them. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth. He sent forth his armies, destroyed
those murderers, burned up their city, then said he to his servants,
the wedding is ready. But they which were bidden were
not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways,
as many as you find, you bid to the marriage. So those servants
went out to the highways and gathered together as many as
they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished
with guests. And just to look at the next
few verses, you're going to see what happens. I don't want to
get ahead of myself here, but look what happened. Did the Lord
say to get them all in here? Bad and good, you bring them
in. Look what's going to happen when God makes the distinguishing
decision. When the king came in to see
the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.
And he said unto him, How camest thou in hither not having a wedding
garment? And he was speechless. Then said
the king to the servants, you bind him hand and foot and take
him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. Many are called, few are chosen.
So what are we doing? We're going to cast that net
and here's what's going to happen. We know that all kinds are going
to be here. We've seen that here. You know,
we know that only the Lord's sheep are going to be saved,
but like in the parable of the tares, every gospel assembly
there's going to be found every different kind. We're going to
have some that believe and some don't, some come out of curiosity,
some come to appease a guilty conscience and any other number
of reasons, but they're always going to be among the sheep.
There's always going to be some good and bad, you know, and the
Lord is the one who's allowed this mixture. 1 Corinthians 11,
19 says, for there must be heresies among you that they which are
approved may be made manifest among you. You know how you tell
a crooked stick? Put a straight one next to it.
All of a sudden you see one of them's crooked. So we continue
to preach the gospel. This is what we're doing. We
preach the gospel, we preach the gospel, we throw the net,
we throw the net, we invite men to come, we tell them you come
here, you come and repent, and we continue to preach. And then 48 says, and when it
was full, they drew to shore, sat down and gathered the good
unto vessels, cast the bad away. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
It's coming a time when this casting is going to be over.
When it's full. That's the end of the world. We're going to preach as long
as the Lord gives us time. As long as I'm able to think,
and that's starting to wane, but as long as I have the ability
to preach when it's full, or when the end of the world comes.
When the time of the Lord's determination This world is going to cease.
We're not going to be doing this forever. And all of His sheep
have been gathered. They've all been converted. God's
got a people and He's going to convert every one of them. When
the last sheep has been called and God determines it's over,
then they're going to draw to shore. And they're going to sit
down. It's going to end. And the trump
of God is going to sound, and God is going to call all men
unto the judgment, and there's going to be a gathering, and
in that day there's going to be a separation. That's what
he said, verse 48. It said they sat down, gathered
the good, into vessels and cast the bat away. Now there's going
to be a separation. This gathering, this separation
is revealed to be by the means of God's angels. God's angels
are going to do this. They said, how do you know that?
Well look at verse 49. So shall it be at the end of
the world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
among the just. It's just like fishermen do. You go out there and you throw
a net and you start pulling stuff in, you're going to have some
good fish, you're going to have to have some bad fish, you're going to
have to have old boots and you're going to have to have You're
going to have beer cans and you're going to have everything else
you're going to drag in with that net. And you're going to
start throwing stuff out that's completely useless and worthless,
just like a fisherman does. God's going to send His ministering
spirits, His angels that have been placed over, according to
Hebrews 1.14, over God's sheep. God has angels that are ministering
spirits that are sent to ministers to those who shall be heirs of
salvation. And obviously these angels know
who they are. God revealed them to them. There's
mine right there. And God is going to take them
and they're going to separate the sheep from the goats. And
they're going to usher into the very presence of God those who
have everlastingly been loved of the Lord just like in the
case of the rich man and Lazarus. Remember, Lazarus was an old
beggar and he sat at the door of a rich man that fared sumptuously
every day just trying to get some crumbs. Dogs licked his
sores and stuff like that. And it says in Luke 16 about
Lazarus when he died, it says, And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Now can you imagine? The moment
a believer leaves this world, when his soul separates from
his body, the angels are going to usher him into the presence
of God according to that word. It wasn't a parable. That was
an event. So there's going to be a separation
of the people, but it's going to be the sheep and the goats.
The sheep on the right hand, the goats on the left. And the
sheep are going to enter into the kingdom that's been prepared
for them from before the foundation of the world. And the goats shall
be cast out into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. So the Lord said, now this is
how it's going to end. This is how it's going to be throughout
the world. all of the life of this world from the very beginning.
This is how God's been gathering His people. We cast the net of
the gospel. We preach the gospel. Noah was
a preacher of righteousness before the flood. God sent a preacher.
And he's got preachers today, and that's what they're doing.
They're just casting the net. They pull them in. They come
into an assembly. And you've got all kinds. You've
got wheat and tares. the Lord said concerning the
tarry, leave them alone, leave them alone, leave them alone.
I'm going to separate them, don't worry. Don't worry, God knows
who are his. So he taught this blessed parable. And then he asked his disciples
in verses 51, he asked them a question. Jesus saith unto them, have you
understood all these things? And they say unto him, He said,
you know, that was a precious question. What a real bit of
information I needed. I needed to hear that. The Lord,
the all-wise, you know, omniscient, that means He knows everything.
He asked His disciples, now He knew the answer. He knew the
answer to the question. Have you all understood what
I'm saying? I could ask you that, and I don't know if you understand
or not. But the Lord knew. But He did that for us. He did
that for our instruction. He was teaching us, showing us
the necessity of being sensitive to their hearers. You know, if
someone is listening to what I'm saying and you don't understand
what I'm meaning, what I'm preaching is doing absolutely no good.
You don't understand me. I want you to understand what
I'm saying. So a God-called minister desires
that his hearers understand what he's saying. My wife has told
me, I'll ask her, you know, she'll tell me one time, she said, look,
people may not agree with you, but they understand what you're
saying. That's what I want. I want you to understand what
I'm saying. So the Lord asked them for our
instruction He said, have you understood all these things?
They said unto him, we have, and we do, we understand, we
don't understand the fullness of the depth of all of it, but
we understand what he's been teaching us. And then he said
unto them, this will be the last verse for today. He said, then
said he unto them, therefore, since you understand, every scribe,
that is every preacher, which is instructed unto the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a man that's a householder. He's a
steward. He's a steward. God has called
me to preach the gospel. I've got a commission. And I'm
a steward of the gospel. He said, he's likened to a man
that is a householder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things
new and old. What does that mean? Well, there's
some things that God has taught his people, his preachers, concerning
the kingdom of heaven. They were given to his preachers,
not to be held on to. I try to come up and try to prepare
and try to read and seek the Lord's guidance and direction.
And these things are not just for my own personal, you know,
they are for my personal, but I'm to distribute them. I'm like
a householder, a steward. And these things that have been
instructed to teach, not only those things that I was first
taught, there's some things that I've learned when I first began
to hear. But I'm going to tell you something,
when he said things new and old, I mean, there's some things that
God teaches us every day. We don't know everything. I mean,
we know in part, see in part, see through a glass darkly, and
God teaches us something. I mean, we'll see something in
a scripture that we've seen and seen and seen, and all of a sudden,
we see it. I never saw that before. But the things that I had learned
and that you know and learned years and years and years ago,
we continue to teach those things. That's why Paul says, you know,
to say the same things unto you to me is not grievous. He said
for you it's safe. We need to hear these things
new and old. Oh, the blessing of hearing and
beholding and being refreshed again concerning those things
that's been taught us by the Spirit of God through the preaching
of the gospel. So these blessed parables that
the Lord has taught, these refreshing lessons on how God's dealing
with His people have been taught by Him to us for His glory and
our good. And I pray that the Lord bless
them to us for His sake. Amen.