Alright brethren, let's turn
to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. The Lord
Jesus was preaching to a great multitude throughout this chapter. And he was preaching in parables. A parable is an earthly, natural
illustration that teaches us a heavenly spiritual truth. And
our text is the parable of the kingdom of heaven compared like
unto a net. It says here, Matthew 13, 47,
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 sat down and gathered the good
into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end
of the world. The angel shall come forth and
sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into
the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Our Lord teaches us here that
very soon the Kingdom of God, His Church, will be full. And
when it is, that will be the end. And a day of judgment will
come. And in that day of judgment,
God will sever the just from the wicked. First of all, Christ
says the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net that's cast into
a sea. The Gospel of the Kingdom of
Heaven which we preach is compared to a net. The gospel, the gospel
we preach, the gospel of the kingdom of heaven is compared
here to a net. Now this net is not like the
net that a fisherman would throw out individually on his own. This is a drag net. This is a large net that drags
along the ocean and collects all kinds of fish. This is like
what you see being drawn behind a shrimp boat or a big fishing
vessel. This is a large net. And Christ
makes his ministers, he makes his ministers fishers of men,
fishers of men. But it's the power of God our
Savior that does the work. It's his power that effectually
works in the hearts of his people. He showed us a good example of
that. Look at Luke 5. This is when he called his disciples,
I mean his apostles, and he uses here fish to show us his power
to call by his gospel. Look here at Luke 5 verse 1.
It came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the
word of God, You see, he starts this thing out with the Word
of God. They came to hear the Word of God. And he stood by
the lake of Genesera and he saw two ships standing by the lake.
But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their
nets. And he entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon's, and he prayed him that he would thrust
out a little from the land. And he sat down and he taught
the people out of the ship. You see he's doing this in the
context of preaching, as he's preaching. Now when he had left
speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and
let down your nets for a drought. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we've toiled all the night and have taken nothing. These were fishermen. Peter and
these men were fishermen. They knew what they were doing.
And he said, Master, we've been out here laboring all night long
and haven't caught a thing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
will let down the net. And when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that
they began to sing. You see, this is a description
of us. We're fellows in the same ship. We're in the ship with
Christ. They beckoned to their fellows
to come help them. Look at this now. And when Simon
Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, Depart from
me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For, this is why he said that,
he was astonished and all that were with him at the drought
of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said unto Simon, now here's what he's teaching them,
Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. You'll catch
men from here forth. And when they had brought their
ships to land, look what they did by this word, they forsook
all and followed him. You know what those nets and
those boats were to these men? That was their life. And they
forsook their life, laid down their life, and followed Christ. That's what His gospel does.
Isn't that a good illustration of the power of Christ to call
His people, quicken His people, and convert His people through
this gospel? And it's a great illustration
of our total helplessness to do anything for a sinner. If it's not by His word, all
we'll do is toil all the night and catch nothing. It's all dependent
upon Him. Alright, now back in our text
in Matthew 13, So the net is this gospel we preach and the
sea into which the net is cast is the world. There's a description
over in Psalm 104 of the sea and all of the creatures in the
sea and it describes us. It describes every sinner in
this world. Let me read it to you. Psalm
104, 25. So is this great and wide sea. wherein are things creeping,
innumerable, both small and great beasts. That describes us. It describes the sea, but it
describes us too. In this world, in this sea of
the world, there is creeping things, innumerable, both small
and great, and we're all just beasts. There go the ships. There is that Leviathan whom
thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their
meat in due season, that Thou givest them, they gather, Thou
openest Thy hand, they're filled with good, Thou hidest Thy face,
they're troubled, Thou takest away their breath, they die and
return to their dust. Now that's a description of the
sinners in this world, in the sea of this world. If we depend
entirely, every sinner is dependent entirely upon God to open his
hand and to give us eternal life, to give us spiritual life. If he takes it away, if he doesn't
give it, we'll perish and we'll return to the dust. We depend
upon him. Just now, like the net has to
be cast into the sea. So this gospel is to go forth
into all the world and that's what Christ gives us a charge
to do. Spread this gospel into all the
world and preach it to every creature, to every kind of sinner. Look at Matthew 28. Matthew 28
verse 18. Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. The
God-man, all power is given to him in heaven and in earth because
he accomplished the redemption of his people. That's why God,
this was the promised reward for his obedience unto death.
Now, based on him having all power as the head of his church,
as the God-man mediator, he says, Go ye therefore. Therefore, go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Now if
a man wants to say, well that was just Christ's word to his
apostles, that wasn't to us, well then why did he say I'm
going to be with you to the end of the world? He's going to be
with his ministers to the end of the world. I can understand
a man rejecting this doctrine that the gospel is going to be
the means God's going to save if it was a man's doctrine. But
this is our master's doctrine. This is his word. All right,
now here's the second thing. Notice in our text, Matthew 13.
So we see the nets, the gospel, the seas, the world. This gospel
is to be spread out into all the world like that drag net. Now here, notice this. This net,
verse 47, Matthew 13, 47, it gathered of every kind. It gathered of every kind. Now
concerning the Lord's people, His people are called out of
every nation, out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and people on
this earth. But this is speaking here that there's going to be
a lot more gathered in into this net that are not the Lord's.
They're not converted. They're not regenerated. They
just look like it. They're right there with the
Lord's people. Now Christ doesn't tell us who
the elect are. He doesn't tell us who they are.
He just charges us to cast the net into the sea to go and preach
and to preach to every kind of sinner. Now look at Mark 16. This is similar to what we just
read but I think you ought to look at this. Mark 16 and look
at verse 15. He said unto them, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You see that? Our text says this
net is going to bring in every kind. And He said, you go into
all the world and preach to every creature. That's every kind of
sinner there is. You preach it to everybody. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. Now that's about as clear as
you can get it. Go preach this gospel to everybody. That's the
only way every sinner that's saved will be saved this way. That's why he said go preach
it to every creature. And he just plainly stated, he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. Now that's just about as plain
as you can get. Alright, now look in our text. He says here, you go spread this
word. You spread this Word, you cast
this net into the sea, and you do it before every kind. Now
those who truly believe, those who are called by God, truly
enter the Kingdom of God, they're going to do so because Christ
Jesus, God the Son, our Mediator, and God our Father has sent forth
the Holy Spirit to give them life and faith and repentance. Peter stood up that day and preached,
or maybe it was Paul, I can't remember which one now, but he
said, Him hath God exalted with his right hand. It was Peter.
Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and
a savior, a lord and a savior for to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sin. Who do you think of when you
hear Israel? It's the Israel of God. It's the elect of God. Some are Jews, some are Gentiles. It's the elect of God. That's
who He's going to give repentance to and forgiveness of sin. And
our great high priest makes a promise to us in John 16. Look there
with me. John 16. In verse 7. He says, Nevertheless
I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you, the Holy Spirit. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you. He said, I will. I will send
him unto you. Now here's the work of the Holy
Spirit, brethren. This is what the Holy Spirit
is doing in our day. When He has come, He will reprove. That word means convince effectually. Convince effectually. He will
reprove the world. Everybody in the world? Is everybody
in the world reproved? No. He's going to reprove all
the elects scattered throughout the world. He's going to effectually
convince all his elects throughout the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Of sin because they believe not
on me. The Holy Spirit is going to effectually
convince each of God's elect children that our sins have separated
us from our God and that our sins are upon us because we have
not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He's going
to convince you. You've got to be made to see
your sin to have a need for salvation. And when you see your sin, He's
going to show you that the only way that sin can be put away
is through faith in Christ, believing on Him. Now verse 10 says, and
he's going to convince his people of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. The Holy Spirit will effectually
convince every one of Christ's blood-bought children that Christ
Jesus is our righteousness. He is the righteousness of God.
You read sometime in scripture especially like Romans 9 and
Romans 10 and see the distinction God makes between the righteousness
of the law and the righteousness which is of God. The righteousness
which is of the law describes those who are trying to come
to God by their words. The righteousness which is of
God is Christ who he provided for his people to make us righteous.
He's the righteousness of God. Our complete, total fulfillment
of all righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know it,
we know He is because it says there, I go to my Father and
you see me no more. God raised Him again for our
justification. He raised Him to show you and
I God's satisfied, God's pleased, the law's fulfilled, the work
is finished, redemption is accomplished. That's what we see by Christ's
resurrection. In verse 11 he says, and he's
going to convince us of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. Whenever the prince of this world
was judged, Christ crushed the serpent's head, he triumphed
over him, and he took away sin, he took away death, and he took
away hell. Because when he made his people
the righteousness of God, the devil has nothing else. All his
tools are gone. Sin, death, and hell is all he's
got. And it's gone. Christ has triumphed
victoriously over him. And now all judgment is his. He has been appointed to be the
judge over the whole earth. Christ Jesus the Lord. Now this
is what the Holy Spirit is going to convince us of. And when he
does, he is going to convince us that Christ has been raised
from the dead. That he is both Lord and Christ. Is he your Lord? Your Lord. The Lord Jesus. He's God. He's ruling. He has the dominion. He rules His people and He's
the Savior. He's the Christ. He's the Messiah
of His people. We believe on Christ when God
our Father has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son. And Christ won't cease to
send this gospel. He said, there I will be with
you to the end of the world. Some say, I hear men say in this
day and time the gospel age is over. I've heard men say that.
There's no more preaching anymore. I've heard other men get discouraged
and say, well I don't even know why we should have preaching.
Let's try something else. And all these different things.
But the scripture says in our text, Matthew 13, 48, it says
there that this gospel is going to
go forth till each and every elect child is gathered. Look
here in verse 48. It says which this net was cast
out, which when it was full they drew it to shore. When it was
full. Who determines when the net is
full? Christ does. Christ does. And get this picture in your
head now. We've got things to see here in a minute. There's
all kind of bad fish in this net too. There's all kind of
unconverted, unregenerate, hypocritical, formal religionists in this net
too. But he don't count those. They
don't count it as being full. It's not like this net can just
hold so much and if all the bad fill it up, there won't be room
for the good. No, no. He's just counting the good as
filling it up. And when they're full, when they've
been all called in, that's when the net will be full. When they're
all called to a knowledge of faith and to a knowledge of the
Son of God. Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4, 13 it said Christ shall give
his ministers till we all come in the unity of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God. unto a perfect man. And he tells us what that perfect
man is. Unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. Do you remember when Ephesians
1 said the church is the fullness of his body? He's going to keep
calling his people until that perfect man is created. That perfect man is made up of
every elect, blood-bought, redeemed children of God. And when they're
all called into Christ's body, his body will be full and the
work will be completed. It'll be finished. It'll be done.
That's why Peter said in 2 Peter 3 9, the Lord's not slack concerning
his promises. Some men count slackness. He's
long suffering to who? To usward. To usward. Peter's counting himself there
with all God's elect. He's long suffering to us. We're
not willing that any of his elect should perish. And that's exactly
who he's talking about. You read through Ephesians one
and don't we delight to see it when the Lord talks about he
does his good pleasure, whatever he wills, that's what he does.
He performs his will. And he says he's not willing
that any should perish, but that all shall come to repentance. And Peter says there a few verses
later, an account, you just reckon it to be so, that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation. It will issue in all of his people
being saved. Now, so that's the second thing.
This net's going to be going out until it's full, until it's
full. Now here's the third thing. Look
back there at Matthew 13, 48. in the visible church, which
are not Christ's true redeemed people. Look at Matthew 13, 48.
It says, Which when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down,
and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall
it be at the end of the world. The angel shall come forth and
sever the wicked from among the judge. Now as Christ preached
that very day this is I think this is just everything you know
our Lord did when he walked this earth he was ruling everything
and so he said here telling us this illustration this parable
and while he's doing it he's illustrating it because he's
sitting there speaking to a mixed multitude of people that's who
he's preaching to look back up at Matthew 13 and verse 10 There were those who followed
Him of their own depraved wills. From their own depraved will,
they decided, we'll follow Him. Some for miracles, some for the
loaves and fishes, just different reasons. They followed Him. And
then there were His true disciples that He called irresistibly,
effectually, who followed Him. Now look back up Matthew 13,
10. And the disciples came and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou
unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto
them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. It is not
given. That's God speaking. That's the
Redeemer speaking. He said to his people, it's given
to you to know. That's all the way we're going
to know is if it's given to us. But he says of these others,
he said, it's not given to them. Read on verse 12, for whosoever
hath to him shall be given and he shall have more in abundance
but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that
he hath. God gave Israel every privilege,
every benefit that one could be given. They had the word,
they had the tabernacle, they had the sacrifices, they had
the law, they had everything, they had the prophets sent to
them and they heard what they wanted to hear and would not
give due diligence to the word of God to hear of God's way of
salvation. They wouldn't do it. And so God
took away what they had and made it so they couldn't hear. Now
that's what he said, read on verse 13. Therefore speak I to
them in parables, because they seeing see not. And hearing they
hear not, neither do they understand. These were the kind of folks
that you'd say, if they would have been on that road out in
the middle of the desert when Philip came up to the chariot
and he'd have said, understand what thou readest? They'd have
said, oh yeah, we see it, we see it. And the Spirit of the
Lord said, just keep on going, leave them in their blindness.
That's what he means there. They seeing, see not. Remember when the Lord healed
that blind man? And he said to those Pharisees there, they said,
Are we blind also? And he said, If you'd have said
you were blind, you'd have your sight. Because you say you see,
and you're left in your blindness. See, we've got to come down.
We've got to come to Him. Look, be taught of Him. They
seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith,
By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand. And seeing
you shall see, this is with natural seeing, with natural hearing,
and shall not perceive, not spiritually. For this people's hearts wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes, they
have closed. Last. It means to prevent at
any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their
ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted
and I should heal them. He said it's an impossibility.
It will not happen. God will not give them sight.
He won't give them ears to hear. That's what he's saying there.
Now look at verse 16. But blessed are your eyes for
they see and your ears for they hear. Blessed, blessed by God. But did you catch this now? Peter,
like me and you, just like us, he didn't know. He didn't know
who were Christ's true people and who were not. He didn't know.
He asked the Savior. Three times in these parables
right here, our Lord teaches us that we worship in a mixed
multitude in the church in this earth. Three times. And he tells
us we don't know who the true believer is and who the unbeliever
is. Some, it's obvious. The Lord teaches us that. He
says don't cast your pearls before swine. And you got to use spiritual
judgment. If a man's preaching free will
and talking about what he's done and how he's helping out his
little God, that's obvious. That man don't know God from
a hole in the ground. But when it comes to his church, we don't
know who his people are and who they are. We receive each other
without doubting and trust that they're his. But we don't, he
knows, we don't know. Christ our head knows, remember
when he would walk this earth, we read things like this, he
said the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would
heal on the Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation
against him. But if you were sitting in that
room that day, they were gathered there, they were the most holy
men, they were the most faithful to be in worship, they looked
like they were benevolent men, They looked like they knew the
scriptures and they were sitting there like everybody, every other
sinner in the room, not saying a word. That's what they were
doing though. That's what they were doing.
But this is what scripture says, but he knew their thoughts. He
knew their thoughts. You find another place that says,
when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many
believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did.
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them. Because He knew them
all. He knew them all. So He didn't
commit Himself to them. He knows who are His and who
are not His. Christ does. He knows those who
are His because God the Father chose His people in Him before
the foundation of the world. And Christ, Jesus, entered into
surety ship engagement to be our surety to pay our whole debt
before He ever made the world. Our names were written in the
book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Of course He knows those that are His. It's God that justified
us. It's Christ that shed His blood
for us. Do you know that when that high
priest went into the holy place to make atonement for the sins
of the people that he went in that holy place with the names
of a specific people on his breast. He didn't go in there not knowing
who he was going in there for. He went in there with the names
of a specific people on his breast plate. And Christ went to that
cross with the names of a specific people on his heart. He knew
who he was laying down his life for. for particular people. And
then he created us in righteousness and true holiness by sending
forth this spirit like we just saw. So of course he knows who
his are and who are not. But the wicked that are there,
they look like sheep, talk like sheep, act like sheep, but they
have a name that they live but they're dead. That's what he's
talking about. But in the end of the world,
when the end of the world comes, Matthew 13, 48 says, They shall
draw the net to shore and gather the good into vessels, but cast
the bad away. Verse 49 says there, it says,
And the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among
the just. When I was living in South Arkansas
when I was about 14 or so, there was an old fellow there that
was a commercial fisherman. I used to like to go run nets
with him when I was about 14. And we'd go out and run those
nets. And you know, when a net's down in the water, you can't
tell what kind of fish you got in the net. You can just, when
you go to pull the net up, you can feel, if you've got a good
mess of fish, you can feel it. And you just know you got a good
net full of fish. It's not until you pull those
fish up out of their environment and pull those fish up into another
environment that you discover what kind of fish you got. That's
when you see what kind of fish you got. Now brethren, when Christ
brings this net ashore, He's going to take all of us out of
this world. He's going to take all of us
out of this environment we're in right now. He's going to bring
us into His holy presence. His holy presence. Now for the
believer, the true believer, saved by His grace, the scripture
says, those that are justified by His blood, the scripture says
this, herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness
in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. It don't matter for a believer
if you have him in the world or take him out of the world
into God's environment. He's the same either place. He's
holy. He's holy and righteous. in Christ. Christ has made him so. Now you
imagine a man trying to come into the presence of the holy
and righteous all-knowing God into that holy presence and he's
not holy and he's not righteousness. He doesn't have the wedding garment. There won't be any fooling God.
The angels of God will make it obvious. It says here they'll
sever They'll sever the wicked from among the just. Let's look
at Matthew 7. Matthew 7. Listen to what the
Lord says here. You got men who claim to believe
Christ and they'll tell you what they did in matters of regeneration. What part they took when they
were regenerated. How they helped God out. You
got men who say they believe on Christ but they'll tell you
how that their part in keeping the law to make themselves righteous.
Or you talk to them and they say they believe Christ, but
they talk about their part in making themselves holy. All the works they've done, all
these different things. You got men who follow them because
they want health and wealth and prosperity and they want miracles
and they want these sorts of things. wheel working, wheel
workers. Now listen to what the Lord said,
Matthew 7, 21. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. You know what the will of God
is? You know what the will of the Father is? He said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Those folks said, what must we
do that we might work the works of God? And Christ said, this
is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. That's
the will of God. You believe on Christ. What about my works in regeneration?
A dead man can't make himself alive. What about my works in
making myself righteous? A sinner can't make himself righteous.
What about my works in making myself holy? An unclean, defiled
leper can't make himself clean. Can anybody get a clean thing
out of an unclean thing? That's an impossibility. Salvation
is of the Lord. What does that mean? Just what
it says. Salvation is of the Lord. Beginning
to end. And you know what? When we find
out we're sinners beginning to end, that's when we'll rejoice
that salvation is of the Lord beginning to end. But not until
then. Look, he says, verse 22, Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? You think preaching
is going to get me anywhere with God? Not anywhere. Not anywhere. That don't count for nothing.
Look here, And in thy name have cast out devils. Oh, we excommunicated
folks that didn't measure up to our form of godliness. And
in thy name we've done many wonderful works. You could feed and clothe
the whole world. And it would make you righteous.
It would make you holy with God. It would count with God. You
got to come one way. That's in Christ alone. That's
in Christ alone. Look here. And then I'll profess
unto them, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. And he says, Therefore whoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I'll liken him
unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. Christ is
that rock, brethren. Christ is that rock. You see,
salvation is Christ. Christ, remember what Simeon
said, I've seen thy salvation. I've seen thy salvation, he said.
He held Christ up and said, Father, I've seen your salvation. It's
Christ. It's Christ. Rest your eternal
soul, your eternal good, your eternal salvation. Just rest
it on Christ the Rock. That's the will of the Father.
Trust His Son. Give Him all preeminence. Give
Him the preeminence in regenerating you. Give Him the preeminence
in calling you, converting you. Give Him the preeminence in making
you righteousness, in making you sanctification, in redeeming
you, in being your wisdom. Give Him the preeminence. That's
what God created this world for, isn't it? All right, lastly. Lastly, the wicked shall be cast
out. It says there in Matthew 13,
50. It says, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. That's a terrifying
truth right there, brethren. Hell is real. Hell is real. You know there are folks that
don't think, they don't think God's real, they don't think
hell's real, they don't even think heaven's real. Hell is
real. Hell is real. Christ spoke about
hell more than he spoke about the love of God. He warned, he
spoke of this more than he spoke about the love of God. None can
comprehend how tormenting hell will be. You just can't comprehend
it. And the words that are used in
Scripture to describe it, they're not intended for us to take them
literally as far as it being fire and such things as that.
Because they're words that are suited to our understanding,
to our comprehension. Just like Christ is called a
rock. Christ is called the door. Christ
is called the rose of Sharon. You see what I'm saying? He's
not really a door, but he's the door. It illustrates for us who
he is, our entrance into heaven. Now let me give you these descriptions
of hell. It says there in our text, a
furnace of fire. Have you ever been into a factory
where there's a real furnace? It is hot. I mean, it's so hot
you can't even... It's a furnace of fire where
there'll be wailing and gnashing of teeth. In one place it's called
the depths of hell. It's called a bottomless pit. Just falling forever. That's
what I picture when I hear bottomless pit. You're just falling forever.
The pains of hell. The Lord said it's where their
worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It never ends. It's not just a life in prison
and then it's over. No, this is forever. A never
ending destruction of soul and body. Outer darkness. It's called blackness of darkness
forever. Hell won't be annihilation. It
won't be that you go to this place and you just die and your
body and soul deteriorate and that's the end of it. It won't
be that. Hell will last forever. In Revelation 20 and verse 10
it talks about it being the lake of fire and brimstone where they're
tormented day and night forever and ever. Turn to Luke 16. I want you to
see this. Luke 16. Christ describes hell here as
the torment of unfulfilled desire. You ever wanted something really
bad? Say you're thirsty and you just
want a drink of water. You need a drink of water. Imagine
if it was like that all the time. You never could have that drink
of water. Unfulfilled desire. And all the
while, while you watch the saints enjoying the goodness of God. Sinners in hell will know God
then. They'll know Him fully and perfectly. And know Him like
that forever. But won't be able to enjoy it. Look here. Luke 16 verse 23. He said this. In hell, he's talking
about the rich man. In hell, he lift up his eyes
being in torments. plural, and seeth Abraham afar
off. Abraham's in glory. He's with
the Father. He's with Christ. And Lazarus
in his bosom, that poor man that he just despised the whole time
he walked this earth. He said, and he cried, and he
said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he
may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. There's that desire. For I'm
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember. There's hell. Remember. You always remember. Always remember. That thou, in thy lifetime, receivest
thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now
he is comforted and thou art tormented. And beside all this,
Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence." That's a description of hell,
brethren. That's a description of hell.
Now let me show you one more scripture. Turn to 2 Thessalonians
1-6. Why do sinners go to hell? What's
going to make the Lord send forth His angels and sever Those who went to church all
their life and tried to live a moral life and preached in
His name and did all these wonderful works in His name. What's going
to cause God to sever the wicked from the just? What's going to
do it? Look here. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
6. Seeing it is a righteous thing
with God. That's why. It's going to be
righteous. Seeing it as a righteous thing, we've got to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us. He's going to recompense tribulation
to them and rest to us. When the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God. Now look at this reason. And
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That right
there, there it is. They obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord. and from the glory
of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints
and to be admired in all them that believe, here's why He's
going to receive those that are justified. Because our testimony
among you was believed in that day. Some believe and they're
robed in Christ's righteousness and He receives them. And some
believe not. They got all the outward marks
of a believer, but in their heart they don't believe Him. Christ
is not their all. Something else has got their
hope in besides Him. Now let me apply this three ways. I'm going to give it to you briefly
and I'm done. First of all to you who believe, my brothers
and sisters listen to this. These descriptions we read of
hell, that's what Christ suffered for us on the cross. That's what
He suffered for us on the cross. We came into this world and hell
is what we deserve by our transgression in Adam, by our conception in
sin, and by our sin, every breath we ever took in this world. Hell
is what we deserve. Hell is what we deserve. But
Christ took our sins and He bore that hell in our room instead,
in our place. When you go through these scriptures,
I'll tell you what we do at B.Y.S. too. Go through the scriptures
and read the descriptions of hell often. And every time you
read them, remember that's what Christ bore on Calvary's cross
for men. He died our second death on the
cross before he ever laid down his life and died the first death.
That's what this torment of hell is called, the second death.
He died our second death on the cross before he gave up the ghost
and and died on the cross. That's what he was bearing. And
we won't ever know. We won't know the fullness of
what he suffered and what he endured on that cross until we're
conformed to his image. But this is what we do know now.
He shut the wailing and gnashing of teeth of hell for his people.
He quenched the flames of divine wrath for his people. So that
now there is nothing but open arms. We have boldness to enter
the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's true. So take heed to
the Spirit's word to us through the Apostle Peter. He says this,
give diligence, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. In other words, don't just go
through life thinking, well I've been elected and called so I'm
fine. You might be one of these that gets severed. make your
calling and election sure. He said for if you do these things
you shall never fall for an entrance shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. What do I do to make my calling
and election sure? Well he gives you a list of things
there in 2 Peter but this is chiefly what he's saying. Don't
move away from Christ. Don't lose your first love for
Christ. Stay upon Christ. Look to Christ. Follow Christ. Obey Christ. And
don't move away from Christ. Don't look anywhere else. And
beloved, when you think of hell, remember your friends and your
family who don't know it. We ought to have the same urgency
for our friends and our family as we would if a man was stuck
down here in the creek and the water was rising and it was just
about to go over his head. We'd probably get down there
and try to help him. We ought to have that same urgency because
this is real. They leave this world without
Christ, they're going to hell. That's just plain and simple.
It'll be a righteous hell they'll face. All right, you who find
yourself having an interest in Christ, now you're going to have
unconverted friends that's going to say, oh, don't be anxious
to know Christ. You don't have to become don't
be zealous. Don't be fanatical over that.
You got every reason in the world to flee the wrath to come. You
got every reason in the world to be as anxious as you can be
about it, to seek Christ diligently while he may be found. to follow
after him. It's the mercy of God to wake
a sinner up and let him see, I don't know God. I've been going
all this time in religion and I don't know God. I got religion
but I ain't got nothing else. That's the mercy of God. There's
a bunch of folks like that. There's nothing in this world
worth holding on to. Not a false profession, not a
church experience, not anything in the world worth holding on
to. Count it all done. for Christ. Paul said, I just
want to be found in Him. I don't want to have a righteousness
of my own. I don't want to be found with that. He said, I want
to be found having that righteousness which is by the faithfulness
of Christ Jesus, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's
where I want to be found. And then for you who keep on
hardening your hearts and say, I just don't, this is not for
me. You are a fool and you think
you are wise. I don't know how to be any more
honest with you. That's true. And if you do that,
don't take my word for these things. You take these scriptures
and search them and look in there and see that this is the testimony
of God. This is what he said. It is an
impossibility that we're going to escape the judgment of God.
It's an impossibility. Every person in this room, me
included, are going to stand before God so that we're going
to be reckoned with according to that which we've done in our
bodies, whether it's good or bad. And if you're found outside
of Christ, it doesn't matter how good your good is. Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. The moment you take your last
breath, you'll find out this is true. The moment you take
your last breath, we're going to all find out the presence
of God. The presence of God. Christ died
for a multitude of sinners. A multitude of sinners. I'm going
to tell you what a preacher said in the Valley of Dry Bones. He
said, Oh ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. It would take
a man that believes God to say that, wouldn't it? to a bunch
of dead, dry bones. Hear the Word of the Lord. Well,
I'm saying it to some dead, dry bones because I believe God can
give life and I believe He's redeemed some people and I don't
know who they are and He's going to give life to them. It might
be tonight. So I say to you, oh you dry bones,
hear the Word of the Lord. Flee to Christ, believe on Christ
and look nowhere else. Those that walked this earth
didn't escape when they didn't believe on Him. How shall we
escape if we neglect him who now speaks from heaven. And the
scripture says, and how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation? Christ is the only salvation.
I pray God will give us grace to believe him. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren. Father, thank you for your word.
I pray now that you bless it to the hearts of your people.
Father, make us to truly, diligently seek your face continually that
we might make our calling and election sure. Lord, speak the
word into the heart of some needy sinner. According to your will
and your purpose, we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.