Matthew 13. The title of the message is The Gospel Net and the End
of the World. I barely touched on this last
week, but this is the seventh parable. We have looked at six
parables over the past few weeks. Parable of the sower, Sower went
forth to sow. The parable of the tares and
the wheat. The parable of the grain of mustard
seed. Parable of the leaven. The parable of the treasure hid
in a field. And the parable of the pearl
of great price. Now we've come to the seventh one in this chapter.
The fishnet. The fishnet. He speaks of the
fishnet and the end of the world. Now the gospel is the net spoken
of here. And the sea is the world. And the good and the bad fish
that are caught in this net. He's speaking here of sinners
saved by grace and those who just get caught up in it. They're
just a profession. There's no real possession of
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you keep it in the line of
all the other parables, the tares among the wheat, and so on. So the good and bad fish, the
good are those saved by grace. The bad are those just caught
up in it. But the gospel here, I said the
gospel is the net. What is the gospel? Turn to Romans chapter one. Romans
chapter one, it can be summed up in these verses here in Romans
chapter one. Paul says here in Romans chapter
1 and verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Now verse 2 is
in parentheses, which means you can lift it out and not do any
damage to the Scriptures. Now, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God, verse 3, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the gospel. That's the good news. Jesus Christ. He is the gospel. He is the good
news. He's all the good news that we
have. He's all the good news we have.
He's the Son of God, and He's also Son of Man. He is God, as
the old writers would say, God, very God, and yet He's a man, just like
me and you, except for sin. He knew no sin. Perfect man,
but a man. He's a man who knows what it
is to be hungry, He knows what it is to be thirsty. Scripture
says He was tried, He was tempted, in all points as we are, yet
without sin. I know this. Can I explain it? No, but I know this. There's
nothing that I'll ever go through that He can't identify with.
He can identify with me on every level. Every level. The gospel is concerning Jesus
Christ crucified. It's not just Jesus Christ, a
good man. It's Jesus Christ crucified.
That's his substitutionary work. He is the one man who came into
this world to die. He said, I came into this world
to die. Death was an accomplishment for Jesus Christ. You know, when
he was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he stood there with Moses
and Elijah, you know what they spoke of? The death he should
accomplish. When our Lord went to the cross, he gave death its death. He put
an end to the reign of sin. He put an end to the power of
Satan. Not that Satan ever had power
over him. Satan was always under his power.
But he put an end to the power of Satan. You know, in the garden,
God said to Adam and Eve and to Satan, he says that Satan
would bruise his heel. That's his crucifixion. But he
said that the seed of the womb would crush his head, his power. So when we preach the gospel,
when we speak of the gospel, we are speaking of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. We are speaking of His person
and His work of redemption. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world, He did not come into this world to attempt salvation. Calvary is not a rescue attempt
on the human race. He came to redeem a multitude
of sinners no man can number. And they are redeemed. They are
redeemed. If he had not done that, we would
all be lost like the fallen angels. Because no one wants Jesus Christ
naturally. No one wants to come to God naturally. The darkness will not come to
the light unless its deeds should be reproved. We will not naturally
come to God. We won't do it. Unless He has
chosen us, called us, drawn us, and done all that was necessary
for us to stand in His presence, we would be lost. We would be lost. No one is born
loving God. We love God when we are born
again, when we're given a new nature, a nature to love God. That which is born of the Spirit
is what? It's Spirit. Now, if a person's born of the
Spirit, he has the nature, she has the nature now to love God. to receive the things of God.
He said, you don't put new wine into old wineskins. You don't
put the gospel, the truth, into that old nature. He said, because
if you do, it'll burst. If you put new wine into old
wineskins, here's what's going to happen. It's going to burst.
It can't handle it. It can't handle it. You and I
do not have the mental capacity naturally to understand and grasp
the gospel. That comes by revelation and
it's revelation to a new heart. A heart that we did not have
when we came into this world. We didn't have that. That's a
work of God. A believer is a work of God from
beginning to end. There's never a time that salvation
in any way, shape, or form is left in my hands. It's never
a time when the Lord has done all He can do and the rest is
up to you and me. What can dead people do? And
we are dead spiritually. I don't know why we have a hard
time, anybody has a hard time understanding what dead means. If you're reading the paper that
so-and-so died, you automatically understand that guy is gone.
He's dead. But when we talk about spiritual
death, we think there's still something there. There's nothing there. There's
nothing there. We lost everything in the garden. We lost everything in Adam. But
in Christ, we get everything back, plus much more. If Adam hadn't fallen, the only
thing we'd still have was this earth. But now in Christ, we
have a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. The gospel is Jesus Christ. He's the gospel. He's the good
news. I don't have any good news for
you, for anybody outside of Jesus Christ. I don't have any good
news. He is the good news. He is. Now God sends his ministers
out to preach the gospel to all sorts of people. You notice in
this net there's all sorts of fish in it. We are not prejudiced
in our preaching. If we are, it's not of grace.
Grace is not in it if we are. We preach to all sorts of people
throughout this whole world. God has made of one blood all
nations. One blood, all nations. All belong
to Him. Every last human being on this
earth belongs to Jesus Christ. Now, some in salvation, some
are not. But they're still His. Look over
in Psalm 24. I believe this is the Psalm.
I don't have it written down. I believe this is it. Psalm 24,
verse 1. The earth is the Lord's. All
right, that's not mine. You know that house you bought,
that land you own, you paying taxes on? It's not yours. It's
not yours. You're not gonna suck it down
in the grave with you when you go. It's not yours. The earth is the Lord's. That's
why it keeps producing. It's His. If it were not His,
if it was ours, it would have quit producing a long time ago.
We would have messed it up a long time ago. The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, everything in it is His. Everything you
own in your house, everything you call yours is His. Wouldn't a God would realize
that. It's His. The breath you breathe, the next
breath you breathe, that's His. The air is His. It's His. You know, this is the reason
why the church is in such a bad shape across this nation is because
we have this cooperative thing going on. No, it's His. He's
the sovereign. He created it. I didn't. You
didn't. You know, when He created the
Garden of Eden and He put Adam in it, Adam was the last thing
He put in it. The Garden of Eden was complete. He didn't need any input from
Adam. or Eve. He made it, He created
it just as He willed to do, and then He created Adam and put
him in the garden. It's His. The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, the world, and listen, and they that
dwell therein. He owns it lock, stock, and barrel. It's His. Now, as I said, his ministers
go out and they preach the gospel. You know, the Lord said to his
disciples in Matthew 4.19. Let's read that. Let's go back a few chapters
here. Chapter 4. Look in verse 18. And Jesus, walking by the Sea
of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called
Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea."
So this is the parable. I mean, we're getting the parable
now. And they understood the parable because they were fishermen.
They knew exactly what he was saying. And they cast him into
the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, follow
me, and I will make you fishers of men. That's what I am. That's
what I'm doing this morning. The radio program went out over
a vast area. A few thousand people listened
to the radio program this morning. The gospel net went out. The
net went out. And there's nothing accidental
about it. No one hears the gospel by accident. No one is here by
accident at all. They're here on purpose. Now,
in preaching the gospel, we are not like those who use artificial
bait to catch fish. We don't use lures. I use lures
when I'm fishing for bass or trout, but I don't use lures
fishing for men. It's the gospel, it's the truth.
It's the truth. That's what we use, the truth.
We preach the truth of the gospel. We use the gospel net, not bait. We use the gospel. We preach
Christ and Him crucified. And when this happens, when this
happens, it says they're gathered of every kind. When the gospel is preached,
there are sinners of every kind caught in the net. There are
some poor. Some rich, some educated, some educated, I mean uneducated,
self-righteous, and some not righteous at all, just flat out
open vile sinners. It catches them. That's what's
going on. You know, you look at the world.
When men look at the world, men and women, natural men and women,
they look at the world, they just see this busyness going
on and all this, you know, this backbiting and fighting and working
and marrying and giving in marriage, and like I said, in the days
of Noah, and just the busyness of life. And yet, when God gives us eyes
to see, We see a different world, don't we? We see a different
world. I don't see this world like I
used to see it. No. When I was very young, it
was like a playground. Then as I got older, it became
a workplace. Go to work every day. You know, what our Lord says
there in Matthew, He said, He's talking about these are the things
that Gentiles seek after, what we're going to eat, drink, and
wear. He said, is not life more than this? Now, when you get
older, don't you say that? Don't you say, is not life more
than paying bills and what's for supper today? Really, life
is to know God. It's to know God in Christ. Eternal
life, it says in John 17, is to know God in Jesus Christ and
be sent. That's life. Paying bills and, you know, this
busyness of life, that's not life. That's not life. It's not
life more than this. But it says here, He gathered
of every kind. I got off the subject there. Some good, some
bad. Now, the good, it's not those
who've just been, they've lived morally right and just been good
citizens. The Bible says there's none good,
no, not one. You know, we think we're pretty
good until we open the Bible. Then all of a sudden we read
the truth. We read the truth. It's like looking into a mirror.
But the good are those made that way in Christ. They are the ones
who are made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. They
are the good, the good fish. The bad are those who are, for
the most part, religious but lost. Look over in Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Paul says in Romans chapter 10,
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. You mean they're lost? They said, we'd be not sinners.
They claim God to be their Father. He said that they might be saved.
I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. They, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, His absolute righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes." They were religious. Paul's pointing out this fact.
They have a zeal of God, but not according to the Scriptures.
Their zeal is blind zeal. And there's nothing worse than
blind zeal. It's just like running down the highway with your eyes
shut. You're gonna get ran over if you keep that up. The gospel, now listen, the gospel
is not at fault for all the bad fish. They were bad fish to start
with. They were bad fish to start with.
They are naturally bad. Which, now it says, which when
it was full. You know the scripture speaks
when the fullness of the Gentiles come in. There is, now I want
you to listen, there is a fullness to everything God does. God does nothing incomplete,
halfway, half-hearted. Even Solomon said whatever your
hands find to do, do it with all your might. That's good advice
for anything we go at. Deal with all your might. If
it's worth doing, it's worth going after it. It's worth giving
all your might to. It's worth digging in. Back when I was an astronaut,
when my youngest son was in wrestling, I was coaching. After a match, one of the young
kids come off the match crying. Crying. I said, what are you
crying for? He said, I lost. I said, well you don't do anything
in practice to win. He said, you ought to be just as happy
as you are in practice. You don't show up half the time. Whatever you do, do it with all
your might if it's worth doing. And if you don't, don't cry about
it when it doesn't work. That's free. That's free. I'm getting into the coaching
part. Which when it was full, there's
an end to everything in this life. Right? There's an end to it. Everything has its time and purpose. It says in Ecclesiastes 3, everything
has its time and purpose. Time to be born, time to die.
Time to weep, time to laugh. There's a time and a purpose,
it says, for everything under heaven. This time, for this day,
for this hour, for this service, and for everyone in this service,
God has a purpose in it. God Almighty has a purpose for
every last person in here, for being in this service. It's not
accidental. Now he says, when this was full,
they drew it to shore. They drew it to shore. There's
a time to wind things up and draw the net into shore. It may
be in a place. God may remove the gospel from
a place. Or as here, it's called the end
of the world. As it says over in 1 Corinthians
15, 24, Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the
kingdom to the Father. That's what this is all about.
God is gathering in a people just like His Son. And when that
gospel net is full, that's the end. That's the end. And it says they sat down. Why? Because the work's finished.
It's done. It's done. It's done. There will
come a time when all preaching is done. We won't do this again. There will come a time when all
preaching is over with. All gospel preaching's over with.
The gospel net will not be thrown out anymore. It'll be drawn in
and that's it. That's it. That's it. And then now notice what happens. When this happens, Now comes
separation. Remember when the tares and the
wheat grew together? And they said, do you want us
to go out and take up the tares? He said, no, don't you do that.
You'll mess everything up. You'll tear up, lest you root
up the wheat along with the tares. That's what he's saying here.
So here he's saying here, the good are going to be gathered,
in verse 48, the good are going to be gathered into the vessels,
and the bad, they're going to be cast away. When this gospel
net is drawn in, from since the beginning to the end of time,
whatever that is, this gospel net has gone out, and it's going
to be drawn in. And he said, then there's going
to be a separation. There's going to be a separation. The good
fish, that is sinners saved by grace, are going to be put into
vessels, and the bad ones are going to be cast away. And then he says in verse 49,
and so shall it be at the end of the world. Our Lord is telling
us here once again, there's an end to this world. There's an
end to it. To some, that's depressing. But to some, it's exciting. Really, truly, it's exciting.
to finally be rid of sin, be rid of all tears and sorrow,
and to be rid of all that. To some, it's good news. I say,
I say this with heart, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Put an end to this. Come quickly. But He'll do it
according to His will and time. Now if it's, you know, what I
said, to some it's depressing, and to some it's good news. It
all depends where you're, or what you are invested in. It
depends what you're invested in. Our Lord says over in Matthew
6, turn over to Matthew 6, over here in Matthew 6, Verse 19, lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth. Don't lay out yourself to laying
up for this earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. That's the whole point
of what he's saying right there. Wherever your treasure is, that's
where your heart will be. If Jesus Christ is your treasure,
if you have found by grace the pearl of great price, He has
your heart. He has your heart. This world is a bad investment. It's a bad investment. And here's what's going to happen.
And here we get a look into the future. We actually get to look
into the future. He says here, the angel shall
come forth and sever, separate, cut off the wicked from among
the just. Now he tells us that the good
fish are the just. They are the just. Now notice here, notice here.
I'll say something about this just in a minute, but the ministers
here are not the ones who do the separation. We do the preaching. That's my business. Preaching.
Week after week. Throwing out the gospel now.
Throwing it out. Throwing it out. But the angels, they are
the ones who do the separation. And I thought about that, and
here's the reason why. They've been taking care of you
all your life. They know who God's people are.
They've been watching over them since the day you were born. Angels have been watching over
you. They know who God's elect are. They know. They've been
watching over them. And He says He's going to send
His angels forth and they're going to separate. They're gonna separate. Now, the good here, as I said,
are the just. They are the ones justified by
the blood of Jesus Christ. They are justified by the grace
of God. They are justified through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They are the just. Jesus Christ died for them, put
away their sins, and they stand before God justified. The bad
are the wicked, they are the false professors, and the unbelieving,
that's who they are. Now he says the just are gathered
into vessels, that is the just are gathered into the kingdom
of God. That's where they're gathered. The Lord said at the
end he'll say, enter into the kingdom prepared for you. When? From the foundation of
the world. It's not just up there for building
and trying to get everything fixed up. No, it's prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. It's done. It's done. It's taken care of. You know,
with God, there is no past. And with God, there's no future.
With God, there's no time. With God, this is all done. Now
you and I have to live through the experience of it. But with
God, it's done. That's why Jesus Christ is called
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Because before
God Almighty, it's all done. It's all done. Now he says in
verse 50, here's what they're going to do with the wicked.
They're going to cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth, unleashed unchecked hatred. Now, I know that you and I can't
grasp this, what's being said here. We think that's, is that a little harsh? Is that
a little too hard? If you and I could see sin as
God sees it, we would understand the punishment of sin. If you
and I could see sin and understand the vileness, the evil of sin,
then we could really have some grasp of what Jesus Christ went
through to redeem us from our sins. We just can't dive that deep.
We can't grasp that. Now the Lord says to them, have
you understood all these things? They said, yes Lord. You know, I don't think there's
anything in the whole Word of God that I've understood all
of. I haven't grasped the depth of wisdom that's in this book,
that's in every verse. I can't dive that deep. Yes, Lord, we understand all
these things. Then why is it just a little while later they
fall apart and he says, why are you so fearful? I thought you
understood all these things. That's like Bruce said to me
the other day, I was talking to Bruce, and he said something
to me and I've never seen it before, and I've preached from
this scripture several times, is when the Lord said to His disciples,
He said, get in the ship, get in the ship, and let's go to
the other side. And then on their way doing that,
a storm comes up. This massive storm comes up.
And they are so fearful, they wake the Lord up. He's asleep
now in this storm. And they said, do you care so
not that we perish? They just forgot that He said,
get in the ship, let's go to the other side. He just told
them, you're going to the other side, you're going to make it.
You're going to make it. He just said if we took Him at
His word, we wouldn't be so fearful. He said, we're going to the other
side, didn't He? Well, that storm is not going
to take us out. You can stand on the hottest battlefield there
is. I'm telling you right now, unless
it's God's will for you to die that day, you're not dying. I've
told you this story before, but Cecil Roach, he was an elder
at 13th Street. He flew the first bombing mission
over Germany. And he said when he come back
from the first mission, that plane, he said, was riddled with
bullets, just holes all in that plane. And one person got hurt,
he dropped ammunition on his foot. And that's the only one,
he said, that's the only injury we had. And he said that plane
was riddled with bullets. Someone said we are immortal
until God makes us mortal so he can take us home. Our Lord is stressing, listen
when He says here, have you understood all these things? I thought about
just making a message on that one. He's stressing how important
it is to understand what you are hearing. Have you understood
this morning what you have heard? Have you really understood it? And he says, after they said
that, he said, let me go back there. They said unto him, yea, Lord.
Then said he unto them, therefore every scribe, and that would
be me. Now he's talking to me, standing here in his pulpit.
which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto
a man." He's a householder. He's given some authority over
the house. He's like a servant that's over
the servants, basically. And he's saying here that this
man that's a householder, he brings
forth out of his treasure things new and old. How many times have I sat in
the service and Henry preaching And I said, I never saw that
before. I never saw that before. It wasn't new, it's been here
all along. It's like that hidden treasure
in the field. It's here in the word of God. But for the first
time I saw it, and Henry had sat down, searched the scriptures,
sought the Lord, and then stood in the pulpit and preached, and
I'm thinking, I've never seen that. It was new to me. And that's,
and he's telling me that's my responsibility. To be in the
word and to bring out things that you may have never seen
before. And the old things too. The old,
old story. Never leave it, never leave it.
All right.