Now my text this morning is in
Matthew chapter 13 verses 47 through 50. This is the seventh
parable that the Lord taught his disciples in what we call
the kingdom parables. You understand that a parable
is a story or an illustration using earthly symbols, earthly
pictures to teach a spiritual lesson and what the Lord is doing
here is teaching what we refer to as the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven. The kingdom of heaven meaning
God's sovereign rule and reign here upon this earth in the last
days especially through his church, his true church, but even throughout
the world as the gospel is preached throughout the nations, beginning
at Jerusalem and spreading throughout the Gentile world. The Lord said
in Matthew 24 that the gospel must be preached in all nations
and then the end will come. That is His second coming, the
end of all things. And these things are mysteries
and you understand this, that the idea of a mystery in the
Bible is this, it is something, a truth that must be revealed
by God. In other words, it's something
that's unknown to the natural man until God reveals it, God
uncovers it, God opens it up to our understanding. You see,
we normally think of mysteries as something, you know, there's
something we don't know and we have to find certain clues and
then put them all together and then figure it out. That's not
a mystery in the Bible. He told his disciples earlier
in Matthew 13, he said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. That is, God has given you an
understanding. He told them, he said, blessed
are your eyes for they see, blessed are your ears for they hear.
The natural man, being spiritually dead, does not understand these
mysteries. He doesn't even understand the
mystery of the gospel. The gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace in Christ. How God saves sinners. How God is just to justify the
ungodly. That's a mystery to the natural
man until God reveals it by the power of the Spirit. That's why
Paul, when he wrote, he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And
who are those who believe? It's those who God has revealed
these mysteries to. People are thinking in this day
and age, or this time, this season, about the birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let me say something about that
in context of this message. Now, the title of this message
is The Mystery of Death and Judgment. Christ had revealed several mysteries
here. There's eight parables here.
This is the seventh. There's one more to go. This
one is the parable that reveals the mystery of death and judgment. Because death and judgment is
the end of all things for men and women. Now let me show you
how we'll tie this in with what people are thinking today on
the birth of Christ. You know, the birth of Christ, the life
of Christ, the death of Christ, His resurrection, His ascension,
His intercessory work, it's all the mystery of godliness. Paul
wrote in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse I believe 16, he said,
great is the mystery of godliness. And he stated it this way. He
said, God, and one of the things he said there, God was manifest
in the flesh. God himself, the person of the
son, the second person of the Trinity, manifest. That is, he made himself known. That's what that means. He appeared. God manifests in the flesh, speaking
of the human nature of Jesus Christ, his humanity without
sin. And that's a great mystery of
godliness. He had to come to earth. Scripture says he had to be made
like unto his brethren. Why? That he as God-man, without
sin, could make reconciliation for his sheep, his church, God's
elect. If you look, turn over to, for
example, Luke chapter two. Look at Luke chapter two. This
is part of the scripture that is commonly read around this
time. I just want you to go to one
verse here and we'll come back to this later on. Look at verse
14 of Luke chapter two. This is the angel speaking to
the shepherds concerning this great event. This great miracle
of the birth of Jesus Christ. Now you understand that Jesus
Christ is God in human flesh. His deity has no beginning and
no end. He's the second person of the
Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. But his humanity
had a beginning. He was conceived in the womb
of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, not conceived of man. but by
the Holy Spirit, and it's a miracle, and it's mind-boggling, isn't
it? And then he was born, and when he was born, this statement
was made in Luke 2, 14. It says, glory to God in the
highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Now that's
a good translation of that verse. Let me say this, I'm gonna give
you an alternate translation that probably would be better,
but I love the King James Version of the Bible. I think it's the
closest to the original manuscripts. Some people try to change it
just by removing the these and the thous and that kind of thing,
that's okay. But he says, glory to God in
the highest. What is he saying here? What
does that mean? Well, what it means is this,
in this person, the Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, there
will be given and manifested and revealed to God's people
the highest manifestation of the glory of God. In other words,
what I'm trying to show you is this glory to God in the highest
is not just a statement we make as we worship, now certainly
we do worship, but what he's saying is this, in this person,
The Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, in Him is the highest
manifestation, the highest realization, the highest revelation of the
glory of God to men. Right there. You're not going
to find anything greater in the glory of God than Jesus Christ,
His person, and His finished work. Nothing greater. I don't care what you see. Go
see the Northern Lights. That's impressive, isn't it?
And they do manifest the glory of God. You can, you can, you
can see all kinds of wonders of the world, uh, creation, the
stars, the universe, sit and ponder the university and get
a headache, but you're not going to see anything close to the
highest manifestation of the glory of God until you see the
reality of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory as the Lord, our
righteousness right there. And then he says in verse 14,
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Now, most people take that
as God communicating that he wants to save you, but he can't
unless you let him. That is not what that says at
all. The real translation of that
would go something like this. Glory in the highest to God and
upon earth peace among men and goodwill and listen to this glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with
whom God is pleased that's different isn't it glory in the highest
on earth peace among those with whom God is pleased now here's
what I'm saying is this listen if God is not pleased with me
I'm telling you now, I want you to listen very carefully. Don't,
don't take this out of context. Now, if God is not pleased with
me, there's no peace between me and God. But here's the point. Now think
about this. Here's the dilemma. The Bible
teaches us that God is pleased with no man or woman by nature. What do you mean by nature? I
mean as we're born naturally. He's not pleased with any of
us by nature. The Bible teaches us that God is not pleased with
any man based on that man or that woman's works. For example,
look over at Romans chapter 3. Now what does all this have to do
with the mystery of death and judgment? I'm going to show you.
The Bible teaches us that no man by nature has faith. Faith is a gift from God. If you truly believe the gospel,
that didn't come out of your own wicked heart. I'm telling
you, your own natural heart, your own decision. You say, well,
don't people decide for Christ? If God gives them a new heart,
they do. What the scripture teaches, The scripture teaches that no
man by nature has faith, that no man by nature seeks the Lord.
Look at Romans 3 in verse 10. It says, as it is written, there
is none righteous, no not one. Now who's he talking about there?
Is he talking about me? He's talking about all of us
by nature. And I could go to several other
scriptures to prove this, but we don't have time to go through
them all. We don't have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law. That's what he's saying. And
he also says that we cannot work one. We cannot be good enough
to work one. Look down at verse 19 of Romans
3. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. That means deserving of condemnation.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified,
righteous, made right, not guilty in God's sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. In other words, if you're trying
to work your way into God's favor by your works, by your efforts
to keep the law, what I want you to know by revelation of
the scripture is that all the law can do is pronounce
you guilty and condemned. You will not measure up. You
say, but I'm trying my hardest. Well, no, you're not. But even
if you were, even if you were, you'd still fall short. Have
you ever quoted Romans 3.23? For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. That means you missed the mark.
You don't measure up. Well, shouldn't I try to be the
best person I can be? Yes, but that's not what's going
to make you righteous. That's not going to earn you
God's favor and blessings. There's none righteous, no not
one. And then the Bible tells us this, look back up at Romans
3 and verse 11. It says, there's none that understandeth.
The natural man does not understand and receive the things of the
Spirit of God. That's why these mysteries have to be revealed.
Because we're born without understanding. We're born without saving knowledge.
What we think naturally is not what God says. What we believe in religion,
what man by nature believes will save him is not what will save
him at all. Because we're born without understanding.
But go on, it goes further. There is none that seeketh after
God. Now who's that talking about? That's talking about all of us
by nature. Doesn't mean we won't seek a God, but he's talking
about the true God. Verse 12, they are all gone out
of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Now hold on to that
thought because that's where we're going to connect this with
the mystery of death and judgment. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now he's not talking about good
as we compare to one another. He's talking about goodness as
we compare to God, as we compare to Christ. Somebody asked, how good must
I be to be saved? Well, if you read the Bible,
here's the answer. As good as God. And we don't measure up. So then
how's there any hope? How can we say peace on earth
and goodwill toward men. How is that a good message to
a sinner like me who naturally can do nothing to please God? Well, the scripture says without
faith it's impossible to please God, doesn't it? The Bible teaches
that the only way that we who are sinners we who are not righteous
in ourselves we who are by nature children of wrath even as others
can please God is this, listen the only way is for any of us
as sinners by the grace of God to be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ as our only righteousness before God the story of his birth It's not simply the story of
a babe in a manger. That's part of the story and
that's a miraculous thing. The God in human flesh in the
body of an infant laying in a place where they fed cattle. What a
condescension that is. What a humility that is. But the story of his birth is
not simply the story of a babe in a manger. The story of his
birth is the story of God sending his one and only appointed savior
into the world to save his people from their sins. That's what it's about. I think
about old Simeon there in Luke chapter 2. Remember when they
when Joseph and Mary brought the Christ child into the temple
to do the ceremony under the old covenant law the ceremonial
cleansings and the circumcision and the Holy Spirit had revealed
to Simeon that he would actually see the Messiah before he left
this world for Simeon left this world and Joseph and Mary by
providential leadership of the Holy Spirit brought the babe
to Simeon and Simeon took the babe up in his arms and remember
what he said? He didn't sing away in a manger. He didn't sing
that. You know what he said? Luke 2
30, for mine eyes have seen God's salvation. which God has prepared
before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles
and the glory of thy people Israel." I've seen God's salvation. Now what is that salvation from?
Well look back at Matthew 13, look at our text. That salvation is salvation from
sin It's salvation from death. It's salvation from judgment. Now, let's read this parable.
Just a few short verses. Verse 47 of Matthew 13. Christ
said, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast
into the sea and gathered of every kind or every kind of fish. It's kind of like this. This
net gathers every kind of fish that there is. Or as one translator said, every
fish of every kind that there is. That's what he's saying.
Now you understand that now. Here's a net. Now these are symbols.
All right? He's not talking about a literal
net here and a literal fish. He's talking about something
different. Talking about a net gathering men and women. That's
what he's talking about. And it gathers every fish of every
kind. And he says in verse 48, which
when it was full, that word usually is translated fulfilled. When
whatever's to be fulfilled here, it's done. All right? They drew
to shore and sat down, the word there is like sat down in judgment,
and gathered the good into vessels. but cast the bad away. You notice
that? Now, keep in mind what Romans
3.11 told us, or verse 12. There's none good, no not one,
but here it says he gathered the good into vessels and cast
the bad away. The away there means on the outside.
Alienation is what that's talking about. now verse 49 so shall
it be at the end of the world so what are we talking about?
we're talking about the end of the world the angels shall come forth that's
messengers could be angelic beings it doesn't matter this is a parable
he says and sever the wicked from the just now the good here
are called the just what are the just? who are the just in
the bible? they are the justified what is he talking about? So
he's separating the wicked, the unjustified, from the justified. Job asked the question, Job's
friends asked him, how can a man, a sinful, wretched, depraved
man be just, justified with God? And then he says, and shall cast,
verse 50, shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall
be wailing and gnashing of teeth. That's a picture of eternal death,
eternal damnation. First question, what is this
net? Now, in the New Testament, sometimes the preaching of the
gospel is compared to casting a net into the water and catching
fish, isn't it? Matthew 4, 19, remember when
Christ told the disciples, he said, come follow me and I will
make you fishers of men. What was he talking about there?
He's talking about his ministers going out and preaching the gospel
and the power of God by the Holy Spirit calling the elect into
the kingdom of heaven. Into the kingdom. Fishers of
men. Evangelism. That's what he was
talking about. There's a great illustration
of this when the Lord performed probably his last miracle before
his disciples. It's recorded in John 21. You
remember Peter and the disciples after the death of Christ, and
they said, well, we're going to go back fishing. We're going
to take up our old profession. And they went out on the sea
there, and they fished, they cast the net over the left side
of the boat, and they came up empty. They fished all night,
kept coming up empty. And then the Lord himself appeared
on the shore there in John 21, and he told them, he said, cast
your net on the right side. And they cast their net on the
right side, and they pulled up, what was the scripture there,
like 158 different kinds of fish. I'm not gonna go into all that
this morning, but they caught fish. that was a miracle and
that's what he was teaching him. He says your way of life now
is not to be a fisherman, your way of life is to be an evangelist.
Preach the gospel and bring in the fish of God's elect, his
church, his sheep. And so there, in that one, the
casting of the net is likened to the preaching of the gospel
and catching the people of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
But you know, in these parables here in Matthew 13, Christ had
already spoken of going out and preaching the gospel, the parable
of the sower and the seed. Christ sowing the tares, that's
his people. And Satan, I mean, Christ sowing
the wheat, that's his people. And Satan sowing his tares, that's
false Christians. He'd already talked about separating
the wheat from the tares back over there. In fact, this is
kind of similar in the end there. He's going to separate the good
from the bad. But here it's more likely he's
speaking of the end time and final judgment of all people
of all nations everywhere. He's talking about the end of
the world when everybody will stand before God at judgment. So what is this net? I believe
this net is death. It is the net that will, in some
form or another, catch every one of us. People argue about,
well, when the Lord comes there'll be certain people alive then.
Well, even the death net will catch you even then because if
you're a believer, what's going to happen? You're going to be
changed. This corruptible is going to
put on in corruption. That's a change that's equivalent
to death, no matter how it happens. This body is dead because of
sin, Romans 8.10. The spirit is life because of
what? Righteousness. Who's? Christ. So this net is death. This net
here is like a dragnet. It reaches from the surface of
the ocean to the bottom of it. It's very wide. It captures everything
in its way. That was the nature of it. It says here that this net is
cast into the sea. What is the sea? Well, in the
Bible, the sea is the world. The troubled, sinful, dark world. The sea was a great symbol of
death. You know, people back then, in
this day and age, they didn't think about going on ocean cruises. The sea was an enemy. And it represented death. And
every kind here, it says that they gathered fish of every kind.
Every kind refers to every person in the world. The scripture tells
us, let me just read this to you, in Hebrews chapter 9, listen
to this. it says in verse twenty seven
as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment what brother mark read over second
corinthians five we must all stand before the judgment seat
of christ every kind of people every human
being on earth is caught in this net called death and they will
all we will all be judged as to whether Our state before God,
our standing before God is good or bad, both the elect and the
non-elect. And this is a declarative judgment.
It's not a judgment where you come to and God's gonna just
weigh good with bad and figure out which one tips the scales
for you. It's not determined, it's already
been determined, the scripture says. But here he says, when it was
full, verse 48, which when it was full, when the time is fulfilled,
that's what that means. The time of the end fulfilled,
drew it to shore, they set down, that's sitting in judgment, that's
what that means. Now, Jesus Christ is the supreme
judge of all things, isn't that right? We'll read here in just
a moment how he said, he told the Pharisees, he said, the father
has committed all judgment to the son, but the elect angels
and the saints will participate in this judgment in this way
will be witnesses to his truth. When it was full or fulfilled
can refer to the time when the last one of God's elect has been
called into the kingdom of Christ. Because as I said, Christ said
in Matthew 24, it's verse 14. He said, the gospel has got to
be preached all over the world and then the end will come. It
is the appointed time of the end known only to God. But here's
the point. in this mystery of death and
judgment look at verse 49 verse 48 again which when it was full
or fulfilled they drew to shore sat down gathered the good into
vessels and cast the bad away outside they cast it out so shall it be at the end of
the world the angel shall come forth and sever the wicked from
the just now this good and bad has to be interpreted in light
of the reality of the fall of man into sin and death and the
total depravity of all men and women by nature, doesn't it?
That's what the scripture teaches. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none just, no not one.
There's none that doeth good, no not one. Isn't that what it
says? Ecclesiastes says there's not a just man on earth. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. So who are these good here? Well, I'll tell you, if you believe
the Bible, from the very beginning, the good can only refer to sinners
who are not good in themselves, who have done nothing to work
goodness before God, but sinners who are saved by the grace of
God in Jesus Christ. They are the justified. Justified
by what? By their works? No. Justified
by the grace of God through the righteousness of another, the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one way that a sinner
like me can be called good before holy God. And that's as I stand
before God washed clean from all my sins because I'm preaching. No. Or because I've tried to
be a good person. No. Or because I haven't missed
a Sunday. No. Or because I've been baptized. No. solely because I'm washed
in the blood of the Lamb of God. I'm justified. What does that
mean? That means I'm not guilty. Well,
preacher, aren't you a sinner? Yes, I am. You don't know the
half of it. And I don't know the half about
you either. But let me tell you something, my sins cannot be
charged to my account. Why? Because they were imputed,
charged, accounted to the Lord Jesus Christ. God in human flesh. To be justified is to be righteous
in the sight of God. How can that be when I'm a sinner?
I stand before God in the Lord Jesus Christ having His righteousness,
His worthiness, His merits, imputed, charged, accounted to me. One day I will be totally free
from the presence and the influence and the contamination of sin
within. When? When I go to be with him. But
right now I stand before God justified based on the imputed
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that will be the
case in the end. The scripture says in Acts 17
31 that God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained in
that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. How in the world can I have a
righteousness that equals the righteousness of God in Christ.
There's not but one way, and that's by God charging it, imputing
it, accounting it to me. And as a result of that, as the
fruit of that, we're born again by the Spirit under the preaching
of the good news of God manifest in the flesh, which includes
not only his birth, but his life and his death, his burial, his
resurrection, his ascension unto glory, his intercessory work
on my behalf, the good news of the gospel, and gives me a new
heart and a new spirit to bring me unto Christ by faith." That's
who he's talking about. The bad refers to the unbeliever,
the wicked. You know that word wicked there?
He says he's going to sever the wicked from the just. You know
what the word wicked actually means? It means full of labors. That's what it literally means.
It means full of annoyances. Full of hardships. It reminds
me of when I used to go to a false church. All the preacher would
do was just belabor us, annoy us, and put hardships on us.
because we were never good enough to meet up to the standard. And
if we got good enough, we'd fall back and we had to come back
and rededicate. I bet I rededicated a thousand times. I wasn't baptized
that many times. I know fellas who were. They
used to talk about the old boy up in Pike County, Kentucky,
who was baptized in the creek so many times that the tadpoles
knew him by his first name. That's an annoyance. That's a
hardship. That's a belaboring. That's what
wicked means. Full of labors. Works, works,
works. Work your way here. Work your
way there. Gain your rewards. Earn your
rewards. That's what that is. That's not
grace, you see. God justifies the ungodly, the
scripture says. Romans chapter 4. How does He
do that and still be God? How can God justify a sinner
like me and still be God? Still be just and righteous and
holy, which He is. It's through a surety, a substitute,
a mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, based on His goodness, His works,
His righteousness, imputed, charged, accounted to me. That's the only
way I'm going to pass judgment. That's the mystery of death and
judgment, folks. You know, He says here, back
over in verse, look at verse 48, He says, which when it was full,
they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away. He doesn't gather the bad into
vessels. What is that vessel? Well, you
know, vessels in the scripture often refers to earthly bodies. Romans 9, he talks about vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction, vessels of mercy. You remember
that? 2 Timothy, he talked about vessels
of gold and silver in the church, all of that. The bat are not
put into vessels but bound in bundles and burned, that's what's
happened here. You remember that? He said, shall
be cast them into a furnace of fire where wailing and gnashing
of teeth. The saints of God justified by
the grace of God, made righteous in Christ, regenerated by the
Holy Spirit, will occupy glorified bodies." That's our vessels. But the bad will be cast away. You think about it. Let me close
with it. Turn to John chapter 5. I'll hurry with this. You know, whenever the Bible
speaks of judgment and works, it's not talking about the people
of God being judged by God based on their works. It's talking
about the people of God who are judged by God in His grace through
Christ and the judgment of their works as they are the fruit of
God's grace. But now the lost, the wicked,
they'll be judged by their works and found guilty. Look at verse
28 of John 5, marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the
which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall
come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of
life. Now who are they that have done
good? Those who have received Christ, who submitted to him
as their righteousness, who stand in him washed in his blood and
clothed in his righteousness. and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation." Who are they? Those who stand
on their own. No matter how religious they
were, no matter how they came out as far as men see it, but
they don't have Christ. They don't measure up because
they don't have His righteousness imputed to them. That's the mystery
of death and judgment right there. How can we die and go to judgment
and be put into the vessels where the good will be only by the
grace of God in Christ. And that's it. Mystery revealed. Somebody says, well, I don't
agree with you. I want it another way. Mystery
hadn't been revealed yet. He just heard some words. Isn't
that right?