Our lesson this morning is found
in the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. This will wind up
our study of the three parables. We've been looking over the past
several weeks at these three parables, and they were all given
at the same time. And they were all given at one
time. In other words, he didn't teach
one of these one day, and then two or three days went by and
he taught another one. He gave them all three of these
parables because all three of these parables were concerning
the same thing. Let me just recap briefly before
we get into the study this morning. The first parable he gave to
us here in Matthew 13 was the treasure he had in the feast.
Now, the Bible teaches us that the Father chose a people out
of every kindred, tribe, nation, tongue, and people under heaven.
He tells us that in the book of Revelations. He tells us that
in the book of Ephesians. He tells us that in the book
of Romans, and on and on and on. God chose a people. He chose a people. And He chose
to save this people by certain means which He has ordained,
and He chose these people in Christ. They're representative. Appointed for them a representative. And then in 2 Thessalonians 2,
verse 13, he tells us that they were chosen unto salvation. He didn't choose a people to
make salvation possible. He chose them unto salvation. And it is the eternal purpose
of our God to save this people in Christ for the glory of His
name and according to the good pleasure of His will. That's
what the Scripture tells us. Why would God choose a people?
According to the good pleasure of His will. Because He's God
and He can. And He did. And I know that man
likes to answer the way Evidently, Paul had had this thrown up in
his face many times. In Romans 9, he said, Why doth
he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? If God gets
His way in everything, who hath resisted His will? He said, Nay,
but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? We're not
God. We don't hold God in question.
We don't question God. We just take the things of God
that He revealed to us, and we act accordingly. And it was because of these people
that God chose, and to this end, that He endures the vessels of
wrath. You can read about that in Romans
chapter 9. He endures these vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
He endures these fallen rebel sons of Adam because He has a
treasure hid in the field. His elect are His treasure. They're
His portion. And the coming of Christ into
the world and the giving of Himself to suffering and death was to
buy the field and redeem His treasure. He bought the field. He has the right to do what He
will with whom He will. He bought that right at Calvary. He bought the whole of this world
that He might have the treasure. And then the second parable is
the pearl of great pride. And now the pearl without doubt
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the brightness of the Father's
glory. He's the express image of His
person. He's all and in all who believe. And these chosen sinners
dug from the field by the Holy Spirit are brought to see this.
They're brought to see who Christ is, who their Redeemer is, who
their King is, who the Lord of glory is. how the will of God
was fulfilled in him. They're brought to see those
things. The parable teaches us that the
man who would have Christ willingly gives himself to Him, lock, stock,
and barrel. Somebody said, well, what's the
terms? What's the terms of surrender? Unconditional. That's the terms.
Lock, stock, and barrel. Christ is not a part of our life. I heard somebody rambling on
the other day on the TV talking about making Christ the major
part of your life. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ. Now, I don't sound like He's
a major part. It sounds to me like He's all. For me to live
is Christ and to die is gain. He troubled men like the merchant
man set forth here in the parable. They go about seeking goodly
pearls. And he goes here and he goes
there because he's looking for these pearls of wisdom. And he's
in the market, so to speak. He begins to look and he finds
a little something here and a little something there and a little
something over here, but they're just pearls. And then one day
he finds the pearl. And he finds that all that he
bought before, everything that was gained to him before, he
willingly cast it aside as dung that he might win Christ. He
sells all that he has and he buys that pearl. Christ will
occupy the position of the chief cornerstone where he won't be
in your temple at all. He's all. Now this morning, we're
going to look at this third parable. Now remember what he's talking
about in these parables. He's talking about the kingdom
of God. God's kingdom is everything under the realm of the king.
That's everything. All this world. But within this
world, he has a treasure. He has a treasure. And that in
particular is the kingdom of which he's talking about. When
everything's said and done, that's going to be the only thing left
is that treasure, that kingdom. Now this morning we are going
to look at this third parable here in Matthew 13. So let's
begin reading here in verse 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 angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them,
Have you understood all these things? And they said, Yea, Lord."
Now, the parable of the net is designed to teach us the true
nature of Christ's visible church in this world, the true nature
of His kingdom. That's what it said there. The
preaching of the gospel, he likens unto a great net cast into the
ocean of humanity. Some of you in here are fishermen,
and some of you have fished with nets. And you understand, you
don't see what's in the water. You just throw the net. Just
throw the net. And you throw it out there, and
it falls down, and you pull on it, and you can tell if it's
got something in it or not. And you pull it in. And you pull
it in the same. It might have a log in it, for
all you know. You just feel the tug of the
net. And you pull it in with all the enthusiasm that you would
if it was for certain to pull a good fish. You pull it in the
same. Then you get in and look inside,
and then you get to know what was in the net. We throw the
net where God's providence takes us. And we draw in what finds
its way into the net. When the fisherman's net is drawn
in, it's got a variety of creatures within. You know, this world
is a vast expanse. I was thinking about this as
I prepared this study. You go out to the ocean, and
just what you can take in with your eye, you're just taking
in about 20 miles or 30 miles. That's all you're taking in.
The ocean is a great, vast expanse. And when you fish, you can't
even fish where you see. You can only fish where you stand.
Can't you? Just as far as that net will
go, that's as far as you can go. And we're in this world and
we fish by God's providence. We fish where it takes us. We
can't fish that whole ocean at one time. We just fish in the
place where God put us. Right where God put us. You can't expect to cover it
with one throw of the net or a hundred throws or a thousand.
And you can't fish everywhere all at once. But you do fish. And we bring that net in and
we open it up and there's desirable things in it and things that
are not desirable. And there are some useful things
in it and other things of no value whatsoever. And then some
things is exactly what you're fishing for. And some is exactly
what you're not looking for. Even so, the preaching of the
Gospel gathers into our assemblies all sorts of men. Some are genuine
believers, while others are just carnal professors. That comes
in the net. Some are truly regenerate men,
born of God and made meek to be partakers of the children
in life. Others, others in the net, just
hypocritical members with no heart for the things of God at
all. And then some are sought after. They're sought after. They're chosen sinners, lost
sheep sought after by the true shepherd. And others are here
of their own free will, so to speak, and for reasons known
only to themselves. That's our business to cash the
net. How many of you in here ever
tried to throw a throw net? I went down and bought me one.
And it's not a great big net like you see them over there
on the ocean throwing out. This thing, I think, was about
eight feet. And I just bought it to catch bait fish, shad,
you know, so I could go fishing. So I bought this thing and I
got it out of the box and, man, it was just a big old jumbled
up mess. And I watered that thing all
up and put that rope around my hand, went out there and threw
it, and it just went over in the water. Kapoom. It didn't do nothing.
And I did that five or six times, and I tried spinning it, and
I tried throwing it, and I tried doing it this. I did everything
I knew to do. That thing just go out kapunk
in the water. Finally, I went over to a guy,
and I said, you know anything about throwing these nets? He
said, yeah. I said, can you show me how to
do it? He said, oh yeah. He showed me, and I took hold
of it. He pulled up a little piece, and another little piece,
and another little piece, and so on. There was a way to do
it. And then you take it in your
hand and you throw it, and that thing comes out in a perfect
circle and just lands on the water. First thing you've ever seen. It's our business to throw
the net. It's our business to learn how
to throw it. It's our business to know where
to throw it, and how hard to throw it, and when to pull it
in. That's our business. But what's
in the net belongs to God. You see what I'm saying? I can't
see your heart. He sees your heart. I can't tell
one fish from the other. Can you? It's our business to
cast the net, and what's drawn in and divided is God's work,
not ours. So what are we to gather from
this parable of the net? Let me give you three things. First thing we need to learn
from this parable is that God's visible church in this world
is made up of all kinds of people. All kinds of people. They're
all not believers. Do you expect when you come in
here, do you expect everybody in here to be a believer? Do
you expect you go to a Bible conference? I'm going to go up
to Don's Lord willing here in a few days and preach for him.
And there are going to be several hundred people there by the grace
of God. I go in that place, I don't expect
everybody in that audience to be a believer, do you? But I
can't tell who is and who ain't. For the life of me, I can't tell.
Men that I've known over 30 some years, men that I was absolutely
sure, sure that they were believers, have went out and not come back. And people that I question still
are. Still calling, still faithful,
still worshiping God. And that's why he tells us, you
know, back in the parable of the wheat and the tares, he tells
us, let them grow together. Here with the net, he's telling
us the same thing. Don't you divide. You let me
do the dividing. When the end comes, he says,
when the end comes, then I'll send my angels out under my direction
and they'll sever the good from the bad. And when I preach, I
preach to you as believers. And I preach that way because
those who truly believe will be the only ones that truly hear
anyway. So I might as well just preach to them. And I preach
to all of you because I don't know who is and who ain't. So
I'm going to preach to you as though you believe with all your
heart. And if God gives you ears, you will. Be honest with you, it's beyond
our ability to discern the difference. Man, he said, looks on the outward
countenance. I don't care how hard I try,
that's how I look. That's all I can see. I look
on the outward countenance, but God looks on the heart. We look
at appearances. God sees thoughts and intents.
So here's the first thing I know about the picture of the kingdom.
It tells me that without exception that no assembly in this earth
is pure. It's not pure. The net's been
thrown into a sea that is full of creatures. Full of creatures. And they're all kinds. You can
read about them over there in Genesis. All these different
fish that he filled the sea. And we bring them in. Bring them
in. And there's all kinds of creatures
there. Without exception, no assembly
is pure. Our Lord said this actually about
His twelve disciples. He gathered them together there
to that last supper. He gathered them to Himself and
He said this, He said, Have not I chosen you twelve? And one
of you is a devil. One of you is a devil. Alright,
here's the second thing. The parable of the net must be
applied to ourselves. We're going to have to take this
parable. It's not just applied in general to everybody, but
it's applied to us. It's applied to us. I must never
find security in the fact that I'm in the net. Are you with me? Don't find any
security in the fact that you're in the net. There's no security
in church membership. That's just being in the net.
There's no security in baptism. There's no security in an outward
profession of faith. We're still in the net. And being
in the net is not the same as being in Christ. You follow me? Eating the bread and drinking
the wine is not the same as eating and drinking the flesh and the
blood of Jesus Christ by faith. Believers find in the wilderness
of sin only one source of food, the heavenly bread. They find
only one source of drink, the water that came from the smitten
rock. Christ is the sustenance of faith. He's the air we breathe. Christ is. He's the air we breathe. He's the food we eat. He's the
path we walk in. He's the water we drink and the
bed we rest on. And being a member of a church
is not the same as being a member of that body, of that body of
Christ. So as clearly as words can be
used, the Lord tells us that our assemblies are full of good
and evil men. That's just the way it is. And
then thirdly, this parable teaches us that the true nature of every
man's religion will soon be discovered. Doesn't it? You see, the problem
with pretense is it just lasts for a little while. I used to
pretend things, tell my parents things, and just pretend like
things weren't the way they were. It worked for a little while.
Then they discovered the truth. That's the problem with pretense.
It's just temporary. It just lasts for a little bit.
You can pretend before me, and I can't see it. You can pretend
before the elders of this church and they can't see it. But you
can't pretend before God. That's the problem with falsehood.
It's just temporary. And the problem with covering
ourselves is that God can see through the covering. Every man, woman, boy and girl
in this place today must stand before God in the day of judgment. Do you know that? Are you aware
of that? I don't often mention that. You're going to have to
stand before God, every last one of us. Those that are saved
and those that are not saved, they're all going to stand before
God. And God will justify His people. He'll justify His justification
of His people in Christ. And He'll take them into glory.
And those who stand in a religious pretense, He's going to uncover
your hiding place. He is going to uncover it. And
we will stand before Him. Listen to this, verse 49 here
in our text. So shall it be, at the end of
the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.
What does that mean? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if that is a literal
fire. A spiritual fire. I don't know. But either way,
it will be a painful thing because there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. And it will be a permanent thing.
It's going to be a permanent thing. There's not going to be
any more room for repentance. So let me ask you this morning.
Are you confident this morning that what you have in your heart
will sustain you in the judgment? Are you confident of that? Everybody in here has a hope.
Are you confident in your hope that it will sustain you in the
judgment of God standing before Him who's all piercing eyes defy? They divide asunder soul and
spirit. That's seeing pretty deep, isn't
it? discerns even the thoughts and intents of the heart. All
things naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have
to do. And I'm telling you as plainly as I know how to tell
you that no pretense, no false refuge, no refuge of lies will
stand in the judgment of God. It won't stand. Judgment, God
says, will I lay to the lion and righteousness to the plummet.
Anybody in here know what a plummet is? I'm a carpenter by trade. It's a plumb bob. That's what
he's talking about. That little old pointy thing
about this big, some of them a little bit bigger than the
brass, and they got a line comes out of them. Do you know what
that thing's used for? It's to take something high,
way up in the air, like a wall or something, something high,
and transfer that measurement to the bottom. That's what it's
for. He said Christ is the plummet. He's going to take what's high.
He's going to take those high and holy perfections of God in
Christ. And he's going to lower him into
this world and establish the measurement of righteousness. Righteousness will I lay to the
plummet. He's the plummet by which the
high perfections of righteousness will be transferred to the lowest
ends of the earth. And the hail, he said, shall
sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow
the hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand." Pretense. Pretense. Every creature in the
net should be separated by the angels under God's direction.
And the good, he said, he'll put into vessels. Vessels. Vessels prepared of God. You
can read about these things over in Romans chapter 9. He'll tell
you. These vessels of mercy are for
prepared unto glory. Isn't that what he calls them?
Vessels. Vessels of honor. Vessels made
new. Vessels like unto Christ. And
everything else he's going to cast into the lake of fire. Now let me end this lesson the
same way our Lord did. He said, have you understood
these things? Have you understood what I told you this morning? You understood what this treasure
in the field is? You understood what that pearl
of great price is? Have you understood what He's
talking about here with the net? Drawing things in. Things to
be divided by God Himself in that day. Then I take you to record today
that I am free from your blood. I told you the truth. I told
you the gospel as clearly as I know how to tell you. The only
thing that is going to stand in that day is Christ and those
who are in Him. God give us all an understanding
of what this says.