We've been in this gospel for a couple years
now, and we're about halfway through it, so I
have no idea when we'll finish it, if that's
what you're thinking. I don't know. We were going
to cover verses 47 to 52. Our Lord speaking,
He says again, the kingdom of heaven, it's like
a net that was thrown into the sea and it gathered
fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew
it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into
containers, but threw away the bad. So it will
be at the end of the age. The angels will come
out and separate the evil from the righteous
and throw them, that is the evil, into the fiery
furnace. In that place there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth." He turned to his disciples,
he said, have you understood all these things?
They said to him, yes. And he said to them, therefore,
every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom
of heaven is like a master of a house who brings
out of his treasure what is new, the new teachings
of the kingdom, and what is old, obviously what
was understood from the old covenant. Would you
join me as we ask God to help us as we look at
this passage this morning? Let's pray Father
once again would we come to you in the name of
your son Jesus admitting our own weakness and
inability and Asking God for your grace and mercy
Lord that you would meet with your people by
means of your spirit That all glory would be
given to you the father through Jesus in the
spirit God, that you would illumine the text
and help us to understand, to rightly divide
it. Lord, that we would not impose our own thoughts
or opinions upon the text, but Lord, we would
simply, Lord, see what is contained therein and
proclaim it as you have commanded. Lord, help
us this morning, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
You know, before I had children, I used to go
fishing quite a lot. Oftentimes, instead of buying
minnows, we would just go sain them. And probably
most of you have done that at some point in your
life. If you're going to sane minnows, you can
do it by yourself or you get a buddy and you
have a net that's attached to two wooden poles
and you kind of drag it through shallow water.
You drag it downstream and therefore you're kind
of trapping the minnows. But when you pull it
up, you never really know what you're going to
get. As you pull it up, inevitably there will
be some minnows present in the net. But many
times there's some crawl dads in there. some
small fish. Occasionally you even get snakes
caught in that net. Since you're going fishing,
you want the minnows, you'll separate them, you'll
put them in a bucket, and everything else you'll
just throw back. And in the text today, our Lord
tells us something. He gives one final parable
in this chapter. He describes the kingdom of
God in this way. He says the kingdom of God,
it's like a net. It's thrown, it's cast into
the sea, and it gathers fish of every kind. Now
in Matthew 13, there are seven parables in this
one chapter alone, and all of them are about
the kingdom of God, and this is the seventh and
final. Now, each of these gives some different
insight into what God's kingdom is like. The
very fact that Jesus gave seven parables in one
chapter, all relating to the same theme, It means
this is a very important topic. Now we began
with this parable of the sower and the soils,
or the seed and the sower, you've often heard
it called. This is the foundational parable.
It's the basis, if you will. And it explains
how different people react and receive the gospel.
You have rocky soil. Then you also have hard
soil. You have crowded soil. And you have fertile
soil. And each one of those four soils represents
a heart that receives or rejects the gospel.
Then you move on to the wheat and the tares.
This parable showed us that good and evil will
coexist in this world until separation comes
at the judgment, which will come at the end of
the age. We moved on to the mustard seed. This
parable reveals how the kingdom of God will start
small and experience expansive, massive growth.
Then you have the parable of the leaven. This
demonstrates the quiet, transformative power
of God's kingdom within the world. It's working
in the hearts of men and women. And then you
have the parable of the hidden treasure. This
shows the supreme value of God's kingdom. Then
the pearl of great price, the merchant who sold
everything because he wanted this one pearl.
This further emphasizes the immense worth of
God's kingdom and one's willingness to give up
everything just to have it. And then we come
to the parable of the dragnet or the net this
morning. And it shows the kingdom of God. It's
highlighting the fact you see a net and it's
gathering all kinds of people into the net. And
he says there will be a separation of the wicked,
and the righteous, and that'll come at the end
of this age. Now keep in mind the setting in
Matthew 13. Jesus in chapter 12 had been teaching
in a house, but it was so crowded. So he left
the house, he went to the Sea of Galilee. There
were so many people following the hymn that he
actually gets in a boat and the people are standing
on the shore listening to him. And he begins
to teach the people and he's using parables.
Now parables are these ordinary things, but they're
going to communicate spiritual truth. If there
was ever a master teacher, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we see him, and he's using the things
that people were already familiar with. And he
was going to use those things to teach them what
they could never know or understand otherwise.
How are you going to know what the kingdom of
God's like? The kingdom of God is not of this
world. The kingdom of God is within, Jesus said.
So how do we know what it's like? Well, he's
letting us know. And in this final parable, he's
using very familiar image of a fisherman pulling
a net full of fish to the shore. Now, I don't
know. This is speculation. But perhaps, as Jesus
was teaching, you have a boat passing by pulling
a net, and Jesus sees that, and he uses that,
and the people are there watching it, to illustrate
some final truth about God's kingdom. Now in
this parable, there's fishermen. They're pulling
in a large net. It is filled with all kinds of
fish. And when the day is done, they sit down
and the fishermen separate the good fish from
the bad. Now when we're talking about bad in
the parable, the bad were the fish that would
be inedible or they're unclean according to kosher
law or they're just too small to eat. Those would
be bad fish. And then you have the good fish,
those that could be eaten or sold for a profit.
Now that's not the point. The good fish are representing
the people who belonged to the kingdom of God.
The bad fish are representing those who belong
to the kingdom of this world, also known as the
kingdom of darkness. You may hear it referred
to as the kingdom of man. It's everything that
is opposite God's kingdom. So in this illustration,
we see that the kingdom of God contains people
from every background, every nation. every walk
of life. There are all kinds of fish. So the
kingdom of God is not relegated to a single geopolitical
nation. America is not the kingdom of God. The
nation of Israel is not the kingdom of God. The
kingdom of God is universal for people who believe
in Christ. But we are also reminded in this parable
that a day of final reckoning is coming where
God will separate those who truly belong to Him
from those who do not. Now the implication is
that the kingdom of God will exist within this
world until the end of the age. Because God's
kingdom exists in this world, you and I as Christians,
we can expect to have difficulty. There'll be
suffering. We're still going to get sick. We
will still die. Many Christians will experience
persecution. And the reason we're going to experience
persecution is because you have two kingdoms
serving two different kings, and there's two
different loyalties that are in opposition to
each other. So the kingdom of God is already
here. And I've said that throughout this whole
chapter. It's here. It's present in seed form.
But it's not yet come in its fullness. It's not
yet come in fruition. That'll wait a future fulfillment.
And when that kingdom does arrive in its fullness,
and this is why we pray the words of prayer,
thy kingdom come. We look forward to that day.
I long for the day when God's kingdom comes in
its fullness because then there will be no more
pain. There'll be no more suffering. We will
never get sick. There'll be no more death. But
in the meantime, you and I as believers were
called to patiently endure. Endure to the end.
But the emphasis in this final parable is different.
Jesus does not emphasize the fullness of God's
kingdom. Rather, the emphasis here is on the
final judgment that is to come. Now the doctrine
of final judgment is odious to many, but it's
still true. It's true nonetheless. Just because
you don't like something doesn't make it untrue.
Now there are many people who simply ignore the
doctrine of God's judgment. They know about it,
but they push it out of mind. Others deny it.
They scoff at it. They laugh at it. And some,
well they try to explain it away. God is so loving
he will never judge anyone. But none of those
things is capable of preventing the judgment
to come. Now look at the text with me. At the
end of this age, It is very clear God will bring
all people before him in judgment. And that is
absolutely clear in the scriptures. All people
will be raised bodily to stand before God and
give an account of their lives. The London Baptist
Confession states it this way. God has appointed
a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness
by Jesus Christ. to whom all power and judgment
is given of the Father, in which day not only
the apostate, that's the fallen angels, shall
be judged, but likewise all persons that have
lived upon the earth shall appear before the
tribunal of Christ." Why? To give an account
of their thoughts, their words, and their deeds,
and to receive according to what they have done
in the body, whether that be good or evil. Now,
that's a confession. But the doctrine of final
judgment is taught explicitly throughout all
the scriptures, both old and new. In Ecclesiastes
chapter 12, Solomon, he says, let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter. If you read the
whole book of Ecclesiastes, what's the conclusion?
He says, fear God and keep His commandments.
Why? For this is man's all. This is the whole
duty of man. For God will bring every work into
judgment. including every secret thing, whether
it's good or evil. In Hebrews chapter 9, the
author says this, for it is appointed unto men
once to die, everyone dies, and after this the
judgment. In Jude, verse 6, there's no chapters,
just one chapter, verse 6, and the angels who
did not keep their proper domain, that's the
fallen angels, but they left their own abode,
he, that is God, has reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness for the judgment of the
great day." John 5, for the Father judges no
one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.
So Jesus is the judge. Verse 28, do not marvel
at this. Jesus said, for the hour is coming in
which all who are in the graves will hear his
voice, everyone, and they will come forth from
the grave, those who have done good. to the resurrection
of life, and to those who have done evil, to
the resurrection of condemnation. In Acts 17,
Paul speaking, he says, truly, these times of
ignorance, and he's talking to unbelievers, God
overlooked, but now he commands, he doesn't invite,
he commands all men everywhere to repent. Why?
Why repent? Because he has appointed a day, on
which he will judge the world in righteousness
by the man whom he has ordained. What man is
that? And he is given assurance of this to all
by raising him from the dead. That man is Jesus.
He's going to judge the world by Jesus. Matthew
25, the judgment of the sheep and the goats.
When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all
the holy angels with him, then he will sit on
the throne of his glory. Jesus is coming. All
the nations will be gathered before him. all
the nations, all the people. And he will separate
them one from the other as a shepherd divides
his sheep from the goats. And he will set the
sheep on his right hand and the goats on his
left. Then the king, that is Jesus, will say
to those on his right hand, come, you blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. And these
will go away, excuse me. Then from verse 34,
I think I just lost my train of thought there.
Then the king will say to those on his right
hand, come you blessed of my father and here
at the kingdom preferred you from the foundation
of the world. Yeah, I skipped down to verse 46.
I'm sorry. Then what about those who are on his
left hand? And these will go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
One final one. I could, I limited this. In Revelation
chapter 20, it's known as the great white throne
judgment. Then I saw a great John writing he
said I saw a great white throne and him who sat
on it from whose face The earth and heaven fled
away. This is a scary scene sobering I should
say and there was found no place for them and
I saw the dead small and great standing before
God and books were open and another book was
open which is the book of life and The dead were
judged according to their works by the things
which were written in the books The sea gave
up the dead who were in it, death in Hades or
death in hell delivered up the dead who were
in them, and they were judged, each one according
to his works. Then death in Hades were cast into
the lake of fire. This is a second death and
anyone not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire. Now, Here's a
little point of emphasis in the scriptures. When
something is repeated often in the scriptures,
it is given emphasis. It's meant to emphasize.
You see how many texts I just read. The doctrine
of God's final eschatological judgment is often
repeated in the scriptures to highlight how important
this doctrine is. It is meant to make an indelible
impression upon our hearts and minds. We ought
to always live with judgment in mind. There's
a day of judgment. And in this final parable,
we see that God's net, it encompasses all people,
but it is His judgment that reveals those who
really belong to Him. John MacArthur writing
on this passage, he says, the dragnet of God's
judgment moves silently through the sea of mankind
and draws all men to the shores of eternity.
for final separation to their ultimate destiny,
believers to eternal life and non -believers
to eternal damnation. So if I ask, why is the
doctrine a final judgment? What is it? This is
it. God has appointed a day in which he will
judge angels and all mankind through his son,
Jesus Christ, everyone. When does it occur? At
the second coming. When Christ returns in glory
on that day Jesus said there will be a resurrection
of the just and unjust All people will be raised
from the dead and the final judgment will take
place after that resurrection It'll be a glorious
day for believers a day of salvation for all
who belong to King Jesus It'll be a dreadful
day a day of condemnation for all those who don't
belong to him See, on that day, God will condemn
unbelievers and He will consign them to eternal
damnation because of their sinful thoughts, words,
and actions. Now, believers, Christ has already
taken our judgment that we will have to give
an account of our own lives as stewards. This
will result in either gain of reward or loss
of reward. Now, these rewards are in addition
to eternal life. that we've already seen by faith
in Christ Jesus. You're saying, but when, can
tell us when is that, when is Christ coming back?
That day and hour is unknown. Why did God not
declare that day or hour so that God's people
will be watchful and prayerful at all times?
Jesus said in Matthew 25, watch therefore, for
you need, you know neither the day, not even
the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. So
when we look at this parable here, the words
of Jesus are meant to be taken seriously. We
don't trifle with them. He says this. Now listen,
this is the word. This is Matthew 13, verses
47, 48, 49. So it will be at the end of the age,
the angels are going to come forth, and they
will separate the wicked from the just, and he
will cast them to the furnace of fire, and there
will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. A day
of separation is coming, friends. Right now,
the kingdom of God exists within this world.
But there'll be a day when there's a distinction.
God's people will be removed from the world,
and the world will face eternal judgment. There'll
be a day of distinction, a day of separation.
The sheep will be separated from the goats, the
righteous from the wicked, or as Jesus said in
Matthew 13, the good fish will be separated from
the bad fish. Now who are the wicked that Jesus
is speaking of? When we talk about a separation.
Now when we talk about wicked people, in our
own vernacular, if we're talking about wicked
people, we think of people like Hitler, Lenin,
Stalin, Mao Zedong, men like Dahmer, Ted Bundy.
We think those men. Or sex traffickers, pedophiles.
We think of people who have done morally reprehensible
things. How does the Bible refer to wickedness?
The wicked are those who have rejected the gospel.
They rejected Christ and His message. The wicked
are they who are lost in their sin and they are
still in Adam. They've never been transferred
out of the kingdom of darkness. Now when we look
at the Jesus's words and they're strong words,
I don't believe he's trying to scare people at
all, nor am I. Rather, I think the words are
meant to wake us up. to think soberly what is
to come. They're meant to cause people to seek
salvation in Christ, the true Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is letting
all people know in advance what is going to happen,
what's going to take place. And to be forewarned
is to be forearmed. So this warning that Jesus
gives when we're reading this, we're hearing
it in church, we are meant to prepare for that
day. Knowing the danger that awaits allows one
to prepare for it. You must prepare to stand
before God one day, because the day of judgment
is coming. How will you fare when you stand before
Him? What will you offer as a defense? What will
you present to God as a claim to your righteousness?
Or I should better ask it this way, on what basis
do you hope that God will accept you? There's
nothing you can bring in your hand that's going
to do it. No works will suffice. Ask Cain. Remember,
he brought the best of his garden. He was rejected.
You can only come into the kingdom of God based
on the merits of another. I can't claim to be
righteous. I have sinned and fallen short of
God's glory. But Jesus Christ is righteous, and
I am in him. What will you say on that day? You
won't have a defense. You are guilty. Your only
hope, your only defense is this, that Jesus died
and he rose again for me. And I trust that what
he did, his work, was effective in securing my
salvation. You trust. You believe. in what Jesus
did at the cross, that it was enough to save
you and you own him as your king. The word said
that the wicked will be cast in the furnace of
fire. And he said there's wailing, weeping, wailing,
gnashing of teeth. Now the doctrine of final
judgment's hated, but if there's one doctrine
that is hated more than all, it's the doctrine
of hell. And there are many preachers today who
don't believe in it. Hell as defined by the Bible
is conscious suffering separated from God for
eternity. It is a horrible thought. We all want
to put it out of our minds, but it's still true.
Our minds cannot even begin to conceive of the
infinite horror and misery that is hell. Can
you imagine infinite pain? Infinite torture?
I know, but our Lord taught it. And he said,
not Ryan, he said, the wicked will be thrown
into a furnace of fire. Those who are cast into
that furnace, he says, are wailing. They're gnashing
their teeth. Why? They're in torment. This is
not annihilationism. John Stott taught in annihilationism.
I like John Stott. I thought he was a great theologian.
I vehemently disagree with him here. The doctrine
of annihilationism says after death, the righteous
go into heaven, paradise, forever with the Lord,
and the wicked cease to exist. They just, they're
annihilated. It's not what the Bible teaches.
It's eternal conscious punishment. The wicked
will stand before God, they're raised, and they
stand before God because they sinned and committed
treason against the living God. And now they
must give an account. And the day's dreadful.
So how can you or I be spared from this condemnation
knowing we're guilty? Hear the gospel, my friend.
Romans chapter 8 verse 1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to a group of people, to
those who are in Christ Jesus. For those who
are savingly united to Christ, you won't be condemned,
but You must be taken out of Adam in which you
were born and placed in Christ. You must be born
again. How do you get in Christ? In Galatians
3, Paul wrote this, For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many
as you have been baptized into Christ have been
put on Christ. In John 3, we love John 3, 16,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
I love verse 17 as much. For God did not send
his own son into the world to condemn the world,
rather that the world might be saved through
him. Verse 18, he who believes in him, in Jesus,
is not condemned. But he who does not believe,
these are the words of Jesus, is condemned already.
Why is he condemned? Because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
See, we're joined to Christ by faith. John 5
verse 24, most assuredly I say to you, he who
hears my word and believes in him who has sent
me has everlasting life. And he shall not come
into judgment. Praise God. but it's passed from
death into life. The one who believes and calls
upon Christ has passed from death into life.
Paul told the Colossian Church, he said believers
have been delivered from the power of darkness,
the kingdom of darkness, and conveyed us, transferred
us into the kingdom, the basileia, the basilica
of the son of his love. Praise God for His grace.
Now here's the question I want to pose to you.
What does it mean to believe? Because some people
believe that simple belief is mere knowledge
or a scent. There's so many people like, oh,
I believe. Oh, yeah, Jesus sat on the cross.
Jesus is a savior. I sent to that. That's not
what the Bible speaks of. The time of the Reformation
in order to... tried to describe saving faith,
there was three Latin words that were used, notitia,
assensis, fiducia. So the first one's notitia,
and it means knowledge. Knowing, this is knowing
the core information of the gospel. I know that
Jesus was born of the virgin. I know that he
suffered under Pontius Pilate. I know that he
died and was raised again on the third day of
the new life. I know that, I understand, I have
knowledge of the content. Then there's assensis.
You can see the word assent. Not only do I know
that, But I agree with that. I assent to that
being true. I know that Jesus died. I agree that
he died and he rose again. I'm persuaded that
the claims about Christ are true. And the third
aspect is fiducia. This is trust. This is a personal
reliance. Confident trust. This is where you
place your entire being upon Christ and you stand
in that conviction. So, Notitia and Assensus
are not enough to define true faith. Why? James
says, even demons possess the right information.
Notitia, they know about Jesus, and they mentally
agree that it's true. They know better than anyone
that Jesus died and rose again. But they're not
trusting and submitting to Christ. True saving
faith requires all three. And Fiducia, that last
one, trust is what turns mere head knowledge.
into a life -changing, active commitment. You
trust Him. All your eggs are in the one basket
named Jesus. So how can you escape this coming
judgment? The same way that Noah escaped the
flood. You got to get in the ark. The ark is
Jesus. And just as Noah's ark had only one door,
so the ark of Jesus has one door, and it's the
door of faith. You must abandon, friends, all
attempts at self -righteousness. You're not righteous
before Him on your own. And you flee to Christ,
who will save you from the wrath to come. In
the ancient world, when a criminal was crucified
under Roman law, a list of his crimes would be
written out and nailed to the criminal's cross.
Why? So that everyone who was there, they would
know why that criminal was being crucified. Here
is a list of his crimes, and here's what Rome
said must happen. In Colossians 2, Paul did something
extraordinary, and I don't know if you thought
about it this way. He says, and you, speaking
of us, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision
of our flesh, God made alive together with him
Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses.
Notice verse 14. by canceling the record of debt
that stood against us with its legal demands.
The law was here, the law said don't, we did.
The law said do, and we did. So there's a record
of debts, a long list of our crimes. This he
set aside, notice what Paul said, nailing it
to the cross. Why is that important? Because
the record of crimes that you and I had committed
against God, That list was nailed to Christ's
cross, and Christ bore that punishment. Our debt
was canceled. Our record of wrongs was cleared.
How? Our sin was placed on Christ. God hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all, Isaiah 53 -6.
The list of charges against us was nailed to
the cross of Jesus Christ, and he, not we, bore
the punishment for those sins. Praise God. That's
really good news. Peter, writing about this,
he said, who his own self bear our sins in his
own body on the tree. That you and I, that we
being dead to sins should live unto righteousness
by whose stripes you were healed. Jesus' sacrifice
satisfied divine judgment or justice. And it
propitiated divine wrath. Propitiated means it
satisfied. God was pleased with what Christ has
done. You wonder how you can be saved? By the
bloody death of Christ who cried out, it is finished.
His stripes, His bloody stripes healed us. His
bloody wounds healed us. Why? Because He paid
the payment and the penalty for our sins so that
you and I could be reconciled back to God. The
truth is, it's just one of two ways. Either you
pay the punishment for your sins, or Christ pays
it for you. Either you suffer for your sins,
or you trust in the suffering of Christ. For
believers, our sin was nailed to Christ's cross.
And as the song says, we bear it no more. Praise
the Lord. So you say, now what? God's net, friends,
because the day has not yet come, God's net is
still in the water gathering fish. But at the
very same time that God's net is in the water,
the gospel is being preached, it's being proclaimed,
and Christ invites sinners to still come to him
and be saved. John 3, I read earlier, for God
did not send his son into the world to condemn
the world, but that the world through him, through
Christ, might be saved. And he who believes in
him is not condemned. He who believes in Him
is not condemned. But, but, a giant preposition
here, don't be deceived. Jesus told us a day
is coming and God's net will be drawn to the
shore and then King Jesus will separate the fish
that belong to Him from those who do not. John
3, 18. but he who does not believe is condemned
already." See, the question is not whether you're
in God's net. All people are. All people are
going to be raised. The question is not, are
you in the net? The question is, are you in Christ?
Today, the Lord Jesus, who will one day stand
over all creation as judge, offers himself in
grace as your Savior. His mercy His grace are
available to any and all who will come to Him
in faith. And if you're here and you know Christ,
you've been saved to the church. You and I have
been taken, taken out of the kingdom of darkness.
We've been placed into God's kingdom of light.
We are to live as citizens of the light, citizens
of God's kingdom. The apostle said it this way,
showing forth the praises, showing forth the
praises of Him who's called us out of darkness
and into His marvelous light. My friends, our
lives are not our own. We're bought with the
price. Let us glorify Him. Let us worship God
today, humbly, yet joyfully white, for the gift
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us
come and feast upon our Savior. at the table
of the Lord as those who have been marked out
as good fish by God's grace. Let's pray. Father,
we thank you so very much, Lord, for your word.
Lord, I'm thankful that you cared enough about
us, Lord, to tell us, Lord, to proclaim, Lord,
not only salvation, but a judgment that is coming.
Lord, we do not want to be the proverbial ostrich
who sticks its head in the sand, who is willfully
ignorant of that which is to come. The Father,
help us, Lord God, to think soberly about what
Christ has said. Today is the day of salvation.
The ark is still open for all who will enter
in by faith. God, let us, Lord, proclaim that
beautiful message. But let us warn those who
would scoff or laugh or mock at the day of judgment.
Lord, it's sobering. It's a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God. Lord,
I pray you'd give me grace to preach. Lord, I
pray that those who are here this morning, they
would listen to your word, but they would hear
the good news of the gospel that Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. Lord, I pray that now as
your church, we as your people who've been marked
out, we come to the table of the Lord and we
feast upon our Lord. Oh God, we see his broken
body and we see his shed blood. This is our only
hope. This is what we offer to you. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. Lord,
we thank you for this. In the blessed name of
Jesus, we pray, amen. In just a moment, the deacons
will come and they'll pass out the elements.