Sermon #31 Series:
Matthew
Title: THE DRAGNET AND THE HOUSEHOLDER
Text: Matthew 13:47-52
Subject: The Parables of The Dragnet and The
Householder
Date: Sunday Evening – February 12, 1995
Tape: Q – 99
Introduction:
Matthew 13 contains the
parables of the kingdom. Each parable is intended to convey a single
specific spiritual truth. They are earthly illustrations of spiritual things,
of things relating to the kingdom of heaven, that kingdom into which sinners
are born when they are born again by God the Holy Spirit.
1.
The Parable of The Sower illustrates the various effects the preaching of the gospel
has upon those who hear it.
2. The Parable of The Wheat and The Tares illustrates the fact that God’s visible church is a mixed multitude in this world, true believers and carnal professors.
3. The Parable of The Mustard Seed is a picture of faith, beginning as a very small thing, but growing into a strong and fruitful grace.
4. The Parable of The Leaven Hidden in Meal portrays the gradual spread and influence of the gospel both in the hearts and lives of God’s elect and in the world.
5. The Parable of The Treasure Hidden in a Field illustrates the love of Christ for his church, his elect bride.
6. The Parable of The Pearl of Great Price displays the love of every believer for the Lord Jesus Christ – “Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious!”
The last two of the eight parables of the kingdom given in this chapter illustrate the
separation and judgment of unbelievers from the saints of God and the
responsibility of God’s servants in the work of the gospel ministry.
·
Read verses 47-52 with
me.
7.
The Parable of The
Dragnet is a warning of judgment,
illustrating the separation of the wicked from God’s elect and their
everlasting destruction in the day of judgment.
8.
The Parable of The
Householder shows us what God’s
servants are responsible to do as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the
gospel.
I. First, in verses 47-50, our Lord declares The
Parable of The Dragnet.
In this parable, our Savior warns us that things we not always continue
as they now are. Soon the kingdom of heaven will be full, the church of
God will be complete, and there will be a day of judgment in which God will
forever separate the righteous from the wicked. This parable is intended to be a
warning to all men of the certainty of God’s wrath and of the day of
judgment.
To illustrate God’s judgment our
Lord used an activity which all who heard him would surely understand – Fishing!
It was a common, everyday activity around the Sea of Galilee. There were
three basic methods of fishing employed in that day, just as there are today.
1.
A line and a hook was used to catch one fish at a time. That is the
kind of fishing the Lord sent Peter to do when money was needed to pay taxes
(Matt. 17:24-27).
2.
One man fishing by
himself might use a one-man casting net – Peter and his brother Andrew were taking turns casting this kind of net
when the Lord Jesus called them to be “fishers of men” (Matt. 4:18-19). These
small nets were used in shallow water. A man would wade out in the water. When
a school of fish came near, he would cast the net upon the water. As the net’s
weights carried it down over the fish, he would draw it together and hall his
catch to shore.
3.
The third type of
fishing was done by the use of a huge dragnet. A dragnet might be stretched out to cover as much as
one half square mile. It required the labor of a team of fishermen. The
dragnet was pulled in a giant circle by two boats, or by one boat if one end
could be anchored to the shore. Floats were attached to the top of the net and
weight to the sides, so that when it was cast, the dragnet formed a huge wall
around everything it encompassed. Because the net permitted nothing to escape,
it swept everything in its path to shore, fish of every kind, both good and
bad. When the net was full, it would be drug to shore by a huge team of
men. At the end of the day, they gathered the good fish into containers to
carry home or to the market. And the bad fish, they simply discarded with all
the useless trash that had been caught in their net. When our Lord said, “The
kingdom of heaven is like unto a net,” the word that he used specifically means
dragnet.
The fishermen in the parable are gospel preachers. The sea is the world. The
net is the gospel we preach. The ship into which the fish are
gathered is the church of God. The good fish are true believers. The bad fish
are the false professors. The time of separation is the end of the world.
“The preaching of the gospel is the
means of gathering souls to Christ, and into his churches. Those that are
gathered into a visible gospel church are of every kind, of all nations in the
world, Jews and Gentiles, all ranks and degrees of men, high and low, rich and
poor, bond and free, all sorts of sinners, men good and bad. Some have the
truth of grace in them. Others, that are only hypocrites,…have nothing but a
form of godliness, and a name to live, and are dead.” John Gill.
A. We are to preach the gospel freely and
indiscriminately to all men, as God gives us opportunity.
·
Mt. 28:18-20
·
Rom. 1:15-16
·
II Cor. 5:18-21
B. As long as we are in this world the
visible church of God will be like the ark that Noah built – containing all
kinds of creatures, both clean and unclean.
NOTE:
Three times, in the parable of the
sower, in the parable of the wheat and the tares, and again in this parable,
our Lord tells us that his church in this world is a mixed congregation – He
wants us to learn it!
C. There is a day of separation coming! (v.
49-50).
When the fullness of the Gentiles
has been brought in, when the last chosen, redeemed sinner has been saved, the
Lord Jesus Christ will come again in judgment – Then he will separate
the bad fish from the good.
·
Romans 11:25-26
·
Revelation 20:11-15
·
John 5:28-29
·
Acts 17:31
Nothing in the Bible is more difficult to accept than
the fact of hell. Nothing more difficult to talk about! But we cannot ignore
it. We must not ignore it. It is clearly and constantly set before us in
the Word of God. It was more often spoken of by the Lord Jesus than any
other subject. He talked much more about hell and Divine judgment than he
did about the love of God.
·
Matthew 5:22, 29, 30
“fire of hell” – “body cast into hell”
·
Matthew 8:12 “Weeping
and gnashing of teeth!”
·
Matthew 11:23 “brought
down to hell.”
·
Matthew 18:8-9
“everlasting fire – hell fire.”
·
Matthew 23:33
“damnation of hell.”
·
Mark 3:29 “eternal
damnation”
·
Mark 9:43 “fire that
never shall be quenched.”
·
Luke 10:15 “thrust down
to hell”
·
Luke 12:9, 10, 46
·
Luke 16:23 “In hell,
lifted up his eyes being in torment.”
·
John 5:29
·
John 15:6 “cast into
the fire!”
Hell is not merely
the gate of forever being separated from all that is good. It is not merely
going out into nothingness. I do not pretend to know what hell is. The
human mind simply cannot conceive the horrors of hell. Even the biblical
representations of hell are only suggestive. Men argue about literal
fire in hell. But the fire of God’s wrath is infinitely more horrible than any
inferno you ever imagined! No words can describe and no mind can imagine
the pain, the agony, the torment of that “furnace of fire’ where there is both
“weeping and gnashing of teeth forever.” This much I do know…
1. Hell is a place of constant torment,
misery, and pain.
·
Matthew 22:13
·
Mark 9:43
2. The torments of hell will involve both
body and soul – “Where the worm dieth not” (Mk. 9:44).
·
Matthew 11:22-23
·
Hebrews 10:28-29
·
Luke 12:47-48
“Hell
will have such severe degrees that a sinner, were he able, would give the whole
world if his sins could be but one less!” John Gerstner.
4. Hell is forever!
·
Matthew 25:46 – Total
Hopelessness!
“In
hell thou shalt have none but a company of damned souls with an innumerable
company of devils to keep company with thee. While thou art in this world the
very thought of the devil’s appearing to thee makes thy flesh to tremble and
thine hair ready to stand upright on thy head… Oh, what wilt thou do when all
the devils of hell be with thee – howling, roaring, and screeching in such a
hideous manner that thou wilt be even at thy wit’s end and ready to run stark
mad again for anguish and torment? If after ten thousand years an end should
come, there would be comfort. But here is thy misery: here thou must be forever!”
NOTE:
”Forever!” Will be the most
tormenting word known in hell! John Bunyan.
II. The Parable of The Householder Pictures
The Word and Importance of The Gospel Ministry – (vv. 51-52).
The question of verse 52 was put
directly to our Lord’s disciples – “Have ye understood all these things? While
the reference may include all that he had spoken in parables, I think it is
best to see this question as referring to what he had spoken immediately
before in verses 47-50 – regarding the preaching of the gospel, the
gathering of sinners to Christ, and the judgment to come.
NOTE:
Understanding these things a great
weight of responsibility is upon the shoulders of every believer and
particularly upon the shoulders of all who are “scribes” – in the kingdom – Men
who are gifted and trained by God as preachers of the gospel – (II Cor.
5:1-11).
Persuasive
Arguments For Reconciliation –
A. They are men who have been instructed
into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven!
·
The Purpose of God!
·
The Trinity!
·
The Incarnation!
·
Righteousness!
·
Redemption!
·
Regeneration!
·
Preservation!
·
Grace!
B. God’s Servants, Gospel Pastors are Householders
Under Christ – They are responsible for….
·
The Feeding of the
Family (Acts 20:28; Jer. 3:15).
·
The Rule of the Family
(Heb. 13:7, 17).
·
The Care and Protection
of the Family (II Tim. 4:12-16).
C. The Treasury From Which We Bring Forth
Things Old And New As They Are Needed is The Word of God.
·
The Types, Shadows, and
Prophecies of The Old Covenant.
·
The Fulness, Glory, and
Blessings of The New Covenant.
Application: II
Corinthians 5:18 – 6:2