The Net - Matthew 13:47-50

again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

And the word for net here actually refers to a specific type of fishing net called a dragnet. And to put it simply, a dragnet was a really, really big weighted net that was typically over 300 yards long. And this net was thrown into the sea, as it says in verse 47, off the side of a boat. And there were weights attached to one side of the net that would allow it to sink to the bottom, and buoys or floaties attached to the top that allowed the top of it to stay up there. And so this net would form a massive wall in the sea. And then the drag net would be dragged to the shoreline by people holding ropes attached to the side of the net. And so this massive net, this massive wall would collect a massive quantity of fish, an alarmingly large amount of things. I find it difficult to imagine just how many fish would actually be in that net, a net 300 yards long dragged from out in the water towards the shoreline. And just imagine what the beach would look like with all the fish sprawled out on the sand for over 300 yards. And this image conveys to us that a vast array of subjects is to be gathered into the kingdom. The kingdom seeks to gather good fish. And we see this if we peek forward a bit at verse 48. We see that the good fish from this hall are stored in containers. They're kept. And Jesus here tells us that every kind of fish in the sea was gathered. Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham. And God promised Abraham that through one of his descendants, his children would come to outnumber the stars in the sky. And through this child, this son, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And Jesus, the son of David and the offspring of Abraham, tells us here that his kingdom is like a net that gathers a vast quantity of subjects of all kinds, subjects from all nations. Every kind of fish in the sea is gathered. An innumerable number of citizens from all nations are to be gathered into this kingdom. And while the kingdom is inclusive to all kinds of subjects, we see in this parable that it's at the same time to some degree exclusive. It's an inclusive and also exclusive kingdom. This is our second point tonight. The wicked are sorted out. So the kingdom gathers subjects, but the wicked are sorted out. And this we see emphasized in verses 48 and 49. Here Jesus says,

When the net 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 at the time Jesus told this parable, The people of God, the nation of Israel, would have been covenantally bound to the food laws that are found in the Mosaic law. And actually in that law are requirements describing clean and unclean fish. We find this in Leviticus 11. God says, starting in verse nine,

everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales is detestable. to you. You shall regard them as detestable. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. Everything in the waters that does not offend and scales is detestable to you.

And so fishermen, Jewish fishermen, after they gathered this immense amount of fish, would have to examine each fish one by one to judge which fish were clean and which fish were unclean. And if we consider God's law from Leviticus 11, we see that the basis of the sorting is actually the objective standard of God's law, what God defines as clean and unclean. And then Jesus says in verse 49,

so it will be at the end of the age, the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous.

And this is the main emphasis of this parable. At the end of the age, all things and all kinds of people will be sorted and separated into two categories, righteous or wicked, clean or unclean. And we are the fish in this parable, right? And we see here that we are at the utter disposal of another party in this judgment. Our destiny is judged based on the perfect and objective standard of God's law enforced by the angels. And so at first, this parable should make us a bit uncomfortable. We should feel the condemnation and weight of the law as we consider the judgment that is to come at the end of the age. For all of us, right, have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And so we are all under a curse. For it is written,

cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.

But in verse 15 of this chapter, Jesus tells us that the purpose of the parables is that those who hear may understand with their hearts and turn to God that they might receive healing. And so as we read this parable, we are to feel our guilt in light of the law, but we are then to turn to God to receive the healing and forgiveness that we know can only be found in Jesus Christ. And the good news is that we, who are unable to merit a place in the kingdom by ourselves, can actually gain a true right standing before God, not by the law, but by gospel, justified by faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen incarnate son of God, who offers to cover the sins of the repentant believer and clothe us with his very own sinless and perfect righteousness. And so, we who believe in him can stand before God on judgment day justified and declared truly righteous because of Christ's vicarious perfection won for us and made our own by faith. His righteousness is imputed to us, ascribed to us. His righteousness is made our own by faith. And so on judgment day, we will not be sorted according to our wickedness, according to our uncleanness, according to God's law, but rather we will be counted as clean because of the righteousness of Christ that covers us. But those who reject this offer and this good king will be thrown away at the end of the age. They will be sorted out of the kingdom and thrown away. This is our third and final point tonight. The wicked will be discarded. So the kingdom of heaven gathers subjects, the wicked will be sorted, and the wicked will be discarded. Jesus in this parable says,

the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And this is a heavy truth that we must hold. All who reject Christ will be thrown into hell. And there, there will be everlasting grief, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. And this is an incredibly grave teaching when we consider the gravity of human life and particularly our unbelieving friends and family. If we think about their lives, their worth as image-bearers of the divine being discarded, it's a tragedy. It's somewhat wrong, an image-bearer of God being discarded. And the severity of this judgment should, for us as Christians, fuel our desire to spread the good news. As we go along our paths in life, we are to warn the wicked of the judgment and then point them to the physician of souls who can heal the diseases in their hearts. And we can't overlook those who seem the most lost, the most outcast, the most immoral. We can't talk to those who are just like us, who dress like us and look like us. The power of the cross goes beyond our comfort zones. We must preach this word and warn of this judgment. particularly those to who we might consider especially detestable or unclean in the eyes of polite society. We must share this good news and warn them of the judgment, warn those whom we deem most unworthy of it, for this is how we embody the character of the king. He came not to seek the righteous, but to seek the lost. And so this parable reminds us that we do need to warn others of this judgment. But as individuals, it's also a warning to ourselves. We see in this parable how God views our sins. The wicked are detestable in God's sight. Sin is detestable in God's sight as unclean fish were supposed to be to the people of Israel. And so friends, if we love God and if our love for God is true, the more and truly we will hate our sin. An old Puritan, Jonathan Edwards, in his book, The Religious Affections, writes about this and he says,

the essence of all true religion lies in holy love. Love is the first and chief of the affections and the fountain of all the affections. From love arises hatred of those things which are contrary to what we love. From a vigorous, affectionate, and fervent love to God will necessarily arise other religious affections. Hence will arise an intense hatred and abhorrence of sin, fear of sin, and a dread of God's displeasure.

And so, as God's people, as Christians, we do have to ask ourselves, do we love things that God finds detestable? What do we love that God finds detestable? And Jesus tells us we can figure out what we love, what our hearts desire, if we simply look at what our eyes like to look at. Our eyes reveal to us what we desire. And so, as Christians, as we think about this, if we find that our eyes find desirable what God finds detestable, we have to turn from these things, throw them away, and look upon them with an intense hatred and abhorrence. Like unclean fish, we are to discard our sins and consider them detestable. This is how we walk as Christians. In fact, the first of Martin Luther's 95 theses was that all of life is repentance. He said, speaking of Matthew 4, 17, actually, that

when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, repent, he intended that the entire life of a believer should be repentance.

And until we are glorified in the renewed creation, we are simultaneously a sinner and a saint. And so we must continuously recognize and forsake sin as we seek to conform to Christ's likeness. And according to tradition, Luther's last words were recorded on a piece of scrap paper. And it read,

we are beggars, this is true.

These words are true when we are converted and they are true to the end. And then we as beggars who have found the food that gives eternal life are to preach the same gospel that saved us to those who oppose the king of creation in order that they may also turn to God and receive healing. This gospel has the power to turn enemies of the king into worshipers of the king. It had the power to take us, the most detestable of sinners, deserving damnation, and transform us into saints. Saints who stand before God declared truly righteous, not because of our own works, because of Christ's perfection that close and covers our imperfection. And so, we as Christians, as saints, should not fear this day that is to come. Instead, we should be confident that we will be kept for the kingdom on judgment day because God will not throw away the redeeming work of his very own son. He cannot deny the one for whom Christ died. We will be declared righteous, preserved, and kept for the kingdom. And there, we will dwell with him, our king, for all eternity, and we will be his people. This is the great hope that we have in Christ, and let us meditate upon it as we close with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, as we consider the judgment that is to come. Our heart breaks for those whom we love that do not know you. Our friends or family who will one day be separated from us and cast out of the kingdom into the fiery furnace. Father, help us to labor for their conversion, that they might come to a saving knowledge of Christ, to become subject to his rule as a good king, the king who actually offers to pardon the sinful citizens of his kingdom. And Father, we as Christians also rejoice that we don't have to fear that judgment because of the full and sufficient atoning work of your son. We thank you for his cross where he took all of our sins. And we thank you also for his resurrection wherein we also share in the new life there. Father, help us to walk in that new life, continuously shedding sin, throwing it away. Help us to find what you hate, hateable. Help us to detest what you detest and reorient our loves, we pray, according to your word, according to Christ's likeness, that we might grow in this way and conform to what you have already declared us. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen.