Matthew, chapter 13, I've always liked this chapter.
Jesus Christ goes through all these parables and the one that I want to focus on tonight
is beginning in verse 47 where the Bible reads,
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 among the just and shall cast
them into the furnace of fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Now in this parable, it talks about the fact that when the net is drawn to shore and it
has all kinds of things that are caught up in it, it says that the good are gathered
into vessels, but the bad are cast away.
Now the term bad in the Bible, when you see the terms good, bad, often has to do with
value.
Like in the book of Leviticus, it'll talk about a good house versus a bad house.
Good sheep, bad sheep.
When it's talking about the estimation or the price of things.
So when the Bible says here that they're gathering the good into vessels and casting the bad
away, he's basically saying that they're casting away worthless junk.
Okay?
The whole point of casting the net into the sea is to get something of value, right?
They're trying to make money.
It's business.
And they cast the net into the sea and they want to get something that they can sell,
something that has a price associated with it.
That which is bad is just worthless junk that's getting caught up in the net and it really
is of no value.
It's just to be thrown away.
It's trash is what the Bible is saying here.
So what we have contrasted is something of value with something that is just complete
trash.
Okay?
He says in verse 49, 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.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
So there's going to be a difference in the end of the world between those who are wicked
and those who are just, just is also referred to in the Bible as righteous.
So the righteous or the just represent that which has value in the net that was brought
in and the wicked that are cast into hell represent that which has no value, that which
is trash, that which is worthless being thrown away.
Now it's funny.
The thing that made me think about this is that when I was in Fort Worth over the last
few days, you know, I was there to preach at said fast Baptist church, but I was also,
you know, just there to visit my sister and her family.
So I took my niece and nephews and we went to this little lake that was just right near
their house.
A little reservoir, just a small place.
And there was a lot of junk in this lake.
It was a nice lake to swim in and we swam and had a good time, but there was a lot of
just junk in the bottom of this lake and the place where we had kind of set up on the shore.
It seemed like the wind and everything was kind of pushing toward that direction.
So it seemed like whatever had gone into this lake was all being kind of pushed to this
part of the lake.
And there was a big stump underwater near the shore and it seemed like that stump was
just kind of catching everything.
Okay.
And there were literal fishing nets that were wrapped around this stump.
There was all kinds of fishing line and fishing tackle and all kinds of things.
So we spent hours at this lake on one day, we spent hours the next day and we made a
game of just seeing what we could fish out of this lake.
Okay.
So we just spent hours.
We filled out literally probably 60, 70, you know, empty beer bottles, just, you know,
we're just finding all these bottles at the bottom of the lake and we're just piling them
up on the shores.
We made a big pile of just bottles, cans.
And then we also found just all kinds of fishing tackle, big giant fishing nets that we found
and then everything that was in those nets.
And we found all these little lures and some of them were actually really nice lures that
would have been expensive to buy all these really fancy pieces of fishing tackle.
So we're just piling up all this stuff, all this stuff on the shore and you know, at the
end of it, we basically sat down and we ended up throwing a lot of stuff away and then we
gathered the good and I told them, I said, you know, this is how the kingdom of heaven
is, you know, I explained it to them on the shore there, but the bottom line is, you know,
this parable does help us to understand the kingdom of God.
It helps us to understand, you know, the difference between those who are saved and those who
are not saved.
Now as we were gathering up the junk that we found in the bottom of the lake and some
of it wasn't junk, some of it had great value, but as we were just getting all this stuff
and scavenging it out of the bottom of this lake, you know, one of the things that we
pulled out a lot was these bottles and we ended up at the end of the day just throwing
all these bottles in the trash because we really had no use for them.
But if we would have been living in, for example, Michigan, those bottles would have a redemption
value and I, correct me if I'm wrong, those who are from Michigan, but is it like 10 cents
or something, a bottle?
I mean, that's a lot of money if you think about it, 10 cents is quite a bit.
You know, if you could gather up a whole bunch of bottles like this as easily as we did,
I mean, we were just grabbing one after another, after another, I mean, there were, there were
a lot of them.
We should have gotten way more if we wanted to.
But we ended up just throwing away, they had no value, they had no redemption value, you
know, where we were in Texas there that I know of, so we ended up casting those away
and just more focusing on the really cool fishing tackle and the net and different things.
There's a lot of junk that ended up going in the trash.
Now, if you would flip over to Isaiah chapter 64, book of Isaiah chapter number 64, because
I think a lot of people could read this parable and they could misunderstand the parable,
just like a lot of Jesus' parables could be misunderstood.
And that's even dealt with in the passage because Jesus flat out says, you know, I'm
speaking unto these people in parables, I'm speaking to them in dark sayings.
And he says, look, hearing, they're going to hear, but they're not going to understand.
Seeing they will, they will see, but they will not perceive.
He says unto you, and he's talking to the saved, he's talking to his disciples.
He says, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but unto
them it is not given.
And the Bible talks about a parable in the mouth of a fool, you know, one who would misuse
or misinterpret a parable.
Some would look at this parable and misunderstand it and think to themselves, oh, good people
go to heaven, bad people go to hell.
They would just kind of look at the surface meaning here and say, well, that's what this
is teaching.
You know, be good, go to heaven, be bad, go to hell.
But actually what the Bible's teaching here, when it talks about the good going to heaven
and the bad going to hell, we have to understand that it's not our own goodness that gets us
into heaven.
It's Jesus who redeems us and gives us value.
So sort of like those bottles that we pulled out, they don't have any value unless they're
redeemed.
And that bottle as is, you know, you can't really do much with it in 2015 America.
It's not like somebody is just really in the market for a lot of old dirty beer bottles,
empty beer bottles, you know, and they would have any real market value.
No, but if they're redeemed, now they have value because you got 10 cents per bottle
and then you can do something with that.
And that's the way it is with us.
And in fact, the word redeemed or redemption is used in the Bible hundreds of times to
describe this very thing where we who have no value are actually given value and we are
made into something that has value, that is good and meet for the master's use, et cetera.
But look at Isaiah 64 verse six, it says, but we are all as an unclean thing.
So when it comes to our righteousness, we're junk.
We don't have value in that sense.
He says we're all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags
and we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
Now flip over to Philippians chapter number three, Philippians chapter three.
So all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
The Bible says we're like an unclean thing.
It's not that we're just this great treasure in and of ourselves where God's going to say,
oh, let's keep this one because this is a really valuable, nice item.
No, only through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus do we have any value.
Look at Philippians chapter three verse nine, it says, and be found in him not having my
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness, which is of God by faith.
So our own righteousness is when we keep God's laws, obeying the commandments.
Don't do the things that he told you not to do.
Do the things that he told you to do.
That's our righteousness.
And Paul said that he wanted to be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which
is of God by faith.
Why did Paul want that righteousness?
Because he knew that his righteousness is as filthy rags, according to the Bible.
Now go to Colossians chapter one, right after Philippians is the book of Colossians Colossians
chapter one, verse 12, the Bible reads, giving thanks unto the father, which has made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
Now what does meat mean?
Meat means fitting or suitable or appropriate.
God has taken us, which naturally would not belong in the kingdom of God.
We wouldn't normally have a place in the kingdom of heaven, but God has made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
Verse 13, who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sin.
So we're not meat for the kingdom of God.
We don't deserve to go to heaven.
We don't belong there, but God through the redemption of the blood of Jesus has made
us meet to be partakers of that inheritance.
Meaning that without Jesus, without that redemption through the blood of Christ, we would be in
the category of just being thrown in the trash.
I mean when he says, look, we're going to gather the good into vessels and we're going
to cast the bad away.
Without Jesus, you're going to be in that bad category no matter how many good things
you've done, you don't have value.
Look what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter one, just flip a few pages to the left in
your Bible.
Ephesians chapter number one verse four, it says, according as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself
according to the good pleasure of his will.
You want to talk about people twisting scripture.
This is a scripture that's often twisted.
People will try to use this scripture to say that God chooses which people will be saved
and which people will not be saved.
It's God's choice.
That is not what this says.
Read it again.
It's so clear.
Verse four said, according as he hath chosen us and not other people.
No, that's not, it says according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
So what's the choice that he made?
He chose that the saved should be holy.
That's what it doesn't say.
He chose which people would be saved and which wouldn't.
He chose that those who are saved would be holy, that they would be without blame before
him in love and he predestinated not which people would be saved, but he predestinated
that those who would be safe would be adopted as children of God.
He decided that the destiny of every believer in Jesus Christ is that they would be adopted
as a child of God.
That's why it says having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
See there are people out there who think, oh, we believe in predestination, but this
isn't what they believe in.
When they say predestination, they say it's predetermined who's going to be saved and
who isn't and that man has no choice and that is a lie and a fraud and you say, well, you're
always preaching again.
Well, I'm going to keep on preaching against it because I hate it and because it's a lie
and so, you know, I love the word of God and I hate every false way and it's, it's
a false teaching.
You know, if you look up the most famous verse on predestination in Romans 8, 28, 29, 30,
it says whom he did foreknow, so he foreknew who would believe, who would be saved, whom
he did foreknew, them also did he predestinate to be conformed to the image of his life.
So he pre knows who's going to be saved, he foreknows that and then he says, your destiny
is to be conformed to the image of my son, which is a great destiny.
He's taking someone who is of little or no value, whose righteousnesses are as filthy
rags who are basically trash and he's basically redeeming us into something that has great
value.
It's like where Paul says in Philippians 3, he says that when Jesus Christ comes, he will
change our vile body.
He'll change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Now there are some preachers who will say things like, you know, we're dirt, we're worthless,
but we're not unless we're not saved.
Yeah.
You know, when we're, when we're in our unsaved condition, yeah, we are trash.
That's what the Bible teaches.
You know, we're just basically like those bottles, just junk, but once we've been redeemed,
he has made us into something else.
Okay.
He's given us value.
So our value is in our identity in Christ, which is why, you know, God forbid that I
should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything that we have, we owe to him who we are.
He's responsible.
It says in verse number six to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has
made us accepted in the beloved.
Not because we deserve it.
It's all by grace.
It's just given unto us.
And it says in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according
to the riches of his grace.
Now why does he bring up the riches of his grace?
Because he's basically saying that we're purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ.
So what the Bible teaches, for example, in the famous verse in first Corinthians six,
he says, what?
It's not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have
of God, and you're not your own.
You're bought with a price, wherefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's.
You know, that has to do with redemption, where basically Christ has redeemed us.
Okay.
And the money that he used to redeem us, it wasn't a dime.
It wasn't 10 cents to redeem that bottle and make it into something of value.
It was redeemed redemption through the blood of Jesus.
And so when the Bible says here in Ephesians chapter one, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, verse six, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved, and then we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
What it's basically saying here is that God has the money to pretty much redeem whoever
he wants.
The riches of his grace are sufficient, the blood of Christ is sufficient to purchase
anyone's pardon, to purchase anyone's redemption.
And that's why the Bible is saying, you know, whosoever will let him take of the water of
life freely.
That's why the Bible says the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men.
It's not like there's this limited number of slots in heaven where God says, well, I've
got enough money to buy this many bottles from you.
But you know, the rest of these bottles I just can't accept because I just don't need
that many.
God says, I have an unlimited supply of spiritual cash here.
The blood of Jesus Christ is precious enough to where it can purchase whosoever believeth.
And he's ready to redeem those who call upon him by faith.
And he's ready to take them from being someone who doesn't have value and redeeming them
into something that does have value.
Now, just to give you a little sampling, you don't have to turn to these.
I'm just going to give you a sampling of some of the scriptures on redemption in the New
Testament.
It says in Ephesians 4 verse 30, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed
unto the day of redemption.
And the reason why it talks about us being sealed unto the day of redemption is that
when Jesus Christ returns, when he comes in the clouds, that's when Paul said he's going
to change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
Basically, the down payment has been made on our salvation.
The Bible calls it the earnest of the Spirit.
Earnest means down payment.
We believe on Jesus Christ.
We receive the Holy Ghost as the earnest of our redemption.
And the Bible says that we're sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption.
So when we believe on Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost lives inside of us, and that's that
down payment, and we are sealed unto the day of redemption, meaning that we can't lose
our salvation.
Once we're saved, we're sealed unto the day of redemption.
We're secure in that.
Then our salvation is complete when Christ comes in the clouds, because right now our
Spirit's been saved, but our body is still the same, messed up.
There are people who have physical health problems.
Those don't change when you get saved, contrary to what Benny Hinn or somebody might tell
you.
Even after you get saved, you still have physical problems.
At the day of redemption, but at the second coming of Jesus Christ, he's going to change
our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
We're going to be redeemed, and we're going to have a body, soul, and spirit that is conformed
to the image of Jesus.
The Bible says in Romans 3.24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8.23 says, not only they, but ourselves, which have the first fruits of the Spirit.
Remember that earnest of the Spirit, the down payment.
He says, we have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body, talking about at the second coming
of Christ.
Psalm 49.7 says this, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to
God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever
that he should still live forever and not see corruption.
So in that scripture, it's being taught that the only way we're going to live forever,
the only way that our soul is going to be redeemed, it's through the blood of Jesus.
No one can basically die for another person and get them to heaven because we're all sinners.
We have to die in our own sin.
Only Jesus could redeem us because he was sinless.
All throughout the Old Testament, there are all kinds of scriptures about redemption,
people being redeemed from their iniquities, and God's mercy bringing redemption and so
forth.
Go if you would to Matthew chapter 22.
While you're turning to Matthew 22, I'll read for you from Galatians 4 verse 4.
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, maid of a woman, maid
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons.
It's not this thing that some people will try to teach where, well, Jesus came and showed
us how to live so that we could work our way to heaven.
He came and showed us a path of how to live right, and if we live right, we'll make it
into heaven.
That's not what the Bible's teaching.
All these scriptures on redemption are saying it's free.
It's by grace.
You don't deserve it.
It's just something where God buys you out of bondage.
He buys you out of your worthless condition.
He pays something for you and makes you worthy.
He makes you accepted and the beloved.
He makes you meet to be a partaker in the inheritance with the saints and the children
of light and so forth.
It's not something that we earn.
It's something that is just given unto us.
So when you go back to the original parable, before we get into Matthew 22, what's it saying?
He said, look, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that's cast into the sea, and that net
is just going to grab everything indiscriminately.
When you throw a net into the sea, you're going to catch the stuff you want, but you're
also going to catch stuff that you don't want because you're just catching everything.
That's where you have to sit down and look at it and decide, okay, does this have value
or not?
Is this worth carrying home or not?
Is this worth cleaning up and selling or not?
You decide whether or not it has value.
You gather the good into vessels.
You have a bucket or some vessel.
In this case, the vessel was the back of a van that we threw everything in that was good.
You cast the bad away.
But you see, we took all the beer bottles and we threw them in the trash.
Why?
Because there was no redeemer.
Well, the redeemer was all the way in Michigan, and we were in Texas.
So there's no redeemer.
There's no redemption.
There was nobody that was willing to say, hey, let me give you 10 cents for that old
dirty beer bottle and let me make something of value.
It's worth 10 cents to me because I can take that beer bottle and I can make something
of value out of it.
That's what the redeemer would have done.
I mean, these guys who do recycling, they're a redeemer is what they are.
That's a fancier title than probably what ... I remember a guy came to our house and
took a bunch of metal away and he gave me his business card and it said, if you ain't
happy, my name ain't Scrappy because he was scrapping metal and scrapping ... But really,
he probably didn't even realize he's a redeemer.
He's taking junk and he's buying it and making something out of it.
And I mean, that's what the parable is teaching here in the sense that, hey, we gather the
good into vessels and cast the bad away.
But it's not that they're good because of their own goodness.
Because if we study the rest of the Bible, we understand that our goodness is only through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
If the redeemer weren't there, we wouldn't have value.
We only have value because of the redemption value.
Look at Matthew chapter 22 verse 1, it says, and Jesus answered and spake unto them again
by parables and said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a
marriage for his son and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding
and they would not come.
Again he sent forth other servants saying, tell them what you're bidden, behold, I prepared
my dinner.
My oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready, come into the marriage.
But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.
And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth and he sent forth his armies and destroyed
those murderers and burned up their city.
Then sayeth he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were
not worthy.
Go therefore into the highways and as many as you shall find bid to the marriage.
So of course this parable is about a king who made a marriage for a son.
Obviously we know that the son here is Jesus and the man who's making the marriage for
a son is God the Father.
And the people who were first invited are the Jews, right?
He came unto his own, his own received him not.
And so because they received him not, he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers
and burned up their city.
And we know that's Jerusalem.
He sent forth the armies of the Romans, they burned up the city, they destroyed them and
cut off those miserable murderers and so forth.
And then it says in verse eight, then said he to his servants, the wedding is ready,
but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, verse nine, and as many as you shall find bid to the marriage.
Now doesn't that kind of remind you of just throwing a net into the sea and dragging everything
in?
Because what does he say?
Invite everybody.
So isn't that sort of like a net that just kind of grabs everything in?
He's saying here, go out into the highways and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage.
So everything's being brought in, right?
And it says, so those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as
many as they found, watch this, both bad and good.
And the wedding was furnished with guests.
So again, everybody's invited, everybody's called.
It's not just for the Jews, the Jews rejected it.
And so he says, just invite everybody, bring everybody in.
He casts the net very broadly there, as we would use the expression.
And it says that they gathered as many as they found, both good and bad, and the wedding
was furnished with guests.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment and he saith unto him, friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding
garment?
And he was speechless, then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and
take him away and cast him into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called, but fewer chosen.
Now this parable has a lot of similarities with the other parable, doesn't it?
We have that use of the term good and bad, and we have the same end result where somebody's
getting thrown into the furnace of fire, just like where the bad were gathered and cast
into the furnace of fire in Matthew chapter 13.
And a lot of people when they read Matthew 22, 14, for many are called but fewer chosen,
they don't really understand what that means, but I think if you think about it in terms
of Matthew 13, and if you think about it in terms of that net that's cast out into the
sea, it actually makes sense.
See the many are called there is referring to the fact that they invited everybody.
That's the reference there.
Many are called.
Go out in the highways and invite as many as you find, right?
The many are called is that net that just drags everything in the sea.
Everything's brought in, good, bad, everything gets caught in the net, and here he says many
are called.
That's that net that's calling and dragging everything in, but it says but few are chosen.
What does that mean, few are chosen?
Well think about it.
What are the angels doing in the Matthew 13 parable?
They sit down and they gather the good into vessels and they cast the bad away.
Well here's the thing, there's a choosing that's going on there because there's a choice
of sitting there and looking at it, right, and deciding is this good or is this bad?
I mean is this something that's going in the back of the van or is this something that's
going in the trash, right?
There's a choice there that's being made of.
Okay, what are we keeping and what are we throwing away, okay?
Well here's the choice that God made.
As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name.
So it's not that God chose certain people, he chose a certain classification of people.
As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them, just
to clarify what he means, even to them that believe on his name.
How do you receive Jesus?
You believe on his name.
And what he chose was that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal
life.
That's the choice that he made.
So it would be sort of like if I said to my nieces and nephews, hey, there's a criteria
on what we're going to keep and what we're going to not keep.
Like I told them this, I said, look, you know, aluminum cans, they're too dirty, they're
too broken, they're too messed up.
They don't have a 10 cent redemption value, you know, we're going to throw those away.
But what if I gave them a directive and said, hey, all these beer bottles, we're going to
keep those because we can redeem those.
It's not that I chose, well, I'm going to take this bottle but not this bottle or this
can out there.
No, no, no.
I said, look, we're keeping the bottles because they have value.
We're throwing the cans away.
We're keeping, you know, the fishing lures that are made out of metal but the fishing
lures that are made out of foam and plastic or that are chewed up or, you know, we're
going to throw those away.
We're going to get rid of those.
There's a choice made there of what's being kept and what's being thrown away.
Now in the story here, the guy who's bound handed foot and cast into outer darkness is
the guy who doesn't have the wedding garment on, right?
Now here the Bible says they gathered as many as they found, both bad and good.
It doesn't say then they went through after they invited all the bad people.
They said, okay, now let's get rid of all the bad people.
And why would they have even been invited in the first place?
He didn't say we're inviting both bad and good and then we're going to get to the wedding
and be like, psych, all the bad people are leaving.
Why did you even come?
Oh, why are we invited?
Okay.
No, the people that were sent away here are the ones that didn't have the wedding garment
on.
Now if you would go to Revelation chapter 19 because this idea of a wedding garment
being clothed in a garment that represents salvation, that represents redemption is actually
something that's brought up throughout the book of Revelation.
And remember the parable in Matthew 22 is about a man who made a marriage for his son,
right?
And the marriage feast is what these people are invited to.
Well look at Revelation 19 verse seven, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him
for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife had made herself ready.
So what are we talking about?
The marriage for the son.
Same story.
And it says in verse eight, and to her, because it says his wife had made herself ready and
to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, watch this,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Now think about this, the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Now what did Paul say about his own righteousness?
He said, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith.
What did Isaiah say about our righteousness?
Says filthy rags.
See if we were clothed in our own righteousness, then we'd be clothed in filthy rags.
But here the Bible says that she is clothed in fine linen, clean and white.
In order for us to be clothed in fine linen, clean and white, spotless, don't tell me that's
our own righteousness, because our own righteousness would not be that clean, it wouldn't be that
white, it wouldn't be that fine.
But what does the Bible teach elsewhere in the book of Revelation?
Flip back to chapter one, because this is a theme that comes up throughout Revelation.
While you're turning there, I'll read for you from Revelation seven, verse nine, where
it says, after this I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations
and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the lamb, clothed
with white robes.
And having palms in that.
Look, are these people wearing the right outfit or what?
What happened to the guy who didn't have on the wedding garment?
He's cast into outer darkness, right?
He's cast into a furnace of fire.
They go through the wedding, he doesn't have on a wedding garment.
Hey, how camest thou in hither without a wedding garment?
He's speechless, binding hand and foot, cast him out.
He doesn't have this.
But the Bible says here that these people are clothed in white robes.
And it says in verse 14, and I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest, and he said to me, these
are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the lamb.
How do you get a white robe according to the Bible?
Through the blood of Jesus.
They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
Without the blood of the lamb, they wouldn't be in a white robe.
Without the blood of the lamb, they don't have a wedding garment.
Without the blood of the lamb, they're bound hand and foot and cast out into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Without the blood of the lamb, they're not one of the chosen.
They're one of those that is cast away.
They're not one of the good that's gathered into vessels.
They're one of the bad that is cast away as trash.
Look what the Bible says in Revelation 1 5, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and
priests unto God and his father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen.
So before Jesus comes along, we're not kings.
We're not priests.
We don't have great value.
We're not clothed in white raiment.
No, we're clothed in the filthy rags of our so-called righteousness.
We're clothed in a garment that would get us cast into hell, okay, and we do not have
value in the kingdom of God.
We are as trash unto the kingdom of God, but it's his blood that makes us into kings and
priests before God and his father.
He washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Let's flip over to first Peter chapter number one, a few pages to the left in your Bible.
First Peter chapter number one.
Now, a lot of times we talk about the term reprobate in the Bible, and it's a word that's
very relevant today just because we see Romans one coming to pass before our eyes in the
United States of America.
You know, we look around America and it's just a lesson in Romans one every day.
You say, why do you talk so much about Romans one?
Well, because we're living in 2015 America.
If we were living in another country in another time, we wouldn't talk so much about Romans
one because it wouldn't be that relevant.
So we end up talking a lot about reprobate because reprobate is a term that God uses
in Romans one and it's used in other places in the Bible as well.
It's best defined in Jeremiah chapter six verse 30, the first time the word reprobate
is used.
And a lot of times with a big difficult word, the Bible defines it for us the first time
it's used.
So the Bible kind of acts as its own dictionary.
You know, you start reading at the beginning and you read through and he'll define big
words for you and help you understand what they mean.
And the first time the word reprobate used in the Bible, it says reprobate silver shall
men call them because the Lord has rejected them.
And the illustration there is of metallurgy and refining metal.
And there's, there's the part of the metal that has value, right?
And then there's the junk, the dross, that which is rejected.
So it says reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord has rejected them.
So what does reprobate mean?
It means to be rejected.
Okay.
And that's why the Bible says in Romans one, even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.
Basically what he's saying there is you rejected me.
Now I'm rejecting you.
Okay.
A person that is a reprobate according to the Bible is a reject, meaning that that person,
God is done with that person.
God has rejected that person.
God says, I'm through with you.
Now here's the thing.
When we look at this parable in Matthew 13, there are people that are being rejected.
He says, look, the goods being gathered into vessels, the bads being cast away.
That's happening at the end of the world though, isn't it?
At the end of the world, he's going to gather everything and say, okay, I'm going to gather
the good into vessels and gather the bad away.
He says, look, we're going to gather together first the tears, tears or wheats or our weeds.
He says, we're going to gather together first the tears and bind them in bundles to burn
them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
See this, this, this parable of the net that's cast into the sea, it's not just a unique
parable.
It actually ties in with a lot of other parables.
It's the message of the Bible, okay, that's being illustrated here.
There's going to come a time where there are people who are rejected, where there are people
who are bound into bundles to burn them.
It said in Matthew 22, bind them hand and foot and cast them into outer darkness.
It said in Matthew 13 that the bad will be cast into a furnace of fire.
There shall be weeping and ashy.
You know, what do you throw in the fire?
Trash.
He's talking about burning trash, buying them in bundles to burn them.
They're, they're trash.
They're not.
Look, a bunch of weeds that are harvested.
They're worthless.
Throw them away.
Okay.
That is what it is to be a reject.
That is what it is to be a reprobate.
Now what the Bible teaches in Romans one and elsewhere, though, is that some people reach
that reprobate status before the end of the world.
He's calling them a reprobate right now, sort of like the people who in Jesus's day blasphemed
the Holy Ghost.
And he said, you blasphemed the Holy Ghost and you have no forgiveness.
He said, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
Or where he said, look, if you add to or take away from God's word, I'll take away your
part out of the book of life, out of the Holy city, out of the things that you're written
in this book.
These are unsaved people who lose their opportunity to get saved.
They get rejected early, sort of like Pharaoh, where Pharaoh, he made his own choice.
He hardened his heart.
He says, you know, who is the Lord?
And I'll not let your people go.
And then it says that he hardened his heart.
But then later, as you read the story, it switches and it says, God hardened Pharaoh's
heart.
And the Bible talks about people's eyes being blinded and their heart darkened, their heart
hardened, them being given over to a reprobate mind.
And that's what that means.
And so, you know, when you think about what a reprobate is, that's all it is.
It's saying that, look, God's already decided, Hey, this person's not going to be redeemed.
This person has no value.
This person is trash.
And so that's just happening early in that case.
That's all that, you know, hopefully that helps you understand the word reprobate, but
that's what it's teaching.
Now, look, if you would at first Peter chapter one, verse 18, it says for as much as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Now flip back if you would to first Corinthians chapter six, first Corinthians six.
So in first Peter one there, he says, you weren't redeemed with money.
You're redeemed with the blood of Jesus, but it's like a nun to money.
It's like a nun to, for example, a bottle that's being redeemed.
And that's something we can all understand because we grew up with the bottle where we
flip it over and it says 10 cent Michigan redemption value.
Okay.
The bottle doesn't have value in and of itself, but it has redemption value, meaning that
if you redeem it, it has value.
Otherwise, I mean, look, do you have use for a bunch of empty, dirty beer bottles?
No, they're worthless.
They're junk.
They're trash.
It's only the redemption that gives them value.
And this is what you have to understand that we as human beings, we only have value if
we have received the Lord Jesus Christ our savior.
That's what gives us our value.
So it's really, it's nothing for us to boast or be prideful about because we're, we would
be junked eventually as well.
Eventually we'd be trashed.
Eventually we'd be cast in the furnace of the fire if it weren't for the grace of Jesus,
not our own good deeds.
That's why the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
I mean, how could we boast about being redeemed?
Somebody else paid for it.
And if that Redeemer had not been present, we'd still be trash.
We'd still be.
I mean, look, just the other day there was no Redeemer at that Lake.
Nobody wanted to give us 10 cent a bottle.
We threw them all in the trash.
We gathered up 60, 70, 80 bottles and we threw them in the trash.
We did not recycle them.
You know, my sister, Ronnie made the comment, she said, you know, in our family, the way
we were brought up, we recycle when we're paid to recycle.
You know what I mean?
That's kind of like, you know, we don't just recycle for the sake of recycling, you know,
where's the Redeemer?
Okay.
We want to get paid to recycle.
All right.
So we ended up just hauling them and throwing them in the trash that was there, but Hey,
you know, lest you pontificate thou green one.
We at least, at least we, at least we cleaned up the Lake a little bit.
Okay.
At least we took the bottles out of the Lake and put them in the trash.
That's progress.
Now, hopefully some bum came along later that day and finished it for us, you know, by taking
them out of the trash and taking them and getting them recycled, maybe getting a bunch
together and taking it, you know, on a road trip to Michigan or whatever.
I'm going to tell myself that that's what happened.
But you know what?
Either way, guess what?
You know, not everybody gets redeemed.
Not every bottle.
Look, the Redeemer is there.
Michigan is there saying whosoever will let him come to Michigan and receive 10 cents
per bottle.
But you know what?
A lot of bottles are getting trashed and you know what?
It's going to be the same way at the end of the world.
Not every bottle makes it to Michigan.
A lot of them are getting trashed.
A lot of them are getting shattered, thrown away garbage.
Okay.
First Corinthians six verse 19, it says, what?
No ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy ghost, which is in you, which you
have of God and ye are not your own for your bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
What's the moral of the story here?
You know, we've studied the Bible tonight and we've understood these parables.
We've understood these dark sayings and understood what it means when it talks about, you know,
gathering junk out of the sea or, you know, it could even be a fishing operation where,
you know, you, you, you bring in a bunch of fish.
Well, some of the fish are good for eating.
That's the good.
And then some of the creatures that you're bringing in that net, they're not as good
of eating.
And so they're, they're cast away.
They're bad.
They're not worth anything.
They don't have value, whatever it is, whether it's, you know, fishing lures that we were
gathering, whether it's bottles and cans that we were gathering, whether it were living
creatures or plants that we were gathering, the good are gathered into vessels, the bad
are cast away.
What is the meaning of this parable?
What do we take away from this?
When we read all these scriptures about redemption and we understand, okay, I understand the
parable about that marriage feast and what it means that all the good and bad are invited,
but only the ones who've redeemed are staying only the ones who got their robes washed and
made white and the blood of the lamb are welcome to stay.
The rest will be cast out.
You know, what's the point?
Well, here's the point is that we don't have anything to glory of.
That's why the Bible says in verse 20, you're bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God.
Okay.
We can't glorify ourselves and we're not on this earth to glorify ourselves.
A lot of people on this earth, they live their life as if they're here to glorify themselves.
Their whole life is focused on making money to glorify self.
You know, we all have to make money to live and to pay our bills, but there are people
out there who want to make money to glorify self so that they can be a big shot, drive
a fancy car, wear fancy clothes and show off.
There are people who want to perform great athletic feats in order to glorify self.
There are people out there who want to start a church, not to preach the gospel, not to
get people saved, but to glorify self.
And then therefore they preach lies and they become the next Joel Osteen, the Rick Warren,
you know, and, and they glorify self.
Okay.
There are people out there who glorify themselves in all manner of ways through boasting and
through a life that's a self-centered kind of life.
But the Bible is saying, look, you're bought with a price.
Glorify God.
Give God the glory.
We have nothing to glory of.
We would be junk.
We would be trash were it not for the Redeemer.
And not only does the Redeemer have to exist, that's not enough.
We had to be brought to the Redeemer.
What about all the bottles that never make it to the Redeemer?
They don't get redeemed.
You know, it's a spiritual, it's like a spiritual soul winning expedition would be sort of like,
you know, digging out the bottles out of the dirty Lake, right?
That's like the soul winning.
Going into the Lake and digging out the bottles, you know, fishers of men, you know, going
out and fishing through all that stuff and then getting it to the Redeemer, bring it
to the Redeemer, take it to the Redeemer.
Okay.
That's our job.
If it weren't for the Redeemer, we'd be nothing.
And if it weren't for the fact that somebody got us to the Redeemer, we'd be nothing.
We'd be rejected.
We'd be trashed.
So we have nothing to glory up.
We're to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's.
So not only do we realize, Hey, he gets the glory.
We don't get the glory.
Salvation's by grace.
It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done.
But then the second thing is that we realize that we're bought with a price.
You know, we're bought with a price.
That means we don't belong to ourselves anymore.
We don't, we don't just have total autonomy of just, well, it's my life.
I'm going to do what I want to do.
No, we've been bought with a price.
God has a purpose for our life.
He didn't redeem us so that we could just be this amazing bottle, you know, that everybody
could look at and, and be glorified, but rather that we could be put to use for his purpose,
to bottle whatever liquid he wants to bottle with it.
And to fill that vessel with what he wants to fill it with and to use it for what he
wants to look, we should be surrendered to the plan of God.
We should be like the clay in the Potter's hand where he's going to redeem us and make
us into what he wants us to be.
He's going to take that raw material of that bottle and he's going to fashion it into a
nice new bottle according to his desire, his design.
You know, he is the Potter, we're the clay.
It's up to him what he's going to do with us.
We should be willing to give our life unto him.
And look, that's not salvation because you know, a lot of people say, give your life
to Jesus and you'll be saved.
Wrong.
He gave his life for us.
That's how you get saved.
That's salvation is that he gave his life for us.
But here's the thing.
Now that we've been saved, now that we've been redeemed, we need to realize that we've
been bought with the price.
So it's not automatic.
Oh, you're saved.
You're automatically going to live for God.
No, no, no.
He says, what?
He's saying, no, you not that you've been bought with the price.
A lot of people don't, don't think of it that way is what it's saying here.
I mean, look what it says.
Verse 19.
It says, what?
No, you not that your body is the temple of the Holy ghost, which is in you, which you
have of God.
And you're not your own.
What's he saying?
A lot of people don't realize that they're not their own.
A lot of people still think that they can do whatever they want with their life.
So look, just cause you're saved doesn't mean that God's getting the best use out of you.
We need to realize that he owns us.
We need to realize that, that he deserves our best and we need to present our bodies
a living sacrifice.
He's not going to come and take it himself.
We need to present our bodies, a living sacrifice, Holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable
service.
So once we realize, Hey, our only value is what God gave us through the redemption of
Christ.
That'll take us down a notch so that we're not prideful so that we'll be humble and glorify
God instead of glorifying ourselves.
And then secondly, we realize that the purpose of our lives is not our own purpose, but he
owns us now and we need to bring glory to him and use our lives for his honor and glory.
Like the song goes, take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee.
You know, it's, we need to realize that we're here for his glory, not for our own glory,
his plan, not our plan, his purpose, not our purpose.
Let's buy rides and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for the redemption that is in Christ Jesus through
the blood Lord.
And we thank you so much for taking us.
And instead of just casting us aside as, as a worthless junk, Lord, you've made us into
something that's not worth as I don't feel worthless tonight, Lord, because I know you've
made me into something that you could use.
And I don't believe that I'm preaching to a building full of worthless people, but I
believe I'm preaching to a building full of Kings and priests because you have redeemed
us.
Help us to glorify you.
And in Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.