Tag: Judgment

The Sheep and Goat Judgment – Matthew 25:31-46

sheep-and-the-goats

The Sheep and Goat Judgment

Matthew 25:31-46

Today, we come to the conclusion of the Olivet Discourse, that portion of the Gospel of Matthew in which our Lord taught His disciples about His second coming. After giving signs that will precede and accompany His coming, Jesus spent most of this discourse warning His disciples to watch and be ready for His coming (Matt. 24:42,44). He showed that His coming would be swift and unexpected like in the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37-42) or like a thief coming at night (Matt. 24:43-44). At the end of Matthew 24, Jesus said that His coming would be like a master returning to find a slave either faithfully doing the work that he was assigned, or a slave who neglected his duty and abused his authority (Matt. 24:45-51).

In Matthew 25, we have already studied two parables about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said it would be like a wedding feast where the bridegroom is delayed. Some virgins were prepared for this by bringing extra oil for their lamps. Others did not prepare and were shut out. So Jesus taught His disciples, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (Matt. 25:13). Next, Jesus compared the kingdom to a master who entrusted his wealth to certain slaves. Some put the master’s money to work and produced a good return for him. One did not trust the master, so he buried his master’s money. When the master returned, he settled accounts with them, rewarding the faithful servants and casting the wicked, lazy servant into the outer darkness.  

Do you see the common theme in all these illustrations that Jesus gave about His coming? When Jesus comes again He will come in judgment, separating the faithful righteous from the unbelieving wicked. Whether it is the wise virgins separated from the foolish virgins, the faithful servants separated from the wicked, or the sheep separated from the goats, this is the point that Jesus emphasized. His second coming is a day of reckoning when those who are not ready will be separated from those who are ready.

In our passage today, although Jesus uses the illustration of a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats, it does not read strictly like a parable. Rather, it is the startling description of Christ’s judgment at His second coming. In the other parables, there is a delay in the groom’s or the master’s coming, and the separation and judgment come at the end of the story. But in this last section, the Lord’s coming is featured first and the judgment consumes the entire teaching. It is all about that final day when Jesus returns and judges the righteous and the wicked, the saved and the lost, the sheep and the goats.

First, we see the … More →

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The Parable of the Talents Matthew 25:14-30

Matthew 24 45

The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

What will you do with the opportunities God has given you?

Remember, we are in the middle of our Lord’s Olivet discourse concerning the future and, in particular, His Second Coming. Again and again, Jesus has urged His disciples and us to be alert and ready because we do not and cannot know when He will return.  We must live so as not to be caught off-guard. That means to live in faithfulness to the Lord, serving Him, and doing His will. This was the Lord’s own application of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Jesus concluded that parable saying, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (Matt. 25:13). Jesus expects His disciples to watch and be prepared at all times for His coming.

Now, in the parable of the talents, we will find that it has a similar elements to the other parables Jesus just told: a master who goes away for a period of time, his return coming at a time they do not expect, and the judgment of those who either were or were not prepared for it. But today’s parable makes still more explicit what readiness looks like. The parable of the virgins calls us to watch; the parable of the talents calls us to work.

Readiness is not a matter of passively waiting, but of active working. Being ready for the Lord’s return means serving Him faithfully in this world while we wait for His coming again. We should be preparing for Christ’s return by being faithful stewards of the opportunities God has given us.

So, let’s look at the parable of the talents together and see what Jesus teaches us about preparing for his return. More →

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The Wise or Foolish Virgins – Matthew 25:1-13

Matthew 24 45

The Wise or Foolish Virgins

Matthew 25:1-13

Are you ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the theme of the parables we are studying in Matthew 24 and 25. We are in the middle of Jesus teaching His disciples on the Mount of Olives about the destruction of Jerusalem and about His coming and the end of the age (Matt. 24:3). In Matthew 24, Jesus made it clear that the end would not come immediately, but only after some general and specific signs that would precede His coming. And He commanded His disciples to watch and be ready because no one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man will come (Matt. 24:42,44).

To exhort us to readiness for His return, Jesus then taught three parables. Last time, from the parable of the wise or wicked servant we learned that readiness for Christ’s return includes faithfulness. If you want to be ready for the Lord’s coming, be faithful to serve your Master while He is away. We said that being ready for Christ’s return means that we watch expectantly, serve faithfully, and live holy.

Now, as we turn to Matthew 25, Jesus will teach two more parables and then describe the judgment that follows His return. The theme that ties this section together is separation in judgment. More →

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The Faithful or Wicked Servant – Matthew 24:45-51

Matthew 24 45

The Faithful or Wicked Servant

Matthew 24:45-51

Last time we began the application section of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. The first part of Jesus’ teaching to His disciples on the Mount of Olives was explanatory (Mat. 24:4-35). Jesus was answering the disciples’ questions about the destruction of Jerusalem and about the sign of His coming and the end of the age (Matt. 24:2-3). First, He gave them some general signs that will characterize the age before His return (Matt. 24:4-14). Second, He gave some specific signs that would immediately precede His Coming (Matt. 24:15-28). Next, He described His glorious coming (Matt. 24:29-31) and its certainty (Matt. 24:32-35).

Jesus then began to apply these truths to His disciples (and to us). Matthew 24:36 sets the thesis for the exhortations that follow—no one knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of Man. Because no one knows when Christ will return, He exhorts us first to “watch,” to be on the alert (Matt. 24:42) and second to “be ready” or prepared for His coming at all times.

Next, Jesus relates three parables that illustrate and exhort us to watch and be ready for His coming. How can we make sure that we are alert and ready for Christ’s return? More →

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The Savior’s Lament – Matthew 23:37-39

MAtthew 23:37

The Savior’s Lament

Matthew 23:37-39

In our study through the Gospel of Matthew, we have been examining the events that took place during the last few days before Jesus was crucified. After the initial excitement that came with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:1-11) and His cleansing of the temple the following day (Matt. 21:12-17), Jesus spent much of His time teaching in the temple (Matt. 21:23). But the religious leaders relentlessly challenged Jesus and tried to discredit Him so that they might eventually destroy Him (Matt. 21:23-27; 22:15-40). Their schemes utterly failed, and instead, at every effort Jesus discredited them, exposing their wicked hearts and distorted understanding of the Scriptures.

Having silenced all His critics (Matt. 22:46), in Matthew 23, Jesus went on the offensive against the scribes and Pharisees. More →

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Woe to the Hypocrites Part 2 – Matthew 23:25-36

Matthew 23

Woe to the Hypocrites Part 2

Matthew 23:25-36

In Matthew 23, we are following Jesus’ last words to the crowds of worshippers in the Jerusalem temple in Matthew 23. It is just two days before Jesus will be condemned and crucified. It is His last public encounter with the scribes and Pharisees—the Jewish religious leaders who, on the whole, despised and rejected Jesus. In Matthew 23:1-12, Jesus warned His disciples and the gathered multitudes not to follow the hypocritical practices of the scribes and Pharisees. Then, Jesus turned directly to the scribes and Pharisees themselves and pronounced a series of woes on them. Again and again, Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” The woes pronounce God’s judgment, while, at the same time, calling for repentance.

We saw last time that Jesus began by issuing some “woes” over the way their religious hypocrisy harmed other people around them (Matt. 23:13-15), showing that More →

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Parable of the Vineyard – Matthew 21:33-46

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Parable of the Vineyard

Matthew 21:33-46

The parable of the vineyard is the second of three parables in a row that Jesus spoke as He was being confronted by the chief priests and elders of the Jews in the temple. It was just a couple of days after He made His triumphal entry into the city, and a couple of days before His death on the cross. In the temple this last week, Jesus had cleansed the temple, healed the blind and lame in its courts, received worship in it as Messiah, and taught the people within its walls.[1] The religious leaders refused to recognize Jesus’ authority to do these things, asking Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” (Matt. 21:23).  

When the chief priests and elders refused to answer Jesus’ counter-question about the authority of John’s baptism, He declined to answer their question about His authority. If they had repented and recognized John’s authority from God, they would have had the answer about Jesus’ authority. Yet, Jesus doesn’t just drop the matter. He tells a series of parables and continues to question them in order to highlight the real issue, namely their stubborn refusal to repent and believe.

Last time, we looked at the first parable. It told of two sons, one told his father no, but then changed his mind and obeyed. The other said yes to his father, but then didn’t obey. The first was a picture of repentant obedience, the second of hypocritical profession. Jesus applied this parable to them saying,

“Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him” (Matthew 21:31-32).

Swindoll comments, “Jesus’ sharp denouncement left the religious leaders reeling, stunned that He would publicly call them out and accuse them of faithlessness and disobedience. But Jesus wasn’t finished with them yet. He followed the first jab with a second, taking a swing at them with a parable …”[2] This parable came with an even stronger judgment—the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to others who will produce its fruit.

Let’s look at …

1. The Parable (Matt. 21:33-39)

Speaking with the authority of His Father, Jesus commands, “Hear another parable…” (Matt. 21:33). Imagine how this hit these proud men. They did not want to hear another parable, especially not another like the one Jesus just spoke against them! But Jesus didn’t need their permission to speak the word of God in His Father’s house.

First Jesus gives us the,

A. Setting (Matt. 21:33)

“There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.” (Matt. 21:33).

Jesus lays out the parable of a certain landowner who owned a vineyard. This man made every provision possible for the success of his vineyard, so that he could draw from it the fruit he desired. While he was away, the landowner leased the vineyard to tenant vinedressers.

There are 6 main components in this parable and each represents an element of God’s relationship with Israel: 1) The landowner obviously is a picture of God the Father; 2) The vineyard represents Israel as God’s kingdom people; 3) The tenants/vinedressers are the Jewish religious and civil leadership; 4) The landowner’s servants are a picture of the prophets who remained obedient and preached God’s word to Israel; 5) The son is Jesus the Messiah who will be killed that very week; and 6) The other tenants who would produce fruit represent the church made up of the remnant of believing Jews and also believing Gentiles.

No Jew would fail to recognize in this story a picture of the relationship between the Lord and His people Israel. Jesus’ parable of the vineyard begins almost exactly like Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5:

1 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
On a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also made a winepress in it;
So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.
3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.” (Isaiah 5:1-3).

I’m sure the religious leaders (and even the common people) heard the echoes of Isaiah’s prophecy when Jesus spoke His parable. As Isaiah 5:7 says, “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.” (Isa. 5:7).

The LORD God had planted them. He called their father Abraham out of a pagan world and promised to make him into a great nation. He renewed that covenant with Isaac and Israel. He delivered them from bondage in Egypt and gave them the land of promise. He protected them from their enemies. He gave them good statutes and ordinances that would bless them. He dwelt in their midst in the tabernacle and temple. He entrusted Israel’s care to its priests, kings, and nobles—the “vinedressers” who were to teach the people His word and lead them in His ways.

God, like the landowner in the parable had a right to expect the fruits of His efforts. So next we see Him,

B. Sending the Servants (Matt. 21:34-36)

34 “Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.” (Matt. 21:34-36).

The landowner gave the vinedressers time to produce the fruit of the vineyard, then sent his servants to collect what was due him as the owner of the vineyard. But instead of honoring the owner, they abused his servants. But the landowner is gracious and patient. He sent other servants; but they were treated the same.

Clearly, the story represents the Lord’s repeated appeals to His people through His prophets. When Israel did not produce the fruit that God desired, He sent His prophets, but just as the tenants in the parable mistreated and even killed the servants, Israel rejected God’s prophets (2 Chr. 24:15-16). Jeremiah was beaten and cast into a pit (Jer. 26:7-11; 38:1-28); John the Baptist was killed (Matt. 14:1-12); and others were stoned (2 Chr. 24:21).

In Matthew 23, Jesus will say to the scribes and Pharisees,

34 “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:34-37).

At this point, the landowner does an amazing thing by …

C. Sending the Son (Matt. 21:37-39)

Jesus continues the parable, saying, “Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’” (Matt. 21:37). When the son arrives, there should be no doubt that he carries the authority of his father, the owner of the vineyard. Even if they did not respect the owner’s servants, surely they will honor his son.

But instead, they do the unthinkable. Jesus says, “But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.” (Matt. 21:38-39). The tenants see an opportunity here. They believe that if they kill the son, they will then receive his inheritance, possession of the vineyard. It was bad to mistreat the servants. It was worse to kill them. But to kill the owner’s son is an outrageous act of evil and greed. What a contrast between the gracious and patient landowner and the wicked and irascible vinedressers!

They did not kill the son because they didn’t recognize him. They killed him precisely because they did.[3] This implies conspiracy to commit murder by the Jewish leadership, and it is prophetic in the sense that Jesus is now telling them what they are going to do to Him (see Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16). Although the Gospels do not record their being, “This is the Messiah: come, let us kill him”; yet, in the light of the Scriptures, their rejection of him was no less culpable than if it had been that.[4] They knew His miracle power. They knew His claims. They knew He spoke the word of God. Still, they refused to believe in Him and sought to kill Him.

Once the parable was over, Jesus asked the chief priests and Pharisees a question that brought the application of it home to themselves. So we see the …

2. Self-Indictment by the Religious Leaders (Matt. 21:40-41)

Jesus asks the chief priests and elders, “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” (Matt. 21:40). And they gave an answer that—perhaps without their realizing it at first—completely condemned them. They said “He will destroy those wicked men miserably…” Or, as it is in the NASB, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end.” What’s more, they admitted that he would rightfully “lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons” (Matt. 21:40). Having pronounced the judgment on the wicked vinedressers, they indicted themselves as worthy of destruction.

Jesus now applies the parable to them. So we see the …

3. Divine Indictment by the Lord (Matt. 21:42-44)

Jesus shows their condemnation by first taking them to the prophetic word.

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (Matt. 21:42).

Jesus is quoting from Psalm 118, the same psalm that the people quoted when they praised Jesus on Palm Sunday. When Jesus asks them, “Have you never read?” He knows they have read this Scripture he is quoting. They read it every Passover, and they would be reading it again in just a few days. He is really asking them, “Have you never understood?”

The chief cornerstone was the most important stone in the building. The word here could refer either to the cornerstone which formed the foundation of the building or the capstone which was the final stone placed at the top of an arch, completing the building and securing the structure. Jesus is both. He is both cornerstone and capstone. He is the foundation and beginning of God’s kingdom, and he is the one who completes it and brings everything to fulfillment.[5]

Jesus is the stone the builders rejected that God has chosen to honor. The religious leaders are the builders who are rejecting Him even now. It was shocking, “marvelous in our eyes,” that the builders, the Jewish religious leaders would reject the cornerstone, their own Messiah. If anyone should have been able to recognize a perfect cornerstone, it should have been the builders. Yet, in their evil pride and arrogance, they cast out the cornerstone.

But this was no surprise to God the Father or to Jesus. As the psalm says, “This was the LORD’s doing.” It was God’s plan all along. It was prophesied long before it took place. Jesus knew they would have Him killed in fulfillment of the word of God.

To reject Jesus is to reject the son of the landowner and to be like those wicked vinedressers. By the chief priests’ and elders’ own admission, it would be right for the landowner to take the vineyard from them and to give it to someone else. And so, Jesus gives them His verdict, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it” (Matt. 21:43).

The privilege of Israel, of her leaders, would be ripped violently away, and it would be transferred to others. No longer would Israel’s twelve tribes comprise the people of God. Rather, through His twelve apostles Jesus would build a new people of God, His church, a new race comprised of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, being fruitful, multiplying, and bearing fruit for His kingdom.

The dividing line is the cornerstone Himself, Jesus Christ. He is both the Savior and the Judge. He says, “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” (Matt. 21:44). Jesus is quoting from two Old Testament Scriptures: Isaiah 8:14, which speaks of a rock of stumbling, and Daniel 2, which speaks of the rock of the kingdom which will crush all the other kingdoms of the earth (Daniel 2:44-45). In quoting these passages, Jesus applies these Scriptures to Himself. He is the Messiah, the Son of God. He is the Savior to all who will receive Him, but He is the rock of judgment to those who reject Him.

The repentant tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners were like the ones who were broken by Jesus. They believed God’s message (Matt. 21:32). They repented of their ways (Matt. 21:28-29). Their old lives were broken. But Christ saved them, healed them, and gave them new life. They were being granted entrance into the kingdom (Matt. 21:31).

The religious leaders to whom Jesus was saying these things were like the ones this same stone falls on. When it came to true righteousness, they were all show and no substance (Matt. 21:30). They were missing the kingdom (Matt. 21:31). They did not believe God’s message when they first heard it from John, and they did not believe and repent even now (Matt. 21:32). They were the vine-growers who killed the landowner’s son to claim his inheritance (Matt. 21:39-39). They were the builders who rejected the chief cornerstone of God’s kingdom (Matt. 21:42). This stone would fall upon them and scatter them like dust (Matt. 21:44).

The apostle Peter says the same thing about Jesus in 1 Peter 2 where he writes: “7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:7-8). Jesus is the cornerstone. He is precious to all who believe in him. But to those who do not believe, He is a stone that causes them to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.

What will you do with Jesus Christ? Either you will fall on Christ, repentant and broken over your sin, believing in His death and resurrection for salvation, or, rejecting Him, you will be crushed, ground to powder by His judgment. You will either bow the knee to Him in this day of grace, or you will bow the knee on the day of judgment.

Now, you would think that any sane person at this point would repent, But no, Jesus was right about them. Look at the …

4. Reaction by Chief Priests and Pharisees (Matt. 21:45-46)

When Jesus told the religious leaders the meaning behind the parable of the tenants, they only hardened their hearts even further. Matthew records,

45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet. (Matt. 21:45-46).

Matthew’s conclusion gives us three insights into the attitude of the religious establishment. 1) They are jealous and envious of Jesus’ popularity with the common people. This encroaches on their authority and power to govern. 2) They have come to the realization that Jesus is talking about them. This hurts their pride and embarrasses them in front of the people. 3) They understood the analogy of the son and that Jesus was referring to Himself. To them, this was blasphemy, and they would now seek to kill Jesus. From here the leaders would meet in secrecy to plot how they would get rid of Jesus. God in the Scriptures foretells this very event, and these men, prompted by hatred, rush to bring it to pass.[6]

We apply this parable to our lives by asking two questions. First, have you come to know Christ as your Lord and Savior, or have you rejected Him like the Jewish leadership did? You need to repent and believe in Christ as the only One who can save you from the penalty of your sins. Fall on Him, He will save you now.

Second, if you are a believer, are you producing the fruit of righteousness? You owe Christ your very life. You have been saved because of the mercy, grace, and patience of God. You deserved none of it. Are you living in grateful obedience to Christ? Is your life bearing fruit for the kingdom? Believers may vary in the amount of fruit they produce, but there is no such thing as a fruitless believer.

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[1] Greg Allen, An Encounter with the Cornerstone, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2008/042708.htm

[2] Charles Swindoll, Insights on Matthew 16—28, Tyndale House Publishers, p. 161.

[3] R. Alan Cole, The Gospel According to Mark, Wm. B. Eerdmans’ Publishing, p. 259.

[4] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 453.

[5] Ray Fowler, Kingdom Taken, Kingdom Given, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/kingdom-taken-kingdom-given/.

[6] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 454.

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Lessons from the Fig Tree

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

Lessons from the Fig Tree

Matthew 21:18-22

In Matthew 21, we are following the events of the final week of Jesus’ earthly ministry before He went to the cross. It began in Matthew 21:1-11 with Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem riding on the colt of a donkey in fulfillment of scripture. Then we saw Jesus go into the temple and cleanse it of the money changers and those who were buying and selling, saying, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” (Matt. 21:13). The temple off God was full of hypocrisy, extortion, greed, and deceit. What should have been a house of prayer had become a den of robbers.

Jesus then healed the blind and the lame and received the praise of the children. thus fulfilling prophecies about His true Messiahship. He then left the temple and spent the night in Bethany near the Mount of Olives.

In Matthew 21:18, Jesus is returning to the city of Jerusalem. He will go back into the temple (Matt. 21:23) where the religious leaders will question His authority (Matt. 21:23-27). Then Jesus will teach two parables: the parable of the two sons (Matt. 21:28-32), and the parable of the tenants (Matt. 21:33-46). The first is a man who says he will work and then doesn’t. The second is a group of men who say they will produce fruit from the vineyard and then don’t. The last parable is the climax of the section, illustrating that Christ has been rejected by His own fruitless people, and so the kingdom will be taken from them and given to a people who will bear its fruit.

The issue is fruit that comes from genuine faith in God. Jesus is sick and tired of the fruitless hypocrisy of Israel’s religion. He heard their hypocrisy as He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He saw it in the greedy trampling of the temple courts. He will teach parables about their hypocrisy in the temple. And right between these events, Jesus cursed the fig tree. It’s an unusual incident, and, like the cleansing of the temple, one that seems uncharacteristic of Jesus at first. We don’t normally think of Jesus driving people out of temples or cursing fig trees. But Jesus never does anything without a purpose, and His purpose here is to teach His disciples. The cursing of the fig tree is a parable in action, illustrating the fruitless hypocrisy of Israel’s religion.

Our short passage breaks down into two parts: the withering of the fruitless tree and the word about faith in prayer.

1. The Withering of the Fruitless Tree (Matt. 21:18-19)

Matthew tells us that it was in the morning that Jesus and His disciples were making their way back from Bethany to Jerusalem. And “as He returned to the city, He was hungry” (Matt. 5:18). Since they spent the night at Bethany, it would be safe to assume that Jesus and His disciples stayed at the home of His dear friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus. And from what we know of Martha, she likely would have made sure everyone was well-fed before they left. But for whatever reason, Jesus was hungry. Perhaps, as He had done so often, He rose early to pray and didn’t eat with the others. Perhaps Jesus’ hunger was intentional, so that He could teach this object lesson to His disciples.

As they journeyed along toward the city, Jesus saw a fig tree by the side of the road (Matt. 21:18). This would not be unusual. Remember, we saw in Matthew 21:1 that near Bethany and the Mount of Olives was the village of Bethpage, meaning house of figs. The original language tells us that it was a “single” fig tree—all alone, which is perhaps what made it so easy to see. And what’s more, Jesus could see from a distance that it bore leaves. And if you were hungry, that was a very good sign. Fig trees in that part of the world produced a sort of early fig in the springtime, a small one that came before the leaves began to grow. They weren’t as big and juicy as the later figs would be, but they were still very tasty.

But Matthew tells us that, when Jesus came to the tree, “He found nothing on it but leaves” (Matt. 21:19). Now leaves on a fig tree without any fruit is very unusual. Usually, the leaves and the fruit develop together. So, there is definitely something wrong with this tree. It had all the promise of fruitfulness—all the appearance of bearing something He desired. But on closer examination, it had only the outward appearance of ‘fruitfulness’. It bore none of the fruit.

But then Jesus does something even more unusual. He curses the fig tree. He said, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again“; and we’re told that “immediately the fig tree withered away” (Matt. 21:19). Now from what we have seen about the authority and power of Jesus, He could just as easily have told the fig tree, “May you bear fruit right now!”, and the tree would have been filled with figs. But Jesus cursed the fig tree instead, and immediately the tree withered. Mark tells us that it was “dried up from the roots” (Mark 11:20). This was a big, thriving, healthy tree until Jesus cursed it. And when He did, it never bore fruit again.

“Why did Jesus curse the tree like this?” Was it simply because He was hangry? Was He in a bad mood that morning? Of course not! Jesus is never just impulsive or out of control. Everything He does, He does on purpose. So, what we need to ask is, “What’s His purpose in cursing the fig tree?”

First, let’s find out some things about fig trees in the Bible. In the Old Testament, fig trees were pleasurable things. The fruit of the fig tree was good and sweet. Fig trees were symbolic of prosperity (Deut. 8:8; Hab. 3:17; Hag. 2:19), pleasure (Judges 9:11), and security (1 Kings 4:25; 2 Kings 18:31; Isaiah 36:16; Joel 2:22; Nah. 3:12) in the land of Israel. When the people of Israel would see the fig-trees putting forth the early “green figs”, they looked at it warm-heartedly as a sign that springtime had come (Song 2:13).

It’s not surprising, then, that the Bible uses the fruit of the fig-tree as a symbol of Israel. In Hosea, the LORD says, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its season” (Hosea 9:8). God gave the prophet Jeremiah a vision of the remnant people of Judah as a basket of either good ripe figs, or figs so rotten they couldn’t be eaten (Jer. 24:1-10).

And so, when God warns through His prophets that He is going to strike the fruit of the fig tree, it is a sign of judgment on His people Israel. In Jeremiah 8:13, He says, “‘I will surely consume them’ says the LORD. ‘No grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things I have given them shall pass away from them’” (Jer. 8:13; cf. Joel 1:11-12).

I believe that Jesus, when He cursed the fig tree, was illustrating a prophetic word of judgment.  Through the prophet Micah, The LORD indicated what He expected from His people:

With what shall I come before the LORD,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8).

But when the LORD examined His people closely, the prophet writes,

Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires (Micah 7:1).

Think about what Jesus had just done. He came to His temple, expecting to find genuine fruits of faith from His people. Instead, He was greeted with unbelief, opposition, and the abuse of His Father’s house. There were religious practices all over the place—offerings being made, Scriptures being recited, and lots of animals being purchased for sacrifice. It was very, very religious. But all their religion was nothing more than the mere outward “promise” of fruitfulness and nothing more. There was no real spiritual “fruit”. It was all “fig leaves”; but no “figs”.

In his Gospel, Luke doesn’t record this incident. But in Luke 13, after Jesus says to the Jewish people, “unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5). Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree:

6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 “Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 “But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 ‘And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ “ (Luke 13:6-9).

Think about it. Jesus came to the temple and instead of finding the fruit of faith, He was greeted by the religious leaders with opposition and unbelief. Jesus had been among them for more than three years ministering to them. For three years, Jesus had been patient. For three years, Jesus had sought fruit from the Jewish people. His patience was long. Yet finally, there reached a point when His patience would run out. I believe that the cursing of this fig tree was a living parable to indicate that the time for judgment had come.

This is the theme of the rest of the chapter: Israel lacks fruit. Here, the Messiah is entering Jerusalem. The Jewish people ought to receive Him. But, rather than doing so, they reject Him. In verse 23, they question Jesus’ authority. Beginning in Matthew 21:28, Jesus will tell a story of two sons. The first promised his father that he would work in the vineyard. Yet, when it came time to do so, he didn’t go. The second said that he wouldn’t work. But later, he repented and did go to work. The son of empty promises is like the nation of Israel. There is outward talk of righteousness, but no fruit of righteousness. They had leaves, but there were no figs. Beginning in Matthew 21:33, Jesus will talk about the vine-growers who hated the owner of the vineyard. Their hatred reached such a point that they would kill the son of the owner. Jesus made it very clear that the religious leaders were like the vine-growers. They hate the Son and have rejected the chief cornerstone. Israel missed their Messiah! They didn’t believe in Him. Their religion was all show. Their religion was all cultural and external—all leaves and no fruit. In Matthew 21:43, Jesus tells them, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”

So, on one level it’s a story about Israel, but it is also a story about us. It is an acted parable with an intended meaning. Just as Jesus went to the fig tree looking for fruit, God comes looking for fruit in our lives. The prophet Isaiah in sang a parable in song about fruit. We read in Isaiah 5:

1 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. … 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help. (Isa 5:1-2, 7).

God looks for fruit in our lives, and not just fruit – He is looking for good fruit, not bad fruit. He is looking for real spiritual fruit of righteousness, not merely the leaves of external religion. Mere religiosity without genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ may look good before men, but it greatly displeases the Lord. When God comes looking for fruit in your life, what will he find? Will he find the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)? Will he find the fruit of righteousness and holiness (Heb. 12:11)? Will He find the fruit of good works that please Him (Col. 1:10)? Will he find the fruit of witnessing as you share with others about Jesus and the gospel (1 Cor. 3:5-6)? Will he find the fruit of praise upon your lips (Heb. 13:15)?

And that leads us to the reaction of the disciples to what they saw; and to the next lesson we’re to learn …

2. The Word about Faith in Prayer (Matt. 21:20-22).

The disciples had a hard time learning the lessons of dependency upon the Lord. They had seen Him perform many miracles. But when they saw Him curse a fig tree, and then saw the fig tree wither and die afterwards, they marveled; saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” (Matt. 5:20).

It’s interesting that He didn’t answer their question directly. Instead, it seems to me that the Lord told them something that they weren’t expecting.

21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matt. 21:21-22).

Jesus told the disciples something similar back in Matthew 17:20 when He answered their question about why they could not help the man with the demon possessed son. There He said: “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”  

Remember that these two verses are not just a random insertion by Matthew about faith and prayer. They come in the context of the cursing of the fig tree, directly in answer to Jesus’ disciple’s question about it, and the in the larger context of conflict with the Jewish religious leaders. They come in the context of the fruitlessness of the religious leaders and the Lord’s desire for good fruit.

So let me ask you, based upon what Jesus teaches here, how does one live a fruitful life before God? The answer: FAITH. The problem of no fruit is the problem of no faith. Jesus says “if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done” (Matt. 21:21). Jesus is using hyperbole here to show that there is nothing that faith in Him cannot do.  We can’t make fig trees wither or cause mountains to throw themselves into the sea. But nothing is impossible for God. Faith lays hold of God’s power to do things that are impossible for us to do.

And then Jesus goes on to tell us that God answers the prayer of faith. He says, “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matt. 21:22) That is an amazing verse. It is a breath-taking promise that God will answer your prayers when you pray in faith believing.

Now I don’t believe that Jesus is giving us some kind of “blank check” to do whatever we want independently from His Lordship. Did you notice that He specifies, “if you have faith and do not doubt . . .”? Who is it we’re to have faith in? Obviously, we’re to have faith in Him! What is it we’re not to doubt? We’re not to doubt His will expressed clearly in His word. It’s all about Jesus—not about what we want. The promise He makes in this passage is NEVER something we’re to try to claim in any other way than with complete, heartfelt, sincere, dependent faith on Him and in obedient trust in His word.

Jesus shows that a lack of fruit is a result of a lack of faith in Him. And a lack of faith in Him is revealed by a lack of prayer to Him. A person who doesn’t pray is a person who wreaks of self-sufficiency. They are a person who is all leaves and no fruit. They are a person who is doing things on their own and in their own strength. And when you do things on your own and in your own strength, do you know what happens? NOTHING. In John 15, Jesus said,

4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.“ (John 15:4-8).

The kind of faith our Lord wants from us is characterized by “abiding” in Him. It’s the kind of faith in the Lord Jesus that recognizes that we draw our very life from Him, and cannot do anything apart from Him. And it involves an understanding of His revealed will through the holy Scriptures; and a commitment be completely yielded to that will without doubt or without wavering.

So, here’s two lessons our Lord wants us to learn from the fig tree—and both lessons have to do with a vital faith in Jesus Christ. First, the tree that is covered with leaves but is barren of fruit teaches us the barrenness of mere religion on the outside when there’s unbelief in Jesus on the inside. Is your religion just an outward show, or is it bearing the fruit of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17)?

Second, the promise of the Savior to the disciples teaches us that real fruitfulness is a product of genuine, living, personal, dependency upon Jesus Christ in faith. Such faith in Jesus brings glory to the Father. When your life is full of fruit, your prayers will be filled with faith, and God will accomplish His purposes through your life and in our church. Is your faith demonstrated by believing prayer?

 

 

 

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The Necessity of the Cross, Part 2

matthew-the-kingdom-of-heaven

The Necessity of the Cross, Part 2

Matthew 16:24-27

We come today to the end of Matthew 16. This chapter records a truly pivotal point in the account of our Lord’s earthly ministry. Simon Peter had declared the fundamental truth about the identity of Jesus, confessing, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Jesus confirmed his confession, saying, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). This led to Jesus declaring to Simon, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” Matt. 16:18). Thus we saw in Matthew 16:18-20 the church’s foundation, builder, victory, and authority.

Matthew then tells us that Jesus gave His disciples the most shocking news: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matt. 16:21). Jesus taught that the cross was a divine necessity. He “must” suffer, be killed, and rise again. It was the Father’s set purpose for Him.

Yet, due to their mistaken expectations, the disciples struggled to understand this truth. Peter even found the idea so intolerable that he dared to pull Jesus aside to rebuke Him. Like the devil, Peter offered Christ the crown without the cross, success without sacrifice, promises without pain. But Jesus rejected the devil’s way and man’s way, and He chose instead God’s way (Matt. 16:23)—the way of the cross. The cross was necessary because it was the will of the Father. It was necessary to save sinners. It was necessary to build His church. It was necessary to purify His bride. It was necessary for the fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven. It was necessary for the glory of God. Thus, Jesus was laser-focused on going to the cross.

And it was then that Jesus turned to His bewildered disciples and called them to do the same, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). If they wanted to follow Him, they also would need to go the way of the cross. The way of the cross was necessary for Jesus, and it is necessary for His disciples. And His disciples include not just the twelve. It is “anyone desires to come after” Jesus. “Not only is Jesus Himself determined to go forward in a path which leads to suffering and death, undeterred by Peter’s remonstrance, and not only must His twelve disciples be willing to follow in such a path, but this holds true of any and every one who wishes to be his follower at all.”[1]

What does it look like to come after Him—to follow Him? What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? That is what Jesus teaches us in this passage today. Jesus is not so much teaching us the conditions of salvation, but the consequences of salvation. He is telling us the cost that comes when you are a disciple of Jesus. We know that the whole New Testament declares that we are saved by God’s grace through believing in Jesus. Christ has paid in full the debt of our sins on the cross, and He is alive today to give forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who believe in Him. Salvation is the gift of God. Redemption is free to us because Christ paid for it with His own blood on the cross. In that sense, being a disciple of Jesus costs us nothing. We do not deserve it, and we cannot earn it. We simply receive it as a gift by the open hand of faith. But in another sense, being a disciple costs us everything. We receive it freely, but it comes with consequences.

Have you ever talked with unbelievers about Christ, explained the gospel message, and urged them to trust Christ to receive God’s gift of salvation—only to have them turn it down? And in their case, it wasn’t because they didn’t understand the truth of the gospel message. It wasn’t because they had some intellectual questions or doubts. It wasn’t because they experienced bad things from the church. No. For them, they didn’t believe in Christ because they knew where following Christ would lead, and they didn’t want to go there. They knew that if they believed in Jesus Christ—because Jesus is Lord, and He is Holy—He would lead them to give up things in their life that they wanted to keep, to change in ways they wouldn’t want to, or to suffer things they wished to avoid. And therefore, they considered the cost too great. Like the rich young ruler, they walked away from the treasure of Christ to hold onto the trinkets of this world.

In this morning’s passage, Jesus confronts us with the cost of being His disciple. Those who wish to follow Him must follow Him by way of the cross. Jesus teaches us of the necessity of the cross. The way of discipleship is the way of the cross. In Matthew 16:24 we will see three demands of discipleship, what it will cost to come after Jesus. Then in Matthew 16:25-27 we will see three reasons for discipleship, why it will be worth it to follow Jesus.

First, we see …

1. The Demands of Discipleship (Matt. 16:24)

Having rebuked Peter for trying to dissuade Him from the cross, in Matthew 16:24, Jesus turned and spoke to all the disciples, saying, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The demands of discipleship are for “anyone” who “desires to come after Me.” The word “desires” means more than is wishful. It is determined and constant exercise of the will.[2] The following demands of discipleship are not optional for disciples. They are for all who are willing to come and follow Jesus.

The first demand is …

A. Deny Yourself

Jesus says, ““If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matt. 16:24). The word “deny” is a very strong one. It means to completely renounce or utterly disown. It’s the same word that describes Peter denying that he even knew Jesus after His arrest (Matt. 26:34,75). When Jesus says that we must deny ourselves, He isn’t simply speaking of a minor act of denying ourselves something that we want—like a bowl of ice-cream after dinner.[3] Nor is He saying to merely deny some portion, fault, habit, desire, or outward practice.[4] He is speaking of nothing less than utterly to deny and renounce our very “selves”.

To deny yourself means that you are done with yourself. You are done with your ways and your wants. Your thoughts, your ambitions, and your feelings all take second place to Jesus. You have surrendered your will to Jesus. What matters now is not yourself, because you have denied yourself. What matters now is the One whom you follow.[5]

This demand from Jesus is completely opposite to the ideology that our modern culture promotes. The progressive philosophy is that the “self” is the highest possible authority—higher than science, logic, social benefit, and even God. People insist they can determine their own reality and if you hinder them, or even disagree, they condemn you for violating their “self”. Self-worship is the wellspring of the immorality, corruption, and decadence that plague our world.

In a world dominated by self-preservation, self-esteem, self-congratulation, and self-promotion, Jesus demands that we deny ourselves. The world says, “Affirm yourself”, but Jesus says, “Deny yourself”. You can either affirm yourself and deny Jesus, or you can affirm Jesus and deny yourself.[6]      

The first demand of discipleship is to deny yourself. The second is …

B. Take Up Your Cross

Jesus said, “let him … take up his cross.” (Matt 16:24). When a person took up a cross in Jesus’ day, that meant only one thing. It meant that person was going to their death. Crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment in the Roman empire. Many Jews had seen hundreds of people crucified. The condemned were, in an act of public humiliation, made to carry their own cross to the place of execution. Many times, people verbally abused and assaulted the cross-bearers along the way. Jesus started out carrying His cross to Golgotha (John 19:17).

So what does Jesus mean when He says to take up your cross? To take up your cross is to go to your death. It means you are like a condemned man on his way to execution. You are willing to suffer every humiliation, insult, and abuse for the name of Jesus Christ. It would means we deny ourselves even to the point of death—just as Jesus did for us. Peter later writes about suffering for Christ, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” (1 Pet. 2:21). To take up your cross means, as Paul wrote, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). For he said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20).

Sometimes, when you hear people say, “This is my cross to bear,” they are talking about their health, their spouse, their children, or some kind burden they face. These things may be real challenges in a Christian’s life, but they are not crosses. One pastor writes, “Circumstances may be painful like a cross, and they may be a burden like a cross, but they themselves are not crosses, for a cross is something that is to be picked up willingly. A cross is something that requires us to deny our way of doing things and to choose God’s way of doing things. It is saying no to our stubborn will and surrendering to God’s sovereign will. Tough circumstances provide plenty of opportunities to pick up our cross, but the circumstance itself is not a cross, it’s only an opportunity to choose one.”[7]

Dr. P.P. Job (1945-2012) was known as the “Billy Graham of India.” He faced severe persecution for preaching Christ. Hindu militants in India failed in an attempt on Job’s life in 1999, but in June of that year they killed his 21-year old son, Michael, by running him down with a car near the medical school where he was studying to become a doctor. In his book, Why God, Why?, Dr. Job tells this story of taking up the cross:

About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales, England.  As a result of this, many missionaries came from England to northeast India to spread the Gospel.  The region was known as Assam and comprised hundreds of tribes.  The tribal communities were quite primitive and aggressive.  The tribesmen were also called head-hunters because of a social custom which required the male members of the community to collect as many heads as possible.  A man’s strength and ability to protect his wife was assessed by the number of heads he had collected.  Therefore, a youth of marriageable age would try and collect as many heads as possible and hang them on the walls of his house.  The more heads a man had, the more eligible he was considered.  Into this hostile and aggressive community, came a group of Welsh missionaries spreading the message of love, peace, and hope of Jesus Christ.  Naturally, they were not welcomed.  One Welsh missionary finally succeeded in converting a man, his wife, and two children.  This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity.  Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers.  He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution.  Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man sung his reply, “I have decided to follow Jesus.  No turning back.”

     Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children.  As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith?  You have lost both your children.  You will lose your wife too.”

     But the man replied, again singing, “Though none go with me, still I will follow.  No turning back.”

     The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down.  In a moment she joined her two children in death.  Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.”

     In the face of death the man sung, “The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.  No turning back.”[8]

This is the demand of discipleship. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and …

C. Follow Jesus

To come after Jesus, to be His disciple means following Him. This means that we must imitate Him. We must go where He goes, and act as He acts, and walk as He walked. It means that we must obey His commands, and keep faithful to His instructions. If Jesus is your Lord, you do what He says.

Disciples of Jesus follow Jesus. And where is Jesus going? The way of the cross. The way of self-denial, suffering, and death. You cannot follow Jesus without going the way of the cross. Paul wrote, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12). Discipleship demands that you deny yourself and be willing even to die for the sake of obedience to Christ.

Obviously, that means that if the day comes that you must suffer or die for Christ, you need not think something went wrong but know that it is the way of following Christ. We need to remove from our thinking the idea that if we are obeying Christ, everything will go smoothly. Following Christ comes with cost.

At this point you might be thinking, “Wow! Those are some pretty strong demands of discipleship. If this is what it means to be a follower of Jesus, why would anyone want to?”

So next, Jesus tells us why being His disciple is worth denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him. 

2. The Reasons for Discipleship (Matt. 16:25-27)

In the next three verses, Jesus gives us three reasons why you should accept these demands and follow Him on the way of the cross. You can recognize these reasons in the text because they all start with the word “for”. The first reason is …

A. Your life depends on it (Matt. 16:25)

Jesus says in Matthew 16:25, “For whoever desires to save his life will loose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” The contrast here is between your temporary life on this earth and your eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. If you try to save your life by living for yourself and for your own goals or desires, you will end up losing it in eternity. But if you lose your life for Jesus, if you deny yourself and follow Christ, you will find it in eternity.

The bible give us many examples of this spiritual principle. In Luke 16, Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man lived for Himself upon the earth. He “was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). Though he had an abundance, he was wicked and ignored the poor, sick beggar at his gate. And where did it land him? It landed him in torment in Hades (Luke 16:23). Contrast him with another rich man in Luke 19 named Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2). When Jesus came to his house, Zacchaeus was transformed by faith in Christ, saying, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” (Luke 19:8). He lost his life. And Jesus said about him, “Today salvation has come to this house … for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9-10).

The rich young ruler came to Jesus, seeking eternal life. When Jesus told him that it would cost him his life and his riches to follow him, “he went away sorrowful” and refused to follow Jesus (Matt. 19:22). For all we know, he saved his life upon the earth, with earthly goods and treasures, but he lost it in eternity. Contrast this with Moses. Hebrews 11 says, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” (Heb. 11:24-26). Moses lost his life upon the earth, but he gained his life in eternity. In Matthew 17, at the transfiguration, we find that Moses is alive and with Jesus.

Why should you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? First, because your life depends on it. Second, because …

B. Your soul is precious (Matt. 16:26)

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

These are rhetorical questions. They are left unanswered because the answers are so obvious. What good is it if you gain the whole world and yet forfeit your soul? The answer is, “No good at all!” You could gain everything, you could have more money, wealth and power than any other human being who has ever lived, and it means absolutely nothing if you lose your life or your soul in the process. And then, what can you give in exchange for your soul? Nothing! Nothing is as valuable as your soul.

Think about King Solomon as he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. He was extremely rich. He was very intelligent. Nothing ever got in the way of his pursuits. He pursued every pleasure (Ecc. 2:1-2), alcohol (Ecc. 2:3), material wealth (Ecc. 2:4-8a), entertainment (Ecc. 2:8b), and sexual pleasure (Ecc. 2:8c). He said, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure” (Ecc. 2:10). And in the end, he concluded, “indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” (Ecc. 2:11). This is what Jesus is saying. The whole world is not enough to exchange for your soul.

Why should you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? First, because your life depends on it. Second, because your soul is precious. And third, because …

C. The reward is priceless (Matt. 16:27)

“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Matt. 16:27). When Christ returns, there will be a judgment. He will reward each person according to what he has done. You will be judged on how you lived your life, whether you lived for self or lived for God.

When Christ returns, the time of suffering for His followers will be over. All those who followed Christ in the way of the cross will now follow Him into glory. In this life, they carried their cross. In eternity, they wear a crown. Colossians 3 says,

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:1-4).

Yes, obedience to Christ may cost you everything, even your own life, but on the day of judgment, you will have no regrets. Throughout eternity, you’ll never regret having joyfully taken up your cross to follow Christ. Every ounce of suffering will be well worth it and more.

Jesus even gives Peter, James, and John a glimpse of that glory six days later in the transfiguration, letting them see clearly that all of His promises are true. I believe that’s what Jesus means when He says in Matthew 16:28, “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Jesus is real. He really came. He really died for sinners. He really rose again. He really is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He really will come again to judge the world. Every knee will bow before Him. And this same Jesus gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. The bible says we have all sinned and rebelled against our Maker, and consequently, we stand condemned before God. But Christ paid our sin debt in full at the cross. Will you repent and believe in Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day? God will credit Christ’s perfect righteousness to you. His death will atone for your sins. You will be forgiven, redeemed, adopted, and born-again as a child of God and heir of eternal life. That is a glorious invitation.

Come to Jesus for eternal life. You can receive it freely by faith. Come to Jesus because your life depends on it, your soul is most precious, and the reward is priceless. Come, realizing it will demand from you everything, even your own life. Yet with Christ, it is worth it all. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18). “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” (2 Cor. 4:17). Jesus said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” (Matt. 5:12).

————————————————-

[1] John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, American Commentary on the New Testament (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1886), 365.

[2] Vincent and Vines Word Studies quoted on Precept Austin Matthew Commentary, https://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew-16-commentary#16:24

[3] Greg Allen, Come Along – and Don’t Forget Your Cross!, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/070807.htm

[4] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 643.

[5] Steve Brandon, You Must Take Up Your Cross, https://sermons.rvbc.cc/sermons/2004-016

[6] Ray Fowler, True Discipleship, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/true-discipleship/

[7] Josh Black, Salvation and Abundant Life Through Cross-Bearing,  https://www.firstfreewichita.org/download/455

[8] Leon Stier, Hymns, https://emailmeditations.com/2014/08/23/499-the-story-behind-the-song-i-have-decided-to-follow-jesus/

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The Parable of the Dragnet

parables-of-the-kingdom

The Parable of the Dragnet

Matthew 13:47-52

In our verse-by-verse exposition of the Gospel of Matthew, we have been studying the kingdom parables that Jesus taught in Matthew 13. Each of these parables unveils profound truth concerning the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 13:11)—truth about the beginning of the kingdom on earth, its obstacles, its spread, its immeasurable value, and its consummation in the final judgment. The Kingdom of Heaven is defined as the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus over His people. For now, that is an invisible, internal kingdom. Jesus rules over our hearts. When the Lord returns, it will be a visible, physical kingdom too.

Today, we come to the parable of the Dragnet. What in the world is a dragnet? When you hear that word, maybe some of you immediately think of the old television police show. One famous phrase from Dragnet is, “The stories you are about to see are true.” And I can tell you this about what Jesus teaches us today, “the parable you are about to see is true.” In this parable, Jesus portrays a principle of the kingdom of heaven that is absolutely true and worthy of our attention. Another famous phrase that Sergeant Friday would often say is, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Today we are going to look at the facts from the One who knows, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus teaches His disciples some truths concerning the judgment of men and the proclamation of the gospel.

1. The Parable of the Dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50).

A. The Picture of the Judgment (Matt. 13:47-48).

Again, Jesus uses a parable, a common story with a spiritual truth. This particular parable was indeed common to the disciples. After all, at least four of them had been professional fishermen and many of the others had grown up around the fishing industry in Galilee.

In Galilee, there were three common types of fishing. First was the simple hook and line. Peter used this method in Matthew 17:24-27 to catch a fish with a coin in its mouth that he used to pay taxes. Second was the one-man casting net. A man would wade out into the shallow water and hand cast this net over schools of small fish. Third was the large “dragnet” or seine that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. It could be pulled between two boats or anchored to the shore on one end so a single boat could pull it to surround the fish. Some of these nets were very large and would drift for hours catching all kinds of fish.

The purpose of the dragnet was to draw everything that came into its sphere, pull it all to the surface or the shore, and allow the fishermen to empty its contents into the boat or onto the beach and pick through it all—selecting the best and most profitable fish, and discarding the rest. We can only imagine what types of things would be caught in a large dragnet. Weeds, refuse, small and large fish, good and bad fish. Jesus said it “… gathered some of every kind.” Anything in the path of the net would eventually be caught and gathered by the fishermen.

We see a couple of examples of this kind of fishing in the Gospels. In Luke 5, Jesus taught the crowds from Simon Peter’s boat. After He was finished, He told Peter to let down his net for a catch. And when Peter and his co-workers did so, Luke tells us, “they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink” (Luke 5:6-7). We have a similar story at the end of the Gospel of John after Jesus had risen from the dead. He stood on the shore and told Peter and his fishing partners to cast their net out at a certain spot. When they did, “they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish” (John 21:6). Eventually, the disciples came to the shore, “dragging the net with fish” (John 21:8). The Lord had made a fire and invited them to bring some of the fish they caught; and we’re told that “Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken” (John 21:11).

Jesus says in Matthew 13:48, “when [the dragnet] was full, they drew” it “to shore” and the fishermen “… sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.” The bad fish are those that couldn’t be used either because they were unclean or not suitable for market.

So first, Jesus tells the parable of the net. The kingdom of heaven is like a net catching fish in a lake. When the net is full, the fishermen collect the good fish in baskets and throw the bad fish away. What does this parable teach us?

B. The Principle of the Judgment (Matt. 13:49).

Jesus doesn’t leave us wondering what this parable means, He explains it clearly. Jesus compares the “dragnet” to the judgment by saying “So it will be at the end of the age…” Jesus specifically tells us this parable is about the end of the age. There is coming a time “at the end of the age” when all men, will be separated and judged.

Earlier in this chapter, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares symbolized believers and unbelievers living alongside each other in the world and their separation and judgment at the end of the age. There are quite a few similarities between the parable of the weeds and the parable of the dragnet. In Matthew 13:41-43, Jesus explained the parable of the wheat and tares…

41 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matt. 13:41-43).

That parable focused more on the co-existing of the good and evil in this present world, whereas the parable of the dragnet focuses more on the separation of the good and evil at the end of the age.

As in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, “The angels”, God’s agents of justice, “will come forth.” Their task will be to “separate the wicked from among the just” (Matt. 13:49). Notice in both these parables the role of the angels in separating the wicked from the righteous at the end of the age.

This agrees with Jesus’ other teachings in the gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 24:31, Jesus teaches that when the Son of Man comes on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, “… He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Angels also appear in Jesus’ teaching about the sheep and goat judgment in Matthew 25. There, He said, “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. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.” (Matt. 25:31-32).

Listen to John MacArthur’s words as he describes the judgment using Jesus’ metaphor of the dragnet:

Men move about within that net as if they were forever free. It may touch them from time to time, as it were startling them. But they swim quickly away, thinking they have escaped, not realizing that they are completely and inescapably encompassed in God’s sovereign plan. The Invisible web of God’s judgment encroaches on every human being just as that of the dragnet encroaches on the fish. Most men do not perceive the kingdom, and they do not see God working in the world. They may be briefly moved by the grace of the gospel or frightened by the threat of judgment; but they soon return to their old ways of thinking and living, oblivious to the things of eternity. But when man’s day is over and Christ returns to set up His glorious kingdom, then judgment will come.[1]

This kingdom ‘dragnet’ would not only draw people from all people groups around the world; but it would also draw both the faithful and the faithless, both the just and the wicked. And Jesus is teaching us that not all who appear to embrace His kingdom will truly have a part in it. He warns that at the end of the age—just after He returns to this earth to assume the full possession of His kingdom—He will separate out from it those who do not belong in it.

C. The Peril of the Judgment (Matt. 13:50).

In Matthew 13:50, Jesus says that the “wicked” will be “cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” I think it’s very instructive that, in this parable, the Lord doesn’t tell us about the destiny of those who are His “just” ones. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, He does tell us about their destiny. He tells us that, on that great day when He returns to this earth and commences His earthly reign with the great “separation”, then “the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43). But there is no such joyful note here in this parable.[2] Instead, Jesus ends with the dreadful warning that the angels “will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:49-50).

“Wailing” suggests anguish. Hell is a place of conscious torment. And I believe that one of the greatest aspects of that torment will be an eternal separation from the God who made us for Himself and loved us, but whom we refused. The wicked did not want to bow to Him or serve Him or even know Him. And then—to their eternal anguish—they will have what they wanted.

The phrase “gnashing of teeth” describes intense hatred and malice. King David wrote of how the wicked “plots against the just and gnashes at him with his teeth” (Psa. 37:12) and of how ungodly mockers at feasts “gnashed at me with their teeth” (Psa. 35:16). Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations of how the enemies of Israel “have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth” (Lam. 2:16). And in the book of Acts, after Stephen preached to the Jewish leaders—just before they rose up and stoned him to death—we’re told that “they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth” (Acts 7:54). Hell is a place of eternal torment for those who hated our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

We find similar imagery in the book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament where we read: “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14-15)

The biblical doctrine of hell is hard for many people to accept. However, if we are to be true to God’s Word, we must accept its reality. The teachings about judgment in Scripture are essential. If there is no judgment, then there is no need for salvation. If there is no final judgment, then many of the wicked in this life would get away with their wickedness. If there is no moral reckoning, then God is unjust. But God’s kingdom is a kingdom of justice, and so, yes, there is a day of judgment coming.[3]

Hell is not a mythical place. Jesus spoke more about hell than any other prophet or apostle. He constantly emphasized the reality of eternal punishment. And He used horribly graphic terms to describe it. There is a reason. It’s because He is the Savior of mankind who will also one day come as the Judge of all the earth. He loves people more than they could ever know and does not wish for them to suffer eternal punishment. Therefore, He tells the horrible facts about it because He does not want people to experience it and has come to save them from it.

When people die, or when the Lord returns, they do not go out into nothingness or cease to exist. God will “separate” the wicked from the righteous and “cast them into the furnace of fire.” Jesus Himself knows those who are truly His within His dragnet. And on the great day of judgment when the angels pull the dragnet to shore, the Lord will see to it that the wicked are separated from the righteous—both to the praise of His grace, and to the glory of His justice.

The Bible teaches that the Lord has no pleasure in the destruction of wicked people. In Ezekiel 18:23, the Lord asks, “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is … longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Luke 19:41 records how Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people would not repent. Our Lord is a good and merciful Savior. And when the final judgment comes, no one who heard His gospel will be able to say that He did not give them ample opportunity to believe it and trust in Him. No one under the influence of His “gospel dragnet” will be able to have an excuse for not knowing Him and trusting Him as they should. In fact, Mt.25:41 tells us hell was not created for men but was “prepared for the devil and his angels.”     

Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the dragnet is clear. It is a warning that judgment is coming. Those who have rejected Christ and His kingdom will be separated out of it and sent away to eternal torment.

Jesus has just shared all seven of these parables of the kingdom. Now he encourages the disciples to teach these parables to others. So He teaches them …

2. The Parable of the Householder (vv. 51-52).

A. Have you understood? (Matt. 13:51)

In Matthew 13:51, Jesus asked His disciples, “Have you understood all these things?” The word “understand” means “put together”. We could say that He was asking them, “Have you put all the pieces of these things together so that you now comprehend them?” Remember the parables are designed both to conceal and reveal. The parables are meant to conceal the truth from those whose hearts are hardened towards God. And they are meant to reveal spiritual truth to those whose hearts are open towards God.

“Have you understood all these things?” That’s a good question for us. Do we have an understanding, have we put together these vital truths of the kingdom and the judgment? The truths Jesus teaches in these parables disclose God’s program for history and eternity.

Do we really believe what the parable of the sower teaches—that we come into the kingdom by hearing and receiving the message of the gospel so that it produces fruit in us? Do we believe that even though we live alongside unbelievers like wheat and tares in a field, that there is a time coming when we will be separated? Do we believe that the kingdom, even though it appears small and insignificant like a mustard seed, will ultimately permeate and rule over the whole world? Do we believe that the kingdom is a treasure worth more than everything else in life? Do we really believe that judgment is coming, that hell is real, and that the kingdom of heaven is glorious?

The disciples answered, “Yes, Lord.” Though their understanding was far from perfect they understood what they could at the time. They accepted the things they understood and they were eager to understand more. The truths about the kingdom that Jesus teaches in these parables are meant to be received by eager, hungry learners who love Jesus Christ, have ears to hear Him, and a heart to go forward and follow Him. They are for those whose heart cry is “Thy kingdom come!” Apart from Jesus Christ, the truths in these parables cannot be understood. But through an authentic relationship with Him by faith, they can be.[4] In Matthew 13:12, Jesus said, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have an abundance.”

So we respond to the parables of the kingdom by being eager learners, disciples who want to hear and understand.

B. Then be like good householders (Matt. 13:52)

Finally, in Matthew 13:52 Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

This verse is like a mini-parable that sums up the disciples’ responsibility concerning all the other parables. The word “scribe” means “one who writes.” In those days the term referred to a student and teacher of the law. The word “instructed” is the verb form of the word disciple. Under Jesus’ teaching, the disciples were becoming scribes—students and teachers of the truths of God’s kingdom.

Jesus implies an expectation of us regarding the mysteries of the kingdom. We aren’t supposed to sit passively and receive information about the kingdom—as if the Lord wants to merely pour knowledge into empty heads. Rather, we are to grow. We are to be scribes and disciples—astutely trained scholars in the school of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, who work hard at understanding and applying the kingdom truths He imparts to us.

Jesus said such a scribe was to be like a “householder.” This literally means the “house-master”. He was the manager of a household, or a family, or a large estate. He would maintain supplies of food and clothing and use them wisely. He was responsible for making sure that everything in the treasure-store was well-stocked; so that when anything was needed for the provision of each member of the household, and for the smooth operation of the house, it was provided.

The “householder” or head of the house would “bring out of his treasure [storehouse] things old and new.” They were to “bring out” the truth, which means to “cast forth.” They were not to keep the truth of the kingdom to themselves. They were to bring it out and cast it forth. In other words, one of the distinguishing marks of a true disciple of the kingdom is that they share the treasure. They share the truth of the kingdom, the word of God.

The disciples, later, as they became apostles would dispense both “new and old” revelation. In other words, both the Old Testament and the New Testament are important. They are both the word of God. The older teachings about God and the kingdom are still valuable and true. But now we must add to them these newer teachings about the kingdom.

The newer teachings do not replace the old teachings. Rather the new teachings complete them and fulfill them. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” A teacher of the law who only knows the Old Testament can only teach the law. But those who know the New Testament also teach faith in Christ and God’s grace given to us in his Son Jesus.

We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

God has given you everything you need in His word to teach others about the kingdom and to reach others for Jesus Christ. All Scripture is useful for teaching, both the old and the new. The new completes the old. So, we focus on Jesus and His teachings about the kingdom.

Jesus is coming again. When He comes, this world will end. God’s great dragnet will sweep through the earth and no one will escape. All people, great and small, will stand before the throne and be judged according to their works. The punishment for the wicked will be serious and severe. Those who have rejected Jesus Christ will experience eternal pain, mourning, and regret. Only those whose names are found written in the Lamb’s book of life will be saved.

And so, now is the time to make your decision about Jesus. It will be too late after you die or after Jesus returns. Now is the time for salvation. When Jesus returns, that will be the time for judgment. Because God will make the division then, you must make your decision now.

Have you trusted Jesus for salvation? If not, I urge you, I encourage you, I invite you, I welcome you – come to Jesus today. He loves you. He died for you. He is waiting for you. What are you waiting for?

And to us who already belong to Christ, are you telling others about Him?

I remember another phrase from the show, Dragnet. Sargent Friday would say, “We were working the day watch.”

There’s a whole mass of humanity all over the world moving toward judgment. God has placed this church here to be a lighthouse, a rescue operation to get the word out about the kingdom of heaven, about eternity, about heaven and hell, but most importantly to get the word out about the Savior, Jesus Christ. Are you working the day watch?

The church is not a country club where you come to socialize, pay a few dues, and leave. We are not a performing arts center where talented people do their thing up on stage and the congregation applauds and nods approvingly and leaves unaffected. We’re the body of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit and commissioned to proclaim to our world that Jesus saves.

The stakes are high. It’s not just life and death, it’s eternal life and eternal death that hangs in the balance. We have the treasure, the good news of the kingdom of heaven—the word of God. We have the Savior Jesus Christ. We have the Holy Spirit to empower us. We are His church. Let’s bring the treasure of the gospel to everyone.

————————————————————————

[1] John MacArthur, New Testament Commentary—Matthew, p. 395.

[2] Greg Allen, Bad Fish in the Dragnet – Matthew 13:47-50, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/120306.htm

[3] Ray Fowler, The Parable of the Net, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/parable-of-the-net/

[4] Greg Allen, Students of the Kingdom – Matthew 13:51-52, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/010707.htm

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