Matthew: Parables of Jesus 2023

If you'd like to grab a Bible and turn with me to Matthew 13, we're gonna be continuing in our series on parables from Matthew. And we're gonna be starting at verse 44 onto 52. Matthew 13 verse 44. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found what a great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore, then they sat down and collected the good fishing baskets, but threw the bad away.

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood all these things? Jesus asked? Yes, they replied.

He said to them, Therefore, every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of a storeroom new treasures as well as old. Tom. Alright. Thanks, Rory. And if you could keep that little parable open in front of you, that would be that would be good.

My name is Tom Sweitman. I'm 1 of the pass us here and, lovely to welcome you. I know there are a few people who are here for the, for the first time tonight, and, it's great to have you. This is a series that we started not so long ago in the in the parables of Jesus. And, we've been learning particularly in the last few all the secrets of the kingdom of god that are disclosed to us, in these remarkable little stories.

And, we're coming to this famous 1 this evening. We're gonna be focusing on this famous 1, the power of the net. So as we come to it, shall we, shall we bow our heads and pray? And ask that the lord would give us the meaning and the sense of it this evening. Farther we, know because the lord Jesus, has has told us that these these parables can conceal truth and they can reveal truth, that they can illuminate secrets and truths and wonders and warnings about the kingdom of god to us, and they can lead us to you and yet other times people hear the stories and they think, oh, that was a that was a quaint story or that was interesting and but the but the meaning isn't given.

There's no understanding. There's no sense of the the spiritual depth and the reality in the parables. And so we pray please that you would be you would be kind enough to give us all the the first kind of understanding this evening, that you would use this little story, and you would reveal great eternal truths to us. And that you would reveal them in such a way that we really change and respond because of what we've seen. And, we ask these things in Jesus name.

Our men? Well, the little parable before us, this evening re really is a a remarkable story. It's a remarkable story. It's it's 2000 years since this story was first told we are approximately 2000 miles away from the place that this story was told in, and yet it comes to us 2000 miles away and 2000 years on with the same absolute clarity that it would have landed with when it was first told. It it it is such a simple straightforward story, isn't it?

Mean, have a look at it. What what have what have we got? We've got we've got a lake, and we've got a net, and we've got some fish. And we've got some fishermen, and then we've got a separation. And that's it.

That's really it. You don't need to know anything about fishing to get this 1. You don't need to have been alive in first century Israel or have visited Israel at any point since to understand the meaning. You don't need a degree in theology in order to grasp what this is about. It it is so utterly clear and so straightforward and so simple.

Every beginner's Bible will have this story in it illustrated. Every children's Bible will have this story in it. Even the toddler Bibles at home, the the toddler Bibles have this story in it. It's so simple. Even a child can understand.

And yet, as 1 commentator says about it, this isn't a story that you tell just in order to soothe people off the bed. To soothe them off to sleep. This is more like the sound of an air alarm, an air raid alarm that rings out through the ages and rings out into the dark and says, you need to wake up because judgment is coming and heaven is glorious and hell is horrible it's horrible to go to hell. And are you ready? Are you ready?

That's what Jesus is telling us. You see, some of these topics that we're gonna cover this evening, may be uncomfortable for us. But the wonderful thing about Jesus is he loves us too much to shy away from these kinds of things, especially in Matthew chapter 13. He loves us too much. And so he tells us these little stories which we really can grasp and picture and understand.

Because he wants us to warn he wants to warn us about the horrors of hell, and he wants to get us prepared so that we're ready for judgment. And he wants us to treasure him as a pearl and as a treasure. And he wants us to love his kingdom because by that kingdom and in that kingdom, we can be saved from a from a terrible fate. It's interesting where this parable comes, isn't it? If you just look down at, the, at what see the side of it.

So look look with me rather at verse 44 that we had read. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, He went and sold all that he had and bought that field. And what a discovery that must have been? I mean, that's not like a ring pull or a bottle cap.

Is it? I mean, that that's a big that's a big discovery. We saw this last week. Didn't we? What what a treasure to unearth?

But here's the question. What is it about the kingdom of god, which makes it so valuable? Why is it so precious? Why has it got such great value attached to it? Well, look at look at the context.

What does he say in verse 41? The son of man will send out his angels and they will weed out of his kingdom. Everything that causes sin and all who do evil they will throw them into the blazing furnace where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. So that's 1 side of it What's the other side? Verse 49, this is how it will be at the end of the age.

The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous. And throw them into the blazing furnace. Do you see what comes either side of that? So you've got the parable of the kingdom, which is like hidden treasure, why is it so valuable? Why is it so valuable?

Because in the kingdom of god, we are saved from an eternity like that for an eternity that is so much sweeter. Now, of course, the Christian knows that the kingdom of god isn't just precious because of what it saves us from because to be honest, any clear thinking person would want to avoid life in hell. You don't have to be a Christian to want to avoid going somewhere like that. And so the Christian knows that actually the most precious thing of all about the kingdom of god is not the rescue itself, although that's great, but the rescue are. It's not just the kingdom of god as a concept.

It's the king who wears the crown. That's what's most precious to us. It's Jesus. But nonetheless, you can see the connection here in these little stories. Can't you?

Why is the kingdom of god so valuable? Because by the king, we are saved from hell for heaven forever. That's why. And so we come to this story here, the parable of the net. And really, there there are 2 parts to this parable, 2 scenes, 2 worlds.

There's the world beneath the waves. What's happening under the water, and then there's the world upon the beach up in the daylight. There's a submarine world. What's happening under the waves? And then there's whatever the opposite of submarine is.

I don't actually know. I was hoping someone would know. What's the opposite of submarine? Supermarine. Yeah.

You can write in if you're watching online. You may even be able to use the live chat function and you can type all the opposite For those are the 2 words, you've got the underwater and you've got the above water. Okay? And then we're gonna look at 5 implications of this of this story. Alright?

So let's have a look. This is the submarine world, the world beneath the waves. First 47. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fisherman pulled it on the shore.

Then they sat down and collected the good fishing baskets but threw the bad away. So this is scene 1, and it's very it's very inviting language, isn't it? We read about it, and I think Jesus would want us to to picture ourselves by the side of or by the shores or on the shores of Lake Gallery. You know, you can imagine yourself there. It's a warm day and you're looking out over the lake and you feel a gentle wind coming up off the water.

And you look across the waves and you can see the sunlight just shimmering and sparkling and dancing and reflecting off the water. And all around the lake, you can you can see people going about their business. Because these these are like hives of industry. So over there on 1 of the lakeside paths, you can see a man, pushing his cart off to market. Taking some of his fruit and vegetables to sell perhaps.

But on the other side, on the hills, you can see our farmer, leading his, leading his herds or leading his flock down to fresh green pastures. And everywhere you look, there's there's something going on. And then you look out over the water and you see 2 boats that are just like brown smudges on the horizon, but you know what they are, 2 boats out in the middle, about a hundred foot apart, and you know what they're doing because you live here. You live around this lake. They're fishing.

And between those 2 boats is what's called a dragnet. It's a large net about a hundred feet long. On the bottom, they would tie weights or stones. So the bottom of the net went straight down to the floor of the lake and would sweep it along. And on the top, they put little floats or little bundles of reeds to keep the top half of the net up.

And you know what they're doing. There's a net between them and it is silently sweeping through the lake. And between the 2 borders of the net, there are hundreds and hundreds of fish that are being gathered Some of them will know about it because they'll be at the edge. They'll be hitting against the side and wondering what's going on. Many of them won't.

Just be in the middle somewhere, swimming along, not realizing that they're being collected up and swept up into this large net that is silently sweeping through the water. They reckon there was about 30 different species of fish in lake in late galilee. 30 different species, different kinds, some big, some small, some with scales and fins, some without, some that will be edible, some that won't be. Some they'll be able to sell at markets, some they'll have to throw away. 30 different species and hundreds of those different species are being gathered silently up into this net.

That's the submarine Well, that's what's going on beneath beneath the waves. And then you can see verse 47 to 48. Some of the things that we're learning about it. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake. So what is this net?

This is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is like this, he says. The kingdom of heaven is like this net. In other words, the message of the kingdom of heaven is this net which is silently sweeping through the sea of humanity still to this day. And it is catching every person who has ever lived within its boundaries.

The net works its way works its way through. And of course, this submarine world is the world that we live in now, isn't it? This is our this is our world. This is where we're at now. We are alive at this time when that kingdom message is being preached through all the world, and that people of every tribe, language, tongue, nation, all people everywhere are somewhere between the boundaries of this net.

It's right, isn't it? And so you think about your world tomorrow morning. Let's say it's 7 30 AM, you're at Servburton station, you're about to get the train to work and you're standing there and the train pulls in. There's 8 carriages, something like that. And you get on were how many faith traditions will be represented on the train tomorrow morning.

How many languages would you hear spoken if you were to walk up and down the carriages. How many cultures and traditions might be there with you on that train all all swimming together? All swimming together. Well, let's say you're at you're at school or you're at college. It's 1 o'clock in the afternoon and you you hear the lunch bell.

You go to the canteen and lunch is being served and you sit there and all your classmates are there. If you if you're at a secondary school or something, I don't know what Coom would be thousand 1500, something like that, all in in the school together. How many faith traditions? Will be eating dinner in the hall, how many cultures, how many languages, how many nationalities will be represented there, all swimming together, thin to thin, scale to scale. All there together.

When you think about coming home from work tomorrow, it's up at 6, you get off the bus, you're walking up your roads, and all those houses that you live around are there. You know, some of your neighbors have been there a long time. Others have just moved in. Most you don't know at all. Some you know a little bit all making a home together, all swimming together for now.

Now it's not that there isn't a distinction beneath the waves. There is. There really is. That distinction is real. That distinction between good and bad doesn't just appear when it gets onto the beach.

That distinction is there in the net. It's really there. Some they will be able to keep and some they won't. It's just for now while it's underwater and the net is gathering, there's a certain hiddenness about it. Not everything is seen now as it will be seen then.

Internal realities and gospel identities are there but they're not seen now as they will be as they will be then. Just to illustrate for you, there's a wonderful story in Luke 15. Called the, the parable of the lost, the lost coin. And this woman loses some coins, and then she finds she finds the last 1, the lost 1 that she was looking for. And that soon as she, soon as she finds it, she rings up her mates and, she says, guess what?

Praise the lord. I've I've found it. I've found it. It's great. The last coin.

And Jesus says, that in the same way there is rejoicing in the presence of god in the same way when a sinner repents and is found and comes home, there is rejoicing in the presence of god or in the presence of the angels rather in the presence of the angels. So god is the 1 doing rejoicing. In other words, when somebody becomes a Christian, heaven goes wild. Everybody in heaven knows what's happened. Yeah?

Someone's become a Christian praised the lord. God is rejoicing in the presence of the angels. They're saying, we've got to issue a new passport. This got we've got a new citizen of heaven, a citizen of the kingdom. We need to go and make another room ready because somebody's gonna be coming here and spending eternity with us.

Something massive has happened. And yet that new Christian will wake up the next day in exactly the same bed as they did yesterday. And they will look out the window and the same clouds will be rolling on in the sky as they did yesterday. And the same traffic is gonna be building on the roads as it did the day before. And when they look in the mirror, it will be exactly the same reflection staring back at them.

Now has something changed in their lives? Absolutely. Does heaven know what's happened? Yeah, it does. Are they gonna begin to change to become more like Christ?

Yeah, they will. These huge dramatic kingdom things have taken place. But for now, they still look like they always did and they live where they always lived and they haven't been plucked and taken straight to heaven. There's there's a certain hiddenness about their new identity. That 1 day is going to be revealed.

And so do you see, that's the first that's the first world, the world beneath the waves, the submarine world, all being swept together, but not everything is as clear as it will be next. So let's have a look at the next world now. Verse 47 to 48. There's the world beneath the waves and there's the world upon the sand. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.

When it was full, the fisherman pulled it onto the shore. And then they sat down and collected the good fishing baskets but threw the bad away. And so here you are, you can imagine them now. They finished their fishing trip and somehow they know. I'm not quite sure how they know, but they know that the net is full and that it's time to come home.

And so they start to come together the 2 boats and they start to close-up the edges of the net and they make their way for the shore. And when they beach the boats, the real work is only just beginning because they then got a hand over hand haul their catch up onto the sand. And so you can imagine them wiping the sweat off their brows and rolling their sleeves up and recruiting some of their mates in order to help with the job They've gotta they've gotta pull this thing from the sea up onto the sand and then they've gotta get the baskets and then the sorting is gonna begin. And so they're gonna open up the nets and they're gonna look at the great flip flopping wet mass in front of them. And they're gonna have to sort them out.

Some of them are gonna be too small. They're gonna be the wrong type. They're gonna be inedible. They're not gonna be able to be eaten or sold. And at this time, what they would do is just simply discard them and leave them on the beach.

So they would be left for the wild animals. They'd be left for the birds to come and take away. And then those inedible fish would just be just be scattered to every corner of galilee. The good fish, the ones they can keep, the ones that can be eaten, the ones that can be enjoyed. Well, they're put in the baskets, they're loaded up and they're gladly taken off to market and they kept.

Very simple, isn't it? All that was in the net swimming together is coming to a point of separation. They're gonna be separated. And you know, what they do here in verse 48 when they separate out the fish, it is just what happens all over the place in many, many different industries. So you think about teachers, you know, at the end of the day when they're bringing home all the classwork and they've gotta do some marking.

Well, that's a type of separation, isn't it? You know, you've gotta decide which pieces of work make the grade and which don't. You've gotta decide which get the get the red at the red cross and which get the green tick? Well, I don't think they do that anymore, do they? Cause that's sort of devastating now for a kid to see a red cross.

So it's just either excellent or excellent and needs a bit more work, isn't it? I think that's how it goes. Anyway, there's a separation. You know, there's a sorting out to be done. Or if you're a nurse in A and E, if you're a triage nurse and you're at the front door and, you know, every person that comes through the door You've gotta make a distinction, haven't you?

You've gotta do some separating. Some have gotta be seen straight away. Some can't sit in the waiting room for 6 hours, you know, others can. Others can be put. They've gotta make a call.

They've gotta make a separation. This is only what these fishermen are doing. They're making a separation. Between the good and the bad, that which they can keep and that which they can't, that which they can take, and that which must be left. And then Jesus comes to the application.

Verse 49. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous. They will separate the wicked from the righteous. In other words, Jesus wants us to see that this day of separation is really, really coming upon the world.

That history is not is not cyclical. We are not just going round and round and round and round heading nowhere at all. We are heading towards a definite point in history. There is a day marked in god's calendar when the old age is gonna be done away with and the new age will begin. There is a day of separation coming.

You know, those fishermen, when they went out to the lake that day to do their fishing, they went out with purpose. Right? They didn't say, should we fancy going on the lake? Should we just sail around in circles for a few hours? Should we just sail around and then come back?

Now they went there was a there was something linear about what they're doing. We're gonna leave now. We're gonna spread the nets. We're gonna fill the nets. We're gonna bring them back.

We're gonna separate them. We're gonna discard and we're gonna take. History was moving somewhere for them that day. And the same is true for us. We're not just going round and round and round.

We are heading towards a day of judgment. There is going to be a great interruption 1 day, when god himself returns in the person of Jesus and the new age will commence. It's interesting in our Paul's sermon in acts 17 when he's in when he's in Athens. When he gets to the end of that sermon, he makes a call for the people to repent. And he says very clearly that there is this day coming, this judgment day.

It's really coming, and god has given proof that it's coming, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead 2000 years ago was a loud proclamation to the world that judgment day is coming because death had been defeated. Jesus proved that there was something after death. There was a new existence, a new creation that was coming. The resurrection is the proof that judgment day is coming and that we need to get ready for That's what Jesus is talking about here.

There's the submarine world, but then there's the world up on the sand. There's judgment day. And on that day will be the separation, good from bad, wicked from righteous, and then we will be in to the eternal state. And so that's just the 2 halves of the story really. There's the world under the waves and there's the world upon the sand.

There's this world that we're in now all swimming together. All of us. That there's another world where everything that is true and clear will be seen in the daylight, and then we will be off to our different destinations. Forever. And then you can see verse 51 and we'll just go through a few short implications of this verse 51.

Jesus says Have you understood all these things? That's a great question, isn't it? Have you understood? Have you understood all of these things? And I think there are 5 things that need to be understood from this story.

5 short things that need to be understood. Firstly, have we understood the categories that Jesus is talking about here. Have we understood the categories? Have we understand Have we understood the good and the bad and the wicked and the righteous? Because on the surface, it seems very simple, doesn't it?

Very simple category. You know, the goods were they're the righteous people and the bad were they're the wicked people. And if I had to choose, I I think I would be among the good. You know? I I, you know, I'm okay.

I'm not perfect, but I'm not like some of these other monsters in the net. You know, there's some sharks in here. There's some pretty horrible characters in this net. I mean, there's all kinds of dark nasties from the deep. I'm not like 1 of them.

Okay. I'm not the perfectly golden scaled beauty that's gonna fetch top dollar at the market. I'm not 1 of them, but I'm not 1 of the monsters. You know, I'm I'm I'm 1 of the ones that will be kept. You know, I'm good, you know, I'm good, I'm a good righteous person.

But, you know, we must resist those simple definitions. That the good and the righteous are simply those who live good, upstanding moral lives and the bad and the wicked are really anyone worse than us, unlike us. And you know, if we've been reading Matthew's Gospel from the beginning, we would understand very well who the righteous actually are. Just turn back with me to Matthew 5. And have a look in your bibles at the sermon on the Mount.

Here's a definition of the righteous and those who come into the kingdom of heaven. This is Matthew Fine verse verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those. Who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. That's Jesus' definition of a righteous person. It is not somebody who is already good enough in themselves, not somebody who can look at their own lives and say righteous enough In god's kingdom, a righteous person is someone who recognizes their own barrenness, and they recognize their own poverty. And they recognize that they've been given 1 life and that they've made a bit of a mess of it and that they've hurt other people and they've lived as if god weren't real and they don't deserve anything good from his hand.

And so they hunger for a righteousness that is not their own and they thirst for a goodness that is not theirs by nature. And they reach out to god and they say be merciful to me, poor in spirit grant me that which I need, but don't have in myself. That's a good person. Not someone who's good in themselves, but someone who's made good by the lord as they trust in him. Or how about the wicked?

Well, the wicked are those who do not do that. They do not think that they need Christ. They think that they are fine without him. In fact, they would rather do life without him. You might remember if you were here a few weeks ago, we looked at the parable of the weeds and it is quite it is quite shocking, isn't it?

The division that Jesus makes there? He says the wheat are the sons of the kingdom and the weeds are the sons of the devil. Now, that's quite something to be called, isn't it? If you're not a Christian, I'm a son of the devil. I'm a daughter of the devil.

Well, that's just so far from how I would understand myself. But as we were seeing then, it's all about alignment, isn't it? If I am not aligned with the king of heaven seeking his will, seeking his ways, then I am aligned with the kingdom of evil, seeking my ways. Ignoring God and living for myself. That's the distinction.

Those are the categories Jesus is talking about. The good and the bad, the righteous and the wicked, those who have found a goodness from god, and those who have ignored god and looked for a goodness elsewhere. Those are the categories that he's talking about. The separation will be on that basis. Have we sought righteousness from god?

Or have we not? So firstly, have you understood the categories? Do you understand that? Secondly, have you understood the continuity between the world under the waves? And the world on the sand.

Do you see that there is a continuity between them? In other words, what we are in the net, we will be upon the sand. And again, we saw that, didn't we? With the wheat and the weeds. There is a continuity between this life and the 1 to come.

If we are wheat in the field, we will be wheat in the barn. If we are weeds in the field, we will be weeds in the furnace. If we are fish good fish in the net, we'll be good fish on the beach. If we're bad fish in the net, we'll be discarded on the sand. There is a continuity.

Between then and now, between this life and the next. You see some parables like the parable of the sower, they emphasize our response now. Are you listening now? Are you actually listening now as the word of god goes out? But some parables emphasize what we will be then.

But you see there is always a distinction between there is always a a relationship between those 2 because what we are now, we will be then. How we respond today is what we will be like tomorrow. Have you understood not just the categories? Between the wicked and the righteous, but have you understood the continuity between who you are today and who you will be forever? Good in the net, good on the beach, bad in the net, discarded on the beach, discontinuity.

Thirdly, have you understood the consequences here? Look again at verse 49 to 50. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And again, we look at that language and we might think gosh, it's just uncomfortable, isn't it?

It's just uncomfortable language. And there is something uncomfortable about it. Thrown into a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth as we saw this morning thrown into a into a forever darkness. But, you know, with god, nothing is ever over the top. The punishment always fits the crime.

You see, our problem is today that we don't think that rejecting Jesus is that big a deal. We just think he's like an app that we can either have on our phones or not. We think he's like, you know, a loyalty card, which we can either spend or keep, you know, we he's just he's just a an accessory that we might want or download or use that we might not, and we don't appreciate the preciousness and the holiness and the wonder and the kindness of God. And we don't see therefore that to reject him is to turn your back on the most glorious gift that you could ever be given. With god, the punishment always fits the crime, nothing is ever over the top.

And these are the consequences brothers and sisters of rejecting Christ in this life. He couldn't put it more clearer, could he? Into the blazing furnace is a place of pain where there will be weeping a place of sadness. And gnashing of teeth, the place of anger and regret, have we understood the consequences of not being found righteous in this life? By Christ.

4 3 then, have we understood the call to repent? Have we understood the call to repent? See, the Bible tells us that 1 day, when this day of separation comes, that every person who has ever lived is gonna be gathered before the great white throne of Jesus Christ. And we're told that the sea will give up its dead. And the land will give up its dead.

And everyone who has ever lived is gonna stand before the great white throne, and then the book, the books are gonna be opened. The books are gonna be opened. And the question is, do you wanna do you wanna come to that day without knowing the savior? Do you wanna have the book opened which has got every 1 of your deeds done? And every 1 of your thoughts, thoughts, and every motivation of your heart on show, and to be judged on that basis alone.

You wanna come to the day of separation without a savior? Or would you rather come there knowing that you have trusted the lord Jesus Christ and all your punishment has been paid on the cross. And all your shame has been taken away, and you are not gonna be humiliated, and you are not gonna be embarrassed, and you're not gonna have to have anything to account for. Because as we heard this morning, when you trusted Jesus, the Lord said to you, I will remember your sins. No.

More. They're all forgotten. They're misremembered. They're left. You see, it might be that I'm talking to someone this evening who's who's who's right on the edge of this kind of thing, and is is wondering what to do.

And this evening is like a little bit of little light going on in your conscience thinking, you know, there's something maybe there's something in there. There's something in there. I think that's what it would be like as a fish in the net to bump into the side. You know, you you suddenly think, oh, there's there's something more. Like, there's something more.

What's going on here? This there's there's like another world which I hadn't really thought about. I'm just swimming away and what's this great? What's this thing? And our conscience is slightly awakened.

And then we've got a choice. You know, do we just swim back into the middle of the pack? You think, I go, you know, I don't wanna see that again. I wanna go into the darker middle bit with everybody else, but we don't think about we don't think about the net. Or do we actually say You know, I need I need to know where this is going.

If this thing's closing in on me, I need to get ready. And it might be that you're here and you feel like that. Well, I can't, you know, I can't convince you. I can't convince you to become a Christian. If the lord is gonna give you insight into these things, then he's the 1 who's gotta do it.

But for my own part, I can say that in a hundred years time when you've gone into eternity, you would never for 1 second regret. Asking Jesus to be your Savior, asking Jesus to be made right so that on the day of separation, you don't have to be discarded and left for the birds, but you can be hugged up, put into the basket. And taken off to a glorious kingdom. In a hundred years time, you will never for a second regret doing that, but everyone who says no regrets it forever. And so it might be that you're here and you need to hear the call to repent this evening.

Lastly, have you understood the charge to go? Have you understood the charge to go? There's the categories to understand. There's the continuity to understand. There's the consequences to get a grip off.

There's the call to repent, and then there's the charge to go disciples of Jesus, do we understand the charge to go? Because this story is partly here to say brothers and sisters, we need to keep being fishers of men. We need to keep throwing the net out. All who want to come can come. We need to keep throwing the net out and calling people to think of eternity.

I'll finish with this. This is a this is a CS Lewis quote which you which which you might know. It's a very famous quote. But what I hadn't appreciated about it until this week was the context of it. This is from a book called the, it's a book of sort of sermons and essays called the weight of glory.

And, this is what this is what Lewis, Lewis says. He says it is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may 1 day be a creature which if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long, we are in some degree helping each other to 1 or 2 of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities. It is with the awe and circumspection proper to them.

That we should conduct all our dealings with 1 another, all friendships, all love, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization. These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat, but it is immortals.

Whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play, but our merriment must be of that kind. And it is in fact the merriest kind, which exists between people who have from the outset, taken each other seriously. We need to take each other seriously.

You have never spoke to a mere mortal. You've thought about that before? You have never spoke to a mere mortal. Everybody that you have had anything to do within your life will either be a creature of such splendor that see them now as they will be, and you'd be tempted to worship them, or such a horror that you would meet only in the worst of nightmares every and you know is an immortal. Must we be solemn all the time?

No, we can play. We can be the merriest of people because we know the lord. But surely this means we must treat everybody we meet very seriously because as Jesus says, a day of separation is coming, The many will be reduced to the 2. Good bad, righteous wicked, and then it will be eternity. Have we understood the charge to go and to share this message?

Let's pray that we would. Father we know that when the lord Jesus rose from the dead, it was a sign to the world that judgment day is coming. And lord, we're we're all in this room so different. We we've lived different lives. We've had different experiences.

Our upbringings will be different. Our hobbies and likes and dislikes will be different. Our personalities will be so different. The things that we will go on to do will be so different. Some will live very old, some may not.

Some will do things considered to be great in the world's eyes. Most of us will just live very ordinary lives and and yet lord every single 1 of us is heading towards this day. This day of separation. This day when we will rise and be gathered around the great white throne. And lord after that day, which, you know, when in the in the business of our lives, it just seems so far away sometimes and so and so hard for us to visualize and live for, but we thank you that your word assures us that this day is coming.

And please help us to get ready for it. Please help us lord Jesus to trust in your death for us and your resurrection and to be made righteous by you alone. Please help us to hear the call to repent help us to hear the charge to go with this good news. Help us to understand the consequences, the categories, all the things that we've looked at, please. And we just pray that we would leave this place being more shaped by eternal realities.

Than we were an hour or so ago, and we pray that in Jesus' name.