Parables Pt 3

Good morning. Would you all stand with us, please, this morning? We want to welcome all of you to Calvary Chapel this morning here in Arkansas City. And those watching online with us, we welcome you.

Would you bow your heads and join me in prayer? Of course, the bowing of the head is just to be less distracted. You know, Jesus lifted up his head and prayed. If you look at the 70th chapter of John, so we're not restricted, but Lord, bless our time as we worship you in song this morning and study your word. We thank you for your goodness, Lord, your love, your mercy, your grace.

Father, we come just as we are with whatever we've brought from the weekend, Lord, whatever we might be facing, the joy of blessings. The concern of trials that we might be faced with. We thank you that we're going to, by faith, we can worship you, Lord. You're so good to us, Lord. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm fine. But now it was grace that taught my heart.

Peace. My fears freely.

I first believed. My chains are gone.

My God, my Savior, has ransomed.

Secure.

My chains are gone.

Has ransomed me. And like his mercy.

Yes, my chains. My chains are gone. Ransomed me. And like.

Shall soon. Dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine. Where his may be seated, father, we, we thank you for your faithfulness to us. Lord, we thank you for your steadfastness. Lord, your mighty power that strengthens each one of us to live this life for you. And father, I just want to pray for any. Here that might not know you, Lord, we may encourage him that you love him.

Keeper of the star, Lord of time and space. I will live my life, lover of mine who came to say thank you for the cross. Father, you are wonderful. You're lovely. You strengthen us. We give you praise.

No, you are His love. And for he is You. I know He guides us, and for one, He peddles in both your life. This youthful, pure, true, faithful one. In fried-up faith, faithful, faithful, and saints, I am patient in thy blood. I hope these proyectoangles shall be yours for the rest of your journey. Yes, you shall. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. I love you, Lord. You have led me through the fight in the darkest nights. You are close like no other. I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend. I have lived in the goodness of God.

In the soul of the goodness of God. Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. When my life laid down, I surrender now. Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. I surrender now, I give you my life. Your goodness is running after, it's running after me. I've been faithful, I've been so.

So, so, of your goodness, oh God, we'll sing of your goodness, oh God. You're good to us all the time. Sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat. He is the lamb who was slain, is he? Sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat.

Who was and is and is to come. I sing praise to the King of kings.

Thus your name is bowed.

Such a marvelous mystery is to come.

And I sing praise to the King of kings. Everything. And I will adorn you. Is to come.

Ancient I sing praise to the King of kings. You are everything. And I will adorn you. That is our desire this morning, Lord, is just to worship you and adore you, God. Sing that portion for me one more time.

Who was and is and is to come.

Ancient I sing praise to the King of kings. You are. My everything. In lies, weakness tries to hide. And trembles at his voice. Trembles at his voice. Is our God. Oh, we'll see how great.

And time is in his hands. Beginning and the end. Beginning and the end. The Godhead. Three in one. Father, Spirit, Son. The Lion and the Lamb. Lion and the Lamb. Is our.

Is our God. Sing with me how great. Is our God. Oh, see how.

Is our God. Father, we just thank you. You who are in the midst of us is powerful. Worthy of all praise, holy, mighty, and wonderful continue to bless our service. Now, as Ryan comes up and teaches your word anointing by the power of your Holy Spirit to teach this morning and bless our time together in Jesus name. Amen. Several time fellowship.

Good morning. Glad you could be here this morning. If you would start to locate your seats, grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Over on your left hand side of the bulletin are all the things that are happening throughout the week. Just a reminder that tonight is the marriage and family group that meets down at the other

end of the hallway, five o'clock. And the other thing to take note of here in the middle section of your bulletin is that starting in the month of May, the prophecy update that Rick Hawkins typically does on the second Thursday of the month. That's going to be changing a little bit. It's now going to be twice a month. The first in the third Thursdays of the month, and he's going to change the format just a

little bit. The first Thursday is going to be prophecy in the scriptures where he's going to be laying out kind of a basic understanding of the prophetic scriptures just to give everybody a good foundational understanding of prophecy. And then on the third Thursday is when he will do the prophecy in the news, all the things that are happening. And how. And how the word of God speaks to some of those things.

So that will start in the month of May. So take note of that. So those are the things that are up and coming and the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 84, Psalm 84, looking at the new American standard for this part, just so we sound the same, if you need one, there should be one in your row.

And as you're turning to Psalm 84, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. Psalm 84. Psalm 84. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 84 for the choir director on the gedith, or however you pronounce that, a Psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely are your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts.

So longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house and the swallow a nest for herself. Where she may lay her young. Even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. How blessed are those who dwell in your house, they are ever praising you, Selah. How blessed is the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it in a spring. The early rain also covers it with blessing. They go from strength to strength. Every one of them appears before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob, Selah. Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand outside.

I would rather stand in the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in you. And Lord, it is truly our desire, and Lord, if it's not, make it our desire to simply

be at your feet, to be in the dwelling place of God, or to be in your sanctuary. And so Lord, as we're here this morning, may it be another morning where we meet with you. Lord, where we see you more clearly, where we're drawn near to you through your word, Lord. Where we're convicted in the areas where we need convicted, comforted in the areas where we need comforted, and instructed where we need to know the truth.

Father, we thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. Today we'll finish up this chapter on parables, and so the title of the message is Parables Part Three. So we've been looking. Looking at these parables of the kingdom, remember what brought all of this about is

that the nation itself had been rejecting Jesus, and so Jesus began to speak to them in a different form. He began to speak to them in these parables, these earthly stories with heavenly meanings. But these parables were such that they could be told, and if you didn't want to go deeper, then that was completely fine. If you rejected the message and didn't ever want to go deeper, that was up to you.

But if you desired to know the truth and wanted to dive into what these parables meant, then God had all kinds of things to open up to you, and so He's been teaching in this way. And as we come to this last section, we will first of all see the three last parables that He gives. We'll see Jesus speak to His disciples, and then we'll close out with a section about Jesus being rejected in His hometown of Nazareth. And so we pick up in verse 44 of chapter 13 with these last three parables, and this is what it says.

1 Corinthians 8.13-16 2 Peter 2.12-21 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.6-18. 7.-10. And from joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind.

When it was filled, they drew it up on the beach, and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now, as we look at these last three parables, the first two are very similar in nature. As a matter of fact, they could almost be exchangeable just a little bit with some different details, and they make a very interesting point. They're very different than some of the other parables that we've looked at up to this point in time, though. So many of the parables that we've seen in chapter 13 speak to us of corruption within the kingdom.

That while on this earth, the kingdom of God will be filled with those who are true believers, those who are true converts, and those who are false converts, and some of the corruption. And so those two things will dwell together. But as we come to these next two parables, they actually speak. They speak of the great value that the king sees in the members of the kingdom.

And so we look at this first parable. It's called the parable of the hidden treasure. And so as you look at this parable of the hidden treasure, the first thing that you see is some of the players. We look at the parable itself. It says the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that's hidden in a field. It says that there's a man who's working in a field, and when he finds that treasure, he hides the treasure again and then goes.

And for the joy of finding that treasure, sells all that he has. So that he can buy the field. Now, according to rabbinical law at this point in time, if you owned a field and somebody found something of great value in that field, and they removed it from the field, by law, that treasure belonged to the landowner. Which is why it's important that Jesus told the story the way that he did.

Because the story is told in such a way that someone finds a treasure in a field, but never removes it, simply covers it back over, and then goes and purchases the field so that they can have. The treasure. Now, upon the initial hearing of this, you go, this is somewhat a fanciful sort of story. It's probably fantasy that's told on the part of Jesus. Something that would have never really happened.

But actually, if you look a little bit at the history of Israel, you know that Israel was somewhat ravaged by war in that time that we would call the intertestamental period. Between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Between the books of Malachi and the book of Matthew, there was about 400 years that took place. And in that 400 years, the nation was ravaged.

By war. In particular, war between two different groups called the Seleucids and the Ptolemies. And basically, they made Israel their battleground. And so, what the people of Israel would do, because it had been so ravaged by war, is in order to protect their valuable things, they would literally go and hide it on their property. So, the story that Jesus tells is not just fantasy.

The story that Jesus tells probably really happens sometimes, where somebody finds a treasure hidden in a field. Actually, one commentator that I read says, He doesn't think. Any of the stories that Jesus told were made up. He thinks they were real things that happened in people's lives. They were real events that took place. Which is why they carried so much weight with them.

And so, Jesus tells this story. And as he tells this story, of course, no interpretation is given to us by Jesus himself. That's why we must look, based on some of the other parables that we've seen, and start looking at what Jesus meant when he told this story. Well, my interpretation, based on my study and looking at some of these other parables, goes like this.

The man who found the treasure is Christ. And the field is the world. Those are the two first players that I see. Because oftentimes in these parables, remember, who has the man been? The man has been Jesus himself. And this field is the world in which oftentimes we've seen in the other parables to be true as well. So, that brings up a really interesting question.

Then who or what is this treasure? May I tell you, I think that the best way to look at this is to realize this. that the treasure is you, that the treasure is the individual sinner that Jesus came to save? You see, I think that there's a really important verse or a really important phrase that's pointed out here in verse 44. It says, and from, this is the very end of verse 44, it says, and from joy

over it, he goes and sells all that he has and he buys that field. You see, there was such great joy that this man found in the finding of this treasure that he is so overjoyed at what he just found that he says, I'm going to go and sell everything that I have in order to purchase the field. Why? Not because he needed another field, but because he wanted the treasure that was within the field. Now, this presents for us a really interesting point. Do you remember when Jesus

was being tempted by Satan in Matthew chapter four? I'll take you back there in your mind just a little bit. Jesus had been, fasting for 40 days in the wilderness and Satan came to him with some certain temptations. And the last temptation that he came to him with, it says he showed him all the kingdoms of the world. And he said, as he showed him these kingdoms of the world, he said, these can all be yours

if you will simply bow down and worship me. And what did Jesus say? Jesus said, you should worship the Lord, your God, and serve him only. Did you notice what Jesus did not say? Jesus did not say, those kingdoms don't belong to you. They're mine. You can't give them to me anyway. You see, Satan was somewhat correct in the temptation that he brought to Jesus.

You see, it all goes back to Adam and Eve. Have you ever noticed how many times we reference back to Adam and Eve? It's almost like that thing that happened in the beginning is so important. It all goes back to Adam and Eve. You see, when Adam and Eve sinned, they did a whole lot more than just screw up, right? They did a whole lot more than just make a mistake by eating a piece

of fruit they were never supposed to eat. When Adam and Eve sinned, they ultimately sold the world into slavery. They sold the world into slavery to sin. They sold the world into slavery to sin. They sold the world into slavery to Satan. That's why oftentimes throughout Scripture, you'll see that Satan is referred to as the God of this age. And so when Satan presented that to

Jesus and said, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world if you will simply bow down and worship me, what he was really telling him was, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world, and we can skip that whole nasty cross thing. Because what Jesus would do with the cross is he would purchase the world back to himself through his own precious blood. But why did he do it? Why did Jesus decide that what he was going to do is purchase the field?

Why did he purchase the world? Because he didn't need another world. After all, he spoke the world into existence. If he wanted another world, what would he have to do? He would have to say, let there be, and there would be, because that's how he created this one. So why on earth did he decide what he would do is that he would purchase the entire world for himself

when he didn't need another world? Because he loved you so much. Because he loved me so much. Because he found in us the greatest treasure that anyone can ever imagine. Now that indicates something to us about who we are as people. It indicates to us that we are of great value to our Savior. We are of great value to our Creator. You see, I think one of the things that's been stripped from us in our world today

is the intrinsic value that human life has. I started to read an article the other day, but determined I wasn't going to agree with it anyway, and I just couldn't bring myself. I couldn't bring myself to read it. You ever do that? You ever start reading or watching something, and you're like, you know, this is going to end bad. I'm going to stop this thing right where they are

and just say, we're just going to have to agree to disagree. But the headline of the article was kind of interesting. The headline of the article said, Why Are Our Kids So Sad? Isn't that kind of an interesting title for an article? Because it's true. As a generation, our kids are just very sad right now. As a matter of fact, depression is ruining an entire generation of people.

But I would venture to say, and as I started to read it, I thought, I'm not going to agree with them. I'm just going to leave it as it is. Because I know why our kids are so sad. I know why this generation seems to think that the only way that they can find hope is in the barrel of a gun, or in more drugs, or in changing their sexual identity. And it's because they have been told

their life has no intrinsic value. Now, we've maybe not come out and said, your life has no value, but we've taught them that in the things that we've taught them. We've taught them that in the things that we've told them. We have, first of all, told them that you were not created by, a loving creator who fashioned you with his own hands, knit you together in your mother's womb for a specific purpose and a specific reason.

No, what have we told them instead? We've told them, you happened. Over millions of years, you just seemed to happen. And eventually, this world that we're living in just sort of happened to be, and your life was on accident. Nobody intended it. You have no value because you have no creator who created you a specific purpose. And then we've told them that life is disposable.

We've said, if you get into a relationship, and you end up becoming pregnant with an unwanted pregnancy, that's okay. We don't want you to be saddled with the burden of an unwanted child because that life is disposable. After all, that life doesn't begin to truly exist until outside the womb. And maybe outside the womb when it's a completely viable child. And maybe outside the womb so many years down the road.

And we've told them life has no intrinsic value. And when we do that to people, when we do that to people, when we do that to kids and tell them that message, whether we intend to or not, it begins to make them think, maybe my life's not really all that important either. But you know what? It's not just kids that are sad these days. There's plenty of adults that are sad.

You know why? Because they don't think that their life has any value. I want you to know something. Your life is worth so much that Jesus gave his so that you could spend eternity with him. Your life is of such great value that Jesus, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who spoke the world into existence, said, you mean so much to me that I'm willing to lay aside my glory.

I'm willing to lay aside everything that is valuable so that I can come and live a very common life in a very fallen world and die a tragic death because your life is of such great value. Because that's how much you value. That's how much you mean to me. Do you know, I think that this lack of the understanding of the value that life has is actually leading to so many of the other issues that we have.

Why are people trying to decide now what gender they should have been? It's because they've been told your life has no value. Therefore, they need to seek identity. And so we can't find identity in anything else. I'll find my identity in my sexuality. And if my sexuality doesn't match how I feel on the inside, well, then I need to change it because after all, that's the only place

where my life has value. And so you've got kids out there changing their identity sexually, changing their identity with their gender because they're still looking for something that finds happiness in life. They're looking for something that will fill their life. And you know what they're finding? That doesn't do it either because now I still don't feel accepted

because now I still don't feel like myself. Because the only place where there's real value, the only place where there's real joy, the only place where we can truly find out who we really are is in Christ. Is in a Savior who created you and did not create you on accident. You are not happenstance. You were planned by a creator. And He formed you. He made you.

And He loved you enough to give His life for you and to redeem you. Why? Because He found such great joy in you. I want you to go someplace with me in Scripture. Go over to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2.

Oh, and I did the same thing again. I gotta learn to write down the contextual verses too. Start in verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 12 for context's sake. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Now, really start paying attention here. Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Did you notice why Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith? Because for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. What did it say? Go back to Matthew chapter 13 real quick. What did it say about the man that found the treasure?

It says at the end of verse 44, And from joy, or if you will, the joy that is set before Him, He goes out and sells all that He has and He will not sell. He buys the field. For that joy that was set before Him, that's what He went and did. So when we look at this, we realize that Jesus did this not because He felt like He had to, but because it was the thing that brought Him the most joy.

Because He knew that the joy that was set before Him, which is your life, He was willing to go to that cross and die for you. But you know what I know is really hard for us as human beings to take in? It's really hard for us as human beings to realize just how much value God finds in us. Just how much value God finds in our lives. And so you know, there's a beautiful prayer in the book of Ephesians

where Paul prays that they'll understand that. So go with me one more place in scripture. Go over to the book of Ephesians and I want you to look at chapter one.

If you can't make it there in time, please just write it down and go look it up later. Ephesians chapter one, and I want you to start in verse 15.

And it says this, For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you. With making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, pay close attention, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might.

Did you take note of what Paul, as he's praying for the Ephesian, the members of the Ephesian church, what he prayed for them? He prays that God would open the eyes of their heart. In other words, that he would give them spiritual eyes to see. And what does he want them to have spiritual eyes to see? Well, he wants them to have spiritual eyes to see the hope of his calling.

But what's the other thing that he wants them to have spiritual eyes to see? The glory of the riches of his inheritance in the saints. Who is the his there? It's God. Now, when I first heard this, I was like, oh my God, when I first read this as a young believer, I thought that what this was saying is that God would help me to see the inheritance that I have in Christ.

But that's not actually what that says. What it actually says is that I would have eyes to see that God finds me to be his inheritance. That you and I as the church are God's inheritance. Why? Because we are so important to God. Because our life has such value in the eyes of God. But that doesn't come very naturally to us as human beings. What comes naturally to us as human beings

is to tear ourselves down. Therefore, we need to pray, Lord, Lord, open my eyes to see just how important my life is in your eyes. Lord, open my eyes to see just how much value my life has. Lord, open my eyes to see just how much you love me. Because in the knowledge of that comes my confidence in the Lord. And from that confidence that I have in who I am in Christ

comes a godly life that is produced in response. Brothers and sisters, your life has great value. And you need to tell everybody around you that their life has great value. But do you know who else? Do you know who else's life has great value? All the people that you know that have never come to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. All the people that you know who live lifestyles

that you don't agree with. All of the people who have political beliefs that you don't agree with. All of the people who live lifestyles of sin that we would all call heinous. They're important in the eyes of God too. Do you know that? And they need to know that too. Their life has great value in the eyes of God and they have been created in the image of God.

And that treasure that God finds in you because you are of such great value to him, so are they. That's why it says that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That's why it says it's God's desire that all would come to repentance. And so you and I need to make sure as we begin to understand this value that we have in our own lives, and I'll talk about this responsibility in just a little bit, that we share that value and understand that value that God has in everyone's lives.

There is no room to hate people that think differently than we do. There is no room to hate people that struggles with sin that we don't struggle with because they are valuable in the eyes of God too because they are the joy that was set before him, the reason why he endured the cross, despising the shame. Back to Matthew 13. There's one more parable that he tells along these same lines.

It's called the parable of the costly pearl. Notice what it says in verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. A very similar parable. Only this time, instead of a man working in the field, this time it's a merchant who's looking for valuable jewels.

The jewels in particular that he's looking for are pearls. And he's searching high and low for this pearl. There's one in particular that he's looking for and he's looking for it everywhere. And as he searches for this pearl, he finally finds it. You see what it calls it? It says he found one. He found one. He found one. He was a merchant seeking fine pearls.

And upon finding one pearl of great value, what did he do? He went and sold all that he had so that he could purchase that one pearl. I think you probably know where I'm gonna go with this. Christ is the merchant. And who is that pearl of great value? That pearl of great value is us. That pearl of great value is anyone who will come to faith in Jesus Christ.

And upon finding that pearl of great value, what does he do? He sells all that he has so that he can go and purchase the pearl. Well, you know what's kind of interesting about the price that Jesus paid for us? The price that Jesus paid for us is one that we don't always understand in a worldly way. As a matter of fact, I want you to turn over to the book of 1 Peter.

I know a little Bible Olympics this morning. That's okay. It's good for our minds. It's good for our Bibles. Perhaps those pages need crunched a little bit. 1 Peter. Hebrews, James, 1 and 2. Peter, if you hit 1 John, you've gone too far. If you hit Revelation, you've definitely gone too far. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 18. It says this. Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things,

New King James says corruptible things, like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your fathers, but with the precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. See, when we think of something of great value here on this earth, we think of being able to purchase it with things like money. And maybe if it's really valuable, you'd have to give silver or gold, right? That's what all the people are saying right now.

You know, your retirement account could fail at any point in time. You should invest in gold because gold never goes down, except when gold goes down. Right? Because that's what happens. Why? Because all those things are corruptible. What are the streets of heaven made with? Gold, right? Jesus wasn't going to buy us with pavement. No, he bought us with something more precious than that.

What did he purchase us with? His own precious blood. You see, the greatest marriage proposal that was ever given was spelled out with three nails and a spear, and it was sealed in blood. Because when that blood flowed from Jesus, God said, it's enough. That's enough to satisfy all of my wrath. That's enough to purchase back the world. That's enough to purchase,

all of sinful humanity because they're of such great value that I couldn't pay for them with corruptible things like silver and gold. I had to pay for them with my very own life. I always think that that great payment is seen the best in that scene that takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? Because in that scene in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is there, and he's laboring in prayer.

I always say the Battle of the Cross was actually won in Gethsemane. It was won in that time of prayer. And as Jesus is there in the garden, and he's praying, and sweating those great drops of blood because the stress was so great, he said, Lord, if there's any other way, Father, if there's any other way, then let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.

Lord, if there's any other way for me to pay for them apart from this precious blood that I have to shed for them, then show me what that is. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. One of my favorite movies when I was younger was Robin Hood. Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. The real Robin Hood, the one with Kevin Costner in it, right? I really liked watching that movie,

and there's this great scene in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and it's when he's getting ready to storm the castle to go get his girl, Maid Marian, if I remember correctly is who it is in that. He's ready to storm the castle, but they've closed the gate, and he's got to figure out how he's going to get inside the castle so he can get his girl back, and the only way he knows is to catapult himself over the wall, and so he's sitting in the arm of the catapult, and he's getting ready to pull the rope so that it catapults him over, and little John looks at him and says, I only have one question for you, Robin. Is she worth it? And he goes, yeah, she is.

I picture that being kind of a scene of Jesus there in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? It's like, they're worth it. They're worth my own precious blood because they're of such great value to me because they're so important to me. Friends, it's impossible to overestimate. It's impossible to overstate just how precious you are in the eyes of your Savior because of what it cost him,

to purchase your life for himself. And if you've been living a life apart from him, if you've been living a life where you've been running from him, then I want you to know, Jesus wants you to stop running because your life is of such great value to him. And so we go on from there in Matthew chapter 13, and the next thing that he does is he tells one last parable called the parable of the dragnet. It says in verse 47, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast out of the sky, cast into the sea, gathering fish of every kind.

And when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth and take out of the, out from the, one more time with feeling, take out the wicked from among the righteous and we'll throw them into the furnace of fire. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now, as Jesus gives us this very last parable, it's similar to some of the other ones that he's told. And as he tells this parable, remember he was teaching a lot of these from a boat and his men were fishermen and they understood the fishing society. So as he tells this story, he tells it about a dragnet. Now there were two types of nets that they would fish with at this point in time.

One was called a drop net. And what they would do is they would attach weights to the corners of it and they would literally drop the net down into the water, hopefully holding onto the ropes of the drop net. Sidebar story, we went fishing one time and we got to the, we got to the place in the middle of the pond where we thought, hey, here's a good spot to fish. And we dropped the anchor and as the anchor went, it goes, we hadn't tied the anchor to the boat.

That was a bummer. That was a bad day. We were like, well, we'll stay here as long as we can. So hopefully as they throw the drop net over, they hold onto the ropes and then they pull it up and catch what they can. But the other type of net that they use was called a dragnet. And so when the winds were real heavy, like they've been for the past six months, then they would actually pull a net

behind them. And as they would pull this net behind them, it would do exactly what Jesus said. It would bring in all kinds of fish because a dragnet doesn't care what it pulls in. It would pull in big fish, small fish, good fish, bad fish. I feel like I'm reading a Dr. Seuss book right now. It would pull in all of these fish. And then what they would do is they would carry the net to the shore,

open up the net and they'd begin to sort out the fish. Jesus, of course, interprets this for us. He says, so it will be at the end of the age. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. That right now in the world, there are both good and bad dwelling together. There are those who are pursuing Jesus and those who are not pursuing Jesus. There are those who are seeking after the Lord,

those who have found their salvation in Christ and those who are still living a self-righteous or a sinful life because they've decided Jesus isn't for them and I'm gonna do what I wanna do. They all dwell together within this dragnet. In some ways, this dragnet is the world that we live in. And in some ways, the dragnet is the church that we attend because whether it's the world or the church, dwelling within it is both the good and the bad.

Because you see, Jesus will either be for us, our savior or our judge. I was asked by somebody the other day, they said, how do you reconcile the fact that Jesus is good and loves us and doesn't want us to be saved with the, or doesn't want us to perish with the fact that Jesus judges and sends people to hell? And I said, well, you just have to understand that Jesus will be one of those two things for you. He'll either be your savior or he'll be your judge because he's offered such an amazing salvation that to reject it is heinous.

To reject it throws it back in his face. It would be kind of like this. Let's say you had a credit card and you charged on that credit card over $100,000 worth of things. I don't know what kind of credit card you got to do that, but it's pretty amazing, right? Perhaps you've strung about five or six of them together to get yourself about $100,000 worth of debt.

Let's say I'm the one that is ultimately the owner of all of those credit cards and so now you owe me $100,000. And I come to you and I say, your debt is greater than you'll ever be able to pay in your entire lifetime. So here's what I wanna do for you. I'm not only going to forgive this debt, but I'm also going to buy you a house and I'm going to buy you a car, and I'm going to make sure you have everything that you need for the rest of your life, that all of your bills are paid and that everything is taken care of for you in your life.

Now for us that sounds like the greatest deal, no brainer thing that we've ever heard in our entire lives. But what if I offered you all of that and you were like, no thanks, I'll do it myself. I'll just pay it off myself. Would I not be like offended by that? Like what do you mean you'll do it yourself? Well you can't do it yourself. You're in a lifetime, pay off this amount of money

and you'll never be able to get the house I can provide you. You'll never be able to get the car I can provide you. You'll never be able to pay your bills the way I can pay them for you. What do you mean you're gonna do it yourself? Nope, I don't believe in charity. I'm just gonna do it myself. Well at that point in time, I've offered you a great salvation and you've rejected it.

What's the only alternative? Well to live with the consequences of your decision. You see, that's the reality that a lot of people face. Is that salvation that is greater than they can ever imagine is offered to them and yet in that process they say, no thanks, I'll do it myself. You have to live with the consequences of your decision at that point in time.

And so as this dragnet is being drug in, it's both those who have decided that their salvation is in Christ and in Christ alone. And as this dragnet is being drug in, you realize that there are some who have said, I can do it myself. And so at the end of the age, because right now, we don't always know who all those people are. Right now, we can't always make that separation of who all those people are.

At the end of the age and that net is laid out, it says that the angel is the one who begins to do the separating. Did you take note of how he separates them? The good he throws into a bucket. We might call that bucket eternity. Eternity with Christ. But the others he casts out. And what did Jesus say about the ones that are cast out? Look at what it says in verse 50.

And will throw them into the furnace of fire and in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Couple of weeks ago, I got to speak at a Holy Week service. And I was given a text to speak on, which was really, really nice. Because I didn't have to choose from all of the potentials of things that you can teach on for Holy Week. They were like, teach on these four verses.

And I was like, got it. Well, the verses that I was supposed to teach on were the upper room discourse of Jesus with his disciples there on that last night of the feast right before he was crucified. And I was supposed to teach in particular on the part about when Jesus said, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you. That's how you will know that you're my disciples.

And so I started thinking, you know, love's one of those words that's really been screwed up by our culture today. Love is oftentimes equated with license. Do whatever you want to do, because I love you. And so I thought, OK, Lord, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to teach on this? And he said, I want you to point out the things that love really

is. And so one of the things that he showed me is that love tells the truth. Matter of fact, we're told. In 1 Corinthians, that love rejoices in truth. And he showed me some areas where Jesus told the truth. And you know where Jesus spent most of his time telling the truth? He spent most of his time telling the truth about eternal destruction for those who wouldn't follow him.

You know why? Because when you know something bad is coming, you want to give a warning. Last night, there was a severe thunderstorm watch, right? And in some places, there were tornado watches. Can you imagine being the person who's in charge of the siren, right? That would actually stress me out a lot. Neither here nor there. I'll never get trusted with that, because I'll go, now?

Do I do it now? No. Later? Maybe? Yeah? No? It'd be awful. The siren would go off just all the time. Feels like the right thing to do, just to keep that thing going. Everybody just stay in your basements. Life's going to be good. Then I'm not blamed for anything. But here's the point. Imagine being the person who has to pull the trigger for the siren, right?

Well, when the tornado is coming and you know that imminent destruction is coming, you'd better hit the siren. Why? Because you've got to warn people about the imminent danger so that they can seek shelter from the coming storm. And that's what Jesus spent a lot of time doing. That's why he told this parable of the dragnet. He said, you have to understand, within the world

are a lot of people who believe, but a lot of people who don't believe. But there will come a time at the end of the age where there will have to be separation. And there will be a standard that's used for the separation. Isn't it? It's so much better to understand now that your life has such value in Christ that he wants to see you come to salvation and come to that place now where Jesus can be your savior

rather than wait till the end when he is your judge. And so Jesus wraps up this time of telling parables. And as he does so, he begins to have a conversation with his disciples. Matter of fact, I've entitled this next section, Jesus Speaks to His Disciples. Made sense. So he asked his disciples a question. Notice what he says in verse 51. He says, have you understood all these things?

And they said to him, yes. He said, therefore, every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household who brings out of his treasure things new and old. Now, I love this next question that Jesus asks his disciples. Now, I talk to a lot of young folks. And I get the same look from a lot of young folks when I talk to him, whether it's the two that actually

are mined by blood or the ones that are mined because I've, I've actually teach them on a weekday morning, is when I'm talking, I usually get this look a lot. And you know, sometimes on a Sunday morning when I look out at all of you, I get this look a lot. And I always think to myself, do they understand what I say? So that's why every now and then I say amen.

Hopefully, hopefully that's when you go amen or amen, I guess. Think I know what he's saying. I lost him somewhere. Anyway, Jesus asked his disciples that question because I think they had that look on their face a lot. And so he asked them. And what did they say? Like, yes. Now, there are some commentators who say they didn't really understand, but they wanted to save face.

I don't think that's true. Because what's happened every other time they've told a parable that Jesus didn't understand, or Jesus has told a parable they didn't understand, they've said, hey, so could you all like explain that thing and whatnot? Because we have no idea what you just said. Like, we're lost. But they didn't say that this time. What did they say?

They say, yes. You know why? Because I think in some small way, the disciples were finally starting to clue in on what Jesus was talking about. There was a little bit of enlightenment that was taking place in their minds. You know why there was enlightenment taking place in their minds? Because they just kept taking in all of the stories of Jesus. They just kept taking in everything

that Jesus had to say. I was talking to a young man the other day. He's very new to the faith. And he was reading his Bible. I said, so are you understanding what you're reading? And he goes, I mean, a little bit. Some things stick out to me. And I said, that's OK. I remember being in that exact same place. I told him a story. I said, when I was 17 years old, when I really

started walking with Jesus. When I really started walking with Jesus, I decided I needed to read the Bible, because that's what people that know Jesus do. And so I started reading the book of Romans. And you know what I spent most of my time in the book of Romans doing? Huh. I don't know what that means. Until I hit Romans chapter 8. In Romans chapter 8, no one can separate me

from the love of Christ, the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Because I knew that I'd been living a life of sin. I knew that I'd been living a life completely apart from God. And to think that nothing, not even that, could separate me from the love of Christ. I remember thinking, I don't understand anything else I just read, but I get that. And that's pretty amazing.

Since then, I've gleaned more from the book of Romans. I've actually taught through it three times now. And so now sometimes when I read the book of Romans, I'm like, hey, I kind of get that. That makes sense. Because it's a really amazing thing that when you read God's word more and more and more, it starts to make more sense to you. I was having a conversation with my oldest daughter, who

is a runner. And I said, you know, I read this article the other day about running. And you know what it said? The best way to get better at running is by running. Right? Mind blown. I took that information and I, oh, this is terrible. I ran with it.

I'll be here the rest of the morning, folks. If you need to leave, I understand. Wow. That's right. I think you get like. It's like a list of dad jokes. Like they become innate within your mind when you become a dad. It's like it's just natural. It just flows from you. Anyway. But the same is true with the word of God. How do you get better at understanding the word of God?

Well, you spend time on the word of God. And then all of a sudden, Jesus goes, does that make sense? And you go, well, it actually kind of does. Actually, I kind of get that now. And Jesus says to his disciples, he says, good. Because every scribe who's become a disciple of the kingdom is like a head of a household. Now, he uses this term scribe because scribes played an important role

at this point in time. The scribes were not what we often think of as just guys who wrote out the word. They were. They did that. But they were also the teachers of the nation of Israel. And so as they would teach the nation of Israel, some would come to faith in Christ. And if they would come to faith in Christ, become a true disciple of the kingdom, then all of a sudden, their minds would be so enlightened

because all of those things in the Old Testament all talked about Jesus. He said, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom becomes like a householder. In other words, the head of a household, the head servant within the household who brings out of his treasure house things both new and old. Now, this presents a truth to us that the longer you spend time in the word and the more Jesus makes it real to your heart, the better you're able to bring out not only the old things, the things you learned a long time ago, but all of the new things that God shows you.

I think one of the perfect examples of this is Paul there in the New Testament. Because Paul was a follower of the law and he knew the law. He knew it backwards, forwards, upwise, downways, every way you can think of. He knew it. But he had missed one thing. Everything that the law was supposed to teach about, and that was Jesus. But then when he became a disciple of Jesus, can you imagine the light that came on in

Paul's mind? Oh my gosh, I just realized what all of this stuff was talking about. This was not a list of do's and don'ts. This was appointing me to a savior. And now he saw all of these old things in a completely new light. And not only did he see all of the old things in a new light, God began to show him all kinds of brand new things too. Brand new things that he put down in scripture for us.

And it's the same way for those who grew up in the church. I was thinking about this the other day. I thought, man, sometimes I look back on my life, having grown up in the church, and I can see so many times that were wasted, right? Because I spent so many Sundays sitting in a church service or sitting in a Sunday school classroom or sitting in a Bible class.

And I think sometimes I wasted a lot of that time because I spent so much of my time not really walking with God. I wasn't walking with the Lord until I was later in high school. Then I got to thinking, but this offers a little bit of hope to a guy like me, who maybe wasted a lot of time growing up in the church and not really paying attention as much as he should. Because it turned out, I was really taking in some of those things.

And God's word was really doing its work in my heart. Because once I came to a place of really knowing Jesus as my savior, all of those old stories came alive. It's kind of like the first time you hear a Christmas carol after you walk with Jesus and you go. Oh, you mean that's about Jesus? Except that jingle bell rock. That's just dumb. Anyway, you mean that was about Jesus this whole time?

He says, we bring out of our storehouse things new and old. Only with that comes a responsibility. And the responsibility is twofold. First of all, the responsibility is Jesus is talking to his disciples and they're starting to pick up on this spiritual knowledge is that they're to continue to add to their knowledge. We should never be content with what we know.

We should be continuing to add to it. Because the wise householder brings. Out of his treasure house, both things new and old. In other words, he keeps adding to his knowledge, but not only do we add to our knowledge for our own personal wellbeing, but actually in another translation, it says that, Hey, they dispense their knowledge to others. It means that you have a responsibility.

Now, these disciples had a responsibility to take those things that they knew and to share them with the people that were around them and to share them with the world that was around them. That responsibility never ends. As a believer in Jesus Christ, that responsibility to share the knowledge that your life has value with the world around you. Well, one last story here in the book of here in the 13th chapter of Matthew says this starting in verse 53, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there and he came to his hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom in these miraculous powers?

Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? And they took offense at him, but Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household. And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

Now this last section in chapter 13 is really important. Because it really is a summary section of several chapters of Matthew. Do you remember what led to Jesus telling the parables as it was? What led to Jesus telling the parables is that the religious community had begun to reject Jesus. And as they rejected Jesus, he started speaking to them in parables so that seeing they might

not see and hearing they might not hear. In other words, only the true seekers would take in what Jesus had to say. And so as we come to the end of Matthew chapter 13, we have this summary statement on the ultimate rejection. Rejection of Jesus by the nation, which is best exemplified in his own hometown. You can picture it, right? Jesus returns to Nazareth.

Sometimes I think that we forget that Jesus was fully man through all of this. And you don't take it well when you're rejected, right? I mean, I hope not. That's a little strange. I don't take it well when I'm rejected. As a matter of fact, I take it terribly when I'm rejected by somebody. So can you imagine the mental and emotional strain Jesus is going through in living a

life that is now being rejected by the people he cares about? He cares about the most. And so I think Jesus returns to his hometown almost as like a retreat, like, hey, I've got to get somewhere that's familiar because I'm facing all of this rejection. And as he does so, he does what teachers do. He stood up in their synagogue in the midst of it. He began to teach them.

And we know from what we've read in the book of Matthew, that when Jesus taught, he taught with authority, he taught with power, and he taught in the working of the Holy Spirit. So he really laid out truth to them. And so as he's speaking, there's... There's powerful work that's going on, only take note of how they respond to him. It says, they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous

powers? You see, these people are a little surprised at Jesus. I think the reason why they were surprised at Jesus is because Jesus was a very common individual, especially around the people that knew him the most. When you and I say this... When we say the name Jesus, we automatically have in our idea, deity. We think about the Son of God and it's a powerful name.

There's just something about the name Jesus, right? I love that old song. But what we forget is that Jesus is the English translation of a transliterated word in the Hebrew called Joshua. So if you will, in the Hebrew, Jesus's name was actually Joshua. So when you think about Jesus returning to his hometown, speaking in the synagogue, I want you to think about this.

They're all listening to Jesus teach and they're seeing what he does and they all looking at each other and they're going, isn't that Josh? Isn't that Josh that grew up down the street from us? Isn't that Josh that you used to change his diapers? Isn't that Josh that built me the yoke that I use for my oxen? Don't we know all of his brothers and sisters, which by the way, Jesus had a lot of brothers

and sisters. Do with that what you will as far as other doctrines are concerned. Um, Jesus had all these, but don't we know all of his brothers and sisters? Didn't we grow up with all of them? Who does this guy, who does this guy think he is coming here and speaking with such authority towards us? And what was at one time astonishment eventually turns into something different because take

note of what it says in verse 57 and they took offense at him. In other words, they were offended by what Jesus had to say because they didn't think that they could find themselves under the authority of the way that he was speaking. Why were they so offended by him? Because Jesus was just plain old so common because Jesus was such a common man living in this nation of Israel.

I think we forget that about Jesus sometimes. It's a great book. It's called the Jesus style by Gail Irwin and he points out all these things that Jesus came from the wrong town. He came from a questionable background because after all, there was always those rumors about Mary and who Jesus's dad really was. Jesus had the wrong kind of name. He had a name that everybody had at that point in time.

Josh. Which Josh? Well, the one that lived down on this street. Oh yeah, I know that Josh. Josh. The one that the story is about. Yeah, that's the Josh. Right? He had the wrong kind of name. He had the wrong kind of followers. Why? Because Jesus was just an incredibly common man. Matter of fact, we're told in the book of Isaiah that there was nothing about his appearance

that would make us desire him. In other words, you didn't look at Jesus and think, whoa, that's a good looking dude. He definitely should be on the cover of a magazine. But you also didn't look at Jesus and go, whoa, that's an ugly guy. Someone should fix what went on there. Matter of fact, you probably just didn't really notice Jesus because he was an incredibly

common guy. And so for this average guy, the only thing that was special about him was the mission that God sent him on. And the mission that God sent him on was to be the savior. That's what made Jesus special. The fact that he had laid aside his glory. The fact that he had laid aside his glory. his glory because of his great love for us to come down and dwell among us to be our savior.

So as this incredibly common guy is standing in front of them teaching, they're like, that's kind of offensive to think about that. You know, I think a lot of people still view Jesus the same way. They're offended to think that he might be God because he just seems so common. Wasn't he just a great man and a great teacher? And people find themselves offended. And so what

does Jesus say? He says, well, a prophet's not without honor in his hometown. And then Matthew gives us this little commentary when he says, and he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Now, this could raise a question in someone's mind. Does that mean that if I don't have enough faith, bad things are going to happen to me? You see, there's a whole line of teaching

out there that says, well, you wouldn't be sick if you just had enough faith. Bad things wouldn't happen in your life if you just had enough faith. You see, your faith just isn't strong. Well, I've been, I've been praying for more money and why am I not getting more money? Well, brother, it's because you don't have enough faith. No, that's a perversion of what that

scripture has to say. Listen, if God needs my faith in order to work, we're all in trouble, right? I'll always use the example of when Peter was in prison there in the book of Acts and the people were praying that God would deliver him from prison and God delivered him from prison and Peter goes and knocks on the door and the little girl comes to the door and he says, hey, it's me. Peter, God set me free from prison. And so she goes, guys, Peter got set free from prison. Leave

us alone. We're praying for Peter to be set free. That's only his ghost standing out there. I'd call that unbelief and yet God used it anyway, right? So my unbelief does not hinder God's power. My unbelief puts me in a place where I never seek God for his power. You see, faith is really simple. Faith just requires a step. How do I know that I have faith? Because I took that step of faith.

Let me give you an example. Each one of you, when you came in here, you looked at that chair. And when you looked at that chair, whether you realized it or not, you put your faith in that chair. You believed, and some of you are questioning your chair right now. Nothing's going to happen to anyone's chair. Stop looking at me like that. You believe that that chair was going to hold you

up. You showed that you believe that that chair would hold you up by sitting down. In the moment that you sat down, you exercised your faith. Well, that's the way it is in my walk with Jesus Christ. I exercise my faith by taking a step. I believe that God can heal. Therefore, I go to him in prayer for healing. Now, it's up to him what he does with that, but I go to him in prayer. I know

that God provides for all my needs because that's what he promises. I believe that, so when I have a need, I go to him in prayer. And then he does with that what he wants to. You see, Jesus couldn't do many works here, not because their unbelief somehow stripped him of his power, but because kept them from ever seeking it. You see, friends, when we believe, it prompts an action on our part,

but when we don't, we just lay it aside and we move on with life. Therefore, God can't work, not because I've stripped him of his power, but because I'm not giving him the opportunity. And so we see this ultimate rejection of Jesus even within his hometown. And so, as we wrap up chapter 13, we've learned many things among the parables, hopefully some things that we can take with us in our lives. And the next time that we're

together, we'll get to start looking at Jesus feeding the 5,000 because his work does not stop in spite of the rejection. So let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word here this morning. Lord, I thank you for the great love that you have for us. And Lord, I, like Paul, pray that you would open up the eyes of our understanding

so that we would know not only the hope that we have in you, but the riches that you see in us. Lord, that that truth of the value that our lives have in you would not only sink into our own hearts, but Lord, that we would respond to it by sharing it with the people that are around us. Father, thank you for who you are. Thank you for how you work. And I pray that you would be with each person that's here this morning

and let your word just sink deeply into them, transforming them into who you want for them to be. And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. We have only one life and it soon will pass. And only what's done for Christ will last. Jesus, you can use me, Lord. Riches and houses and cars and lands will all pass away. But my life will stand, Jesus. You can use and it soon will pass. And only what's done for Christ will last.

Riches and houses and cars and lands will all pass away. But my life will stand, Jesus. Yes, Lord. We say yes, Lord, you can use me. We say yes, and it soon will pass. And only what's done for Christ will last. Jesus, you can use me, Lord. Amen. God is good. All the time, God is good. Father, just bless now. Our week, as we leave from here, as you work in our hearts from day to day,

may we be yielded, Lord, by faith as we trust you. And we give you thanks and praise. In Jesus' name, amen. Have a great week, everybody. God bless, guys.