The Parables #28

Parable of the Fishing Net, Matthew 13:47-50, continued.

THOSE CAUGHT IN THE NET WERE BROUGHT UP TO A VERY DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT.

It was a world of light and beauty and the warming rays of the sun.

1. It is a world which the fish hate. It is absolutely contrary to their nature! Likewise, the sinner does not like the light and brightness of the gospel. “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” John 3:20.

2. It is a world in which they cannot live. The fish will die out of water. We use a proverb of one who is uncomfortable with his surroundings as “a fish out of water”! So was Judas. “Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place,” Acts 1:25. That is where sinners are travelling every day! The environment of Christ’s Kingdom is unbearable to them. “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity,” Matt 7:23. They must depart for they never came to Him. They were continuing to work iniquity therefore they were to continue on the path they had walked, which ends in hell. “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” Matt 25:41.

3. The good fish were those that could be eaten. They were useful and beneficial. To become such they had to be greatly worked upon and altered. So it is with sinners. What happens to the fish caught and used as food illustrates the workings of grace in the sinner saved.

A. It dies. “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Roms 6:2, 1 Peter 2:24.

B. It undergoes a process. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3.

C. They became most profitable and beneficial. Saul into Paul. Man of Gadara into messenger of God. What a change grace makes! “Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me,” Philemon 1:11. “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy,” 1 Peter 2:10

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