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The
Good And The Bad
In the 13th chapter
of Matthew there are seven parables Jesus gave
consecutively and did not quit until He gave them all. We
want you to see that they bring the kingdom up through the
Gospel Day from the day it came with power on the day of
Pentecost clear through to the end of time. These coincide
with the seven letters in the Revelation and clarify each
other. We are up to the last one now---up to the very
kingdom and how it would be in the day and age in which we
live.
The 25th chapter of
Matthew also gives us a picture of the Kingdom and the
shape it would be in the day and age in which we live. He
spoke in the 24th chapter of Matthew and brought us down
and told His disciples, “be ye also ready”, cautioning
His very people to be ready and be careful. Then He went
on to tell us that then the kingdom will be likened to ten
virgins, five wise, and five foolish, and all sleeping.
That is the day and age in which we live. Now, we have
covered the thought that when the midnight cry comes, it
is too late for anybody to get saved. The oil shops will
be closed, but God is stirring a ministry to awaken people
in the last moments of this eleventh hour, that they can
get awakened and get their lamps and have them burning
before the bridegroom comes.
Now, with the same
thought in mind, in the 47th verse of the 13th chapter of
Matthew, we want you to notice that from the 44th verse
down, the 5th 6th and 7th parables deal with the kingdom,
here in the evening light, and everyone of them starts
with “again.” The kingdom was like that in the morning
time. Now, that we are here in the evening time, again, it
is like that. Now, in the morning time we found that when
men slept, an enemy came in and sowed tares among the
wheat and caused the kingdom to have that which the
Revelation declares an apostasy, a falling away. The
tares, choked out the wheat and God took the wheat to
heaven to be with Him and the tares “ran the thing”,
here. That is why we have darkness on the chart for the
1260 years.
Now, again, the kingdom
is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered
of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore,
and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast
the bad away. This very last period of the kingdom, Jesus
said, would be like a net cast into the sea, and gathered
of every kind. Let’s read it. “Which when it was full,
they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good
into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the
end of the world, the angels shall come forth, and sever
the wicked from among the just.” Now, what are we
getting at? We are living in a day and age, that existed
once before, in the Gospel Day---more than once before.
When the devil, working on the minds of men, made them
feel that the good and the bad would have to live
together, and nothing could be done about it, until the
end of the world. Well, the good and the bad will always
be together, till the second coming of Christ, in the
world, but not in the kingdom. We’re talking about the
kingdom. God wants the saints to live beside sinners and
work beside sinners. What for? To witness to them and
“win them to Christ”! He does not want us to be
separated from the world in the thought of going out and
reaching him. But there is not both, good and bad, in the
kingdom.
We will see from God’s
Word here shortly, we’re living in a day and age,
(because of some things happening) the very standard of
the gospel has been let down, until there is a getting
together of the good and bad again. But Jesus tells us
something about it, in this parable, that we want you to
see. The sea is the same condition that Rome “rose out
of” the first time, nothing more than the people. We
see, that Jesus told His disciples to follow Him, and they
would become fishers of men. But the question we want to
deal with---was it the intention of the great fisherman,
Jesus Christ, to gather the good and the bad together in
His kingdom? Does He expect them to be good and bad,
together in His kingdom, until His second coming? The
world would have us believe so---the religious world would
have us believe so. My friend, they are teaching it on
every side, that the good and bad will remain together,
(in the kingdom) until Christ comes again. Let me make a
statement again: the second coming of Christ is not
mentioned anywhere in these parables. We read twice where
He said He’d send forth His angels or His ministry, or
the Greek says, His messengers, but nowhere, is the second
coming of Christ mentioned. Let’s get that straightened
in our minds.
Does it not seem that the
Gospel of the kingdom is put to a wrong use, when it is
used for a drag net? The Greek said in this 47th verse,
then shall the kingdom be likened, or again the kingdom of
heaven is likened unto a drag net. Christ draws men, but
never drags them. We have a picture before us of the very
day and age in which we are living---the last age of the
kingdom, when quantity is the aim, instead of quality. My
friend, they are watering down this Gospel and trying to
cut the corners, and Jesus said they would use it like a
drag net. What is He speaking of? This mass evangelism
today, that is sweeping people off their feet and taking
them by the thousands with no change of heart whatsoever.
It is dragging good and bad together. The Gospel has been
put to a wrong use, when it gives equal place to the good
and the bad.
Luke would teach us, in a
little lesson there, where they toiled all night and could
catch no fish, but Jesus told them, nevertheless, to go on
out and drop the net down on the other side of the ship
Peter said it didn’t look like it would do any good, but
he said, “nevertheless, at thy Word we will let it
down”---and the Scripture said they took up a net full
of fishes and there was not a bad one in the bunch. What
are you getting at? When we let the net down “at thy
Word”, when we let it down according to truth, it does
not gather good and bad together. The Word of God was
given to gather a people out of the world for God’s
name. It was given to gather a people out of the world, a
holy people, a clean people. Again, the gospel is put to a
wrong use, when it gives equal place to the good and the
bad. Now, somebody said, “Bro. Wilson, that won’t hold
water.” Doesn’t the 22nd chapter of Matthew say, go
out into the highways and the hedges, and gather the good
and bad, that my house may be filled? Yes, it does.
That’s what it says. But read the next two verses: An,
when the bridegroom came, there was only one in the
company that didn’t have a wedding garment on. Somebody
did a heap of preaching. Sure, He said, gather in the good
and the bad, but when they got down to the house of God,
somebody lifted up the standard, because there was only
one in a house full that didn’t have a wedding garment
on. I wish I could do that good. Don’t you twist these
scriptures on me, because God is not going to let you.
(smile)
Somebody did some
preaching there, when they went into the highways and
hedges and gathered a whole house full of people and when
Jesus came, there we have only one in the company that
wasn’t ready. We’d better get to work so we can
present that kind of congregation to God. We’d better
get before God and get hold of something more than men can
give us, or from any other avenue. We’d better get the
Holy Ghost ruling in our hearts and be submerged in it,
until we can have the mind of Christ, about this thing.
Yes, they gathered in good and bad. What’s the trouble?
Too many are messing with the nets. It’s not being let
down “at my Word”.
Friends, it’s dangerous
to get more interested in men, than we are men’s souls.
It’s happening today. There’s an awful chance that the
enemy of our soul gets us more interested in men than we
are in their souls. We get to dealing with souls, and
realize that every one of them is worth more then this
world, and if we fail to warn them of the evil of their
way, that God will require their blood at our hands, at
the judgment. It will put a fear upon us, that we’ll be
careful what we say. We get to dealing with men--- why,
most anything can happen. How can it be changed? What did
Jesus say to do about it? Well, let’s read a little
farther. The Word tells us.
Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and
gathered of everything; which, when it was full, they drew
to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into
vessels, but cast the bad away. Here we have the kingdom
as a doctrine again. He said the law and the prophets were
until John. Since then, the kingdom is preached. Now, the
kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom, is as a net. Now look
out! But when it is full---what is full? When the
gospel’s full, they draw them to shore, and separate the
good from the bad. As long as the net is out in the sea,
under the water, the good and the bad can sport together,
but you pull her to shore and the bad ones will show up,
and Jesus said when the Gospel’s full, when the net is
full---what is the net? The Gospel. So, when the
Gospel’s full, it pulls them to shore. It exposes them;
that’s right, they can sport together out there in the
sea, but when a full Gospel comes along, it lifts up the
net. I could never fish like a lot of preachers do. They
just leave the net in there and drag it around. They say,
“we really got a load on.” Yes, but you ought to pull
it up! You might have seaweeds and tin cans. What are you
getting at? I went around a few places and I have had
others go around a few places. You would think they were
really making a catch, but all you got to do is lift the
standard up high and you haven’t got much left. When it
is full, He said, “They will draw them out.”
What are you getting a
picture of? There has been a lukewarm condition going on
over the land. There has been an allowing of the good and
the bad to sport together, but opening this last seal of
truth is lifting up the standard and it is separating the
good from the bad.
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