Yuba-Sutter Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda. The scripture for our sermon
today is Matthew chapter 20, verse 1 through 16. For the kingdom
of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder, which
went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the
laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace, and said to them, Go ye also into
the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And
they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth
and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he
went out, and found others standing idle, and saith to them, Why
stand ye here all the day idle? They said to him, Because no
man hath hired us. He saith to them, Go ye also
into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall you receive. So when even was come, the lord
of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers,
and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
And when they came, that were hired about the eleventh hour,
they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they
supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise
received every man a penny. And when they had received it,
they murmured against the good men of the house, saying, These
last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal
unto us which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But
he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me
for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy
way. I will give unto this last, even
as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I
am good? So the last shall be first, and
the first last. For many be called, but few chosen. I've entitled this message, The
Last Shall Be First. In scripture, God uses the nation
of Israel to demonstrate that salvation depends not on the
choice and will and work of men, but on the Lord alone. The nation
of the Jews constitute the largest God-given example of a people
who heard the gospel, but were not saved by it. The fundamental
reason why God's word did not produce salvation in most that
were in that nation is because they were not chosen by God to
eternal life. Romans 9, 6 says, Not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all
Israel, which are of Israel. All men, according to scripture,
transgress God's law, hate God, and reject His salvation. The
only reason any are saved is because God chooses to save them
out of His free and sovereign grace. This is the overarching
lesson taught here. Salvation is owing to God's saving
choice. Israel, according to Romans 11
verse 7, has not obtained that which he seeks for, but the election
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. In this parable,
the last are those who appear to themselves and to men to be
the least likely to be saved. And in this parable, the first
are those who appear to men and think themselves to be the most
likely to receive God's favor. But in this parable, our Lord
pricks the bladder of man's pride by showing that the natural man
thinks evil of Christ because he is gracious to undeserving
sinners. And at the same time, he comforts
trembling, believing sinners by revealing that in the Kingdom
of Heaven, the least likely are both chosen and effectually called
to eternal salvation in Christ and blessed with every grace
for Christ's sake alone. the most likely are called externally
but refuse to submit to that call because they reject Christ
and cling to their own righteousness. Romans 10 verse 3. But the effect
of God's electing love is his call of sinners to salvation
in Christ by a call that actually accomplishes what he intends,
that we call upon Christ and look to Christ with God-given
saving faith. All whom the Lord chose before
the foundation of the world will be given eternal glory. but many
are called in gospel preaching who hold fast to their own righteousness
and so fall in eternal ruin and receive the just reward of their
ways. This is a summary of what this
parable teaches. Let us first consider the elements
in this parable. In this parable, the good man
of the household and the lord of the vineyard is Jesus Christ
the Lord. Hebrews chapter 3 says of Christ,
whose house are we if we hold the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm unto the end? Hebrews 3, 6. Christ is the son. Believers are his household. He is the Lord. Believers are
his vineyard. and therefore the vineyard is
the church of God. Paul told the Corinthians, you
are God's husbandry, 1 Corinthians 3.9. God is the husbandman over
his vineyard. His vineyard are his people,
the elect of God. The laborers in the parable represent
everyone who hears the gospel. We know that the laborers are
those who hear the gospel because at the end of the parable Jesus
sums up the matter by saying, many are called but few are chosen. All laborers in the parable were
called but only some of those received grace. They represent
those who are eternally chosen by Christ to salvation. As the
Lord of the vineyard called laborers to work in His vineyard, so Christ,
by the preaching of the gospel, calls His elect to believe Him
by effectual, life-giving operations of His Spirit. The work that
the laborers do in the parable is attributed as either a work
of faith and labor of love, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 1.3,
and as the eleventh hour laborers represent, or as a work of debt
and a labor of legal compensation as the full day laborers represent. The day in the parable is the
period of time in which work may be done. The day therefore
represents all that God requires of man. The end of the day is
the time of reckoning, the day of judgment. Every man shall
receive a reward on that day. The penny in the parable is the
compensation made to the laborers. This is the reward for a full
day's work. If someone fulfills God's requirement,
he is rewarded with life. Some think they do all that God
requires and therefore have a right to eternal life. To these, God
pays in justice as those who agreed to labor a full day. The
eleventh hour laborers received the reward of a full day's work,
but they only labored part of the day. Their reward is the
reward of grace. And in the parable, the agreement
made by the full day's laborer with the lord of the vineyard
represents the conditions on man's personal obedience in the
covenant of works, and their agreement to work to obtain God's
blessing and eternal life by doing what God requires. But
the 11th hour workers were told they would be given what was
right, and they trusted the Lord of the Vineyard to give as it
seemed good to Him. Now, there are at least 8 lessons
taught in this parable. First, the Lord alone makes the
difference. Jesus summed up the parable in
verse 16 by saying, Many be called, but few chosen. If you and I
are saved with an eternal salvation, it will be by God's choice and
grace alone. Again, if you and I are saved
with an eternal salvation, it will be by God's choice and grace
alone. Only His choice of grace to give
eternal salvation in Christ makes the difference between a hell-deserving
sinner and an adopted son of God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians
4.7, Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if
thou hadst not received it, that is, as if you earned it? When we learn that our salvation
depends on God's choice, not our decision, His will, not our
will, our initial reaction may well be anxiety, because we naturally
think that God's blessings depend on what we do. But our anxiety
is quieted when we realize that if anything were left up to us
in salvation, we would be utterly and hopelessly lost. This is
what the law of God teaches. The law makes God's blessings
and rewards conditioned upon our personal obedience. In the
law, God says, if a man do, he shall live. Leviticus 18.5 The
law demands that we do all that God commands, and that we can
only live if we do all. If we fail to do one part of
the law, we will die. Galatians 3.10 says, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But the result of this
arrangement in which blessings and rewards are conditioned on
us is that we are proven to be, in our very nature, guilty and
lawless and opposed to God and our own salvation. Therefore
salvation must be by God's grace and His saving work alone or
we will never be saved. Would you rather that your salvation
depended on God choosing you, or on you choosing God? Would you rather that your salvation
depended on God's will to save you, or your will to be saved? Would you rather that your salvation
depended on Christ's work alone, or depended on your work in some
part? Do you want your salvation to
depend on your own faithfulness, or on Christ's faithfulness? Can you rest in a salvation that
depends on your love, or do you only find peace and rest knowing
God's love for His own is everlasting, unalterable, and will not fail
to have the objects of His love in spite of their helplessness
in sin? The love of God in Christ is
stronger than sin and death. Song of Solomon 8. The answer to these questions,
if you are Christ's, is that you look only to Him and flee
for refuge to Him. With the psalmist you exclaim,
Truly my soul waiteth upon God. From Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. Psalm 62 verse 1 and 2. Only
if Christ is all my salvation can I stand unshaken in life,
in death, and in the day of judgment. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4 verse 18. The
second lesson in this parable is that God does give rewards. Psalm 58, 11 says verily, there
is a reward for the righteous. But those in the parable who
labored for a reward were paid out of justice according to the
agreement they made when they were hired. The Apostle Paul
said, Romans 4 verse 4, Now to him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If we work for a reward
from God, our reward cannot be a reward of grace. If we work
for it, it can only be compensation from God for what He owes us
as our due or our wages. All such payment from God can
only result in death, because all that we do, even our very
best, is nothing more than filthy rags in God's sight." Romans
6.23 and Isaiah 64.6 If we think to get God to bless
us or reward us or save us by what we do, we arrogantly imagine
that God is our debtor. We think we can do something
that God must recognize and reward. But all such thinking only increases
our own indebtedness to God because of our sin. God cannot be any
man's debtor because He gives us all that we have. Solomon
said, Of thine own have we given thee. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 14. and the Spirit of God, to humble
high-minded man, said in Romans 11, who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed to him again. For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. No
one ever gives to God but what He has already first given to
them. If I work, expecting God to repay
my labor, I will be rewarded according to God's justice and
not according to His grace. And justice will discover me
to be God's debtor, not Him my debtor. If I work to earn a reward
from God, I attempt to make myself God's creditor and make God my
debtor. What kind of arrogance is this? It is the arrogance of an ignorant,
blind, sinful man thinking he can elevate himself above God
and subject God as a debtor to his thoughts and actions. But
if God blesses any, it will be purely out of His grace, not
a reward or repayment. If we think to receive salvation
or blessings or grace from God by our work, God must deal with
us on the basis of His holy law. We cannot have it both ways.
If by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is
no more grace. But if it be of work, then is
it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Romans 11 verse
6. Notice, however, that in this
parable those who were hired by grace were rewarded according
to grace. Though there was but one hour
remaining in the day, the good men hired them, and they were
compensated for a full day's work. Here again God reveals
the principle of His grace. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Romans 4, 5. that God would reward
a man for grace that he gives is entirely contrary to our natural
thinking. God's reward to a believer is
never a reward for work, but a reward for his grace. Scripture
gives several examples of this. Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse
3, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, no one is poor in spirit
but those made poor by the operation of God's own spirit. And what
a blessing it is when I am enabled to realize in my conscience that
I do not have one thing of all that God requires of me. I am
poor and bankrupt before God. I have a great debt. But I have
nothing to pay. I owe perfect obedience, but
cannot fulfill one thing of all that God requires. My soul is
hungry and thirsty, but have spent all my labor and wasted
all my money on everything that cannot satisfy." Isaiah 55. I
must be given the bread and milk of the gospel of salvation in
Christ alone without any payment on my part, but by God's free
grace alone. It is indeed a great blessing
to be poor in spirit. God requires it, but it is a
gift of His grace. And Jesus said that there is
a reward for this God-given grace. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When I am enabled by God-given
faith to know that God looks to Christ for all that He requires
of me, that when He received the Lord Jesus Christ, when He
raised Him from the dead, that He received me with Him, Then
I have the reward of grace, the reward of the grace of God-given
faith, and that reward is joy and peace in believing. Romans
15 verse 13. Therefore, all rewards that God
gives believers are the rewards of His grace. Can I earn one
thing that God gives by grace alone? Can I earn the gift of
repentance and forgiveness of my sins from Christ on His throne? Acts 5.31 says, What can I do
to earn the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ? Romans 5.17
says, Righteousness is a gift. What can you do to earn eternal
life and eternal glory? Romans 6.23 says eternal life
is a gift. What can you do to earn the indwelling
Spirit of God, spiritual life and every grace from Him? Galatians
4.6 says the Spirit of God is given to us because we are the
sons of God by eternal adoption and by Christ redeeming blood. What can you do to earn God's
adopting love and to earn being the sons of God? 1 John 3.1 says,
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God? And what can you
do to earn the everlasting love of God? Hosea 14.4 says, I will
love them freely. What can you do to earn the gift
of God's own dear Son, the Lord of Glory, the Prince of Life? To all these questions we must
answer, there is absolutely nothing a dead sinner can do and there
is absolutely nothing a saved sinner can do to earn one thing
from God. All rewards that God gives believing
sinners are rewards of His grace in Christ. He finds reason in
himself alone and gave his only son to make his gift of grace
a just compensation to undeserving sinners. The third lesson we
learn in this parable is that the Lord gives what belongs to
Him to whom He will as it pleases Him. Jesus asked those who opposed
His grace, Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine
own? It is right for God to give grace
to whom he will. It is always right to lavish
kindness and favor on the undeserving. God's grace not only gives what
is not earned and what is unearnable, But God's grace gives what His
own justice demands, so that He is both just and gracious
in all of His gifts. It is right for Christ to be
gracious, because God is the measure of right. Therefore,
if Christ did it, it must be right. It is right because God's
gift of salvation and eternal glory to His people in Christ
magnifies God's glory. He makes known all the perfections
of His character in His Son by His doing and by His dying for
sinners. There we see His grace, there
we see His justice and His wisdom, His power, His holiness, His
faithfulness, His truth. In short, we see all that God
is in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Therefore, it is right for the
Lord to give graciously by Jesus Christ. And the fourth lesson
we learn in this parable is that the Lord gives exceeding abundantly
far above all that we ask or think. Everyone was surprised
that the Lord gave a full day's wage for only one hour of work. Such grace was unexpectedly more
than they supposed should be given. Truly our Lord Jesus Christ
is gracious. Those who worked only one hour
received a full day's compensation, and so it is in the gospel. The
full day's labor in this parable represents everything God requires
of us. If we could keep the law perfectly,
completely, and continuously, then we would be given life. But if there had been a law which
could have given life, verily righteousness would have been
by the law, Galatians 3.21. The fact is, there is no law
by which we can be righteous. Therefore eternal life by keeping
the law is impossible. We are sinners. God is holy. Sin must be punished. we cannot
satisfy the smallest part of God's justice by suffering God's
punishment against our sin. Nor can we obey one thing of
all that God requires of us to be righteous. There is none righteous,
no, not one." Romans 3.10. Yet, by His great grace, our
great God and Savior gives all things to us in Christ. He gives
all things to us consistent with His gift of His Son as a propitiatory
sacrifice. God's grace gives exceeding abundantly
far above all that we ask or think or deserve. And in Christ,
God gives all that is required to make His grace a just compensation. Romans 3.26 The fifth lesson
in this parable is that those who live by works will be judged
by their works. Those who think and live by the
principle that they will be rewarded for what they do, thinking God
saves and rewards and blesses on the basis of their personal
obedience, will receive just compensation from Christ on the
basis of His justice. All that men do who work for
reward they do out of a fear of punishment or to gain a blessing
from God. They live under a covenant of
works in which they have made a mental agreement with God to
be compensated according to what they do. In their very conscience,
unbelievers think God will only bless or curse them based on
what he finds and sees in them, even if only in some small part. But Jesus said, Friend, I do
thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me
for a penny? They agreed to work a full day
for one penny. The day represents the complete
time in which work may be done. Therefore, a full day represents
all God requires of men. Those who worked a full day thought
they had fulfilled all God required by their work. But when Christ
gave them their due, they grumbled, faulting His goodness. And the
sixth lesson we see in this parable is that those who live by works
find all of Christ's service to be a burden. Peter said to
Jesus in Matthew 19.27, we have left all and followed thee, what
shall we have? Peter thought that he had given
much, therefore he should be compensated accordingly. But
Jesus spoke this parable to correct all such thinking. When we think
God deals with us on the basis of our works, we view all that
we do as a burden and self-sacrifice. The laborers who worked all day
took pleasure in their own suffering and thought highly of themselves
because they served even though it was a burden to them. Matthew
20, verse 12, they said, We have borne the heat and burden of
the day. The only way we will find service
to Christ to be a joy is if we are called by grace and given
grace to see that our salvation is entirely in Christ, and that
we are therefore free from sin and the law of God to serve Christ
for nothing but His honor and in thankfulness to Him. as God
told Moses to tell Pharaoh, let my people go that they may serve
me, Exodus 8.1. It is a fact. I cannot serve
God, I cannot worship Him unless I am enabled in my conscience
to see that God by His free grace has already received from Christ
all that He requires of me. Only then will I love and worship
and give all that I have in joyful thankfulness. As Romans 12, 1
says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
to God, which is your reasonable service. We only love much if
when we had nothing to pay we were forgiven much. Luke 7 verse
42 and 47. The seventh lesson we learn in
this parable is that those who live by works hate Christ and
His grace. Those who live before God and
men on the principle of works and rewards accuse Christ of
being unfair for sovereignly giving grace to the undeserving.
And they envy those who receive salvation and blessings and rewards
apart from their works because they think they deserve salvation
and blessing and rewards by their works. Jesus asked the full day
laborer, Is thine eye evil because I am good? If I charge God of
being unfair because He saves and blesses and gives grace to
whom He will as it pleases Him, then by this I show that I am
evil because He is good. What greater evil is there than
that evil that is excited by Christ's good grace? Such evil
reveals what we think of God, that He owes us. He is greedy,
like us. But haven't we learned that if
we receive what God owes us, we will only receive everlasting
punishment? Therefore, we must look and call
and come to Christ for mercy, for grace unearned, for blessings
God only gives for what He finds in His Son. And the eighth and
final lesson in this parable is that many who hear the gospel
will not be saved. There will be many on the last
day who have received external blessings of the gospel who will
not receive eternal blessings from God. They will not be saved. Jesus said, many are called but
few are chosen. I want to know how I can know
that I am chosen of God. In John 13, 8, when Jesus told
Peter, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me, Peter immediately
replied, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Peter needed one thing to be with Christ and to have only
what he had in Christ. Peter did leave everything and
followed Jesus. He could not live apart from
him. This is the evidence of being chosen and called with
a saving call. How do I know the Lord Jesus
Christ has chosen me? Because He called me by His grace
to look only to Christ, to desire only what I am in Him. I know
He has called me, because when He calls in the preaching of
Christ crucified, I call upon Him. The psalmist said, The righteous
cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their
troubles. Psalm 34, 17. Do you call on
Christ to save you, knowing you cannot do one thing to save yourself? Do you look only to Him? Is He
all, your cleansing and acceptance and holiness before God? Or do
you have something else that comforts you and gives you peace
in addition to His word and what He has done? Every believer is
taught by the Spirit of God to say, As for me, I will call upon
God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at
noon will I pray and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice. Psalm
55, verses 16-17. The evidence of being chosen
of God to salvation is that the result God intends by His call
is actually achieved in us. We call upon Him. To call is
to cry from the inner man out of a believing heart, looking
to Christ, finding every reason in myself why God should reject
me, yet finding in Christ every reason why God receives me. God's
call to us causes us to call on Him by abandoning all that
may be called mine and coming to God by all that is Christ's. Saving faith is looking to Christ
away from all that I am, and finding in Him all that God has
for sinners. The called call. 1 Corinthians
1.2-3 says, Unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all
that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord both theirs and ours, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You've just heard a sermon by
our pastor, Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone, or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our
website at ysgracechurch.com.