Well, we're going to look at
Matthew 20, the first 16 verses. This is a parable that the Lord
spoke to his disciples right after he had taught them issues
and truths of humility. You remember, after he had spoken
to the rich young man, the disciples asked the question, who then
can be saved? And the Lord was very, very pointed
in answering that question. With men, it's impossible. but
with God all things are possible. And in those words, we see one
of the most fundamental truths of scripture, that salvation
is not of man, it's not of men and women, it's of the Lord.
And God chose a people and gave them to Christ and sent Christ
to redeem them, to ensure their salvation. And there's no other
way of salvation. I've been reading a lot about
the current Pope, talking about how all the religions of the
world are ways to God. No, they're not. They're ways
to an idol. I've been thinking about this. I was working on
an article for next week's bulletin on joy and peace in believing.
Well, people get joy and peace in believing a lie. Now, it's
not going to last. You know, it's only temporary.
But if your joy and your peace is in believing a lie, where
does that leave you? What he's talking about there
in the book of Romans, joy and peace in believing is joy and
peace in believing the truth as God reveals it in his word
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's where our joy and
our peace comes from. I want to know that, I want to
rejoice, you know, we hear a lot about joy, you know, with no
substance today. Well, I want joy with substance.
How about you? I want peace that's based upon
a proper and a sure ground, like David of old preached it. God
has made a covenant with me that's ordered in all things and sure.
So this is the issue of how God saves sinners. And with God,
all things are possible, all things that glorify him and exalt
Christ and work to the salvation of sinners. And so you remember
in verse 27 of chapter 19, Peter said, well, behold, we've forsaken
all the disciples. They had left their families. Now, when I say they left their
families, they went to follow Christ to preach. the gospel. They didn't abandon their families
or anything like that, but they left their jobs, their means
of making a living, to follow him. And remember what Peter
said, well what are we going to have therefore? The rich young
ruler wouldn't leave his riches and his lifestyle to follow Christ. And of course Christ made it
clear, he lacked righteousness, he was trying to attain it by
his works, but he didn't make it. Nobody can, that's our plight. We're sinners, And we have no
righteousness in ourselves. That's why we must look to Christ
for all righteousness. So he lacked that and he lacked
faith in Christ, which is the gift of God. Well, Peter said,
well, we've done what he didn't do. We've left all that. What
shall we have? And of course, Christ told him
that, look, you're thinking wrong, Peter. And I made this point
how the disciples were still tied to the earth in the sense
that they thought of a kingdom on earth. And that's not what
Christ was talking about. It's a spiritual kingdom in which
there's a beautiful and blessed equality. and equality among
God's people. One old preacher used to say,
there's no big I and little you. There's no I'm going to get more
than you get because I work harder or do this. Well, now Christ
begins to illustrate that in a parable. It's the parable of
the laborers. Now, I've entitled the lesson,
Whatsoever is Right, because The householder, look at verse
one. For the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a
householder, the owner of a farm, the owner of a manor, which went out early in the morning
to hire laborers into his vineyard. Well, that householder represents
the Lord himself. And the laborers represent sinners
saved by grace. All right? And two times when
he talks about their labor and what he pays them or what he
gives them, he says this in verse four. He said to them, go you
also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right, I'll give you. And then down in verse seven,
he said the same thing. Whatsoever is right, that shall
you receive. Now understand, as one said,
you can't make parables stand on all fours. This doesn't mean
that in salvation God hires us out and then we work for our
pay, whatever it is. That's not what this parable
is illustrating. What this parable is illustrating
is, number one, none of us deserve or have earned what we get from
God in salvation. None of us. And then secondly,
whoever God saves, he gives them all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ equally. Now that's what this parable's
illustrating. The Lord concluded his statement
to Peter's question in verse 30 of Matthew 19. He says, but
many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.
That's a saying that speaks of that equality. And the reason
there's an equality there is, again, because none of us, whatever
we get, however much God blesses us with, for example, spiritual
gifts or material goods, none of us can stand before God and
say, I deserve this. I earned it. Because it is all
a gift from God, and that's the key. Salvation is a gift, salvation
with all of its blessings. And again, this blessed equality
in the kingdom of heaven is because none of us deserve it or earn
it, and it's all given to us by God's grace. And I put in
your lesson, all who are saved are saved by God's grace based
on the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to us. It's what
Christ earned for us. and gives to us freely. And I love that passage in 1
Corinthians 2, I didn't put that in your lesson. But when the
Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see and ears to hear, gives us
life, gives us the knowledge of salvation, he shows us what
is freely given. And what is freely given? Every
part of salvation, every blessing. from the beginning to the culmination
of it. And there is no merit in us or
done by us whom God has chosen to save. It's all of grace. And
it's all according to his sovereign will and good pleasure. And he
always does that which is right. When God saves a sinner, He's
gonna do it in a way that is right according to His standard
of justice and goodness and rightness. And when God condemns a sinner,
He's gonna do it in a way that exalts His justness, His righteousness,
His truth, always. He always does whatsoever is
right. and good in his sight. Now, it
may not seem good and right in the sight of men. And that's
why men and women by nature despise the goodness of God, what the
scripture says. But I thought about this, you
know, when Abraham asked this question back in Genesis, I think
it's Genesis, yeah, I've got it listed here. Genesis 18, 21,
shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And the answer
is a resounding yes. He'll always do right. And so
the Lord expands upon all of this truth in this parable of
the laborers. And he says, the householder
which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard,
and let's read a portion here. It says in verse two, 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, I think that's around noon, and saw others standing idle
in the marketplace and said unto them, go you also into the vineyard,
and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their
way, they went to the vineyard. And he went out again about the
sixth hour and the ninth hour. See, this is in the evening.
This is getting close to when the laborers would call it a
day. And he did likewise. He said, I'll come and work in
the vineyard. And then verse six, in about
the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing idle and
saith unto them, why stand you here all day idle? And they say
unto him, because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them,
go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that
shall you receive. So you understand the concept
here. Now as I said, the householder
represents the Lord himself. He's the owner of the vineyard.
Just like God is the owner of this earth. He's the creator
of this world. He's in control. One of the concepts that comes
forth out of all this is the concept of the potter and the
clay in Romans chapter 9. God's the potter. We're the clay. What right do we have to argue
or debate with the potter who made us this way? You know how
Romans 9 delineates the questions that man has, trying to declare
his autonomy, his independence from God. You know, God put me
here. And so the laborers represent
all sinners saved by grace, not to earn their keep or their wages. The parable is not talking about
that. This is not about economics. Those whom God has given the
gift of faith in Christ and brought by the power of God to receive
Christ, to submit to Him as their righteousness, all of that. And
hiring labors at various times represents two things. And in
your lesson, I've got this. Number one, God brings His chosen
people by new birth to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works at different ages. at different ages, and to labor
for Christ at different lengths of time, all determined by what? The sovereign purpose and will
of God. You know, I've often said, well,
boy, I wish I would have known the truth earlier in life. Of course, I was about 24, somewhere
around there. I don't know the exact day. But why would I say that? God
appointed the time that he would reveal Christ to me. And Paul
wrote about that in the book of Galatians chapter one and
verse 15. Paul was about 40 some years old. He said, when it pleased
the Lord to reveal his son in me, to show me the truth. Now
we were marked out for salvation before the foundation of the
world. Christ was made our surety and our representative and to
be our substitute and redeemer before the world began. Paul
spoke of that to Timothy, of a salvation that was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. But in the process of
time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them who were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And to those who are sons, he
sends the Spirit at different times in our different ages. And I've got, like for example,
using this illustration, Samuel. Remember the prophet Samuel?
Well, he was converted at an early age in his life. So was
Timothy. I didn't mention Timothy here,
but he was. And he'd be like those who were hired early in
the morning. and put to work, and he'd be like those who were
hired at 6 a.m., as one writer said. Paul was converted later
in life. He'd be like those who were hired
at noon. And then think about the thief on the cross. He was
hired way up into, almost at quitting time. But Samuel, Paul,
and the thief, were all sinners saved by grace, conditioned on
Christ, based on his merits, his righteousness alone, and
not one of them, as long as Samuel served, as long as Paul served,
and think about the thief, how long did he serve? See? They all, none of them, deserved
or earned any blessing of God's grace that was given to them
through Christ. Now that's a concept that men and women by nature
just can't handle. Isn't that right? Because we
automatically, in the flesh, tied to the world, we think,
look, if I do more, I ought to get more. But see, what we have
to understand is what we are by nature and in a position that
we can't earn anything from God. Romans 4 makes that plain about
Abraham, for example. I don't know how old Abraham
was when God revealed himself to him, but I know he was married
and had a family. So he must have been up around maybe in
his 30s or 40s, I don't know. But the thing about it is, what
does he say about Abraham in Romans chapter 4? He says, if
it be of debt, in other words, if it was what God owed Abraham,
it wouldn't be of grace. So anytime you think of your
relationship with God as being what God owes you because you've
done this or done that or you've been here the longest or whatever,
you've left the realm of grace. Understand that. Grace, grace,
grace. And we can't emphasize that too
much. Because number one, that glorifies
God and exalts Christ. And number two, it puts us in
our place. Peter said, what am I gonna,
what are we gonna have? Well, here's what you're gonna
have. An inheritance incorruptible, which you had no part in acquiring
by your works. And that's what it is. And then
another thing, and I'm gonna make this point in the message
later, that's the motivation. for obedience, for service, for
worship, for love. That's the gracious motivation. That's the power of grace. Somebody says, well, if that's
the case, then I'm just not going to do anything. No. No, you're
missing the motive. You may be missing it from your
heart, because grace We believe the doctrine of grace and you
can't be saved without the doctrine of grace. But my friend, it's
a power that's written on the heart that motivates us to obey
God. The faith which worketh by love. The obedience that brings forth,
or the work of Christ that brings forth the fruit unto God. And we're gonna be talking about
that. Grace, love, and gratitude. Sinners are God's elect, are
brought to the Savior in time as effectually and invincibly
called to Him when it pleases the Lord. And y'all can look
back on your life and you know when you were in false religion
and how God brought you out of that in my life too. The second thing that this teaches
is that the gifts and opportunities to labor in God's vineyard will
vary among God's people. I put in your lesson here, by
nature we have neither the will nor the power to toil for the
Lord. That's right. We have neither the will nor
the power to believe God, let alone to work for God. Now, I
put Ephesians 2, and you, Hathy Quicken, who were dead in trespasses
and sin, and how we walked according to the prince of the power of
the air, the course of this world, bringing forth that fruit unto
death. We were diligent to work when we thought that salvation
was conditioned on us. And that is a low, self-righteous
motive. It's a motive of unbelief, actually. And you know, when people say,
when they hear us preach grace, and then they say, well, if that's
the case, well, I just wouldn't do anything. I'll just go out
and sin as much as I want to. You know what they're saying,
don't you? They're saying that they don't have that motive of
grace in their heart. You've removed the motive that
they do have, which is self-righteousness, self-love, self-pleasing. So that's what they're admitting,
and they don't even know it. I told a couple of guys that
one time, boy, they got mad. I said, well, why are you angry? I'm just telling you the truth.
Paul said that to the Galatians. Am I your enemy because I tell
you the truth? Whatever, listen, we know this of salvation. But
whatever abilities God gave us, whatever ability we have, whether
it's the ability to preach, to teach, to witness, to give, to
work in the church, whatever, whatever abilities we have, God
gave it to us. And that's a lesson that Paul
taught so well by the power of the Holy Spirit in the book of
1 Corinthians chapter 12. I've got here listed 1 Corinthians
12, four through 30. Because that's what he's talking
about the church at Corinth had they were there was a probably
a larger church and there were many spiritual gifts given one
of them was the gift of languages and They were being puffed up
about it You know look at me. You know they were trying to
draw attention to themselves and Paul told him he said look
Whatever gifts and talents you have you didn't deserve it you
didn't earn it God gave it to you and So why do you glory as
if it wasn't a gift? You see, that's not the way God
does things. But what we all have equally
by God's grace is all spiritual blessings in Christ. And so whatever
God gives us, it's right because God says it. You might look at
somebody and say, Lord, it's not right that you give him or
her that gift and not give it to me. Well, that's how we think
naturally, but that's not the case, and we know. Well, look
at verses eight and nine of Matthew 20. It says, so when even was
come, the Lord of the vineyards saith unto his steward, call
the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the last
unto the first. So he got, remember he said the
last has gotta be first and the first last. And when they came
that were hired about the 11th hour, they received every man
a penny. So that's what they agreed to
work for. And so when God brings us into
the family of God, he brings us to submit to his grace, and
we know that. That's sealed in our minds and
in our hearts. We're gonna sing a hymn today.
Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. to God be the
glory. We know that, don't we? So why
should we in any capacity of our life as believers, in our
service as believers, why should we in any capacity resent someone
else getting a gift or act as if the gift that we have for
service, whatever it is, didn't come to us by grace? This is
the way God wanted it. And God does whatever is right.
He doesn't do anything wrong. You say, you know, if you don't
accept it and believe it as a matter of grace, you're actually accusing
God of doing something wrong. You realize that? God, this is
the way it worked out, but I don't like it. So you're accusing Him
of doing wrong. Now that's ultimately where our
mind should go. and all these things. Well, look at verses
10 through 13. It says, but when the first came,
they supposed that they should have received more. And they
likewise received every man of pity. And when they had received
it, they murmured against the good men of the house, murmuring
against God. Now that's where we ought to
understand this thing now. saying, these last have wrought
work 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 he said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me
for a penny? Didn't you know the salvation
and the life in the kingdom, in the church, is a gift from
God, by the grace of God. Didn't you understand this beautiful
equality in the children of God? Because we're all saved by grace
based upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
not one thing we do, even for God, in the name of God, not
one thing we do adds to that, that righteousness which we have.
or earns for us more than what others have. So we see that what
we're seeing here in these laborers is the same type of fleshly thinking
that Peter had. What are we gonna get? Those
who would sacrifice, we ought to get more of those who would
sacrifice and serve less. And they forgot whatever time
and abilities and talents or gifts or whatever, it's of the
Lord. And the Lord alone receives the glory. The Lord alone receives
the glory. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4,
7. He said, who maketh thee to differ from another? And what
hast thou that thou didst not receive? As a gift, a free gift. And I put this to, this is Luke
17, 10. This is the, where Christ spoke of the unprofitable servant.
It says, when you shall have done all those things which are
commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants, we've done that which
was our duty to do. You say, well, I've done what
I'm supposed to do. Okay, what are you? You're an unprofitable servant.
You've only done what your duty is to do. What more would you expect? So
we're never to boast in our accomplishments. It's all due solely to the grace
of God freely given us. God does not reward sinners on
the basis of our works or our length of service or even our
faithfulness. He rewards us based upon his
grace in Christ Jesus. And whenever the Bible speaks
of the reward, the reward of life, the crown of glory, the
crown of righteousness, These are things that are given to
us freely, unconditionally, because Christ did the work that earned
every bit of salvation for us. And there's no degrees of reward
in heaven. Those who preach that are preaching
a false gospel. And they're not willing, loving,
bond servants of Christ. They're hired out servants who
are mercenaries. That's what a mercenary does.
The mercenary fights for the king because of what the king
pays him. But we are in the service of
our Lord and Savior, our king, because of what he's given to
us already, before we even start. Well, look at the last two or
three verses here. Verse 14, 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'm
good? So the last shall be first and
the first last for many be called, but few chosen. You ever wonder
where that passage was? We quote that all the time. Well,
there it is. God is absolutely sovereign and
just and he'll do his will among the inhabitants of the earth
and heaven and every way. None, as Daniel said, or actually
Nebuchadnezzar said, none can stay his hand or say unto him,
what doest thou? That means you can't question
him. He's the potter, we're the clay, doesn't the potter have
the right to shape the clay whatever is good in His sight? He said,
is thine eye evil because I'm good? What we as sinners saved
by grace have is due only to the sovereign free undeserved
goodness of God towards us and those who are evil, the evil
eye and unregenerate, they despise the riches of His goodness. They'd
be like those who would look at the thief on the cross and
say, well, If he doesn't get a tent out in the woods and I
get a mansion, then I'm not going to serve God. That's what he
means. Is your eye evil? Is thine eye
evil? Do you look at this as being
evil and unfair and unjust? Because God is good. God is good
to every one of his children. The Bible says that God works
all things. for the good of his people and
his glory. And because he's good to the thief on the cross, does
Paul, the apostle, or Samuel, the prophet, despise him? That's
what it means in the Bible when it talks about those who, in
Romans 2, 4, despise the riches of his goodness, those self-righteous
Jews who resented the salvation of Gentiles. What are they doing? They're despising the riches
of God's goodness, the riches of His grace. His goodness and
His grace is the great equalizer. So the last shall be first and
the first last, and then when he talks about many are called
but few are chosen, it's in light of this, and I'll read this to
you in your lesson. This is a truth that is so contrary
to our natural self-righteous way of thinking, so that there
are many called by the outward proclamation of the gospel, but
few chosen by God in power and in the power of the spirit to
receive and believe in Christ, in whom all God's people are
equal as recipients of his free and sovereign grace. Think about
it. It takes a work of grace to bring
a sinner to bow and submit to this truth. Okay.