We're going to be there in that
text that Brother Art just read for us. Now the disciples, the apostles
were sitting there with the Lord Jesus. And the rich young ruler
came running up to them. And he asked what he must do
to enter into heaven. And the Lord told him to keep
the commandments. And he said, well I've done all that. And
to show him that he had never kept one commandment, the Lord
knowing him and knowing his heart and knowing he had much goods,
the Lord told him to go and sell everything that he had and give
it to the poor and he would have treasure in heaven. And he told
him to come and follow him. And the rich young ruler went
away sad because he had much possessions. And the Lord said,
it's how hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of
God. And he just got through saying these sayings and then
speaking on behalf of the apostles. Peter answered, verse 27, Matthew
19, 27. Then answered Peter and said
unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore?
Now in this gospel age, the apostles were the very first to be called
by the Lord Jesus. They're the first ones to be
called. Verse 28, And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto
you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when
the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also
shall sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. Now when the Son of Man was regenerated,
That was when He arose from the dead and He sat down in the throne
of His glory. When He was raised from the dead,
He sat down in the throne of His glory. And the apostles,
just like all believers, the apostles were made by Christ
to be kings. Every believer is made a king
under God and we reign in the earth with Him. He's reigning
and we reign with Him. And each of the twelve, Paul
being the one that took Judas' place, they sat upon a throne. Not a literal throne, but as
gospel preachers. And they judged the twelve tribes
of Israel. That's who they were sent to,
to preach the gospel. How did they judge the twelve
tribes of Israel? The Lord was speaking to the Pharisees one
day and He said, He that rejected Me and receiveth not My words,
Hath one that judgeth him, the word that I have spoken, the
same shall judge him in the last day." Paul said, do you not know
that all of us believers are going to judge the world? How
so? The gospel we preach. You're not going to stand and
point your finger at somebody and judge them that way. The
gospel we stand for, the gospel we preach is the word that's
going to judge those that don't believe. And I'll show you why
I'm convinced that he's speaking of this present gospel age. Because
he says this to the apostles, but now to prevent the apostles
from feeling too haughty about themselves, and putting themselves
above others, listen to what he says, verse 29. And everyone,
every believer, and everyone that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or fathers, or mother, or wife, or children,
or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold. Mark tells us, he said, now in
this time, right now. He said he'll receive a hundredfold.
Luke said, in this present time. That's what he's talking about,
in this present time. He said, you're going to sit on thrones
judging the world. And he said, and everybody I save is going
to receive a hundredfold. They're all going to be the same.
Alright, watch this. So these thrones are not literal
thrones. No more than the hundredfold
is a literal amount. Neither are literal. The meaning
is this. The privilege is serving with
Christ in his kingdom. That's the reward. Serving with
Christ in his kingdom as he calls out his sheep. That is the reward
itself. That's what we have, brethren.
It's compared to a throne. It's a reward that outnumbers
a hundredfold what any man leaves behind. And that's not all we're
going to have. Now look what he says. He says,
and, and, and he's talking, he's saying in addition to that reward,
the Lord is talking to Peter and the apostles, and he's talking
to everybody he calls. He says, and, in addition to
that reward, you shall inherit everlasting life. So we got a
reward now, and we got a reward to come. We got, we got the reward
of serving him today, and we've got everlasting life to look
forward to. There could be no greater reward than the privilege
of serving with Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Of watching
Him call out His people and then at last inheriting everlasting
life with Him in His presence forever. Now Christ says that
everyone, those apostles and those that he called much, much
later, every one of them will be partakers together of the
same common reward of grace. Every one of them. But to check
Peter, and to check the apostles, from having a mercenary spirit,
and to show them that this question is coming from a mercenary spirit,
a spirit that's seeking to only do for the Lord because you're
looking for a reward, you're looking for a wage, you're looking
to get something. To show them this, he makes this
statement, verse 30, But many that are first shall be last. And the last shall be first. He's going to invert that order
when we get down here and we see a little bit later. He's
going to say the last shall be first and the first last. But
here he says the first shall be last. And the reason he does
it is because Peter is thinking of himself as being the first.
He wants to know what are we going to get. We're the first.
What are we going to get? And he said but now the first
shall be last and the last shall be first. Now to illustrate what
he means, he gives a parable and that parable is going to
be our text this morning. Here's what I want you to get.
Christ Jesus shall give to each one that he has called the same
reward. Justice. That's going to be the
reward, justice. It's going to be his reward,
justice. But many who consider themselves to be the first, who
are mercenaries, who are serving God for what they can get. They're
going to be the last. Not last in heaven, that's going
to be the last, lowest, worst place reserved in hell. A man who's pretending to serve
God, but he's doing it for rewards, for filthy lucre, will be in
the worst place in hell. He'll be the last. He'll be the
last. But now look here. He said many
would be there. But now watch this. All. Notice he doesn't say many here.
All those who consider themselves last. All true believers. The last. The last. He just says
they're the last. They'll be first. You mean there's
not going to be one first? Not among believers. The last
shall be first. All of them. All of them together
will be first. Alright, let's see this in this
parable now. First of all, there's a householder
who has a vineyard. Verse 1. 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. The kingdom of heaven here is
the church of God. It's represented as a vineyard.
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are one. They're the householder. Both are one in this work of
salvation. It's His vineyard. You see there, it's His vineyard.
Because God's church is His planting, it's His watering, His fencing,
and the fruits of it is all to His honor and to His grace. It's
His vineyard. And the laborers here represent two kinds of professors. They represent two kinds of people
who profess to believe on Christ. Alright? That's what everything
represents. Now let's get into it. The householder
calls the laborers into his vineyard. Verse 1, the householder went
out early in the morning to hire laborers into the vineyard. He
went out early. Now those who are truly chosen,
those who are chosen and called, God the Father chose them very
early. He chose them before the foundation
of the world and gave them to his son. He chose Jeremiah and
then he called Jeremiah. He said, Before I formed you
in the belly, I knew you. And before you came forth out
of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet
unto the nation. He chose Paul and then He called
him. We read it this morning. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. Those
who are truly called are chosen and called. But one Savior, our
Savior is going to tell us later that not all who are called are
chosen. They're not all chosen. The called
who are not chosen are represented in these who are the first. They're
represented in these who are the first laborers. Look at verse
1. He went out early, and when he had agreed with the laborers
for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Now this is
a parable, so you can't apply everything here. It's not suggesting
that God sends forced mercenaries into his church to preach for
his people. That's not what it's suggesting.
They go, they run on their own seeking filthy lucre without
God sending them. It's a parable. It's a story
to illustrate what he's saying. But notice here this, the first
laborers bargained for their wage. They bargained. It was
early in the day. They went to work for the highest
bidder. I don't know if it's like this up here, but in Tennessee,
you go to Home Depot early in the morning, and there's a ton
of folks standing there waiting for you to hire to work construction. And that's how this was. They
were in the marketplace. They were standing there waiting for
somebody to hire them. Well, these were there very early.
They were eager. They were ready to go. They were
zealous. But when they were there early, they had their option
of choosing who they wanted to work for. They could work for
the highest bidder. And you see there, it says, when
he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, they didn't
go to work for him until they got an agreement on how much
he was going to pay me. They represent professing believers
who are in fact hirelings. They're mercenaries who appear
to serve the cause of Christ, but they're really serving their
belly. They're really out for filthy lucre. They're really
looking for a wage that they've earned for selfish gain. Alright? Now notice those he called last,
verse 3. He went out about the third hour,
and he saw other standing idle in the marketplace. And he said
unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right
I will give you. And they went their way. And
again he went out about the sixth hour, and the ninth hour, and
he did likewise. And about the eleventh hour,
this is about an hour before dark, He went out, and he found
others standing idle. And he said unto them, Why stand
ye here all the day idle? And they said unto him, Because
no man hath hired us. And he said unto them, Go ye
also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall you receive. These represent true believers.
They represent those who are chosen and called. Each of these
were standing idle in the marketplace. Believer, before God called you,
All Christ's true servants are found idle, dead in our trespasses
and our sins. That's where we're found. Until
a sinner has been truly called by Christ himself, it doesn't
matter what he does in this world, it doesn't matter what he's going
about doing, his entire life amounts to standing all the day
idle. That's what it amounts to. All
unregenerate sinners combined. All of them combined. No matter
how benevolent, no matter how much they contribute, they contribute
nothing to the purpose of glorifying God in the calling out of His
saints in the kingdom of God through faith. Nothing. They
accomplish nothing through faith. There's only one activity on
earth that's really activity. And that is laboring in the kingdom
of God for the glory of God and the furtherance of His gospel
for the calling out of His sheep. That's the only thing in this
earth that is not standing idle. The only thing. Every other effort
of human strength in its source and in its aim is only busy idleness. It's to be under the prince of
the power of the air in the prison house of slavery. Now that's
where Christ found us. Christ is the householder. He's
the master. That's where He found me and you. Now notice the householder
said to these, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Every true
believer, every true servant of Christ, before he's called
by Christ, he's going to be convicted of his sin. He's going to be
convicted by the Lord Jesus of his sin. Why are you standing
here idle? Why are you doing nothing? Why are you not serving me? That's
what he's saying. Why are you not serving me? Notice
verse 7. And they said unto him, Because
no man hath hired us. Every true believer is going
to be made to confess our sins to the Lord. Not only is he going
to convict us of our sins, we're going to be made to confess our
sins to him. Because the only man who could
hire us hadn't hired us yet. That's why we're not serving.
We couldn't put ourselves into the ministry. We couldn't become
witnesses ourselves of the Lord Jesus. We couldn't become His
servants ourselves. We were standing here idling.
Nobody would hire us. Remember what I read to you Thursday
night? He said, Go and proclaim these words to the north and
say, Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I'll
not cause my anger to fall upon you. I'll be merciful, saith
the Lord. I'll not keep anger forever.
Only acknowledge your iniquity. Acknowledge your iniquity, that
you have transgressed against the Lord thy God. That's the
picture we have here. He comes to him and says, why
aren't you serving me? Why aren't you serving me? Only
reason we can answer is, Lord, you haven't called us. We can't
do it ourselves. We got no power. Now notice verse
4. And he said unto them, go ye
also into the vineyard. Now watch this. And whatsoever
is right I will give you. And they went their way. When
a sinner is made to know his sin by Christ, and he's called
by Christ by free and sovereign grace, he goes forth serving
Christ in faith. That's what he does. He doesn't
start bargaining with Christ. He doesn't start asking what
am I going to get paid. He goes forth bargaining, working
for Christ, laboring for Christ, trusting the Lord will give him
what is right. He'll provide what is right.
Now sinners are either servants of sin or they're servants of
righteousness. There's no middle ground. You're either standing
idle today or you're serving the Lord. There's no middle ground.
No middle ground. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. But Romans 6.17 says, But God
bethanked. And He's the only one to be thanked.
God bethanked. You were the servants of sin.
But you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. Being then made free from sin,
you became the servants of righteousness. That's right. Every unregenerate
man is a servant of sin. Every believer is the servant
of righteousness. Now get this part right here. I want you to
be sure to get this. Christ told the apostles, He
told his apostles, what we just saw, that in this gospel age,
their reward would be that they would be kings carrying forth
the riches of his gospel whereby they would judge the world. And
that's what you and I will have, brethren. And he said that we
will have a hundredfold in this life. Everyone who follows Christ. Now sinners saved by grace have
the reward of simply being privileged to serve our master. That's the
reward. That is the reward. You're going
to be kings, reigning on thrones, judging this world. In other
words, you're going to be reigning with Christ by His power, spreading
the gospel abroad. That's how the world's going
to be judged. That's the reward. That is the reward. Those who
were idle. These men sitting there idle.
It's the third hour. Nobody's come around. I'm 20
years old. God hasn't called me yet. I'm
40 years old. God hasn't called me yet. I'm
60, 70 years old. God hasn't called me yet. And
then one day God calls you. And He says, come forth. And
He calls you forth irresistibly. And you come forth. And you know
what you'll do? You'll go forth and serve Him, delighted that
He called you. Because He called you. You know
these men sitting there. They sit there all day long.
And then this man comes along and says, I'm going to pay you.
Go forth. Go to work. I'll give you what's
right. Dog I don't care man. He paid he hired me. I'm going
to work. What you getting paid. I don't
care. I'm working I've done something for for the master For the love
of God let's look at this second Corinthians 514 Here's what I'm
trying to show you second Corinthians 514 For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, we're talking
about believers here, if he died for all, all believers, then
we're all dead. You understand that? If all who truly believe, if
he died for all who truly believe, all his elect, the reason he
died is because we were all dead. It was a necessity that he die
that we live. And that he died for all that
they which now live should not henceforth live unto themselves
but unto him which died for them and rose again. Where's the word
of reward? What reward? I don't need a reward. That is a reward. He called me. He saved me freely by His grace. Why would I not serve Him? I
get to serve him? Now, you take marriage for example.
What if you had a husband and he's going to marry this fiancée. But before he marries her now,
she thinks he's in love with her and looks like she's just
head over heels in love with him. But before he'd marry her,
he stops and says, now wait a minute. Now, let's get something in agreement
here first. Let's sign out this agreement.
What's going to be my reward if I marry you? You reckon that
old gal's going to marry him? If she got good sense, she won't.
All right, let's take motherhood. Mothers, do you speak of compensation? Do you talk about pay whenever
that child that you care for, when they wrap their arms around
you and they hug you and they love you, for providing for them
and caring for them, do you push them back and say, wait a minute
now, what reward am I going to get for caring for you? When
they're sick and you're staying up all night with them and you're
nursing them by the bedside and you're caring for them, do you
stop in the middle of that and say, now wait, I've done enough
for you, what's going to be my reward for taking care of you?
Isn't the love of that child your reward? Isn't the object
of your love and being able to serve that one you love, isn't
that your reward? You take a first responder. I
thought of this because we're in a firehouse. You take a first
responder, a fire's burning, a house is burning down, there's
somebody in that house, and they run in that house, and they pull
out this person out of that house, and they get them outside of
that house, and they've done this great service for this person.
They get them outside of that house, as soon as they get them
revived and get them alive, they say, now wait a minute, what
you gonna pay me for doing this? That just polluted the whole
service. That just made the whole thing just cheap, didn't it? Service which serves in love
for the object it serves is its own reward. When you serve the
object you love, the service is its own reward. And service
to Christ, especially after that we have been so desperately lost
and dead in sins, for have Him to come where we are and to lay
down His life and to purge our sins away and to make us the
righteousness of God in Him, Oh, that's the greatest service
of all. What a reward. Now reverse those illustrations.
What if that bride said to that husband, who's provided everything
for her, what if she all of a sudden stopped and said, now what's
my reward? Would we say that to Christ our
husband, who's provided everything for us? What if the child that's
been provided for by that mother, She's cared for, she's up all
night and the mother's trying to sleep the next day and the
child goes in there and wakes her up and says, Mother, wake up!
What are you going to give me for being able to take care of
me all night last night? What? Hadn't Christ taken care
of us from day one? Hadn't He been the one that's
provided everything for you? Wiped your stinking butt when
you couldn't even do it yourself? And took care of you the whole
time? And you're going to ask for a reward from Him? What if
the victim pulled from that fire, turned around and sued that first
responder and demanded, you need to pay me for pulling me out
of that fire? You say, what a sorry rascal
that is. They should have left him in there. Our reward, brethren,
is to be chosen of God our Father. It's to be redeemed by Christ
Jesus. It's to be quickened by the Holy
Spirit of God. It's to be kept by His grace
all our day. to be the least of all saints,
to be the chief of sinners, to be the dead last brethren, yet
called into the service of so benevolent a master as Christ
our Lord. That's the reward. That's the
reward. We don't need a certain wage
declared to us like these first laborers did. You know why? Because
we labor in faith. We labor in hope. We labor in
confident trust. We don't make bargains with Christ.
We don't need to. We look for nothing but what
Christ of His free abundance is pleased to give us. Believer,
this hundredfold He gives us, it's not the health and the wealth
prosperity that mercenary preachers are preaching. Mercenary, anybody
that stands up and tells you if you'll believe God, you're
going to get something for it. If you'll send your money in,
you'll get some. I have seen my poor great grandmother put
her hands on the TV. I have. Because some huckster
on there told her if she put her hands on the TV, he's going
to heal her. And if she didn't send him so much money, it'd
wear off. I've seen that mess. That's a
mercenary. That's a mercenary. In this lifetime,
Christ gives us not what we could dare ask or think, not what we
deserve for our sins. He gives us what's right. That's
what He told us. I'll give you what's right. He
gives us what's right according to His righteousness. Because
He emptied Himself. Because He came to where His
people are and He emptied Himself. He perfectly fulfilled the law
for us. He brought in everlasting righteousness
for us. He put away our sins for us that
we might be full, that we might be perfect before Him and accepted
of God in Him. That's what He did. Is that a
reward? Is that enough of a reward? What
you want in the first hour God called you? When He showed you
your sin and you thought, this is it. He's going to put me in
hell today. What you want? I just wanted
Christ. That's all I wanted. You know
who I want now? Christ. That's all I want. That's
all I want. That's a reward enough. What
about joy in the Holy Spirit? What about having the peace of
conscience knowing that your sins are put away? That God won't
bring it up again? You're going to be able to stand
before God in Christ and be accepted in that day with no possibility
whatsoever that He's going to bring up one charge against you.
You couldn't pay me anything for that. What about contentment in Christ?
Knowing that no matter where you are, what your condition
is, what your shape is in this world, He's going to provide
for you and care for you and strengthen you in it all. Paul
said, I've learned whatever state I am, therewith to be content.
Why? Because Christ is my strength. That's why. That's my contentment. Christ is my strength. What about
the man who forsakes his possessions and his friends and his family
and his sons and daughters and his wife and all of this? God gives you a hundredfold more.
He gives you spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers and spiritual
sisters and spiritual brothers. A hundredfold more. I got mamas
and daddies all over this country. All over this world. I got brothers
and sisters all over. I got mothers and fathers, brothers
and sisters. I got the bride of Christ and all of His people
in heaven and in earth. A hundredfold more than I have. What a reward to be thought worthy
to suffer for Christ and the cause of His gospel. That's a
reward. To be thought worthy to suffer
for Christ. What great reward to watch Christ
call out His lost sheep into His marvelous light. To be used
of God. You say, well, I haven't preached
to anybody and He called them out through me preaching. But
you supported this work and you've seen Him do it. Aren't you just
as delighted when we baptize somebody as I am? I mean that's
a joy, that's a thrill. What a reward. The reward of grace is infinite.
You know why it's infinite? Because the reward of grace is
Christ himself. That's why. What did he say in
the Old Testament? I am thine exceeding great reward. That's what he said. Losing all
for Christ. Say you've lost everything for
Christ. That's the greatest gain there is. It's no loss at all. And what really have you given
up? Have you given up anything? Paul said, Yea, doubtless I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but dumb that I might win Christ. In addition to all
this, you know what our Master does? He provides us with everything
necessary in this life for the service that He's called us to.
There was I used to when I was about 13 I started working in
hay fields hauling hay for all different farmers off starting
in the in the summer all through the summer into the fall and
just before it got cold I'd be hauling hay and they had them
little square bales you know not these big round bales. This
was all manual work. He was picking up bales up, throwing
them up on a trailer and all that. And there were some farmers
you'd work for and they were just sorry folks to work for
them because their tractors broke down, their equipment was shoddy,
they didn't pay well, their bales, they tried to pack as much hay
into a bale as they possibly could and their bales would weigh
Way way too much and they were trying to rip off the farmer
and get as much hay they could off of it You know, it was just
their barns were in terrible shape There was a man named Frank
white and he he had the best equipment. He had the best trailers.
He provided gloves He made sure you took a break. He made sure
you'd be in the shade during the lunchtime He had the best
barns his bed bells weighed good and he paid well, I'll type a
top dollar over everybody When he called, I was like, I'm ready
to go. That's how it is with Christ. He pays in abundance. He provides everything you need
to do the service He's called you to do. Everything you need. And you think about this, brethren.
All gifts we have from Him, the Scripture says, under every one
of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. Whatever ability you have, every ability, every talent,
He gives it. He gives it. Even every opportunity. Have you ever done like this?
I remember times like this happening in my life where I would think,
I wish there was another way I could serve. I wish there was
a way I could serve better. And you just couldn't. There
was just nothing that you could do. There was just nothing that
was open to you. And then all of a sudden one
day there was a door open and there was somebody in need or
there was something the church needed or whatever and there
was something for you to do. Who gave you that opportunity?
He did. He did. He gives the opportunity.
And the time that He gives to serve is His gift. He calls some
in the third hour, in their twenties. He calls some in the sixth hour,
the ninth hour, in their midlife. He calls some in the eleventh
hour, right before it's time to go home. See, the time is
His to give. And He gives it. And so the scripture
says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools,
but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. In
other words, it doesn't matter if you call later or early. Just
serve Him. Serve Him. George Whitefield,
an old preacher a long time ago, he asked this old, old minister,
he was talking to him, and he said, Are you weary for heavenly
rest? Are you ready to go be with the
Lord? And that old preacher said, No. No, I'm not. And Whitefield
was surprised. And he said, What do you mean
you're not ready? And he said, Well, let me ask you this. He
said, If you had somebody that was serving you, and you promised
them you was going to provide everything for them, and you
sent them to a certain work, and you told them once they finished
this work, you were going to bring them home and provide all
provision for them and give them great rest when it was all done.
He said, what would you do if you heard them out in the middle
of the field going, man, I'm ready to go home. I wish you'd
hurry up. I'm tired of doing it. I'm ready
for this day to be over. He said, you tell them, get back
to work. There's work to be done. And he said, that's why I'm not
ready to go home. If it was time to go, I'd be ready. But it's
not time yet. He said, there's still work for
you to be done. That's what Paul meant when he said, I'm in a
strait between two. To go and be with the Lord is much better,
but it's neither for you that I stay here, Paul said. So he
said, I'm willing to do whatever God would have me to do. This
is our privilege. It's our reward to reign with
Christ as kings, spreading forth His gospel far and wide. He's
provided everything, and you know what? Our service is reasonable
service. What does that mean? Look at
Luke 17. I'll show you what that means. Here's what it means.
You think you should deserve a reward? Let me ask you this.
Whenever you children clean up their room and come to you and
try to get you to give them something to clean up their room, what
do you say to them? That's what you should have done. That's
what you're supposed to do, is clean your room. Why am I supposed
to give you something for that? Alright, well here's what God
says to us. Luke 17, 10, So likewise ye,
when you shall have done all those things which are commanded
you, say, We're unprofitable servants. We have done that which
was our duty to do. We've just done that which we're
supposed to do. Why should we expect a reward for that? And
yet, Christ promises there is a reward which awaits us at the
end of this gospel age. Look at verse 8. Back in our
text. Matthew 20, verse 8. Verse 8, he says, So when evening
was come, the Lord of the vineyards said unto the steward, Call the
laborers and give them their hire, beginning, now watch this,
from the last unto the first. Start with the last first. That's
who he started with first. Every true believer that considers
ourselves the last of the last, the least of the least, we shall
be the first called to inherit eternal life with Christ himself. 1 Thessalonians 4.16 says, The
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in
Christ shall rise first, and then we which are alive and remain
shall be called up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord. And all
who labor, everybody who labors, both the false hireling and the
true believer shall receive what is just. Everyone shall. Look
at verse 9. And when they came that were
hired about the eleventh hour, those that were hired in 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. What's this penny
stand for? This penny stands for justice.
This penny stands for the equality of justice that everybody that
meets God shall have. Everybody shall have equal justice.
Now let's look at the last verse. Verse 9 says, When they came
that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man
a penny. These did not work a full day, and yet they received a
full day's wages. That's what a penny was, a full
day's wages. They didn't work a whole day. Can you imagine
their joy? Here they were called at the
last hour, and they received the same thing that everybody
else received. Can you imagine the joy? These
ones went out, they were serving Him feeling like it was a reward
just to simply be serving this householder. And now He comes
to them and gives them a full day's wages though they didn't
work a full day's wages. You know something else you don't
see about these? They don't murmur. They didn't do any murmuring.
True believers say this, why would our Lord reward us based
on what we left behind? Why would He reward me based
on what I left behind? It was only by His irresistible
grace that I left it. Why would He reward me on the
length of time I served? He's the one that put me into
His service and set the time. Why would He reward me on my
ability? He gave the ability and He can't
speak much about it. See, I don't have much. And how
about, could we brag and say, well we need a reward because
we minister to the saints. It's God working in you through
the Lord Jesus Christ who's ministering to his saints. We're just earthen
vessels. That the excellency of the power may be of God, not
of us. We can't expect a reward for that. None of us. Believer,
we shall inherit eternal life because it is our just due. Man, don't it feel good to say
that? It's our just due. Not in myself, not in yourself,
but in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ based solely on
God's free and sovereign grace. Justice says, It's a right thing
for me to have all the just glories of heaven. Everlasting life.
Now he said what the reward would be was the reward in this life
would be a hundredfold reigning as king, serving him in his kingdom.
And he said the reward hereafter would be the same thing. Everlasting
life. But the thing he's showing us
here is that he's going to give that to you justly. Justly. Justly. Washed in his blood. We can't
even talk about our feeble effort, our feeble labor, but washed
in His blood, God sees it as perfect, as perfect. And then
now let's look at the first that's going to be last, verse 10. 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 God. That's who they
murmured, the good men of the house, saying, These last have
wrought but one hour. That's all they... Now watch
this. They've just worked one hour, they said. And you've made
them equal to us, which have borne the burden and the heat
of the day. Now it's plain. It's plain as day now. They never
were serving the master because they wanted to. They were serving
the master for what they could get. The whole time they were
out there serving in the field, they were thinking, they were
counting everything they were doing, every service they did,
keeping count of it, and saying, I better get a just wage when
I'm done with this. They're mercenaries. They're
hirelings, expecting what they, working for what they wanted.
The mercenary never has enough. Never has enough. Now watch this. The mercenary complained that
he had to serve so long in the heat of the day and he envied
those who served less time. You know how backwards that is
for a child of grace? In the day of God's grace, when
he brings us home, the believer We'll look at that fellow laborer
who was called in the last hour and just got to serve a little
while, and he'll say, I pity you. I got to serve all my life. I got to serve God my whole life. And he didn't call you until
he was about 70 or 75 years old. That's what grace does. Lastly, let's hear the Master
speak. Verse 13, But he answered one of them, and he said, Friend,
I do thee no wrong. Dost not thou agree with me for
a penny? The mercenary, those serving
for rewards, will receive from God exactly what they bargained
for. It's their just due. That's what
he's saying. I'm going to give you exactly what you wanted.
In this life, they have their reward. Matthew 6, look there
with me. Matthew 6, verse 2. Christ says, Therefore when thou
doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. That's it. Verse 5, And when
thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for
they love to pray standing in the synagogue and in the corners
of the street, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. Verse 16, Moreover, when ye fast,
be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure
their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. I want everybody
to know it. Very last saying to you, they have their reward.
What's their reward? They got to be seen of men. That's
what they wanted. That's what they got. What about
in the life to come? Look back at our text, Matthew
20, verse 4. Verse 14, I'm sorry. Take that
thine is and go thy way. The mercenary will take what
is his, he'll take justice, and he'll go his way into everlasting
destruction. And God will give the same justice
to those who are last. Look at verse 14. He says, I will give unto the
last even as unto thee. That believer who thinks he's
nothing, he's going to get the same thing as that man got. He's
going to get justice too. But Christ is going to say to
every blood-bought believer, Take that is thine and go that
way. I have a sister that I love dearly
down in Taylor, Arkansas. And I've known her since I was
about 15. And the Lord called her home
Friday. She had leukemia and her body was deteriorated. And
she went home to be with the Lord Friday morning. She closed her eyes in that body
of death, and she opened her eyes, perfectly conformed to
the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and saw Him in all His glory
with His arms stretched out like this. And He said, Come, take
that is Thine. Come take what is Yours. Do you
reckon she said, But is all I'm going to get Christ? I don't
think she did. I don't think any true believer
that comes into His presence is going to say, it's all I'm
getting, Christ. And she has at least one child
that's saved. At least one child. And I expect
that when she died, she went there, and when He dies, He'll
go. He'll be last. She was first.
He'll be last. But I expect when she gets there,
when she got there, and she heard the Lord say this, when she heard
the Lord say, I will give unto this last, even as unto thee."
I bet she was thrilled with that. You reckon you'll envy your child
that you have a better reward than him? Or he has a better
reward than you? That's foolish talk, isn't it?
We're going to have Christ. We're going to have everlasting
life with Christ. Besides all this, let me read
verse 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine
own? You going to give me the stink
eye because I'm good? God said, The judge shall do
right. If we're children, then you're
heirs, you're heirs of God, you're joint heirs with Christ. If so
be that you suffer with him, that you may be glorified together.
The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
to the glory that shall be revealed. But if you're not His, He shall
reward the mercenary with health because it's just. And He says
in verse 16, So the last shall be first. You see, this time
He turns it around because He's glorifying the last. He's glorifying
the believer here. And He says the last shall be
first. And the first shall be last. And the only thing that
will have made the difference is God's grace. Look at verse
16. For many be called but few chosen. Now, let's put ourselves
in Peter's place. We're there with Peter and those
apostles, and we've made this statement. We left everything
and followed you. What will we have there for?
And he starts telling this story, and he starts telling about this
first laborer. He went out early and he found
this first laborer. He was out there early, ready
to go. And you and me and Peter, we're
thinking, oh yeah, that's us. That's us. We're ready. We're
ready to serve the Lord. And the more you listen to this story,
you find out that first laborer was a mercenary who was just
serving God for what he could get. And the more you listen
to that story, by the end of that story, your heart is broken
and contrite and you feel like a fool for even asking that question.
You feel like the least. You feel like the last. And so
Christ has brought you where you need to be and where you
need to stay. The last. Because the last should
be first. And the first should be last.
Do you understand that? Do you understand what I'm saying?
Amen.