Come back to Matthew chapter
20. The title of this message is
this. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom
of grace. That is what this parable is
all about. It is all about the grace of
God to sinners. Those who are in the kingdom
of heaven are in the kingdom of heaven by grace. That's why
they're there. That's how they got there. God
chose them. God called them. God put them
into his kingdom. They're there by grace. Now this
parable is in response to what went on previously. If you remember,
we looked at the young man who came to the Lord and said, what
good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And then down
in verse 27, after this conversation between the Lord and this rich
man, young rich man, Peter asked the Lord a question. Verse 27,
then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken
all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore?
We have to remember that they are still babes in Christ. He's
thinking like the world thinks. We've left all. Now what are
we going to get? What's our reward for leaving
all and following you? So this parable is given this
illustration. That's what a parable is. It's
an illustration. It's an illustration of a heavenly
truth. So it's given in response to Peter's question. Now, the
first thing we have here in this parable is a kingdom. It's called the kingdom of heaven.
It is a spiritual kingdom. It is a kingdom of grace. It
is a kingdom of righteousness. It's his kingdom. It's his kingdom. That means he has the right to
do with his own as he will. And it's a real kingdom. This
is a real kingdom that exists, the kingdom of heaven. Even though
our Lord said in one place, it comes not with observation because
it's a spiritual kingdom. And then we have a householder.
And this householder is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's speaking of himself. He's the householder because
he's the only mediator between God and men. Our Lord said in
one place, no man comes to the Father except by me. There is
no other way into the Father's presence except by me. I'm the only mediator. Everything,
everything that exists has been turned over to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He rules over it and he takes
care of it. There in Colossians where it
says, by him all things consist, that means by him all things
are maintained. He takes care of absolutely everything
moment by moment. Our Lord does, it's his. The
scripture says, all things were made by him and for him. It's his kingdom. If you'll notice
in this parable, who went out first? It says the householder. He went out first. The Word of
God tells us that God sent His Son into this world to save sinners,
and He came into this world to save sinners by His obedience
on their behalf, not just to make salvation possible. Jesus
Christ did not make salvation a possibility. He made it an
absolute. He came to save sinners. That's what He came to do. God
sent him into the world to save sinners by his obedience and
by his death and by his resurrection. It says in Romans that he was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. By his grace, sinners are saved. Now, if you'll notice here in
this parable, they were not looking for the householder. The householder
was looking for them. They were standing idle in the
marketplace, doing nothing. That's what they were doing.
And it says, he went out early in the morning. You and I know that before the
creation of the world, God gave his son a people. Early, early. And from creation, the householder
went forth. After Adam fell, Sinners started being gathered
into the kingdom. He started early, early, went
out early from creation, right from the fall. He started gathering
sinners into his vineyard. Now don't think as you read this
parable, don't think that hiring them for a penny has anything
to do with earning salvation. Let's not take bits and pieces
of the parable and start trying to make a doctrine on it. It's
an illustration. That's what it is. It's a parable,
it's an illustration. And it's an illustration of the
grace of God. That everyone in the kingdom
of God is there by the grace of God. That means they are there
by the unmerited favor of God. If I'm in the Kingdom of Heaven,
you're in the Kingdom of Heaven, we are not there because of anything
that we do. I'm not there because I believe
God. I'm there because He put me in
it, and by His grace, I believe God. Let's not reverse the action. It is by His grace that we believe.
Did you know that faith and repentance, they are the gifts of God? They
are the gifts of God. I'm not saved, listen, I'm not
saved because I believed. I believe because God has saved
me. He has saved me and given me life and enabled me to believe
and repent. That's the process. Now, it was grace that chose
the workers. He didn't go out and say, you
know, you look fit. You look fitter than this one.
In his mind anyway, he didn't think, well, this one looks better
than this one. This one looks like it lasts
longer in the vineyard than this one does. No. No. It was grace that chose the workers.
It was grace that chose those who were standing idly by. None
of them were doing anything that would merit his favor. It was grace that gave them a
penny, a fair wage. It was grace that did that. He
could have let them stay home and starve to death. You know,
He could leave us alone. You know, God can leave you alone.
God can leave me alone. You know, there's a whole host
of angels that fell that have no Savior. God left them alone. And the angels that did not fall,
you know what they're called? The elect angels. God chosen
to keep their first estate. They're called the elect angels. God could have left us alone,
but he hasn't. He hasn't. Some of you here,
you believe God. You believe God. He's not left
you alone. One of the things that I distinctly
remember when I really heard the gospel, when the gospel came
to me in power, the first thing I remembered and the first thing
that struck fear in me was that God didn't have to save me. He
could leave me alone. I was in His hands. He's not
in my hands. It's not, John, what are you
gonna do with Jesus Christ? It became, what is Jesus Christ
gonna do with John? I realized for the first time,
he's the sovereign. He's the sovereign, not me. He's
the Lord, he's the King, he's God. He's God. Now, verses two through seven,
we have the subjects. You know, every kingdom has its
subjects, and the subjects here are idle subjects. They're standing
in the marketplace. They're not doing anything. They're
just standing around, doing nothing good with their time. And our
Lord comes along, the good man of the vineyard, he comes along
and he turns them into productive workers. They were the servants
of sin, isn't that right? You and I were the servants of
sin. Now we're called the servants of righteousness, the servants
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your life has real meaning now.
What you do with your time has real meaning now. He turned them into productive
workers. They're now servants in his kingdom, in his vineyard,
not their own. You know, most people think I
was talking to Vicki about this yesterday. I said, most people
have the idea that Christ came into the world, made salvation
possible. They accepted Jesus as their personal savior. Now
they're going to go to heaven. I said, the Lord chose the servants. The Lord put them into his vineyard.
I said, we are in his vineyard. We are laborers in his vineyard. I don't, you know, wherever I'm
working at, wherever you're working at, I'm working here, but wherever
you're working, you're laboring in His vineyard. You're the salt
of the earth, you're the light of the world. You're laboring
in the Lord's vineyard. We are His servants. I thought,
man, if I can just get that through my head, I'm His servant. It's
not just what do I want to do with my life or what am I, I'm
His servant. Lord, what would you have me
to do? Lord, direct my steps, direct my thoughts, guide and
direct me. I'm your servant. I'm in your vineyard, it's not
mine, it's His. It's not what I want to do with
my life, it's Lord, give me life and direct it and guide it. These men, these servants here
now have real meaning for their lives. They are sinners saved
by grace. The Scripture teaches us that
we have been, in Colossians 1, that we've been translated out
of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
We live in His kingdom. I'm not really concerned for
the kingdom of men. My concern is for the kingdom
of heaven, the kingdom of God. That's my concern. I'm standing
here preaching. I study. And here I am now preaching
the message that I studied. And my concern is for the kingdom
of God and the children of the kingdom. And you're it. You're
it. I know the kingdom of men, it's
going to hell. You know that. God has told us
that. Now here's the agreement, a penny
a day. He said, I'll give you... Now,
if you'll notice, in his parable, he made this agreement with those
in the early part of the day. He made agreement with them for
a penny of the day. The others, he said, I'll just give you what's
right. He said, I'll give you what's right. Whatever the Lord gives us is
right. You know, if God sends me to
hell, it's just right. But if he saves me in Christ, it's right.
It's righteous. It's righteous, whichever God
does. Because he can only do right. And whatever he gives me, by
way of salvation, is all of grace. It's far more than I deserve.
I know what I deserve. The wages of sin is death. That's
what I deserve. But He's not giving me what I
deserve, He's giving me what Jesus Christ deserves, and that's
life. Now we see here in verses 2-7
a further demonstration of His grace. He called other idlers,
people standing around, at different times of the day. Now this could
represent sinners being saved at different stages of life.
You know, the Lord saves some that are young, He saves some
in their middle age, and He'll save some that are old. Grace
knows no discrimination of age. He can save at whatever age.
It can also represent different ages in the church history. Remember
the Jews first. The Lord said the gospel sent
to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles. God dealt with the
Jews first. For the most part, the whole
human race was left in darkness except for the Jewish race, the
Israel. And then later on in the last hour, he's called us
Gentiles in. It's written in Hebrews that
in these last days, when the Lord came and died on
Calvary's tree, it's called the last days. And the Gentile world,
that's me and you. Gentile world, people all over
this nation, all over this world, is called by the grace of God,
by the gospel of God. It could represent that. But
there's one thing I do see, whether it's young, middle, old, or whether
it's Jew or Gentile, they were all idle, doing nothing, meriting
nothing. They did nothing to merit the
grace of God at all. And here in verse 8, we have
the call. He says here now, he says, bring
them from their labors, the day's ending, now bring them in. He affectionately calls them
to himself. And when they all came, they
came expecting, expecting. And we see here the householder's
kindness. So when evening, verse eight,
so when evening was come, the Lord of the vineyard said to
his stewards, call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning
from the last unto the first, beginning with the last hour
of the day. He only worked one hour. He only
worked one hour. Start with him and then work
your way down to the one I called first in the morning, the first
hour of the morning. And when they came that were
hired, about the 11th hour, they received every man a penny. See,
here's the householder's kindness. The last receives a penny, and
I'm sure he didn't really expect that, because he said, I'll give
you what's right. He wasn't expecting to get what the others had gotten.
He wouldn't expect that. Grace gives us far more than
we deserve, doesn't it? Grace gives us far more than
we deserve. And we'll see here that there's no such thing as
seniority in the kingdom of heaven. In Christ, all are one. We are
all one in the Lord Jesus Christ. None is above another. To call a man in the last hour
instead of waiting till the next day, that's all a grace. That's
just grace. Why don't you wait? It's just
an hour to go. Just wait until the morning and
tell Him to come back. No, He calls Him at the last
hour. And He gives Him the same thing
that He gave the ones that worked all day, that was there all day. I think of that thief on the
cross. The last hour. I mean, we're talking last minutes. last minutes, and the Lord saved. This man never preached, this
man never witnessed, this man didn't give, he didn't do anything.
He just said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And that man has everything that the Apostle Paul has. You know what the Apostle Paul
has? Eternal life. And you know who eternal life
is? The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is eternal life. And here's what's sad. Look,
this is sad. This is kind of, this is in response
to Peter's question. Peter said, well, we've left
everything. What are we gonna get? I mean, Peter's, I mean,
he's thinking, who are we gonna cash out here? those who worked all day in verse
10, but when the first came, you know, I'm sure they saw when
that, that, that one that only worked an hour, they saw him
get a penny and I'm sure they thought, well, and we're going,
we're going, this is going to be good. You know, we're going
to get, we're going to get some, uh, good money here. But when the first came, they
suppose they should have received more. They likewise received
every man a penny. Now, humanly speaking, that makes
us mad, doesn't it? It is sad, isn't it sad that
it makes us upset that somebody gets what we get? And we worked
a couple hours longer. You see, grace enables you to
rejoice in another man's blessings. Grace enables you to rejoice,
and if the Lord blesses you, grace enables me to rejoice in
Him blessing you. If the Lord gives you more gifts than He gives to me, grace enables
me to rejoice in that. But here they couldn't, but here,
and what he's doing here, he's exposing Peter's attitude. Because
we still, even though we're saved by grace, we still have a sinful
nature. We still have a sinful nature. And we need to grow in
grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he's
showing here is that those who came in and they worked hard,
they'd been out there all day, they bore the burden and heat
of the day, and they said, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Instead of being
happy, we're upset. And when they had received it,
they murmured against the good man of the house. They murmured. They complained. You remember
when the prodigal son came back, the father went out and kissed
him. And then they killed the fatted calf and had a party. He said, this, my son was, you
know, he was gone, he was lost, and now he's come back. And the
elder son got upset. He said, I've been here with
you all this time. And this is a good picture of
the Israelites when the Lord came and started saving sinners
and calling sinners, they got upset. They got upset that sinners
were allowed to come back. We were out there in that righteous
living. It's like my brother has been out there living a righteous
life, spending money, acting like a fool. I've been here,
I've been obedient, I've obeyed the law, I've done all of this,
and you have a party for him and you've never done that for
me? Instead of rejoicing that his
brother came back, instead of rejoicing that his brother's
been restored, You see, listen, a legalistic spirit will make
you mad when someone else gets, someone that's wasted their life,
they end up getting what you get. A legalistic spirit will make
you mad, but a spirit of grace will put, enable you to put your arm around
them and hug them up. You know, it's only the grace
of God that will enable Mary, who's called the mother of our
Lord, and Mary Magdalene, with whom seven devils were cast out,
those two walked together to the grave of the Lord Jesus Christ
that morning. Two of the most opposite people
on earth walked together. Only grace can do that. Only
grace. Self-righteousness would split
that relationship. And when they had received it,
they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, these
last have wrought but one hour. They only worked an hour, and
you've made them equal. Here's the problem. You made
them equal. You've made them the same as
us. We've been here all day. Which have borne the burden and
heat of the day. That is so opposite of a spirit
of grace, isn't it? But he answered one of them and
said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Did not you agree with me for
a penny? Did I not give you what was agreed
upon? Did I not do that? I did you
no wrong. Did I not come and call you?
Did I not put you into my vineyard? Did I not give you exactly what
I said I'd give you? I'm not doing you any wrong at
all. Take that as thine and go thy
way, and I'll give unto this last, even as unto thee. And
here is, in verse 15, here is what makes human nature mad. The sovereignty of God in salvation. The sovereignty of God in saving
sinners. Listen, is it not lawful, is
it not right for me to do what I will with my own? Can God not
do what he will with his own? Can God not save whom he will
and whom he will pass by? Can he not do that? He can do
that, it's his. He said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and whom I will, I'll harden.
Does he not have, as Spurgeon said, the royal prerogatives
to do this? It's his. The vineyard is his. You know, if you turn this around
to us and ask this question, Is it not right for me to do
what I will with my house where I live? Is it not right for me
to let in who I will and keep out who I will? Is it not right?
Is it not right for me to let someone drive my car or not let
someone drive my car? Is it not right? It's right. Well, it just happens that God
owns it all. He owns it all. It's all His.
So He has the right to do as he will, with whom he will, when
he will. He has the right to say whom
he will or whom he will leave alone. Now he has that right. That's the question. Do I not
have the right? Does not the potter have power
over the clay of one lump to make one lump a vessel of mercy
and one a vessel of wrath? That's what he says in Romans.
Do I not have that right? I tell you what, when God saves
a sinner, that is one of the first things, I believe, I believe
that's one of the first things they realize. The sovereign right
of God to do as He will with whom He will. Now He says, you know, He says
in the Scriptures, come to me. Come to me. You know, this is
what's so off. is that the Lord says, whosoever
will, let him come. But who will come? Who will come? In Psalm 10, thy people shall
be willing. The only people willing to be
safe from sin are those whom God makes willing. The rest don't
want to be safe from sin. They want to be safe from hell.
But that's not salvation. Salvation is not going to heaven
or missing hell. Salvation is being made one with
God Almighty. That's salvation. That's what
it's all about. Be made one with God again. I'll tell you where heaven is.
It's wherever God is. He is heaven. We make too much of a place and
not enough about the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it not right for me to do
what I will with my own? Is your eye evil? Because I'm
good. Because I'm good. Because I give
this man, this man, I tell you what, this man needed that penny
as much as the man who worked all day needed that penny. Didn't
he? The vineyard belonged to the
good man, the good man of the house. The vineyard belonged
to him, the money belonged to him, everything belonged to him.
Now, if he wants out of grace and goodness to give this one
who worked an hour the same as ones who've been there all day,
is that wrong? Is that wrong? It's not wrong. Not in the kingdom of heaven,
You see the kingdom of men, we have laws and do's and don'ts
and that's how we operate. That is not how it's operated
in the kingdom of heaven. It's all of grace. The child of God is not looking
for rewards when they die. God said to Abraham, I am your
exceeding great reward. Now what's greater than that?
Is there a greater reward than to have God? I'll be their God
and they shall be my people. Is there a greater reward than
that? See, they are still materially
minded. To be spiritual minded, you think
upon Christ and having Him. So he says in verse 16, so the
last shall be first and the first last, for many be called but
few chosen. The whole message is this, of
this parable that he's given here to his disciples in response
to Peter's question. First of all, the good man of
the house or the vineyard, he has the right to do with it as
he will. It's his. And then it's all of grace. Everyone
there in his vineyard is there by grace. Every sinner whom God
saves is in the kingdom of heaven by the grace of God. He chose them. He called them. He put them in the kingdom. They're
His. That is the purpose of this parable. There are no rewards in the Kingdom
of God. If you're looking for rewards,
well, you've come to the wrong place. You've come to the wrong
place. The Kingdom of Heaven is ruled
by grace. Christ is the sovereign in it.
The householder is good. Never doubt the goodness of God.
Never doubt His goodness. And remember, He came looking
for you. You weren't looking for Him. He's talking about,
I found the Lord. Well, He found me first. I was
found of them that sought me not. I was made known unto them
that ask not after me. And He always gives what's right.
He wrongs no one. You know that? He wrongs no one. Let us be thankful that He called
us by His grace and that He has put us in the kingdom of His
grace. And let us learn to rejoice when God blesses one of His children. Rejoice in it. Rejoice in it.