Let's go back to that portion
of Scripture that Terry read to us. And I want to pick up
reading exactly where he left off. And that is at the very
beginning of Matthew chapter 20. And so, As we read this, we need
to keep in mind chapter divisions are beneficial to us, but we
must not think that they necessarily begin a new subject. Our Lord is not beginning a new
subject. He's picking up off what Peter
had said. And he's giving this illustration,
this parable, unto his disciples. And so we begin reading here,
chapter 20, verse 1. For the kingdom of heaven is
likened to a man that is in a householder, which went out early in the morning
to hire laborers into his vineyard. By early in the morning, we're
to understand 6 AM. And when he agreed, he had agreed
with the laborers for a penny a day. That was a common day's
wage for an average laborer or for a soldier. So when he had agreed with the
laborers for a penny a day, he sent them in his vineyard. And he went out about the third
hour, that's 9 a.m. He saw others standing idle in
the marketplace and he 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 hour and the ninth hour, that is, at noon and then at
3 p.m., and did likewise. And about the 11th hour, that
is, about five in the afternoon, he went out and found others
standing idle, and he saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the
day idle? 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. And so when the evening was come,
which would be 6 p.m., it has now been 12 hours since the first
workers were hired. So when evening was come, the
lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, you call the laborers
and give them their wages, but begin with the last and work
to the first. So start by paying those that
went to work at 5 p.m. You start with them and then
work your way backwards, finally arriving at those who began work
at 6 a.m. in the morning, 12 hours prior
to this. And when they that were hired
about the 11th hour, when they came, they received every man
a full day's wage, a penny. And then everybody else collected
their money. And then last, the first came,
those that had been working since 6 a.m. And they supposed that
they should have received more. And they likewise received every
man a penny. And when they received it, they
murmured against the good men of the house and said, These
last have worked, or wrought, just one hour. And thou hast
made them equal. That's the key word in the parable,
is equal. Thou hast made them equal unto
us. And we've borne the burden and
the heat of the day. We've been working all day long. But he answered one of them and
he said to him, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not
agree with me for a penny? That's what the agreement was,
wasn't it? Well, he couldn't argue because
that's exactly what the agreement was. So he says to the man, you
take that thine is and you go your way. I will give unto this
last, even as I give unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am
good? And so the last shall be first,
and the first last For many may be called, but few chosen." It is a big mistake to separate
this parable from what our brother read to us there in chapter 19
of the rich young man who came to the Savior. As that passage was read, you
remember the man said, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal
life? In other words, he drew near
to the Lord Jesus on a purely legal basis. I know I've got
to do something. Now you tell me what to do in
order to have eternal life, and I will do it. That's purely legal
basis. In other words, he approached
the Lord Jesus on the basis of salvation by works. Well, if you're interested in
salvation by works, well, here's what is fully required. You keep God's law perfectly.
And that's what the Savior said. If you want to do something to
gain eternal life, then you've got to be inwardly as well as
outwardly absolutely perfect. And as it turned out, the man's
possessions and his wealth, they were his idols. And he wouldn't even, he wouldn't
part with those things. He wanted to do something, but
we know this, according to Romans chapter 6 and verse 23, indeed
the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God, now that's
eternal life. God doesn't give you eternal
life for working for Him. for laboring for him, for doing
good deeds. You don't get eternal life that
way. And if you come to the Lord Jesus on the same basis as this
man did, I want to do something to get everlasting life. I want to do something for salvation. If you come on that basis, here's
the answer of the scriptures. You be perfect. Now you keep
God's law and you keep it perfectly. Salvation, my friends, is the
work of the Lord from beginning to end and all in between. It started with Him. It commenced
with Him. ordained of Him. Our Lord Jesus
came and died that God might be just and justifier of all
who believe on the Lord Jesus. He came to satisfy divine justice. Salvation to us, it comes to
us as a pure gift. And He even gives us faith to
receive it. It isn't earned. It isn't merited. It isn't deserved. And the most
difficult thing I know for a sinner is to have this idea of working
for salvation removed totally from his mind and be filled with
the grace of God to see that this everlasting life, this salvation,
is based fully on grace. And it's given to us through
the merits of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps we could say this, salvation
is by a work, but not ours. It's the Savior's work. He labored
for us. He lived for us. He died for
us. He was buried and rose again
for us. He ascended to heaven for us. And He intercedes for us. Now
what part do you play in all of that? And the answer is nothing. You're a recipient. In this matter
of the salvation of a sinner, the sinner is passive. It's the
Lord who works. He regenerates us. Now, after
He regenerates us, we're no longer passive. We believe Him. But
He gives us faith. And He gives us repentance. You
say, well, how does that fit in with this story here? The disciples had listened to
the exchange of words between this rich man and our Lord Jesus. They had listened. And the man, he would not follow
Christ Jesus. He's not going to give up anything. His possessions were his gods. The Lord said, give it all up
and then follow me. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't
do that. And He wouldn't do that. You
see, salvation is not by the works of man. It's not by you
giving up anything. But, if you come to the Lord
and say, what have I got to do for salvation? You've got to
give up everything. You've got to keep God's law.
Well, that's an impossibility. But the disciples are listening
to all of this. and that which the young man
refused to do, forsake everything and follow the Lord Jesus, that's
exactly what these men had done. They forsook their houses, they
forsook their families, they forsook their jobs, they forsook
all the conveniences that they had to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Peter speaks up, and when
he speaks up, it's obvious he's speaking for all of the group.
And they're thinking, well, this guy, he wouldn't give up anything.
We've given up everything, so what are we going to have as
a result of that? What is our reward going to be
for forsaking all and following the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the Savior says this. Look
back here in chapter 19. You see, Peter says in verse
27, Then answered Peter right after this, he said, Behold, look, Lord. Now, Lord, pay attention to this.
We have forsaken all. We have done what this young
rich man would not do. We have forsaken all to follow
you. What shall we have therefore
that is in the kingdom? Of course, the disciples were
still of the mistaken notion that the kingdom of God was going
to be on earth, an earthly kingdom, and that Christ the Savior was
going to sit upon the throne of David in Jerusalem, and Israel
was going to rule the world. Our Lord says to him, look at
verse 28, Jesus said unto them, it's obvious Peter was speaking
for all of them, because Peter had said in verse 27, we have
forsaken all. And the Lord knows this is the
thinking of all of the disciples, so He said unto them, He said
unto all of them, Verily, truly, I say unto you, that ye which
have followed me, and they did follow Him, There's no question
about that. Ye which have followed me in
the regeneration, I'll come back to that word in a minute. In
the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne
of His glory, ye also shall sit upon the 12 thrones judging the
12 tribes of Israel. Regeneration. Used two times
in the Bible, that's all. The word regeneration literally
means new birth. New birth. In the book of Titus
chapter 3 and verse 5, we won't take the time to look at it,
but you can jot it down and read it later if you want to. Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his mercy
he saved us by the washing of regeneration of the spirit. That is, we're born of the spirit.
We're born anew. We're born again. Regeneration. Regeneration literally means
the new birth. We have experienced the new birth
in our souls. Now, this word, regeneration,
and this is the other time that it's mentioned in the New Testament. The word regeneration here, it
still means new birth. But it's not talking about the
new birth of the soul. It's talking about the new birth
of, first of all, our bodies, and the new birth of this earth. The regeneration of this earth.
When's that going to be? Well, He says, when the Son of
Man comes back, when He sits on His throne of glory. This
earth is going to experience a new birth, a regeneration. It's going to be renovated. and
our bodies are going to experience a regeneration. Those of us who
are the people of God, who have been saved by the grace of God,
our souls have experienced regeneration. We have been born again. Except
to be born again, Christ said, you can't enter into the kingdom
of God. Well, what does that new birth involve? What part
of man does that involve? Not the body, but the soul. the soul that in Adam was alive
unto God, but died in the fall of man. And we have been born
again. We have experienced the new birth
in our inward man, in the soul, in the heart. But there's coming
a day when these bodies are going to die. Going to corruption. We're mortal. We've got to give up this life.
The body's going to die. But the body is going to be regenerated. When our Lord comes back, it's
going to experience its own new birth. When He comes back and
our souls come back with Him, and this earth is going to experience
a regeneration, a new birth. It was born some 6,000 years
ago when God created all things. But it's been ruined by sin. But it's going to be born again,
not spiritually, but physically. This earth will experience a
new birth. That's what Paul is talking about
in Romans chapter 8 when all of creation groans. It groans, longing for that day
of the new birth of itself. Our Lord says, in the regeneration,
that is the regeneration that is going to come, He says to
these disciples, you will sit, you will sit on thrones of glory. And you will judge, you will
judge right along beside me. He'll be the judge and the apostles
will be with him in the judgment of apostate Israel as well as
ungodly Gentiles. But wait a minute, not only the
apostles are going to sit on thrones, all of the saints of
God will sit on thrones. And we find that, we discover
that in Revelation chapter 4 and chapter 5. All of the saints of God are
kings and priests unto God. We're all royalty. Not just the
apostles. But all of those begotten of
God, all of those chosen in grace, redeemed by blood, called by
the Spirit, were all the sons and daughters of the King. That
makes us royalty. Royalty. And we will sit upon
thrones as He judges the wicked world. Our Lord says this, continue
here. He says, you shall set upon 12
thrones, verse 28, judging all the 12 tribes of Israel, verse
29. And everyone, I underline that,
everyone, that have forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my
name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting
life. Well, who are these people who have forsaken everything?
That's all of God's people. There's nothing stands between
us and the Savior. By the grace of God, we've turned
our backs on everything, not literally. We still love our
families, but we love Him first. We still have responsibilities
in this world, but our great responsibility is to glorify
and serve our King. We have forsaken all, not only
the disciples, not only preachers and missionaries, but all of
the people of God. We have forsaken our works. We have forsaken our efforts. We have forsaken all the supposedly
good deeds that we have done. We look to Jesus Christ alone. We've forsaken all for Him. He's not going to share his glory
with anybody. He's not going to share his honor
and worship with anybody. Yes, the disciples, they would
be enormously blessed for following our Lord Jesus, but they needed
to learn a valuable lesson. In the kingdom of God, all are
the same. Therefore, these faithful men, though they be first in their
own minds," he says, you should be last. See, when you think of those
men who, you kind of imagine this, who would be first in the
kingdom of God, you'd say, well, it's got to be the apostles.
These were some of the men who wrote the New Testament. They've
got to be first. And the Savior said, well, those
that you think are first, they're actually last. Well, who are
the last? I expect there are people sitting
in the pews here tonight. If you're honest, you'll say,
hey, I'm one of the last. I'm not a preacher, I'm not a
missionary, I'm not a teacher. I come, listen, rejoice, try
to encourage the pastor every once in a while. I give, I pray,
try to encourage one another. But preacher, I'm a nobody. I'm
a nobody. Hey, hang on a minute. You think you're last? The Lord
says you're first. And you see, He says exactly
the opposite when He gets over here into chapter 20 and verse
16. You see, let me read the last
statement of chapter 19. For many that are first shall
be last. Now notice what He says in verse
16. The last shall be first. and
the first shall be last. He just turns it around. Because
that which he is teaching is, all in the kingdom of God are
equal. That's what he's teaching. All
who are in the kingdom of God are equal. You say, what does
this mean over here then where it says, receive and a hundredfold
and inherit everlasting life? Oh, the blessings we receive
in this life are innumerable, more than you can imagine, a
hundred fold greater than fleshly comforts or mercies. There's the comfort of the Holy
Spirit. You have that. There's the presence
of our Lord Jesus with you. You have that. There's the communion
of the saints of God, the fellowship of other children of God. See,
all of the saints of God receive a hundred times more joy and
happiness in this world due to the grace of God than anybody
else does. Yes, the disciples They're gonna
be blessed for following our Lord, but they needed to learn
this lesson in the kingdom of God. All are equal. What do you have that God didn't
give you? If a man's gifted to write and
be a blessing to people, who gave him the gift? If somebody's able to sing, and be a blessing to the people
of God? Who gave you the gift? People are gifted as musicians
to be a blessing to us. They play the organ and the piano
for the glory of God. Who gave them the gifts? What
do you have that you didn't receive? Now why should you get any glory? Why should you get any credit? All of the saints of God are
equal in the kingdom of our Lord. All are equal. So our Lord, as
He so often does, He gives a parable. And whenever you see a parable,
think of it as an illustration that our Lord has deemed necessary
to give due to something that has been said or brought up,
or due to a circumstance that existed, and He tells a story. He gives an illustration that
basically has just one meaning. So when we get to this parable
here in chapter 20 of the laborers, we're not trying to figure out,
well, what does the penny stand for? It's just part of the story. Well, what about the steward?
What does he represent? He's just part of the story.
that the moral, if I could put it this way, of the story is
that word in verse number 12, equal. That's the moral of the
story. Peter said, we followed you,
we've forsaken everything, that this guy, he wouldn't forsake
anything. We have forsaken all. What are
we going to get? I think we ought to give more.
We ought to get more than anybody else. The Lord said, oh, learn this,
Peter. In the kingdom of God, there's
equality. Hear me now, there's just one
king, and he gets all the glory. If
you're looking for some credit, you're looking for some glory,
you're barking up the wrong tree, and you're in great danger. Because
the Lord said, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory. I'm not gonna give to you. You're
not gonna get any glory. Now when you study a parable,
you know this. You study who spoke it, our Lord
Jesus. And you've got to take it in
its setting, or as we use the word, context. What is He teaching here? And
it is that all of the saints of God are the same. None are above others. But you
say, well, won't some Christians receive more crowns than others? No. No. As you look through the
New Testament, You'll find in 1 Corinthians 9.25, saints of
God are given an incorruptible crown. Who's going to get that?
All of the children of God an incorruptible crown. Honor. It's an honor to be the
children of God. The Lord's going to put us all
on display. We're trophies of His grace.
Behold, Christ will say, I am the children that thou hast given
me. all receive an incorruptible
crown. There's a crown of righteousness.
Paul talks about that in 2 Timothy chapter four. He says, the Lord's
gonna give me a crown of righteousness, but not just to me, he says,
but to all who love his appearing. Well, who's that? That's all
the people of God. There's a crown of light that's
promised in James 1 verse 12 to all who love Him. Who's that?
That's all the saints of God. We all love Him. We love Him
because He first loved us. There's a crown of glory that
fadeth not away, 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 4. Who's going to
get that? All the children of God. And
all of the saints of God are pictured as casting their crowns before the Lamb of God. Nowhere
do we read in the Word of God that one believer is favored
over another, or one believer has a higher position or receives
higher honor than others in the Word of God. In the parable,
it didn't matter when these men were hired, They all received
the same wage. And you see, when it says down
here that those who've been working all day, when they came and one
of them, he was really upset. He complained. Well, we ought
to have got more. You know who that guy pictures?
Simon Peter. All the disciples. Hey, look
what we've done. We've done what this man wouldn't
do. What are we going to get? Our Lord says, even if you're
one of those workers called at six o'clock in the morning, you
get what everybody else gets. Everlasting life, everlasting
glory in Christ Jesus. Doesn't matter how long you've
been saved, doesn't matter what your Office was what your service
was in the kingdom of God You receive the same Whatever works you have performed
you say what and There are a lot of people who believe this the
more work should do the more you're gonna get in heaven Well,
I hang on a minute and just hang on to that. I Don't want to fuss
at you if that's what you believe, but I want you to think with
me I had two questions to ask you. My fourth grade teacher,
I told you this, my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Bishop, she told
me two things, a lot of stuff she told me I forgot. But I remember
this, keep your elbows off the table when you eat. I'm sorry,
Mrs. Bishop, I do break that every
once in a while. And she said, put your thinking
cap on now. So you, I don't care about your
elbows, but put your thinking cap on. Two questions, number
one. Do you believe that in this matter
of the salvation of the soul, in your salvation, do you believe
in any way, in even a little way, even in a minute way, is
your salvation Is it dependent upon you even just a little bit? Answer in your mind. Just a little?
Surely just a little. Well, the saints of God all answered,
no. It's not dependent upon us. And
we know it isn't. Look with me in Acts chapter
13. Now stay with me. I want to reason
with you. The Lord said in Isaiah 1, come
now and let us reason together, said the Lord. We're going to
reason a little bit here. You say you don't believe that
even the littlest way, just a minuscule way, that this salvation is dependent
upon you. Well, I agree with you. It isn't
dependent upon you. Here we find in Acts chapter
13 and verse 48, the Gentiles. And when the Gentiles heard this,
that the Jews said, we don't want to hear this preaching anymore.
When they heard this, they were glad. They glorified the Word
of the Lord and as many as were, what's that next word? Ordained. to eternal life believed. Who ordained them to eternal
life? The Lord did. Could these Gentiles
say, well, we deserve a little bit of credit? He said, no. No, God forbid. The Lord ordained
them unto eternal life. And you're correct. Man had nothing
to do with it. Now, the second question. Do
you believe that your position in heaven and the crowns, or
you can call them rewards that the Lord is going to give you,
do you believe that your works make a contribution to your standing
before God, or that you'll get more because you did more works. Mull that over a little bit.
What's the old saying? Put that in your pipe and smoke
it, okay? And if you say yes, I'm going
to say, now wait just a minute. Turn to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians 2. And verses 8, 9, and 10. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. How can you say on the one hand that the sinner gets no credit
for his salvation because it's altogether a gift of grace ordained
of God And yet you turn around and say
that in heaven, the amount of works that I did on earth, that
will determine my standing or my reward or my honors in heaven. How can you say that and be consistent? If the Bible says, the Lord ordained
the one, He ordained you to eternal life so you can't get any credit.
And then it says He ordained the good works that you perform. How can you get any credit for
those? Does that make sense? I hope it's pretty clear. That's
just having an understanding of the
Word of God. Everything, everything, that
we are everything that we shall be in glory is solely due to
the grace of God that is given to us equally in Christ Jesus. Do you think you can be more
holy on earth? I know there are many who believe
in what's called progressive sanctification. That you're growing
in holiness. Look over with me in Revelation.
Look in Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22. Here in the very end of the Scriptures,
John is led by inspiration to write and he sets forth two comparisons. 22, 11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. What does unjust mean? Unrighteous. Unjustified. You live in this world unjustified? You die unjustified? You know
how long you're going to be unjustified? Forever. and he which is filthy, impure,
let him be impure still in eternity. On the other hand, now watch
this, he that is righteous right now, when you die and you get to glory,
guess what? You're still going to be righteous.
You won't be more righteous because we're made the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus right now. Now watch this. And he that is holy, we're holy right now. You see, I will never be in the
eyes of God I will never be more righteous than I am right now
in Christ Jesus. And I will never be more holy
before God than I am right now in Christ Jesus. He that is holy
right now in this life, guess what? He's going to be holy in
heaven. I want to be more holier. This idea you can progressively
get more holy, and therefore, as you grow in holiness due to
the things that you do, that is absolutely contrary to the
Word of God. Christ Jesus is made of God to
be our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And so, here's what the parable
is about. And I don't need to go through
it all, because if you've learned that it's a matter of equality,
you've got the meaning of the whole parable. And when, at the end of the day,
those laborers who've been working all day long, 12 hours, they
said, we've borne the burden and the heat of the day. They
didn't get any more. and those men that went to work
at five o'clock in the afternoon. It's like this. Here's a man
by the name of the Apostle Paul. Wrote half the New Testament.
Faithful. Started many churches by the
grace of God. Died and went to glory. When
he got to glory, I'm sure he met there a man, a thief, whom
Christ saved right at the last hour of his life. The beginning
of that last day of his life, he is an ungodly wretch. At the
end of that day, when Christ performed a work of grace in
him and on him, he is as holy as the Apostle Paul. Holy in
Christ Jesus, and he went right to paradise. All the same, This is very difficult for the
natural man to grasp. But it's not difficult for the
saints of God to grasp. Because we understand all that
we are and all that we hope to be. We owe to the grace of God
given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do believe that there will
be degrees of hell Unto whom much is given, much is required.
Because that's a matter of works. But the salvation of the saints
of God and our standing in heaven, that's not a matter of works.
That's a matter of grace. We all stand perfect in the Savior. Let me put it this way. If I
go to hell, I won't by the grace of God.
But if I go to hell, it'll be because of what I did. But if I wind up in heaven's
everlasting glory, it won't be because of what I did. It's because
of what Christ did for me as my Savior as my substitute, as
my righteousness. If you wind up in hell, it'll
be because of you. If heaven is your destination,
it will be because of Christ. And I'm honest with you, it troubles
me that any believer would think that they have a higher seat
in heaven than somebody else. To me, that's contrary to the
idea, to the truth of humility and meekness, grace and mercy. It just, that type of thinking
is contrary in my mind, in my understanding, to the salvation
of sinners by the pure and free grace of God. Well, I hope that'll help you.
Equal. That's the message of the parable. Equal.