Now let's open our Bibles back
to Matthew chapter 19, the portion that Brother Stan read. Now when I first began to prepare
for this Sunday morning, it was not my intention to preach from
Matthew 19. I intended to preach from Matthew
20 on what is known as the parable of the laborers. And I'm going
to delay that until next week, and I want you to take some time
this week. I'm serious now. You ought to
do your homework. Take some time this week and
read the parable of the laborers. It's in Matthew chapter 20, verses
1 through 16. Much, much needed parable, because
it has a much, much needed message for all of us, for every one
of us. But before we go to this parable,
in studying for it and reading it, I found that this is just
one of the many passages where if you don't really understand
the context and what brought about this parable, why the Lord
used this parable, taught this parable to his disciples, we
really won't get the full gist of it. And so this morning I
want us to back up to Matthew chapter 19 beginning at verse
16. And I've entitled this morning's
message, A Preface to a Parable of Grace. Preface to a Parable
of Grace. Now, as I said, the context is
important. This parable in chapter 20 is
closely related to the events that took place here in chapter
19. You might look at verse 1 of chapter 20. It begins with the
word for. And that relates this parable
to what has gone before. Look at verse 30 of chapter 19.
Just one verse up from verse 1 of chapter 20. You see there
how he closed out his speaking to the disciples before he spoke
this parable. And I believe this is just a
continuation. There is no time that passed
between chapter 19 and chapter 20. But look at verse 30. He
says, But many that are first shall be last, and the last Well,
look over at verse 16 of chapter 20 and listen to what he says
here. He says in verse 16, after he
finishes the parable of the laborers, he says, so the last shall be
first and the first last. You see the same message. So
he is teaching in a parable in chapter 20 what he had already
taught by illustration, by an event in history. is dealing
with a rich young man, known as the rich young ruler, a ruler
because he was probably one of the judges in Israel, even at
a young age. And then in response to a question
that the disciples had, which Peter spoke in verse 27. What is he talking about here?
Well, it's the parable. Let me just give you this. The
parable has a very simple message. Let me read it to you again there
in verse 15 of chapter 20 and verse 16. He says here after
he finishes this parable, and he's talking about the parable
of the laborers now, where a householder, one who owned a field, hired
laborers at different times of the day to go out and work in
his field. And at the end of the day, he paid them for what
he agreed to pay them. And he paid them all the same.
And they didn't think that was fair. That wasn't fair to them. I work longer, I should get more.
Now, don't you agree with that? You fellows who go to work, you
ladies who go to work every day, that just only seems right, doesn't
it? But you see, he's not talking about life here on earth as far
as how we earn our living. He's talking about a relationship
with God. And here's the lessons of the parable, verse 15 of chapter
20. Christ says, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with
mine own? That's God's sovereignty. If I own you, I can do with you
what I will. That's what he says. Now, that
goes against our nature, doesn't it? We want to stand on our own
two feet. I'm my own man. I'm the captain
of my own destiny. I determine where I go, what
I do, when I'll do it, how I'll do it. Christ says to his disciples
here, using this parable, you don't own yourself, I own you.
I bought you like stock and barrel. You know, when he bought his
people on the cross, he paid the price. He shed his blood
as payment for our sins. They were his before the foundation
of the world. You know why? Because God gave
them to him. That's why he said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And then he says, is it
not lawful? That means it's right. to do
what I will with mine own. And then he says in verse 15,
is thine eye evil because I am good? Now, here's the next lesson
of this parable. Whatever God does is good. Now,
we may not see it right off. We may be going through a trial.
We just sang that song, some through the fire, some through
the flood, some through the fire, but all through his blood. And
then it says, some through great sorrow. And I thought, no, that
fellow had that one wrong. It's all through great sorrow. Not just some. All through great
sorrow. But you see, we don't see things
like that as good, but Scripture says all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. We may not see the good at the
time, but it's good. And then he says in verse 16,
the last shall be first and the first last. That's a picture
of grace. Grace. And that's what the parable
is teaching, God's way of dealing in these things of His ownership
of His people, His justice, His goodness, and His grace. And
what God does in those areas is just totally against our natural
thoughts and our natural desires. And let me tell you something
now, even as saved sinners, it goes against our grain. Because
really, the parable is in response more to the apostle Peter's question
and the disciples' question than it is to the rich young ruler.
The rich young ruler just sets the stage, the foundation, the
context in which all this is to be understood. So we need
to understand that. And what he's saying is this,
basically this, no matter how long we're saved by grace, No
matter how hard we work and serve by grace, we cannot at any stage
or any time of our lives deserve or earn salvation. Period. In other words, it is grace all
the way. Not just part of the way, not
just at one segment of time, but it is all of grace, and it
is grace all the way. That's the message we're going
to have to get out of this. And he says, all true believers
are the servants of Christ. And they're all, listen to me,
by grace in Christ, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness,
equal in God's sight. And shall have an equal, infinite
fullness of reward in heaven. Now that parable, when we get
to that next week, I'm going to talk about reward. Rewards,
you see, that's what it's teaching now. And if you're interested
in that, come back and hear it. But think about this, you see.
We who are saved, all of us are equally saved by grace. You can
look at somebody and say, well, he needs more grace than I do.
No, he doesn't. If salvation comes to any of us, it's mercy
and grace in Christ, period. Nicodemus needed just as much
grace as that old woman at the well, that infamous Samaritan
adulteress. He wasn't any closer. to God
or to heaven than that woman at the well. That's right. And so, if any of us are saved,
it's by grace equally. We're righteous in Christ equally. Holy in Him equally. He's been
equally merciful to every one of us. And that's what He's teaching.
Now, how does He set the context? Well, here's the first point.
What about salvation? I've been talking about that.
Salvation is by grace. Well, let's illustrate it here
in the rich young man that approached our Lord. Look at verse 16. He says, And behold, one came
unto him, said unto him, Good Master, this is Matthew 19, verse
16, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal
life? Now, that's a natural question.
What can I do to get eternal life? That's the question of
all questions. It's a natural question. It's
what man thinks by nature. First of all, it reveals that,
number one, he thinks too highly of himself. He thinks he can
do something to have eternal life. Now, most preachers would
just say, well, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall
be saved. And you know that's true. But
you see, that's not a work man does. Faith is the gift of God,
for by grace are you saved. through faith and that faith,
not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. So this
person came with a particular mindset, and it's the mindset
that we all have by nature, that we can do something for God or
for others to earn or deserve eternal life. What does that
reveal? He thought too highly of himself.
He didn't know his sinfulness. Brother Stan brought out. He
didn't know the extent of the law. And then secondly, his question
in verse 16 reveals his thoughts are too low of Jesus. And I say Jesus specifically
and for a purpose. Look at what he said. Good Master,
what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Well,
listen to the response of Christ. Verse 17. He said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? There is none good but God, but
one, one good, and that's God. But if thou wilt enter into eternal
life, keep the commandments." Now, first of all, many commentators
will tell you that this proves that Jesus Christ was not God,
because he wouldn't ascribe goodness to himself. But that's not what
this scripture is teaching. What this scripture is teaching
is that this man who approached Jesus of Nazareth did not believe
that Jesus of Nazareth was God. He just looked upon Him as a
good rabbi, a good master, a good teacher, a master in Israel.
A man, but a good man. And Christ meets him where He
is. And He tells him, He says, now wait a minute. It's like
He's saying this, if you don't believe I'm God in human flesh,
which that's who He is, If you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is God, then do not call Him good, because there is none to
be found among men who are good. There's not but one who is good,
but God. Now, that's something the natural
man doesn't understand, because we've got all kinds of good people
walking around in our minds. You see, goodness to us is from
our own view of it. And it changes. I told the Sunday
school class this morning, we were studying in Romans 3 where
it says, there's none that doeth good, no not one. I said, now
people have various ideas of what's good and what's bad. For
example, I'll give you an extreme example. If you were a radical
Muslim and you walked into a restaurant and had a bomb attached to your
chest and you blew yourself and every one of those people in
that restaurant up, There are other radical Muslims who would
say, that fellow did a good thing. Isn't that right? If you heard about a soldier,
a young man, an ideal young man, grew up well, good family, as
we would say, obedient to his parents, and his country went
to war, and he joined the army, And he went to war for his country
and killed many of the enemy and died for his country. We
would all say that is a good thing. But now, what if I were
to tell you he was a Japanese soldier in World War II in service
to his heathen gods? Oh, that changes things, doesn't
it? He's killing us. That's not good. You see, our standard and ideas
of good change The Pharisees, of which this young man seems
to have been a part of that sect, they would look at a person who
is doing their dead-level best to keep the law in order to be
saved, and they would say, good. But Christ has another idea,
the only right idea of what good is. Good must be measured by
and determined by God alone. And my friend, when we compare
ourselves, if you want to find God's idea of goodness, look
at the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect life. Now, is there anybody
we know, including ourselves, who can even compare to Him,
His perfect love? You say, well, I love everybody.
Well, you don't. You're just lying to yourself. But even if
you could say it, you don't love Him perfectly. But He did. He loved perfectly, with a perfect
love, a pure love, an incorruptible love. He obeyed all the law of
God. You may say, well, I'm trying
to. Well, that's not goodness. Trying to is not goodness. That's
intention. He himself was righteous in himself. You're not. I'm not. So now,
you don't go around here comparing yourself to other people. Compare
yourself to Christ. I quote this verse all the time,
Acts 1731. For God calleth everyone everywhere
to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
in that he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead." The question about goodness is this,
how do I compare to Christ? How do I compare to Christ right
now as a preacher of the gospel? I'm going to tell you something,
I'm not even on the scale in myself. I am righteous in Him. He is
my substitute. He is my representative. I am
washed clean from all my sins in His blood before the law and
justice of God. I believe in Him because the
Spirit brought me to faith in Christ in repentance of dead
works. But when it comes to my love for others and my doing
good according to God's standard of goodness, I don't even compare
to Christ. Isaiah said it this way in Isaiah
64. He said, my righteousnesses are
as filthy rags when I compare them to Christ. So that's what the Lord is teaching
this young man. Why do you call me good? There's
nothing good, but God is. In other words, if you call this
person good according to God's standard, you better be talking
about one who is God. That's pretty strict, isn't it?
But it's so. So the Lord meets him where he's
at. Now, you think you can be saved by your works under the
law. Well, here's how to have eternal life. By your works.
He says in verse 17, If thou wilt enter into eternal life,
keep the commandments. Keep them. That's all you have
to do. Keep them. Sounds pretty simple,
doesn't it? Well, listen here now. Verse
18. He saith unto him, Which? Well,
which one? Which commandment do I have to
keep? Well, now, do you notice what the Lord did? He went back
to the table of the law, the Ten Commandments. That's the
old covenant law. That's the moral code, not the
whole law now, but that's the moral code. And he started with
the commandments, the Fifth Commandment, the ones that only pertain to
man's relationship to man, how we treat each other. The first
four commandments have to do with man's relationship with
God. Now, why do you suppose he did that? Well, listen to
what he says. Look at verse 18. He says, Thou shalt do no murder,
thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Well, we know the
commandments are all summarized in two commandments. Thou shalt
love the Lord God with all thy heart, soul, mind, body, spirit. Perfectly. And thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. Perfectly. But he only quoted
the second table of the law here. The ones that had to do with
man's relationship with man. You know why he did that? I'll
tell you exactly why. It's easy. It's easy for a person
to go around here talking about how much they love God. Oh, I just love the Lord. But you know how the Bible tells
us to measure our love to God, our love to Christ? Measure it
by our thoughts, attitudes, actions, love towards one another. That's how we measure. You want
to see how much you really love God? Pick out your worst enemy and have nothing but pure uninhibited
thoughts towards your worst enemy. Now, if you can't do that, then
don't go around here bragging about your love for Christ. You
understand what I'm saying? That's the way the Lord gave
His love to His disciples, His love for them, or their love
to Him. Remember, He talked about at judgment, He'll separate the
sheep from the goats, The sheep said, Lord, when did we ever
serve you? He said, well, when you treated
the least of these, my brethren, with love. That's how he said,
I take it personally. So if you really want to gauge
your love for Christ, pick out the worst one. Don't pick out
the best. Don't pick out your buddy. The
guy who likes the same team you like, the same food you like,
the same things you like, and he'll do whatever you tell him
to do whenever he wants you to do. Pick out your worst enemy. That's
what Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount. Love your enemy.
Even the heathen loved their friend. Love your enemies. Now,
let me tell you something. You say, well, that's a high
order. Yes, it is. That's why salvation
is by grace and not by works, friend. But He loved His enemies
when we were yet enemies. Christ died for His people, the
ungodly. You see there? So He quotes this
to this man. Let's put it to the test. Here's
which commandment, all of them. If you can keep the second table,
you can keep the first. If you can keep the first table,
you can keep the second. But look at the man's response.
Look at verse 20. He says, The young man saith
unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up, like
I yet. I've done that. Now, what's the
problem here? Self-righteousness. Blind self-righteousness. This man was ignorant. He was
blind. He was blind to God's holy character. God's holy. Goodness has to be measured by
God Himself and by His standard. When Adam fell, you know what
Adam did? He rebelled against God and he in essence said, I
can set my own standard of what's good and evil. A man's been trying
to do it ever since. Everybody goes around doing what's
right in their own eyes. Seems right to me. That's the downfall of the human
race right there. He was ignorant of God's holiness.
He was ignorant of his own sinfulness. He thought the law just had to
do with what we do, not what we think, not our attitude, what
we are, not in the heart. He was ignorant of the spiritual
nature of the law. The law reaches the heart. Listen
to what Christ said about that in the Sermon on the Mount in
Matthew chapter 5. He starts out in this portion
in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20. He told them he'd come to
keep the law. He didn't come to break the law.
He kept every commandment. As Brother Staines said, if we
break one, you break them all. He kept them all. He didn't break
one. Christ did not break one law. He was not a sinner, never
became a sinner. But he said in verse 20 of Matthew
5, For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, how righteous
do we have to be? Well, look at verse 21. You have
heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not kill,
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment. But
I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger, that is, without a righteous cause.
And he says, "...shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever
shall say unto him, Rakeh, or thou foolish vain fellow." In
other words, what they're saying is, your soul ain't worth nothing.
Pardon my English. That's what Rakeh means. You
ain't worth nothing. You ain't even worth saving.
That's that kind of attitude. You ever wish somebody be sent
to hell? You know what that is? That's
Rakeh. You say, well, I can't remember forever. Yeah. Think
hard. That's right. You know why? You know why it's right? You
know why that's so bad? Because there's not one of us
who's worth saving in ourselves. Including me and you. It's for the glory of God, you
see, it's not for the worth of the person. And he goes on, he
says, thou shalt be in danger. of hellfire, look at verse 23,
therefore if thou bring, well look down at verse 27, he says,
you've heard that it was said by them of old, thou shalt not
commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart. What is he saying? The law reaches
the heart, it's not just the action, it's the thought, it's
the intent, it's the attitude that brings us in guilty before
God according to the law. What's he doing? He's showing
us our need of Christ, our need of grace, salvation by His blood
and righteousness. We can't work our way into God's
presence. We can't ever deserve, we can't ever earn salvation
or blessing from God. Look back at Matthew 19. So the
man said, what do I like yet? Verse 21. He says, Jesus said
unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell. that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven,
and come and follow me." Now, what's he saying here? Self-righteousness
exposed. If you want to earn or deserve
salvation, then you have to keep the law perfectly. You have to
love your neighbor as yourself. How are you going to prove that?
Well, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and
come follow him. That's perfection. Now, he's
not setting forth a rule here. God never intended the law to
be a way of salvation by works. He's showing this man that he
can't be saved by works. He's showing us that we can't
be saved by works. This man lacked one thing. He
lacked the perfection of love. Righteousness that fulfills the
law. He didn't have it. And look at verse 22. But when
the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he
had great possession. Here's his heart revealed. proved
by his love for himself and his riches. It's not commanded of
all Christians to sell everything and live in poverty, as some
use this to do, but it's commanded for all who seek salvation by
their works to do so. That's right. By this one command,
our Lord stripped away the fig-leaves aprons of this man's self-righteousness,
his false refuge. He exposed his pride and showed
him his need of grace, his need of Christ. But he was snared
by his riches. Riches can be a snare for three
reasons. Number one, it makes people satisfied with this life
and not longing for the glory of heaven in Christ. Number two,
it distracts from seeking the Lord, just like the thorny ground
here. He had better things to do and
the means to do. Number three, it causes people
to assume the blessings of God rather than their need of grace.
Well, I have this. Therefore, God must favor me.
But that's wrong. Now look at verse 23. Then said
Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you that a rich man
shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. He's talking about
one who loves riches. His life is his riches. His salvation
is his riches. Verse 24, and again I say to
you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. What he's
talking about again, one who loves his riches, who does not
love Christ, won't serve Christ, doesn't see his need of salvation,
it's impossible for that man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
It's easier to put a camel through the eye of a needle. I know commentators,
if you read commentators, they'll talk about a gate. That's not
what this is talking about. I'm not talking about a gate
in Jerusalem. It's talking about the needle that they thread through. If you can shove a camel through
that, You get to heaven by your works, but you can't. It's impossible. And that's proven by what the
next statement was. Look at verse 25. When his disciples heard
it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
Now, he had taught them the way of salvation, but it wasn't ingrained
in their minds yet. They see these things. You see,
we have to struggle. Even believers struggle in these
areas of the flesh and the spirit. with these things that we see,
because we have that struggle. Who then can be saved? And Christ
said in verse 26, But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With
men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Salvations of the Lord. It's by grace all the way. Here's what proves it. You can't
keep the law. You're a sinner. I can't keep
the law. I'm a sinner. I need a substitute. I need a
redeemer. I need a kinsman redeemer. I
need a mediator. I need a righteousness from God,
not from myself. And it must come by Jesus Christ.
Now, that's what about salvation. Look here, secondly, what about
the saved? Now, listen to what happens next.
What about the saved? What about saved people? Now,
that's what the parable is going to deal with next week. He says
in verse 27, Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we
have forsaken all, Now remember what he just said to the rich
young man, if you forsake everything, give it to the poor, come follow
me. Now Peter speaks up and he says, now we have forsaken all,
and we have followed thee, what shall we have therefore? Now
based on things that the disciples had said before, and based on
the following parable, and based upon what Christ has stated to
the rich young man, I'm going to tell you what I, this question,
I believe concerns the issues of rewards and prominence in
the kingdom of heaven. And here's what it deals with.
Here's what I believe Peter's really asking. Will those who
work in the Lord's service for a longer time get a larger reward? And will those who do more get
more? These two questions of time and
quantity are questions that come before us in this section that
we're looking at. Bring it down to brass tacks. Shall the Apostle
Paul get a larger reward in heaven than the thief on the cross?
How about that? Does that put it in perspective?
Well, their question, I want you to think about this now.
I want you to go back to Matthew 18. Their question is the product,
this question is the product of selfish, proud, self-righteous
human nature. That's exactly what it is. What
am I going to get more than this one? Or that one? Now, what a
question. Now, the disciples had this problem. But you know what? We do too.
We all do. It was a real problem with our
Lord's disciples. They judged by carnal reason
that since they had sacrificed more than others and had gone
through more than others and had served the Lord more than
others, at least in their opinion, they deserved a greater reward.
And listen to me, they even argued among themselves. Look at Matthew
18. Look at verse 1. It says, At the same time came
the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? And Jesus called a little child
unto them, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily
I say unto you, Except you be converted, that is, change your
mind and your heart and your attitude, and become as little
children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive
one such little child in my name receiveth me." You see that? You know what he is teaching
there? Same thing that he's going to teach them over here in verse
30 of chapter 19. Many that are first shall be last, and the
last shall be first. Who's going to get more? Who's
going to be more? Who's going to be higher? That's
the question, isn't it? Well, look at verse 28 of chapter
19. Jesus said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, that you which have followed me in the regeneration,
that's a good translation of that from the original, not just
in regeneration, but in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit
in the throne of His glory, you shall sit upon twelve thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, can you imagine
what people do with that verse? Just think about how Well, all
right, he's telling them that when they go to heaven, and he's
sitting on his throne in heaven, that they're going to be judges
on twelve literal thrones. Well, first of all, let me show
you what I believe this verse means. First of all, he says,
you which have followed me in the regeneration. Now, that word
is used two times in the Scriptures, one here and one in Titus chapter
3. In Titus chapter 3, regeneration refers to regeneration by the
Spirit, the new birth. But here it refers to something
else. What is the regeneration? It's the renewal of all things. It's when all things are made
new. And he's talking about the time
of the new covenant. That's what these parables are
about. The time between his first coming, his advent, his death,
burial, resurrection, his ascension into heaven, and His Second Coming,
that time in between. That is what these parables are
about. Life here on earth for the Church, the Kingdom of Heaven.
How we exist as the Body of Christ here on earth, His reign and
His rule here on earth through His Church. And the regeneration
here is speaking of the New Covenant, the renewal of all things. He
is talking about the time from His death, burial, His resurrection,
His ascension. That's the regeneration. He called
it the restoration one time. He called it that which is the
renewal of all things. Now, second, how do I know that?
Well, he says, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of
His glory. Now, when is the Son of Man sitting
on His throne in glory? Huh? Right now. When He ascended
unto the Father. He is seated on his throne in
glory. He sat down at the right hand
of the Father. He prayed in his high priestly prayer in John
17. He said, Glorify thou me with the glory which I had with
thee before the world began. He ascended unto glory. He's
already done that. He's not waiting in his second
coming to do that. He's already done that. He's
right now. And when he says, you also shall
sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel,
those are thrones of judgment, those are symbolic thrones that
have to do with the gospel judgment, the declaration of the gospel
that will judge all who refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Scriptures bear this out. In 1 Corinthians 6, verse
2, he says, Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?
Well, now we know that Christ is the supreme judge. We're not
going to sit up at the judgment seat of Christ and be judges.
He says, and if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy
to judge the smallest matters? What's he talking about the saints
judge the world? How do we judge the world? I'll tell you exactly
how. By our testimony of the gospel. He that believeth shall
be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's judgment, friend. And
this is the doctrine of the apostles and the prophets. We stand upon
the foundation of their doctrine, Jesus Christ being the chief
cornerstone. And in that sense, they were
judges. This judgment in the sense of gospel judgment upon
all who do not believe. Christ said in Matthew 12, 18,
Behold My servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My
soul is well pleased, I will put My Spirit upon him, and he
shall show judgment to the Gentiles. That's our Lord quoting from
Isaiah. How is He going to show judgment to the Gentiles? Preach
the Gospel to them. How does God judge people? Either
in Christ or out of Christ. One of the two. In Christ, eternal
life. Out of Christ, eternal damnation.
Ephesians 2.20 speaks of the Church being built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief cornerstone. It's the same kind of judgment
that Noah was given in the days of his preaching. Listen to it
in Hebrews 11.7, By faith Noah, being warned of God, of things
not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving
of his house, by which he condemned the world. and became heir of
the righteousness which is by faith." How did Noah condemn
the world? He preached condemnation to all
who would not believe in Christ. That's how he did it. And that's
what our Lord's talking about. Israel is going to be judged
by the preaching of the apostles and the evangelists for their
unbelief. And look at verse 29 of chapter
19. He says, "...and everyone that
hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my namesake, for his glory,
shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life."
In other words, everyone who follows them in the preaching
of the gospel will receive the same thing a hundredfold. In
other words, you're not going to lose nothing. Now, you may,
in your identification with Christ, In your preaching of the gospel,
you may suffer the loss of some things. You may have had friends
that you don't have before. You may have even had a job that
you don't have now. You may have money or whatever
that you don't have now that you lost because of your identification
with the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But do you know what
that means? It means you're not going to lose anything. Paul said, I count all things
but loss. for the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. And then he says in verse 30,
many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. Who's going to be first? Who's
going to be last? You know what scripture says
about that? Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. You know
what that means? He's the first and the last. And you want to
know something else? He's everything in between. Who's
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Christ is. You know,
these disciples, they were men. They were not supermen or even
super saints, even though we like to make them that way. They
were weak men, as we all are in the flesh, constantly plagued
with the sin of pride or self-righteousness, continually concerned about who's
going to be the greatest and who's going to be the least,
who's going to get the most, who's going to get the least.
That's sinful human nature. We're all so consumed with our
own self-importance and our own self-worth. The truth is, when
things go right, man is always patting himself on the back.
I deserve that. When things go wrong, man always
accuses God of injustice and being unfair. I don't deserve
that. It's a big part of the warfare of the flesh and the
spirit, isn't it? Well, the parable is going to respond to that question.
The parable of the laborers. But here's the issue. God sees
not as man sees. God sees as God sees, and shall
not the judge of the earth do right? We're going to hear about
His sovereignty, His justice, His grace. What does God owe
me? Nothing but death and damnation. But He chose to save me in Christ
and make me His Son and give me the riches a hundredfold and
inheritance that's incorruptible. Justify me in Christ. Now, what
do I owe God? Everything. Should I expect payment
in return? You know, really, that's a laugh,
if you think about it, isn't it? It's just not right when
we put things in perspective. All right. Let's close with our
closing hymn. Jesus Calls Us, hymn number 374.