Now after this message, I would encourage you to read and carefully study the parable of the laborers in Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 to 16. It'll give you a little more light on this passage that we're going to look at. And we will see, and you will see if you read that later on, that our Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us plainly and as clearly as possible that in the kingdom of heaven, all the Lord's servants are equal. The name of the message is no degrees in heaven. No degrees in heaven. First, let's read Matthew chapter 20. verses one to two. Our master is speaking, the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

And he says, for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is in householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Now, beloved, this world is the Lord's vineyard. And we're not hired servants, we're not mercenaries. No. What this parable is going to show us is that there's no degrees in heaven. That all shall receive the same reward. We look down further in the chapter in verse 8, it says, So when evening was come, the Lord of the vineyards saith unto the steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire. beginning from the last until the first.

Now, he had went out and hired people in different times of the day. And the wage was the same wage. The payment was the same pay. Whether a man had worked all day long, or whether he'd been hired in the latter part of the day, they all received a penny.

Look at what it says here. "'So an evening was come,' verse 8, Matthew 20, "'the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, "'Call the labourers and give them their hire, "'beginning from the last to the first. "'And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, "'they received every man a penny. "'That was what was agreed upon. "'Everyone got the same pay.'" Oh, my. So we see that the last and the first all received the same. They all received the same reward because they were all made equal, no matter if one had labored way more than the other.

Oh, my. Now, we desire to serve the Lord. We desire to labor in what He's given us here on this earth, but it's not for payment. It's because of love, the love we find out that God had for us, and the love that we have for Him, the love of God, that's shed abroad in our hearts now.

But they all receive the same thing. Now think upon this, in the kingdom of God, all those who labor most, those who labor the longest, and those who labor with the greatest measure of success as seen in the eyes of men, are exactly the same is those, and they have those who labored less, and they have the same reward. In other words, the penitent thief, the penitent thief, who was saved on Calvary's cross, and the apostle Paul, and brother Abraham, and righteous lot, all have the same inheritance. Same inheritance as we're gonna have.

And we have. Listen to this in Genesis. This can be really cleared up in Genesis chapter 15 verse 1. Scripture declares this. This is the Lord talking to Abraham. After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, Fear not. There's those words again we see oftentimes. when the Lord speaks to his people, fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Now I've often had talks with people and I used to believe the dispensational way of the judgment seat of Christ and people were gonna receive rewards and people weren't, but I fast learned that I was taught by man that, not by God.

Because there in Genesis 15, 1, it clearly states that Christ is our reward. And I'm going to ask you a question. We who profess Christ, is there any greater reward than Christ? No. There's no greater reward than Christ. We cannot receive anything greater than Christ. People talk about crowns and, oh, I'm going to walk around heaven with all these crowns. Well, then you'd be boasting. And there's no boasting in heaven. And I'll tell you what, no matter how many of those imaginary crowns people think they're gonna have, they come no more, no, not even a fraction of an inch close to the reward I have in Christ.

And if you're a born-again, blood-washed believer, the reward you have in Christ, he's our reward, mine. Christ is every believer's reward, that's what he's telling Abraham. He says, I'm your shield, I'm gonna protect you, and I'm also your exceeding reward.

Oh my, that's wonderful. So contrary to the flash in the reasonings of human religion, it is plainly revealed in scripture, it's a plainly revealed truth that there shall be no degrees of reward in heaven. None. All we saints, we receive the same inheritance. Christ, the king of glory, he said to Abraham again, I'm thy exceeding great reward. Oh my! There's nothing greater than Christ, is there?

Nope, nothing. And think of this, how do we know that there's no degrees in heaven? Well, because, I ask you, is there degrees in righteousness? No. We're all redeemed by the same blood, aren't we? Is there degrees in redemption? No. We're all, again, we're all redeemed by the same blood. There's no degree in righteousness because we all who believe, who are born again, have received the righteousness of Christ. Oh my. So if there's no degrees in redemption and there's no degrees in righteousness, if we're all gonna be the same in heaven and we're gonna cry out, praise the lamb, right, who's washed us with his blood. How can there be degrees in heaven then?

See, this is man bringing himself in religion to make himself a little bit better than everybody else. Do you know, I was listening to a message today, it talked about how men shall be lovers of themselves in the end. Lovers of themselves. Now, we've always been that way, haven't we? But it's gonna get worse. It's going to be all about me. These rewards that people talk about are all about them, all about what they do. You know who I look to? Christ, my reward. I look to the one who finished the work. I look to the one who did everything for my salvation by himself.

He accomplished it all through his blood and righteousness. right oh yeah let's not get caught up in that foolishness of rewards no christ is our reward oh my there's no degrees of redemption and there's no degrees of righteousness my let us consider these five five facts when we consider that there's no degrees in heaven that we all We all have the same, and that reward is Christ. Number one, heaven and all that is was earned and purchased for all of God's elect by the Lord Jesus Christ, by him, who has now taken possession of it in the name of his elect as our forerunner. Listen to this. Whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He's entered into heaven. He's our forerunner.

That's Hebrews 6.20 if you want to write it down. Number two. We were predestined to obtain our inheritance from eternity in Christ. And we've already obtained that inheritance. Christ has already obtained eternal life for us when he died on Calvary's cross. How did he do it? Through his blood and righteousness. He's already done it. He purchased all the elect of all the ages on Calvary's cross.

Listen to this, Ephesians 1, 11 and 12. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. That's past tense. It's already obtained in Christ. Being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things at the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. My. And then number three, all believers, all believers are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Can there be any greater honor?

And notice it's in Christ. Romans 8, verses 16 and 17. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and of children and heirs. Look at that. Heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also, or that we may be also glorified together.

And then another point is this about no degrees in heaven. In Christ, every believer is presented or is presently worthy of heaven's glory. And how are we worthy? Only in Christ. We're not worthy of anything within ourselves but death and hell. That's what we're worthy of. But in Christ, oh, we're presently worthy of heaven's glory. You know why? Because he's qualified us for heaven. He's qualified us for heaven by his life and his death. This is our substitute. Listen to this Colossians chapter 1 verses 12 to 14. Giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet. Now that word meet in the Greek is qualified.

So he qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood. Every believer, redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Well, he gets all the glory, doesn't he? And see, if there is degrees in heaven, then people will be glorifying more than that. They look at others and go, look what I done. That's not how it works. It's look what he done. Look what Christ done.

He saved us from our sins. And then another reason why there's no degrees in heaven is glorification is when we experience the finishing of our salvation. Our salvation is by grace alone, according to God's eternal purpose of grace in Christ alone. But our salvation is absolutely, it's already completed by Christ. But for us personally experiencing it, when we get the glory, that's it. We already have it. But as far as us experiencing it in this life, when we get to glory, oh my, we'll be made sinless.

Listen to this, Romans 8, 28 to 30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Very important to finish that verse. For whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. Oh my.

So no part of our salvation from beginning to end and on into eternity, no part of the joy we will experience is the reward of our works. Nothing. Nothing. I'll tell you what. The joy we experience in our salvation here on earth and the joy that we are going to experience in glory of our salvation, is all the reward of God's free grace in Christ, who is our reward. It's based upon nothing we do here. Oh, my. See, man wants a part of it, eh? He wants part of the glory, right? That's all that is. Scripture says God will not share his glory with anyone. No one.

And all spiritual blessings are ours from eternity in Christ. We're blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, my, before the foundation of the world. And you know what? The gifts and calling of God are without repentance, my. So rejoice, beloved.

Salvation is by grace alone, and man's, man's, and salvation's by grace alone, and man's will, man's worth, man's works have absolutely nothing to do with it. Nothing to do it. I'll say that again. Salvation is by grace alone, through Christ alone, and man's will, man's worth, and man's works have absolutely nothing to do with God's salvation. As our works contribute nothing to our justification, nothing to our sanctification, and nothing to our redemption. Praise be the Lord. Amen and amen.