And I invite you this morning
to turn back with me to Matthew chapter 20. God has provided
for all who would know him a wonderful source of knowledge and instruction,
which we call the Bible. There are 66 books which make
up our Bibles, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. The authors of these books vary
in age. They vary in the time in which
they live, some of them thousands of years apart. They vary in
education. Some were doctors and some were
fishermen. And they varied in their location
where they were brought up. Yet they all have one message,
Christ. In all that time, all those men,
all those various walks of life, all those various forms of education,
they all have one message, Christ. Every one of them. To Him, now
listen to this, to Him give all the prophets, I don't care who
He was, I don't care if he's talking about eyes in a circle
or what he's talking about. To him, give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. The message of the Old Testament
was Christ. And the message of the New Testament
is that this one who was prophesied in the Old Testament has come.
All through the Old Testament, it tells us somebody's coming,
somebody's coming, somebody's coming. You get over to the four
Gospels and they tell us somebody came, somebody came. Then when you get into the epistles,
it tells you what this someone did and what he's doing right
now. He came, He lived, He died, He
rose, and He ascended back to the right hand of the Majesty
on high. Having fully accomplished the
redemptive will of God, He now sits at the Father's right hand,
expecting till His enemies, all those in opposition to what He
came to do, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.
And they shall. Paul tells us in Hebrews 10 that
it is the accomplishing of this will Through the accomplishing
of this will that we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. And this message is set before
us in this book in all kinds of ways. It's set before us in
the Old Testament in picture and type. We go back yonder under
that law, there's nothing significant about a lamb getting its throat
slit and its blood shed and putting it on the altar except for what
it represents. In type, it is teaching us the
doctrine of substitution. It's telling us about the substitutionary
work of the lamb of God, a lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. And you can go through this all
kinds of ways. Creation itself gives us a clear
picture of this new creation in Christ. And then the Old Testament
types and symbols, the Old Testament prophecies, and the New Testament
doctrine. And then we come to this in the
New Testament. This is something a little different
from the Old Testament. We come to what our Lord gave
as parables. Parables. What's a parable? Well,
a parable is an earthly story, not necessarily a true story,
but a story that's given to teach us a doctrinal fact. It's to
teach us something about our Lord. And this is what I hope
to do this morning, to open to you a parable our Lord gave to
his disciples. And this parable basically is
concerning Jews and Gentiles. It's basically concerning what's
going on at that moment, at that particular moment. He closes
out chapter 19 saying, but many that are first shall be last
and the last shall be first. So let's look first at the subject
of the parable. The subject of the parable is
the subject of every parable. I don't know how well acquainted
you are with all the other parables, but I don't care which one you
read, they all start out the same way. The kingdom of God
is like unto. Every one of them. Every one
of them. It's about the kingdom of heaven.
In Matthew 13, I mentioned to you in our Sunday school lesson
this morning, it has seven parables. It teaches us the parable of
the sower. of the tares, of the mustard seed, the leaven, the
hidden treasure, the pearl, the net, all of these things. It
teaches us in parables. And at the beginning of each
of these parables, he said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto,
like unto. The kingdom of heaven is the
subject of all the parables. What is the kingdom of heaven?
What are we talking about? What is the kingdom of heaven?
Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3. The kingdom of heaven, this is
earthly language describing spiritual things, okay? The kingdom of
heaven is God's eternal purpose of grace as it's being brought
to pass through the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is the kingdom. Brought before pilot charges
toward our Lord, telling Him that He says He's a king. He's
in opposition to you. He's going to knock you out of
your spot and all of these things. And He said, if My kingdom was
of this world, that might be true. But My kingdom is not of
this world. Listen to this here in Ephesians
chapter 3 verse 1. For this calls I, Paul, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which is given me to you." Now, the word
dispensation is translated as work in some of the translations. It's also translated as stewardship,
and it's also translated as administration. You go look at all the other
translations and you'll find these various words. And I'm
not trying in any way to change the language of the King James
Bible. I simply want you to understand what the word dispensation means. The dispensation of the grace
of God is God's eternal purpose of grace, the administration
of that grace as it's given to Christ Jesus, and as it's being
accomplished by Him, and has been accomplished by Him, and
is being accomplished by Him in glory. He tells us in Ephesians chapter
1 verse 10 that it includes the gathering in of all things in
Christ. This dispensation. Use that word
again. God's eternal purpose of grace
in Christ, in those last days, here's what's going to happen.
He's going to gather everything to Himself. Everything that the
Father gives Him to do, He's going to gather it into Himself. A careful reading of Romans chapter
8 verses 17 through 39 then ought to be sufficient as an explanation
concerning this purpose of grace. But I want you to know that this
purpose of grace, I mean this kingdom, the kingdom of heaven
is God's eternal purpose of grace as it was purposed in Christ
Jesus. That's what we're talking about. Secondly, the kingdom of heaven
is all that's subject to God's mediatorial king. He's king of
kings and Lord of lords. And when He's talking about this
kingdom, this kingdom includes everything under His authority. What's under His authority? All
things. All things. In Psalm chapter
2, a prophecy is given. And this prophecy is concerning
the reaction of ungodly men to the manifestation of this reign
of grace given to Christ. And God's eternal purpose of
grace is summed up here as God setting up His King on His holy
hill in Zion. Now, that's what's taking place. And this is what God's purpose
to do has done and is doing in our day. And in opposition to
this loving, reconciling, gracious rule, the heathen rages. He don't know what he's raging
about, but he rages. And the people imagine vain things. My soul, just talk to them. Talk
to them. Instead of trying to sell them
something, just... Ask them what it is they believe and listen
to what they're telling you. They imagine a vain thing. They
imagine that they can produce a righteousness before God. That's
vanity. That's a vain thing. They imagine
that somehow with a lifetime of dedication they can make,
they can reconcile themselves to God. They can make restitution
for their sins. That's a vain thing. The heathen rages against this
kingdom of heaven. And the people imagine vain things. Even every unbelieving son of
Adam is set in his heart to cast his cord. That's what they're
saying. Let's cast his cord. He don't have the right to do
that. That's not right. Isn't that what people tell you
when you start to tell? That's not right. That can't
be right. God chose a people. That's not
fair. Let's cast His cords from us
and break His bands asunder. The Kingdom of God is all that's
under the reign of the King. And then thirdly, the Kingdom
of Heaven is the reign of grace by the efficacious power of the
Spirit of God, revealing to the hearts of chosen sinners the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ the Lord. And then lastly,
the Kingdom of God is the administration of supreme wisdom and power for
the salvation of hopeless sinners. So that's what we're talking
about this morning in this parable. He's going to tell us something
about this great work that's going on. And it's important
for you to understand this and that this is not talking about
some little group gathering. over in the Middle East somewhere,
this kingdom. This kingdom is from generation
to generation. Isn't that what Nebuchadnezzar
said? It's what he learned when God put him out there at the
auction, made him to know his place. He said, when my reasoning
came back to me, when I was given the ability again to think, he
said, I now realize his kingdom is from generation to generation,
and he doeth according to his will. This is an eternal work, a work
began by God and manifested through time. All right, here's the second
thing I want you to know about the kingdom. This kingdom is
like unto a man who is a householder. I'm told in the Bible that there's
one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. The man Christ Jesus, He is the
householder. He's the householder. He's the
foundation of it. He's the builder of it. He's
the reason for it. He's the builder of it. He's the creator of it. And He's
the glory of it. He's the administrator of it.
He's the preserver of it. And He's the ruler of it. He,
Paul said, is as a son over his own house, whose house are we,
if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the whole firm
unto the end. He's the householder. He rules
the house. Everything he does is for the
good of and completion of this house. He's the householder.
He holds the house. He secures the house. He keeps
the house. Well, what about this householder? What does he tell us about the
householder? Well, he went out early in the morning to hire
laborers into his vineyard. Now, in John chapter 15, he tells
us something about the vineyard. Christ said, I am the true vine.
My Father is the husband man. You want to know what's in this
vineyard, what this vineyard is all about? The vineyard is
about Christ. He's the true vine. God is the
husband man. That's who planted the vine.
This vineyard is where the true vine is planted and where the
branches are grafted in. In John 15, 5, he said, I am
the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing. If a man abide in me, If a man
abide not in me, he's cast forth as a branch and is withered,
and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they're
burned. This is what's going on. And
this has been going on since the beginning of time. This is
what's going on. The householder has set apart
a vineyard. And the vineyard is the church.
God has planted his true vine in the church. His vineyard is
set apart from the surrounding wilderness. It always has been.
It was from the very beginning, and it is all down through time.
And he shows us that in pictures. He destroyed the whole world
and saved eight souls. He shows us this all down through
time. His vineyard is set apart. It's
hedged about. Isn't that what Satan said to
God about Job? He said, yeah, but you hedged
him about. This householder went out early
in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And the thing
about these laborers is that they receive wages for the merits
of another. Don't read this parable and think
this is talking about rewards. God rewarding you for your work.
If that was so, he wouldn't have paid the last ones hired the
same as he paid the first ones. That penny a day represents the
grace of God. And our Lord said concerning
this vineyard, without me you can do nothing. These wages that
he agreed with, you know we're going to reap wages. It's hard
for a man who's saved by grace to even perceive that he's going
to receive wages. And God says, justly so. Well
done, my good and faithful servant. You can't look yourself in the
mirror and even think the thought that I'm a good and faithful
servant. We reap the wages earned by another. But He calls them ours, and they're
so really made ours that God says, well done, well done. Salvation is by grace, but this
grace is given by virtue of the work of Christ. And this work,
as it's accomplished by our Lord, is treated as though we did it
ourselves. His righteousness is our righteousness. His atonement is ours by faith. We persevere because of his preservation. So that when the day is done,
every laborer called into God's kingdom receives the same as
the other. Now the day depicted in the parable
is talking about the whole day of grace from the beginning of
time to the ending of time. And he applies this, what he's
applying this parable to is these Jews. These Jews had hope in
this coming Redeemer. They knew something about the
coming Redeemer. They had the covenants. They
had the prophets. They had all these things. They
had rejoiced in this. They knew that they were servants
of the living God. They knew all these things. And
then along comes God at the end of the day and calls in these
Gentiles. And here they are. What have
they done? They've done nothing but fight
and kick against the kingdom of God from the beginning. And God says, you're a fellow
heirs. You're a fellow heirs. Isn't that what Paul reminds
those Gentiles of in the book of Ephesians? He said, you remember
this. You remember where God found
you. You were a Gentile. You were a Gentile. And these
Jews look on that and they're jealous of that. The Jews go all the way back
to Abraham, thousands of years before the coming of Christ.
Our Lord called the people to work in His vineyard early in
the morning. You can go all the way back to
Abel if you want to. Early in the morning, He went
out and hired laborers to come work in His vineyard. But then when the day come, the
Jews rejected Christ. They murmured against the good
man of the house. Some did, perhaps most. But Paul says that in his day
there was a remnant also according to the election of grace. There
were some who served the Lord of the house. Abraham did. Moses did. Joseph did. David did. Aaron did. And as
I've shown you before, you're all the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. And if we be Christ, then are
we Abraham's seed and heirs. We're just as much a servant
as Abraham. Just as much a servant. There
were those called into the householder's vineyard early in the morning.
All right? Thirdly, I want you to see, and
this, you go down over time and you can see in these different
ages where God did this and God did that, and that's what he's
telling them. He went out this householder who had this vineyard,
who purposed his glory in this vineyard. This householder went
out and he found some labors early in the morning, before
the sun came up. And then he found some a little
while later and a little while later, and he's still finding
them and still sending them out. All right, the third thing. I
don't have time to get into all the details of this, but the
third thing I want you to see is where he found them. Matthew
chapter 20, verse 3. Standing idle in the marketplace. I looked at that for the longest
time. You know what that's saying? The marketplace is not the place
of labor. The marketplace is where the
householder brings his fruits and offers them to hungry sinners.
That's the marketplace. This is where the fruit is dispensed,
not where it's grown and picked and worked. And maybe this picture's
the local church. Most of those called into the
vineyard were called in local churches, if not all of them.
Most of them were. He found them in the marketplace.
He found them where the food was. He found them where the
fruit was. Maybe they were hungry sinners
drawn there by the providence of God. I don't know. Maybe they
heard of the bounty brought there and came hoping somebody might
be kind to them and give them a meal. Maybe they heard that
the master often came there. That's what I think. They heard
that this is where the master frequents his marketplace often,
where two or more gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.
Isn't that what he says? These hungry sinners, they thought,
man, the master comes down here to this place. This might be
a good place to stay. Maybe he'll talk to us. Maybe he'll give us an opportunity. I don't know why they came, but
I'm told what they were doing. And this is another thing I want
you to see. He found them standing idle in
the marketplace. Now, I suppose in our society,
we might think this is a disgraceful thing for men to be standing
idle. And I'm sure that has an application.
Surely, they could find something to do. Surely, they could find
employment somewhere. I mean, sacks had to be carried,
floors had to be swept, storehouses needed painting, wagons needed
repairing. Surely they could find something
to do, but the master found them standing idle in the marketplace. But now, and this might seem
a disgrace in our society, but I want to point something out
to you. It is a work of grace in the spiritual realm that brings
a man to throw up his hands and stand idle. Is it not? This is a work of the Holy Spirit
of God to bring a man to the marketplace where the fruit is
dispensed and then cause him to stand there idle. It's what
he does. He stands there. He got no hope
of working. He's not got no hope of earning
a wage. He stands there idle. What else
can he do? This is a work of grace in the
spiritual realm that brings a man to throw up his hands and wait
for mercy. Paul said, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no plague be justified in his sight. What
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped." He tells us this. He said, but
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. And then again,
in Galatians 2.21, he said, I do not frustrate the grace of God.
If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Christ finds all his laborers
standing idle in the marketplace. Their hands are tied. They can't
work. Can't work. Could you work when
he broke? No, he took away all your ability
to do anything. And this standing is the gift
of God's grace. I mean, what could you do anyway?
Christ had already made it abundantly clear in the chapter before that
with man, this thing of salvation is impossible. It's impossible. There's a work that must be done
in men by a higher power than man. It's a stripping work. A
stripping work, removing his filthy righteousnesses. A judicial
work, stopping his mouth and bringing him guilty before God.
It's a demolition work, tearing down his strongholds and casting
down his vain imagination. And it's a mortifying work. Paul
said, I was alive without the law once, without any understanding
of it, without any effect of it on me. He said, I was alive,
had the law, rejoiced in the law. Then the commandment came. The understanding of the commandment
came. And sin revived, and I died. What did he do? He died. There's
a mortifying work. There's a work done in men through
the hearing of the gospel and the power of the Holy Ghost that
leaves us hopeless and helpless before God and righteously judged
by a holy God. The master found his labors standing
idle in the marketplace. And then watch this. He brought
them to an understanding. You know, I'm told in religion,
if you just listen to what they say, and I used to ask them questions
because I wanted to know the answers. They didn't have any
answers. Religion promotes ignorance. The gospel don't. The gospel
don't. He brought them to an understanding.
God does not bring men into his house ignorant. Religion does
that. And it promotes it. I was talking
with a lady one day, and she said, I just believe that the
Bible is a book of inspiration. And its stories are meant to
encourage us to live a better life. And I said, why? Why do you believe that? Oh,
she said, I just do. I just do. There's a way that
seemeth right unto man, and the end thereof is destruction. It's
destruction. Paul said, we know. We know. You read the book of 1 John all
through there, and we know. We know. We know. Christ came
and gave to us an understanding that we may know Him that's true.
That we might know that we're in Him who is true, even in His
Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Sinners who come to Christ, he
tells us in John chapter 6, are all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, every
man taught of the Father, he comes to Christ. And since this
work began, it's always been the way of salvation by faith
to give those called into His service and understanding. He
brought them into agreement, did He not? Isn't that what it
says in the parable? And this has been going this
way. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.
Moses wrote of me. On and on you can go. Enoch prophesied
of the second coming of Christ, the seventh for man. And by the understanding of faith,
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. And by
that faith, by that understanding, he's still speaking. Faith hears, faith believes,
and faith understands. There was an understanding reached.
And this penny a day represents the grace of God, as I told you
before. Those called early at noon or
at the last hour all received the same. They didn't come demanding
this, that, and the other. They came and agreed to receive
what the householder gave them. They didn't come and negotiate
the terms, They came and received the terms that was given to them
by the householder. And one more thing, and I'll
quit. Some of them were unhappy at
the end of the day. They were out there working,
and they saw one come in Just before dinner time, they saw
one come in at dinner time, one come in at 3 o'clock. Finally,
at the 11th hour, just one more hour to go, here come one in. And then they go to get paid.
And oh, this was the worst part of it. That guy had been out
there laboring all day long, Winston. He had to get to the
back of the line. He had to stand in the back of
the line. And he stood there, and here's this man just worked
an hour, and he's all the way in the front of the line. And
the master gives him a penny. Boy, he rejoiced, and away he
went. And then the next guy comes,
he gave him a penny. And then they started looking
at each other in the back of the line and said, what's going
on? Guy come at noon, he got a penny. And they said, well,
you know, we've been out here since I mean, you couldn't even
see when we went out. The fog was still there. And
we went out at the first part of the day. And they got up there
ready to get whatever they got a penny to. And they said, this
ain't right. This ain't right. But it says they supposed that
these ones who went before them would receive a little less and
they would receive a little more. Is there not a tendency to murmur
against those called in later years? For you that have went through
the heat of the day, went your whole lifetime. My dad, the Lord
called my dad. I'm convinced that he gave him
true saving faith. He was in his mid-70s. in his mid-70s. And there was
guys there who now minister in the gospel who were 19 and 20
years old. Some of you in this place worked
hard and sacrificed long in this local assembly. You was here
when there was but a handful. And just a few of you carried
the whole load and did for years. And there's some who just come
in You reap the same benefits as those who went through the
heat of the day, don't you? Does it make you angry? It shouldn't. It shouldn't. We have what we
have. We are what we are by the grace
of God. What have we gotten that we haven't
received? And then remember this. Remember
where he found you. He found you standing idle in
the marketplace. To murmur against grace is to
murmur, according to this parable, against the good man of the house,
the householder himself. He said, is it not lawful for
me to do what I will with my own? Is thine eye evil because
I'm good? So then. And you can make application
to this to a believer's life. But this day that he's talking
about is that day of grace from beginning to end. But it has
an application for each one of us in our daily lives. And he
says, so the last shall be first and the first last. You know
what I thought about when I read this? I thought about that thief
on the cross. He didn't work a day. He didn't
do anything. He was just hanging on the cross.
He was in with the rest of them, railing against Christ the whole
time he hung there, right up to the last few minutes. And God opened his heart, and
he saw what was going on, and he said, remember me when you
come into my kingdom. He said, remember you, this day
shalt thou be with me in paradise. The last shall be first, and
the first shall be last. Isn't that something what grace
is and what grace does? Oh, may God be pleased to open
our hearts to see His goodness and grace and finishing our course
to receive what He graciously promised us, Christ. That's my inheritance. That's
what I look forward to. And that's what I hope, if there's
one here today, that the Lord opens your heart and opens your
eyes to trust in Him. I hope that that's your hope,
that that's what you're looking for, that that's going to be
your treasure, Christ. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. And I tell you, if it is, you'll
be satisfied. You'll be satisfied if you hear
a hundred years or five minutes. You'll be satisfied.