Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to Matthew chapter 20? Matthew chapter 20. I've titled this message, Grace is
Not Fair. Grace is not fair. story our Lord gives in Matthew
chapter 20 illustrates that very point. Men want to be treated
fairly. I want to be treated mercifully,
graciously. And they are at opposite ends. That which is fair, that which
is what we deserve, that which is due is just the opposite of
that which we desperately need. Paul puts it like this in Romans
chapter 4. He says if it was of grace or
if it was of works then it would be a debt. It would be that which
is due to us. Let's look at that passage. Hold
your finger there in Matthew chapter 20 and we'll We'll read this passage in Romans,
chapter 4, as an introduction to this story. Grace is not fair. Romans, chapter 4, verse 1, What
shall we say then, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation. physically, in the flesh. And
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory,
but not before God. For what saith the scriptures,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of death. If our salvation
is by our good works, then the reward of salvation is a debt
that God owes us. It's not of grace. But to him
that worketh not, to him that's not looking to his own personal
righteousness or his own personal good works as the hope of his
salvation, him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly. Lord, my works are not sufficient. I'm not looking for a salvation
that's of debt. I'm looking for one that's of
grace. For I am in that category of the ungodly. His faith is
counted for righteousness. Grace or debt? Grace is not fair. Debt is fair. Debt is what you owe. You work and you deserve to be
paid for it. I had a debt this morning. Marino worked for me this past
week a few hours and I paid my debt this morning, didn't I,
Alex? Gave Alex a check to give to Marino. He earned it. He deserved it. That's works. But salvation's not by works. It's by grace, and it's not fair. God gives us what we deserve.
God treats us fairly, according to our works. We're in trouble. All right, let's read this story
in Romans chapter 20. For the kingdom of heaven, salvation, the hope of glory,
the forgiveness of sin, union with Christ, relationship with
God, that which we most desperately need, and that which at the end
of the day will be most important to everyone, the kingdom of heaven. Not the kingdom of this world.
There will come a day when everyone will realize that the kingdom
of heaven is the most important thing in all of life. For the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder. He owns the house. He's the owner
of the house. God Almighty himself is the owner
of the church. He is the owner of us. He is
Lord of heaven and of earth, and he reigns sovereign over
all of his creation. We are not our own. Carl, you read from Psalm 100
in the study this morning before the service. We're his creation,
aren't we? And he stands as the householder
of that which he has created. And this householder, verse 1
of Matthew 20, went out early in the morning to hire laborers
into his vineyard. He's going to hire workers. He
goes down to the labor pool. And there's people standing around.
And he picks out some of those men standing around and says,
come with me. I'm going to hire you and I'm
going to pay you a day's wages for your labor. And when he had
agreed with the laborers, he negotiated with them what their
labor for the day would be worth. This is debt. This is what's
fair. And they agreed on a penny. Now,
that word penny is an English translation of the original word,
which was a Roman coin. It was a silver coin, and it
was typical of a day's wages. This was what was a man's fair
wages for the day, whatever they might be today. You could just
say, well, that's, you know, he agreed to pay him $150-$200
a day, whatever it was. That was the day's wages. He
agreed with the laborer for a penny a day, and he sent them into
his vineyard. And he went out about the third
hour. That would have been about nine o'clock in the morning.
The Jewish reckoning of time was six a.m. to six p.m. It was
a twelve-hour day. So, now it's the third hour of
the day, and about nine o'clock in the morning, he goes back
and he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said
unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right
I will give you. And they went their way. He didn't
negotiate with them a price, did he? He just said, You go
into the vineyard and trust me to pay you fairly for your work. Again, he went out about the
sixth and the ninth hour. Twelve o'clock, three o'clock
in the afternoon, he's still hiring laborers. But notice he
doesn't negotiate with them a day's wages. He just says, you go into
the vineyard and labor and trust me to care for you and to pay
you. And about the eleventh hour,
what time would that have been? Five o'clock in the afternoon.
One hour of daylight left. One hour of work left in the
vineyard. Can you imagine going to Labor Pool West and hiring
some guy at five o'clock to work for an hour? That's what this
man does. And he found others standing
idle, and he said unto them, Why stand ye here all the day
idle? And they said unto him, Because
no man hath hired us. We can't force ourselves on anyone.
We can't create work. We've got to wait for someone
to come and choose us, and no one has chosen us, and that's
why we're here. He said unto them, Go ye also
into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall you receive.
So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyards said unto his
steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning
from the last unto the first. He tells his foreman, he says,
Call all the laborers out of the field, and pay them, and
start with those that I hired at five o'clock. And when they
came that were hired in the eleventh hour, they received every man. of Damaris, a silver coin, a
day's wages for having worked one hour. Paid him for the whole
day. And he did that right on down
the line, until he came to those that were hired first. Verse
10, And when the first came, they supposed that they should
have received more, and they likewise received every man a
penny. Now, let's be realistic here. If you were that one that was
hired first thing in the morning, you saw that the guy that was
hired at five o'clock and worked one hour got paid a full day's
wages, you would have assumed that when you got to the end
of the pay line, you'd get more than what you negotiated for.
That would only be fair, wouldn't it? And if you didn't get more
than what the guy worked for one hour, what would you say?
What would you say? That's not fair. That's not right.
That's what I would say. I've worked all day. I got what
the guy that worked one hour got. I'd say that's not fair.
But this is not about working in a vineyard. This story is
not about making a day's wages. It's not about laboring in this
world. This is a gospel story this what
the Lord said when he started this parable he said the kingdom
of heaven is like. This is a story about salvation
and the point of this story is to say to you and to me that
grace is not fair. It's not fair. Grace is not fair. Grace is great. And those who
have received grace don't want. They don't want to be treated
fairly. All right. When they had received
it, verse eleven, they murmured against the goodman of the house. Now, who's the goodman of the
house? Who's the householder? Who's the owner of this house?
Well, it's the only one that's good, isn't it? Why callest thou me good, for
there is none good but God? It is his goodness and his mercy
that follows us all the day. He's the one that's good. He's
the good man. There is none good outside of
him. The scripture says there is none
that is good. No, not one. He's the good man of the house.
And these that have worked all day long were murmuring against
him. They were complaining, saying, This isn't fair. This isn't right.
Verse 12, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and
thou hast made them equal unto us. You've made those who work
just one hour equal to those of us that have worked all day
long? That's not right. For we have borne the burden
of the heat of the day." They labored to get paid. That's all they labored for.
And they begrudged every moment of it. They said, We've borne the burden
of the day. Labor for them was burdensome. But he answered one of them and
said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. I don't do wrong. Everything
God does is right. Why? Because he does it. You
remember, we didn't... God doesn't evaluate right and
wrong and choose what's right. That's what we do. That's what
we do, because we have an evil nature. about us. We've got flesh,
and we're confronted with right and wrong. We're always having
to make choices, aren't we? And hopefully, we choose that
which is right. God does what he wills, and what
he wills makes it right. It's just that simple. He just
does whatever he wants to do. And the fact that he does it
makes it right. And he says, He said, I've done you no wrong,
verse 13, dist not thou agree with me for a penny? These that
were hired at six o'clock in the morning, they negotiated
their contract, didn't they? They negotiated their daily wages. They said, we'll work for you
for twelve hours and you'll pay us a demerits. You'll give us
a silver coin. You'll pay us our day's wages. He says in verse fourteen, take
that thine is and go thy way. I will give unto this last, even
as unto thee. I will do it, what I give. I
have the right to give. As a matter of fact, he says
in the next verse, look at verse fifteen. Is it not lawful for
me to do what I will with mine own? Now that's grace. God saying, cannot I give graciously of what belongs to
me? Now, salvation is of the Lord
because salvation belongs to the Lord. He owns the right to
save whomsoever he wills. It's his sovereign prerogative
to give the gift of salvation to whoever he wills. That's what
grace is. That's what mercy is. Salvation,
we just read in Romans chapter four, is not of debt. It's not
something we earn. It's not a work of righteousness.
It's by the grace and mercy and will of God Almighty to give
to whomsoever He wills. That's what this story is all
about. Is it not lawful for me, verse
fifteen, to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because
I am good? The evil of your heart, and what
were these people doing? These ones that were hired first
thing in the morning, what were they doing? They were accusing
the good men of the house. of doing wrong. That's what they
were doing. You know, that's what men by
nature do with God. They accused him of wrongdoing.
They think that God owes it to them to save them because of
their goodness. And when they hear the message
of God's sovereign grace in Christ, that God saves whomsoever he
wills and he doesn't factor in not in any way the good works
of men. He determines it purely by his
own election in grace that election in grace might stand. What do they say? That's not
fair. That's not fair. You mean to tell me that God
just out of his own free will chooses to save some and passes
over others? What's the first thing out of
a person's mouth first time they hear that? That's not fair. That's
not fair. Well, grace is not fair. And
you don't want to be treated fairly by God. You don't want
to be treated fairly by God. That's the last thing in the
world you want God to do for you is treat you fairly, is to
give you what you deserve. You do not want that. You want grace. These people were accusing God
of wrongdoing. He says, is thine eye evil because
I am good? You're accusing me of being unfair.
You're accusing me. So, verse 16, the last shall
be first and the first last. For many are called. The gospel call goes out. audibly, to all men, all men
everywhere, commanded to come and to repent. But few are chosen. Chosen. The good men of the house
chose to be merciful to those who had worked one hour. Now let's put this into something
that we can, well this story is obviously something we can
relate to. Those of us who have worked by the hour, hired people
by the hour, this is a pretty fantastic story. But this story
is also telling us that the missionary who goes off into
the foreign field, into a poverty-stricken nation, a man like Well, there's a story of a man
that actually, a gospel preacher that went into a leper colony
in order to preach the gospel and actually contracted leprosy
and died of leprosy out of compassion for those people who were infected
with leprosy. Man goes on the mission field,
takes his family with him, he loses children and his wife is
sick and they live in abject poverty all their lives in order
to preach the gospel and suffer greatly in this world for many
years. You mean to tell me that that
man is going to receive the same exact reward that the thief on
the cross receives? The one who, in his dying hours,
after having lived a life of debauchery, after having lived
a life as a thief, he confessed. He said, I deserve to be here.
No interest in the things of God his entire life and dies
in shame. And in the last moments of his life,
the Lord has mercy upon him and says, this very day you shall
enter with me in paradise. You mean those two individuals? Yeah. Yeah. You mean Abraham, the father
of the faith, the friend of God, the one who trusted God so greatly and is
mentioned time and time again in the Scriptures as a man of
faith? Received the same reward as Lot? who we wouldn't even
know was a believer, unless it was for the passage in 2 Peter
chapter 2 that talks about him being a just man and a preacher
of righteousness. Yeah. This idea that some are going
to. Well, we're there in Matthew
chapter 20. Turn back with me to. To chapter
19. Verse 27, I want to show you
what brings on this parable. Verse 27, Then answered Peter,
and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed
thee. What shall we have therefore? His very disciples thought that
they still didn't understand grace, did they? Lord, we've
forsaken all for you. What are we going to get? What's
our reward? And Jesus said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration,
when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And every one, every one, that hath forsaken houses,
or brethren, or sister, or father, or mother, or wife, or children,
or lands, for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold,
and shall inherit everlasting life." But many that are first,
many who put themselves first, many who look to their... What
were these men who were hired in the first hour of the day?
Oh, we've labored. We've carried the burden of the
heat of the day. We've expected more for our labor. Many that are first shall be
last. And the last shall be first. Lord, I don't deserve what you've
given me. I don't want what I deserve.
I don't want what I deserve. I need grace. I need you to be
merciful to me. Men in religion that are working
their way to heaven, I should then, who by nature believe that
they can earn a place in heaven by their own righteousness, are
really like these who worked all day doing it begrudgingly.
They're not enjoying what they're doing. They're doing it for a
reward. They're doing it for a reward.
I shared this illustration Wednesday night. I think it's very appropriate
and easy to understand. If you are have a young child
or you can remember when you were a young child. Mommy's birthday is coming up. But as a four or five six-year-old
child, you don't have the money. And you don't have any way to
get to the store to buy a birthday present. So what's mommy do? She goes out and pays for herself
a present for herself. She wraps it, puts her name on
it. Time for the birthday party. Mommy's opening presents. And
she sees this present and acts greatly surprised and excited
about the fact that her little boy, her little girl has given
her a present. She opens it up. The little boy,
the little girl's thinking, well, I didn't do anything for that.
But what does Mommy do? She lavishes her affection on
that child for having given her a gift that really she paid for. God said to Abraham, I am thy
exceeding great reward. There are not degrees of reward
in heaven. This idea that some are going
to live in mansions and others are going to live in. I think
there's even a song about having a cabin in the corner of glory
or something like that. That's just so ridiculous. That's
just so ridiculous. That one person is going to receive
less than another. That's what this story in Matthew
chapter 20 is all about. It's the affection. It's the
love. It's the approval of God Almighty. When he receives back from us
that which he paid for, that which he gave to us, we didn't
have anything to do with it. We didn't have any money to buy
it. We didn't have any way to go get it. Now, what happens as an adult?
What happens as an adult? Somebody goes out, buys for themselves
a present and puts your name on it. And then they open it
and they thank you for it. You'd be offended, wouldn't you?
You'd be offended as an adult. Now, I tell you, that's not the
way it works in my family because I don't buy any presents. My wife buys
them all and she puts my name on stuff and people open it and
I don't even know what it was and they thank me for it. But in reality, I help pay for
that present. If somebody else pays for their
own present and then they thank you for it, you'd be offended
by it, wouldn't you? But as a little child, you just
sat there and just ate up the affection of the one who was
thanking you for something you didn't do. Yeah, that's the way
men are. Scripture says that believers
are like little children. Lest you are like a little child,
you shall not enter into the kingdom of God. Men in their
pride, they want to do something for what they get, don't they? You'll come before God as a little
child and just enjoy his affection and his love, or you won't come
at all. These that work the last hour
of the day, Well, let's summarize this with passage of Romans chapter
nine turn with me there, because this passage tells the same thing
that our story tells. Romans chapter nine. Verse eleven for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. Many are called, but few are
chosen." Speaking of these two boys, Jacob
and Esau, before they were born, before they had done anything
good, or bad, God chose one and rejected the other. That's not
fair. That's grace. You see, the recipient
of grace, that one who works one hour at the end of the day,
they cannot believe that the goodman of the house would pay
them a full day's wages. The recipient of grace says,
why would God do this for me? The one who has labored in the
heat of the day from the beginning, who thought, who negotiated a
contract and thought that he deserved payment, he's the one
that murmurs against the householder. He's the one that murmurs against
God and says it's not fair. The unbeliever says it's not
fair that God would save some and not save others. The believer
says, why would God save anybody, especially me? Verse twelve, it was said unto
her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Nothing more offensive than these
cute, clever little sayings that churches try to put on their
marquees in order to attract people to come. As if they can
come up with something more attractive, more appealing than the Word
of God. If we had a marquee, which we
don't, and I don't imagine we ever will, but if we had one
on a church sign, that's the verse we'd put on it. Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated. Just leave it. That's what God said. You mean
God hates? What sayeth the Scriptures? There
it is right there. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. I chose one, I rejected the other. What shall we say then? What
did those who had worked all day say? This isn't fair. This
isn't right. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? What does the natural man say?
This isn't right. This isn't fair. For he said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. I will, I will, I will do what
I will. That's what God's saying. And the mercy beggar bows to
that and says, Oh Lord, please, please be willing to save me. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, verse 16, nor of him that runneth. It is not of man's
free will, nor of his good works. It is not of his efforts in any
way. But it is of God that showeth
mercy. For the Scripture says on the
fair even for the same purpose have I raised the up that I might
show my power in the and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore, have he mercy on whom
he will have mercy and whom he will be hard. Here's the objection again. Here's
the objection of that guy that was hired the first hour of the
day. Here's the objection of the guy that negotiated a price
that believed that he earned something. Here's the objection. Thou wilt say unto me, verse
19, why dost he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will?
If this is true, then how can God find fault with me? for who
can resist the will of God. It's God's fault if I'm not saved. That's what that verse is saying.
How can he accuse me? If salvation is up to him, then
how can God accuse me? I love what the Lord says here
in verse 20, but no, no. Oh, man, who art thou that replyest
against Who are you to accuse God of wrongdoing? Does not the
good man of the house have the right to do with his money what
he wants? Does he not have the right to
be merciful and gracious to whomsoever he wills? Who are you to call
God into question? That's what they were doing in
that parable, isn't it? That's what they were doing. They were
saying this isn't fair. shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?" Doesn't the
potter have right over the clay? He's the potter. We're the clay.
He's got the right to make from the same lump of clay a vessel
of honor or a vessel of dishonor. He can do it. And no man can saith unto him,
What doest thou? Grace is not fair. Grace is not
fair. Grace is grace. And I am so thankful that we
have a God that delights in showing mercy to mercy-beggars, not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his mercy,
by his grace he has saved us.