Let's turn back to Luke chapter
13. While you're turning there, everybody remember Emma Farrell. She's in Cincinnati right now,
and she's going through the stem cell treatment and the chemotherapy. It's a difficult time right now,
and I think she'll be better in a couple of days, Lord willing,
but everybody remember her. Verse 30 of Luke chapter 13. And behold, there are last which
shall be first. And there are first which shall
be last. This is one of those paradoxical
statements by the Lord that serves to remind us that we think wrong. And the problem is not with our
IQ. The problem is with the heart.
We just think wrong. And in this statement, the Lord
says, it just goes contrary to everything we naturally think.
The first will be last and the last shall be first. In verse 29, the Lord gives this
wonderful image and they shall come from the
east and from the west and from the north and from the south
and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. What could be greater blessing
than to be included in that number? To be allowed to sit down with
the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his people in the kingdom
of God. But he adds this disclaimer,
as it were, and it's a very unusual statement after he makes that
statement about those sitting in the kingdom of God. And behold,
there are last which shall be first, and there are first which
shall be last. And the Lord just turns upside
down our way of thinking, doesn't he? You know, I love the way
he began his first public message, what's known as the Sermon on
the Mount. And he begins with the direct opposite of what every
one of us think. We think blessed are the rich.
He says, blessed are the poor, the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. We think blessed are the happy. He says, blessed are they that
mourn, mourn over sin. We say blessed are good people
and righteous people. He says, blessed are they who
have a conscious absence of these things. and hunger and thirst
after righteousness. Blessed are the go-getters, the
ones who stand up for themselves and are aggressive. He says,
blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. We say, blessed are they who
protect themselves and don't let things go wrong with them. And he says, blessed are the
merciful. Blessed are the merciful. We say, blessed are the happy. The Lord says, blessed are the
pure in heart. We say, blessed are the war heroes. And he says, blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. We
say, blessed are the unharassed, but he says, blessed are the
persecuted. Now, all of these things run
clean contrary to the way we naturally believe. He said, exalt
yourself. You seek to be first and you'll
be last. You abase yourself and you'll
be first. You take the highest seat, you'll
be sent to the lowest seat. You take the lowest seat, you'll
be brought to the highest seat. When you have a dinner party,
have friends over who can help you. No, when you have a dinner
party, have people that can give you no recompense at all. The Pharisee we think is being
first and the publican is being last and God turns it all around. The publican is brought into
the kingdom of heaven and the Pharisee who had such a high
opinion of his own righteousness is thrust out and despised by
God. We would choose the wise, the
mighty, and the noble. God chooses the foolish, the
weak, and the base. Things that are despised and
things that are nothing. We would say the rich man or
the rich man gave the most. The Lord says the widow that
put in two mites, which make a farthing, gave more than they
all. He has a different way of counting
than we do. We think when you grow, you become
bigger. No, when you grow, you become
smaller. The greatest are the least, and
the least are the greatest. We would think that that one
who has been forgiven less is a better person and probably
loves more. But no, the one who's been forgiven the most, the most
sinful, is the one who loves more. The lad to see him believes
he's rich, increased with goods, and has need of nothing, and
he doesn't know the opposite is true. He's wretched and poor
and miserable and naked and blind. We think the good go to heaven,
the bad go to hell. It's the opposite of that. The
bad go to heaven. Those are the ones he saves.
The good, in their own eyes, go to hell. We think give and
you'll lose. No. and you'll gain. Now, the first and last, and
the last first can be summarized by this one glorious word, grace. Now I want to look at another
occasion where the Lord used this statement twice in the same
message and I believe that we'll have some idea of what he meant
when he said the first or last and the last or first. So would
you turn to Matthew chapter 19. Now this is after the disciples
watched the rich young ruler walk away. Verse 27 of Matthew
chapter 19. Then answered Peter and said
unto him, Behold, we've forsaken all and followed thee. What shall
we have therefore? What's in it for us? You'd know
it would be Peter that would say something like this, wouldn't
you? We've forsaken everything. What are we going to get out
of this? And look at the way the Lord answers. And Jesus said
unto them, Verily I say unto you, that you which have followed
me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne
of His glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone that hath forsaken
houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an
hundredfold in this life." And that's not really talking about
you're going to have a hundred times more money, much more money
than you had if you hadn't have done this. But I've got a lot
of houses. I've got a lot of people that
will take me in if I need it. And you do too. We receive much
more. And notice he says he shall inherit
everlasting life. He doesn't say you'll earn everlasting
life. He says you'll inherit everlasting
life. Don't you love the concept of
an inheritance? You're given something, not because you've
earned it, but simply who you're connected to. That's heavenly glory. I'm Christ's
little brother. What an inheritance I have. Then
the Lord says in verse 30, but many that are first shall be
last and the last be first. Four, now he's continuing this
thought and he's explaining exactly what he means when he says, many
that are last shall be first and the first shall be last.
Four, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man. Now, anytime
we read where the Lord says the kingdom of heaven is like this,
we ought to listen real carefully. We ought to pay very careful
attention to what he's saying. Actually, I suppose this might
be my favorite parable. because it shows so clearly how
we think wrong, and our natural reactions to things are wrong.
Let's go on reading. For the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning,
6 a.m., to hire laborers in his vineyard. And when he had agreed
with the laborers for a penny, that was a working man's wages,
a day's wage. It was a fair wage. When we think
of a penny, we think that's not much, but at that time, that
was a fair wage for a full day's work. And when he had agreed
with the laborers for a penny, the laborers said, yeah, we'll
enjoy that. Thanks for hiring us. We'll work
for a penny a day. When he agreed with them, For
a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. They start working
at six o'clock in the morning. And he went out about the third
hour, about nine o'clock, and saw others standing idle in the
marketplace. And he said to them, go ye also
into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, I will give you. Now you can just write this down.
You and I are gonna get whatever is right. Always. And they went their way, and
again, he went out about the six hour, noon, and said the
same thing. And he went out the ninth hour,
3 p.m., and he did likewise. He sent these men out to labor
in his vineyard. Verse six, and about the 11th
hour, 5 p.m., he went out and found others standing idle, and
saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They said
unto him, because no man hath heard us, he saith unto them,
go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that
shall you receive. I find such comfort in that.
You know what you and I are going to get? Whatever is right. If I'm brought into heaven, it's
because it's the right thing. God made me righteous. If I'm
sent to hell, it's the right thing. Whatever you receive,
whatever I receive, it will be right. Verse eight. So when even was
come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his stewards, call
the labors and give them their hire. beginning from the last
unto the first. So the first people that are
brought in are the people who worked one hour. Now, one hour
is not much. It's not much. Call the laborers and give them
their hire, beginning from the first from the last unto the
first. And when they came that were
hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. Now, remember, he had agreed
with these fellows, you work twelve hours, I'll give you a
penny. He gives these men who work only one hour the same pay. He gave them a penny. Let's say,
try to think of it this way. If they were all working for
$10 an hour and 12 hours work, you'd get $120. He gave these
fellows only one hour, $120. Verse 10, but when the first
came, they supposed that they should have received more. Now,
wouldn't you make that supposition? I know I would. If they worked
an hour and got one penny, then if I work 12 hours, I ought to
get 12 pennies. That only would be fair. Maybe he said a penny an hour,
not a penny a day anyway. Maybe that's what's going on.
They didn't have any thought that they would ever get the
same thing as these fellas who were just given this penny for
one. They supposed that they would receive more and who wouldn't
make that supposition? But when they were given their
money to their shock and dismay, they were given a penny as well.
Now how would you respond to this? I know how I would respond. This
is not fair. I did 12 times more work and
I should receive 12 times more pay. This is not fair even though
this was the wage they originally agreed on. This is not fair. You know, one of the first things
a child thinks is, this is not fair. I'm being wronged. Somebody's taking my toy. Somebody's
getting more money. That's just a natural response
of a child. You look at, everybody's got
a sense of justice at an early age. This is not fair. I'm being wronged. And to put
people on the same, the guys that work 12 hours and the guys
that work one hour, give them the same thing. It's not fair. You know, I think of Abraham
and Lot. Abraham, the father of the faithful. That man who
took off in obedience to God's command and started walking not
knowing where he went. That man who who gave in obedience
to God, his son. God said, take your son, your
only son whom you love, and offer him up as a burnt offering to
Me. And Abraham said, I'll do it. And in his heart, he did
it. Oh, the obedience of Abraham, the faith of Abraham. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in
faith, giving glory to God. Abraham, the father of the faithful.
What a special man. Believers are called the seed
of Abraham. And Lot. What good could you
say about Lot as far as his person goes? He was a covetous man. He pitched his tent towards Sodom. He ended up living in Sodom.
When God is going to destroy Sodom, he doesn't want to leave.
He lingers, and the angels had to take him by the hand. He goes
into a cave, and I don't even want to go into the stuff that
took place there. I mean, this man was a bad man as far as men
go. And as a matter of fact, if we
didn't have the New Testament, I guarantee you not one of us
would think he was saved. I just know we wouldn't. We wouldn't
think he saved. You're going to tell me that Lot and Abraham
are going to be in the same place and be given the same thing in
heaven? How could that be fair? Or what about those 200 men that
stood back at the, they were so weak they couldn't ford the
creek while David and the rest of the men, the 400, went to
Ziklag and recovered all the spoils that the Amalekites had
taken. And the 200 guys, they stayed behind. They didn't come.
They weren't able to do it. So the 400 men returned and they
said, we're not giving these guys anything because they didn't
do anything. We'll give them their wives and children back,
but they don't get any of the spoil. David said, not so. They're
going to get the same thing we got. The same thing. And this was a statute in Israel
forever. These men felt greatly that they'd
been wrong. We ought to be getting more.
Verse 11. And when they had received it,
the penny, they murmured against the good man of the house. They
uttered their displeasure under their breath. But then it came
out in words in verse 12 saying, these that have wrought but one
hour and thou has made them equal unto us. which have borne the
burden and the heat of the day. How can this be fair? How could
you make them equal to us? How could you give them the same
thing you gave to us? We worked twelve hours, they
worked one." Well, you make a few statements regarding that particular
statement. First, did they not get what
they agreed to? They said we'll work for a penny
a day and they got exactly what he said he would give them. But
these fellows in this statement, they also demonstrate what they
felt truly about serving the master. You've made them equal
to us and we've borne the burden and the heat of the day. It's
been a burden. This is not something we've enjoyed.
We've been burdened by this. They demonstrate by that statement
what they really think about their master and his service. It's a burden to us. It's not
something we love. We don't love being here. We're
doing this for pay. We're doing this for some other
reason. There's no true joy in this.
And the third thing that I would notice about this attitude, where
they're upset that the master made them equal, these one-hour
workers, to them, I think, where is their love in this attitude? If I love you, I don't want you to have less
than me. You know, this whole idea of
rewards in heaven, so contrary to love. I've got a higher place
than you. I'm going to be in a bigger house. I'll drive a bigger car. I'll
have more glory in heaven than you will." There's not a drop
of love in that kind of attitude. Not even a drop. If I love you,
I'm happy if you have more. If I love you, I am genuinely
happy you have more. But the bottom line about this
is this all militates against this thing of grace. They could not comprehend grace. All they could think of was this
is fair or this is not fair. Now who I thought about when
I thought about this thing of grace is I thought about that
publican in the temple beating on his breast, crying, God, be
merciful to me, thee, sinner. He believed himself to be the
worst man alive when he was beating on his breast and crying out
like that. And what'd the Lord say of him?
He said, I say it to you. I love it when the Lord says,
I say it to you. I know everybody else says this, but I say it
to you. This man went down to his house. What? Justified. rather than the other. Now what a justified, I hope,
I might not use the word justification. I should. I should. I hope I
never preach a message where I don't refer at some point to
justification. It's the very heart and soul
of the gospel. This is what gives us all of
our joy. This is what gives us all of our peace. In God's sight,
every believer at all times is justified. That means I don't
have any sin to feel bad about. I don't have anything to feel
guilty about. I am just before God because
I have the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that makes me just before God all the time. And this is the
only hope I have at all times. I mean, I believed it when I
first believed. But I think I see it more now.
I see more of the glory of it. I love it. Justified by Christ. This man went down to his house
justified. Now here's the question I want
to ask you. What did he do to get that way? All we read about this guy is
that he was a sinner. He beat on his breast, God be
merciful to me, the sinner. That's all he could see himself.
He didn't do anything to get justified. God justified him. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies them.
Who is he that can condemn? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God. He
was justified and there wasn't anything he did to become that
way. It's what Christ made him. It's
what God declared him to be. And the Pharisee in that same
parable, who had such a high opinion of his own righteousness,
was not justified. That man who believed himself
to be first, what was he? Last. And that man who believed
himself to be the very last, what was he in God's sight? He
was first. Now, if I'm saved, I have Christ's
righteousness as my own personal righteousness before God. I love
Revelation 19.8. This fine linen, clean and white,
is the righteousness. He doesn't say of Christ, although
it is Christ, but he said it's the righteousness of the saints. That's my personal righteousness
before God, this fine linen, clean and white. And let me tell
you something, it's not some work I performed. I wouldn't want
to call any work I performed fine linen, clean and white.
This is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, would
I think that somehow I could take some work of mine and add
it to the work of Christ and somehow put myself above somebody
else, give myself a higher reward in heaven? Really? Do I think
that highly of my work? That's comical, isn't it? That
you could think some work of yours could enhance the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ and make it more righteous. Oh no, only one place I want
to be found, that's in Christ. Not having my own righteousness.
I don't have anything to do with that. I want to have the righteousness
of God, the righteousness of Christ. That's all I'm interested
in being seen in. I don't want God to see anything
but Jesus Christ. I don't want Him to see my preaching.
I don't want him to see my praying. I don't want him to see my witnessing.
I certainly don't want him to see my sin and all that stuff
isn't sin apart from Christ. That's all it is. I don't want
to stand before God in any other way except the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why David said, I've made
mention of thy righteousness even thine own. Now, do I want
to add something of mine to make myself different than my brother,
or do I want to be equal with my brother? You know what? I
want to be equal with my brother. That's what I want. He's saved
by Christ's righteousness. I'm saved by Christ's righteousness.
We're on the same level. I like that. I like a level playing
field, don't you? We're all on the same level.
We're nothing, and he's everything, and we love it that way. One
of these days, I'd like to do some kind of ad, the church where
everybody's nobody, and Christ is all. Now look at the way he answered. They make this complaint in verse
12. These have wrought but one hour and thou has made them equal
unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But
he answered one of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not
thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is and go thy
way and I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Now he lets this man know something
about his authority at this time. I'll give this last fella the
same I give you and if I want to I can give you more. If I want to, I can give you
more. Verse 15. Is it not lawful for
me to do what I will with my own? Is I not evil because I
am good? Now this is a statement regarding
his absolute sovereignty. He says, can I not do what I
will with my own? Do I answer to you? Do I have
to explain myself to you? He giveth no account of his matters.
He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? Give an account for yourself.
Explain what it is you're doing. He's God. We're in no position
to ask him what he is doing. Now, when the Lord says, I love
this, he says, is thine eye evil because I'm good? Because I'm
generous with these 11 hour workers. And that's what he was. He was
being very generous, wasn't he? I mean, he was giving these guys,
look at it in terms of $10 an hour for the 12 hour labors.
He was giving these guys $120 for one hour of labor. And he
did that because he was being gracious. Now, because I'm gracious
toward them, are you going to charge me with being unfair?
You see how ridiculous that is on the very surface? You have
an evil, critical eye toward me because I'm good to them?
That's what he's saying. Now, if he's gracious to them,
am I going to charge him with unfairness and be upset and be
mad with him? You know, if you started criticizing
me for how I gave and who I gave to, you know what I'd say to
you? I'd say, you've entered a realm that's absolutely none
of your business. And to do the Lord that way,
to sit there and criticize Him and question His fairness because
He's gracious to somebody. Now, God is sovereign and His
grace is sovereign grace. He has mercy on whom He will
have mercy. And whom He will, He hardens.
That's what the Bible says. And that's not bad. You see,
everybody deserves to be damned. Do you believe that about yourself?
Do you believe you actually deserve, in and of yourself, to go to
hell? To be cut off? Do you deserve? If God saves
you, it's by grace, isn't it? You know that you're saved by
the grace of God. Do I count him unjust and unfair
because he saved some? That's what I'm saying. You see,
if he didn't choose to save some, no one would be saved. No one
at all. But because he chooses to save
a vast multitude, am I going to say that's not fair of him? Now, if I'm opposed to this,
After the veneer has all been stripped away, it's called enmity
toward God. That's the bottom line. Enmity
toward God. God on the throne. God doing
as he will. God absolute. God unfettered
and unchained. A God I cannot control, a God
I cannot manipulate, a God that I can't get to respond to me,
that God I do not love. Beloved, that's the God of the
Bible. And that is the God that I love.
That's the God that every believer loves. every one of them without
any exception. That's the God of the Bible,
and you and I are in his hands right now, and that's the only
safe place to be. Now, I like to think of this
scenario. All the laborers are standing
there looking at their penny. Who do you reckon didn't complain
at all? I know who didn't complain. Those
fellows that worked but one hour, they were so grateful for the
grace of God. They were so grateful for the
graciousness of their master. You know, recipients of grace
all love grace, every one of them. and they all love the God
of all grace. And so this is what the first
shall be last and the last first means. It's seen in this parable
of the workers of the vineyard and he closes up by repeating
this again, verse 16. So the last shall be first and
the first last. Now, if you believe yourself
to be last, it's good news. If you believe yourself to be
first, it's not good news. How do you respond to this? How
do you look at yourself? If you look at yourself as the last,
the farthest away, the most sinful, the least worthy of His mercy. As a matter of fact, you're not
the least worthy, you're not worthy at all. Oh, this is good
news to you. But if you consider yourself
first, this is not good news. You're the loser by it. Now,
in this message of grace, you're either, in your own eyes, the
gainer by it. If it's all of grace, that gives
me hope. or you feel like you lose by it. That's why people
get upset when they hear the gospel of God's grace. You're
taking away their hope. They're hoping in some kind of
work and you're taking that away. They get upset. But the recipients
of grace will always rejoice. And look what he says in addition
to the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He says,
for many be called. You know, the Lord calls everybody
by the light of nature. The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the earth showeth forth its handiwork. I mean,
anybody can look at the heavens and see God is, He's mighty powerful,
and I ought to seek Him. And anybody that lived up to
the light they'd have, God would give them more. Everybody ought
to seek the Lord. Everybody ought to worship the
Lord. Many are called. Everybody's
called. But few, are chosen, and how
that ought to smite us into the very dust to think the Lord chose
me. Now, it's only the ones who are
chosen that will come. Our Lord said in John 6, 37,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. If you believe yourself
to be first, you'll not like this. But if you believe yourself
to be last, you'll... Love this. I'm glad they don't do it. I
guess they don't do it, but I remember when I was in grade school during
recess, we'd pick up sides for teams. You'd have two captains,
and you'd have people picking up sides. You'd pick the best
athlete, the best athlete, you know, and you wanted to win,
you know, and they'd be picking, and you'd have these kids, and
then you'd get into the middle, and then you'd finally have that
last person standing. the last one to be picked, the
humiliation of it. Somebody was thinking, was that
you? I'm not telling. But the last person picked, well
you know what our Lord says, that last is first. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
gospel. It's so glorious. It's so otherworldly. It's so not like the ways of
man. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you will give us the grace to believe. that you'll give
us the grace to have the joy of those 11th hour workers in
the freeness of your grace. Lord, as we observe the Lord's
table, we ask that you would enable us by your grace to do
this in remembrance of thee. Lord, enable us truly to do this
together in love and unity and rejoicing in the shed blood in
the broken body of our Redeemer. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
In His name we pray. Amen.