Matthew pt. 74 - Laborers in the Vineyard

Alright, turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

You thought I was gonna say 20? We'll get there.

Matthew chapter 19. This is where we finished last

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

week. But Jesus continues his thought.

So as I've said many times, unfortunately we have to

interrupt, interrupt Jesus 'cause he's a much better

preacher than me and he can say things much more powerfully,

much more quickly than I can. But we're, we were mid thought.

So even though in your Bible it says Matthew 19 and there's this

big #20 remember whenever Matthew wrote this Gospel

originally and when all the scriptures were written, there

were, there was no numerical references in them.

We added all that later just for our convenience.

So we didn't have to say, hey, turn to that section in Matthew

about 3/4 of the way through, but we could say turn to Matthew

Matthew 20:7

chapter 20, verse 7. So that's just a helpful benefit

for us. But originally that wasn't

present. So Jesus continues his thought.

But I'm going to catch up with you again where we were.

Remember last week the rich young man came to Jesus.

So we're going to read through this whole passage and then

we're going to continue without breaking into chapter 20.

So you know exactly what Jesus says and does next, Matthew 19

Matthew 19:16

verse 16 and behold, a man came up to him saying, Teacher, what

good deed must I do to have eternal life?

And he said to him, why do you ask me about what is good?

There is only one who is good. So it seems like Jesus is

creating distance between himself and God there.

Verbally, He most definitely is not.

In fact, what he's doing is he's testing the guy because the guy

comes up, he says good teacher. Well, the way he used the word

good, it would have generally only been used for God.

So Jesus testing him going, hey, you call me a good teacher.

You just trying to flatter me. You just trying to get an answer

that you want or do you understand who you're talking

to? Unfortunately, he likely did not

understand who he was talking to or if he did, he still didn't

respond appropriately. So Jesus is the good God.

There's no doubt about that. But he goes on to answer,

There's only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep

the commandments. The rich man says to him, which

ones? And Jesus said, you shall not

murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal,

you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and

mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The young man said to him, all these I've kept.

That's not true. But he says he has all these

I've kept. What do I still lack?

Jesus. Instead of pointing down the

fact that he's incorrect and that he hasn't kept the commands

perfectly, he plays along and he goes, OK, I'll go into your

framework. I'll take the bait on what

you're going to say here. Here's what you need though.

Since you think that you are self-righteous, since you think

you have accomplished something, we're about to find out if

you've kept the greatest command.

The greatest command is love the Lord your God with all your

heart, soul, mind and strength. That's the greatest command.

So he's about to be tested on the greatest 1.

He goes, all right, this guy's a hotshot.

He thinks he's got all the commands locked it Lord, I've

done that. Oh, easy.

Oh yeah, I remember doing that one as well.

And I'm keeping all these perfectly.

He goes, alright, let's go straight to the heart of the

matter. Let's see if you'll love the

Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go sell what you

possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in

heaven. And come follow me.

When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he

had great possessions. We explained last week what he

needed to do in that moment was throw himself at the mercy of

Jesus. If it felt like too big of an

ass for Jesus. And by the way, it was literally

what Jesus was asking. That was not only a test.

On one hand it is a test, but it's not only a test.

He wasn't going to go, Oh no, no, I was just kidding.

I just wanted to see if you would do it like like the Lord

did with Abraham, with Isaac. No, no, no, don't kill the boy.

I was just testing you. Why?

Well, because Isaac would have been the consequence there.

And the Lord is not going to sacrifice anyone except himself.

So the Lord doesn't accept any human sacrifices.

That's all wickedness. Except when the Lord says I will

be the human sacrifice. There's only one human sacrifice

that was ever needed, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ.

But he goes away sorrowful, for he had many great possessions.

Why are you sad? You're rich, you're young,

everything's cool, everything's great in your life.

He's sorrowful because he knows Jesus just exposed him.

And instead of humbling himself in repentance in that moment and

going, oh, you've cut me to the heart.

Help me to do what you're calling me to do.

I don't even want to do it. Help like to wrestle with the

Lord and wring out his heart in the tension of that moment.

He just goes, Oh, I've just been exposed.

What are you going to do? Rich young ruler, what are you

going to do? I'm going to go away sorrowful

because Jesus exposed me, but I'm not actually willing to

pursue Jesus. That's what I was talking to you

about earlier. As the Lord calls something out

in our hearts and we go, oh, I guess I'll just feel guilty

after church again today. Well, that's your decision that

you can make like the rich young ruler can make, but that's not

the Lord's intention. That's never the intention of

the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the conviction of the Holy Spirit is not to make

you feel bad, which is what common country music

Christianity has taught us to think about.

Like go to church, get my weekly dose of guilt and then leave

there. Well, if church is your weekly

dose of guilt, you're doing it wrong because the Lord seeks to

work in you and on you and mature you, renew your mind and

transform you. So if you're coming into His

presence and walking out each week like the rich young ruler,

I sure feel bad about myself. Well, that means you're stubborn

and hard hearted and you haven't allowed the Lord to actually

penetrate your heart and you're just going, oh, everybody just

makes me feel bad around there. The Lord's calling you to

something greater and higher and you're holding onto your dog

turd while the Lord offers you a Kingdom and you're going, well,

I got treasures here. That's what the rich young ruler

thought too. He thought he had something

special and King Jesus was going, come follow me.

How many people got that verbal invitation from the Lord Jesus

Christ while he walked on the earth right across that ocean

over there, a little country called Israel.

It happened actually literally, and he's coming back by the way.

He's coming back and he's going to step foot on the planet

again. He's going to rule and reign

forever with his people. I'm going away sad.

I got great possessions. Wow, really?

Are they greater than Jesus? Of course not.

So it's a tragedy that story. Verse 23, y'all are listening

too slow. We got to hurry up.

We're still in chapter 19. All right, Verse 23.

And Jesus said to his disciples, so the rich young ruler just

walked away. We're all still here in the same

moment. He just walked away, turns the

disciples. Truly.

I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person

enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it's easier

for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich

person to enter the Kingdom of God.

He's saying you can't enter the Kingdom of God because of your

riches, which is what the Jews thought.

They thought wealth, that means the blessing of God.

So that's why the Jews are shocked.

Man, if he can't get in, how can any of us get in?

And Jesus saying it's impossible to get into the Kingdom of

heaven on your own merit. It's impossible.

A camel through the eye of a needle, it cannot happen.

So therefore no one can get into the Kingdom of heaven except

through the Lord's grace. Verse 25 when the disciples

heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying who then can

be saved? But Jesus looked at them and

said, with man this is impossible, but with God all

things are possible. Then Peter said in reply, So

Peter's putting it all together. Jesus just called this guy to

give up everything. And this guy said, no, Jesus

called me to give up everything. I said yes, he called Matthew

the writer of this gospel. So quick back story on Matthew.

Don't let me lose my point here, Church.

Quick story on Matthew, the writer of this gospel.

Matthew is a tax collector, so he's a Jew.

And the Romans who have conquered them come in and say,

hey, we need some of you Jews who want to kind of betray your

people and help us collect taxes from your people.

You understand the culture, you understand all the details.

You know, everybody and their Mama and their uncle and their

brother and their cousin. So you can help us get as much

money from it as possible if you pad your pockets along the way.

We are going to turn a blind friendly eye to that.

So tax collectors were hated by Jews because you betrayed us.

You're working for the Romans and you're getting wealthy in

the process. I mean, none of us, I don't

think are huge fans of the IRS anyway.

But we don't feel the same way they felt about tax collectors.

So Matthew is working in a tax collector booth and Jesus comes

to him and says come and follow me.

And Matthew drops it, leaves the booth and goes and follows

Jesus. That was it.

He didn't go. We don't have any record of

Matthew like well, let me calculate he just same thing

Peter, come follow me, leaves his Nets.

He says I'm going to make you fishers of men.

That sounds weird. I don't know what that means,

but I'm going with him. Then Peter said in reply, see

we've left everything and followed you.

What then will we have Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to

you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his

glorious throne, you who have followed me will sit on 12

Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

Now really specifically, this is a particular promise to the 12

minus Judas plus Matthias. This is a particular promise to

the 12 apostles of the Lamb. This isn't like for you and I.

So we can't take every single verse in the Bible.

That's a promise for me. All the ones that are for us

most definitely are for us. And there's many, this one is in

particular for them. But he's saying for you guys,

you're actually going to sit on the 12 on the Thrones, judging

the 12 tribes of Israel and everyone who has left houses or

brothers. So this includes us.

Now, everyone who's left houses or brothers or sisters or father

or mother or children or lands for my name's sake will receive

a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last 1st.

So their expectation is the rich and wealthy are going to have

prominent positions in the Kingdom.

But Jesus continually turn that upside down and show them, no,

that's not the case. There was a rich man, he died

and he's burning in hell. Jesus told a parable or a story.

I don't know if it exactly happened that way or not, but

Jesus is pointing, pointing out the fact that and then there was

a poor man and he was comforted and in the presence of God.

We'll call it just for simplicity sake for now.

And so these this was shocking to Jesus hearers because they're

going how could, how did the rich man end up so bad off?

And the poor man who had who had leprosy and had his sores licked

by the dogs, how did he end up so gloriously saved by grace,

which is what the whole Bible has always been about the Old

Testament and the New Testament has always been about God's

grace and our faith in him. Ask Abraham.

He knows something about faith. So everyone who has left for

receive these blessings, but many who are first will be last,

and the last first. Now without coming up for air,

Jesus continues chapter 20. Here we go.

For the Kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who

went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent

them into his vineyard and going out about the third hour, he saw

others standing idle in the marketplace.

And he said to them, You go in the vineyard too, and whatever

is right I'll give you. So they went going out again

about the 6th hour. And about the 9th hour he did

the same. And about the 11th hour he went

out and found others standing. He said to them, Why do you

stand here idle all day? They said to him, because no one

has hired us. He said to them, you go into the

vineyard too. And when any evening came, the

owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers,

pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the 1st.

And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them

received a denarius. Now when those hired first came,

they thought they would receive more, but each of them also

received a denarius. And on receiving it, they

grumbled at the master of the house, saying, these last only

worked one hour, and you've made them equal to us who have borne

the burden of the day and the scorching heat.

But he replied to he replied to one of them, Friend, I'm doing

you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a

denarius? Take what belongs to you and go.

I choose to give this last worker as I give to you.

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

Or do you begrudge my generosity so the last will be 1st and the

1st last? Heavenly Father, thank you for

your glorious word. Bring light and revelation.

Lord, I pray that we would not be like the rich young ruler.

I pray that we would not be prideful.

I pray that we would not be hard hearted.

I pray we would not leave church with a guilt trip.

I pray we would leave the gathering, the fellowship.

Built up, edified, strengthened, yes, corrected as needed.

But Lord, perform in us the surgery that's needed.

Perform in US, whatever you see a need for work up.

But God, I pray that we would be tender.

God, I pray for every single man and woman and young man and

young woman. I pray that they would just

tenderize their own hearts right now.

That is the choice that you would make.

Saints, in this moment, humble yourselves before the Almighty

God. You already came on a Sunday

morning to gather, make it count.

The Lord loves you. Receive his blessing.

God, we thank you for it all in Jesus name, Amen.

So we know we're continuing here this same moment Jesus was

finishing this point. Let's clarify some things about

what you're seeing here. So the master of a house, this

is a landowner. It's probably harvest season, so

we need extra hands. We don't need these people full

time all the time, but we need extra hands right here, right

now. And he's got a vineyard and it's

time to harvest. So this is exciting.

Lot of hands on deck. And he goes into the

marketplace. He pulls up into Home Depot.

He pulls up in a 711 and he sees who's waiting around.

Hey, you guys need work today? Yeah, man, we're hoping somebody

will come by. I'll take you and you and you

and you and you. I don't know if they're legal or

illegal. That's a different conversation.

We'll just say he needed workers in the vineyard.

So he got some workers in the vineyard for the day.

But he he's, he's going out the day.

The, the Jewish work day was about 12 hours.

It's about 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM. So he's in the marketplace, 6:00

AM. Hey, I need some workers today.

Hey, me, me, me, cool. Hop in the bed of the truck.

They go up the road. He takes them back to the

vineyard. He comes back at 9:00 AM.

He does it again at 12. He does it again at 3:00.

And then the 11th hour, it's 5:00 PM.

There's one hour left in the work day.

So that's some context about what's going on here.

And then a denarius. This is like a Roman days wage.

So this is a fair day's wage for your mind purposes.

Let's call it 100 bucks. Hey, it's you know, you can make

more, you can make less, but you know, hey, come work for me

today, pay 100 bucks. OK, somebody, somebody might

accept that. So we'll go with that just for

for our for our working purposes.

When we're looking at a parable, we need to know a parable has

one point. There are other points.

There are other things you could emphasize in a parable that are

true principles, but we want to make sure we're saying what

Jesus was intending to say. Now some of the parables I've

come to other things in Matthew where I said, hey, something

this, something that something, this something that, you know

what I don't know. I wish I did.

And if I did, I would tell you I do.

But since I don't, I can't. But here's what we know for

sure. And we will always try and find

something good and wholesome. That's always biblically true.

So there's many things that we could probably draw out here.

For example, it's good to be a worker, isn't it?

Hey, you ought to work, you know, like there's all kinds of

points and connections you can make.

But primarily, Jesus was still connecting back to what just

happened with the rich young ruler.

That's his point, and that's why he ends his parable this way.

So what do we know? We know Jesus is the master.

Jesus is the landowner. Jesus is the owner of the

vineyard. The vineyard is the mission of

God. The workers are you and me.

The denarius is eternal life. Those are the those are the

principles that we're working with.

That's our understanding as we go through this.

And this one's not a difficult 1 to decode in that sense.

Jesus sends laborers to work in his harvest field.

Salt Church. Have you ever heard that before?

Have we ever prayed that prayer before that God would send more

workers into the harvest? Jesus said the harvest is ready.

It's not a harvest issue. Christians can often look at the

harvest and go the harvest. Harvest needs to get right.

Jesus said the harvest is ready. It's the laborers I need.

Jesus said I need more workers in my harvest.

That's what I need. The harvest will be just fine.

We just need more laborers in that harvest.

So this is this is in harvest season.

This is the calling that Jesus is bringing for every person.

Come and follow me. Become a Christian.

And then I'm going to make you fishers of men.

I'm going to make you a worker in the harvest field.

You're going to join the mission of God.

So ultimately, are you rewarded with eternal life?

Yeah, but not because you earned it.

And that's really the main point of this parable is that

everything is by God's grace. Nobody earns anything.

So even though he clarified to to the to the boys there with

him, hey, you boys actually are going to have a particular

blessing that no one else is going to have.

You're going to have a special reward.

But let me clarify, you did not earn it.

You did not deserve it. Everybody gets eternal life who

comes to God in humility and submission under the blood of

Jesus. It's by God's grace through your

faith, which is also a gift from God.

So everything God gets glory for everything God gets credit for.

Amen. Christians are workers.

This is our first point that we're going to make.

To be a Christian is to be a worker in the harvest.

It is a misunderstanding. And if you were told different,

you were told wrong. And I'm only giving you good

news, by the way. At first it might sound like,

oh, man, I got work to do. Well, yeah.

And also, it's what you were built for.

Brother, sister, friend, it's what you were made for.

You got nothing better to do, I assure you.

To work in the Lord's Kingdom, to work in the Lord's harvest is

a blessing. It's a privilege.

It's an honor. What a joy that he came and

selected me to come and work for him and to come work with him.

Conversations, negotiations about payment aside.

And you'll notice the first guys in the morning at 6:00 AM,

they're like, what are the terms?

And the rest of the guys, he said, I'll pay you what's fair.

And they say good enough for me. That's the right attitude.

I'm coming. I'm I'm thankful to be selected.

I'm thankful to be chosen. I'm thankful to have a part in

this thing at all. What a blessing, what a joy,

what a privilege that I could have.

This, the other thing we understand in this parable, as

we see that people are coming into the Labour, into the

Labour's field at different times of the day.

This represents people being saved in different stages of

life. Some people are saved early on,

some people are saved somewhere in the middle, some people are

saved very late. And for those who come to

Christ, whether they did it when they were four years old or

whether they did it when they were 97, you know what their

reward is, Eternal life with King Jesus.

Well, I followed him faithfully. Be careful, don't grumble.

It was grace that you followed God from a young age.

Do you think you missed out my following him longer and

younger? Do you think you?

Was that a penalty to you? Now that was a blessing to you.

I worked in the field all day long and you worked hard and the

Master saw it and he loves you. And yes, there is a reward seed

of Christ. That's not what we're getting

today. We're not going to mix our

parables or mix our teaching. That's a different conversation

today. The point is the denarius

eternal life comes to all. Are there rewards in heaven?

There are different conversation, different sermon,

different day. This isn't that one.

And you should want those. By the way, look, y'all trying

to bait me into it. I'm not going to fall for it,

and you should want those additional rewards, but this

isn't about that. This is about the grace of God

for anyone who comes in at any time in any way.

The Lord saves people at all different times.

Look in verse six and seven. And about the 11th hour he went

out and found others standing and he said to them, why do you

stand here idle all day? Isn't that so kind and so

merciful and so gracious? The last hour of the day?

Come on, everybody who's worked a long hour of the day like that

Last hour is not the hardest hour.

That's like, we're cleaning up a little bit.

Hey, you start sweeping, you start loading tools in the

trailer. Like we're kind of wrapping up.

Like that's when I want to roll up on y'all's job sites.

Like, hey, you need a hand. Oh, y'all are done.

Oh, OK. Can I get paid though?

But this is the master knows his plan.

The Master knows how gracious he's going to be.

Hey, you guys haven't worked all night.

No, come on, come on. It's only an hour left.

But come on, let's go to work. God saving people at the end of

their lives. The 11th hour call.

God saves anyone who will humble themselves before him.

By the way, it's not a good plan if if you would plan on the 11th

hour, that would be complete foolishness.

And in fact, I don't know how I'll say that with more

conviction. I don't believe it's possible to

look forward to an 11th hour call on your life.

Because if you think you'll want the Lord then, but you don't

want him now, you won't want him then.

So it's really a manipulation of God and God won't be played, He

won't be manipulated. So I know there are people who

do that kind of mental gymnastics with themselves and

they're like, well, if I'm ever in a car wreck, like people

think this way, some of you have thought this way.

If I'm in a car wreck, hopefully like while I'm bleeding out,

I'll be like Lord. Well, if it's I don't, I don't

want to minimize anything. I want to be very clear.

There was a man bleeding out one time who called on the name of

the Lord. Do you remember him?

He was hanging beside the Lord Jesus on a cross.

So I will not minimize or take that away.

That was an 11th hour conversion, was it not?

My point is that man did not strategically prepare for that

moment. And for those who do, I doubt

they. I doubt that it ever comes

through. But a humble heart always,

always can be forgiven and receive the grace of God.

Did you hear that? A humble heart who responds to

the Lord with conviction and humility will always be received

by Him, but only a hard heart would would try to strategize

for that, and therefore that hard heart would never be

softened in that moment anyway. So if your heart's soft, you're

safe. It's the ultimate protection.

Humility is the ultimate protection because you always

just throw yourself on the mercy of God, not on what anybody else

said, but on the grace of Jesus. And that that that grace of God.

When we respond by faith to it, the Lord loves it and the Father

will not allow Jesus sacrifice to be in vain.

So when you genuinely come to him with sincerity, you will

receive exactly what you need. So people have been sinning hard

their whole life. God will rescue them and appoint

them for work in his vineyard. So I say that also to be

encouraged about the loved ones that you're praying for.

And you're like, I haven't seen it yet.

I haven't seen it yet, I haven't seen it yet.

It's not too late If they're breathing breath on this earth,

it's not too late for them to come to Christ and God is not

unable to save them. God is not unable to

breakthrough. So continue to pray.

It wasn't too late for the thief on the cross.

No matter what hour of your life you're being saved in, you can.

God can still bring you in and give you that denarius, still

give you that eternal life. So there are rewards.

Keep going here In verse 8, when evening came, the owner of the

vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them

their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.

It's interesting that he did it that way.

Sounds like we got a lot of workers.

He lines them up here. He's all paying them.

Everybody, Napoleon Dynamite, anybody can't find my checkbook.

He Pats himself twice. So we use that, my family a lot.

When you owe somebody money, you go, can't find my checkbook and

then you're just somehow off the hook.

You don't have to pay them. This is where my mind went as I

read that. So I'm seeing like Napoleon

Dynamite. If you don't know what I'm

talking about, you're probably better off.

Look, you got me distracted. Talk about Napoleon Dynamite.

Where were we? Verse 8, call them and pay them

their wages beginning with the last up to the first.

So he puts them in an order where those who started at 6:00

AM are going to see everybody else get paid.

And they say denarius, denarius, denarius, denarius.

And they're going, oh, those dudes been here like an hour.

So we're about to make bank like this is going to be a good day.

And he gets to them and goes denarius, wait a second.

That's not, that's not what I was expecting.

That's not what I I saw coming. The early workers, they thought

they would receive more, so this was a misunderstanding created

in their own mind. There has been no injustice

here, Church. No injustice has taken place

because God is perfectly just. He will never be unjust in any

way whatsoever. He is perfectly just.

No injustice has taken place here.

Has the Master kept His word? The Master has kept his word.

Has the Master been generous? The Master has been generous.

And here's the point again, Grace.

You better be thankful that the Master doesn't give you what you

deserve. You better be thankful that the

Master does, though. Keep his word.

I don't want what I deserve because what I deserve is wrath.

Everything else that God has given me is grace.

So there are rewards, but the early workers, they think that

we should receive more. Keep going here.

Verse 9. And when those hired about the

11th hour came, each of them received a denarius.

Now, when those first hired came, they thought they would

receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the

house. So they think they're going to

receive more. He pays everybody the same

amount, the right amount. And now the guys who are hired,

first, they complain not because they were underpaid, but because

they were comparing themselves to somebody else.

No, no, you kept your word to me.

All that's fine. I'm just mad that you bless

them. It just made me mad.

I'm just jealous. I wish I had come in at the 11th

hour too, because they got to hang out in the market all day

and I was like, out here working for you.

I thought that's what you wanted.

I thought it's remember at 6:00 AM we said that was what we were

going to do. Like have I done?

Have I wronged you? No, but I'm just super mad and

jealous for them. Well, that's bad and that's the

point. That's the point that that man's

expectations are not the same thing as God's design and the

way God has built it. They're not mad because they're

underpaid. They're mad because they're

comparing. Comparison leads to entitlement,

which is exactly what these men felt.

I feel like I'm entitled to more.

Walk me through the logic of that.

What you're seeing is generosity, and you're

begrudging my generosity. Other translations say, why do

you have an evil eye towards me? Why are you being stingy?

Why are you worrying about that? Entitlement leads to grumbling

into complaining. So Jesus told the disciples

about rewards, but now they're being warned about keeping score

with others, which is something that the boys have fallen into

the trap of before, have they not?

Who's going to be the greatest in the Kingdom?

And he says, I'll show you a child, Children, if you'll be

childlike, they're going to that's who's going to be the

greatest in the Kingdom. They're like, wow, look at the

rich people, look at us. All the things that everybody

was always impressed with. Jesus always flips everything

upside down right side up rather and shows people this is the way

that things actually work. There are rewards for what

you've done, but ultimately it's all still grace.

The workers are not actually owed or sorry, the workers on a

job site are actually owed their wage.

So this is where even the parable doesn't always have a

perfect straight line connection.

Does that make sense? The parable is communicating an

idea. But This is why you can't always

extract A parable and go, can we draw straight lines all the way

through? Well, you get the idea.

That was the point. The parable taught the broader

idea. But you can get yourself tripped

up if you go wait a second. But they did work all day and

they do earn it. Well, yeah, in that context,

yes. But the idea here is that

everything is the grace of God. We are not owed anything, no

matter when we came into the vineyard.

Maybe somebody at your work, maybe somebody in the church has

a blessing that God has given them.

And you're OK with that as long as you get more blessing than

them. But this is the dangerous to

become a person who gripes and complaints and grumbles.

But do not compare. Look to the Master and look

nowhere else. He will keep His word to you.

And if you have to suffer for his name, then you can count

yourself worthy, just like the apostles did.

We're I'm thankful that we had to suffer for his name.

What a blessing that we get to join Christ in his sufferings.

If you have to deal with the heat of the day, the Lord loves

you, the Master sees you, He cares for you.

Be thankful to just be in his vineyard.

He will keep his word to you. And when whenever you're

thinking through this, you're probably seeing some parallels

to another parable, the prodigal son.

Remember again, it's not straight line connections, but

you can see the older brother. He's worked faithfully in the

father's house all these years. And the younger brother said,

hey, dad, you're not dead yet, but I wish you were.

Could you go ahead and give me my inheritance so I can go

squander it? And he goes and squanders in a

wild living all the things prostitutes.

And then he runs out of all of his money and he comes home.

Practice is practicing is I'm so sorry, speech.

I'll be a servant in your house. Speech.

And his father rejoices. He rejoices and throws a party.

Kill, kill the calf that will kill the cow that we've had for

years. The biggest one put a gold ring

on my son's hand. That's a signal of authority

back in this household. Put the sandals on his feet.

Put the best robe on him. He didn't even have time to get

out as I'm so sorry. I'll just be a servant around

here. He goes, you're elevated

immediately. What a glorious thing.

We always think that parable was told for the sinful younger

brother, and we go, what a comfort, what a blessing of

God's love for me. Well, that's true, but that

parable was actually told against someone.

The parable was told against the older brothers.

The parable was told against the Pharisees.

They're the ones who think we're so great, we're so awesome, and

Jesus goes, you guys make me sick because you don't have love

for the younger brother when he repents.

Because the older brother, while they're having the party in the

house, the older brother, he stays outside, He goes, I'm not

even coming inside. And the father comes outside, he

goes, why don't you come in? He goes.

No, my younger brother, he goes and squanders all this stuff.

And you never even give me so much as a goat to enjoy.

You know, I guess that's a big deal.

My kids have never complained. Like Dad, you never give us a

goat, but that was the thing for them.

Like we don't, we don't get good meat.

I don't, I don't get to have a party and celebrate with my

friends. You never did any of that for

me. And he says, son, everything I

have is yours and I've always had you.

But your brother was dead and now he's alive.

He was lost and now he's found. So we it's right that we

rejoice. Don't compare yourself to him,

son. I love you and that hasn't

changed. Don't begrudge my generosity to

him. Don't begrudge my care and my

grace for him. Rejoice, come and love your

brother. Come and celebrate.

But his heart wouldn't allow it. I've worked here in the heat of

the day. He went and had all the fun.

Did he though? Did he have all the fun?

Or was his soul vexed and grieved?

And now does he have a lot of things that are going to

continue to where the enemy will try to attack his conscience for

years to come? The Lord will shield him.

The Lord will protect him. But what a blessing that you

were working faithfully in the vineyard the whole time.

Be humble, be sweet, and rejoice when you see others respond to

the Lord's grace. If you don't see yourself

rejoicing, that's how you know that you don't love somebody.

Do you not want God's best for them?

Who is there anybody in your life that if they were to walk

in the doors of Salt Church and give their life to Jesus?

I put our church not because we're the only church, because

that's the one where you'd have to watch it.

That's the one where you'd have to see it.

And they come in here and they give their hearts to the Lord.

Does that not fill you with joy to hear that?

Or do you go? They shouldn't they?

You don't know their past, Pastor.

Well, that's true. And you don't know mine, and I

don't know all yours, but I know the Lord does.

And the Lord rejoices to give His grace.

That's kind of his whole thing. It's kind of his shtick.

He loves to give grace because it glorifies his name, because

there's no God like him, there's nobody like him, there's no God

who can give grace and still keep justice.

Told you this before. Islam can't do it.

God is merciful, they say it all the time.

What's the mechanism by which Allah can show mercy?

I was a false God demon by the way.

Just want to be clear. What mechanism does he use to

show mercy? He doesn't have one, he just

overlooks a giant problem. That's not a good judge.

That's not justice. It's not loving.

That's a giant error in their theology.

Christian theology is airtight. It is logically perfect because

man didn't build it. God did.

So God gives grace, God upholds justice, and we should be

thankful and excited when those you say I have, I have many

enemies. You have.

You love your enemies because you're a Christian.

We love our enemies. That means we want God's best

for them. I don't have to trust my

enemies. I don't have to go on vacation

with my enemies. There are many standards and

boundaries I might have with my enemies.

But one thing I always want for my enemies is I want their

repentance. I want God's best for them, and

I want reconciliation for them to the Lord and for me to them.

That would be awesome. That would be awesome.

And the humble heart wants that. So like I said earlier, when

Peter was called, he left his Nets.

He followed without calculations.

When Matthew was called, it seems as though he comes right

away without calculation. When the rich young ruler is

called, it's a business transaction for him and he walks

away from it. Jesus is worth it for some, but

for some Jesus is not worth it. They calculate, they judge, Nah,

that's their decision to make. But for others, we're just

thankful to have him forever. But we stay humble because we

know we don't deserve him either.

Now Jesus continues the parable and responds directly to the

grumbling worker. Verse 13.

He says, friend, the master of the house, talking to the work

of the vineyard. He goes, friend, have I wronged

you? Isn't that sweet and gracious?

They come complaining and he's gracious to him right away.

Friend, he, the Lord is so kind, perfectly just correcting those

who think they deserve more, whether it's because of their

efforts or it's because of their background or it's because of

their history. So this parable is primarily

about individual entitlement. It is 100% about the grace of

God. But it also has another

secondary application to the Jewish rulers who think they're

better off than that fisherman who's walking with Jesus and

that tax collector who's walking with Jesus.

The Pharisees, the religious ruling class.

We are so great. We are so awesome.

We have the best robes. Our beard is kept the the best

way. We do everything right.

We're so focused on the externals, but their entitlement

is always showing through. They always think that they're

going to have a better reward. Now, in fact, many unfortunately

never received any reward. They did not receive the

denarius of eternal life because they didn't put their faith in

Jesus. But this parable also brings to

light any assumptions people could make about their status

with God. And it's worth saying and

connecting these dots, especially today when last night

the United States bombed Iran in support of Israel.

It the point I want to make is that ethnic Israel doesn't have

a special covenant status apart from Christ.

Nobody has a covenant status outside of Jesus.

If anybody wants access to God, they're always going to have to

come through Jesus. Yes, God made real promises to

Abraham. And yes, Paul even asks in

Romans 3 or what advantage then after he's making the point that

like there's, there's really no point in being a Jew and he

goes, well, well, well, let me clarify.

He goes, what advantage is there in being a Jew?

He says, well, there's actually much in every way.

But the advantage that he then goes on to list is not automatic

salvation. The advantage is meant the

advantage that they had was that they got to carry God's word and

they carried God's promises for a time.

What a privilege, what a blessing.

That ain't nothing that's special.

But you know what? That's also not?

That's not some automatic salvation deal that runs

parallel with Jesus, but separate from Jesus.

So it's a blessing that the prophets came through you.

It's a blessing that you were the holders of the Scriptures

and the Lord chose you. So you really can't be puffed up

about that either. Friends, the Lord did it.

He picked Abraham. He selected him and said I'm

going to bless you. He told him he would and the

Lord did. So what advantage is there much

in every way? And then he clarifies, it's that

we had the the word of God and we revealed his promises.

For a time. They had front row seats to

God's plan. They were entrusted with the

oracles of God, the covenants, and the lineage of Christ.

That's the biggest blessing to all of our ethnic Jewish

friends. I'm an ethnic Jew.

Wow, what a blessing that you're connected to the Lord Jesus

Christ. That's your blessing.

The root of Jesse is Jesus. So the ethnic Jew who goes, I'm

an ethnic Jew and go, what a blessing to be connected to the

King of Kings through the lineage of Christ.

No, no, no, I don't. I actually think other things

about Jesus. I won't tell you what they

actually believe about Jesus because it's despicable and

heretical and horrific. But for those who put their

faith in Jesus, what a beautiful thing.

But Jesus is the only vine. Jesus is the root of Jesse and

if you want access to the Father, you're only coming

through the root of Jesse. And if you don't come through

them, if if you're a branch connected to this vine and

you're not and you're not receiving the life of the vine,

you will be broken off and others will be grafted in.

Your pastors quote New Testament to you church.

So the lineage of Christ is the greatest blessing.

But if they reject the fulfillment of those promises

and they reject Jesus himself, they have no saving covenant.

So those promises are fulfilled in Christ.

All the promises of the Old Testament are fulfilled in

Christ, the true vine that we have been grafted into the root

of Jesse, both ethnic Jews and Gentiles must believe in him or

they're cut off. Romans 11 says it plainly.

They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand fast

through faith. Oh, so as Gentiles we should

brag now, right? We got it good.

So man, he broke off some of the Jews.

You know what grafting in. So you wound the plant.

Christ was the plant that was wounded.

And then you take us from a different plant and we can be

grafted on and that thing would actually heal.

That's crazy. Actually.

Like I just that's just a fascinating thing that happens

in the in the plant world to me. I still can't get over it, but

that's the image. So some get broken off because

you go whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not trusting in Christ.

You're broken off of Christ. Well, I've always been in

Christ. Well, you didn't understand what

you were a part of, but you're always a part of the root of

Jesse. He ran from Genesis.

He runs through Revelation. He's the only life source.

He's the only salvation that there ever was and ever is.

He's the one who Moses and Abraham and all the prophets

we're looking towards. So he is the continuation.

God wasn't a Jew in the Old Testament and he gets saved and

become a Christian in the New Testament.

God is always God. He's the same God through and

through all the way. Pastor Jim, Uncle, you're making

me nervous. Did he choose the Jews or not?

He most definitely chose the Jews for the things I already

listed. They had a special covenant

place and they had special privileges for a time and

season, all which were pointing to Jesus, all which are

fulfilled in Jesus. So let me keep reading.

They were broken off who any Jew who didn't put faith in Christ.

That's it. Not every Jew.

Plenty of Jews have converted to Christianity and they've and

they've trusted in Christ. So they didn't they just, or

they were just able to continue like the 12 apostles of the

Lamb. They were just able to just

continue. This is the next step of the the

revelation of the Lord in our lives.

So we just walk that out and enjoy it.

They were broken off because of unbelief.

But you stand fast through faith.

So do not become proud, but fear.

So that's the encouragement to the Gentile when the Gentile

could think, Yeah, stick it to him, Lord.

And you shut up. You be quiet too.

It's like when when I'm correcting my kids, like one of

them is like, careful, I can come back this way too.

So in the same way Jews don't go where you've got it better than

the Gentiles that really got body slammed in the New

Testament. But in the same way he's

correcting Gentiles, you and I, I don't know, maybe you're

ethnic Jews, some of you, but if you are, you have to come

through Christ as well. But for the Gentiles ago, huh?

We've been brought in like nobody's puffed up.

Nobody. However, you came in if you came

in early in the day, if you came in late in the day, if you came

in the day, if you came in with Jewish heritage.

Paul said I'm I'm a super Jew. I'm the Jew among Jews and still

I count it all as loss and everything else compared to just

knowing Jesus. He is the reward.

He is the blessing. So we didn't earn our place in

the vineyard. We're all undeserving.

We're all saved by grace. Gentiles, we cannot boast over

Israel or anyone else. Say we're saved by grace.

Keep going. Verse 14, we're closing.

Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give this last

worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I

choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my

generosity? So the last will be 1st and the

1st last. This is a common message for us

to hear at this point as Gentiles, but for the Jews this

was shocking stuff. You know, the whole New

Testament, like as Jesus continued to level things off

where the Jews thought they had a a prominent guaranteed

position just because existing, just because I'm a Jew, Jesus

said God can raise up these stones and make them children of

Abraham. I can make these stones ethnic

Jews. Well, that's why Jesus gets the

credit for everything, because it's not about my bloodline was

the best. It's not about my Christian

pedigree was the best. It's simply I threw my feet.

I threw myself at the feet of Jesus and I said I need mercy

and I need grace. And apart from you, I can do

nothing. You are the vine.

I am the branch. All life, all fruit that flows

through me comes because I'm connected to the root of Jesse.

That's why he provides the life. Look at me.

I'm a great branch. I produce fruit.

Yeah. Let's cut you off and see what

happens. Can you produce fruit on your

own? Of course not.

Jesus always gets the credit. Jesus always gets the glory.

Jesus is always the hero. Nobody else.

Take what belongs to you and go. This is the whole.

This is the central sentence of the of the parable.

Am I not allowed to do what I want to do with others?

I kept my word to you. Can't I bless others as well?

The most practical application for you is probably not going to

be 1. As an ethnic Jew, the most

practical application for you today is probably going to be

you looking around at others with comparison, with jealousy,

with envy, with coveting, with grumbling.

Lord, why would you do that for them?

Lord? Why would you bless them that

way? The Lord loves you, the Lord

loves you, the Lord loves you. Well, then how come?

Well, there's many reasons that the world is broken, but it's

because of sin. Things don't go right, they're

going to go right. He's going to fix everything.

He's going to restore everything.

And there's a denarius that waits for you and I.

There is the eternal life in Christ that waits for you and I.

As we put our faith in Jesus, those who thought they were

first because of effort, history, bloodline may find

themselves last. And the last who come in humbly

by faith receive the full reward.

Just like the Pharisee who goes in to pray and the tax collector

who goes in to pray, the Pharisee walks into the temple.

God, I thank you that I'm awesome, Thank you that I tithe.

He just proceeds to brag to the Lord about how great he is.

And then he looks at this poor tax collector who came in to

pray and he goes and I thank you that I'm not like that guy.

That's it. God, just want to say thanks for

I guess. I guess I came to say you're

welcome, actually have a good day.

The tax collector stands afar off, beats his chest in grief

and humility and says, forgive me, God a Sinner.

Jesus said one of those men walked away justified, the other

did not. When one walks away

self-righteous, well I was awesome yesterday, I'm awesome

today. And the other said, oh God help

me, I'm a mess, I'm a wreck. I wonder if that tax collector

was Matthew. I wonder if that was a thing

that actually happened. Never had that thought tell me.

I was just sharing it out loud with you.

I wonder if Matthew prayed that and then the next day Jesus

invites him to fall on. That would be dope.

I don't know that that happened, but it would be cool.

So it's true for everyone, Jew or Gentile.

First hour, 11th hour, when the Master invites you into his

vineyard. If you don't accept, you have no

reward. This parable, this parable

specifically is only about Christians.

Jew or Gentile Christians, that's who it was for.

It's for workers in the Kingdom of God.

That's who it's about. So we made some secondary

applications here, but Christian, Jews or Gentiles, it

would still apply. Those who thought they were

first in the morning had wrong assumptions.

Those who seemed last in the evening got the same reward

because of the master's generosity.

Jesus calls you into his vineyard.

Whether it's the first hour or last hour of your life, your

last breath, the Master calls you.

Most importantly, he calls you right now.

I don't know what hour of this life here is, and frankly, you

don't either. We like to think of old age.

I'm. I'm planning on it, but we'll

see. He calls you now.

Don't walk away like the rich young ruler.

Don't grumble like the entitled workers.

Just come humbly by faith. He'll take you, He'll reward

you. He will keep his word to you.

If you refuse the invitation, there is no reward.

This parable is not about the world.

It's about the church. It's about the saved, the call.

Those who said yes to the master's call say yes today.

Enter the vineyard of the Lord. Joyfully receive the kindness of

the generous king. How do I enter into the

vineyard? There's only one way I said it

before. Through the name and through the

blood of Jesus. What do you mean exactly, John?

Michael, Here's what I mean exactly.

All have sinned. The Bible tells us we've all

sinned. We've all fallen short of the

glory of God. So you think your sin is special

and unique and particularly dark?

Well, sure, maybe it is God's. God's not amazed by it.

God's not afraid of it because God has a solution for it.

His solution is not to say I don't worry about that, as I

mocked Islam earlier and other religions do.

I don't worry about that. I'll just overlook it.

No, you can't just overlook it. Why?

Because God is so perfectly holy and good, infinitely good and

holy and perfect, that's who he is.

So he can't just go, don't worry about that.

No, he has to worry about that. The books are broken.

He has to reconcile them. Now we need a mechanism by which

they can be reconciled. Well, I sin, so I've got to

suffer the punishment. That's fair.

That is fair. That's the only fairway to

handle it. Except God, who is rich in

mercy, said I will become flesh, I'll become a human being, and I

won't do it with a cheat code. I'll actually do it.

I'll actually go experience temptation and trials in every

way that they feel. And yet I'll do it without sin.

This is why Jesus matters. This is why Jesus is required.

This is why Christian Christianity's logic is perfect.

Jesus comes, He lives the sinless life and then willingly.

Nobody forced it on him. Nobody killed him.

Jesus deliberately gave himself over to the Jews and to the

Romans who hated him, but it was all part of his plan.

The Bible says he's the Lamb of God who was slain before the

foundation of the world. That means it was always in the

heart of God. It was always in the plan of God

that Jesus would be the sacrifice.

So God said everybody's guilty, but if one innocent one could

suffer, then all the guilty could go free.

But again, the problem, nobody's innocent except for this one

born of a virgin. So he lives this sinless life.

And now here you and I are, me, you, filth, shame, sin,

rebellion. We should be crushed and made

lo, and here's King Jesus. He should be worshipped, adored,

and he should be elevated. But instead, God crushes his Son

on the cross, and through a substitution of God's grace and

our faith, Jesus is brought low and we can be saved and

elevated. That is the substitution of the

gospel. That is the crazy good news.

You've got to be kidding me. Why would he do it?

Message of the cross. For God so loved the world that

he gave his only Son so that whoever would believe in him

would not perish, but would have everlasting life.

Those who don't believe the scripture says are condemned

already. My birth status was condemned.

I'm pre condemned because I'm a son of Adam and because I sin

all the time. I need grace.

Forgive me God a Sinner, help me and cover me in the blood of

Christ. And God through this miracle

actually makes you a new person. I don't mean like slowly, I mean

instantly God does a miracle in your spirit and you become a new

creation, new desires, new expectations, new pursuits.

And then we walk it out day by day, saved, rescued workers in

the vineyard, sons in the house. We still have the capability to

sin, unfortunately at that point, but the difference will

be we live a life of repentance and we are in fellowship with

the Father who loves us. This is the good news.

This is what He invites you into.

I just told you the first part. The rest of it is then we go to

work. Then we go around telling

everybody, you're not going to believe what God did for me and

he wants to do it for you because he loves you.

And it's awesome news. That's the invitation that Jesus

offers to everybody. Come, come work in my vineyard.

I want to love you. I want to save you, I want to

provide for you. I want to bless you, and I want

you to join me in the labor. Heavenly Father, I pray for

these precious people. God, I ask that you would save,

that you would save and deliver completely and fully the humble

heart who wants you, the humble heart who is drawn near and has

been warmed by the fire. God, I pray that they would come

fully in and be baptized in fire.

I pray they would come fully in and experience all of your

goodness and all of your blessing, all of the salvation

that comes by being loved by Jesus and loving Him back,

confessing our sins and receiving your grace.

I'm just pausing for a moment. You don't have to feel strange.

Just keep your head bowed. Attitude of prayer.

I know the Lord is drawing on hearts and I know He wants to

save you. You can respond to Him right

where you are. I want to pray for you, but I

can't pray for you. I can't pray instead of you.

Call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved.

God, His hearts are being ministered to by by you right

now. I thank you for salvation.

I thank you for the gift. I thank you for the glory.

I thank you for the reward. I plead the blood of Jesus over

these people. Send them out, not with guilt,

not with shame. Don't let them go away

sorrowful. Let them walk away rejoicing

like a calf loose from the stall, enjoying the freedom, the

blessing of salvation, a conscience that's been sprinkled

clean, knowing that they're loved by their heavenly Father.

Thank you for it all in Jesus name.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.