I invite you to turn in your Bibles that are in front of you this morning to the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19. We're going to pick up reading at verse 13. Focus will be on the parable as we've been doing for the last few weeks, parables, and this parable illustrates so beautifully what's before us this morning. Matthew chapter 19 1047 in your your bibles in front of you and we'll pick up at verse 13 this is the word of the Lord then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray the disciples rebuked the people but Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for such to such belongs the kingdom of heaven and he laid his hands on them and went away 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 if you would enter life keep the commandments he said to him which ones jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you should 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 what do i still lack jesus said to him 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 and jesus said to his 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 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, 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 also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my namesake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life but many who are first will be last and the last first for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labors for his vineyard after agreeing with the labors 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 said to them you go into the vineyard too and whatever is right i will give you so they went going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour he did the same and about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing and he said to them why do you stand here idle all day they said to him because no one's hired us he said to them you go into the vineyard too when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman call the labors and pay them their wages beginning with the last up to the first and when those hired about the eleventh 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 worked only one hour and you've made them equal to us who borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat but he replied to one of them friend i'm doing you no wrong did you not agree with me for our denarius take what belongs to you and go i choose to give to 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 first and the first last there is the reading of god's word i um wonder how easily we forget how gracious god has really been to us and loving he has been to us i say this today knowing my own heart how easy it is to turn away from how easy it is to turn away from the grace of christ to the idea or the notion that somehow i'm deserving of this somehow some way this failure to uh to recognize grace and to understand grace and turn from the grace message was something that stunned the apostle it it really did it stunned him that an entire church could do it i marvel he said to the galatian church that you are turning away from him who called you into the grace of christ to a different gospel are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you now being made perfect by the flesh are your works now determining this is that is that what you've come to is that is that what you've moved back to thinking i often hear you know we say so much we're saved by grace saved by grace but i i know it's hard to understand it hold on to it appreciate it we might be shocked about the church in Galatia for getting this. We might be surprised that an entire church could, but here we have an example right in front of us of the apostle or disciple at this point, Peter not understanding this and fighting against this. A faithful son of Israel, a circumcised son of Israel. Jesus had been teaching this all along. This whole section here is immersed with a teaching on the grace of god and in chapter um 16 you'll remember that peter had come to jesus jesus had come to them and said who do men say that i the son of man am and um they answer jesus asked but who do you say i am and peter voices up you are the christ the son of the living god and jesus immediately immediately doesn't congratulate him him for figuring that out jesus immediately says to him do you realize how blessed you are to be able to say that blessed are you simon son of jonah flesh and blood did not reveal that to you you didn't figure this out none of it my father in heaven gave it to you gift your confession your profession gift all gift you didn't arrive at this on your own your understanding didn't achieve it uh it is graciously given to you by the father as a free gift now now so soon after that jesus uh calls the children to him and and peter then again and the disciples fight that no that's not for them jesus that's not for henry mark and jesus says what do you mean don't hinder them from coming for of such belongs the kingdom of God. You have to enter this as you saw this child enter. What does that mean? You have to enter salvation, enter the kingdom, enter Jesus in the very same way you saw Henry Mark. The message that is given there that baptism teaches was carried, he was brought. Well, then this rich young man comes up. And he comes to Jesus, and he doesn't even ask for salvation. He's so arrogant. He comes up to Jesus and says, what do I need to do? What good work do I need to do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, you want to talk that way? Then here's the law. Here's the ten words. And I'll hit you with the hardest of them. What do I need to do? And Jesus addressed him right where he needed to be addressed. covetousness, idolatry. He loved his possessions. Sell them. If you sell everything, then you'll enter and inherit eternal life. Jesus knew there was no possible way that this guy would do that or could do that. And the illustration in front of you of the truth is this guy walked right out of the kingdom. Couldn't do it. And Peter comes up to Jesus and says to the disciples, well, if this guy can't enter, who's good, he's a teacher, he's rich, he's influential, he's everything society desires, if he doesn't make it into the kingdom, who can be saved? And Jesus says something again to illustrate and demonstrate the truth of what this is all going to show in a minute. And he said, with man, it's impossible. Are you getting the message yet? It is absolutely impossible for you to enter the kingdom on your own, but not with God. With God, all things are possible. Now, I want you to look down then at verse 27, which is really the shocking moment here. After Jesus says that, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. What does Peter say? Then Peter said in reply, see, well, we've left everything and followed you. What do we get? What do we get? It's an amazing moment in the Gospels for a guy just walked away who couldn't cut it. He couldn't keep the standard. Peter says, we did. We kept the standard, Lord. We haven't, we've left all. we sold everything fishing business is gone here we are what do we get this guy walked away couldn't cut it we're here we've left families for you we know you had no place to lay your head we we have put our hands on the plow we've not looked back we we didn't stop to bury our fathers we we made no excuses here we are what do we get now do you do you see the turn in the thinking how could you turn so quickly from the grace of christ to a gospel that says i am made perfect i enter by what i do i think that's a a huge danger uh much more than you realize goes on in your own lives that you've heard grace and you've heard it again and again and yet you can sit here and think that my life has been generally moral. My decisions have generally been good. I have been a hardworking person. I have counted the cost in the kingdom. Yeah, I understand grace but this is the truth of what I have done and what I've become. I have followed Jesus. I've always been at church. Hey, listen, I even come back to the second service. I confess Him. My doctrine is right. I'm Reformed. And we turn from the grace of Christ. How subtle it all is. Not before God, but before us. Now Jesus has many Pharisees in the making right now, doesn't He? They are going to be the best Pharisees if He doesn't stop this right now. They're going to be good Pharisees. We're all recovering Pharisees, you know that. But then we're brought out of that, and then we work to go back. That's our lives. That's what we do. And when we do something that is right, our attitude should never be that we deserve to be recognized, that we deserve to enter the kingdom, that we deserve to get ahead of everyone else, but rather that we're unprofitable to begin with. We're given the kingdom, as Henry was given the kingdom. I love his name, by the way. Darcy and I call it, we just love that name, Henry. We don't hear it anymore. Henry. The moment we lose sight of the free, sovereign grace of Christ, we turn to a different gospel. Now our text, Jesus doesn't shy away from this question. This is why I love the text. Jesus is always surprising. Jesus always keeps you on the heels. Jesus always has you ready to hear what he's about to say. And he answers it. He says in verse 28 something shocking. It seems to undermine what I just said. Jesus said to him, 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 also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and everyone who has 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. You're right, Peter. You're going to get great rewards in heaven. You are going to get great rewards in heaven. And I'm sure Peter's standing there saying, see, I told you, I told you. And then Jesus drops a bomb. Verse 30, but many who are first will be last, and the last first. Huh? What does that mean? I'm not going to answer that initially, but hopefully by the time I'm done, you'll have a clear answer to that. Jesus then answers that, what that means by a parable. Listen to it. 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 said to them, you also go into the vineyard too, whatever's right I'll give you. Jesus portrays this good man, this landowner, house master, who went out early in the morning to bring people in to be workers for him. It's a straightforward parable again. This one is not so hard to understand. The landowner here is clearly Jesus. He is building his kingdom. The vineyard is where the workers go. The vineyard represents in some ways the church, the body of Christ, that the Lord has filled his kingdom with workers. He's filled his body with people who are in the kingdom and working and visibly working in the kingdom. And Jesus is here pictured as tending this great vineyard. But he's concerned about something. He's concerned about the labors in the vineyard. It's interesting in verse 2 that we have stated that the landowner here, you'll notice, agreed with them for a denarius a day and then sent him you you don't find this with the others there was no price negotiated you're making a point with this they agreed to the denarius denarius of course in that day was a a day's wage for the average laborer and the thing that strikes us here is sort of the cold contractual nature of the agreement here's here's what i agree to here's the money do you agree to it go pay us and we'll be there i often think about what kind of person does that produce in any sort of given situation you all know that just take a sports team players play well for the coach they like for the coach they love you get an aggressive coach a mean coach a bobby knight they're scared to death right pay us what is this landowner like is the question that we were thinking about here they get the agreement they don't seem to think much about this guy they're just about the money and it's really striking did they always view working in the kingdom that way that that's sort of the question and we know what jesus is doing here looking at the jews and thinking of their mentality did they always view the kingdom and being in it that way did they think that because they were there and had done so much that this is how the master should treat them is it really a job-like relationship it's striking at peter isn't it notice he answered one of them jesus teaching is confronting peter there are many labors in the kingdom who approach god thinking this way that this is what god owes them i've been a good servant in the vineyard and and people we portray that people from the outside look and think well there's all the good people right they're the they're the people that are really righteous how did you enter in the first place that's my question this morning how did you enter in the first place on the basis of grace or works and and is there a presumption in this what sort of person would he be speaking of here well i think i think you can look at peter he had walked with christ from the beginning like him he was circumcised into all of this he didn't ask for that he didn't ask to be circumcised but but some parents carried peter to get circumcised mom and dad were in it he sat in the synagogue for years with mom and dad dad probably had to do this wake up jesus is addressing this issue is the relationship one of a master servant or when Jesus said, no longer do I call you servants, slaves, but friends. They were unwilling to view the kingdom, the master, the relationship this way. There was no appreciation for the landowner, no real desire to be in that vineyard. It was just about the money. It was just about what I get. Jesus was constantly addressing them. And what is presented here is that there was, this is the great issue of the parables that they're constantly showing us. There was no appreciation for the landowner. That he had included them in the vineyard. He had brought them in. So they got to negotiate the wage. They got to negotiate the wage, but not the rest. Now when it comes to verses three through seven, you have the opposite thing portrayed. The landowner himself wants to add to the vineyard and so he goes out about the third hour and he sees some standing out there, right? You ever been over to Home Depot at about three o'clock? You see workers out there wanting to be picked up. Happened in Phoenix all the time. He's standing out there hoping someone would come and pick him up. So he sees him standing out in the marketplace. He says, listen, I'll hire you. Come, let's go. But there's no negotiation that way. You go in the vineyard, and whatever's right, I'll give you. So they went. They didn't ask. What are you going to pay? I'll want to be there. I'll go. He went out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour. And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing there. Why have you been standing here idle all day? They said to him, no one hired us. He said to them, then you go into the vineyard. Whatever's right, I'll give you. The first thing that stands out here is the emphasis on hours, doesn't it? It's so fascinating. He went out at 9, right? 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, according to our time, and 5 o'clock. No bargaining. So they went. Can you believe he hired someone at 5? The day ends at 6. To become a laborer in Christ's vineyard is a gift. To have a seat in the kingdom. to serve in his house, to labor in the vineyard. What I want you to see here is it really wasn't so much about what he could get out of them. It's the character of the landowner. He was concerned that they're standing out there outside the vineyard. He's not getting much out of workers at five, is he? They're idle. This is the character of the landowner. And they're joyful to be in that place. Picked up at five. Do you think these last two are negotiating wages? We're just thankful to be here. Every week Jesus comes with a voice in his gospel and he says, come to me. Come to me. All you who are weary and heavy laden, enter, enter my rest. Enter the kingdom. Let the children come. Bring them. Carry them. And all of this to say that there are many who lose sight of this, including me, that any place in Christ's kingdom is all of grace. It's not deserving. What a privilege to be here. And the beauty is that God has gone out and got the labors and grabbed them and brought them in. He drove up in the pickup truck, if you will, respectfully. Picked them up. The privilege we have to be in the kingdom. How awful is the mentality of, what do I get? Oh, there's great rewards. But don't forget this. Jesus, in the parables, invited all these people, remember, and the other parable we considered who made all the excuses and when supper time came, they didn't show up. That's the first kind of person. And then he went out and he says, you go get the poor, the maimed, the blind, people who can't get here on their own, you go get them and bring them. It's all over. They'll be happy to be in my vineyard. How thankful are you to have a place in the vineyard? How thankful are you for grace? promise after promise Jesus gives you that was just done right now. What sort of person are we? Packer was right when he spoke of the ignorance of how grace is understood in our day. And he said, Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am, but many church people are not like this. They may pay lip service to the idea of grace, but there they stop. The thought means nothing to them. It doesn't touch their experience at all. So Jesus leaves us with this thought. Think about what's pictured. Imagine you're a landowner and you go out at five o'clock, workday ends at six, and you're thinking, I'm not getting much out of him, but I don't want him idle. Who would hire for only one hour of work? This is how good and gracious the landowner is. That he cared more for the fact that the servant stood outside the vineyard. Josh, I'm going to invite you forward. I'm going to have you kneel. Do you believe with all your heart the gospel? And believe you ought to be baptized and brought into the body of Christ? Believing and being baptized this gospel? Do you believe, Josh? Joshua, I baptize you in the name of the Father. and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. You see the picture yet? Henry was brought in by grace today, carried up here. I believe in infant baptism with all my heart because it declares what you're witnessing right now. Henry had to be carried. Josh had to be carried. All of you were carried into the vineyard. It's all grace. Always has been, always will be. Henry couldn't talk. Henry couldn't walk. Henry couldn't think. Jesus was concerned that Henry was outside the vineyard. And Jesus is concerned that Josh was outside the vineyard. And he brought them both in today. Well, what do you think can be forgotten over time being in the vineyard that you all were carried? I'm so grateful to be able to baptize you today. It's overwhelming. But I'm going to close on this note. When evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his servant, call the laborers and give them their wages beginning with the last to the first. Now when he hired the servants later, You'll notice this. The landowner said, I will give you whatever is right. Look at verse 9. And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them received a denarius. And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house. These last worked only one hour and you've made them equal to us. We have borne the burden of the heat of the day and scorching heat. Friends, I'm doing you no wrong, am I? Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Why? It's all grace. or 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 first, and the first last. What does that mean? That doesn't mean that Henry will be last. What it means is, the first, those who think that by their position, by their wealth, by their prestige, by their talents, by all that they've done in the kingdom all their life, their great minds, everything that we would regard as the greatest in the kingdom. If you think that's getting you anything, you got it all wrong, they find themselves last. But the nobodies, they'll be first. because they know they've been carried the whole way. When the widow put in her two mites and nobody saw it except Jesus, that's the one who's first. When we come to see that every bit of our salvation falls upon the Lord's river of grace to us, one could never ask the question, I've been doing all this, what do I get? No, the response should be, thank you for coming and getting me at the first hour and the 11th hour which is both exhibited to you today and giving me a place in your kingdom is there any text that reveals to you more beautifully the incredible love and grace of God in Christ Jesus that he came to die to make this so to tell you today it's all of grace praise him and thank Him for so graciously bringing you into His vineyard. Heavenly Father, we're overwhelmed by grace right now. We know that tomorrow we could forget this. Thank You for showing us and teaching us today this truth. Thank You for Josh. Thank You for Henry. Parents carrying him and you carrying Josh. One at the first hour and the other at the 11th. Three o'clock. It's all the same truth. And You have brought us graciously into Your fold and given us salvation. And we today ask for forgiveness that we have not thought very highly of You for doing so great a work and not thought very highly of Your Son who brought us into this kingdom. Today we repent of that and thank You. for what you've shown and exhibited, that all praise and glory would go to you in our salvation and no boasting on our part. Make us a humble people where we know in due time you will lift us up for indeed the last shall be first. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.