We turn in our Bibles tonight to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 20, the first few sermons with you, I will probably be emphasizing some of the things that will be predominant foundational emphases throughout the course of the ministry here, what is, as we look tonight at grace, that is so foundational to everything, so it's a good place to start, isn't it grace and I would like to consider with you tonight Matthew beginning at chapter 19 and to set the context here I'm going to back up to verse 16 and we will read through verse 16 of chapter 20 and this is the well-known parable of the labors in the vineyard so let's give our attention tonight to the word of the Lord. 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 eternal life, keep the commandment. He said to him, which ones? 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 have kept. What do I still lack? 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. 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 is 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. And now our text. 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 name's sake 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 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 to them, he said, 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 has hired us. He said to them, you also go into the vineyard. And 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. And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 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 have made them equal to us who have 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 a 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. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. As we embark together tonight in a new chapter, together in opening the Word of God together, I thought it fit. There's no place really better to begin than to unfold and to consider with you the message of grace. The message of grace. I say that today because at least speaking from my own heart, knowing how easy it is in my own life to turn away from the grace of the Lord to this idea that I am somewhat deserving of what I have been given or that I have accomplished quite a bit already in my short life. It's easy to do. I've done it. I'm good at it. I'm real good at it. This failure to recognize grace, to understand grace and turn from the grace message was something that stunned the Apostle Paul that it could happen so soon in a church of Jesus Christ. You know this account. You know about the church in Galatia. I marvel, he said, that you are turning, turning so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Galatians. Foolish Galatians. Are you so foolish having begun, he says, in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? That's an amazing account. They had turned so quickly to the idea that they had done this. That they had accomplished it by their own works. Now we think tonight, I'm sure it's a common thought here, listen, we get the grace message. We get it. And I follow up and I say, do you? Do you really get it? How much do you really get it? To what extent do you get it? How well do you think you understand it? Good, fair questions, right? Tonight we have an amazing account because we might be somewhat shocked to hear about the church in Galatia turning from this, but it should be even more shocking to think that somebody walking with Jesus, hearing all of His teachings, listening carefully, sitting at His feet, would also get this wrong along the course of the way. You know the context. Who can forget this young man who had come to our Lord? Rich young man, well-known young man. He was a ruler. He had come to Christ in front of the disciples. They're all standing there. He had even run. He had been respectful. He had run. He had bowed the knee. And he had addressed our Lord in a really remarkable manner, hadn't he? Good teacher. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Two verbs. Tell me. You tell me what I need to do and I'll do it. And Christ does some very stunning things here. Nothing like the evangelistic methods of our day. He throws the law at him. And he throws it hard. Throws the law. And by the time this whole thing was done, the young man walked away. And not only did he just walk away, he walked away rather broken hearted. He was sad. This is nothing that we would do today. We would say, listen, we're fishers of men. Go get them. There he walks. There he walks. The disciples are troubled. They're processing this. They're not understanding what Jesus is doing. Letting this really respectful, in their eyes, somebody who was this wealthy and blessed was blessed by God. How could you let him get away thinking he's not one that has achieved great things for God. And if he can't, who can? And so they begin to question, if this guy cannot be saved, who can be saved? Who can be saved? And Jesus gives this beautiful statement of grace in the middle of all of this law. With men it is impossible. But not with God. With God, all things are possible. And so we're left hanging here. We're wondering, how is that going to unfold? And what does he mean by that? And how is this really possible then? So here is Peter, and he has just been told that his salvation is something that he can't achieve. He sees that, but then he's trying to process the whole thing. He sees this man walk away, and he starts looking at his own life. And what is the first thing that he says? Acting as a representative for all of them, he comes up with a question. I trust it was a sincere question. It was a foolish question, but it was a sincere question. This is Peter. And he says in verse 27, Then Peter answered and said to him, See, we have left all and followed you. Therefore, what do we get? And that's a pretty fair way to translate that. What is in it for us? Striking, isn't it? It's a bold question. I'm engaged. I can't believe he asked it. Can I? This guy just walked away from you. He couldn't endure the heat. He couldn't cut it. He was not willing to sell all and follow you. He was not willing to give up his riches. Look at us. We've left all. We've left our families. I left a very profitable fishing business. I didn't stop to bury my father. I didn't do everything. I've done everything you've said. We have left all and we have followed you unlike this guy. Therefore, what do we get in it? What's in it for us, Jesus? And I pause listening to that tonight and I think, well, here we go. Here is just the danger that fills our hearts. We've heard grace. We say we get it. And I can sit here tonight and I can think that my good decisions in life, my moral decisions, my relatively good pattern of living, that I have counted the cost. Hey, you know, your pastor standing up here is a pastor. He left Mayberry. That's Lyndon. He really counted the cost. I hope no one from Lyndon listens to this. I've always been in the church. I'm reformed. And we turn. We would never say we've turned, but you just did. What a moment. I mean, what a remarkable moment to teach. What a remarkable moment of exposure. And Jesus knew that sitting here in 2012, you would need this just as much. You see, I've always believed that the sincerity of our Christianity, the sincerity of our Christianity is driven by an understanding of the depths of sovereign grace. I mean that. Sincerity. Everyone's looking for sincerity. The depths of understanding how far I've been pulled off the path of misery. Just the extent that the Lord had to go to to rescue me. And where I really was headed. And if there was anything that Jesus was concerned about in the course of His ministry, if there was anything that Jesus was drastically dealing with in the life of His own and in the kingdom, it was, and you know this, it was the attitude of superiority. I get the best seed in the house. And he was attacking me. Now Jesus had in front of him some mini Pharisees in the making. You know, we're all recovering Pharisees. We're all good at it. We've walked with Jesus. We know His ways. Been there from the beginning. Served a lot. And unlike those guys out there, I'm here. I came to evening worship tonight at the prompting. Jesus addressed this also saying that when we do something, what should be the right attitude? We're unprofitable servants to begin with, aren't we? That was something He was constantly saying. The moment we lose sight of free grace, we've turned. And I believe there's nothing that kills a church quicker than that, by the way. putting it in a corporate context now in our discussion tonight in our text tonight jesus does not shy away from peter's question he's going to he's going to address this and he's going to be marvelously effective with it in the way that he deals with peter and initially the answer is shocking isn't it jesus says in verse 28 i love this i love reading about this in the regeneration in the new world when the son of man comes and he sits on his throne and all of his glory you who have followed me, all of you who followed Jesus are going to get to sit, right? On twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. A lot of discussion about that. It's not the point of my sermon tonight. Then he says this, And everyone who has left houses and brothers and sisters and father and mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life. Wow. It's just beautiful, isn't it? It's just a beautiful statement. There are rewards coming. There are marvelous rewards coming. You're going to be rewarded in the kingdom. But then Jesus crushes the Phariseeism, the problem, the self-righteousness. Peter, do you think though, Because you've done so much in my vineyard already. You followed me from the beginning. You have given yourself to be a part of all of this. That you're deserving of greater rewards. I've got something to say to you. I'm going to tell you a story. A parable. And Jesus now tells a parable about the reality of serving in his kingdom. And really highlighting for us tonight what the attitude, and I emphasize that, I mean attitude. What should be the attitude of being in the vineyard, being in the kingdom, being in the house, being a part of the glorious body of Christ? What should it be? And you can't help but then stop and ask, well, as I get there and I unfold this, what is my attitude? The key to understanding the parable tonight is to see that in the text it is bracketed by the same statement. It begins it and it ends it. And what is that statement? Verse 30. Look at verse 30. But many who are first will be last and the last first. And then, of course, right after he tells the parable, he hits it again, doesn't he? Verse 16. So, the last will be first and the first will be last. What does that mean? Boys and girls, have you always wondered what that meant? I used to think as a kid, I used to wonder about that. I used to be really confused about that. I never understood these little, short, terse sayings of our Lord. And I would ponder them, and it sounded at times so confusing and almost mean. It sounded like, to me as a kid, when I heard that statement, that it would just be better to come in a lot later. that maybe it would just be better in this whole thing to be like the thief on the cross. Maybe that's what Jesus is saying here. You won't understand this tonight by seeing what our Lord was reacting to. Jesus was reacting to self-righteousness. He had seen it on one hand with the rich young ruler, and then He saw it on the other hand in a subtle way, in a dangerous way, in those who were following Him. To think that we deserve something for laboring in the kingdom. To think that a kind of self-righteousness of even despising God's mercy towards those who don't appear to deserve it as much. Jesus just said a few chapters later a few things. We'll come back to that. Again, another sharp statement about even he who has will be taken from him. and other things that emphasize this last-first kind of emphasis. It's as if Jesus is saying to Peter, Peter, if you think because you're doing great things in my kingdom and you're banking on that, on that kind of service for me, you will find yourself to be last. But those who are humble, those who are insignificant, those who are the little people, Those who are the insignificant people. Those who labor out of a real thankful heart just to be in my venue. They're going to be exalted. I've always been amazed that those who are highlighted on the last day, all by grace, receive. Do you know what's interesting? In Matthew 25, when Jesus was talking about this, do you know what He highlights? He highlights those little people who gave a cup of cold water in his name. He didn't have to do that. He didn't highlight the pastors. He didn't highlight the great theologians. He highlighted that because it illustrates the very truth of the whole Gospel. It goes hand in hand with what he would say that he who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So this is the scene. What if, Peter, this rich young ruler comes back? All of you have maybe children you wonder about who've wandered from the faith. Maybe some of you do. And you wonder. And you grieve. And you have loved ones who've wondered. What if? What if they come back? What if this rich young ruler comes back at the last moment and he comes to me? Do you think you've done more? It's a shocking message. And so Jesus now tells this parable we could put in front of it as a warning to those who trust in themselves as righteous. Verse 1. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Jesus describes a landowner, literally a house master. He's the owner of the house, one who went out early and he's looking to hire for his vineyard. He wants workers. We'll talk about the need. It doesn't need. He wants. And it's interesting in verse 2 that we have stated that the landowner agreed with the laborers for a denarius for a day and he sent them into his vineyard. Now, you're not going to find this with the others. The remarkable thing about this is these first people who entered into the vineyard, it was a contract. It was cold. It was contractual. They had to agree. They wanted to be paid. A denarius, of course, was a day's wage in that time. And so this was important. This is how you lived. It was a fair wage, wasn't it? And so you don't find this. This bargain takes place. But the thing that really strikes me as I initially read this is just the coldness of the whole thing. It's a cold contract, isn't it? You get the idea that this is just business. The only thing that's said about them is that they both had to come to an agreement about what the wages would be and then upon that agreement, they're ready to work. They'll go to work. Pay us what we're worth. Now this is not so hard to figure out tonight. It's actually very simple. The landowner is the Lord. and Christ is building His kingdom. And the vineyard represents the church. It represents the body of Christ. It represents His people, a place that He's given you, the church to serve and to be a part of His kingdom and to share in those blessings. And the Lord has filled His vineyard. He's filled His vineyard and He's given all of you peculiar gifts and He's filled it with Sunday school teachers and organists and pastors and people who do the cup of cold waters, the little things. And all this is going on. And he's very concerned. He's very concerned about the attitude of the laborers in his vineyard. Because what we have up front is that we have a whole bunch of people in the vineyard for the wrong reason. Now I wonder how prevalent this is. I don't want to think about that too much. But it's striking at Peter for a moment, isn't it? You'll see that here in a minute. And notice how Jesus' teaching is confronting the mentality of Peter. It's an important thing that Jesus is doing. There are many people in the vineyard that they're very comfortable with themselves. They're happy with themselves. They're happy with their works in the vineyard. And this first sort of person that has entered the vineyard has not considered not only his need to be in the vineyard, but his need for the landowner. They've not been touched by grace. Do they really get the Gospel? Do they really understand the Gospel? Really? And they believe that working in the vineyard is theirs by right. They've done a requisite amount enough to be there. And by doing this, Jesus is really going after and tearing down this mentality that's so prevalent in all of us, isn't it? That we are good at this. And notice what he focuses on here. You know, leaving the fishing business of Peter. Doing all of these things. Being so involved in the kingdom and doing so much. Why am I in the vineyard? Why are you in the vineyard? Why are we here? Why do we serve? Why are we a part of this? All these sort of questions come out. And the reality here, the reality that we should all confess out of this is not to say, well, there aren't these kind of people and there are these kind of people. It's to say that we are these kind of people. That often as I approach the Lord in worship, I am cold and I am heartless and there is no excitement like there should be. And that's me. That's your pastor that struggles with that. And that often I come into the Lord's house and I have completely lost sight of the fact that it is a great privilege to be a part of the body of Christ, to be here, to encourage, to serve, and to hear the words of life as we heard this morning. And that often in me and in you is the very problem that Jesus talked about, that we are really good at drawing near to God with the lips. but the heart is still out in the parking lot. And Jesus is concerned about it. Jesus is addressing it. And so, in verses 3-7, the direct opposite thing is portrayed. The landowner himself seeks to add to his vineyard. I'm going to go and I'm going to get workers for my vineyard. I don't need them, but I'm going to go do this. I'm going to go get them. And so he goes out and notice what it says. At the third hour, he sees some standing in the marketplace and we read of him saying, you also go into the vineyard and whatever is right, I will give you. And so they went. And again, about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, and he did likewise. And about the eleventh hour, he went out and notice this emphasis here. He found others standing idle. They're doing absolutely nothing with their lives. And he says to them, he says, what are you doing? Why are you guys standing out here? Come into my vineyard. Come. Come be a part of my vineyard. And notice the language now. Think of the first ones. And now notice the language. Whatever's right, I will give you. We're getting to the issue of fairness, aren't we? I wonder what Peter was thinking at this moment. Jesus is talking about all these hours. And according to our time clock, how many businessmen do we have here? According to our time clock, the owner went out at 9, 12, 3, and 5, and the work day ends at 6. And what we find in these last ones is there's no bargaining going on. There's no, hey, what do we get for working in the vineyard? What are you going to pay us? We want to know. No, you don't get that. It's not there. Just a simple statement. Whatever's right, I'll give you. And you read, so they went. We understand you don't have to do this. We'll be dependent on whatever you want to give us. Now do you see it? That is grace. Sovereignly given. And Jesus is now beginning to drive home the point that to become a laborer in Christ's vineyard is the greatest gift you could be given. To have a seat in His kingdom. To serve in His house. To come and feed in the means of grace. To come to the living waters. To drink from that well. And the beautiful thing about the parable is it was never dependent at all upon what the landowner could get out of the workers. That's the whole point of the parable. The point of the parable is the landowner went out seeking and he found workers for him. They were idle. It was the fact that the landowner had approached them and there was real joy to come into his vineyard. In the Central Valley, in the town that I grew up in, in the little town of Leemore, there was a guy by the name of Rodney Lee in town. And I'll never forget Rodney. He had some kind of bad disease and he walked lopsided and he was losing his hair and he smelled. And he's just the kind of person you never forget. See him all around town, walking around town. One day I went to the supermarket and there was Rodney Lee bagging groceries. And I'll never forget when I saw Rodney Lee working at Lincoln Market as a kid. I was stunned by that. Lee was bagging groceries and I thought it stuck with me because I thought he can barely do it. He can barely lift his arms to put stuff into the bag. And I was concerned. I mean, the natural response is, do I really want this guy bagging my groceries? And when I read of this parable, you see, I think of Rodney Lee. Because the average person coming to look for a job at Lincoln Market, what's the first thing they would have said? What are you paying? And if I don't like that, I'm out. The wages have to be worthwhile my time. What I'm going to get out of it has to be worth my time. What I'm going to get has to be worth my time. That's the mentality, isn't it? And a lot of people at Lincoln Market were miserable, grumbling people. But then there was Rodney Lee. Lee wasn't, Rodney was not one of those and he could barely use his body to work and I'm thinking of the conversation that happened with the owner of that store. Rodney, do you want to work? You think Rodney said, how much am I going to get paid? Rodney would have said, are you sure? You want me in your store? I'm a mess. I'm a mess. And the owner would say, yes, Rodney. because I want to give you a place in my store. You know what Lee would do, Rodney? He would take his groceries. It was all known around town. He would take his groceries and he would give them away for you. He would labor, take the money, purchase groceries and give them away. I can't help but think about that. That every week our Lord is so gracious. This is your land owner. He comes to his vineyard. He comes to the preaching. You know what he says to you? He says, come into my vineyard. And we announce that as preachers. We say, come into the vineyard. The Lord's hands are saying, come, you're idle. Come into the vineyard. Be a part of my vineyard. And many are coming every day. And all of this to say that there are some who've done a lot in the vineyard. They've been in the vineyard a long time and they've terribly lost sight of the fact that to have any place in this vineyard, in this corner of the vineyard was all of grace. What a privilege we have. And the beauty is that Christ is coming and He's continuing to come. And He doesn't need us. He doesn't need one bit of our work. He's come to seek and to save that which is lost. And the privilege we have, see how awful the mentality is of what do I get? Or what's in it for me? Or I'm just not getting what I want. It just doesn't work, does it? It doesn't fit the mentality of one who comes in the vineyard who understands grace. And so we're probed because a similar parable, Jesus invited all of these people to... He was telling the story of a great king who had a banquet. He invited all these people to the banquet. And the first one said, ah, we don't need to come to the banquet. We're not going to come. They didn't come. And so he got mad and he went out and invited who? The blind, the lame, the poor. And the real power of that parable is that none of those people could get there on their own. The blind can't see to get there on their own. The lame can't walk to get there. The poor don't have clothes to come. And the Lord was saying, I'll go get them. And that's grace. So now you can understand why Jesus said the last will be first and the first last. Those who are incapacitated. Those who realize where they've come from, who they are, and the privilege to be a part of this. The need. You know what they're going to marvel at? They're going to marvel at the landowner. They're going to love the landowner. And they're going to express that by being a vibrant part of his vineyard. How thankful are we to have a place in the vineyard? How thankful are you for grace? We all need to ask that, don't we? Good place to begin. And Jesus holds us out to Peter, so I want you to think about what's pictured as we close this here in a minute. Think of this. Imagine hiring someone at 5 o'clock. Workday ends at 6. That doesn't say anything about the worker. Who would hire for one hour of work? I wouldn't do it. This kingdom economics is a little different, isn't it? So what happens here? Verse 8, When the evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his servant, Call the labors and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first. Now, when the hired servants later in the day, the landowner had said, I will give you whatever is right. But we find in verse 9, is that even the ones who came in at the 11th hour each received a denarius. But when the first came, we read, and there's a long history to this word, they grumbled, complained, against the landowner. They thought they would receive more. And so look at verse 12. Saying, these last have worked only one hour and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the heat of the day. We've been in the Escondido sun all week and you sent someone from Washington at five o'clock to work. You're paying Rodney Lee the same? That's a scandal. I'm not going to listen to that. That is a scandal if I've ever heard of one. It's unfair. Boys and girls, did you see Usain Bolt run the other day? Cocky, wasn't he? Arrogant. A name you didn't hear was Asafa Powell. Why? Because he got last. Imagine this conversation. Mr. Bolt! I'm going to give the same prize to Esafa. You imagine the uproar? Mr. Bolt cries out, unfair, unfair. The Lord says, who created the legs? Who created that beating heart? Who gave you a place to run? Esafa gets it before you because you don't understand the need to be here. This was the long history of Israel. They said, the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not fair. Oh, house of Israel, is it not my ways which are fair and your ways which are not fair? Whose ways are fair? Let's talk about that. They were mad because He was showing mercy. And the Lord says the reality is, I'll do what I want, and I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways. Why should you die in your iniquity? We don't want to talk about fair. That's grace. And so Jesus addresses Peter. Friend, fella, I'm not doing you any wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Jesus was attacking the mentality. Putting it in theological terms, they were in a covenant of works. They didn't get it. Take what is yours, go your way. I wish to give this last man the same as You. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is mine? Or is Your eye evil because I'm good? That's the issue. You've made them equal to us. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish? Where would we be today without sovereign grace? And Jesus ends by saying, so the last shall be first, And the first last. You understand that now? If we think that all of our efforts and hard work and good labor in the kingdom puts us up front, you're going to be really disappointed. Mr. Bolt, it's all taken from you. I'm going to give it to Esau. Those who would despise that grace will be humbled. And those who are humble, those who understand their need, those who see, They're at the dependency of the goodness of God. I'm going to lift them right up. We should respond with joy tonight that God has pulled so many off the path. And you realize that's our missionary calling, right? The Lord brought you in. He's been so good to you. He's loved you. He's given you a place. He's given His Son for you. And now, what are we doing? We're going out at the 11th hour. We're at the 11th hour. and we're going to get them. That's why we're here. And so think about it tonight as we close. Me, for all of us who've been here a long time, realize how special grace is and realize how stranded you are in that grace. And I say to any here tonight, maybe who are visiting or somebody who's come in or someone who's standing idle outside, I want you to hear what Jesus just said to you come into my vineyard there's a place for you come to my vineyard and labor not for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to everlasting life which I can give you Amen