For our Bible study, could we turn please
to Matthew chapter 20.
And I'd like to read with you the
first 16 verses.
Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16.
For the kingdom of heaven is like unto
a man that is a householder which went
out early in the morning to hire laborers
into his vineyard.
And when he had agreed with the laborers
for a penny a day, he sent them
into his vineyard and he went out about
the third hour and saw others standing idle
in the marketplace and said unto them, go
ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is
right, I will give you.
And they went their way.
Again, he went out about the sixth and
ninth hour and did likewise.
And about the 11th hour, he went out
and found others standing idle and sat on
to them.
Why stand he here all the day idle?
They stand to him because no man has
hired him.
He says unto them, go ye also into
the vineyard and whatsoever is right that shall
he receive.
So when even was come, the Lord, the
vineyard set unto his steward, call the laborers
and give them their hire beginning from the
last unto the first.
And when they came that were hired about
the 11th hour, they received every man a
penny.
But when the first came, they supposed that
they should have received more.
They likewise received every man a penny.
And when they had received it, they murmured
against the good man of the house saying,
these last have brought but one hour and
thou has made them equal unto us, which
have borne the burden and heat of the
day.
But he answered one of them and said,
friend, I do thee no wrong.
It's not thou agree with me for a
penny.
Take that thine is and go thy way.
I will give unto this last, even as
unto thee, is it not lawful for me
to do what I will with mine own
is thine eye evil because I am good.
So the last shall be first and the
first last.
The final words for many be called, but
few chosen should probably be left out of
the text at this point.
Many of your Bibles probably indicate that.
The verse really closes, so the last shall
be first and the first last.
Have you ever wondered about this seemingly strange
portion of the word of God?
As you study this and read it, has
the thought flashed across your mind?
Well, it does seem a trifle unfair, doesn't
it?
This man has a vineyard and he needs
men to work in the vineyard and he
goes out at six o'clock in the
morning.
Let's say six o'clock in the morning
and he finds some men there.
And those men enter into what we might
call a labor contract with him.
There's a definite agreement between the laborers and
the master.
Days work, a penny, a definite agreement.
And incidentally, when you read about that penny,
don't think that it's just a trifling amount.
It was a normal day's wage at that
time.
Then the good man goes out at nine
o'clock in the morning, let's say three
hours later, and he finds some men there
and they're unemployed.
He says to them, go work in my
vineyard and whatever is right, I will give
you.
Now, there's a big difference between these men
that were hired at nine o'clock and
those that were hired earlier.
The ones who were hired earlier negotiated the
terms of their employment.
The ones that were hired at nine o
'clock, they didn't do any such a thing.
They just went to work and they trusted
in the goodness of the owner of the
vineyard to give them what was right.
The same thing happened at twelve o'clock
and three o'clock and five o'clock.
And then at six o'clock, after the
five o'clockers had worked a single hour,
the owner calls his steward and he says,
all right, I want you to pay the
men off now.
And I want you to begin with the
five o'clockers and work back to the
three o'clockers, the twelve o'clockers and
the nine o'clockers and the six AMers.
And he says, pay the men off and
give them all a penny a day.
And the men who were hired early in
the morning said, what is this?
They said, that's the most unfair.
Is there any unrighteousness to that?
They said, we've borne the burden in heat
of the day.
We've been out here toiling all day and
these latecomers come one hour and they get
the same as us.
And sometimes I think that a passage of
scripture like this makes some Christians embarrassed over
their Bibles.
They're perhaps just a bit embarrassed by it
and they think maybe if I don't look
at that passage too much, it won't bother
me.
But actually, this is the inspired word of
God and it's beautiful.
And the more we study difficult portions of
the word of God, the more we extract
the sweetest honey from them.
And that's the case with a portion of
scripture like this.
I have to confess that the human reaction,
my human reaction, naturally speaking, is that it
really does seem unfair.
Those poor fellows hired too early in the
morning, long days work, and here people just
hired for an hour get the same wage.
So let us look at it more closely
and see what spiritual lessons the Lord might
have for us in it.
In order to do so, you have to
go back to the previous chapter.
One of the thrills in studying the Bible
is to see passages in their setting and
to discover the spiritual flow of a passage.
It's very important to do this here because
in chapter 20, the first verse begins, for,
for.
Well, that means that it's connected with what
has gone before, doesn't it?
The Lord Jesus is going to give an
illustration of something that he has already set
for the kingdom of heaven is like unto
a man.
Now, actually, it goes back to verse 16,
when a rich man came to the Lord
and said, good master, what must I do
to inherit eternal life?
The Lord said, well, he said, why do
you call me good?
There's none good, but one that's God.
And that was this rich man's great opportunity
to say, I know, I know, and you
are God.
And that's why I'm calling you good.
But he missed his great opportunity.
And Jesus said to him, if you want
to enter into life, keep the commandments.
Well, he just bristled with pride.
And he says, thank you very much.
He says, that's exactly what I've been doing
all my life.
As Jesus recited the commandments to him, he
says, all these things have I kept for
my youth up.
And Jesus said, really, really have you really
realized what the law is saying?
The law is not only saying, love God
with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength,
but it's saying, love your neighbor as yourself.
And he says, if you feel that you've
kept the law blameless, just go tell all
that you have and give to the poor.
And the man went away sorrowful because he
had great possessions.
Now, down to verse 27, right after that,
Peter comes to the Lord.
And he says, Lord, unlike the rich man,
we have forsaken all to follow you.
What are we going to have for it?
And that question that Peter asked is the
crux of the whole subject that follows.
What are we going to have there for?
And the Lord Jesus said to him, look,
Peter, I don't deny you've forsaken all to
follow me.
I don't deny that.
I'm not going to quarrel with you over
that.
But I can guarantee you this.
Anybody who's forsaken all to follow me, he's
going to be rewarded in this life.
He's going to be rewarded in the life
to come.
But I want to say something to you,
Peter.
Watch out for that bargaining spirit that you
just manifested.
That question you just asked, what shall we
have there for?
Watch out for that bargaining spirit, he said,
because many that are first shall be last.
And the last shall be first.
And what Jesus says in chapter 20 verses
1 through 15 is in elaboration and illustration
of Jesus' statement, many that are first shall
be last and the last shall be first.
You'll notice it at verse 30 of chapter
19 and verse 16 of chapter 20.
Verses 1 through 15 of chapter 20 elaborate
and illustrate verse 30.
Verse 30 of chapter 19.
Let's just read Peter's words and Jesus' answer.
Verse 27 of chapter 19, then answered Peter
and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken
all and follow thee.
What shall we have?
Therefore, Jesus said unto them, Verily I say
unto you, that ye which have followed me
in the regeneration, that's the millennium, when Jesus
comes back to reign upon the earth, that
whole time is spoken of in the scripture
as being the regeneration.
In the regeneration, when the son of man
shall sit on the throne of his glory,
he also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.
And every one that hath forsaken houses of
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
wife, or children, or lands, for my namesake,
shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting
life.
But many that are first shall be last
and the last shall be first.
Then in the verses to follow, the Lord
Jesus gives an illustration of some men that
bargained with their master at six o'clock
in the morning, of other men who made
no such a bargain with their master, and
the other men came out much better.
They were first and the first were last.
The last were paid off first purposely so
that those who had been first would see
them being paid off and would see exactly
what they were getting.
Now, let's turn to verse 13 and see
how the Lord Jesus handles the complaints of
the men that were hired at six o
'clock in the morning.
He says, Friend, I do thee no wrong,
didst not thou agree with me for a
penny?
Now, one of the first lessons that emerges
from this passage of Scripture to my mind
is that when we come to the kingdom
of heaven, we have to adopt an entirely
new method of thinking.
When we come to spiritual things, the things
of the Lord, we have to be transformed
by the renewing of our minds.
When we become Christians, we have to adopt
completely new thought patterns.
And really, what the Lord Jesus is saying
is, if you come to this passage of
Scripture and it seems unfair and unjust and
unrighteous to you, that's because you're not thinking
right.
Because this is the way God thinks.
And if you want to think right, and
if I want to think right, we better
start thinking the passage of Scripture.
How can that be?
Well, that's exactly what we shall see.
Exactly what we shall see.
When you come to the kingdom of heaven,
we have to start thinking differently from the
world.
The world has its way of thinking.
It has a mold that it wants to
pour us into mentally.
And God has another mold, and it's completely
opposite.
And he wants to pour us into this
mold mentally.
And the sooner we learn the lesson, the
better it's going to be for us.
And naturally speaking, none of us would ever
think this way.
It's the way God thinks.
This is the word of God, just as
inspired as John 3, 16 or Romans 10
and 9.
That's the first lesson I learned from the
passage.
A different way of thinking in the kingdom
of heaven.
The second lesson I learned is this.
If you make a bargain with the Lord,
you get exactly what you bargained for.
But if you cast yourself upon the grace
of God, you make out a lot better.
Those men at six o'clock in the
morning made a bargain with the Lord.
They got exactly what they bargained for.
And that's what he says to them here
in verse 13.
Friend, I do thee no wrong.
Didst not thou agree with me?
They said, we'll work for you all day
for a day's wage.
Well, they got a day's wage.
What were they complaining about?
If you bargain with the Lord, you get
exactly what you bargained for.
If you cast yourself upon the love, mercy,
and grace of the Lord, you'll do far
better.
We tell this to the sinner in the
preaching of the gospel.
People say, all I want is my rights.
We say, God forbid.
If you get your rights, you'll be in
hell forever.
You don't want your rights.
You want the grace of God.
Isn't that right?
But it's true in Christian service, and that's
what this passage has to do with.
It has to do with the whole subject
of Christian service and the attitude that we
adopt in our service for the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Leave it to him, you'll do much better.
Grace is better than justice, isn't it?
You've heard the story of the little girl
who went into the candy store with her
father, and she was always plaguing him for
candy.
And this day, he was in an especially
good mood, and he yielded to her entreaty,
told her she could have a handful of
candy.
And so she looked over all the bowls,
the jars with the candy there, and she
finally decided on the jar that she wanted,
the candy that she wanted.
And he said, well, just put your hand
in, get a handful.
And she said, you put your hand in,
Daddy.
He said, why do you want me to
put my hand in?
She said, because your hand is bigger than
mine.
But she was thinking right.
She had her thinking apparatus going well.
And that's what these other people during the
day thought here.
That's what the nine o'clockers thought.
They said, we can trust this master.
His hand is bigger than ours.
And we'll just leave it with him.
That's what he said.
He said, whatsoever is right, I will do
it for you.
Take that thine is, and go thy way.
I will give unto this last, even as
unto thee.
Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own?
The next lesson I learned in this, from
the words of the Lord Jesus, is a
passage that teaches the sovereignty of the Lord.
The sovereignty of the Lord.
The Lord has the right to do whatever
he wants with his own.
And what he wants will always be honest,
always be just, and always be fair.
Can't I do what I will with mine
own?
God is sovereign.
That means that God can do as he
pleases.
But it also means that what God pleases
is always good.
As for God, his way is perfect.
People have a lot of trouble with this,
with God's sovereignty in salvation.
And everywhere we go, and everywhere we travel,
the whole subject of election comes up, the
subject of predestination comes up, and people just
love to bring these subjects up, almost as
if they feel that at last they've discovered
a chink in God's armor.
And as a result, a lot of people
turn away from the teaching of the sovereignty
of God.
Don't turn away from it.
The sovereignty of God is a biblical doctrine.
It's right here in this verse.
Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with my own?
The sovereignty of God is the doctrine that
allows God to be God.
It's the doctrine that gives God his proper
place, and gives man his proper place, too.
And God's proper place is on the throne,
and man's proper place is in the dust.
God's sovereignty is never manifested in condemning men
who ought to be saved, but it is
manifested in saving men who ought to be
condemned.
God's sovereignty is never manifested in condemning men
who ought to be saved.
There aren't any such men.
But it is manifested in saving men who
ought to be condemned.
The potter comes into his house, and there's
a big lump of clay on the floor,
and that lump represents sinful lost humanity.
And the potter could just leave it alone,
and it would all perish eternally.
Does the potter have the right to come
into his own house and stoop down and
take a handful of clay and lift it
up and fashion a vessel of beauty out
of it?
Does he have that right?
He hasn't condemned any clay.
The clay is condemned by itself.
But the potter just comes in and scoops
up a handful of clay, and makes a
beautiful vessel of it.
Does he have that right?
He has that right.
God fits vessels of mercy, but men fit
themselves as vessels to destruction.
God saves men by his matchless grace, but
if men are lost, they're lost by their
own unbelief and their refusal to trust the
sinner's saving.
And so this passage teaches us the sovereignty
of God.
He can do as he wills, but what
he wills is always wonderful.
But there's another wonderful thing, and I think
we're getting close to the key here.
And what insight it gives you into the
heart of the Lord here.
The lesson is this.
God goes by need and not by greed.
Let me explain it this way.
The master in the story, he hired those
men at six o'clock, and he said,
I'll give you a decent day's wage.
He went out during the day, and he
saw unemployed men.
And it doesn't say so, but his heart
was moved with compassion toward these men.
Why?
Well, because he knew they had wives, a
wife and family, children at home.
He knew that those families liked to eat
three meals a day, let us say.
He knew that they liked to go down
to the supermarket and buy some groceries and
have something in the house.
He knew that.
And he knew they didn't have any.
Why?
Because it says that.
He said to them, why do you stand
here idle in the marketplace all day long?
What was the answer?
They said, we want to work, but nobody
has offered us work.
Ah, that helps.
In other words, these men weren't lazy.
These men wanted employment, but nobody had offered
them employment.
And he said, I understand.
And so when the end of the day
came, he gave them what they deserved to
get, but he gave them a lot more
too.
He gave them enough to go to the
supermarket and get some groceries too.
Does he have a right to do that?
Who can deny him the right to do
that?
He gave them whatever their wages were, let's
say for that last hour that they worked.
But he also gave them enough to feed
their wife and children.
The lesson?
God goes by need and not by greed.
And you know, that's a tremendous lesson for
us because we become so enmeshed in life
as it's lived about us today, that we
go by greed and not by need.
And we become so brainwashed with the world's
way of thinking that we think, well, this
is unfair.
It isn't unfair.
It's wonderful.
It's wonderful to think of a master who
so cares for his employees that he's willing
to treat them this way.
Let's get more masters like that.
It goes by need and not by greed.
But we live in a competitive society where
really the law of the jungle prevails in
many cases.
Modern business is a jungle today.
Dog eat dog.
And push for the top.
And if somebody gets in your way, so
much the worse for them.
Is that right?
This master wasn't that kind of a man
at all.
He was motivated by other considerations than the
so-called profit motive.
You know, we really think that nothing would
ever keep the wheels of industry turning around
except the profit motive.
But it isn't true.
We were in Israel not so long ago.
Do you know there are Jews that go
back to Israel all the time?
And they go and work on these communal
settlements called the kibbutzim, called kibbutzim.
And they get their food and clothing and
two weeks vacation and work the rest of
their lives without a cent of salary.
No caring about the profit motive.
All they care is bringing in money for
the state of Israel.
That's all they care.
They're no longer moved by what moves other
men.
They found the expulsive power of a new
affection.
The Lord is telling us, look, think my
thoughts after me.
This is the way I think.
And I look upon these men and I
realize they want to work and they want
to feed their families and they haven't had
the opportunity.
So I'll go beyond what they deserve.
And give them what they need.
It's beautiful, isn't it?
Beautiful.
You say, yes, but what about those men
that were, what about those men that were
hired at six o'clock?
Didn't they have a legitimate complaint?
Oh, really, they didn't.
Really, they didn't.
They got what they deserved.
And not alone that.
They should have been glad for the privilege
of serving such a wonderful master all day
long.
They served him.
They had the privilege of serving him a
lot longer than the five o'clockers.
They should have been proud and glad for
such a privilege, because there aren't many masters
like that around.
But that's true in the service of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Do you know, there's a question that the
Lord asks here in verse 15.
It's a wonderful question.
And I think we read the passage quickly
and we skip over it and we miss
what he said.
He says, is thine eye evil because I'm
good?
He said this to the six AMers.
He said, is your eye evil because I'm
good?
Are you finding fault with me because I
want to fill the pantries of these people,
these hungry people?
Is that what you're doing?
And you know, that comes home to me
with convicting power.
The very fact that I even admit that
this passage of scripture seems unfair and unjust
shows that my eye is evil because the
master is good.
That's what it shows.
Isn't that right?
It shows that my eye is evil for
finding fault with him for being good to
people.
Well, there's a tremendous lesson there.
Do you know the natural heart hates grace?
Really does.
That's a strange thing.
If you tell people to work for their
salvation and earn their salvation, they'll love you
forever.
But if you tell them that salvation is
a free gift received by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ and in no other way,
they'll think, well, it must be some other
way and I'll look for it.
They don't want to be shown grace.
The natural heart does not want to be
shown grace by God, and it doesn't want
to see God showing grace to anybody else
either.
And Jesus said that to the Pharisees.
He said, not only won't you enter yourself,
but you don't want to see anybody else
entering either.
Is thine eye evil because I'm good?
There's no book in all the world that
exposes the human heart like the Bible.
And this passage of scripture and our reaction
to this passage of scripture exposes our hearts
to ourselves.
One of the reasons I know the Bible
is the word of God.
I read a passage of scripture like this,
and I say, no man ever wrote this.
No man ever wrote this.
I see the hand of God in a
portion of the word of God like this.
Then you start off to criticize it and
look down your theological nose at it, and
you end up on your knees worshiping such
a Lord.
And so when I hear the Lord Jesus
saying here, is thine eye evil because I'm
good, I have to say, yes, Lord, that's
just it.
You've caught me.
You've trapped me.
I thought it was done just and unfair.
And I didn't realize you were just showing
grace and kindness to people who didn't deserve
it.
It's true, isn't it?
Wonderfully true.
And it shows the mercenary spirit in us.
It shows the mercenary spirit in us.
But we want to get as much as
possible for ourselves.
Don't worry about anybody else.
Isn't that right?
I like to tell the story of a
little boy named Ernest.
Maybe some of you have heard the story.
But Ernest was especially good at the game
of marbles.
I suppose the boys play marbles here in
Australia the way they do in the States.
And this little boy, Ernest, he had a
Christian profession.
He was a believer.
And he had unusual aptitude in winning in
marbles.
He could beat all the boys in his
neighborhood and take all their marbles away from
him.
And the other boys didn't like it too
much.
And they avoided him very studiously because he
won all the time.
And one day, a servant of the Lord
met Ernest and talked to him about this.
And he said to Ernest, he said, He
said, well, Ernest, you do win a good
many marbles, don't you?
And Ernest said, oh, yes, sir, I do.
He said, Ernest, do you ever ask the
Lord Jesus about this marble playing?
He said, yes, I do.
He said, I pray about it all the
time.
And the servant of the Lord said to
him, what do you pray, Ernest?
Oh, Ernest, he said, I pray that I
may win.
The servant of the Lord said to him,
Ernest, do you ever pray that any of
the other boys might win?
Oh, he said, oh, no, sir.
He said, why not?
He said, because I want to win.
He said, I want to get all the
marbles that I can.
And the servant of the Lord said to
him, it seems as if some of the
other boys might like to win sometimes.
Ernest, are you trying to show Christ to
these boys?
Ah, yes, sir.
He said, I am.
He said, I try to witness to these
boys.
And the servant of the Lord said to
him, what do they say, Ernest?
Ernest said, they're not interested at all.
The man said to him, why aren't they
interested, Ernest?
He said, because I've got all their marbles.
What is it?
Spirit of emulation.
I want all I can get.
I don't want anybody else to get it.
And the servant of the Lord said to
him, well, Ernest, I don't know that I
blame the boys too much.
He said, the God you're trying to show
them wants you to win all the time,
and he doesn't want them ever to win.
He said, Ernest, why don't you pray that
the other boys might win once at a
while?
He said, because that's the spirit of Christianity,
sharing with others instead of trying to get
as much as you can for yourself.
Well, you know, I was telling that little
story as recently as last Easter time that
a man came up to me after the
meeting.
His name was Phillips.
He said to me, you know that story
you told about Ernest?
I said, yes.
Well, he said, I had a young brother.
He said, when I was a boy, I
had a younger brother, age 10, who was
just like Ernest.
And he said he played marbles and he
could beat all the boys in the neighborhood.
And he said one day after he had
taken all their marbles away from them, he
said, my brother said to the boys, do
you want your marbles back?
And they all agreed that they did.
He said, all right, sit down for just
a moment.
I have something to tell you.
And that little boy, 10 years of age,
told them the story of Calvary's love, of
someone who loved them so much that he
gave himself for them.
And when that little boy had finished, he
gave them all back their marbles.
And Mr. Phillips said to me, three months
later, the Lord called my little brother home
to be with himself.
And I said, I can't say I much
blame him.
I think if I were the Lord, I'd
like to have the little fellow with me
too.
What a practical demonstration of Christianity, winning all
the marbles and then using it as an
opportunity to show Christ to them in a
practical way.
And every day in our lives, we have
opportunities of doing this too.
In a competitive dog-eat-dog society, we
have the privilege of swimming against the tide
and showing a Christ who is moved by
need and not by greed.
Then the Lord Jesus says, so the last
shall be first, and the first last.
As you know, there's wonderful encouragement and comfort
for us in this too.
And I'll tell you why.
The apostles, now they came in kind of
early in the day, didn't they?
They were right there when the foundations were
laid, the apostles.
And there might be people here in the
meeting tonight and they say, what's the use?
The apostles, who could ever come up to
them?
They'll get all the rewards.
Little me, there's nothing left for me.
Jesus said, that isn't the way it's going
to work.
One of those apostles, Peter, showed a bargaining
spirit.
What shall we have there for?
Jesus said to him, watch out, Peter.
You show that bargaining spirit in Christian service
and you might find yourself lost in the
matter of rewards.
And the last first.
You remember, there was a mother who came
to the Lord Jesus one day and she
said, I have a favor to ask for
you.
And it was really kind of what we
might call a political favor.
And he said, what is it?
And she said, my two boys, she said.
She said, I would like that one of
them should sit on your right hand and
one in your left hand when you come
in your kingdom.
And Jesus turned to those young men and
he said, can you drink of the cup
that I'm going to drink of?
And they said, we're able.
And he said, can you be baptized with
a baptism that I'm going to be baptized
with?
They said, we're able.
He said, you shall indeed drink of the
cup.
And you shall be baptized with a baptism.
But to sit on my right hand and
on my left hand in the kingdom, that's
not for me to give.
It's going to be given to the Father.
You see, she thought, because she and her
boys were close to Jesus when he was
here on earth as a man, that she
had a political in with him and that
she could come to him and beg this
favor and get it, just as people do
with politicians today.
And Jesus said, it isn't going to be
that way in my kingdom.
These places aren't going to be given out
as a matter of political preferment.
The Father is going to give them out
and he has his own basis.
For giving them out.
What does that mean?
It means somebody in the room tonight could
win one of those places.
You believe that?
That's what it means.
You say, oh no, Peter will have one.
No, it doesn't say that.
The whole passage was directed against Peter.
It means that someone in the meeting tonight,
and incidentally, we have arrived kind of late
in the day, heaven's way.
If what we see happening in Israel is
truly significant, if what we see happening in
the European common market is truly significant, if
all these things we see happening throughout the
world indicate that the coming of the Lord
is near, we're really five PMers, aren't we?
Never mind.
Jesus said, the first shall be last, the
last first.
It's possible that someone living on the earth
today, by a life of dedication to the
Lord Jesus, by a life of suffering for
him, by a life poured out for him,
and a life in which there has been
none of the bargaining spirit, but that person
could be preferred above even Peter in the
coming kingdom.
Message of great encouragement for all Christians down
through the history of the years.
Here we've started with a passage of scripture
that on the face of it seems at
least difficult, and at times unfair, and yet
as we study it carefully, we see an
insight into the mind of God and the
heartbeat of the Lord Jesus Christ that it
makes us bound in worship.