Salvation By Works? (part 2) - [Matthew 19:16]

A little while ago I was talking with my neighbor, and we were working out in the lawn, and he was helping me in my yard,

I was helping him in his yard. And he went inside, and he came back out with a couple of Budweiser beers, and said, here you go, and I said, you know, thanks a lot,

I appreciate it, but just don't drink anymore. And what I'm really doing these days has nothing to do with alcohol.

I'm a pastor, and he knew that. But I said, I just want to talk to people about how to have their sins forgiven.

I mean, can you realize, friend, you're going to die one day and stand before God, and then what? And so we began to talk, and he said, you know, when

I'm ready to have my soul saved, I'll give you a call. By the way, on the inside I was thinking, if I'm going to start drinking again, it's going to be something better than a

Budweiser for sure. Old Milwaukee. On the contrary, there's a man in the

Bible who is ready to have his soul saved, and he runs up to Jesus, and he asks the question.

Turn to Matthew chapter 19, and let's find out about that account, as we're going through the account of Jesus and the rich young ruler.

He was ready to have his soul saved. Now, starting next week, we'll be back into Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1.

But today I want to talk a little bit about Jesus, the great evangelist, because I think as time goes on and you observe

Jesus, you'll say to yourself, I'm thankful for him, I want to praise him, there's no one like him.

And you'll also be motivated to evangelize as you watch Jesus, the great evangelist.

Of course, he was on his way to Calvary as he set his face to Jerusalem, but on the way he would minister to people and confirm that he was in fact the

Messiah, and talk to them about the main issue. The main issue was not healing.

You can be healed from your diseases, you can have your blindness cured, you can have your muteness cured, and still go to hell when you die.

And so the ultimate question, as John Blanchard would say, is what about our souls?

And I want to evangelize more, I want you to evangelize more. Frankly, friends, don't we want church growth deep down?

Don't we really want it? We don't want it in a man -centered fashion. We don't want it in a way that we're trying to get numbers.

That's easy to do, but we want God to grow us by maturation, right? That's church growth.

And we also want to preach the gospel to friends and neighbors and relatives and enemies, so they get saved as well.

So God is growing the church, and even from Psalm 100 to Revelation 5, even Gentiles can receive full and free salvation.

And we have a great responsibility to preach the gospel, and a great privilege to preach the gospel, something that angels can't even do, or don't get to do.

We get to tell people, friends, there's good news. You can just imagine 500 years ago,

Martin Luther thinking, you know what? If you count sins, God, who can stand before you?

And Psalm 130 says he does count them, and he knows every one of them. So how can you stand before God? As clean, as righteous, as holy, so that you may enter heaven.

And we come now to Matthew 19, as Matthew continues to proclaim

Jesus as King. He's the Messianic King, and this

Messianic King has good news. And there's just nothing like looking at our

Savior. If you said, okay, who are my favorite evangelists? Maybe William Carey, maybe

Adoniram Judson, maybe Mary Schleser, maybe whoever it might be, and wrap them all up into one, they pale in comparison to the

Lord Jesus as he deals with people. Here in Matthew, Jesus is the King.

Seven times he's called the Son of David, the ultimate Son of David, the real

Son of David. If I had a summary statement for the book of Matthew, it would be

Matthew 21 .5. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your

King is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

And Matthew just says, behold, your King. And we focus back in to Matthew 19, verse 16.

And here's what we're going to do this morning. We went through the passage last week, so I'm going to speed it up with a little review.

And I'll drop in strategically little evangelistic helpers so you can be a better evangelist.

So as you see Jesus do certain things, you'll think, you know what, that was wise. When I evangelize and when

I give people the good news of Christ Jesus, when I talk to them about their souls, this would be a good thing for me to do.

So my goal this morning is for you to be impressed with Jesus and then say, I think

I should preach the gospel more. Because we know it's true, friends, but just to remind you with some gravity, every person in this world has an eternal soul.

And they're going to die. And without Christ, they're going to go to hell. I think three people die every second.

Three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen. And as we know from the doctrine of hell, we don't want anybody to go there.

You don't want your worst enemies to go. The wrath of God is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living

God. And so we want our friends to be saved. And here we look at Jesus. And He is love incarnate.

And He says many things that will help us this morning. Matthew 19, 16,

And behold, a man came up to Him saying, Teacher, what good deed must

I do to have eternal life? Remember, Mark says somebody ran up to Him, sprinted up to Him, dashed up to Him, and got down on His knees.

I mean, this guy's a leader. He's rich and he's just humbling himself. And the passage before, in front of children and kids.

And the Greek is, He kept asking and asking and asking, What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

By the way, I'm still waiting for my friend to say, I'm ready to have my soul saved.

I said to him the other day, I said, remember that conversation we had? And you said to me,

I'll call you up when I want to have my soul saved. I mean, I didn't want to say, I can't save anybody's soul. And I didn't want to say,

You're talking like a Pelagian. Because I go, you know, you're all born Pelagian. And I just said, you know, I'm here when you want to talk about your soul at any time.

I'm still waiting. But this man knew. He was missing something. And he runs up to Jesus. He has a misunderstanding, an inadequate understanding of goodness.

But he knows Jesus is somebody, and he's got the answer.

Verse 17, 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, do your best.

He didn't say that. He said, If you would enter life, keep the commandments. He had the right question,

And even though he misunderstood the goodness issue, we think of the word good as,

I do kind of good deeds. They're external. Here, we're talking about internal goodness.

Qualitative goodness. Intrinsic goodness. On the inside, good. 100 % good.

And this man needed to see himself in light of the goodness of God. The absolute perfection of God. The source and standard of goodness.

And we learned last week, and here's the first evangelistic helper, that I stressed last week, but now in review say today.

Law questions in evangelism get law answers. If someone says, I'd like to go to heaven.

What do I need to do? Jesus responds with the law. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.

This goes back to the garden, right? Adam and Eve, here's what we want from you. Here's what

I want from you, God says. Perpetual and persistence and perfect obedience.

Some people call Adam in the garden and his chest covenant of works.

By Adam's own works, he either stands or falls. Total obedience he was owed.

Flip side is cursed is anyone who does not continue to do everything in the book of the law. We know

Adam, our federal head, sinned. Hosea 6, 7, they like Adam have transgressed the covenant.

Remember, we learned last week, the lawyer put Jesus to the test. Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?

Luke 10. And Jesus said to him, you've answered correctly. Do this and you shall live.

Keep the law. But the law just shows sin.

Take a look at Romans chapter 3 with me, if you would. Would you just turn there for a second? Keep your finger in Matthew 20, or scroll down or whatever you do.

I was on vacation this summer and I would sit in the congregation with my iPad.

And when I see you check your email or text people when I'm preaching, I'm thinking, you are very weak and immature.

How could you do that? But when I'm a congregant and I'm sitting there with my Bible programs, I'm kind of tempted to see who's talking, what's going on there.

I feel it now. It's a priesthood of all believers. Romans chapter 3, verses 19 and 20.

Remember what Paul is doing? Paul is saying, everybody needs perfect righteousness from Jesus, earned by Jesus and His obedience to the law.

But before you get that good news, you've got to know you have no righteousness. And whether you're a pagan, Romans 1, or a

Jewish moralizer, chapters 2 and 3, everybody falls short. But we tend to give the good news before the bad news is established and agreed upon.

Romans 3 .19 Now we know that whatever the law says, what's the purpose of the law?

It's not to save. It can't save. It was never meant to save. It speaks to those who are under the law.

Why? Do you notice? So that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.

Because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Notice back in verse 19, every mouth may be closed. When we preach the law, the goal is for the person to say, you know what friend, if you're right, that I can't be good enough to get to heaven,

I can't obey enough to get into heaven, that God requires perfect obedience to get to heaven, if what you say is true,

I stand condemned. That every person might have their mouth stopped.

No longer are they saying, yes, but I was kind of good. I've been baptized. I do more good than bad.

How could God be so exclusive? Aren't there many different ways to Jesus? No friend, if what you've said is true,

I stand condemned. That's what Paul's talking about in Romans 3, verse 19.

And that's what Jesus is trying to get the young man to do. You want to get to heaven perfectly obey.

And he thinks he can. Jesus isn't automatically saying, by the way, I'm on the road to Calvary.

God the Father in eternity past has decided to send me so I could die for sinners like you. It's too early.

When you hear people say, you know what, and even if you ask a question, if you die, do you think you're going to go to heaven?

And they're like, well, yes. Well, why do you think that? And what do they say? I'm a good person.

Friends, don't automatically go now to, let me tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don't you ask some questions like, what do you mean by good?

What's the standard for good? You mean to say you do some good things externally? Are you telling me you're perfectly good on the inside?

That's, I think, where we need to go. Are you as good as God the Son is good? Is that what you're saying?

Jesus says He's good. You say you're good. Is it the same kind of good? Back to Matthew chapter 19, please.

Jesus is trying to get the young man to recognize that he's sinful and he needs a

Savior. Number two, Matthew chapter 19, verses 18 and following, when you evangelize, use the law, number one.

Number two, quote the Bible. Use the Bible. Even Jesus does it.

He doesn't always do it, but doesn't He do it here? Sometimes He says, it is written. Well, look at what

Jesus does here. He said to him, which ones? And Jesus said, I mean, this is right from Torah, isn't it?

You've got the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Don't murder. Don't commit adultery.

Don't steal. Don't bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. Then He adds in something not from the

Ten Commandments, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. A young man said to him, all these things

I've kept, what do I still lack? If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow

Me. Just a little detour for a second. Make sure when you're preaching the gospel to people, you tell them what the

Bible says. I mean, I commend Billy Graham for his the Bible says.

Doesn't he say that a lot? The Bible says, the Bible says, the Bible says. One of the most influential preachers in America says, though, quit saying that.

Andy Stanley says, don't say the Bible says all the time, because then people are going to be thinking, how did you get all the animals on the ark?

And what about Genesis 1? At Exponential, a church planning conference attended by 5 ,000 people a while ago with 20 ,000 people watching, he said it's time to stop saying the

Bible says. I look at Jesus and I just watch

Him and He says, here's what the Bible says. This is the measuring rod found in the Old Testament. And what does this imply?

It means that we have to know the Bible to preach the Bible, right? And I commend you as a congregation because I know you know the

Bible. Here's a good little test that you could take at home if you'd like.

If you have 60 seconds to preach the gospel, what would you say? From the Bible, and you're going to use the

Bible, it says, the Bible says this about salvation. What do you say? 60 seconds. Go.

I don't know if Harry still does this, but if he doesn't, I'm going to have to fire him later. But in our new membership class,

I like to look at the people in our membership class and could you just give me your testimony or what the gospel is in 60 seconds, please?

Well, I was raised in this farm out in the prairie, and I'm like, tick, tick, tick. You better hurry up.

Death, burial, resurrection. You've got to believe. Okay, you made it. Of course,

Jesus knows the Bible, but remember, He was fully human. It wasn't like it was just built in.

The text says that He learned and increased in wisdom and statue. He had to study.

He's not going to be fully man if He just says everything here. He never has to learn it as a human. Quote the

Bible. The Bible says, the Bible says, yes, but the Bible was written by men. I don't care when people say that to me because the

Bible still has authority and power, and it's the power of salvation. Number three.

Evangelism helper number three. Preach the law. Use the Bible. Don't lower the bar of God's standard.

In other words, number three, you've got to be willing to let people walk away. If your goal is, your number one goal when you evangelize,

I want people to go to heaven, you will mess this one up. Is that the number one goal when you evangelize?

The number one goal can't be, I want people to be saved. Is that a good goal? Is that right up their goal?

Of course. But the number one goal is, I'd like to be faithful. I'd like to honor God. I'd like to speak well about the

Son. I want to glorify God and talk about the God -man and what He's done and Emmanuel and the substitutionary atonement, literal resurrection.

Jesus, do you notice Matthew 19 .22? He was willing to let people walk because He wasn't going to change the holy standards of God.

When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.

No response from Jesus that was, well, I know you're rich, so let me just talk to you about plan

B. When I was in seminary, I was kind of like a recovering fundamentalist, and maybe

I still am. My professor said he watches

Columbo. I thought TV was from the devil or something, so now my professor says he watches

Columbo. I was like, that just has given me license to watch Columbo. And he said, well, you know,

Columbo's about ready to walk out the door, and then before he leaves, he asks that final question.

Solves the case. But Jesus pulls no Columbo here.

He's not like, well, on second thought, I'm going to change this up. What about this?

He lets that guy walk. Why? Because sin, holiness, there's only one bridge to span that gap, and it has to be

Christ Jesus and His life and His perfect obedience to the law. This man went away sorrowful,

Matthew says. Luke says he was exceedingly rich and had become very sad.

Somber, Mark says. Gloomy. It's like a dark cloud comes over his face.

I mean, total commitment. Let's see, I'm measuring all this. Following God. The Son knows my heart.

My heart is an idol factory. I love to worship things. I've got money. I've got servants. I've got houses.

I've got lands. I've got barns. And I plan on building more of them. That's a big change to these little children that Jesus just got done talking about earlier in the last section where He says, such as these belong to kingdom.

The goal in evangelism is never can I get a tick mark in front of my Bible and can

I close the deal? Tell the truth and let

God sort out the rest. Number four.

Evangelism helper number four. Rest in God's salvation. Rest in God's salvation.

I mean, who's going to get saved with this kind of message? Who's going to get saved with this kind of proclamation?

Well, we know God does the saving and it says here in Matthew 19 verse 23, Jesus said to His disciples,

Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will the 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.

He's talking about the context of salvation. Who can get saved when the standard is so high?

Who can get saved when you have to have perfect obedience to the law? Who can get saved unless God intervenes?

B .B. Warfield, the great Princetonian said, Sinful man needs not inducements or assistance to save himself, but precisely of saving.

And Jesus Christ has not come to advise or to urge or woo or help us save ourselves, but to save us.

Isn't that good? I guess the other option is Charles Finney with his sermon entitled, Sinners Bound to Change Their Own Hearts.

Back in verse 23, notice what Jesus does. He said to His disciples,

Mark says He looked around. Hey, disciples, I'm going to look right at you to make sure you get the point. Don't miss this.

It's impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle. It's impossible for people to save themselves.

Especially impossible for a man who trusts in himself and his riches to get through life.

And that's what happens. With riches, you trust in them. So how can any rich person ever be saved?

God saves Job. God saves Abraham. God saves

Joseph of Arimathea. Why? Because He can do the impossible thing. Thomas Watson, a great

Puritan writer said, God rides forth conquering in the chariot of His gospel.

He conquers the pride of the heart and makes the will which stood out as a fort against Him to yield and to stoop to His grace.

He makes the stony heart bleed. Oh, it is a mighty call. Why then do some men seem to speak of moral persuasion?

That God in the conversion of a sinner only morally persuades and no more. If God in conversion should only morally persuade and no more, then

He does not put forth so much power in saving men as the devil does in destroying them.

But friends, Titus 3 is correct. He saved us.

He's the one that did all the work. Think clearly. Doesn't that give you hope when you say to yourself,

I've got that neighbor across the street and I want them to be saved, but I can't seem to do it. I've tried to do it and there have been times that I've been probably a bad witness.

What's going to happen? But God always gets His man or gets His woman.

He saves us not on the deeds that we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy. I have some other neighbors and they said to me,

Mike, I'm going to have knee surgery. Would you come and visit? In the hospital I said, well, I will come and visit, but I will visit only as a pastor.

And so my lesbian friend said, yes, please come. So Kim and I went and I said, okay, as a pastor,

I like to read a Bible verse and I like to pray. Okay, please do. They did not say, give us more morphine before the preaching comes.

I love these ladies. I said, what's your favorite Psalm? She said, oh, my favorite

Psalm is Psalm 22. I mean, Psalm 20, yeah, she said Psalm 22, the Lord is my shepherd.

I said, oh, you know what? That's one of my favorites too, but that's Psalm 22. So instead of reading

Psalm 23, let me just read you Psalm 22 from memory, chapter 22, verse 1.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And I said, that's what Jesus said on the cross because as he was bearing the sins for all those who would ever believe for the first time, he doesn't call the father, father because God is treating him as if he was a sinner, as if he's the sin bearer, as if he were.

Even though he's still righteous, even though he's still obedient, he's now the sin bearer. And he has to say, my

God, my God, why have you turned your back on me? Because he was judging all of our sins on Jesus.

And my friend looked at me and she said, boy, that was awful. It must have been awful.

I mean, so close it seemed. How can I get that final thing? I mean, you know, can't we just do the sinner's prayer right now?

Can't I come up and put my arm around you and kind of push your head down a little bit so you're forced to pray? And then down on your knee that you've had surgery on?

I mean, I can make this happen. My background sails, man. My responsibility is just to preach the

Gospel and pray for people. How can anybody think about it? Here's what

God calls us to do. Be so sick and tired of yourself that you say, you know what,

I need a new me. I need a new me. That's what being born again is. I've got to have a new me.

How can a person get a new them? That's to be the sovereign, monergistic work of God alone.

It's impossible for them to do. It's impossible for me to do. But with God, it's possible.

And I think, you know what, I've got friends and relatives and I'm thinking, how long will they hear the Gospel and still say no?

But when God says, you're Mine friends, they will bow their knee. And if you need encouragement,

I wonder how long people prayed for you, prayed for me. Grandma Evie died six years ago or so and she said to me one time,

I prayed for you every day. I just didn't know you were going to be the one to marry Kim, but I prayed for you every day.

And I thought, I don't know whether to cry now. I don't know whether to say, with God all things are possible.

But she was praying for me when I'm a pagan. Job, I know you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

And the eternity passed when the Father says, here's a love gift, Son. You go rescue them and die for them individually.

And the Son goes and does it. He gets every one of them. Not one will be lost. It's impossible with men.

But Genesis 18 says, is anything too difficult for the Lord? It's impossible to get saved under the banner of do this and live.

It's impossible to get saved under the banner, keep the commandments. It's impossible to get saved under the banner of always love

God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. It's impossible. But with God it's possible because He's arranged the universe with the focal point being this.

You believe, it's by faith alone in the Son who loved

His neighbor as Himself and who loved the Father with His heart, soul, mind, and strength.

It's by faith. Faith says, I have nothing. I'm just trusting in what God has done. That's how it is possible.

Warfield said, it is God the Lord who saves us or it is we ourselves. And God the

Lord does save us. Number five.

Number five. Preach the law. Use the Bible.

Don't lower God's standards of holiness. Rest in God's salvation. Number five.

Remember that it's worth it. Heaven is worth it. Salvation is worth it.

Seems like a lot of trouble. Seems like very difficult. Lots of trials, pain. Peter knew that.

Verse 27, the cost of following Jesus Christ. See, Matthew 19, 27,

Peter said in reply, we left everything. We followed you. I mean, that guy just ran off into the distance. Ran off the pages of Scripture.

Ran off the pages of Scripture, maybe into eternal doom. But we followed you. What then will we have?

Not a bad question. Jesus said to them. He was the spokesperson. Peter was.

Now 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 was left houses our brothers. So not just the disciples, but now in verse 29, and everyone who was left houses our brothers, our sisters, our father, our mother, our children, our lands, because you just might have to give all that up for my namesake, for my honor, for my glory.

We'll receive a hundredfold and we'll inherit eternal life. And many who are the first will be last, and the last first.

It will be worth it. Heaven is worth it. I wonder what that first second of heaven is going to be like.

I wonder what that first second is going to be like. I mean, on earth, this is pretty good. It's a pretty good life, isn't it?

Taste buds, and friendship, and music, and all kinds of things God gives us.

I mean, it's almost like heaven on earth. Like I'm post -millennial or something.

I should be. But how about heaven? No wonder some great theologians talk about, do you know what?

Heaven will be so great that even the best thing on earth compared to heaven will have seemed like, that thing on earth will seem like a veritable hell.

2 Corinthians, it says, for this momentary light affliction, is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

As we look, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

It's all going to be worth it. Everybody that's followed Christ at the sake of their riches, their family, their friends, their reputation, their bankroll, it's all been worth it.

Number six. This is not in the text, but I want to make sure we understand it when it comes to evangelism.

After the law has been preached and they realize who they are, the response that they need to have, so what we must tell people is to believe.

The response to the Gospel is to believe. The response to the Gospel is we don't say to them, you've got to stop your sinning in order to come to Christ.

That would be wrong. We need to say to them as Thomas Brooks did, he that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, be his sins ever so many.

But he that believeth not on the Lord Jesus must be damned, neither his sins be ever so few.

Jesus said regularly, he who believes has eternal life. Paul says in Acts 16, believe in the

Lord and you shall be saved. Galatians chapter 2, nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.

1 John chapter 5, the one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. When people want to respond to their sinful condition and want to embrace the

Gospel, it is through faith. It's not through altar calls. It's not through sinners' prayers.

There are people in the Bible who have prayed and not gone to heaven. Matthew chapter 7,

Lord, Lord, didn't we do all those things in your name? There are people in the Bible who haven't prayed and who've gone to heaven, the thief on the cross.

The response to the Gospel is always faith. I think repentance expresses itself in prayer.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. There's nothing wrong with praying, but you're not saved by the prayer, you're saved through faith.

Spurgeon said regarding altar calls, before you leave this place, sinner, breathe an earnest prayer to God, saying,

God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Lord, I need to be saved. Save me. I call upon Thy name. Lord, I am guilty.

I deserve wrath. Lord, I cannot save myself. Lord, I would have a new heart and a right spirit, but what can

I do? Lord, I can do nothing. Come and work in me to do of Thy good pleasure.

That's like the heart of a person that says, God, I just need Your help. Remember Solomon?

What did Solomon pray for? Trick question. Solomon prayed for something. God said, whatever you ask,

I'll give you. Solomon prayed for what? Wrong answer. If you read the text, you'll see he prayed for discernment.

And God gave him wisdom and discernment, but I want to know what's right and wrong. And that kind of prayer, God just loves to answer generously and above and beyond.

I had lunch with a pretty influential businessman in California, a mover and shaker in the evangelical world.

And I said, any kind of advice you have for a young guy like me? We're talking about decision making and life.

He said, here's what I do often in my office. I have to make a decision.

He said, I just put my hands in my face and say, God, Your servant is so stupid.

Help me. I thought, if he can do it, I can do it. With a lot more truth too.

I mean, that's just the way God is, whether it's to His children. God, give me mercy and wisdom and insight.

Or to someone who says, you know what, I'm at the end of my rope. I am sinful and I am condemned. But God, I know You love sinners.

I know You're merciful to sinners. I know Jesus comes to rescue sinners just like me.

God. And then finally, number seven.

Number seven. When it comes to evangelism, don't ever forget that God is sovereign in salvation.

God's sovereign in salvation. Now, sometimes we end at chapter 19 and we forget there's a little word that starts chapter 20.

I'm not going to do a detailed exposition, but reading the passage will almost suffice.

Well, it would suffice, but I'll add a few things. Verse 20, "'For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of his house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.'"

You see this pattern in Matthew. There's this ebb and flow between narrative and then discourse, and then narrative and discourse.

He just got done teaching the people. Now He's going to teach them a little bit more. Then there's going to be a little more narrative. And we're just ebbing and flowing and you can just kind of almost subjectively feel it.

The kingdom of heaven, the way God does things. How does God do things? What's His perspective on things?

Like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

Get up, start the day at 6 o 'clock back in those days, end at 6 at night. And what do you do when you need help?

You go down to Home Depot and there are 35 guys standing out there, and you hire some. Am I right?

That's exactly what's going on here. You guys are all laughing at me like I'm some kind of political thing or something now.

Side note, just to intercept. This is really a side note. This is like a stream of consciousness.

There have been some of you in the past that have tried to put little voting guides over here. There are no voting guides allowed at the church.

Why? Because we're a church. We're a church. We don't have voting guides.

Who to vote for? Just check Republican all the way down. All the way. That's not what we're going to do.

We don't have voting guides here. Trust in the sovereignty of God. We trust in the way

God does things. How does God do things? I don't know why this master needed to have more workers.

Maybe it's harvest time for the grapes. Maybe there's some planting. Maybe there's some rocks that fell in this little terraced vineyard.

I don't know. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, that's a good wage.

That's a nice wage. That's a Roman soldier's wage for a day. It's a full day's work pay. He sent them into the vineyards.

Man, they had to be happy. There's 50 guys there, and you chose 10 of us. Yay. What do those other 40 do?

Some were chosen. Some were not. It's all based on who I want to choose.

Can't I choose who I want to choose? Yes. And going about third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

It's 9 o 'clock now. I need some more workers. Some are still standing around. And to them, he said, go into the vineyard too, and whatever's right,

I'll give you. Great. I'm just glad to be picked. I mean, back in those days, there's no Social Security. There's no unemployment insurance.

There's nothing like that. I'm just glad to pick. You seem like you own the thing. You gave them a denarius.

Whatever's right, you pay. Deal. I go. It's going to be appropriate. I can trust you. So they went.

Going out again about the 6th hour and the 9th hour, he did the same. Sabbath's coming. Maybe we better hurry up.

We don't know. About the 11th hour, 5 p .m., he went out and found others standing.

He said to them, why do you stand here idle all day long? Well, no one's hired us. Go into the vineyard too.

And the way Jesus talks and the way Jesus tells parable, there is an aha moment.

And here's the aha moment. More than that, it's like the punch -in -the -gut moment. I'm not really a boxer, but I think the only time

I really boxed much, my friend didn't bite me in the ear and bite my ear off, although that was decades to come with other people.

He punched me in the ear, and it burned so bad. I probably was 15 years old.

I had to go to the corner, pretend like I was fixing my glove and just ball my head off. This is the box to the ear right here.

And evening came. Oh, yeah, this is a nice story. Owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the labors and pay them their wages.

So far, so good. All set. And now here comes the upside down. How does

God do things? Well, I do things a certain way. You do things a certain way. How does

God do things? Beginning with the last up to the first. That's how you pay them.

Now, you've got to pay them that day. Deuteronomy and Leviticus both say, if somebody's poor, pay him at the end of the day before the sunset.

And he begins with the last group. That's the key. And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each one received a denarius.

I work one hour. I get 12 hours paid. Any of them complain?

Now, if you got hired at 3 p .m., what were you thinking? How much do you think you're going to be making now?

If you got hired at noon, how much do you think you're going to be making? I don't have my Texas Instrument little calculator right here, but I guess if I take my iPhone and turn it that way,

I could figure it out. What if you were hired at 6 a .m.?

I'm hired at 6 a .m. I've worked 12 hours. One hour, one denarius. I've worked 12 hours. How does

God do things? They thought they would receive more, verse 10, but each of them received a denarius from the first to the middle to the last.

And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house. Imperfect tense.

They kept on grumbling. Gaguzzo. Grumble, complain, mutter, whisper.

I mean, it is time to call J. Seculo. We've got to call up ACLU.

AFL -CIO. What's that, by the way? Does that still exist? I thought the

AFL got absorbed by the NFL. Isn't Johnny Cochran around yet?

Can't he help? This is not fair. These last work only one hour.

You, notice that, you have made them equal to us. You did it.

We borne the burden of the day and the scorching burners, the Chiraco heat from the east.

But he replied to one of them, friend, by the way, that word friend isn't best buddy friend, close companion friend.

It is just comrade, companion. I've got something in association with you.

Friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

I'm a man of my word. I was gracious to hire you in the first place. I did you no wrong.

By overpaying some, do I rob you of anything? I am just, but I'm also gracious.

Do you get it? How does God do things? He doesn't just do them justly. He does them graciously.

Verse 14. Take what belongs to you and go. I choose the sovereignty of the master.

I choose to give this last worker as I give to you. It's my prerogative.

It's my money. It's my field. You're my worker. I was generous to hire you in the first place.

And here's a couple burrs in your saddle before you ride away. Verse 15.

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

Or do you begrudge my generosity? I wish

ESV would have translated it for what it really is. It's agathos. It's goodness.

It's the word for good teacher. Or do you begrudge my goodness? I'm not full of fraud.

I'm not full of deception. No one's treated unfairly. It's at my expense, my land, my pay.

Verse 16, So the last will be first and the first last. God is sovereign in salvation and gives all believers the same generous, gracious salvation.

And it is all according to His riches. In Him, Ephesians 1, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which

He lavished upon us. God wishes to save.

God chooses to save. God owes no one salvation. If the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

Lord, we should be very thankful. How does God do things? He's rich in mercy because of the great love with which

He loved us. You leave everything, Peter?

There's salvation for you. Congregation, you leave everything? There's salvation for you.

God is sovereign in salvation and He does whatever He pleases. And I'd like to ask this final question and I'll end.

What should be your response if you're a Christian that God chose you? Father, I thank

You for this day. I thank You for this Word. I thank You for Jesus and His love of sinners.

And we are thankful. We like to be little sovereigns. We pick and choose our spouses, our jobs, where we live, what our favorite football teams are.

And yet sometimes, it's because of our pride, we have a hard time in recognizing that You choose.

That You choose to be generous. Everybody deserves hell and You chose some. Father, help us to be in awe that You would choose any, not because You've passed over some.

Father, I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church. I pray for me. I want to be a better evangelist. I want to talk about guilt, grace, and gratitude more.

I want to talk about sin and the Savior more. And Father, there are people across the world suffering bodily harm because they've opened their mouth and were concerned about taxes and laws, fines.