The sermon by Scott Brown explores the Parable of a Good Landowner from Matthew 20:1-16. This parable presents the kingdom of heaven through the actions of a landowner who hires laborers at various times throughout the day but pays them all equally, symbolizing God's sovereignty and grace. The sermon discusses the parable's challenging nature and its implications for understanding God's character. Brown outlines different interpretations, including the timing of the Jews and Gentiles' calling, the allegorical approach of salvation at different life stages, and the emphasis on God's amazing grace. The sermon highlights the parable's message that God's ways differ from human expectations of fairness, urging believers to appreciate God's sovereign generosity. It also addresses the disciples' pride and the need to understand salvation as a gift from God rather than a reward for labor. Ultimately, the parable underscores the themes of divine justice, mercy, and the unexpected nature of God's kingdom.

Turn with me to Matthew chapter 20. We'll be reading verses 1 through 16. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarii a day, he sent them into the vineyard, and he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you." So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.

And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle and said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day?' They said to him, because no one hired us. He said to them, you also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive. So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first. And when those who were hired about the eleventh hour, they received a denarius. But When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more, and they likewise received each a denarius.

And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to the last man the same as to you.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first and the first last, for many are called but few are chosen. Pray with me. Oh God, we thank you for this passage.

We thank you that it helps us to understand your character and your relationship with us, Father. Lord, we just pray that you would help us to be grateful servants and that we would be yours in that day. We thank you for this text and I pray that you'd open our hearts to hearing it preached this morning. I pray these things in your name. Amen.

You have an outline in front of you, you'll notice that I've divided this text up in a number of sections. And I'd like to begin with some introductory words that really speak about parables. And then secondly, I'd like to speak about the context of the words that are here that the Lord Jesus has for his disciples. And then I'd like to also give some of the popular interpretations. This is one of the most creatively applied texts in the Bible.

I've heard a couple of people say it's probably the hardest parable in scripture. I think that's probably true. So I'd like to go through some of the interpretations. And then working through the exposition, section by section. I've divided into these four sections here, as you can see.

And then the interpretation of the various elements of the parable, and then finally some applications. So with that, I'd like to just begin to remind us about the beauty and the power of these parables. This parable, like all the other parables, they stretch us to think in ways beyond our normal thinking. For example, after the conversation with the rich young ruler, the disciples were astonished at what he'd said. And they said, now who can be saved?

And in this parable, we also find a very shocking principle, a very shocking action on the part of a landowner. And culminating with the same statement that the Lord Jesus used when he was speaking of the rich and young ruler. The first shall be last and the last first, for many are called, but few are chosen. And so what parables do is they make us think, I didn't know God was like that. I didn't know people were like that.

I didn't know that heaven was really like that. And the parables, they shock us just in the same way that when Jesus said what he did, the disciples were astonished. That's what parables do. They take us out of our own thinking about almost everything in life. And they take us into kind of a different world.

But I think one of the most important things that parables do is they help us think about ourselves as well, not just God. Here the focus is the landowner is God. But they also help us say this, I didn't know I was like that. And so this parable is very consistent in that sense. And the parables show us that God is not like we thought He was, that people are not like we thought they were, and that we're not like who we thought we were.

And so here the Lord is disclosing to his disciples more about the nature of the king and the kingdom and the laborers. Those are the three primary categories of people that are explained here. And he explains how the king chooses those who would work in his vineyard. And he shows them how he rewards them. And the way he rewards them is not the way that normal landowners reward at all.

He is so different. He is such a different landowner. In fact, he's such a good landowner. He's better than any landowner you ever saw. We'll get to that later.

And so the question we have to ask when we're going through parables is, what is God showing us about the king of the kingdom? Because most of the parables in Matthew are about the king and his kingdom. And, you know, how does he act? How does he think? And it just challenges us to ask, do we want a God who thinks like we think?

Do we want a God who acts like we act? Do we want a God that's at least as compassionate as we are? Do we want a God that is at least as loving as we are? Is that the kind of God that we want? Well, the God that is in the parables is a God completely different than the God made in your own image.

And so here I think we find a landowner not made in the image of man. He's very, very different. And here, the landowner says that he's doing what is right. He says, go into the harvest and whatever is right I will give you. So you can, we'll see that.

We'll see what is right. And what is right in this kingdom is the first shall be last and the last shall be first. For many are called, but few are chosen." That's really the heart of this parable. And it confirms what Matthew 21 verse 31 says, assuredly I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. That's just not the way that you would normally think about who should enter the kingdom of God.

So parables are wonderful and we have so many of them. And then the context here also helps us to understand what is the driving point that the Lord Jesus is trying to make here. And of course, he's talking about the fact that in the Kingdom of God, the first shall be last and the last first, and the last shall be first and the first last. And he's just been speaking to the rich young ruler. And the rich young ruler said to him, I've done everything that the law has said.

What more can I do? And What do I lack? And then the Lord Jesus says that it's hard for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. In fact, it's impossible. And With men, it is impossible.

But with God, it is possible. In fact, all things are possible. And then after the Lord says this to the rich young ruler, then Peter turns to the Lord. He says, well, what about us? We've left everything and we've followed you.

And then the Lord is telling them about their sitting on thrones that they will have enormous rewards, 100-fold kind of rewards, just rewards beyond imagination. The kingdom of heaven is about the increase that God gives to those who are called into His kingdom. And they're given such enormous abundance. And the Lord says, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last." So that's the whole context.

This parable can't be understood without realizing what has just happened because it's unfortunate there's a chapter break here because there's no break in the conversation at all. It's one conversation that began with the rich young ruler, the Lord Jesus instructing his disciples, and then his telling this parable. And so he's just told the disciples they would sit on thrones. He's just told them about rewards. And so now the Lord is going to instruct them further about rewards.

Now, it's quite possible the disciples had been swelling up with pride here. They were realizing that they would have such great reward. And we know that pride was an issue with the disciples. And They're thinking about what great reward they have, but sometimes they don't think rightly about their rewards and exactly how it is that they could even possibly have any kind of reward at all. And so I think he's tempering their pride here with this parable.

And he's going to tell them that he saves whom he will save. It's the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. In verses 14 and 15 he says, I wish to give to this last man the same as you? Is it not lawful for me to do as I wish with my own things?" And so he chooses who will come. Because in this parable, God is the mastermind of salvation.

He plans, God plans redemption, Christ accomplishes redemption, and then the Word of God and the Holy Spirit applies the redemption. And here is the beginning of that, and also an allusion to the fruitfulness in the vineyard, the actual work that's done for the kingdom of heaven. And so The rich young ruler was called just like Peter and Andrew, but all of them were not chosen. The rich young ruler was called, but he was not chosen. So that's the context.

The first shall be last and the last first. Many are called, but few are chosen. Because tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of heaven before the most likely to enter the kingdom of heaven. And so there are a number of popular interpretations. You know, there are many interpretations.

I've never listened to so many interesting sermons on this text. One thing I'm doing, I've hardly ever listened to sermons of others my whole life. This year I'm trying to listen to more sermons that are not my own, which is helpful. But I actually listened to a number of absolutely amazing sermons on this passage of Scripture. Now I'm going to just give you three popular interpretations.

They're actually more than that, but I think these are the ones that, at least these are the ones that I've heard in my reading of the several commentaries that I have and in some of the sermons. Now, just at the outset, I'm going to give you three views. I'm not confident that these three different approaches are mutually exclusive. I think that you can take some from each of these interpretations. How's that?

So that's my opinion. Number one, here's the first. This is all about the Jews and the Gentiles and the timing of their call. The Jews are called early and the Gentiles are called late. Matthew Henry represents this view.

And he presents it as the blessings of the New Covenant. And for example, I'll just read you out of the Nelson study Bible. The workers with the contract represent Israel. They had the promises and the covenants. Those without an agreement represent the Gentiles, who would be made equal with the Jewish people when salvation became available to all and through faith in Jesus Christ.

And so it's about the great advantages that God offers to the Gentiles. The filthy goyim, the adulterous, defiled people who did not follow God. The opposite of those who had the advantages of the Jews. As the apostle Paul says, what advantage has the Jew? What profit in circumcision?

Paul says, much in every way, but, but, and that's Matthew Henry's point, that the workers who are hired first, the Jews are later going to complain. They represent the Jews. And the Jews, while enjoying the blessings of the Old Covenant become unhappy that the Gentiles will share it. They actually become jealous as a result of it and so That's the new covenant, old covenant interpretation. And I think there's significant merit to that.

Then there's what I'm just going to call the allegorical approach. And most modern preachers take this tack here. And that is that you may be saved early in life and you may be saved late in life. Turn now. How many of you ever heard a sermon like that coming out of this text?

Well that's pretty, I'm pretty sure that's the majority of the way that these sermons and you know Spurgeon is a great example of this. I listened to one of the most riveting, powerful sermons I've ever heard by a preacher who took this attack. His name was Ian Paisley, who was preaching this, and he titled the sermon, 60 Minutes Left. There's 60 minutes left! You're at the last hour, there's one hour left, and you missed the first hour, this is the third, the ninth, Now there are only 60 minutes left.

And so he's pleading with the congregation to turn because there's no time left to turn. And it is true. Christ goes out many times and issues the call of the gospel. He comes to people in different seasons in their lives. He does come to some young.

And they spend their whole lives in laboring in the vineyard. And some he calls later, some in midlife. And so it is true. I think you can make that application. I did have a sort of thought today, this morning, just sitting here, that this is Father's Day.

If you want to take the allegorical approach, Hey, wouldn't this be a great Father's Day sermon? The first shall be last. You're a father. The first shall be last. That's the allegorical interpretation.

And then the third interpretation would be, I'm just going to call it God's amazing grace. And that is that everyone will be rewarded alike. Not that there aren't any rewards, okay mind you, but that the reward in heaven is given to all believers. Every tear is wiped from every eye, every sorrow is vanquished, and there is heavenly joy. You enter, every single person enters into the joy of their master.

And so there's this extolling of God's sovereign generosity, and it's a very common view. And now one of the aspects of this is that, you know, if you believe you're going to have it, don't concern yourself with rewards. I think that's sort of a side show in some of these interpretations. So these are three of the main views. Like I said before, I think there are elements of each of these that are legitimate to extracting this passage.

That you go into the vineyard and God will give you what is right, what is right. The Lord says to Peter, I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And in Matthew 18 verse 3, he says, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And in chapter 18 verse 4, he took a little child and he said, whoever Therefore humbles himself like a little child, for such is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." And in 1914 he says, suffer the little children and do not forbid them to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven." And then he said, a rich man, it's hard for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. And now here, here in this parable, He says that you get into the kingdom.

How do you get in? The landowner has to hire you. That's how you get in. The landowner has to take action while you are standing idle. And then there's so much about what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in the field. It's like a mustard seed. It's like leaven. It's like treasure hidden in the field. It's like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls and a dragnet and a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And it was like a king who arranged a marriage for his son. It's like 10 virgins. It's like a man traveling to a far country. And it's also like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. So this parable tells us both sides of the things that parables often tell us.

How do you get into the Kingdom of Heaven? And then what is actually the Kingdom of Heaven like? And so both of these are there. Now, in Matthew 20, the owner goes out early to hire workers. And He's out there doing the work.

He's not a passive landowner. You would think if you were a landowner like this, you would be at home having breakfast with your family while your steward is out hiring the laborers. Not this one. This landowner is working. The Lord Jesus said, I and my father am working.

We're always working. And so this landowner is different than many other landowners. He's actually working. And he calls people to work in his vineyard, and he gives them work to do. So in this, the kingdom of heaven is a place of labor.

It's a place of fruit bearing. It's working in a vineyard. And what is a vineyard for? It's to produce things. A vineyard has an output, that there are things that happen as a result of the labors in the vineyard.

So the Kingdom of Heaven is about laboring in the vineyard, bearing fruit in that sense. And so in the vineyard there are, there's the landowner, there's the steward, there's his people, and it's a beautiful thing to enter into the vineyard of the Lord and to spend your years laboring there. And so here is this beautiful picture of a vineyard with a very kind landowner who invites people into that vineyard so that they would have meaningful labor. They were standing idle. They were involved in worthless engagements.

But now they're involved in fruitful labor in a vineyard. And also, they're working alongside the vineyard to carry out the things that he has established. Notice the landowner rises up early to call the workers to work. This is where I think you see the connection with Israel and the church. The prophets, Jeremiah emphasizes this over and over again in the prophets, in his prophecy, where he says that he was rising up early and speaking.

I'll just read Jeremiah 7.13. That says, the Lord, I spoke to you rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear. And I called you, but did not answer. In the wilderness there was a call to obey in Jeremiah 11 verse 17. I earnestly exhorted your father in the day I brought them up from out of the land of Egypt until this day, rising early and exhorting saying, obey my voice." Now there are, there's almost a dozen references like this in Jeremiah.

I've got them written down here, but I won't go through them all. But in Jeremiah, God sends prophets to gather the saints by rising up early. And perhaps this landowner is compared there. It's not explicit in the text. But what we do know is that when God says what He says through the prophet Jeremiah, He's calling people to abandon their life of idleness, to repent, and come and labor in his vineyard.

And he rises up early in order to do that. And then in verses 8 through 9, the laborers are paid. And this is where the story finds its tension. So an evening had come. The owner of the vineyard said to his steward, call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.

And when those who were hired about the 11th hour, they received a denarius. Now, what the landowner does is he completely reverses the normal way of paying. Normally, you would pay the first and then the last. And here, the landowner, he pays the last first and the first last. And so the first group gets paid only for working one single hour.

Now, the Jews had a 12-hour work day. Some of you think that 12 hours is just such massively taxing labor. You just couldn't, you couldn't survive under such abuse. Well, the Jewish workday was 12 hours, so That was normal. And so the first group, though, started working at the 11th hour.

So if you set $100 for a day's labor, what you have here is these last workers are getting paid an enormous amount per hour. The first workers are getting paid a normal amount per hour. So the first group is going to be paid only working one hour. The second group is going to be paid only working three hours. The third group only working six hours.

The fourth group nine hours. And then there's the original group who worked 12 hours. And they all get paid the same. Now how fair is that to pay all these subgroups the same. Everybody gets the same, no matter how long they work.

What's that all about? This is a really different landowner. This is not your father's landowner. I'm telling you, he's really, really different. And the workers say it's not fair.

And so now we're forced to think about all of our understandings about fairness. And here is a disclosure of the fairness of God. It helps us to reconsider whether we really like fairness or whether we really like grace. Now most of us like fairness some of the time, but not all of the time. But all of us like grace all of the time.

When it applies to us, and I think that's what's being dealt with here, is that men and women have such a double standard, But God is so different than men and women, and we're forced here to deal with this whole matter of injustice. Is there injustice with God? That's the question with this landowner. And I think that the key to this, to this, at least this part of the parable, is just a disclosure of his sovereign generosity toward his people. I hope we can grasp that today.

I mean, when we walk out of here today, or when we begin the fellowship, are we filled with a sense of just how generous God has been with us? Are our hearts made so happy with the generosity that we've received? Or are we thinking about somebody else and what they have? That's the tendency. Marxism has just gotten so hold of us that we're always playing one up, upmanship with one other, just exactly like the disciples, when they said, well, what about us?

What about us? Well, the last will be first and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen. And tax collectors and harlots enter the Kingdom of Heaven before you. Because God's sense of fairness is not yours and it's not mine.

Are you thankful for that? I mean, would it be a good thing if God adopted your sense of fairness, your sense of justice, the way that you meet out love, the way that you make decisions about people. Do you want Him to have your ways? And so here the Lord Jesus is with his disciples and they're astonished at how different this landowner is. And then of course there are the complaints in verses 10 through 12.

But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more. And likewise, they each received a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, these last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. So they're challenging now the landowner for his sense of justice and grace. And I think this is the same thing that happened with the Jews and the Gentiles.

We see this in Acts chapter 22. We see it in Acts chapter 11, where the Jews did not accept the Gentiles and the Apostle Paul had to say, is there partiality with God? Because the firsts are last. The new covenant and the old covenant are implied here. In Acts chapter 11 when Peter has the vision of the clean and the unclean, he's teaching Peter not to reject the Gentiles because he wanted to.

It was in his heart to have a legal economy rather than a gracious economy like this landowner had. And so there was a tremendous amount of tumult as a result. It's a little bit like Jonah who complained against God because of his grace toward the Ninevites. And there's This matter of the evil eye, the eye of envy. The eye is both the inlet and the outlet for envy, right?

You develop it both ways. Here is this eye of envy that's brought up that some say that they're better than others and they don't deserve as much because they are better. I think most of us are like that. We think that we're generally better than the other people around us. Most problems in marriage happen because a wife thinks she's better than her husband, or her husband thinks she's better than their wife.

It happens in friendships, it happens in church. People think that they're smarter, more discerning, more insightful. They're just better, and so they exalt themselves. This is human nature. And here the Lord is teaching his disciples not to despise the last, not to despise the filthy goyim, the ones who defile themselves by the world and came in so late that didn't have the covenants, that didn't have the promises, that weren't living a cleaned up life.

Don't despise them. And so they were grumbling. They still worked and they were still paid. But there's really no need for grumbling because the Jews and the Gentiles are made one through Christ. That didn't completely occur to the disciples at this point.

They hadn't received the instruction. They were just getting these early deposits. The Lord was taking them by degrees to understand His grace. And that's why we read in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13, but now in Christ, Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity." There is enmity.

There is enmity. And Jesus is abolishing it here. That is, the law of commandments contain in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who are near." So these first hired complain, they're doing what human nature does. And then the landowner's explanation in verses 13 through 16, but he answered one of them and said, friend, friend, I am doing you no wrong.

Did you not agree with me for Daenerys? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things, or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first and the first last, for many are called but few are chosen." Now, you see In this last section, you see the love of God.

He calls those who are complaining His friends. He's such a patient landowner, really. You see the justice of God. He says, I'm not doing you any wrong. You think this is wrong, you have to begin to think like me.

I'm not doing you any wrong. And you see the sovereignty of God. He says, is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? So you see the love of God, you see the justice of God, and you see the sovereignty of God, all in this one phrase that the Lord Jesus uses here, as he's representing this landowner. And he's saying the same thing that the apostle Paul said in Romans 9.

Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills or runs, but on him who shows mercy." We could go to John 6.44 and come across the exact same idea. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. They shall all be taught of God. And no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him. And so he's stating this principle. It's the Father who draws and calls, and the Holy Spirit is used as the agent in order to do that.

And so the nature of God is that He is good. And the nature of salvation is that the last will be first and the first last. I think it's a warning too. I do think this is a warning. Do not become like the first who will be the last.

Today is the day of salvation. Cry out to God. You might be a little boy or a girl. You might be in midlife. You might be late.

But cry out to God. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. There are some who are first and they think so highly of themselves. And then there are the last who have low thoughts of themselves and have an opinion of their unworthiness and a sense of God's grace that has been granted to them. You know, the first could be those who have grown up in Christian homes and who think they're somehow spiritually privileged because of their homes.

And you know, you're growing up in a Christian home, can't save you as an evangelist used to say, any more than going into a garage makes you a car. You receive salvation because God draws you and He gives it to you. And so Christ is correcting so many things here. Their understanding of rewards, that anything we get, we get it because we work for it. He's correcting that.

He's saying that no laborers ever merit what we get from God. No laborers merit what we ever get from God. No laborers merit what we ever get from God. No labor's merit what we ever get from God. That's absolutely one of the central points of Jesus' teaching here.

So the disciples, they just continue to be astonished by the Lord Jesus. And He shows them how little they know about God. And it's meant to shock and surprise them and to give them such an unexpected situation so that they would know how different they are from God. For many are called but few are chosen. Now the Lord uses the word eclectos for chosen.

This is the doctrine of unconditional election. Because the last will be first and the first last. For many are called and few are chosen. And that's why tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. So let's look at the interpretation of some of these characters and the meanings here.

Of course, this is about the kingdom of heaven. It's about the way that things work, the way that God has wired them in the world. You cannot unwire the way that God has wired the world and His kingdom rules and reigns. The landowner, of course, is God. He takes care of his vineyard through his servants.

And he's no ordinary landowner. He pays so well. There's no other landowner who would pay like this. There's no other landowner who would come and put the dregs of society to work and then pay them the same thing he pays the very best workers that he picked up at the beginning of the day. Have you ever gone to a day labor site there?

A couple of them here and all. There's one down near Sands. You go down there and there are all kinds of people there in the morning, and there are a lot less in the afternoon. They're a little bit more bedraggled kind of people in the afternoon. That's the way it is.

People drive up in their pickup trucks, and they pick out the best workers. Some of them they've hired before, and they know who the best workers are, so they pick the best workers at the beginning. But what landowner would pay the way this landowner pays? I guarantee you there's not a landowner down there that pays that way, because this is a different landowner. And then there's the vineyard.

This is where the workers are working and they're bearing fruit. Some have complaints, but they're being instructed by their hand owner. And then there's the pay. There's the denarius. It was a good wage for a day's labor at that time.

I believe it's reward in heaven, it's salvation. And it doesn't contradict the whole doctrine of rewards, for example in 1st Corinthians 3 verse 8, it does not negate rewards. There is a reward in heaven, but we know from 1st Corinthians 8, now he who plants and he who waters are one. And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. Here in the book of Revelation, you read about this doctrine of rewards.

We don't know that much about it, really. But there are rewards for those who labor better and more. But it's not the same as the reward in heaven that everyone receives when they enter into the joy of their master. And then there are the laborers, those who are called. All are called, but only some are chosen.

Notice how he treats them. He treats them very kindly. I believe that they are regenerate. Yeah, I do believe that they are all regenerate and yes, they perhaps did get envious and they did get a reward. But the reward that they got was far greater than any of the labor that they gave.

And there are all these different kinds of workers. I think there are, it looks like there are lots of kinds, I think there are only two kinds of workers. Those who had a contract, the first group, and those who just came and worked. Two kinds. And they came at different times throughout the work day.

And the second group, I think, were the bottom workers. Nobody wanted to hire them. I think that is God calling the most unlikely. He calls the goofy bottom of society. He calls the tax collectors and the sinners and the prostitutes and the people who have no life, and he gives them a life.

Have you ever wondered why there seem to be so many goofy people in the church? Have you ever thought of that? I remember when I was first converted, you know, a cool hip surfer boy, and I started going to this church. I'll never forget the first time I went to the beach with this church. I was so embarrassed.

And I thought, where did all these goofy people come from? Well, it took me a while to figure out I was the goofiest of them all. Because God takes the bottom of society. Not many wise. This is what a good landowner he is.

Isn't he such a good landowner? I've thought this whole parable is just about the goodness of the landowner, how kind he is, how gracious he is, how in his sovereign mercy he just calls the bottom of society and he gives them the kingdom. He's so different. Paul was a murderer, Matthew was a tax collector. God picks the failures often and the losers.

I think they thought that Rich Young Ruler was the man, and he turned out not to be the man at all. He was the man in success. He was the man in awareness of the law. Many are called, few are chosen. And then there are the men standing idle in the marketplaces.

They were not working. They were not working in the vineyard. Now, they had rejected Christ, possibly. They were brought into the world to glorify God and their thinking of themselves, although it does seem that they want to go to work. I don't know how to reconcile that in the parable, honestly.

But they are idle. The word that Jesus uses here is inactive, inoperative, indolent, unemployed, useless, unserviceable, unused, unworked, raw, crude. It's a picture of those who do not follow Jesus Christ, and they are in God's economy idle. They might have lots of things going. They might be so active.

They might have such interesting lives. God says they're idle. They are worthless workers in that sense. They're slaves to sin, they're dead in their trespasses and sins. They are without God in the world and without hope.

And then there's the murmuring of the Jews and the Gentiles, Peter, the Judaizers, the tendency in the Church to envy and murmur because of one upsmanship that never seems to go away. Hopefully by degrees it does in the church and it's cleansed. Here are some applications. Number one, remember the danger of exalting yourself. Jesus is turning the focus of the disciples away from themselves and toward God and toward what He has done.

And you know, when we have this in our minds to exalt ourselves, We find ourselves in broken relationships. Exalting yourself always ends in a broken relationship. Salvation is by sovereign grace. Focusing on what others get means that we've lost our perspective. And the dissatisfaction comes here when the workers compare themselves with one another.

They're focused on themselves. They're comparing themselves with themselves. And their focus is not on their master and his integrity and how they have been treated. And so the first workers are guilty of the sin of envy. Like the disciples, they wanted position, they wanted to be first.

But our beloved disciples were not free from the vice of envy. And yet, he calls them friend. I think that's one of the most amazing things about this parable. He calls these complainers friends. Maybe this isn't the right interpretation, but here you have these people who are not thinking right about the kingdom, and they are in the kingdom, and they are going to receive the rewards of the kingdom and God is so gracious, He works with them and He puts them into service.

We sang a song earlier today and I love this verse, praise to the Lord who doth prosper thy work and defend thee. Surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee. Ponder anew what the Almighty can do if with his love he befriended me. Think of the value of being a friend of God in this sense and God being your friend. And then secondly, check your value system on justice.

His justice is not your justice, but it's good justice. The workers are critical of him and they say, I didn't know God was like that, how could God be like that? And so here he delivers this, I'm just going to call it a two-sided generosity. You know, he gives more than is deserved, and he punishes less than is earned. Whoever wants judgment based on works will not find it here.

He justifies sinners. He justifies the early and the late. And he is just. And then number three, remember his sovereign kindness. He shocks us with a vision of himself to bless us.

The focus is the landowners here. He chooses the workers. He's the disposer of the destinies of all of his workers. And all of his work is kindness. It's for the purpose of kindness for his people.

And he engages these very imperfect people in his vineyard out of kindness. And then he gives them a way to bear fruit in life. And They never could have borne fruit without him, without his vineyard and his putting them into service. And then number five, understand what it means to live a wasted life. Every second spent outside of God's vineyard is an idle, wasted second.

So, I mean, the big question is, are you laboring in His vineyard, Or are you idle in the marketplace? You know who you are if you are laboring for yourself, or are you laboring for your master. And then finally, come to Christ. Some come early, some come late. Timothy was faithful as a youth.

The thief on the cross came at the eleventh hour. And the greatness of His mercy towards sinners is here. Sinners who can never work enough for such a great reward. Never. The Lord says to us, come work in my vineyard.

Come believe in me. Leave the side of the road, repent of your idleness. Come and receive the value of your reward that far exceeds the value of your labor. So the last will be first and the first last, for many are called and few are chosen, which is why tax collectors and harlots enter the Kingdom of Heaven before you. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Many are called and few are chosen. Oh Lord we pray that you would just so sweeten our understanding of the greatness of your kingdom. You've shown us your sovereign grace. You have shown us your sovereign mercy. You have shown us the worthlessness of our labors compared to the grace that you have for your children.

Oh Lord, that you would give us a day today, spending it hour by hour, considering what a great landowner you are and how fortunate we are that many are called but few are chosen. Amen.