Amen, and please be seated. Now, if you have a Bible, let me invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21, verses 28 through 32, as this morning we return, from our, well, to our pre-advent, pre-Christmas study in the Gospel, and we're in a section, and we're returning to a section where things get well more and more pointed. The conflict gets more and more sharp between Jesus and his adversaries, particularly the religious leaders of Israel. As we've actually seen just by way of a quick review in this chapter, Jesus has actually provoked the opposition of the leaders of Israel, and done so purposefully by his rather dramatic entrance into Jerusalem on the fold of a donkey being hailed as the king of Israel, and then by his rather dramatic entrance into the temple to cleanse it, of the money changers and all the distractions and immoral things happening, and then by his open teaching of the scriptures in the courts of the temple, and by his reception of the praise of children, who call them and shout, Hosanna, to the son of David.
They're praising him as the Messiah. He has provoked the leaders of Israel, and in the passage just before our passage today, the chief priests and the elders, you may remember in verses 23 to 27, they come up to him and they challenge him. They ask, by what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority? And Jesus in a brilliant reply asked them a question in return about John the Baptist.
He asks them, well, I'll answer your question if you answer mine, was John from heaven, or from man? Now actually the answer to that question would give them, if they answered it truly, would give them the answer to their own question, because John was from heaven, he was from God. And what was John's view of Jesus? He said, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He said, Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, all I've got is water. He said, Jesus is so great, I'm not even worthy to stoop down and untie his samples. And so if you tell me who John is, was he from God, you actually have your answer to who I am, that I'm from God. But the religious leaders thought about his question and took the cowardly way out.
They didn't want to answer who he really is, but they didn't want to say, well, John was from man, and so likewise, and so we dismiss you all, because the people actually listened to John and liked John, and they didn't want the people against themselves. And so they said to Jesus, you know, we don't know. We don't have an answer to your question. And Jesus said to them, well neither then will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
So they refuse to answer the question. And because of their attitude, Jesus told them he wouldn't tell them anymore about his authority. But now in the passage before us, we'll read it in a moment. Jesus actually flips the issue on them.
See, they've asked about authority. I mean, did God give you this authority? Do you have the authority of God to do what you're doing and say what you're saying? Now Jesus turns to the implication of his authority, which is from God, and the implication is the people, including the chief priests and elders, they ought to listen to him.
They ought to actually listen and respond in submission to him. That is, the people should agree with Jesus about Jesus. And so bow the knee to him and trust him and receive him as their Messiah and Savior and Lord, and so belong to the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of King Jesus. And in order to make his point, as we'll see in just a moment, Jesus first tells these chief priests and elders a story, kind of parable, and then he pointedly applies it to them.
So let's hear it and ask not only what does the story say about the chief priests and elders, but what does the story say about us? But even more importantly, I want us to think, when what does the story say about God the Father? So let me invite you to hear God's holy and inspired word from Matthew chapter 21 beginning here at verse 28. What do you think?
A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. But afterward he changed his mind and went. And he that is the man went to the other son and said the same, and he answered, I go, sir, but did not go.
Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, the first, Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him.
And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Amen. This is God's holy word when he cut our hearts with it. Let's look to him in prayer.
Father, lift Jesus before our eyes and by the work of your spirit help us to see you, help us to understand God and ourselves in that light. So do us good. In Jesus name I pray, amen. What do you think?
Well, that's what Jesus said to them. But what do you think? What do you make of this situation Jesus tells us about? He's a master teacher here.
Of course, he's inviting these religious leaders to consider a story and to give their assessment of the story when the story is actually about themselves. And so he has rather brilliantly, once again, gotten the opinion of the people and the opinion exposes the hearts of the people, like in a mirror, to convict them of their sins. Now for a good purpose and we'll get to that. The story, of course, that Jesus tells is about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven and those who enter it.
And one way to look at the story is to keep our eyes fixed on the two different sons. And another way to look at the story is through the eyes of the Father. And that's how I'd like us to consider it today. That is, I'd like us to see the man in the story who has a vineyard and wants his sons to share in its upkeep.
And eventually, as we would know, share in its blessings and in its fruitfulness. It's a story about God and, of course, how people relate to God. And so I want us to think about it in that light and under foreheadings. I want you to see the love of God.
I want you to consider the grief of God. I want you to see the patience of God. And then I want you to be part of the kingdom of God. Let's think about those four things.
First, don't overlook in this story the love of the Father toward his two sons. You could blow past the whole thing, of course. But Jesus says, what do you think? A man had two sons.
And he went to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. And after what he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said, the same.
Go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go. So here's a man who has a vineyard. He has this domain of land full of living vines.
And the vines need, we don't know, but what do you do with vines? They need to be watered. They might need to be fertilized. They be pruned, possibly trellised.
Maybe they need to be harvested at just the right moment. And so he asks his sons to labor in the vineyard. And yeah, it's a command. It's actually a pretty mild kind of command.
Son, would you get out there in the vineyard today and do some work? Notice, they both say no. The first one, right off says no. And the second son, walkie, says with his mouth, yes.
He doesn't go. So he says, so both the responses are initially, certainly, completely wrong. And well, you and I, we might say to ourselves, well, I get it. There are days I don't want to go do work either.
I mean, there are days I don't want to go to bed, days I don't want to go to school and learn. There are days I don't want to show up for work. You know, there are days you might say, I don't want my boss to give me a bunch of tests to do. Such is, after all, the fallen human heart.
There are days we just want to do whatever we want to do without anybody else telling us what to do. And in the face of what they tell us to do, we don't want to do it. Such is the fallen human heart. Well, let's make that a little more personal.
You know, when parents and teachers and employers and government agencies start telling us something to do, we have something to do. Sometimes we're resentful. Sometimes we're suspicious. Sometimes we just find them two demanding.
We might say to ourselves, you know, I think I'm kind of being treated like Pharaoh treated the Israelites. They're just a cruel taskmaster who doesn't care for me as a laborer. Oh, no, Pharaoh, after all, enslaved them. Pharaoh demanded they obey.
Pharaoh required them to build for him and for his benefit, not theirs. And Pharaoh didn't lift a finger to help them. In fact, he made it harder for them. You may remember that story.
Pharaoh required them to make the same number of bricks for the buildings, but he took away the straw and said, y'all go find your own straw, make your own bricks, but you can't cut back at all. He made life and purposefully so miserable for them. And they felt oppressed because they were oppressed. Pharaoh didn't love them.
Pharaoh didn't care about them. Pharaoh didn't help them. And Pharaoh wasn't about to share the fruit of their labor with them. What I want us to see in the story Jesus tells is that the man in this story, the father in this story is not like Pharaoh.
It's a story of anyone's a vineyard. He also has two sons, not slaves. And the sons are loved by their father. He has provided for them.
He has clothed them. He has fed them. He has sheltered them. And we don't know if they're still living in his home.
Or if they built themselves homes on his property. But this is a family vineyard to be worked together. And he's inviting them. Well, notice, first of all, he's inviting them to share in important, meaningful, productive responsibility in the vineyard.
And then to share in the blessings of it, right? Yes, he's telling them to labor in the vineyard. But he isn't doing it because he hates them, or he wants to hurt them. And he isn't doing it simply for his own enrichment.
No, think who these guys are. They're sons. They're the beneficiaries of the fruitfulness of the vineyard. They are, in fact, the eventual inheritors of the vineyard.
What the father asked them to do is actually for their own good and for their own benefit and for their own profit. But we see the foolishness of sin here, don't we? Proverbs 28, 19 says, whoever works is land will have plenty of bread. But he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.
Now, the proverb, of course, isn't saying that everybody has to be a farmer or a gardener and that you have to work whatever plot will land you. Oh, and of course, it's talking about, though, our labor, our work, whatever God has called us to do, do it. It's the chief way that God gives us our daily bread, whatever God commands. So now, step back from that to the larger point.
Whatever God commands us to do is also for our good. And ultimately, for our benefit and blessing, even as it's for his own glory, that is, whatever God asks us to believe, it's true and right and good and squares with reality. It's not deceptive or foolish or meant to trip us up. And whatever God asks us to do is true and right and good.
And loving, his law is, after all, the law of perfect love. And as God told Moses and passed on to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 5, 29, after giving them again, a reiteration of the 10 commandments, God himself says, oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always so that it might go well with them and their children forever. You want to know what the law of God is about? You want to know what the 10 commandments are about?
Oh, that it would be well with you and your children forever. That's the heart of the Father here. He's no Pharaoh. God commands because he loves us.
His commands flow from a heart of love for us. And he invites us into, in being obedient to this command, the life of love, the way of his commands is the pathway of love. The Father in this story here is telling your sons to go out and work in the vineyard. It's the family vineyard and they're gonna be the beneficiaries.
And so it's beneficial to them to work in the vineyard. And well, God is like that too. He invites you to be part of his kingdom, to labor in his kingdom. And he gets the glory that you get everlasting good from him.
That's the first thing I want you to think. I want you to see the love of God the Father here. Because if you think God is like Pharaoh, you won't respond at all like the prostitutes and the tax collectors did. I want you to see the love of the Father for these boys, but then consider in light of the boys responses, consider the grief of the Father because of the reluctance of his two sons.
I mean, the man went to his first son, said, son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he said, I will not. And so before you get the detail that later he changes his mind, you understand that he got that, I will not. And then he went to the other son who said, I will, sir, and did not.
He got bad responses from both of them on the front end. And let's just sit in that for a moment and think about this Father who loves his sons and wants the best for them, who invites them to share an important meaningful productive responsibility in the vineyard and to share in the blessings of it, a Father who has the right responsibility to call them to enter into this labor. And the first son says, I will not. And it's very curt.
It's short. It's not respectful. It's a flat-out refusal. I will not do what you want me to do.
No way, Jose. So he goes to the second son. Notice how polite he is. I go, sir.
He says, sir. It's polite, it's respectful, it seems positive. But his words are just what the Father wants to hear. His actions are what the Father wants to see.
Just sit in there. A reluctant child can be so vexing to a parent. He asks them to do a small task and they never seem to get it done. He asks them to clean up their messy room.
And an hour later, you find them playing video games in a pig's eye. You ask your daughter to take the mail out to the mailbox. And well, a couple hours later, you ask, has she done it? No, it's in her back pocket, but the mail carrier has come and gone.
And I suppose if you own a vineyard and say the grapes needed harvesting today, for tomorrow would be too late, the crop would be lost. And your son says, I won't do it. Or he says, I will do it. But he doesn't.
So vexing with that bee. Proverbs chapter 10 verse 26 says, like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slugger to those who send him. Now there was a flat out refusal in our story. But even just one who's slowly, barely, it's like smoking your eyes.
Proverbs 1725 says, a foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him. Just sit in that. And now let's go a little further because it's easy for adults to pick on little ones and parents to think about the disobedience of their children. But what about us?
Our Heavenly Father has asked many a thing of us, which we have failed to do. He's asked us to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He's asked us to love one another as we love ourselves. Don't you think we're like vinegar in his teeth and smoking his eyes?
I mean, is he not right? Is it not right that the disobedience of men and women and boys and girls should grieve him? Isn't that what scripture tells us almost from the very beginning? In Genesis 6, when it speaks the truth, when in the days of no, it says that God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every intention of the heart of man was only evil all the time.
And the Lord was sorry he had made the man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. He was deeply troubled in his heart. He was sad in his heart. Such is his love for his creatures, that their waywardness and their wickedness and their reluctance to serve him is a grief to him.
It couldn't be otherwise. So as we sit in this, don't sit yourself down next to Jesus. He's the one telling the story, but you're not on his side in this story. Oh, we could throw stones at these brothers all day long, easy to do.
But we're all like one of these two sons. And insofar as both of them disobeyed their father, even if one of them eventually does repent, both of them gave the wrong response and that's exactly us. So we think of the love of the father. And surely we have to think of the grief of this father.
But then notice the patience of this father toward his reluctant sons. I mean, it may be a simple point, but don't overlook it. One said, I will not, but then he did. The other said, I go, sir, but never did go.
And Jesus asked, which of the two did the will of his father? And they said, the first, and Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, the tax collectors of the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. Jesus says the tax collectors of the prostitutes are like this son who changed his mind. And he goes on to say in verse 32, for John came to you in the way of righteousness and you didn't believe him.
But the tax collectors of the prostitutes believed him. That is, John the Baptist came to them in the way of righteousness. He spoke what is right. He commanded what was right.
He called the people to repent of their sins, trust in the Messiah for their salvation. And these chief priests and elders of Israel did not believe John. And they didn't repent. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.
Now just for a moment, think how shocking this must have been to the sensibilities of these religious leaders. I mean, it'd be hard pressed in their day to pick two bigger pariahs to them than a tax collector. I mean, they were despised because as they collected taxes for the government, they were notorious for skimming money off the top to get rich quick. They were notorious for strong arming people, for inflating the real value of what was being taxed just so the tax collector could take it to the bank for himself.
Plus many of the tax collectors were Jewish. Mythic of Matthew, bubbly by when Jesus called himself. Many of them were Jewish, but working for the Roman government as it imposed taxes on the Jews. And so many of them were considered to be both unfaithful traders and untrustworthy thieves.
They were despised by people. We hadn't gotten too far from that in our own day. And I'm not saying you ought to despise your local tax collector. And then Jesus mentions prostitutes.
I mean, what they did was scandalous. Nobody approved of it, certainly in polite society, even if on the down low wicked men were engaging. You consider the patience of God with them to be a thieving tax collector or a scandalous prostitute or some other notorious sinner. You have to grow up and you have to make choices in life.
And somewhere along the line, bad choices. Choices that break the commandments, not to covet, not to steal, not to commit adultery. Choices that break the commandment requiring you to love your neighbor. And the choices these made were not a one off.
It's not that they had fallen badly and quickly repented and put it behind them. No, these are their occupations. They're all in on this as a way of life. Your God was patient for them with them.
You waited them out. You let them live as they continued in sin. Until just the right time they came to their senses into the preaching of John the Baptist, repented of their sins and embraced them asiah and went a different way. So why was God patient with them?
Why not wipe them off the face of the earth like God cleansed the earth in Noah's flood? And why does God still permit people to live and lost and lie and be unloving? Because God is patient. He is waiting for all who will repent to repent.
Until another way to put it is the whole number of the elect have safely entered into the kingdom of heaven and he will not put an end to it all, not a day sooner. And so people like Annie Lobert, who founded the organization Hookers for Jesus, an international Christian faith-based nonprofit that addresses prostitution, sex trafficking, sexual violence and exploitation, link to pornography and the sex industry. Annie herself at 18 became a prostitute, but God was patient with her long suffering. While for 16 years she was a prostitute.
Until by his grace she came to faith in the Lord Jesus and began a ministry to help all those exploited. Or people like David Berkowitz, some of you will have heard of him, perhaps better known as the son of Sam or the 44 caliber killer, serial killer who terrorized New York in the 1970s. He was caught sentenced to six consecutive life sentences, one each for each of the six people he killed. In 1987 Berkowitz became a Christian in prison.
According to his personal testimony, his moment of conversion occurred after reading Psalm 34 verse six from a Bible given to him by a fellow inmate, Psalm 34 verse six, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. He says now, don't call me son of Sam. Call me son of hope. Unless we think of prison conversions, I mean, how much can you believe that?
Well, he works on a prison ministry. And though every two years he's entitled to a parole hearing, according to law, he consistently refuses to ask to be released in a letter to the governor of New York. He wrote it all honestly, I believe that I deserve to be in prison for the rest of my life. I have with God's help long ago come to terms with my situation and have accepted my punishment.
The first he thought he should refuse to go to the, oh, what do they call it? The prison, what do they call it? Gee, I'm getting off my notes and now here we are. Parole hearing, because he simply didn't want to be paroled and then he thought, but that might appear to be disrespectful to all these people who've gathered.
So then I'll go because I want to show them respect even as I ask them not to give me parole. People like Annie Lobert, Prostitute, and David Berkowitz, a serial killer, have entered the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because the God who loves them and in love grieves their sin is yet patient with them and by his grace.
He brought them the good news about Jesus and they repented and entered. Well, frankly, many a religious leader, like these chief priests and elders, remain yet outside the kingdom as Jesus notes. So Jesus sums up his story rather pointedly, and in verse 31, truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him and even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your mind or repent and believe.
So he rebukes them. He rebukes them justly for not changing their minds about the testimony of John. He rebukes them for not believing John's testimony about Jesus. He rebukes them for not recognizing the authority of John and the authority of Jesus is coming from God.
And he rebukes them for being like the son who said to his father, I go, but never did. But even in his rebuke, he is loving them. He's actually inviting them to be like the first son who said, well to the father, no, I will not serve you. I will not do what you tell me to do.
But afterward, change his mind and did. Jesus here in such a pointed rebuke desired to shake them out of their spiritual sloth and he desired to win these men for the kingdom of heaven. And we know that some of them were won. At least we know this in Acts chapter six, it pointedly says, and many of the chief priests became obedient to the faith.
That is, they trusted in Jesus as the true high priest and Messiah. They began to believe that Jesus is the son of God and Savior of sinners and they changed their mind and trusted in him. And that brings us to our last point, which is you only enter the kingdom of heaven through repentance and faith in Jesus. You're either like the chief priests and elders who won't repent or you like the prostitutes and text collectors who do repent.
And I invite you today, because today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation, because today Jesus is offered to you as the Savior of sinners and invites you to repent of your sins and put your trust in him. Why must Jesus save you from your sins? Because God had, well, let's call him a first son named Adam.
And he too said, no, I will not live with you in your garden like you command. And all of us are like that disobedient first man. Why, that's why you must be safe from your sins. But why can Jesus save you from your sins?
Because God had another son. The Bible calls him the last Adam. It's Jesus. And he said yes to his father.
And he kept on saying yes to his father. And he always did what pleases the father. He offered himself to God to be for us all our righteousness before God. And he offered himself to God to be the one who was justly condemned in our place for our sins.
And so I would say to some of you who are sitting here today, you know you've done what God has forbidden you to do and know that you have not done all that God has asked of you to do. And you're thinking there is no way God would ever forgive someone like me. I'm saying to you, Jesus is saying to you, God is far more willing to receive you than you are even willing to let go of your sin. God's mercy is greater than your sin.
So turn from your sin. Trust in Jesus. God will account you righteous. And you'll belong to this kingdom of heaven.
Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you. And for the gift of your son whom you did not spare, that we might be spared in him. Grant by the work of the spirit, hearts to trust in him.
Soften the hard heart. Awaken the dead heart. And turn our hearts. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. Amen. Let's stand together and sing.