Let's go to the Word of God tonight. We're going to have a bit of a Bible study, so I hope you're ready, okay? I hope that you got your Sunday afternoon nap and that you haven't scheduled it for now, because if you schedule it for now, you'll miss out on this. Matthew, we're going to start there in chapter 19. We're gonna have to cover a little bit of ground to give you a bit of a context and background into the parable that we're going to study tonight. And I'm gonna need five guys to help me tonight. So guys out there, young and old, be ready. So when we get to that point, I'm gonna need you five guys to help with our Bible study tonight. Matthew chapter number 19. And we're gonna catch this story, verse 16. And let me pray first. Father, please teach us tonight. Holy Spirit of God, you inspired your word. Now help us to receive what you have for us tonight. Please help me tonight. I do not have the ability to do what needs to be done tonight. Apart from your Holy Spirit, I just can't do what we need to do tonight. So please help us, help us to listen, help us to apply, help us to have some takeaways tonight, to help us in our walk. this week in Jesus' name, amen. Verse number 16, and behold, one came and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. But if thou will enter into life, keep the commandments. And he saith unto him, which Jesus said, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. What was this young man's problem? Which of the commandments did he not keep? Covetous. Thou shalt not covet, all right? When we say, when we, When we think we're all set and compare ourselves to God, then we find out that we're not. And I think one of the things that Jesus wanted this young man to see was, is that you didn't really keep all the commandments. You lack. And if we will offend in one point, the Bible says we are guilty of. All, okay, so this young man went away sorrowful because obviously he had an issue. It's not that he had great possessions, but that the great possessions had him, and there's a difference there. Verse 23, then said Jesus unto his disciples, verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven, And again, I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. God can still work in the hearts of those that are caught by great possessions. So it's not impossible, but it's hard. Jesus said so. It's not easy. Then, verse number 27, answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and follow thee. What shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my namesake shall receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last, And the last shall be first. Now this is key to what Jesus is going to say in the following chapter. So if you take the, you know, chapter 20 out of there, understand it continues here, okay? So Jesus is going to tell, is going to go into this parable because he sees that Peter has a very, he has to have his attitude adjusted. The question was, what shall we have there for? And you know what? From a human standpoint, I can understand why Peter would say this, because remember that Peter was a successful businessman. He had a successful fishing business. A lot of the Bible scholars believe that he actually owned two homes, one by the Sea of Galilee, which is There are some foundations that tradition says that was his home. And you go there and you can see the foundations of it. And that he had another home in Jerusalem. So he was doing well when Jesus came across him and said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. This was after a year. that Jesus had a relationship with Peter. Peter was in Capernaum. Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum and set up shop, so to speak, in Capernaum and had a lot of connections with Peter for about a year. So when Jesus came about a year later into his public ministry and said, follow me, at that point in time, Peter was already being impacted by Jesus. And so he made a great decision. I mean, it wasn't an easy decision for him to leave his fishing business. But he left it, and so he's thinking in his mind, you know, I left a lot. I left my business. I don't know if there's anybody in this room that, probably very few, if it may be none that have said, okay, I left my job and my fishing business or my business, whatever I was making money with to go and serve the Lord full time. Now, there might be some in here that have done that and praise God for that, but it's not an easy decision. And Peter did make that decision. So he, at this point, they were probably midpoint through Jesus' public ministry at this point. So when he saw, when he heard what Jesus said to the rich man, and the rich man walks away, Peter's starting to think, well, I'm not like him. I don't have that problem. So Jesus, we left all, so what are we gonna have? How are you gonna reward us? What are we gonna get? And so Jesus goes into this parable in chapter 20. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And he said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? And they said unto him, Because no man hath hired us. And he said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when the even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came, They were hired, and when they came that were hired, about the 11th hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed they should have received more. And they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Dost not thou agree with me for a penny? By the way, penny in this economy was a full day's wage, okay? I know we think of a penny, it's like, that's not very much. That doesn't even worth anything anymore. Verse 14, take that thine is and go thy way. I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first. And the first lasts, for many be called, but few chosen. This is Jesus' response to Peter saying, what shall we have therefore? And so he tells this story about a farmer, a landowner, who needed some hands to help him on his farm. Now, I need one volunteer guy to come up. I'm the farmer, I am the landowner, and I'm looking for workers. It's 6 o'clock in the morning, and I'm looking for workers. Who wants to? It's like, OK, brother, come on up. It's almost like, The whole idea now is like, we're hiring, we're hiring all over the place, and nobody wants to work. So it's like, OK, here we go, right? So we have a laborer or laborers. He's going to represent that first group that Jesus talked about. There was a farmer. He's going about early in the morning. This group that he represents, they got up early. 6 o'clock in the morning, they wanted to get work, they wanted to have a job, right? Yeah. And he's not fooling around, he definitely wants to get work. But, you notice, if you read the passage as we read through, you notice that there was a contract and an agreement made, all right? Do you notice that? Stay right there, bro. Okay? You're doing good there. You're doing good. All right? You notice that if you go back to the passage there in verse number two, Notice, and when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. So, before this group decided they were going to work for the farmer, they wanted to have a contract, okay? So, he comes to the farmer and basically the farmer says, well, I need some farm hands, are you willing to work for me? Well, not quite that easily. You want to know, you know, well, how much am I going to get paid, right? Yeah, how much am I going to get paid? And, you know, the farmer said, well, I'll pay you a penny. a day's wage. And I said, OK, sounds good to me. Sounds good to us. Let's make a contract. And in Bible times, a contract was made by the slapping of the hands. All right? So let's do that right now. All right. So we made an agreement. And of course, he wanted to know how much he was going to pay before he would work for me. OK? He wanted to have that agreement. And that agreement was made. And so good to go. So he goes off. And he's off to work. Okay, six o'clock in the morning, he starts off early, no fooling around, but he wanted to have a contract. Okay, I'm not gonna work until I know how much I'm gonna get paid, all right? So we follow the story as Jesus is telling it here. So let's go back to the scripture. Notice in verse number three, and he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And the idea here of idle is just not that they were just kind of didn't want to work, but actually they just didn't have work, okay? So I need the next group. This group got up at about nine o'clock. They were there about nine o'clock. So I'm out about nine o'clock looking for workers. Who's gonna be my nine o'clock? Okay, come up, buddy. My nine o'clock workers. Didn't get up quite as early as the first group. He figured he's going to sleep in a little bit, okay? And he's representing that nine o'clock group, okay? At about this time, the first group's working for three hours. They got up early and they work with a contract with the farmer. Okay, they were agreed on that. But do you notice something in that verse? Notice that the phrase whatsoever is right, I will pay you, notice that? Okay? So, well, do you wanna work, buddy? I've got a lot of work on my farm. Boy, I've got so much work, I need more farm hands. And I'll tell you what, you go out there and you work and I'll tell you what, I'll pay you what is right. You good with that? OK, so we make an agreement. All right, and he's off. He's off. He's going to work. OK? That's the 9 o'clock group. Then we've got the next group, which is the 12 o'clock group. OK? At noon. OK? Who's going to be our noon folks? You've been elected. You come up here. Now. You're really going to get it, buddy. You're really going to get it, OK? 12 o'clock, this guy's starting to work at 12 o'clock, right? He's going to really sleep in, all right? So at 12 o'clock, he's coming downtown. The farmer is looking, the landowner is looking for more farmhands. And so he sees this 12 o'clock group, and the question is, are you looking for work? Well, that's good because I've got a lot of work that needs to be done at the farm, and I need more farm hands. And I'll tell you what, you work for me, and whatever is right, at the end of the day, I'll pay you. Okay? You good with that? Yeah. All right. So, we make an agreement, and off he goes to work. 12 o'clock. Midday. He didn't get up early like the first group. Not quite as early as the second group. And so, I've got those groups out there working. Jesus continues to tell the story. Now, I want you to notice something. I want you to notice something. Verse number four. The phrase that I highlighted, whatsoever is right, I will give you. Whatsoever is right, I will give you. No set amount, like the first group, They agreed for the penny. There was a contract made because, after all, I'm not sure if I'm going to get what I need from the landowner. I don't know that I trust the landowner to pay me what's right, so I'm going to have a contract with him. So he's off with that. These other two so far, they don't know what they're going to get paid. They have no clue. They're willing to go, and they were entrusting the landowner or the farmer to give them what was right according to the farm owner. the landowner, the farmer, all right? The next group is the three o'clock group, the ninth hour, okay? So who's gonna be our three o'clock? Oh, man. Okay, come up, sir, brother. Are these the college guys that we're talking about? I figured that, all right. Okay, so three o'clock. And you ask, this guy really slept in, okay? Boy, did he sleep in, right? Is that what you usually do? Okay, all right, so he's a three o'clock group, all right? Same kind of thing, the farmer is going by, or the landowner, and he's looking for work, and he still needs some farm hands, and he says, look, are you looking for work? Well, that's good, because I still have plenty of work on my farm, and I need some farm hands, and I'll tell you what, if you're willing to work for me, you go ahead and work, and I'll give you what's right. at the end of the day. Okay, you good with that? All right, so you make the agreement on that, and he's off. He starts work at three o'clock in the afternoon, right? How many of us would like to start work at three o'clock in the afternoon, right? Three o'clock in the afternoon, he's off, and again, the phrase is, the phrase is, whatsoever is right. Look at the, again, look at the verse there. Verse number four, it said, whatsoever is right, I will give you. And so they go with the promise that the landowner or the farmer will take good care of them at the end of the day, at pay time. Verse number six, look at that. And at about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing idle and saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? And they said unto him, because no man hath hired us. And he saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard, and again, there's the phrase, whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive about 5 p.m. So who's gonna be my 5 p.m. group? Okay, brother. At 5 p.m., you know, it's like, yeah, I'll work at 5, right? I'll start work at 5. I know a good deal when I see one. Yeah, he knows a good deal when he sees one. All right, so again, you know, the farmer's out, the landowner's out, and he's looking for workers. And all the day idle, it's not that he's lazy, but he's just looking for work and hasn't found an opportunity for work. So finally, he finds the landowner coming to him and saying, or the farmer, saying, you want to work? Yeah. OK, you go ahead and work on my farm. And whatsoever is right at pay time at the end of the day, I will give you. You'll be well-taken care of. All right? Yeah! So he's off, OK? He's off to the field. And he's off. And notice the order. Did you notice the order? The first, OK? And who was the last? The guy that came in at five o'clock, all right? Now notice what Jesus says, verse number eight. So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, the guy who was paying the workers, call the laborers and give them their hire beginning from the first I'm sorry, from the last unto the first. So I need all my workers in reverse order, all right? Can you figure that out now? So if you were hired first, you're going to be last in line and so forth, all right? So come up, guys, and line up in a single file up here, OK? So try to figure out what the order was, OK? The first is last, OK? So it's going to be in reverse. So the 5 o'clock guys first, and then so forth, OK? It's the 5 o'clock. The 3 o'clock, the 12 o'clock. It's in reverse order, I hope. College guys, can you figure this out? OK. So what I need is, I need a single file in front of me. Single file. Starting from the last onto the first, OK? Quite the hardest part of the message, right? Okay. All right. Here we go. So you're facing this way. The steward is going to pay. Okay. Now, imagine at this point what the first group was thinking, okay, as he's watching these guys get paid. Okay, that's what Jesus is trying to get Peter and the disciples to see now. Because what was the question Peter asked? What shall we have there for? Hey, I've forsaken all. I've left my business. I left my family. I went and I sacrificed. So, what shall we have there for? So Jesus gives this illustration to show that you never want to be thinking about self first when it comes to serving the Lord. That's the biggest problem that we face, don't we, as believers? To get self out of the way. Because that's gonna be the biggest problem. College guys, college ladies, that's gonna be the biggest struggle you're gonna have. is deciding, is it gonna be me first, or is it gonna be him first? Am I going to trust the Lord and let him have his way, or am I gonna be like the first group and say, you know, I don't know if I'm gonna, you know, I gotta find out, I gotta know how, Lord, are you gonna take care of me? I'm not sure you can, so I need some assurances. I need some things to kind of work out. And please guarantee those for me. What Jesus is looking for is for complete trust in him. And that's what he's trying to get across to the disciples. And that's just one of the things that the Lord's impacted me with as I read this. So the first guy, he only worked an hour, okay? He only worked an hour. Pay time's at six in the evening. So he ready to get his pay? Go ahead, stick your hand out. And what does he get? He gets a penny. A penny is a full day's wage. Full day. He only worked an hour. Okay? That first group is noticing that. What? I started work at six, he only worked for, this lazy bum only worked for an hour? And he's getting a full day's pay? And he looks at this, and what would your reaction be to get a full day's pay after working an hour? What's your reaction? Thank you. Yeah, exactly. He goes by. Yes, exactly. Woo! Yay! Right? He was blown away. He was blown away by the generosity of the farmer, the landowner. Blown away. He wasn't expecting a full day's pay, OK? Next group, three o'clock. He comes and he's ready to get his pay. What does he get? Full day's pay. He didn't work a full day. Are you happy about it? Yeah. Oh, I mean, are you really happy? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Great. He's really happy. Not a bad deal. The next group comes up at 12 o'clock. What does he get? Full day's pay, woo! No, little more, little more. Yeah, okay, great. So he is just like, woo! And he's blown away because he got a lot more than he was expecting. Remember what the landowner said, the farmer said, whatsoever is what? Whatsoever is right, I will give you. What is that? I don't know what that means. I'm just trusting in the farmer, the landowner who's hiring me. He'll take care of me. I don't know how much it'll be, but I'm trusting in him. So nine o'clock, yeah, he gets his pay, and what do you get? A penny. A full day's pay? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. OK. All right. So these other groups, they're just blown away. They're just going, wow, wow. Meanwhile, the first group is watching this. He's watching as the steward is paying these guys. And all that time he's thinking, well, if that lazy one-hour bum got a full day's pay, these other guys got full days paid not having worked a full day and I've been on the I'm being on the field since six o'clock in the morning I'm gonna get paid a whole lot more right he gets his pay what does he get Full day's pay. What's the problem? That guy over there. Yeah, but wait a minute. Didn't we make an agreement? Yeah. Contract, yes? You were good with it? I mean, you wouldn't have worked for me if you didn't make that agreement, right? I mean. Yeah. So am I violating the contract? No. OK. So you're good to go. What's the problem? OK. See, the first group was basically saying, I don't trust that farmer. I don't trust him. I got to look out for me. If I'm gonna serve, I gotta look out for my needs, what I want. And so he's saying to Peter, Peter, don't do that. Don't have that attitude. If you're gonna serve me, understand, it's not about you and what you'll get. It's about serving me and trusting that I'll take good care of you. I'll take care of you. I'll do exceeding abundantly if you trust me. Now, again, these other groups had no clue that they were gonna get blown away by the generosity of the farmer. But this guy, this group, getting what he wanted, getting what he contracted for, ended up doing what? What does the Bible say? What's the word we use in the text? He murmured. Was he happy? No. But he was looking out for number one. Teenagers, are you listening? College folks, are you listening? If we're looking out for number one, I guarantee you we're not going to be happy in the end. If it's me first, we're gonna end up not happy, complaining, murmuring. I didn't get what I was expecting. I thought it was gonna be like this. I wanted this. When I surrendered to serve the Lord full-time as a 14-year-old, I had this picture in my mind as to what that surrender was going to be and how it was gonna be. I surrendered to what I thought the Lord was going to do. But what I needed to be ready to do was surrender to whatever the Lord wanted me to do, and there's a big difference. So Peter had to have an adjustment. If you look for number one, you'll be last. But if you just say, Lord, I'm here to serve you. You'll take care of me. I'm not serving you for what I can get out of it. I wanna serve you because I love you. I want to serve you because you died on the cross for me. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. I present my body, I present my life, because Jesus gave his life. And that's why I should serve. And I leave the rest up to the Lord. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these Things shall be added unto you. Every one of these groups did not deserve what they got. That's what made that whole story kind of, you know, I'm thinking, preaching to myself, listening to that, if I were Peter, I'd be looking for a crack to crawl in. What kind of an attitude is that? Jesus is basically saying, don't have that attitude. Just say, I'm gonna serve and whatever I get, I don't deserve anyway. The least of his blessings, I don't deserve. I've been constantly blown away through all of the years that I've served in ministry. And I'll be honest with you, I'm humbled by it. Because there's not one good thing that I deserve from the Lord The only thing I deserved was hell. Jesus gave his life to save me, and he gave me the privilege to be in ministry. It's a privilege. It's an honor. It's a blessing. And he gives us and blesses us in turn, exceeding abundantly because God is good. Because God is a good God, he blesses us. And as we serve brothers and sisters, let's serve because of our love for him. College age folks, surrender, give of yourself, give of your life for love of the Lord. And he'll take care of you. He'll do exceeding abundantly, and you'll be blown away by how the Lord takes care of you. Because he knows what we need. And he's given, I know from personal experience, I'm sure Pastor can speak for others that are in ministry, you know that we have been spoiled. We have been blessed because God is a good God. Because when you put him first, the Lord take care of the rest. And that's where that verse, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things. Don't go for the things. Forget about that. Don't go, you know, me first, what am I gonna get? What recognition am I gonna get? It's not about me, it's about Him. And when we keep that order, then the last shall be what? First. Not because we deserve to be first, but because God is good. And when it's all said and done, we're standing before the Lord, we got those crowns, I know, I think we can agree what we're gonna do with those crowns. Lord, you have blessed me. You died for me. I didn't deserve the least of your blessings. And on top of all that, in this life we're blessed and then we get heaven too. Wow, what a good God. What a merciful God. What a faithful God we serve. So I trust that perhaps you have other takeaways from this parable. But understand, if it's me first, then we're gonna be disappointed. We're not gonna be satisfied. We're gonna be unhappy like that first group. But if we just come and we say, Lord, have thine own way, have thine own way, if we present our bodies a living sacrifice, you're gonna find, as I have personally found, that God will take care of us exceeding abundantly. And I'm not preaching a prosperity gospel here. All I'm saying is, whatever is right, we need to just leave that with the Lord. According to, He will do what is right.