Let us return to the portion of God's Word that we read together from the gospel according to Matthew chapter 21. The words of our text are verses 28 to 31. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not. But afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said likewise, and he answered and said, I go, sir, and went not. Whether of them Twain did the will of his father? They say unto him the first. Jesus saith unto them, verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. We can perhaps hang our thoughts on the question asked in verse 31. Whether of them Twain did the will of his father? The title of the sermon is, Repentance is Required by God. Repentance is required by God. And that applies to every single person sitting here this evening. Whether you are an experienced Christian who has been on the road for 50, 60, 70 years, God requires repentance from you. whether you are a young Christian in the full flush of youthful enthusiasm, God requires repentance of you. If you are a seeker, if you are genuinely and sincerely here this evening seeking God with all your heart, he requires repentance from you. And even if you're here as a dead sinner who came in with no intention whatsoever of listening to a single word that was being said is immaterial because God requires repentance of you also. And this parable is known as the parable of the two sons, the one who said he would not and then did what his father required the second who said he would and then did not do the will of his father. And the context is given to us in verse 23. Christ Jesus, our Savior, is using this parable to confound his critics, to confound the hard-hearted religious zealots, the chief priests and the elders of the people. Christ was in the temple, verse 23 tells us, and he was teaching. He was teaching the people. You see, the Pharisees didn't teach. They demanded, they enforced, they commanded compliance to the law and policed it religiously. Ah, but Jesus Christ comes, and he comes teaching and preaching the gospel. He doesn't undermine the law, but he contradicts what the Pharisees say, that you can only be saved by keeping this law and keeping it rigidly and all the traditions of men which they added to the law. Christ comes preaching repentance. Christ comes preaching faith, the doctrines of salvation, forgiveness of sin, and people had never heard anything like it. And hence, Matthew tells us earlier on in chapter seven, he says, and the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. So the people immediately noticed something different in what Christ was preaching. He came preaching, repent and believe, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. A radical change in what these people were hearing. And what do the Pharisees do, or will they behave just like Pharisees? They interrupt him, and they stop him, and they question him. rather than celebrating the fact that God's Messiah had arrived preaching salvation through him, the gospel, they question his right so to do. By what authority doest thou these things? We know from Luke's account that this relates to Christ cleansing the temple from the money changers and the temple traders who had made Christ's house a house of merchandise. And in this parable, Christ displays his divine wisdom. He confounds them by asking them what they thought about the baptism of John, John the Baptist. That's why he was called John the Baptist. He came baptizing with water, faith and repentance. Repent and believe. Why did ye not believe him, he asks. Why don't you believe that repentance is necessary and that faith in Christ is necessary and that you must be baptized? And they didn't believe because of their hard and stony hearts, because they were so caught up in the law and they thought that they were just fine the way that they were. They evade the question, and Christ, in His divine wisdom, focuses their attention on this, and the attention of us this evening, that repentance is a must. Repentance is required. Repentance is not an optional extra. It is absolutely essential to salvation. John the Baptist came preaching, repent and believe. The Lord Jesus Christ came preaching, repent and believe. And in 2020, we still come preaching, repent and believe. Why? Because that's God's requirements. The only means whereby a man can be saved, repenting of his sin, casting himself by faith on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an unpopular message, particularly in our own day and age where children as young as five are encouraged to be proud in themselves, be proud in everything you do, display it on the walls of the schools and be proud. Well, that's the antithesis of what the gospel is. The gospel says repent, humble yourself before God. It's a requirement. Four brief things that we wish to consider regarding this repentance that is required by God. We see firstly, the Father's reasonable request. The Father in the parable makes a reasonable request. He's speaking to his two sons, and he makes a perfectly reasonable demand of them. He asks them to go and work in his vineyard. Verse 28, he uses the word son, which reminds us that there's a loving relationship here. There's a father-son relationship. So he's not commanding them, he's not speaking to them gruffly or unreasonably. He's asking them to go and work in the family vineyard. This is for the benefit of everyone. And of course, work implies that there'll be a wage, there'll be a reward. Working in a vineyard is a pleasant thing. It's profitable to the body, it's profitable to the soul, it's honorable, it's loving labor because you're doing it for your father and for the benefit of your family. You see, idleness is a shame in our society. Idleness is unbiblical. If a man doesn't work, neither should he eat. No Christian should be unnecessarily idle. But note the Father's request. He wants them to go and work today. He's saying, I want you to do it now. I don't want you to put it off. I need you to go and work in my vineyard at this precise moment. No delay, the urgency is clear. We're not told what the urgency is for. Perhaps the grapes were just at the point of turning and they needed to be harvested immediately. Perhaps there were some weeds invading the vineyard. Perhaps there was some parasite crawling up the branches. We're not told, but the father makes a reasonable request to his sons. He says, go and work in my vineyard and go and do it now. He's not asking them to go and work in a coal mine. He's not asking them to work in an abattoir or in a sewer. He's asking them to go up on the hillside in Israel, in the pleasant sun, in the pleasant aromas, and pick the grapes for the good of the family. What an entirely reasonable request that is from the Father, to come and work in my vineyard. And it's clear that Christ is telling us that this father in the parable represents God. And God is saying to mankind, come, come and work in my kingdom. Come and be part of my kingdom. And the two sons represent the two divisions of mankind as they respond to this perfectly reasonable request that God demands of sinners that they repent and believe the gospel and come and work under his banner. He sent John the Baptist. He then sends his own beloved son to lay it before mankind. He continues to send preachers of the gospel to lay this reasonable request before man, repent and believe. And come into my kingdom. Be part of my vineyard. Come and work in this pleasant environment. God never makes unreasonable requests of men. He never makes any request that is to their detriment. When he says repent and believe, that's not something that's detrimental to man. That's something that's to his spiritual benefit. It's a loving request. He says to you all tonight, son, daughter, will you come and work in my vineyard? But will you come now? because now is the time. The night is far spent and the day is at hand. Will you come now and work in my vineyard? Working for God is a delight. You speak to any Christian, anyone of Cheshire and ask them what it is to work for God. Oh, it's a privilege. that God would ask any sinner to do anything for him, and that's what God's invitation is. The Father's reasonable request. We see secondly, the two sons respond. The response to this loving, reasonable request. Whither of them twain did the will of the Father? Well, we suspect that the first son was the eldest because in Jewish tradition there was great attention paid to the first son, the second, the order of the firstborn. So we believe he comes to the eldest son and he says to him, son, go work today in my vineyard. And the eldest son, the first son answered and said, I will not. The original language conveys, this is blunt. This is rude. It's really dismissive and curt. It's an unreasonable refusal. He's the eldest son. The father has a vineyard. The father is running the vineyard for the benefit of his family and he comes to the eldest son, will you come and work? and the first son makes this unreasonable refusal to a perfectly reasonable request. You can imagine the father being taken aback. I'm not asking him to do anything that's particularly unpleasant. I'm not asking him to go down and clean the sewers. I'm asking him to come and work in my vineyard. his perfectly reasonable, loving request rebelliously snubbed. Unwarranted, wicked, hurtful rejection. And the second son wasn't much better. You see, his response was outwardly in verse 30, and he answered and said, I go, sir, but he went, no. His smooth response, his smooth language disguises that he had a disobedient heart to begin with. He had no intention of going into the father's vineyard. And his words, I go, sir, were a smokescreen to smooth over the father, to appease him. But he was insincere. Because outwardly he said he was quite happy to go and work. But inwardly he had no intention whatsoever. Ah, but the parable gives us some encouragement, does it not? A change took place in the first son. There was no change in the second son. The second son was what he was. He was insincere. But the first son, he changed. His initial rejection, his initial unreasonable response, it changed. It changed a good action. He went and worked in the father's vineyard. The first son repented, the second son remained impenitent, rebellious. He remained what he was from the beginning. As one man says, the first son proved better than what he had promised. The second son promised better than he ever proved. And what happened? What happened to change the mind of the first son? Verse 29, he answered and said, I will not. But afterward, he repented and went. He went away and thought about what the father's request was. He went away and he analyzed, and he pondered this work of his loving father, this reasonable request that he had made on him, and it led to something remarkable in the experience of the first son. He repented. And it was the pondering of the invitation, it was the pondering of the request, the analyzing, the thinking about the reasonable request of the father that led him to repent, to change his mind and say, I will go and work in my father's vineyard. The second, a deaf ear, fat heart, scales on his eyes, no love for his father. And we see here the sinner's two responses to the preaching of repent and believe for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God requires repentance. It's not optional. And repentance is much more than a change of mind. It's much more than just saying you're sorry. It's much more than saying, I have refused the offer of the gospel so many times. Repentance involves more than that. Again, we live in a day and an age where if someone posts an apology, I'm really sorry for offending this person, or I'm really sorry for doing that. Our first instinct is to say they're not really sorry at all, they're just saying sorry because they think it's the right thing to do. That's not what repentance is. Repentance is a grief. Repentance is a godly sorrow. The nub of repentance is this, that the one who repents must have a true sense of their sin. Because unless you have a true sense of your sin and realize that you have offended the gracious invitation of God time and time and time again, you won't repent. You have to have a true sense of your sinfulness. Our catechism tells us that. You have to have a true sense of your sin, and then you have an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. But here's the nub, isn't it? And this is what the 21st century human being doesn't like to hear, that you have to turn with grief and hatred of your sin and turn to God, because God is the only one who can deal with your sin. Do you hate your sin? Do I? Do I have a grief for my sin when I think that I have offended such a gracious and reasonable Father? And repentance is of the whole man, our thoughts, our actions, our deeds. And there's always fruit for repentance. You see repentance. Our forefathers have told us, haven't they? When the preaching of the gospel used to have the effect where people, Christians, would have tears streaming down their faces. when they were reminded of how sinful they were and how they offended a gracious God. When was the last time you saw someone crying tears of repentance under the preaching of the gospel? How hard we are. And look at how loving our God is. How reasonable, how patient, how long-suffering. God requires repentance from sinners. We see thirdly, the parables teaching reveal. Whether of them Twain did the will of his father, well, that's easy to answer. Even the chief priests and the elders of the people were able to answer what the parable meant which of them twain did the will of the Father, the first? He forces these religious zealots, these hypocrites, to articulate the obvious truth of the parable. And once they do that, he rebukes them. In verses 31 and 32, he says, verily I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. He exposes their hypocrisy. He exposes their refusal to believe. They knew very well, the scribes and the Pharisees knew very well that John the Baptist spoke with authority from heaven. They knew that he spoke with the authority of God, that they were to repent and believe. and that they should have believed. They should have obeyed, their actions should have shown. But Christ tells them in verse 32, ye believed him not. Here's the crux of the matter. John the Baptist comes preaching, repent and believe for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and ye believed him not. You thought there was another way to salvation. You thought that by keeping the law and adhering to all your traditions and being a very good person that you could somehow enter into heaven. You believed him not. You'd fail to believe, he says to the Pharisees, God's reasonable, loving request. But then there's something happens that exacerbates their unbelief and the rejection of God's reasonable request to repent and believe. For Christ tells them the publicans and the harlots, they believed. The republicans and the harlots, they repented. They believed John's message from heaven to repent and believe the gospel. And then something worse. They saw it. And he, when he had seen it, repented not afterward that he might believe. You see, these scribes and Pharisees saw with their own eyes the effect that the gospel of John the Baptist And the preaching of Jesus Christ had on the publicans and harlots. They saw the harlots coming to faith in Jesus Christ. We would say being converted. They saw the publicans, they saw Zacchaeus, they saw legion. And even this witness, this witness of knowing that this was once a child of darkness and is now walking in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, that wasn't enough. to make these scribes and Pharisees repent and believe. Oh, the hard, deceitful heart of unbelief that departs from the living God. The opportunity was there in front of their eyes, and they refused. You see, the publicans and the harlots were like the first son. In their worldliness and their ungodly lifestyles, they kept refusing and kept refusing, but afterwards, afterwards they believed. And Christ tells us, as a consequence, they shall enter the kingdom of heaven before you, before the scribes and the Pharisees. It's astounding. These religious elite, the despised publicans and harlots, Jesus Christ is telling them, they shall go into heaven before you. Now that doesn't mean in front of. It very solemnly means instead of. They'll go into heaven instead of you because you haven't believed. Because they repented. The scribes and Pharisees didn't believe despite this weighty evidence. And this is what God requires of each one of us here this evening. Everyone here tonight, every sinner who hears the gospel is to repent. To repent and cast themselves on the mercies, on the mercy of God. Sinners who see and hear the lives of other sinners being transformed, the power of the gospel. You who are yet without Christ this evening, how many people have you known and have you seen with your own eyes that their lives have been absolutely transformed and yet you won't believe. You won't fall on your knees and repent. Well, those who were once drunkards and womanizers and gamblers and publicans and harlots, they'll go into heaven and you will end up in hell. Because only those who repent and believe have a place in heaven. How often have you said, oh yes, I can see their lives have been changed. I can see their lives have been changed under the gospel. I can see they love the Lord Jesus and they read the Bible and they speak of the great things that Christ has done for their souls, but later. I'll deal with that later on. I won't go to work in the vineyard just now. I'll put that off for another day. Well, God's reasonable request is today. Come today. Do it now. Repentance is required now. And that's the parables teaching revealed very clearly for us from the words of those who would not enter the kingdom of God. We see fourthly and finally, and in conclusion, we ask a question. Which son are you? You can only be one of the sons. You're either the repenting son who goes to work in the vineyard, or you're the insincere hypocrite son who comes to church and says, yes, I will go, but leaves God's house and no difference has taken place in your words, your thoughts, or your behavior. And we're all either the first son or the second, under God's reasonable requirement to repent and believe. And let's make no mistake, it would be just for God to cast us all into hell. but look at the reasonable request he asks of sinners. Repent and believe. God is under no obligation whatsoever to command sinners everywhere to repent. He's under no obligation to receive them. Ah, but those who do, Those who listen to this, those who take this to heart, those who ponder and analyze and who are offended that for so long they have rejected and refused to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you cannot be received without repenting. It is impossible with God to receive a proud and penitent sinner. They are shunned. Are you here in body only? Are you here outwardly saying, I will, I'm conforming to all the outward ceremonial trappings of religion, but the gospel just washes over you. And it has no impact whatsoever. You have no intention of leaving here to do anything different. You've got no intention of rushing home and falling on your knees and repenting because you have offended over and over and over again. You've offended a loving and gracious God. Well, you're the second son. And you won't enter heaven. Let's be very blunt and very clear. You will not enter heaven unless you repent of your sins. and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Or perhaps there are some who are like the first son and you've been refusing and refusing and refusing. You've been saying, I will not, I will not. Jesus Christ is making a loving, a reasonable request and I am refusing. Oh, may God grant that tonight is your afterwards. That afterwards is now that you will repent, that you will ponder, you will reflect, you will sit down with God's word And remember all the sermons you've ever heard, all the advice you've ever had from those who love you, those who've told you of the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ for hell-deserving sinners, and you keep refusing and refusing and refusing. Will you not now repent? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven will not be at hand forever. Oh, but praise God for his goodness and for his works of wonder done among the sons of men that the kingdom of heaven is open this night. Oh, that there would be someone here, he would say, oh, I must repent. I must repent. I must get home and repent and fall on my knees. Can you imagine? I hope this is sanctified speculation. Can you imagine the joy of the father when he looked out on his vineyard and he saw his first son working among the vines? He must have rejoiced because that son had been so cruel and rebuffing his reasonable request to go and work, and there he was. May you cause joy in heaven tonight. May you cause joy amongst your family, amongst those who love you, those who have prayed for you for years and years and years. May you cause joy in heaven because there's one sinner that has repented and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless his word to us, let us pray.