If you would please turn to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. We read beginning with verse 23 down to verse 32. And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching. and said, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where did it come from? From heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves saying, just stop there for a moment and realize what you're reading. The chief priest and the elders come up and they challenge Jesus based upon his teaching in the temple, based upon what he's doing. And they ask him, who gave you the authority to do this? And he says, well, I'm going to ask you one question. And if you answer my question, I'll answer yours. The baptism of John the Baptist, his ministry, where did it come from? Heaven or man? And I love this, they say, let's call the huddle. They discussed it among themselves saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us, why then did you not believe him? Now folks, believe John the Baptist about what? Well, he called for repentance, right? But he comes as the way-preparer, doesn't he? He comes pointing to a person, doesn't he? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And who's he talking about? Jesus. So if John's ministry came from heaven, they would believe in Jesus. If we say from heaven, He will say to us, why then did you not believe Him? That is, why don't you believe in Me? Verse 26, But if we say from man, we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, we do not know. And he said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. 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 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? Interesting dynamic here, isn't it? I mean, he has just shut down these religious leaders in terms of their questioning his authority. And he immediately launches into, our Lord launches into this teaching tool, this parable, and he's engaging them. 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." Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we ask your blessing upon your word that we've just read. We ask that you would help us, Lord, to declare it. rightly, accurately, and powerfully. Father, we ask you to take your word, even if it is spoken quietly this morning, and make it loud to our hearts. Lord, you command us to seek your face, and this morning we seek your face. We need you. All in this place who have already trusted in your Son, We need today to be fed, to be taught, to be enriched spiritually with the truth. And Lord, those in our midst today who do not know you, and we know that in all likelihood there are many. Lord, their need today is to see. Their need today is to live. Their need today is to repent and to trust in your Son. And we ask for them or that they would be saved. We pray for this in Jesus' name. Amen. Mercies that are rejected become instruments of judgment. When God shows Himself gracious and kind, we talked about this recently, the common grace of God, the way that God is kind and good to the entire world of humanity. Those graces represent the sincere kindness of God. Those graces represent God leading men to repentance. They are overtures from God. They are a kind reaching out from God to the sinner, calling sinful man to recognize His need for God. When those graces are refused and resisted by sinful human beings, those graces are actually transformed, as it were, into greater guilt. God has been kind to you. God has been good to you. God has reached out to you. But you have rejected Him so that one day those graces from God will stand as testimonies of the fact that you deserve His judgment even more. Mercies refused become instruments of judgment. But they were real mercies. They were real graces. When Jesus taught in parables, There is a sense in which those parables were instruments of judgment. He spoke in parables so that people seeing might not see and hearing might not hear. They are instruments of judgment, but even then there's grace in them. Jesus is communicating in a way that is meant to expose, we might even say embarrass, I mean, if it were possible to embarrass someone into repentance, then let them be embarrassed. The religious leaders of the Jews, they were proud of heart. They saw themselves as wise and knowledgeable. And so Jesus dealt with them in a way that demonstrated they were not as wise as they imagined themselves to be. They were not as knowledgeable as they thought themselves to be. The very way that He just answered Their challenge to His authority, I mean, it just puts them in their place, doesn't it? By what authority do you do this? Well, answer me one question and I'll answer you. And in the wisdom of the Son of God, He presents them a question that in their own sinfulness provides them with a dilemma that they're not willing to deal with. If we say that John's ministry was from heaven, then we prove ourselves to be sinful because we should have believed him. But if we say that John's ministry is from the earth, if it's from man, then we're in danger of the wrath of the people because they think he was a prophet. So our answer is no answer. We don't know, which was a dishonest answer. They had an opinion, didn't they? So Jesus deals with them in a way that exposes them. He deals in a way that puts them in their place. But what I want you to understand is, even though this was an instrument of judgment and the parables that follow, this is also an extension of the grace of God even to these religious leaders who deserve the wrath of God. Because though the parables were instruments of judgment These religious leaders had enough sense, even in their sinfulness and blindness, they had enough sense to know, Jesus, you are talking about us. These parables relate to us. We are pictured in these parables. They knew that. In fact, notice what follows the parable we just read. Look at verse 33, here another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same to them. He sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They said to him, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the scriptures the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. and the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone it will crush him." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, not just this one but all of them, they perceived that he was speaking about them. They get this. That they are the subject of his parables. Which means that what Jesus was doing He was teaching in a way that if his desired aim was answered, they would be awakened. They understand it's about them. They could be awakened. They could turn from their sin. They could repent. They could trust in God's Son. But they don't. Now when I say they could, I don't mean they could from a natural point of view. I'm talking about man's responsibility. They are responsible to see. They are responsible to repent. They are responsible to turn. And if they had it in them to desire that, they could. But they won't. So that these instruments of judgment, which are also instruments of grace, at the end of the day will result in a greater condemnation. What is this parable about that we just read, verses 28-32? What is its message? Look again at the parable. He says, what do you think? A man had two sons. So you have one father, two boys. And he went to the first and said, By the way, that is an affectionate address. Son, go and work in the vineyard today. It's instruction. It's a commandment. It's an imperative. This is what I want you to do, son. And he answered, this son answered, I will not. It is short. It is rude. It is defiant. It is unmistakably disobedient. No. I will not go work. What does the father do? He moves on to his other son. Verse 30, And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir. Respectful. From the standpoint of appearances, obedient. Not even, I will go. I go, sir. I'm on my way. We can already see him moving out to do what his father wants. But what happens with the first son, verse 29? The first son, the rude, unmistakably disobedient son, afterward changes his mind. Some versions have, he regrets it. Because there is in this word a connection with repentance. It's not the usual word used for repentance. It doesn't speak necessarily just the word itself of spiritual repentance. But this son afterward cares. Cares about what his father wants. Cares about what his father has commanded. Cares that he has been disobedient. And so he changes his mind. He repents and he goes. The second son, the son that on the face of it seems obedient, seems respectful, in fact uses words that sound obedient. What does he do? Verse 30, he did not go. He appeared obedient, he sounded obedient, But he didn't do what his father said. Now Jesus has a question for these religious leaders, verse 31. Which of the two did the will of his father? Which son was obedient? And out of their own mouths, they acknowledge that they get the truth of this parable, they said the first, that is the son who at first said he would not go, but did go, that son is the obedient son. The son who said he would go, but did not go, that son is a disobedient son. Then Jesus applies it. Truly, I say to you. Now that puts it in solemn terms. Truly. Jesus is saying in effect, listen up. I say to you, He is applying this parable directly to them. The tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God and you don't. That's what He means when He says before you. He doesn't mean that one goes in earlier than the other. The tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God and you don't. How can you say such a thing, Jesus? Verse 32, 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, Even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Now I want us to understand exactly the comparison that Jesus is giving us in this parable, giving to them. I do not believe the comparison is this. John the Baptist came preaching, and at first the tax collectors and the prostitutes did not believe him, but afterwards they changed their minds and they did believe him. And John came and you initially acted like you did believe him, but at the end of the day you didn't believe him. I don't think that's the comparison. Because no doubt there were some tax collectors and prostitutes who believed John when they first heard him. And the Pharisees, the leaders of the people, they were They were only giving the appearance of receiving John's words at the very beginning. John challenged them, if you remember. He said, Who told you to flee from the wrath to come, you brood of vipers? Bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance. I mean, John recognized from the outset, these people don't believe me. I don't think that's the comparison. I think the comparison is this. On the one hand, you have sons. Okay, you have God. And in one sense, He's the Father of all mankind as Creator. Not spiritual Father, but Father from the standpoint of creation. Malachi 2.10 says this, Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? So you have one Father and you have in this parable two different kinds of sons. Or I think you could understand this One father, when you remember that the gospel goes first to the Jews, you have one father and two kinds of physical offspring of Abraham. Two sons. And one kind of son has been blatantly disobedient to his father. He doesn't even give the appearance of righteousness. He is disobedient on the face of his father's commands. No one would mistake him for being an obedient son. That is, you have tax collectors and prostitutes. The most notorious sinners in the minds and in the eyes of the religious leaders, the worst of sinners, A tax collector, someone who is a betrayer of his nation, works for the Romans. And then a prostitute, someone who is blatantly immoral. In your face, sinners. Taking the Father's commands and saying, I will not. And there's no mistaking it. But on the other hand, you have another kind of son who wants to give the appearance of obedience, who will use words of obedience, but even as he's giving the appearance of obedience and using the words of obedience, his practices demonstrate he is not an obedient son. Who do you think that represents? They're religious leaders of the Jews. And here comes John on the scene. As the Bible says in verse 32, he comes in the way of righteousness. That is, John is a righteous man and he is speaking righteous words. He comes in the way of truth. He comes with the message of truth. And he is pointing to Jesus Himself. And you have these two kinds of sons. And what is happening through the ministry of John the Baptist? What is happening with these rebellious, in-your-face, sinful kinds of people? They are repenting. They are repenting. Yes, they've been living disobedient to the Father. Yes, they have been saying, I will not. But through the ministry of John the Baptist, there has been afterthought. There has been aftercare. Their hearts are being changed and transformed. And there is repentance. And you know what? It must have been a powerful thing to see. No doubt, it was a powerful thing to see. Do you notice something else in verse 32? And even when you saw it, Here you are in all your pride, and in all of your religion, and in all of your professed obedience, and you know what you were witnesses to? You were witnesses to the power of God transforming the hearts of tax collectors and prostitutes. Even when you saw their repentance, you did not afterward change your minds. They changed theirs, but you didn't change yours. You did not believe Him. So that the Pharisees, the scribes, chief priests, they have the reputation of obedience, they want to give the appearance of obedience, they use words of obedience, but while these blatant sinful sons are changing their minds and their lives are being transformed, the so-called obedient sons continue to demonstrate their actual defiance toward the Father. Because though they say they will obey, they do not do His will. And what is the outcome of that? The outcome is that you have repentant sons who enter the kingdom, And you have sons that have the reputation for obedience, but do not do the will of their father, and they will not enter the kingdom." If you get the picture, would you say, Amen? Now let's apply the parable here today. First of all, there is an application to notorious sinners. Perhaps there's someone like this here this morning. that no one would ever mistake you for an obedient son of God. When it comes to the commands of God, when it comes to the command of God, by the way, never forget this, conversion is described in Scripture in places, in terms of obedience. We preach, we teach, we go forth searching for obedience to the faith. The obedience of the gospel. We declare God's command that sinners are to repent and believe in His Son. All obedience to God begins with that obedience. That I hear the gospel and I turn from my sins. Here's what it means to obey God. I trust in God's Son and Him alone for a right standing with God, for the forgiveness of my sins, for the gift of righteousness, for eternal life. That's where all obedience begins. And perhaps there is someone here this morning that you have heard the gospel, and you have heard the gospel, and you have heard the gospel, but you have to this point rejected the gospel, and no one would ever confuse you for an obedient son. Perhaps you've even been living just an in-your-face sinful life. The first thing I want to say to you, is that you will not be saved unless you repent. You will not be saved unless you are willing to turn from yourself, turn from your sin, turn from the lies of Satan, and trust in Christ. I want you to understand something. In this parable, what is virtuous about the first son is not that he just said no. And there are people who think that way. Well, I may be a sinner, but at least I'm not a hypocrite. Anybody ever heard that one? I may not be a Christian, but I don't even pretend to be. I mean, at least I am myself. At least I live like I live. And don't try to hide it. And you know what's weird about that? Is sinful man actually takes some pride in his blatant sinfulness. And I want to say this morning on the authority of Scripture, there is nothing praiseworthy about blatant sinning. Nothing. The first son's initial response was rude, disrespectful, unbecoming of any son. That God would shower down on this earth Common grace that he would give sunshine and rain and breath and food and clothing and housing and then sons would say I Will not do your will there's nothing praiseworthy in that It is disgustingly sinful So if you're the blatant sinner this morning, I do not congratulate you on your blatant sinning But I have good news for you that if you will change your mind, if you will regret saying no, and if today you will turn from your disobedient, rebellious ways toward God and do your Father's bidding, that is, if you will listen to your Creator and trust in the only Savior available to you and place your faith in Christ. Today you will be counted an obedient son. And God will change your heart and your life and make you a new man or a new woman. Will you hear His commandment today in a different way? Will you stop saying no? Will you stop rebelling? Will you stop going your own way? Will you today turn to the Lord God and to His Son and live? Just because you've been a notorious sinner doesn't mean you have to perish. If today you will hear the gospel, if today you will obey the gospel, If today you'll repent and believe, you too will be saved regardless of your notorious past. But there's another application, isn't there? Not just for notorious sinners, but there's an application to sons who only give the appearance of obedience, only the appearance of obedience. Someone who is very religious, and there are many of these people in our churches. Countless people. Didn't our Lord say that on that day many will say to Him, Lord, Lord, have we not? Have we not preached in Your name? Have we not done many wonderful things in Your name? And He will say unto them, depart from Me Ye that work iniquity. That is, ye that did not do the will of your Father. Ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Oh, you give the appearance of obedience. You have a reputation for obedience. You want to leave the impression that you are obedient. You use the words of obedience. But in truth, you are not obedient, because you do not do the will of the One whom you call Father." What is happening with the religious leaders of the Jews? What is happening? They have said that God is their Father. They have said that they are sons of Abraham in the spiritual sense. They have the words of God. They have the law. They have the temple. They have the sacrifices. And they have identified themselves with all of that religion. We are sons of the Most High. We are obedient sons. We know the law. We keep the law. We are obedient sons. And you know what's happened to them? They have now come face to face with the God whom they have said that they love. But they don't love Him. They have come face-to-face in the person of Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. They have come face-to-face with the God whom they have professed, but they don't like Him face-to-face. They don't want Him. They don't desire Him. And when they are commanded to believe in Him, they say, no, I won't do it. I go, sir. But then they don't go. Can I say to you this morning, there are people who name the name of Jesus, who say that they are Christians, who say they love the God of the Bible, who say they love the Son of God, but then when they come face to face with His commands, when they come face to face with His Word, face to face with His truth, They discover and they make known by their actions they don't love the one whom they say they love. They don't like the one whom they say they believed in. I'm a servant of Christ, but I want out of my marriage. Well, the Son of God teaches that you're not to divorce your husband. Do you still believe in that, Jesus? Do you believe in Him now? Do you love Him now? Will you follow Him now? You say you want to leave the impression that you're a follower of the true God, but now you've come face to face with the true God in His commands. What will you do? Isn't it true that we have countless numbers of people in our churches who have a self-styled Jesus? A Jesus that they've created, a Jesus that they like, who is the result of their idolatrous mind. But then when they come face to face with the real Jesus, the Jesus of the Scriptures, the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus who is Lord, the Jesus who commands them, they won't go. They say, I go, sir. But then when he commands, they don't go. What do they reveal? They aren't really obedient sons. Putting it in the salvation context, they aren't sons at all. They're pseudo sons. They give the impression of being sons, but they don't know the Lord at all. So you may be a notorious sinner, but if today you will repent and trust in Christ, you'll be saved. Tax collectors and prostitutes can enter the kingdom. But you may be very religious and everyone thinks you're an upstanding person and you use the language of faith, but if you don't obey when God commands, you give evidence that you're not a son at all. There's an application. Third, there's an application to all professing sons, that examines us and proves us. And it would be this, what do you do with the news that prostitutes and tax collectors are entering the kingdom? Jesus says in verse 32, the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed Him. They believed Him. What was the result of that? Verse 31, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God. And you don't. They go into the kingdom of God. How do you respond to the news that notorious sinners can enter the kingdom by believing God's message concerning His Son? By trusting in Christ, the most notorious sinner today, can be forgiven, cleansed, and enter the kingdom of God. How do you respond to that? In witnessing situations, I've met with this, I'm sure many of you have as well. You explain the gospel to someone, and they say something like this, are you telling me that someone like a mass murderer, and they always take the most extreme example, of course, that they can take, someone like a Jeffrey Dahmer, someone like a Charles Manson. Are you telling me that if that person asks Jesus into their life, receives Christ before they die, that they'll be in heaven, but my neighbor who has lived a good life, a moral life, an upstanding life, has never murdered anyone, has never, and they have their list of stuff the person's never done. You're telling me that just because they don't receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, they're going to be in hell? And what is the answer to that, beloved? Yes. If a mass murderer truly received Christ, which is to say He's a new creation now, right? He's not a mass murderer anymore, right? His sins have been forgiven. His heart has been transformed. If there is true conversion there, if he's a tax collector or a prostitute, but he turns and repents and believes, where will he be? Heaven! But if someone lives what men call a moral life, but reject the Son of God, where will they be? Hell. Why does that offend men? Why might that offend someone here this morning? Why does that offend us? Because we think that mankind is basically good. Let's make it more personal. We think that we're good. Do you think this statement offended the Pharisees? Why did it offend them? You're not telling me a tax collector or a prostitute is better than me. What do you mean they go in before me? A tax collector? A prostitute? Better than me? You see, beloved, if you believe the Bible, we're all tax collectors. We're all prostitutes by nature. We haven't perhaps all committed the same sins, but we're all sinners, deserving of the wrath of God, so that if salvation happens, it is grace. The only way for one to be saved is to turn from the proud, vain imagination that they're good, and to admit they're a sinner, and to see that Christ is their only hope, so that they turn to Him. I'm the tax collector. I'm the prostitute who needed Jesus. It tests whether you're a son or not. How do you view that news? The tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom. Does it make you hopeful? Do you say, well then there's hope even for me. How do you think of yourself in comparison with them? Are you better? Beloved, do you know what's wrong with many of our churches? We look at the world out there and we forget that's us before we met Jesus. Somehow we get it all mixed up in our head. We think the church is about morality. It's not about morality. Listen, God's people are to live moral, holy, upright lives. That's what we're commanded to be. Be ye holy even as I am holy. And the Lord's church should be a pure place. People living, striving to live pure lives. No debate about that, but never forget something. The only reason why there's holiness in the people of God is because of the grace of God. It's not about, well, this is a moral club and that's an immoral club. Come be a part of the moral club. No, listen, this is a redeemed people. That's an unredeemed people. And the only way they're going to be redeemed is for the redeemed ones to take the good news that we've received that Jesus saves sinners. He doesn't save good men, there aren't any. He saves sinners. This gets to another point and an interesting one to me. Isn't it interesting that in this parable, what the son is asked to do is go work in a vineyard. And I don't want to press the parable too far because this parable is meant to communicate one truth. It's not what you say, it's what you do that demonstrates your faith. The obedient son at the end of the day is the one who obeys his father. But I know this. We have been commanded by our Father to go to work. The fields are white for harvest. You have been redeemed. Your sins have been forgiven. Your heart has been transformed. You have good news. And there's a world around you that's dying full of people who are right now as you once were. And where mercy has been received, there's a heart of mercy. Where grace has been received, there are eyes that see the possibilities of the grace of God. If God can save me, He can save anyone. And the Father has commanded me and commanded you to go out into that field and to share the good news. What do you do when your Father says, Do you say, I go, sir, and then do nothing? Because there is no real heart of compassion. There is no real recognition of the grace of God. Folks, proud people have no heart for evangelism because they think the reason for their goodness is explained by them. What's wrong with those people? They could be good like me if they wanted to be. Is that Christianity? What's the answer? What's wrong with those people? They're blind. They're dead. They're lost. They are living like who they are. What's right with you? God graciously snatched you out of the fire. And He has given you the message to go share with them. What will you do? Disobedient sons are proud people. True sons are redeemed people. Tax collectors and prostitutes who changed their mind Let's bow together for prayer. Lord, we are amazed by your love for sinners, for us. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your kindness. Lord, you didn't need us. You don't need us. but you have had mercy upon our souls and you have entrusted to us the message of reconciliation, the good news that there is a way that God has made for notorious sinners to be forgiven of all of their sins and to be given righteousness as a gift and to be made acceptable with God. Oh Lord, I know this. Having saved us, you have given us an understanding of that. And if there's anyone here this morning who has no understanding of that, I ask that you would save them. Lord, take this message, brand it upon our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.