The First Will Be Last!

PDF

Well, I invite you to take your Bible and turn with me to Mark's Gospel as we continue our journey through this wonderful gospel. Tonight we come to one of Jesus' most misunderstood statements. The first will be last and the last will be first. What does that mean and what are the implications for those who are followers of Jesus Christ?

Remember the context as we begin our study. Remember that Jesus and His disciples had just gotten up in the morning, begun to leave a village. They're headed to Jerusalem. They're headed to Jerusalem for the Passover, its spring. It's around this time of year actually. In fact it's just a few days before the triumphal entry and they're headed south from Galilee, down from the Sea of Galilee in the north, down the Jordan Rift and they're in the area of Perea. Soon they'll reach Jericho; we'll get there, I think, next week or the week after that.

But they're traveling and they spend the night in a home there in Perea. Probably one of Jesus' followers who had agreed to put them up for the night. It was probably the next morning as they were preparing to leave that town, there in Perea somewhere, and head on toward Jerusalem that some parents heard Jesus was there and they brought their children to Jesus. And after He had blessed the children one by one, Jesus and His disciple tried to set out again on their journey. But before they can do that they are interrupted yet again by a man whom the gospel writers describe as a very wealthy young ruler of the synagogue. A man who's very successful very early in life. A man who's spiritually bent. Who's achieved a great deal of success, but who still finds something missing from his life. And he runs to Jesus, throwing all decorum to the wind, he runs to Jesus, falls down before Him and says, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus, you remember, responds to him and basically confronts him with his sin. He says, "Why do you call Me good?" You misunderstand good, you don't even know Me. You don't know that I am God and yet you are calling Me good. How can you do that? You have a wrong standard of goodness. He says there is no one good, but God. No exceptions. Only God is good. And then He says here's what you need to do if you want to inherit eternal life. Keep the commandments and Jesus lists a number of commandments from the second half of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. Surprising response really from Jesus but even more surprising response from the young man because he replies, "Well, I've done all of that." I've kept all of those. Not understanding his own sinfulness really. Seeing only the external nature of the law of God, he believes he's kept them. And so Jesus helps him see, with one simple command, that not only has he not kept the commands toward others, but he has violated the first commandment because his wealth is more important to him than God. Jesus lets him see that by giving him a very simple command. Okay, here's one thing you lack. "I want you to go and sell everything you have and I want you to give the proceeds to the poor and then come follow Me."

What was Jesus doing? Jesus was helping him see his sin and demanding both repentance and faith. Repentance in that he had to get rid of the idol in his life, which in his case was his wealth. And faith in that Jesus said, "Once you've sold it and given it away, come follow Me." Stake everything in Me and not in the religion that you've grown up in. Sadly, the Scriptures tell us that he was grieved at these words. Verse 22, "But at these words he" this rich young ruler, "was saddened, and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property." Tragic really. As he walks away, Jesus seizes the opportunity to teach His disciples and He teaches them that salvation is humanly impossible. Jesus uses a picture that's a powerful picture. He says, "It would be easier to get a camel through an eye of the needle than for a rich man to be saved."

The disciples understand and they ask in verse 26, "Then who can be saved?" If the wealthy can't be, if the ones who apparently have God's blessing, that's was what their theology taught, if they can't be saved, if they can't be spiritually rescued then how can we? Who can be? And Jesus responds with this statement, verse 27, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." He is saying salvation is humanly impossible, it has to be accomplished by God alone.

Now in response to that exchange Peter asks the question, and that brings us to the text we want to look at tonight. Mark chapter 10, verse 28, "Peter began to say to Him" in response to all of that, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first."

You know Mark has already made much about the cost of discipleship. But what about the corresponding benefits of following Jesus Christ? That's really what we come to in this text. Peter wants to know, and Jesus in turn wants us to know, that the benefits of following Him far outweigh the costs. The costs are great. Jesus said, You want to be My disciple? Okay deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. You must be willing to die to the person you are. You must own Me as Lord and then you can have the benefits I offer. That seems like a really high price to pay, and it is. But the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Now, as we work our way through the passage I just read, the record really begins with a question. Let's call the first part of this passage, verse 28, a question about the benefits of being Christ's follower. Now don't miss the flow of the passage here. This text is not disconnected from the story of the rich young ruler. You remember, when confronted with his sin, the demand to turn from that sin and follow Jesus, the rich young ruler refused. So he did not gain eternal life. He did not repent, he did not believe, he did not gain eternal life. In response to that, the disciples wonder what true followers of Christ inherit, what they gain, what blessings or rewards will be theirs? Peter, always the spokesman for the group, really makes the point that they're all thinking. Notice verse 28, Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." Behold is really more like "look" its like "wait a minute." Let me ask You a question. Look. In the original language the pronoun we is emphatic. In Greek, it's "we" in contrast to this man who has just walked away from You. We have left everything. Luke quotes Peter as in this same context as saying, "We left all our own things." And it's true, they had.

You remember back, in fact turn back to Mark, chapter 1. Verse 16, "As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee," Jesus was, "He saw Simon" that's Peter, "and Andrew the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. " Jesus had first met these men shortly after His baptism more than a year before this. We find out about that in John, chapter 1. After they had interacted with Jesus off and on for more than a year, here Jesus finds them at their business, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Together, Andrew and Peter had really built a very successful fishing business. According to Luke 5, Peter owned his own boat. And to them notice what Jesus says in verse 17, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." They already had come to trust in Christ. Now Jesus finds them and says, I want you to leave your boat. At this point, more for a temporary mission's trip is really what it amounts to. They later come back to their fishing business. Later, He'll come back, in Luke 5, and ask them to leave permanently their careers as fishermen and be with Him. But here, He's really asking them to take a short leave of absence to follow Him and go on a mission's trip of sorts through Galilee. "Follow Me." Literally, the Greek text says, "Here, behind Me." This command is essentially a call to bow to the authority of Jesus Christ.

Verse 19 says, "Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets." Nearby another group of fishermen, James and John; these two men are also commercial fishermen. But instead of fishing, at this point they're repairing, cleaning and folding their nets after a night's work and they're preparing for the next expedition. These two men, the sons of Zebedee, they were part of a very successful and influential family. They were even known; this fishing family from Galilee was even known and respected down in Jerusalem. John was even known to the high priest, the most powerful man in Israel. The family of Zebedee, these two men, had formed a partnership with Andrew and Simon according to Luke 5. They had become very successful. Look at, verse 20: "When Jesus called them; they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him." Notice what these men left. For several months to serve their Lord and King; they left their careers, they left their successful business, they had hired servants, they left their partnership with Andrew and Peter and they left their father. Eventually, Jesus would demand all four of these men to permanently leave their careers and become His disciples.

Now go back to Mark 10, Peter says, "We have left everything", and he adds, "and we have followed You." Peter says, You're our teacher, we're your students. You are our Master, we're Your slaves. Now what, what's the point? What's Peter trying to do here, what's he saying in this? Well, it's implied here in Mark, but Matthew records for us Peter's real question. Listen to Matthew 19:27, "Then Peter said to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?'" What then will there be for us? Now it's tempting isn't it, when you hear that statement, to see it as kind of a selfish mercenary sort of selfish question. Some commentators take it that way. But you'll notice there's no condemnation from our Lord to Peter. He doesn't confront him, what do you mean being so selfish; what do you mean being so self-centered? There's none of that. Instead, Jesus answers the question with encouragement and comfort. Because Peter is essentially asking this, what are the benefits for those who have given up so much to become Your followers? What was the obvious answer? What Jesus had just told the rich young ruler, "You'll have treasure in heaven." But Peter isn't so sure of this; so he asks. That's the question about the benefits of being Christ's follower.

That brings us secondly to the certainty of the benefits of being Christ's follower. This you find in verses 28 to 30. Look at verse 29, Jesus said in answer to Peter's question, "What do we receive, what will there be for us?" "Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake,'" stop there for a moment. Jesus said "Truly", that's amen or amen as it's anglicized in the English. It introduces a solemn pronouncement that Jesus says, You ought to really think about this, you ought to really weigh this. "Truly I say to you, there is no one," no exceptions. Here is a universal truth. "There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms." By farms He means fields or land. Luke by the way adds wife. And notice the reason, if you've left any of those things, "For My sake and for the gospel's sake." What does it mean to leave those things, to leave those relationships? Obviously it doesn't mean to abandon those relationships. Scripture, for example, doesn't allow a Christian man to leave or abandon his wife. Instead it means to value our relationship with Christ as more important than any of those other relationships. That's what Jesus demanded. You remember? He said, "No one can be My follower who doesn't love Me more." In some cases it means the person who isn't a believer leaves us because we become a believer; because our relationship to Christ is more important.

But what does it mean to leave houses or farms? In some cases the leaving Jesus describes here may be complete and final. That happened to Paul. In Philippians 3, the passage Cornelius read just a few moments ago, in verse 7, the verse before he read, Paul says, I have, in coming to Christ, I have suffered the loss of all things. What does that mean? It means exactly what it says. For Paul, when he came to Christ, it meant he lost everything. He lost his friends. He lost his family. He lost his job. He lost his religious associations. He lost everything. Sometimes it means that. In other cases, like that of the disciples here, it's a relative forsaking. They left their fishing business, but they may have retained ownership of the boat. We've already seen that in Mark's Gospel. They left their homes to travel with Jesus, but it's likely some of them at least retained their homes as their own. Peter's home was in Capernaum. Its possible Jesus even used that as a base of operation. Peter's mother-in-law lived there as well as the rest of his family. Peter had left his family to follow Christ. But according to 1 Corinthians 9:5, his wife often traveled with him. The point here is that all followers of Christ must be willing to put Christ above their closest relationships and hold Him to be more valuable than their most precious possessions. Sometimes, like with Paul, He demands that we actually forsake them completely. Other times it simply means placing Him above all those things, in priority and value. Jesus says, "No one who has been willing to do that for My sake and the gospel's sake," but here's what will happen, verse 30, "but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life." Here in Jesus' answer He explains the benefits of following Him.

And here in Mark's gospel we don't see it, but in Matthew's we do. He first talks about what His apostles, what the twelve will receive. Here's what Matthew writes in the parallel passage, Matthew 19:28: "And Jesus said to them, 'Truly I say to you that you who have followed Me,' He's talking to the twelve now, to the apostles. When I say the twelve I mean, minus Judas, plus Matthias. We understand that ultimately. But Jesus said to them, 'you who have followed Me in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'"

Now what is Jesus saying here? The regeneration here is an unusual word only that occurs one other time in the New Testament. It's not a reference to the ultimate universe that will be created, to the new heavens and that new earth that Revelation talks about. But instead it's talking about a renewed earth and heavens. In Acts 3:21, Peter calls it the restoration of all things. So we're talking about a period of time when Christ renovates this existing universe. It's the period of time that we call the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ described in Revelation chapter 20. During that time, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne Jesus says, "You twelve will also sit upon twelve thrones." Now what does that mean, twelve thrones? Well it means we'll have either the responsibility to judge or the responsibility to rule. The word translated judge here can be either to judge in the sense of judges we think of it, or to rule. And the twelve will have that responsibility over the Jewish people. Jesus said this to the twelve again on the night of His crucifixion. Luke 22:30: "You are going to eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

It's certainly true of the apostles. But I don't want you to lose the fact that this idea of ruling with Christ is not just for the apostles, it's for others as well. Although, only the apostles are said to judge or rule the twelve tribes of Israel; there's a sense in which the same role, it's going to be true for all believers. In 1 Corinthians 6, you remember when Paul's talking about not suing other believers here in the world, he says, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" In Revelation, this same point is made in the letters to the churches in Revelation 2:26 and 27. And look at Revelation 20, verse 4. This is during that millennial period, that thousand year reign of Christ on a renewed earth, before He destroys this one and creates a new one. "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God;" so here you have believers "and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had received the mark on their forehead or on their hand and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." Believers, we find from all of these texts, will reign with Jesus Christ. So not just the twelve, they'll reign over the twelve tribes of Israel, but all believers will ultimately reign with Jesus Christ.

So, when you look at this passage you see the question about the benefits of Christ's followers, of becoming one of Christ's followers. The certainty of those benefits and in Matthew's passage, Matthew 19:28, we see what His twelve apostles will receive. But back here in Mark, in Mark chapter 10, we see what all of Jesus' followers will receive, all of His disciples. First of all, what they will receive, what we will receive in this age. Look at verse 30: "He will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecution." The key here is now in the present age. In other words before you die and before Christ returns. There are great benefits to following Jesus even in this life that take the sting out of the cost of discipleship. Sometimes following Christ costs you your most valuable relationships because they think you are nuts. Or your spouse wants out because she or he didn't buy into this religion stuff that you have bought in to. Or they just don't enjoy you anymore because you don't enjoy the same things. Or you back out of those relationships to go somewhere to serve Christ. Sometimes following Christ costs you your most precious possessions. Sometimes that's because you are disinherited or they are taken away by an antagonistic government that's antagonistic to Christians. That's happening in our world today. Or you leave those possessions in order to go somewhere else to serve Christ. When those things happen, even in this life, Jesus says you will receive a hundred times as much, during this life. You say now, wait a minute, what does that mean? How can a Christian have a hundred times as many houses and lands and parents and brothers and sisters and children? Through the community of believers, through the community of believers; those who follow Christ.

Go back to Mark, chapter 3. You remember this interchange when Jesus' family thought that He'd gone nuts and the came to arrest Him to take Him back to Nazareth. Verse 31 of Mark 3, Jesus is teaching in a house. The family shows up outside. The brother's think He's nuts. His mother is just concerned about Him and His health. And they arrived and verses 31 says, "Standing outside they sent word to Jesus and called Him." Inside the house, "The crowd was sitting around Him and they said to Him, "Behold Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." Answering them, Jesus said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" And looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother." Jesus here is redefining relationships. He's saying my relationship with those who love the truth and follow God is tighter and closer than blood relations who don't. If you've been a Christian anytime at all, you know this, you experience this; you understand this. That's what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is saying that Christians develop relationships that can be stronger than that with blood relatives. And as Christians, like a family, because we are a family, we take care of one another. We share our resources. This morning we took an offering for our fellow believers in Japan. Other Christians all over the world are doing that. If it's money or houses or land or time, we share those with other Christians who are in need. Wherever I have traveled in the world, or served, it's like I have family there. Family there who loves me and would take whatever steps necessary to care for me and my family. I experience that here with you. I experienced that at Grace. When I'm back there, you know, I'm out there for the Shepherd's Conference and I keep running into people and they want to know things that only family really care about. How are your eyes? I'm serious. I got this several times out last week and a couple of weeks ago at the Shepherd's Conference. "We've been praying for you. How are your eyes doing? Now, how old are the kids, what are they involved in?" Nobody else cares about that but family. It's because they are family.

I didn't leave my parents, they left me. My parents are with the Lord. But here and at Grace Church and around the world I have dozens of older Christians who are like my parents. Asking all those things and they will do whatever is necessary to make sure that my and my family's needs are met. We've become part of the household of faith, part of the family of God. And therefore we have a lot of brothers and a lot of sisters and a lot of mothers and a lot of fathers. And whatever resources we need ultimately, our needs will be met by God through His people. That's what Jesus is saying.

But the benefits of being a Christian in this life also come, notice verse 30, "with persecutions." Jesus here is not teaching a prosperity gospel. You just follow Christ and everything will be wonderful and you'll get rich and you'll have whatever luxury car you want and you'll have Victoria as your wife. As one writer says, the Christian faith is not an insurance policy against adversity and hardship. You'll enjoy wonderful benefits in this life as your, literally, your family expands because of the Christian community. But it comes along with some with some hardship and trouble and specifically here, persecution. This would have resonated with the Roman Christians to whom Mark wrote this gospel; who were being persecuted.

So even in this life there is a return, there are benefits that balance of the cost of discipleship. But not only will we as His disciples, receive both benefits in this age, but also in the age to come. Notice verse 30: "and in the age to come, eternal life." This expression, eternal life, of course a common one in the New Testament has to do not only with the length of life. Certainly it means we will live forever. But every human soul will live forever. If you have life, you will live somewhere forever. That's what Jesus said. You may not like that. You may be uncomfortable with that, but that's the reality. That's what He taught. That's what His apostles taught. So we are going to live somewhere forever. It's not just talking about lengthen of life; it's talking about a quality of life. Life at a higher level, life in which you know God as Father, in which your sins are forgiven, in which there is peace of soul and there's the hope of the future. It's the blessing of every follower of Jesus Christ. So when it comes to Christ, the benefits both in this life and in eternity make the cost of discipleship seem utterly insignificant.

Listen, if you are tempted to think that a life of discipleship to Jesus Christ isn't appealing, remember our Lord's words here. Yes there are costs, it'll cost you yourself. But the benefits are amazing. A richness and breadth to life here that can't be matched by anything the world offers and eternal life. That rich young ruler, he still had his family, he still had his property, but both of those could be and would be eventually lost. But the twelve had given up their families and homes and careers to follow Jesus and the benefits that they enjoyed far surpassed anything that that rich young ruler had or every hoped to have. You see God will be no man's debtor. The return on the investment of the life of discipleship to Jesus Christ is huge. In this life, those returns come through the community of fellow believers. In the life to come, those returns come in heaven in God's presence. So important we think like this, because I think sometimes we focus solely on the cost of discipleship and to think of following Christ only in terms of its costs and sacrifices is all wrong. It's like finding the perfect spouse who is everything you ever wanted and then spending all your time thinking about what marriage that person's going to cost you.

Jesus finishes His answer here with a third point of this passage and that is the principal of grace in being Christ's follower. You see we become Christ's followers by grace and that grace sustains the relationship. And He ends with this very strange statement; look at verse 31. "But many who are first will be last, and the last, first." It's an epigram, almost a kind of riddle; of sorts. What does that mean?

Jesus only used this statement on one other occasion in His ministry in Luke 13:30. Other than that occurrence, it is only here in Mark 10 and in the two parallel accounts of this same incident, in Matthew 19 and Luke 18. What does it mean? Matthew makes it very clear what Jesus means. Turn back to Matthew's account. Matthew 19 and look at verse 30. There it is. Again, right on the heels of Peter's question, Jesus answer, verse 30, "But many who are first will be last; and the last, first." Now go to chapter 20, verse 16, and notice it again, "So, the last shall be first, and the first last." So you have the statement given at the end of chapter 19 and again in chapter 20, verse 16 and between those two occurrences is a parable. And the parable is there to explain what this saying means. So let's look at the parable.

Matthew 20, verse 1. He's just said that many who are first will be last, and the last, first. So here we go. "For," because here's what I mean, "the kingdom of heaven," the kingdom over which I rule, "is like a landowner," like a man who owns land, "who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." So here's a man who owns some land and on that land he's planted a vineyard. Now in that area of the world, particularly in Israel, the harvest for grapes comes in September and so it's September apparently and it's time to harvest the grapes. And he goes out to hire laborers early in the morning. The Jewish workday started at 6:00 am with sunrise and ended somewhere around 6:00 pm. Twelve hour day, and of course there were some breaks in there for meals and other things; but basically from 6:00 to 6:00. He goes to the marketplace, we're told in verse 3. That was simply the square, if you will, in town, that's where business was done, where people came to buy and sell things. And that's where day laborers, that's what he's looking for; people who were really at the lowest end of the socioeconomic scale. These were people who didn't have regular jobs. They simply went to the marketplace on a given day hoping that somebody would come and hire them for that day's work.

So it was piecework, a day at a time. That was the best they could hope for. And he goes, this man who owns this vineyard. It's September, its harvest time. He went early in the morning so just at the time the work day started to hire laborers for his vineyard. "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day; he sent them into his vineyard." Denarius was what a Roman soldier was paid for a day. And it was a common laborer's wage, but for a day laborer like this, it was actually a very generous wage. He was paying well for what he was hiring these people to do. And so he makes an agreement with them. You work for me from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm and I'll give you a denarius, the equivalent of a Roman soldier's day's wage. And they agreed because it was a generous amount, they needed the work and he sends them into his vineyard.

Verse 3: "He went out at about the third hour." Now the workday was divided into twelve parts, from 6 to 6 pm. And so the third hour here would have been about 9:00, so we're now three hours into the work day. He goes out and he finds others standing idle in the marketplace. They haven't been picked up by anybody else. "And to those he said, 'You also go into my vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'" He doesn't tell them what he's going to pay them. Obviously, you would anticipate he would pay them less because they are working three hours less. He say's I'll do right by you. I want you to go work in my vineyard. Of course they need the work. Here's somebody who's willing to hire them and so they don't haggle over price, they simply go. They went, verse 4, "Again he went about the sixth hour" so about noon "and the ninth hour." About 3:00 in the afternoon, and he "did the same thing" there were still people there. Maybe they hadn't gotten there earlier in the day. They had further to go. Maybe they got hired earlier in the morning, but it was just for an hour or two, and now they are back in the marketplace, hoping to get picked up again and to make a full day's pay. Or maybe they were in another part of the market, or perhaps they were the less desirable workers. Maybe they were weak and maimed in some way, unable to do a full day's work and it was obvious. We don't know the reason, but they're there.

And then verse 6, "About the eleventh hour" this is 5:00 in the afternoon. One hour till the work day is done, "he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day?" Why haven't you worked? "They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.'" We wanted to work, nobody hired us. Here, his concern doesn't seem to be so much for his vineyard and getting his grapes harvested, as it seems to be concern for these people. When he finds out they haven't worked because no one hired them, he said, "You go into the vineyard too." It's 5:00, there's only one hour until we stop, but go.

Verse 8, "When evening came," this is 6:00; it's getting off time, "the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages.'" This was typical in the ancient world. In fact the law of God, in Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 4, had ordered that when you hired a day laborer, because he depended for his food for the next day, on what he earned that day, you paid him before the day was done. So here the landowner is doing right, he had hired them for a fair wage and he's going to pay them as the Scripture commanded. But he says something unusual at the end of verse 8. I want you to pay them beginning with the last group, the group hired at 5:00 in the afternoon. Start by paying them.

"When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one of them received a denarius." They received the payment for a generous day's work. They had only worked one hour. I can't imagine how elated they were. These were poor people, trying to feed their families. They hadn't been hired all day. No one had hired them. And now here they are having worked an hour, and through the generosity of this man, they have a full day's pay.

Verse 10, "When those hired first came," so he went through all the other groups; we don't know what he paid them. But the insinuation here is that he paid them all a denarius; he paid them all the same. Whether they were hired at 9 o'clock in the morning, or 12 o'clock noon, or at 3 in the afternoon, or at 5 o'clock, he paid them all the same. And then, verse 10, "When those hired first came, they thought they would receive more." They're doing the math, you know. Okay, let's see, one hour, that's one of twelve hours, they got paid a full day's wage. That's twelve times the wages. So maybe we'll get paid at that rate, for twelve day's work, for one day. You can just see them at the back of the line, sort of thinking this through. And thinking, boy this is a sweet deal. I wonder if this guy needs work tomorrow. "But each of them also," verse 10 says, "received a denarius."

Wait a minute. "When they received it," verse 11, "they grumbled at the landowner." I love that word. Actually, the verb tense is they just kept on grumbling. You can just see this happening. You know, they get their denarius and they are looking at one another and they are off to the side. And the word, the Greek word for grumble is like the English word for grumble. It's onomatopoetic, that is it sounds like what's going on. So it's kind of, "grumble, grumble, grumble," you know can just, you can hear this going on in the background. They are grumbling at the landowner. Saying, "These," now watch this, remember the last shall be first and the first, last, "these last men have worked only one hour, and you've made them equal to us who have borne the burden." In other words, we've worked; we've done all the work. We are the ones who really did the work, and in the difficult conditions, "in the scorching heat of the day." The word scorching heat there literally means to burn. It might be describing the sun burning down on them. Or it might be describing, this happens in September, in both Israel and California where I lived, the scorching winds off the desert. And it's really hard, it's a hard circumstance. They said, look, look at all the work we did. What do you mean? And in the worst of circumstances.

But he answered and said to them, "Friend, I'm doing you no wrong." Here you see the tenderness, he's not angry. Friend, I haven't mistreated you, you are not being treated unfairly, "did you not agree with me for a denarius?" That was our terms, six o'clock this morning. "Take what is yours and go, but I," and this is key, "I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? So the last shall be first, and the first last."

Now, look back at the complaint of the workers who worked all day. What are they complaining about? They are saying we served a different length of service, twelve hours, all day, a different amount of work. We did the burden of the work. We did the most work; we're really the ones that carried this off and in different conditions of service. We served in the heat of the day, in the scorching sun or with the burning wind. And these guys show up at 5 o'clock and work for an hour. And here's the key, "But you made them equal to us." Everybody gets a denarius. The key here is everyone is paid the same, a denarius. The last workers hired were, notice verse 12, made equal to the first in the benefits they received. And notice verse 14, "I wish to give to this last man the same as to you." The last were treated as if they were first. And the first were treated as the last. In other words, this is the key, they were all treated the same. The first were last and the last were first. They were all treated the same. They all got a denarius. They were treated equally here. He gives to them benefits without regard for their length of service, their amount of work or the conditions under which they served.

So what's Jesus point? Jesus is not saying here, that there are no differences in rewards for believers based on their service. That is clear in other texts, Matthew 16:27, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 15:41, there are differences in rewards for believers. Again, notice the context. This entire paragraph has been about what? It's about those who do and don't inherit eternal life. So Jesus is not talking about rewards. He's talking about the benefits of salvation. And here's the point. They are the same for every Christian. Whether you live a life of sacrifice and serve in a place, a hard place, for sixty years, or whether you are like the thief on the cross and you live an entire life of sin and in the last moments of your life you come to faith in Christ at the eleventh hour, every Christian gets to rule and reign with Christ. Every Christian gets to enjoy a hundredfold in this life through the community of believers, anything he gave up to follow Christ and every Christian gets to enjoy eternal life in the life to come. And every Christian enjoys those benefits regardless of how long they've served or been a disciple, how much work or results they've produced or how difficult or easy the conditions are in which they serve. Why? Because salvation is all of grace. That's the point. You see, Peter was really asking, so what do followers of Christ get? And the answer is, they all get the same and it's all more than they deserve. It's grace. The first last, the last first. The point is this landowner was showing grace to all of these men. He didn't have to hire a single one. He didn't have to pay them a generous rate of pay. He didn't have to keep going back to the market and hiring others. And he certainly didn't have to hire the last group, with only an hour left to go. Everything this man did was grace. And therefore, the last shall be first, and the first, last. They are all treated equally. All believers gain the same spiritual benefits from following Jesus Christ, because it's grace.

If you are here tonight and you are a follower of Jesus Christ, understand this is the principal on which He operates. You don't deserve and I don't deserve anything we have. It's all grace, all the benefits we have as a result of Christ are grace to us from God. If you are here tonight and you are not a believer, understand you can never earn your way into God's kingdom and to His favor. The landowner was all grace to all those he hired. You can only come when He calls. You can respond to the truth of the gospel, you can respond to Christ and He'll receive you. But it will be His grace and not your merit. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for our study together tonight. Thank You for this amazing parable that reminds us that the benefits we enjoy through Christ, the benefits in this life which are rich, but more than that the benefit in the life to come of eternal life and knowing You and the knowledge of sins forgiven and of eternity in Your presence. Father those are rich blessings. Remind us that not one of us deserves any of those benefits. They come to all of us equally because they come from grace, Your grace toward us in Jesus Christ. Father, I pray for the person here tonight who's living, right now, in a life of rebellion against You, their Creator, the One who sustains them at this very moment, keeps their heart beating. Lord, may this be the day when they find a quiet place before they go to bed tonight and they fall on their face before You, confessing their sin, seeking Your forgiveness and putting their full confidence in Jesus Christ alone as their only hope of knowing You. Father, may You produce that change, may You turn on the light in their hearts. And we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.