And Father, Holy Spirit, I just pray that you would fill me tonight as I preach this,
and lead me, dear God, and show me what you would want me to preach.
There's so much great truth here, and I have to prioritize.
And so I just pray that you would lead me to speak to the hearts that are here,
exactly what they need, exactly what I need, exactly what my family needs,
exactly what visitors need, exactly what regulars need.
God, just please be with us tonight in this service.
And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Now in Matthew chapter 20, we're picking up a theme that we talked about in chapter 19.
I alluded to this a little bit.
We got a little bit of a sneak preview of chapter 20 last week and chapter 19,
because the two tie together so well.
And I want to go into a little more detail, what I talked about on last Wednesday night,
about this question that Peter asks, and then the parable to follow,
explaining the answer a little bit.
So if you would, look at verse number 27 of Matthew 19.
In verse 27 the Bible reads,
Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee.
What shall we have therefore?
He's saying, What's in it for me?
I've forsaken everything. I've given up a lot of things, Jesus.
What do you have to offer me in return?
And Jesus said unto them, in verse 28,
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 twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone, see this is where we're included, that was for the disciples, this is us,
and everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake,
shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
For many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
Now in another place, this of course says that we'll receive a hundredfold in this life,
blessings from God, and in the life to come, eternal life, the Bible says.
And so, God is saying here that, yes, I will reward you for what you've done,
but now let me in chapter number 20 explain to you a little story
about some other people who wanted to know up front
exactly what they were going to get for what they did.
And he begins to tell us this story in verse number 1.
He says, For the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is an householder,
which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.
Now if you study this passage and if you study the Bible,
I like to let the Bible define itself.
I like to let the Bible be its own dictionary.
I don't like commentaries. I don't like books about the Bible.
I like to compare spiritual things with spiritual.
I like to speak in the words not which man's wisdom teacheth,
but the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, the Bible says.
And so I like to use the Bible to tell me what words mean and so forth.
And if you look through the Bible and study this,
you'll realize right away that the morning here is talking about 6 a.m.
You'll find that throughout the Bible that the morning is 6 a.m.
And when we see these various hours counted, the third hour, that's 9 a.m.,
three hours later.
When it says the sixth hour, we're talking about noon.
When we're talking about the ninth hour, 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
And then even is at 6 o'clock p.m.
And so those are the two punctuating times.
The Bible talks about 12 hours in a day.
It's talking about 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
And then it talks about 12 hours in a night from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
And so you'll see in this story that this man that's a householder,
he goes out at 6 a.m., he goes into town.
And I remember when I was in Sacramento, California,
I hadn't really seen this around here,
but you'd see men lined up on the street corner with a bonfire in Sacramento,
and they've all got a cup of coffee, and they're waiting to work for the day.
And somebody might pick them up and have some work for them to do.
Has anybody ever seen that before?
The men stand on the corner, and they've got a bonfire or whatever,
and they're waiting for somebody to hire them.
Well, that's exactly what this story's talking about.
This householder comes out, he's got a lot of work to do in his vineyard.
I think it was the harvest time is what he's saying.
He wants them to reap his vineyard.
And so he goes out and he finds these men that are standing on the street corner.
He says, go work today in my vineyard.
And there's an agreement that goes on, the Bible says.
He agreed with them for a penny a day.
Look if you would at verse number 13, at the end of verse number 13 in chapter 20.
He says, didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
So they're having a part in this conversation.
It wasn't just the householder walked up and said,
hey guys, if you work today in my vineyard, I'll give you a penny for the day.
No, he says that they agreed with him.
See, they're the ones doing the subject there.
And so if you look at both verses, you'll see that there's a little bargaining going on.
He probably walked up to them and said, I'd like you to go work today in my vineyard.
I'll give you whatever's right.
And they said, well, how much is it going to be?
And he says, well, how much do you want?
And they said, how about a penny for the day?
And obviously this is a different monetary scale.
He said, how about a penny for the day?
And I think he said, all right, that'll be okay.
That'll be fine.
Why don't you come with me?
And he sent them into the vineyard.
He goes out around nine o'clock in the morning.
He finds other men that are standing around, nothing to do.
He says, go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right, I'll give you.
So he doesn't agree with them.
He doesn't even tell them how much they're going to get paid.
He says, I want you to trust me.
Go do the work that I'm telling you to do right now, and I'll take care of you.
And then it comes around.
It says that at the sixth and the ninth hour, he goes out and does the same thing.
Noon, he goes out.
Three o'clock, he does the same thing.
And he hires these men into his vineyard.
And then at the eleventh hour, we're talking about five o'clock in the afternoon,
one hour before the workday is going to end.
He says, he finds more men standing idle in the marketplace, just standing around.
He says, what are you doing here?
And they say, no man hath hired us.
He says, go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right, that shall you receive.
He sends them to work in the vineyard.
At the end of the day, he says to his steward, he says, I want you to hand out the money.
I want you to pay these men what they've worked,
and I want you to start with the ones that started at five o'clock in the afternoon.
I want you to pay them first.
And so they all get in line.
They line up from the last to the first.
And he hands the first one in line a penny.
And these other guys in the back of the line are thinking, good night.
This guy worked for an hour.
He got a penny.
How much are we going to get?
We're going to get 12 times as much.
This is great.
We agreed with him.
He must have forgot what we were talking about.
And so this is outstanding.
We're going to get paid all kinds of money.
Well, it turns out he gets every single one of them the same thing, a penny.
And they're angry.
They're upset.
But before I get into some of the repercussions of that story,
think about this in relationship to what Peter was talking about in chapter 19.
He wanted to know, what is in it for me?
What are you going to give me, God?
I've got my whole life ahead of me.
I want to know what it's going to be like.
I don't want to just go into this thing blindfolded and say,
I'm going to sell out for God.
I'm going to live for God.
I'm going to put it all on the altar.
Whatever God says to do with my life, I'm going to do it.
I'm going to forsake maybe a certain career that I had that was consuming me,
and I'm going to give everything to God.
But wait a minute.
Before I decide that I'm going to go that far,
maybe I should find out what exactly is involved here.
What am I going to have there for?
And he says, well, of course, I'm going to give you a hundred times
whatever you give up in the Christian life.
But he says, let me tell you this story.
See, people who want to bargain with God and demand things from God,
they end up with less, is what he's trying to say,
than the people who just by faith do what he wants them to do.
Let me show you some interesting things.
We've been talking a lot about prayer in the last few weeks.
We were talking a lot about it on Sunday morning and Sunday night.
But if you look, if you would, at Psalm 78.
I'm sorry, before you go there, Romans 8, Romans chapter 8.
We'll get there in a minute.
Look at Romans chapter 8, and look, if you would, at verse number 26.
Sometimes we get frustrated in life
because God doesn't seem to give us what we want.
God doesn't seem to give us exactly what we thought he should give us,
what we think is right. He gives us what he thinks is right.
Look, if you would, at Romans chapter 8, verse number 26.
The Bible says, likewise, the Spirit.
Now, remember, in the New Testament only,
this does not go for the Old Testament, but in the New Testament,
every time the word Spirit is capitalized,
we're talking about the Holy Spirit.
When it's not capitalized, we're talking about a different spirit or our spirit.
And so the Bible says, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
For we know not what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
So here's what happens.
When we pray in the Holy Ghost, as the Bible says in Jude, verse number 19,
when we pray in the Holy Ghost, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit,
because we have no clue what to pray for.
This week I was praying about several things,
and I just kept thinking, I don't even know what to pray for.
I don't even know what I want to have. I don't even know.
Because I don't know what God's will is.
I don't know what needs to happen.
And so I need to just pray to God and ask for what I think is right
or ask for his will to be done.
But then the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is going to step in
and he's going to intercede for me
because he knows exactly what the will of God is.
He knows exactly what is the right answer to what I'm praying for.
And so he's going to step in and say, God, the Father, listen to me.
He doesn't know what he's talking about.
Let me tell you what he really needs.
And you're thinking, boy, he must do that every time I pray
because I ask for something and I get something totally different.
But I was talking about this on set.
Whenever you pray and really get a hold of God,
like I was talking about on Sunday morning
in the sermon about having power with God,
whenever you pray, something happens.
Or else you're not praying or you're not praying
according to the Scriptures and so forth.
But when you pray, God answers you, period.
Everyone that asks gets received.
But what happens is sometimes the Holy Spirit, for our sake,
will change a little bit what we ask for
and say, let me intercede according to the will of God.
Let me tell you what he really needs.
And he will answer you, but it's going to be according to his will.
Now, do you really want God to answer every prayer that you ever prayed?
No, you don't.
Because you might end up with something that you did not want to have.
And look at the next verse. He explains why he does this.
The Bible says in verse number 28,
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose,
for whom he did foreknow.
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
He's saying, when you pray to God,
sometimes the answer is not going to be what you expected.
It's going to be what the Holy Ghost asked for on your behalf,
because he heard you praying,
he heard you pouring out of your heart to God.
And so he's going to step in and say,
Steve Anderson is begging God to step in.
But he is just so ignorant about God's will,
he's so ignorant about what needs to happen,
I'm going to step in because he's praying.
Now, he's not going to do this unless you're praying.
But he's going to step in and say,
God, would you please answer his prayer,
and would you please answer it in this way,
so that he'll get exactly what would be best for him
and best for the kingdom of God.
Why?
Because our destiny, the Bible says,
all the things in our life that we don't understand
are working together for good,
because our destiny is to one day be conformed to the image of his Son.
Now, if we get everything we want in life,
we're not going to be conformed to the image of his Son,
because his Son lived a life of suffering.
He lived a life of self-sacrifice.
He lived a life of laying down his life for his friends.
The Bible says, hereby perceive we the love of God,
that he gave his life for us,
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
And so we're to live a life patterned after the life of Jesus Christ,
which is a life of laying down our lives for the brethren,
which is a life of suffering.
The Bible says in Philippians 1.29,
it says, for unto us is given on the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
See, it's a two-step process.
Number one, believe on Jesus Christ and be saved.
And number two, suffer for Jesus Christ.
And that's the will of God,
because we're to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
God is using every event in our life to mold us,
to fashion us, as in Jeremiah, I forget the chapter,
but where the potter is fashioning the clay,
he's fashioning it according to be a vessel meat for the master's use.
And so he's going to sometimes have to knock off a few things
that he doesn't like.
And he's going to be molding us
and fashioning us into what he wants us to be
so that we can look as much like Jesus Christ as possible.
But what's the end product?
What's the end result?
A vase that's going to go up on a shelf somewhere
so everybody can look at how wonderful it is?
No, Jesus said, if you follow me,
I will make you fishers of men.
See, the end result is that you'll be a productive, fruitful soul winner.
You will win people to Christ,
you will bring forth after your own kind,
as Genesis chapter 1 says,
another godly soul winning Christian.
And win somebody to the Lord
and teach them to observe all things
whatsoever Jesus Christ has commanded you.
That is the goal.
That's the process.
And so sometimes we beg God to do something,
it may not be the best thing.
But at the same time, don't get depressed and say,
well, good night.
It seems like everything is just about
making me suffer.
My whole life is just suffering.
No, that's not it at all,
because the Bible says in Psalm 37, 4,
delight thyself also in him,
and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.
See, God has a way of giving you also
what you want,
what you really want.
Maybe you don't know that that's what you want.
But he'll give you what you really want.
Look at the men in the story.
Look what they ended up with.
They ended up with good money.
The men who just said, sure,
whatever you want, God, I don't know,
how much should I get paid today?
I don't know.
I mean, you're the businessman.
Here I am standing on a street corner
by a bonfire.
I'm not exactly in the Forbes magazine
this month for business.
You're a great householder,
and you've got all kinds of money,
you've got all kinds of orders.
You know what's right.
You know what's fair.
I'll go into the vineyard.
You pay me what's right.
And I'll tell you something,
in business,
the person who gives the first number
always loses.
You know that, right?
When you're buying a car,
when you're going to a job,
you walk into the job,
and they say,
how much do you want to get paid?
You say, I don't know.
How much were you going to pay me?
Because who knows?
You might come in lower.
They were going to come in higher.
You blew it.
That's what happened in the story.
And so God is saying,
I know what's best for you.
You don't know.
I'm the householder.
You're on a street corner.
Let me tell you what I'm going to reward you,
and it's going to be far better
than what you're asking for.
It's going to be far better
than what you think success is.
Well, you think success...
I was thinking about this.
This is a silly illustration,
but I was in the Bay Area.
I drove by the house of M.C. Hammer.
Remember M.C. Hammer?
You know, I'm not worldly
and listen to that kind of garbage.
I'm against all of it.
But when I was a kid,
I was a big popular rap artist.
M.C. Hammer.
Big, giant, white mansion on a hilltop.
All kinds of fancy gold on the gate there.
Hammer time.
And you know what now?
He's living in some small house
somewhere in Modesto.
I'm glad I don't live in Modesto.
But it's not a nice area.
It's in California.
It's not my favorite place.
But I'll tell you something.
That's what we think would be success, right?
To live in that big mansion
up on a hilltop,
some white, have all the world's wealth.
Hey, it didn't do much for him.
And it's not going to do much for him
if he's not saved.
I don't know if he's probably not saved.
Just chances are,
when he gets to hell,
it's not going to do him any good.
And so I'm going to tell you something.
God knows a lot better what we need
and what's good for our lives
than we do.
I think about something
that God did not answer
throughout my life.
I praise the Lord
for every one that He did not answer.
I can say to myself,
as I look back over my life,
Jesus led me all the way.
And I can see God's hand in my life.
Look, if you would, at Psalm.
Turn back to the book of Psalms quickly
and I'll move on to the next point.
But go back to the book of Psalms
and look at chapter number 78.
Here we see the children of Israel.
I love these synopsis chapters
that God has throughout the Bible
where He sheds a little more light
on the stories of the people
on the stories of the early part of the Bible,
the Pentateuch.
And I love how God explains to us
a little more insight
in these chapters like Psalm 78,
Psalm 104, 105, 106,
Hebrews chapter 11,
Acts chapter 7,
these chapters where He goes back
through the Old Testament
and gives us a little more insight
about what was going on.
Look, if you would, at Psalm 78,
verse number 27.
This is talking about the children of Israel.
They came out of the land of Egypt
and God is feeding them with manna.
The Bible says man did eat angel's food.
But, alas, it got a little tiresome to them.
They began to not appreciate
what God was providing them with
and think it wasn't good enough.
And they said,
We want to eat something
that we can sink our teeth into,
like really chomp down on some strong meat.
And they said,
How about quail?
Wouldn't that be great?
Wouldn't that be outstanding?
I've never eaten quail in my life.
But it says in verse number 27,
He rained flesh also upon them as dust,
and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.
And He let it fall in the midst of their camp,
round about their habitations.
So they did eat and were filled,
for He gave them their own desire.
See, He gave them their own desire.
They were not estranged from their lust,
but while their meat was yet in their mouths,
the wrath of God came upon them
and slew the fattest of them
and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
For all this they sinned still
and believed not for His wondrous work.
See, they had a faith problem all along.
They come out of the land of Egypt.
They cross the Red Sea.
They watch God park the Red Sea.
They get three days into the trip.
They don't have food.
They don't have water.
And they cry out to God and say,
God, you brought us here to kill us in the wilderness.
Were there no graves in Egypt
that you brought those people out
to destroy them in the wilderness?
They had no faith.
They didn't believe God.
He gives them manna.
He says, This will supply your need.
This is the nutrition you need.
This is all you need.
They didn't believe Him.
They said, No.
We need a more balanced diet.
Give us something else.
Please, give us something else to eat.
And finally God says, Fine.
You want something else?
Here you go.
And while it was still in their teeth,
God poured out His wrath on them.
Look, if you would, at Psalm 106.
Psalm 106, verse number 12.
We'll see the same story.
And by the way, the book of Psalms,
these are songs.
These are songs that were sung.
Do you notice the content?
Do you notice the depth?
These don't seem like praise worship choruses to me.
These are doctrinal, deep songs.
These are the kind of songs I like to sing.
Look at Psalm 106, verse number 12.
Then believed...
I'm sorry, am I in the wrong verse here?
Oh, that's right.
Okay.
Then believed they His words.
They sang His praise.
They soon forgot His works.
They waited not for His counsel
and cared what He thought,
but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness
and tempted God in the desert.
And He gave them their request,
but sent leanness into their soul.
See, many times in life,
we'll ask God for something
and say, God, please, give us something.
And we might even know it's not God's will.
Or maybe He knows it's not His will.
And finally, God just gives it to us?
It'll send leanness into your soul.
I don't want to have a lean soul.
I already have a lean body.
I don't want to have a lean soul.
I want to have...
The Bible says the liberal soul
doesn't want that.
And so I want to have a soul
that has not leanness,
not sorrow, is what the Bible means
by leanness there,
if you look up the word leanness
throughout the Bible.
I don't want sorrow in my heart
because God gave me what I wanted.
Okay, you got what you wanted.
Are you happy?
I don't want that.
I want what God wants.
I'll end up a lot happier.
I'll end up with a lot more money
at the end of the day,
theoretically speaking,
spiritually speaking,
than if I just got what I wanted.
Think about Balaam
back to Matthew 20.
Think about Balaam.
Here's a man who prayed to God
and said, God, is it right
for me to go with Balak
and curse the children of Israel?
God, do you want me to do it?
And God said unequivocally,
no, do not go with them.
Do not curse the people that I've blessed.
Do not curse God's people.
A few days later, they come back.
They say, let us offer you more money
to do it.
He says, let me ask God again.
Look, God already told them no.
But he says, I'll ask God again.
And when he asks God again,
God says, okay, fine.
If they come and get you in the morning,
go with them.
They didn't even come and get him.
He's up first thing in the morning.
All right, let's go.
See, once God tells you something once,
he shouldn't have to tell you twice.
And so sometimes we just don't want
to hear what God wants,
and so we just keep pushing God,
and God says, fine.
Fine.
Have what you want.
Go ahead, Balaam.
Go with them.
And your life's going to be destroyed
because several chapters later,
actually a few, yeah,
it's still in the Book of Numbers.
Several chapters later,
we're going to hear about a battle
where the children of Israel
do battle against Balak.
And by the way,
they also slew Balaam,
the soothsayer, the Bible says.
He ended up getting a sword
through his body
because he decided that God
didn't know what was best.
He knows what's best,
and he can maybe talk God into it.
You see what I mean?
You've got to be careful when you pray.
Yes, beg God.
Yes, we want to change God.
Yes, we want to change God's mind.
Yes, we do.
But we don't want Him to give us
something that's not right,
and we don't want Him to give us
something that He's commanded
against in His Word.
But we somehow think we need to go
get a second opinion about it
from God praying.
You know, I'm praying about
whether to go soul winning.
Don't pray about whether to go soul winning.
God already told you to go soul winning.
I'm praying about coming to church
all three services.
Hey, look.
Read the Bible about it.
Don't pray about that.
There's times when God would say to you,
as He said to Joshua,
get up off your face.
Why are you praying?
Don't pray.
It's not the time to pray.
Why don't you obey the Bible, Joshua?
Why don't you get the accursed thing
out of the camp?
Why don't you get the wicked sin
out of your life?
Get off your face and don't pray about
whether it's okay to do what I told you to do.
Just do what I told you to do
because the Bible says so.
You don't have to pray about
what God has already told you is the case.
But look at Matthew chapter 20.
Let me point out several things
about this story.
There's so much here,
and I'm always running out of time,
but I like to go one chapter a week
because I don't want to be in the book of Matthew
for the rest of my life.
And so, if you look, if you would,
at verse number, let's see,
I'm going to skip that.
And let's go to verse number,
we'll look at verse number 2.
It says,
When he had agreed with,
I didn't skip much, did I?
And when he had agreed with the laborers
for a penny a day.
Now, think about this.
A lot of people think that you have
to have these study Bibles
that tell you everything about it.
I got out some of these study Bibles
that are out there, right?
And I wanted to see how much money
they said a penny is.
Okay?
And so I started looking through it
and all kinds of variety of answers.
I mean, from just all different amounts.
And I was thinking about the story
that we read in Matthew 18,
where a penny is again mentioned.
And throughout the Bible,
God mentions the same monetary terms,
and if you use your brain
and kind of compare them,
you can figure out how much money it is
without reading commentary.
Well, I was thinking about the story
that we read about the man.
Remember the guy who takes
this other guy by the throat
and says,
Pay me that thou owest
after he was forgiven the big debt
of the 10,000 talents.
And then he's grabbing this guy
that owes him 100 pence, 100 pennies.
Well, I was thinking about this.
God's defining it for us
because right here we see that
a penny is a day's labor
for an unskilled laborer.
So 50 bucks, you know,
or maybe 100 bucks,
but probably about, you know,
50, 60 bucks.
And so 100 pence,
he probably owed the guy $5,000, $6,000,
the guy that he grabbed by the throat.
You know, I'm looking in the commentaries.
One of them says he owes him
one or two dollars.
You think you're going to go to jail
because you owe somebody two dollars?
He says the guy went to jail
until he paid the whole thing.
The guy, he said,
I'm going to send you to jail
until you pay me.
For two bucks?
See, these commentaries can be silly.
That's why you've got to let
the Bible define itself.
You're probably looking at about
$5,000, $6,000 that he owed
and that he could not pay.
And I was thinking about
the 10,000 talents.
One of them said there's
$18 million.
I'm thinking to myself,
who is in debt for $18 million?
Who's going to loan you $18 million?
See, it's goofy.
It's ridiculous.
And so if you compare things in the Bible,
you can figure things out better.
I just thought I'd throw that in for you.
But look down.
Yes, we will skip forward
and look at verse number 7.
Here he is at 5 p.m.
He walks out to hire more laborers
into his vineyard.
And the Bible says at the end of verse number 6,
Why stand ye here all the day idle?
They say unto him,
Because no man hath hired us,
he saith unto them,
Go ye also into the vineyard.
Now the first thing I thought of
when I read that,
I was looking at that,
and I thought, you know,
no man hath hired us?
Boy, that's pretty sad.
Because this is a spiritual application.
The vineyard represents soul winning.
He says, Pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest,
that he would send forth
laborers into his harvest.
See, the fields are wide unto harvest
and God wants to send people out
to reap the increase,
to get people saved.
But, alas, churches all across America
are not hiring laborers for the vineyard.
See, I think you could call
most Baptist churches today,
no man hath hired us,
Baptist Church.
Eleventh hour, Baptist Church.
Because why?
Because they don't hire them.
They don't give them the marching orders.
They got all their people
standing around idle,
standing around the marketplace,
because that's what their church is,
by the way,
with the amount of stuff
that they sell in church,
and they got all the stuff for sale,
they got all the books, the CDs,
but they don't have the marching orders
to go work today in my vineyard.
And it should be called
eleventh hour Baptist Church.
No man hath hired me, Baptist Church.
Standing around the campfire,
Baptist Church.
Unemployment, Baptist Church.
And I'm going to tell you something,
I don't ever want this church
to be a no man hath hired us kind of church.
I want this to be a church
where people come
and they have a job to do.
And it's not,
I was thinking about this,
just looking at churches,
when I visited different areas,
you're looking for a good church,
and I use the internet a lot.
I'm a younger generation,
I live and die by the internet,
and so I'm looking at the internet,
and these are the things,
I check the statement of faith,
see if they believe the right things,
and then I always go to ministries.
There's usually a little button
somewhere about ministries
or service times.
I go there,
click on ministries,
Independent Fundamental Baptist Church,
music ministry,
youth ministry,
nursery.
Where's the vineyard ministry?
Where's the go work today in my vineyard?
Where's soul winning,
door knocking?
Where's bus ministry,
or some kind of a way
that they're going out
and winning souls to Christ?
See, we've got to be hiring
laborers into the vineyard.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest
that he will send forth
laborers into his harvest.
Let's get as many laborers
as we can into the vineyard,
let's not have it said about us,
of the people that go to our church,
God, I'm sorry,
I'm in the 11th hour of my life,
and nobody's hired me my whole life.
I've talked to people,
I've talked to older people sometimes,
they say, you know,
it never even dawned on me
that I needed to be a soul winner
my whole life.
I mean, I went through my whole life
and it just never even hit me
that it was my responsibility
to get somebody saved,
to win somebody to Christ.
But let me tell you something,
it's never too late
to get in this thing,
because I don't care
if you're in the 11th hour
of your life,
God is saying to you,
why stand here all the day?
Oh, nobody hired you?
I'm sorry that you went
to the wrong church,
but please,
would you come work today
in the vineyard right now?
Oh, don't worry about it,
I know you only have an hour left.
Don't worry about it,
you'll get a reward,
you'll get paid.
Whatever's right,
that's what you receive.
And hey, look at the story,
they got just as much.
I believe from this story
that if you started serving God
later in life,
I think you could earn
just as much rewards
as somebody who started
young in life.
If you went out
and reeked that vineyard
with the same passion,
I think that you could
earn the same reward.
Because God is saying here,
I will be gracious
unto the person who starts
later in life,
I'll give them what's right,
I'll give them a great reward
for their work,
if they'll just get in labor.
Yes, they have an excuse,
but that's fine,
let's put that behind us,
he says.
Who cares why
you're standing your idol?
Just get in the vineyard now.
Get in the vineyard now.
If you haven't been in the vineyard
your whole life,
maybe you've been in the vineyard
all your life,
then work all the way
till 6 o'clock.
Put in a good solid 12 hour day.
Because I wonder,
sometimes when I read the story here,
whether somebody quit
around 3 o'clock.
I don't think they got
the full penny.
He had to take the penny
and cut it up somehow.
I don't know if you can get
any smaller than a penny.
Back then you probably could.
But I'm going to tell you
something.
If you've been in the battle,
keep going till the end.
Maybe you're just coming in now
at the 11th hour.
Hey, go reap that vineyard.
Go work today in my vineyard,
God says.
He talks about the two sons.
He said,
go work today in my vineyard.
The one said,
I will not.
And went his way,
and then later
he decided to go work it.
And it says he did
the will of his father.
And God blessed him for it.
Another parable.
I think we're going to get
to that a little later
in the book of Matthew.
And so if you get past that,
look at verse number 8.
It says,
The Lord of the vineyards
saith unto his steward,
Call the laborers
and give them their hire,
beginning from the last
unto the first.
And when they came
that were hired
about the eleventh hour,
they received every man
a penny.
And then you notice
that these others
get angry about this.
And they get mad,
and they don't think
that God is being fair.
Or they don't think
that this master is being fair.
Now look,
he's going to explain to them
why he is fair.
Look at verse number 13.
But he answered one of them
and said,
Friend, I do thee no wrong.
Didst not thou agree
with me for a penny?
Take that thine is
and go thy way.
He says,
I did not stiff you.
You only deserved a penny.
That's what we agreed upon.
That's what you thought
was fair at the time.
And so I'm going to give you
what's fair.
But then look at the next verse.
He explains it more
in verse number 15.
Is it not lawful for me
to do what I will
with mine own?
Is thine eye evil
because I am good?
He says,
Don't I have the right
to give somebody
more than they deserve?
See, I don't think
that the person who worked
the one hour
really deserved a whole penny.
I mean,
they only worked for one hour.
See,
he was being generous to them.
He says,
Look, this is my money.
I can do whatever
I want with it.
The people who worked
12 hours and got a penny,
they got a good day's work.
They got an average wage
that they were expecting.
I mean,
that's what they expected.
That's what they bargained for.
These guys who worked
one hour,
they made a killing.
They made, you know,
a thousand bucks
in one day practically.
You know,
if you balance it out,
they're making
a huge amount of money.
And why?
Because God's unfairness.
Because God is not fair.
God does not give everybody
equal the same thing.
He'd give it to every man
severally as he will,
the Bible says.
And so God is never
ripping you off
when you look at somebody else
and say,
They have it so much
better than me.
Look at how God
is blessing them,
and I'm getting
into this book.
If you're saved,
your name's in
the Lamb's Book of Life,
God will never mention
your sins to you again.
You've been washed
in the blood of Jesus Christ.
You've got a home in heaven.
You're going to be
given a hundred times
anything you give up.
You have nothing
to complain about.
If you look at somebody
and say,
Boy, they just have
everything made in life.
Everything I wish I had
is what they have.
It's not because
God is ripping you off.
It's because God has
the right to choose
to bless one person extra,
if he wants to.
He's a God that is generous,
and sometimes he may choose
to be more generous
to somebody than another,
but I'll tell you something.
We're all getting
a lot more than we deserve,
so we shouldn't be
complaining against God
and trying to compare.
Don't compare yourself
and say,
Well, I got this much,
and he got this much.
Look, you're getting
more than you deserve.
I'm getting more than I deserve.
Let's just be happy
with what we have.
Let's just be thrilled
that we're getting
what's coming to us.
Praise the Lord.
I mean, can you imagine
the guy who comes in
at 9 o'clock upset
at the guy who comes in
at the 11th hour?
I mean, he got extra.
He just didn't get
as much extra,
and these people
are bickering
amongst themselves
instead of just saying,
Hey, this is a great job.
I think I'll be back tomorrow.
I think I'll work again
and make this kind of money.
You see what I'm saying?
You've got to just understand
that when God is unfair,
it's because he's being
too good to some people,
but that's up to him
if he wants to do that
because he's a loving God.
He might choose to pull out
his blessings on someone,
but none of us
is getting a raw deal
in the Christian life.
And see, it just all depends
on the way you look at it.
You've got to change
your perception
to be God's perception.
He says it's lawful
for me to do thy will
with my own money.
And that's why the Bible
says in verse 16,
So the last shall be first
and the first last,
for many be called
the few chosen.
See, there are many people
in this life
who we may think
are going to get
the biggest reward,
and maybe somebody else
that we don't know
is going to get
more of a reward
because we don't see things
as God sees them.
And that's why
we have to be careful
not to judge
according to appearance.
And we just have to understand
it doesn't matter
what we get paid.
It doesn't matter
what so and so
is getting paid.
I remember Peter and John
having this conversation
with Jesus in John 21
where God says to Peter,
when you were young,
he says,
you dressed yourself,
you went where you wanted to go.
But he says,
when you're old, Peter,
somebody's going to dress you
and they're going to take you
where you don't want to go.
And he says,
you wouldn't follow me
to death.
You wouldn't be faithful
to me to death
if you denied me thrice.
He says,
you will be faithful
to me to death
because they're going
to crucify you.
They're going to kill you,
Peter.
And that's why
he says that he was
giving him a foreshadowing
of what kind of death
he was going to die.
Then Jesus and the
beloved apostle John
is with him,
and he says,
wait, Jesus,
what about John?
What's going to happen to him?
What about John?
If you remember,
John was the one
that did not forsake Jesus.
And he was the one
that was at the cross,
and he says,
what about him?
What's going to happen to him?
Huh?
Is he going to die?
Is he going to be murdered?
He says,
what is that to thee?
Follow thou me.
Don't worry about him.
Don't worry about
what I'm doing with him.
You worry about yourself,
Peter,
and you follow me
and do not worry about
if I'm,
he says,
hey, I might just happen
to live all the way
until I come back.
And the Bible's clear
that he did not actually
live that long.
He says that he was saying
that to make a point.
It explains that
in the chapter.
But he says,
what is that to me?
Follow thou me.
Get the focus off of
trying to compare your life
with everybody else's.
Just look at your life.
You were a sinner
on your way to hell.
You've been born again.
You've been translated
into the kingdom
of his dear son.
You've been made a joint heir
with Jesus Christ.
You've been passed
from death to life.
You shall never come
into condemnation.
Oh, happy day
that fixed my choice
on thee, my savior
and my God.
Hey, we have received
a joint airship
with Jesus Christ.
We have nothing
to complain about.
Let's focus on
what we can do for God
and just say,
God, whatever you
bless me above that,
that's up to you.
And I know it's going to be good.
And it is good in the story.
And so if you look
at the next scripture here,
in verse 17 the Bible says,
And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
took the twelve disciples
apart in the way and said,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man
shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests
and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn him
to death,
and shall deliver him
to the Gentiles to mock
and to scourge
and to crucify him.
And the third day
he shall rise again.
So he's explaining
to them the Gospel,
that he's going to die,
he's going to be buried,
and he's going to raise again.
But then look at
the next verse.
After this, in light of this,
now they're starting to
understand a little bit here
about the second coming
of Jesus Christ,
how he's going to die,
he's going to be raised again,
and then he's going
to come in glory.
And so at this point,
the mother of Zebedee's children,
this is James and John's mother,
comes to Jesus and she
bows down and worships him.
And she asks him for something,
she says in verse number 21,
Grant that these my two sons
may sit, the one on thy right hand
and the other on thy left
and thy kingdom.
Because they're kind of
realizing about the resurrection
of the dead and the second coming,
the millennial kingdom of Christ.
And so they're saying,
she gets on her knees
and she asks this question,
Can my two sons sit
just one on thy right hand
and one on thy left
and the kingdom?
Now I don't think
it was a bad question,
to be honest.
I like it.
I like it a lot.
I like her attitude.
I hope that's the attitude
of my wife about our children.
I hope she wants them
to be right there
in the kingdom of God,
sitting at the right
and left hand of Jesus Christ.
I hope she wants them
to be sitting in great authority
because they've lived for God,
because they've earned great reward.
And look what he says.
He says, You know not what you ask.
He doesn't really say
that it's wrong with that.
He just says,
You know not what you ask.
Are you able to drink of the cup
that I shall drink of?
He says, You want to pay
the price to sit there?
He says, That's a great question,
but do you really want
to pay the price to sit
at my right hand
and on my left to be exalted?
Because the Bible says,
If we suffer,
we shall reign with Him.
Do you understand
what you're asking for?
Do you understand
that you're asking to suffer?
Do you understand
that you're asking
to be pushed to the limits
to live for God?
Are you able to be baptized
with the baptism
that I'm going to be baptized with?
When I'm baptized with fire,
I'm going to drink
of the cup of the wrath of God,
which is poured out
without mixture on me,
on the cross.
I'm going to dip
my soul into hell.
Are you willing
to go through the kind
of suffering
that I'm going to go through?
And they say,
We're able.
Let's do it.
I love the attitude.
I'm not down
on these guys at all.
I love their zeal for God
that they would want
to suffer with Jesus Christ.
Hey, maybe they
couldn't really do it.
Maybe they didn't know
what they were asking,
but I still love the fact
that they wanted
to be with Jesus Christ
and to drink the cup
that He drank.
The fact that they wanted
to be with Jesus Christ
and lifted up
and exalted with Him
in the second coming.
He says,
You shall drink indeed
of my cup
and be baptized
with the baptism
that I'm baptized with.
But sit on my right hand
and on my left
is not mine to give.
But it shall be given to them
for whom it is prepared
to my Father.
This same thing again.
He's just saying,
Look, you don't know
how things are going to end up.
You've got to wait until even.
You've got to wait
until six o'clock.
You're going to find out
what you're going to get paid.
I'm not going to tell you
about that.
But just wait and see.
I'll leave the results with me.
But he says here,
You are going to suffer
like I did.
James, of course,
we read about it
in the book of Acts,
I believe in September 13.
Herod put James to death,
one of the first martyrs.
The second martyr recorded there
for the kingdom of God.
John, of course,
exiled to the isle of Patmos
for the word of God
and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ.
And it says here
that when the ten heard it,
in verse 24,
they were moved with indignation
against the two brethren.
But Jesus called them
unto him and said,
and I think he's more
rebuking the ten,
it seems like to me,
than rebuking the two.
He's really rebuking the ten
for getting angry
at their wanting to
be in that position.
Because he says,
You know that the princes
of the Gentiles exercise
dominion over them,
and they that are great
exercise authority upon them.
But it shall not be so among you.
But whosoever will be great
among you,
let him be your minister.
See, here's the thing.
Church should not be a place
of people dominating
someone else's life.
Do you see what he's saying?
He says,
It's not going to be among you.
It's not going to be in church
where somebody's
lording over somebody,
having dominion over somebody,
exercising authority
upon somebody.
There should be one word
to characterize the local church.
Liberty.
Freedom.
The Bible says
where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
You'll find a church
that's liberal.
You'll find a church
where the Spirit of the Lord
has departed.
The power of God
is no longer rests
upon that church.
You'll find a place
not of liberty.
You'll find a place
of control.
See, you say,
Wait a minute.
That doesn't make
any sense to me.
Because Pastor Anderson,
you get up and you rip
and scream and yell
about everything.
Alcohol, cigarettes,
television, you name it.
It's wrong.
And I believe it.
It's all wrong.
And every single movie,
every single TV show,
I mean, you smash the TV
with a baseball bat one time,
and you just hate sin,
and you preach against sin,
and everything I do,
and you preach against
every music,
you list off these
long lists of bands,
and you list off all the actors
and the whores and whore
markers of Hollywood.
It seems like you're
trying to run my life.
No.
That's not it at all.
See, liberty comes
when you're set free
from the bondage
that sin puts you in.
Sin always makes you a slave.
See, when you go down to Egypt,
you become a slave.
When you're up in the
Promised Land
where God wants you to live,
you have freedom.
You go down into Egypt,
somebody's going to put
you on your back
and tell you what to do all day.
And so the real freedom
comes from living a life
free from sin.
But at the same time,
I don't try to run your life.
I'm only preaching
what the Word of God says.
If you come to this church,
and you're dressed completely
against what I preach against,
which is, you know,
99% of the people
that I see out and about,
women are dressed
against what I preach.
Let's face it.
They're poured into
a tight pair of pants.
They're wearing a pair of shorts
exposing their thighs.
They're wearing a miniskirt.
They're dressed provocatively.
And so I'm against it.
But hey, you know what?
If that's the way you dress
when you come to this church,
God bless you.
Keep on coming.
Because it's not my job
to tell you what to do.
It's just my job
to preach the Word of God.
And that's your business.
And see, I don't believe
in the pastor, you know,
coming to your house
and telling you,
you need to do this.
You need to do this.
That's not my job.
The Bible says,
Obey them that have
the rule over you
who have spoken unto you
the Word of God.
See, he's not saying
obey what they tell you to do.
He's saying obey the
Word of God
that they're preaching to you.
And so you must understand
that every single person
has individual soul liberty.
You have the right to decide,
hey, you want to go dress
like a hooker?
Go for it.
That's fine with me.
I don't care.
But I'm going to tell you something.
My family, I will exercise
dominion over.
And my wife's
going to be dressed right.
I battle her on it every day.
No, I'm just kidding.
Every day I say,
honey, go get changed.
You're not going out of the house
looking like that.
Good, nice.
How many times have I had to
go in the closet
and just throw the clothes
in the trash when she wasn't home?
Just so she wouldn't
go put them on
when I'm out of town.
And so, I'm kidding, of course.
But the point is,
I'm going to run my family.
I'm definitely going to exercise.
Well, you know,
I just kind of let the kids
choose what they're going to wear.
I just kind of see
what kind of music they like.
Yeah, right.
They're not going to
listen to any music.
They're going to sing
this music right here.
They're going to come to church
Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night.
They're going to do
what the Bible says to do,
and I will exercise authority
over them.
But see, among the brethren,
among the local church,
you shouldn't be told
what to do.
There shouldn't be rules
where you're saying,
you can't, if you go
to this church,
you cannot do this,
you cannot do this.
And you know why they have
to have rules at churches
like that?
Because they're not
preaching right.
They're not preaching right.
You know, where you have
to sit there and,
I went, you know,
I try not to criticize
other people and everything,
but I do anyway.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, you know,
I think about Christian schools
I've been to.
The more liberal
of the Christian school
I went to,
the more rules they had.
Because they're not
preaching right,
so everybody wants
to live like hell
because they're not
getting any preaching
that's inspiring them
to want to live for God,
to want to love God
and keep his commandments,
and so what do they have to do?
They have to control them.
Think about the society
that we live in.
Let's face it,
the spirit of the Lord
is departing from America.
Let's face it,
freedom is departing
from America.
That's why the city of Tempe
increased their budget
last year by 13%,
and it's all new,
more police officers,
more police to drive up and down.
They already drive them
down the street every night.
Hey, you know why?
Because we live
in a wicked society.
We live in a society
where everybody's watching
pornography on their television,
and yes, it is pornography.
I don't care if the world
says it's pornography.
What's played on the television
is pornography
because it's nudity
according to God's
definition of nudity,
and so they're watching
pornography all day.
They're listening to rap music,
which glorifies sin.
They're listening to all
the wicked, ungodly music,
and we've created a society
of wicked, ungodly people.
So what do we have to do?
We have to send around
just multitudes of police force
to control them,
multitudes to tell them
what to do.
I guarantee you that if we lived
in a more righteous nation,
there'd be less laws.
There'd be less police needed.
You'd feel a lot more freedom.
You wouldn't have to go
to the airport
and strip off your shoes
and throw your toothpaste
in the trash can
and can't take it on the plane
because when you live in
an ungodly, wicked society
that thumbs their nose at God
and says,
We don't watch your rules.
We're going to do
whatever we want.
You know what?
Yeah, you're right.
God won't lord over you.
You'll live like the devil.
You'll do what you want to do,
and another man
is going to lord over you
because you'll go into bondage.
Every time the children
of Israel said,
We don't watch your laws, God.
They ended up with some
Philistine telling them,
Now we'll tell you what to do,
and we'll take away your money,
and we'll take away your harvest,
and we will abuse you
and hurt you.
You could have done what God said,
and he would have let you
have the fat of the land,
but no.
You decided you were going to
go do what you want to do,
and it brings you into bondage.
It takes away your liberty.
Like I said,
a Christian school that's liberal,
you know,
a Bible college that's liberal,
they just have to have
rules upon rules upon rules
upon rules.
Why?
Because what happens is
nobody in their heart
is inspired to live for God
because it's boring.
It's dead.
It's liberal,
and so they don't want to
love God enough to say,
So they have to tell them,
do this, do this,
don't do that,
turn around, do this,
do that.
Hey, look,
people should want to do
what's right because
they're being inspired
by the preaching.
And I guarantee you,
I mean, some people
have left this church
because they don't like
the hard preaching on sin,
and that's fine,
but I'm never going to
tell people what to do
in this church.
I'm never going to be
one of these people
that tells you what to do
and says,
You must do this,
because it's not right.
It's not right for me
to exercise authority upon you.
I will exercise authority
on my family.
I'll exercise authority
on my employees,
but I'm not going to
exercise authority
on my brother in Christ
because he answers to God,
not to me.
And that's what we need
to have, again,
in this country
and in our churches
is liberty, freedom.
Freedom, but how about
a red-hot pulpit
accompanying the freedom?
And then people
will be living right,
and then we won't even
have to have all the
rules and regulations.
We'll just have God's
word being preached
and people saying,
I will keep his commandments
because I love God.
I'll keep God's rules.
I won't have a man
rule over me.
God will rule over me.
And so I think that's
what he's saying here.
He's saying,
This is the way
it is in the world.
There's all kinds of people
telling you what to do,
ruling over you,
lording over you,
but it shall not be
so among you.
I want you to have freedom.
I want you to choose
to do what's right
and not have somebody
force you.
It's just like salvation.
I could go out
and get drunk tonight.
I wouldn't go to hell.
I wouldn't say,
nuts to church
for the rest of my life.
I couldn't go to hell
if I wanted to
because I've been passed
from death unto life
because I've been
given eternal life
and shall not come
into condemnation
but have been passed
from death to life.
I've got the freedom tonight.
If I went to Wal-Mart
tonight and bought
a gun tonight
and when I killed somebody,
God would not stop me
from doing it.
I'd face the consequences.
I'd face the judgment of God.
But I'm going to
tell you something.
God gives me the liberty
just like he gave Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Love me or don't love me.
And that's the issue.
It's not keeping rules.
The issue is a love problem
because he says,
if you love me,
keep my commandments.
He that saith,
he knoweth God
and keepeth not
his commandments
is a liar
because if you know God
and if you love God,
you'll want to keep
his commandments.
You won't need all the rules
and the regulations.
You mark my words.
Mark my words well.
2006 here in September,
I'm telling you this,
we're only looking at
more rules coming
in this country.
I'm talking about
the United States of America.
We're looking at more laws.
We're looking at
bigger government.
We're looking at more control,
more government restrictions
because the more wicked we become,
the more we're going to have
people lording over us
and ruling us
and slapping a whip to our back
instead of giving us
the freedom to decide
what we want to do in life.
That's the way it always is.
Sin always brings slavery,
bondage, addiction.
But the Bible says here,
and whosoever will be chief
among you,
let him be your servant.
I'm hurrying.
I'm almost out of time.
Even as the Son of Man
came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister
and to give his life
a ransom for many.
See, Jesus Christ's purpose,
why did he come to this earth?
To seek and to save
that which was lost.
To give his life
a ransom for many.
Oh, Jesus was a great example.
He came to show us
a better way of life.
No, he predominantly
came to save souls.
He predominantly came
to give his life
a ransom for many.
And the Bible says,
as he is,
so are we in this world.
He said,
I am the light of the world.
But then in,
he said,
as long as I'm in the world,
I'm the light of the world,
as he said in the book of John.
But then in Matthew 5,
he says,
you are the light of the world.
See, Jesus is not in the world.
Now he is committed unto us,
the Bible says,
in 2 Corinthians 5,
the ministry of reconciliation.
And he says,
we plead with people,
be ye reconciled to God.
And so our purpose in life
is to be a soul winner.
Our purpose in life
is to be in the vineyard.
You say,
I live according to all
the things that are preached.
I cross the fundamental T
and dot the fundamental I.
I've got the King James Bible.
I've got the hymns of the faith.
I've got the power of God.
And you don't win souls.
You're a failure in life.
You're a wicked and slothful servant
because you're not doing what Jesus did.
Do the works that Jesus did.
Say,
what am I going to do with my life?
Why don't you do what Jesus did?
He gave his life a ransom for many,
and he came to seek and save
that which was lost.
He says he went everywhere
teaching in their towns and villages
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
That's what he wants us to do.
That's God's will for your life,
is to work in the vineyard.
But quickly, the last story
in this chapter here is found
in verse number 30
through the end of the chapter.
It says,
And the old two blind men
sitting by the wayside,
when they heard that Jesus passed by,
cried out, saying,
Have mercy on us, O Lord,
Thou Son of David.
And the multitude rebuked them
because they should hold their peace.
But they cried the more, saying,
Have mercy on us, O Lord,
Thou Son of David.
And Jesus stood still.
I love the fact how Jesus
just stops everything
just for two people.
The Bible says there's
a multitude of thousands
of people following him.
But he says,
Let me just stop everything
for two people.
I love the personalized attention
that God gives each
and every one of us,
how he loves us
on an individual basis.
We're not just
another person to him.
Tonight I feel like I'm
the most important person
in the world to God.
And you say,
Well, that's puffed up.
No, I don't think it is at all.
I feel like God loves me
more than anybody.
I feel like I'm God's
favorite person in the world.
You say,
You're arrogant.
I don't mean that.
You should feel that way
because God loves you that much.
I mean, God knows
the hairs on your head.
You say,
What can I do to impact
the kingdom of God?
Hey, one person could be
used mightily of God.
One person, as in this story,
could be used and pinned down
in the Bible for thousands
to read about and be blessed
by millions to read about.
And so, don't ever underestimate
the power of one person.
You say,
I want one person of the Lord.
Big deal.
That's a big deal.
That's a huge deal.
You want one person of the Lord
in your whole life,
you've accomplished more than
anybody in the world
has ever accomplished
if you win somebody of the Lord.
And I love how Jesus
just stops for one person.
He's not just,
Oh, I just need this big crowd.
He says,
No, these two blind men,
that's what I'm going to deal with.
I love it.
But it says to them,
in verse 32,
Jesus stood still
and called them and said,
What will ye that
I shall do unto you?
Now, Jesus knew
that they're blind.
I mean, Jesus knows everything.
He's God.
But he asks them the question.
He wants them to acknowledge
the fact,
What will you that
I shall do unto you?
They say unto him,
Lord, that our eyes
may be opened.
And Jesus had compassion
on them and touched their eyes
and immediately their eyes
were received sight
and they followed him.
I was thinking about how
this is in our lives
when we have a problem.
These men had blindness
was their issue.
But there are problems
that we have in our lives.
Sins that we have in our life.
Wrong things.
You know what the first step is?
We need to be willing
to admit to God
what the problem is.
He knows what it is.
You say,
Well, he already knows
what my problem is.
He already knows
what my sin is.
He knows what
I'm struggling with.
No, God wants to hear it
out of your mouth.
He wants you to confess
your sin to God.
Not some priest.
Not some guy
who's wearing a dress
with his collar
turned around backwards
calling himself
a blasphemous name of Father.
But he wants you
to come before his throne
and confess your sin to God.
And he wants to hear it
out of your mouth.
You say,
He already knows
what I've done.
I'm sorry, God.
I'm sorry.
I've sinned.
This is my problem.
And the Bible says
in 1 John 1-9,
If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
How are you going to
get cleansed from
the unrighteousness
in your life?
How are you going to
be cleansed from
the sin in your life?
Well, God tells you
right there,
you've got to
confess it to God.
You've got to admit
that it's a sin.
Don't try it.
You think you're
fooling God.
Well, you know,
it's not a big deal.
I'm talking about God.
What I'm doing is wrong.
I'll just admit it right now.
Hey, I'm not perfect.
And what I'm doing,
you know what I'm
talking about?
It's wrong.
And would you
cleanse me of it?
He says if we
confess our sins,
he'll cleanse us
of the unrighteousness.
But when we don't
get cleansed
of unrighteousness
in our life
is when we're
puffed up and we say,
I don't have a problem.
It's okay.
What I'm doing is fine.
And we justify our sin
and say it's not a sin.
You talk to people
all the time
that'll justify drinking.
It's not a sin to drink.
They're not going to
be cleansed
with that attitude.
They're never going to
be clean of the bottle
with that kind of
attitude of trying
to make excuses.
Well, you know,
I think it's okay
in this circumstance
a little bit.
Hey, you're going to
be cleansed
when you say,
God, I'm sorry
that I drink liquor.
It's as wicked as hell
and I'm going to get
it right, dear God.
And I want you to
cleanse me from all
that unrighteousness.
I can't cleanse myself.
Maybe I've tried
and then my flesh
is weak, dear God.
And I'm telling you
I have a problem.
See, could they?
No.
I'm incapable, God.
I tried to clean myself up.
I can't do it, God.
I'm sorry.
Can you do this for me?
Can you cleanse me
of all unrighteousness?
He can do it.
See, you have to let
God do the cleansing.
But he can't cleanse you
unless you tell him
what the problem is
and say, I'm wrong.
It's a sin what I'm doing.
I'm not going to regard
iniquity in my heart.
I'm just going to come clean
and say I'm wrong.
And God will cleanse you
if you do that.
Let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
God, thank you so much
for the Bible.
There's so much in these chapters
and seemingly you could preach
on the same chapter every week
and just preach so many
different sermons, dear God,
but it's just an endless book,
dear God.
It's a book that's
as infinite as God is.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God
and the Word was God.
And so, Father,
I just pray that you would
please just take what we did
here tonight and, you know,
so many different subjects
in one sermon,
not a very focused message.
But, God, maybe something
in the message hopefully
somebody could take home
with them and say,
I know what I need to do now.