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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. 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, 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.