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Alright, good evening everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all make our way inside and find a seat. Grab a song book and open that song book up to song number 30, Nothing But The Blood. If you can, if you are able, let's all stand together for this first song, song number 30, Nothing But The Blood. Everyone all together nice and strong. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen. Let's open our service with the word of prayer. Father, thank you, God, Lord, for this evening, Lord, for your great love, God, that you bestowed upon us all by the shedding of your Son, Jesus Christ, and his blood, Lord, upon us, God. We love you, Lord, and we pray, God, that you would bless the service, Lord, every aspect of it, God. Bless the singing, Lord, that it would be pleasing to your ears, God, and prepare our hearts for the message, Lord, and that you would fill pasture with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches to us, God, and be with us, Lord, in the congregation, God, that we would apply that which we hear to our lives, Lord, and leave her differently, and when we came in, God, we love you, Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Song number 22, Are You Washed in the Blood? Song number 22, Are You Washed in the Blood? Everyone, all together, nice and strong. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you walking daily by the Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Will your soul be ready for those mansions bright? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin and be washed in the blood of the Lamb. There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean. They'll be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Alright, great singing. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be 169 come-doubt-found if you want to get that ready in your songbooks 169. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand. One of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there. Our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and then our Thursday night Bible study going through the book of Matthew. 7 o'clock every week and so glad you are here. You see down there in the middle the soul-winning times and teams and the list of expecting mothers if you can keep them in prayer and then of course you can go over their important reminders there on your own. On the right there are some of the upcoming church events. This coming Monday September 11th is the T.J. Soul Winning. If you want to participate in that you can see Brother Ulysses. We are going to be meeting here at the building at 9 a.m. We would like only Spanish speakers to participate and those who can preach the Gospel in Spanish because obviously it is primarily Spanish speakers there. We will meet here at 9 a.m. and head over to the border. You do need your passport, not necessarily to cross over but to come back. If you have any questions about that you can see Brother Ulysses. And then the Fontana Soul Winning Marathon is coming up on Saturday September 16th at 930 a.m. Of course this is for our anniversary, the anniversary weekend there and you have the address there at Veterans Park and then our 6 year anniversary is that Sunday on the 17th and so we are looking forward to a great weekend to come in the coming weeks and then we have the home school field trip as well on Friday September 29th We are going to be at KidSpace Children's Museum meeting there at 945 a.m. The address is there, of course that is free and so if you would like to participate in that you can see my wife for more details. We would like people to sign up for the Fontana Soul Winning Marathon in the back there at the Usher Station so we can get a head count of everyone who is going and so if you can do us a favor, if you are going to participate on that Saturday head to the Usher Station after the service put your name there and the names of your family so we know how many people are going to be coming and we can prepare accordingly and then you see the regular reminders there at the bottom please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service go ahead and pull out your prayer sheet there I am going to go over that briefly and then Brother Gio is going to come up and pray over these needs please continue to pray for our church corporately and the main thing if you can just keep in prayer is the Sony of course we have the Sony and TJ we had a pretty fruitful and successful trip the last couple of times we have gone and we are very receptive there we are taking a bigger group this time and actually we have some people in Mexico that are going to be meeting us there as well and they are fundamental Baptists and so they caught wind of what we are doing out there so they are going to be joining us and so pray that we just see a lot of people saved and a great work will be accomplished and of course pray for the Fontana Soul Winning and then ultimately our mission is a trip to Belize we are still planning that trip to Belize and so that will be the week before thanksgiving and we are planning to have a preaching service there and so we would like to have the people, the converse that we have won over the last couple of years to come to that preaching service lord willing they will come a lot of them have committed to come and so we are looking forward to a great missions trip and a harvest of souls in Belize we are going to be going to the city of San Jose which is about 35 minutes away from San Ignacio but we are going to have the preaching service in San Ignacio so pray that that would just be a very successful trip and we are looking forward to it but please be in prayer over that and then you see the other prayer requests there for individuals in our church if you have an additional prayer request that you would like to be mentioned even if you don't want to give all the details you can put that on the at the bottom of the prayer sheet there you can put unspoken and we will make sure that it gets on there for the following week and that's pretty much it, brother G I want you to come on up and pray over these needs alright lets bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear heavenly father thank you for this day thank you for the wonderful church that we have and thank you for keeping us safe as we travel here from work, from where we came from lord and we just pray now that you continue to bless our church continue to use this in a mighty way we pray for your favor and obviously you see a lot of new people coming in lord so we just pray that we continue to see a lot of new people and as they get plugged in to the Christian life as they start coming more we pray that they become soul winners lord and as you have seen we have been trying to do a great work for you over here lord in Anaheim and the surrounding areas so we just pray that you continue to use us in a mighty way over here lord especially as we travel to Mexico lord and TJ and we go to Fontana lord we just pray that you have a hand over us for your protection and also that you bless us and the soul winners and you help us to reach a lot of people on these soul winning conferences that we are having lord we just pray that you just use this in a mighty way to get a lot of people saved and at the end of the day just to turn people unto you lord we also want to pray for the Belize that is coming up lord at our mission trip we just pray that the Belizeans that are already saved that we got to talk to last time lord we just pray that you have them show up and that they spread the word and that pretty much we can get a good turnout when we have a church service over there lord and obviously we also pray that it does remain receptive that door remains open to us lord and that we can get a lot of people saved lord we also want to pray for the protection of our church and the church families lord we just pray that as we are coming to and from church and as we go about our day to day lives we just pray that you have a hand of healing over us and a hand of protection so we can continue to serve you lord and continue to do great work for you we want to save family and friends lord obviously everybody in here has somebody that is not saved that is obviously near and dear unto them lord so we just pray that whatever case that is if they haven't heard the gospel or they are unrecepted to it lord we just pray that you soften their heart and that you lead a soul winner to them and that god willing that they can get saved lord we also pray for the barren women and just families to grow we pray that the ladies that want to have children lord obviously it is a blessing from you we just pray that you open their womb have babies lord and we also just pray that families continue to grow you have a lot of new babies being born a lot of expecting mothers lord we thank you for that it is obviously a great blessing and it is a sign that you are obviously with our church lord and we just pray that you continue to have our families grow lord and lastly I just want to pray for all the general and unspoken requests obviously some things are personal and obviously you know what is going on there lord so we just pray that you are with those people and you fulfill that need that they have for them lord and you just do a great work for them lord and we just pray now that you fill the congregation with ears to hear lord and you fill pastor Mejia with your spirit so you can preach the message that you had prepared for us tonight and we pray this now in jesus name amen the third song is going to be song 169 Come Thou Found alright song 169 come thou found song 169 come thou found everyone all together nice and strong come thou found of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodis on it sung by flaming toms above praise the mount time fixed upon it mount of thy redeeming love here I raise mine ebeneezer hither by thy help I'm come and I know by thy good pleasure safely I'll arrive at home jesus saw me when a stranger wandering from the fold of god he to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood oh to praise how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee prone to wonder lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love here's my heart oh take and seal it seal it for thy courts above amen this time the ushers will collect the offering tonight will be in Matthew chapter number 20 thank you say good evening we are in chapter 20 the book of Matthew and the Bible reads For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. When he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw their standing idol in the market place, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us, he saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last one to the first. When they came out that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny. When they had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong, this thou not agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way, I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil? Because I am good, so the last shall be first, and the first last. For many be called, but few chosen. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. And the son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests, unto the scribes, and I shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to discourage, and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise again. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask, Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they say unto him, We are able, and he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to 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 of my father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye 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, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life for ransom for many. And as they departed from Jericho, great multitude followed him, and behold 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 a multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace. They cried out the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will you that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him. Let's pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for opening our own eyes to you, Lord. We thank you for the precious Bible that you have left for us, and we thank you for a pastor you have given us to your Lord, to preach unto us your word faithfully, and we ask that you please bless him tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we are in Matthew chapter 20 tonight, and tonight we actually start a little mini series within the book of Matthew, and it's essentially, I could title it The Parable Against the Jews, because from chapter 20 all the way to chapter 25, it's basically all these parables that Jesus puts forth against the Jews, and he starts off in a mild manner here in chapter 20, and then it just progressively gets more insulting against the Jews, and pretty much every chapter up until 25 is a parable against them, with the exception of chapter 23, but if you know anything about chapter 23, it's Jesus rebuking the Pharisees and the scribes, the Jews, and essentially going after the leaders of the religion of Judaism at this time, and so all these chapters here are dealing against them, and obviously when we finish chapter 25, you know, chapter 25 is basically the straw that breaks the camel's back, and then the Jews at that point decide to kill Jesus Christ, and so he's preaching hard against them over these next couple chapters here through these parables, and it's pretty evident that he's talking about the Jews. What's funny about this is that a lot of old IFB pastors and churches, and even outside of the scope of fundamental Baptist churches, just people who believe in some form of dispensationalism, will claim that the book of Matthew is geared only towards the Jews, right? And obviously that is true in a sense that we see that a lot of the wording, a lot of the terminology is geared towards the nation of Israel in general, but what they mean is that it's geared towards the Jews, and it's only for the Jews, right? But what they fail to realize is that yes, it is geared towards the Jews in a very negative way though, okay, because Jesus Christ is very much preaching against them. We have chapter 23 in there, and then we have these five parables here. We don't take this view or this interpretation of scripture that one particular book is only for a specific group, right? It's just like, well, you know, this is only for the Jews, this is for the Romans, this is for the Gentiles, it doesn't apply to us. The book of James is only for converted Jews or whatever. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, it's profitable for doctrine, for proof for correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished into all good works, okay? And so it's obviously for everyone. Obviously we know that the epistle to the Thessalonians was for the Thessalonians, so we can take its writings and apply it to us as well, which is one of the reasons why when you look at the epistles, for example, and you look at the book of Colossians, which is a letter to the church at Colossae, the apostle Paul tells them, hey, read this at Laodicea as well, and the letter that the Laodiceans get, make sure they read it here as well. Why? Because it's applicable to everyone, okay? And when you look at the book of Revelation, for example, when Jesus Christ is addressing the seven churches which are in Asia, they're actually supposed to be swapping those letters and reading them in every church. So even though there's a specific letter written to the Laodiceans, to the church at Ephesus, all the other churches are supposed to be reading those same epistles as well, okay? And you say, well then why did he gear it towards one specific church if it's for everyone? Well because of the fact that sinners are everywhere, and the same problems that one church has is the same problems that other churches will have. And just because one particular letter is geared towards a specific people group doesn't mean we can't apply it to ourselves, doesn't mean that the principles found therein are not applicable to us as Gentile believers or whatever, okay? And so yes, the book of Matthew is geared towards the Jews, but not in the manner that the dispensationalists would put it, it's very negative actually, okay? Now the first parable that we're going to look at is the parable of the hired laborers, okay? The householder and the hired laborers. Let's read here, it says in verse number one, for the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. So obviously the householder here is God, right? God the Father. And the picture that it's putting forth is that he's hiring workers to go out into his vineyard, the vineyard essentially representing the world, okay? And the laborers are representing preachers of the gospel, preachers of God's word. And although in the New Testament, you know, the Bible refers to the word of God that's being preached for salvation as the gospel, you know, the gospel was also preached in the Old Testament as well, okay? And so this is essentially referring to those first group of laborers in the Old Testament, saved Jews, Hebrew, Israelites that were hired of God, sanctioned by God, deputized if I got to go out and preach the gospel to the entire world. You see, God wanted the Gentiles to be saved, okay? Even in the Old Testament, Gentiles are not an afterthought to God. It's not like something that just came up in the New Testament. He's always wanted the Gentiles to be saved. Why? Because for God so loved the world, right, that he gave his only begotten son. And so it's not that he only loves the Hebrews or the Jews. He loves Gentiles as well. They have souls. He wants them to be saved. And so God in the Old Testament essentially hired Israel to go out and work that vineyard, right? To glean the souls of that harvest, to preach the gospel, preach the word of God to the Gentiles to be saved. And we know, according to the Bible, that the oracles of God were first given to the Jews, right? Until then were committed the oracles of God. They're the ones to whom the word of God came. And so they had that responsibility. Look at verse number two, and when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. So you think of the agreement in the Old Testament as what? That Old Covenant. There was a covenant made between the Israelites and God known as the Old Testament, that Old Covenant. And that agreement was essentially that as long as they believed on the Lord, they worshiped the God of the Bible, that they would essentially be blessed of God. They would be God's people at that point. But obviously we know going into the New Testament, that title was removed from them and given to Gentile believers at the death of Christ on the cross. And so New Testament Jews are no longer considered God's chosen people. Chosen people of God, according to the New Testament, is made up of a spiritual nation, a spiritual household made up of all believers, whether Jew or Gentile. But here we see that he agrees with them for a penny a day. And a penny is not necessarily what we would consider good money today, you know. But in those days, it's obviously, it would represent a day's worth of work. And so he tells them, I'll give you a penny a day for the work that you put in to go into the vineyard. So they go. And this first group, we would say, essentially started working at six o'clock in the morning. Because at this point, we're going to look at a 12 hour day. So they start very early in the morning, six o'clock in the morning, just working that vineyard, putting in the work for that penny. Look at verse number three. And he went out about the third hour, referring to about nine o'clock, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said unto them, go ye also into the vineyard. And what's over his right, I will give you. And they went their way. So he goes out there at nine o'clock, see some guys that are just kind of, you know, just hanging around, you know, just kind of standing around or whatever, not doing anything. So he tells them, hey, you guys want some work, I'll hire you. But he doesn't necessarily tell them how much they're going to get paid. He just, you know, he just basically tells them there that whatever's right, he's going to give to them. Okay. And I think this can still be representative of Israel. Okay. In fact, my personal belief is that all of these are Israelites up until the ninth and 11th hour. Okay. Because the ninth and 11th hours are those essentially who are getting saved later on. So he hires them, look at verse number five, it says, again, he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise. And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing idle and saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? And they say unto him, because no man had hired us, he saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard and what's over his right, that shall ye receive. So when he even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, call the labors, give them their hire beginning from the last into the first. And when they came, they were hired about the 11th hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more. And they likewise received every man a penny. So what's going on here? So he hires those at the third hour, nine o'clock, he hires people at the sixth hour, which is 12 o'clock, ninth hour, which is three o'clock, and then the 11th hour, which is basically five o'clock, an hour before it's time to clock out. Okay. And then when the work is done, six o'clock rolls around, everyone comes to get their pay, he gives everyone the same exact amount that he gave the first group of people who came at the first hour, right? And I'm sure those at the 11th hour are ecstatic about that. They're just like, wow, only have to put in one hour's worth of work, and I get paid a day's wage for this one hour, right? Whereas the guys in the beginning, they're just like, hey, this isn't fair, why are you giving them the amount that you would give us? We've been here all day long, and in fact, let's look at their complaining here. It says here in verse number 11, and when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, these last have wrought but one hour, and that has made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. Now, let me give you the secondary application to this first, and then we're going to get into the primary interpretation second, okay? We're going to talk about the secondary application that we can gather from this parable first. Now, what are some things that we can learn from this? Because these guys are mad. They're like, you're paying them the same amount that you paid us, we've been here all day, in this sun, in this heat, it's not right, okay? They're complaining. So what are some principles that we can learn from this parable as a secondary application? Well, first and foremost, we can learn this is that we should not compare ourselves to other people, right? And never become a Christian who's envious of the blessings that God has given someone else, regardless of when they became a Christian, or when they began to serve God. Because that is a temptation sometimes. You're faithfully serving God, you're faithfully sowing, you're not backsliding or anything, you're serving the Lord, you're doing your thing, and maybe someone else comes along the way, and they haven't been a Christian as long as you have, and yet you see God is being good to them, he's blessing them with whatever, you know, whether that's resources, or he blesses them with a spouse, he blesses them with possessions or honor, and the temptation could be to have envy towards that person. Why? Because you think to yourself, well, I've been serving God under this heat for 12 hours, this guy comes at the 11th hour, he comes at the 9th hour, and it seems as though he's being blessed as much as me, or more than me, right? But this is a wrong attitude to have, because of the fact that we should always rejoice when someone is being blessed, okay? And often this comes as a result of having a spirit or an attitude of expectation. Well, I deserve this, why is this person getting this when I deserve this? You know, we should just be thankful for the fact that we got hired, right? We should just be thankful that the householder came and hired us, regardless of what hour the shift started, be thankful, and you know what? Rejoice with them to rejoice. If someone came at the 6th, 9th, or 11th hour, and they get paid as much as you, well thank God for that, okay? You know, praise God, don't compare yourselves among yourselves, because the Bible says that's not wise. It's going to cause you to be covetous and envious. Who can stand before envy, the Bible says, okay? And so we should never fret over God blessing someone else more than you. You're like, I just don't get it, why is this person, you know, why does this person got a girlfriend? And I don't. You know, why does this person got a boyfriend? And I don't. Why is this person, you know, they just became a Christian, it just seems as though God's just pouring his blessing on this individual, and I've been serving God all this time. That's a wrong attitude to have, okay? Rejoice with that person. And it makes me think of, on Tuesday we went sowing, and we've been going to this area in Anaheim, it's actually really fruitful. The place is very receptive, and I got a guy saved there with my family, and he was very humble, and in fact he was like a, he just got out of prison, he did prison for 13 years. It's a long time, and he's still very young, and so he went in there pretty young and he did his time, and he came out, and so I asked him if I could preach the gospel to him, if I could talk to him, and he was just very accepting of that, and he came out, and he put his hands in front, and he just said, I want to hear what you have to say, and you know, and the first thing I said, you know, I said, the Bible talks about how, you know, we're all sinners, you know, for all I have sinned and come short of the glory of God, I said, do you agree with that? He's like, look at me, of course I agree, I know I'm a sinner, he said, just look at me. So that part was not hard for him at all to accept. Now what, you know what that showed me? Humility, right? The man is humble, he's done his time, and eventually, you know, I was there for about 10 minutes or so, he gets saved, and he believes on the Lord, he was very humble about it, but then afterwards, he was telling me, he was saying, you know, I'm just, I feel like God's being really good to me right now. He's like, because you came to my door, you gave me the gospel and I got saved, I just got out of prison, just this week I got a job working at a warehouse, and I got people just helping me out, and I just feel like things are on the up and up, and the fact that you came and gave me the gospel, now I'm saved, is just kind of proof that God is just like blessing me, right? And I'm sure there's people, maybe in his family or friends that he has, there's just people in general who look at that and say, that's not fair, and I didn't commit no crime, you know what I mean, I didn't do time, and I'm over here obeying the law, and I don't have a job, and I don't have what this guy has or whatever, but you know what, we should rejoice with the fact that God is working in this person's life. And I rejoiced at that, I was happy for him, and I was talking to him and saying, man, I'm going to come back and bring you a Bible, and he was just really receptive to the truth. But I was thinking to myself, you know, a lot of people could look at an example like that and think to themselves, well that's not fair, that didn't happen to me when I first got saved, you know, but who cares, you got salvation, you were hired. You know, God's working in your life, maybe in not the same way that God is working in other people's lives, but you know, maybe some other people need blessings a little more than you do or something, you don't know what people are going through, you don't know what they're experiencing, and so never become envious of some other church member's blessing, some other Christian's blessing, some other church's blessing. Oh, why does this church seem to be succeeding more in this area than our church? Don't compare. Rejoice with how God is blessing other churches. Rejoice over the fact that maybe God's hand is working under the church's life or a pastor's life or a Christian's life. Never become an envious Christian where you're just pointing and saying, why God? You know, be thankful that you just got hired, regardless of what hour it fell upon, if you were there since six o'clock in the morning, well, you know what? You just get to work a little, you get a tan, okay? Now you get to tan, be tired when you come home, just be thankful that you were hired. Well, here's the second principle that we can learn from this, is that those of us who got saved at the 11th hour, hey, we have an opportunity to do something great, even with this small amount of time that is given to us, right? And you can apply this in a way that, you know, maybe you got saved later on in life, maybe like you're older, like really older, I don't want to throw out an H because I don't want people to get offended here or something, you know what I mean? But, you know, maybe you got saved later on in life at the 11th hour and you may think to yourself, man, this person has been saved for so long, they've had so much time to accumulate so much biblical knowledge and serve God and they have such a great opportunity, here I am at the tail end of my life, you know, and what can I do? Well, apparently, according to the Bible, you can get paid as much as the person who was hired at six o'clock in the morning. You can get rewarded just as much, if not more, than the person who started working at 6 a.m. Why? Because now you can make up for lost time. And according to the good master, he's willing to pay you as much as the person who came at the first hour at six o'clock in the morning or at the third hour or at the sixth hour, okay? So this should instill hope in people who get saved later on in life. You know, you're like, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. Well, you know what, okay, those of you who didn't grow up in a Christian home and you got saved in your 20s or you got saved in your 30s, that's like the person who came at the sixth hour, that's like the person who came at the ninth hour. You know, you're dealt a different hand than those who came at the first hour, but you know what, you can still be rewarded greatly of God for the labor that you put in. And one thing that I've learned by experience is that often those who get saved later on in life, you know, obviously they come to Christianity with baggage, right? You know, just trauma sometimes or just maybe sinful habits, but often those who get saved later on in life end up having the capacity to love the Lord more than those who actually grew up in church, believe it or not. Because they're forgiven of much. And so in light of the fact that they're forgiven of a lot of bad deeds and sins and they're in the world for so long, they have the potential to actually love the Lord more and become more zealous over the things of God than the person who just grew up in church. Because obviously it's a blessing to grow up in church. There's nothing wrong with growing up in church. I want my kids to grow up in church. But you know, there's pros and cons to both. One of them being that if you grew up in church, you're not exposed to the world. Yes, you're not exposed to a lot of sinful things. You learn the word of God, you get saved earlier in life. You know, maybe there might be a tendency or temptation to become cold towards the things of God, to not become as zealous towards the things of God because you just kind of grew up with it. You understand? It's just you've been around it your whole life. Whereas a person who gets saved later on in life, you know, they've been exposed to all that worldly stuff. They've been broken, you know, saved and chewed them up and spit them out. They've experienced hardships and sufferings, the consequences of sin. And so, you know, they have to kind of work through those things. You know, they have a lot of baggage coming into the Christian life, bad ideologies, bad habits, bad dispositions that they're kind of stuck with for the rest of their lives. You know, that's just the way life is. However, those same group of people, they have the capacity to love the Lord and be zealous over the things of God and be excited about serving God because they recognize what great things God has done for them. You understand? Whereas, you know, the first generation Christians who grew up in church, if they're not careful, they can often undermine the blessings of God. They can undermine the fact that it's a blessing to grow up in church. The fact that their parents, both of their parents are in church. You know, the fact that, you know, all they've known is church, which is a blessing. You know, obviously I would have wished that my parents grew up in a fundamental Baptist church and both of my parents are saved and King James only and, you know, taught me the ways of the Lord at a very young age. But you know what? That's not the lot that was given to me. And so I got saved when I was 21 years old out of the world. And, you know, from a Catholic background, it wasn't even that Catholic. You know, it's just it's kind of just like what we are because we're Mexican or something. You're just like, what are you Catholic? No, I mean, like, where are you from? Oh, Mexico, you know, I'm Guatemalan or something. It's just kind of one of the same. So I didn't really know anything about religion. And so, you know, when I got saved, I was super excited about the things of God because I understood how much God forgave me. You understand? You know, salvation was important to me. Serving the Lord was important to me. And and honestly, I remember being in church and hanging around people who grew up in church, and I felt like a lot of times they took that stuff for granted. They took church for granted. In fact, I remember being in Bible college. And there is a class called Old Testament survey. And I took that class and it's basically a synopsis of every book of the Old Testament. OK, so they kind of explain all the books of the Old Testament in one semester. And I remember, like, I've never been taught the Bible. So I know I didn't know any stories about the Bible. You know, I knew some of the main characters, but not very much about them because we didn't grow up with the Bible. OK, so I remember that, you know, the teacher telling the story of Jonah. And I was just floored. I was like, no way. And, you know, and I was like and I was surrounded by students who had gone to the Christian school. They grew up in church. I mean, they from Christian school, high school. Now they're they're kind of going through that process. Right. That that Christian industrial complex they got going on there. Right. But they were there since, like the nursery, they would say. Right. Like they grew up. They were born into the nursery. They're born Baptist before they even got saved kind of thing. Right. And so they've heard those stories multiple times. They know about all the biblical characters. So I'm there in class with my jaw on the floor because I never heard the story of Jonah, especially in that detail, that much detail. And with the principles and I was just like. This is amazing. And I remember I turned to one of my my colleagues. I was like, that is such an awesome story. And this is literally what he looked at me. He's like, I've heard it before. And it kind of just kind of like it bothered me because I thought to myself, like, how can you have that attitude? First of all, it's God's word. So we shouldn't have that attitude towards God's word. But, you know, like just think of myself like as a Christian, you should still be excited about the story of Jonah. Like even me, 16 years later, I read the book of Jonah and I'm just like, man, this is such an awesome story. You know that God created a specific whale to swallow a man and that he survived that. And, you know, it's just such a unique story. You know what I mean? If you weren't a Christian, you would think it's just a fairy tale because it just seems so crazy. But the fact that it actually happened right. And that's how it was throughout the entire semester, because I just thought to myself, this is this is amazing. You know, going through Ezekiel and Isaiah and through the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah and just being absolutely astounded at the word of God because it was new to me. And so you know what happened is it gave me I appreciated the word of God so much the more because it was fresh for me. It's honey that I've never had before. Right. Whereas a lot of these second, third, fourth generation Christians, they're just they just wanted to pass the class. They're just like, you know, yeah, I got to memorize these these details so I can just pass the class or whatever. For me, it was just like, I want to pass the class, but teach me more, though, because I've never heard this stuff before. And so there's obviously a danger for a second, third, fourth generation Christian to become callous towards the things of God because they grew up with it. Right. It doesn't have to be that way, though. OK. And by the way, there's also a propensity for a first generation Christian as zealous as they are, as much as they love the Lord, to actually be pulled back into the world because they still have attachments and things that they struggle with, sinful habits and baggage. They come into Christianity with that. So even though they're excited, you know, there is a possibility, temptation to be drawn back into the world because the pull of the world is still there. You understand? And on both ends, you can do things to essentially, you know, stop that and not give into those types of feelings of of of apathy and old worldliness. But I'm saying just in general, those two groups struggle with those things. OK. You know, the person who got saved later on in life can have the temptation to be drawn back into the world. And that's one of the reasons that I was I'm thankful for Bible college because it kind of gave me the structure that I didn't have growing up. And it kind of helped me stay right with God. But I knew plenty of Christians, even through Bible college of people who got saved later on in life, there were actually some of my friends who I got saved and they joined me in Bible college and they were there for like two months and they're out. They I mean, they went so hard back into the world. I mean, it was it was scary. You know, you said, what kept you from going back to the world? Well, one of the things that kept me going back to my friends and the old environments was I took some extreme measures to separate myself from those things. You know, one being that because I knew that. At a moment of weakness, I could probably just call my friends, I would want to call my friends. So what I did is I just deleted all their phone numbers and then I just changed my phone number so I couldn't call them and they couldn't call me. So in times of weakness, when I wanted to reach out to my friends, I couldn't even if I wanted to. And, you know, Bruce Mihia in the flesh was angry at Bruce Mihia in the spirit for deleting those numbers. I'm like, man, you know, I can't go back to the world even if I wanted to. But you know what? Those are some of the extreme measures you have to take to make sure that you don't go back. OK, but I'm chasing a rabbit there. But what I'm saying here is that, you know, there's blessings at coming at the first hour, at the third hour, at the sixth, ninth hour. But there's also blessings coming at the 11th hour as well. So don't think just because you got saved later on in life that you can't experience God's blessing in your life. You came too late. You're just you're born out of due time like the Apostle Paul. Hey, God used the Apostle Paul. I mean, the man was in Israel, but he didn't even get saved until later on in life. The guy was literally a part of a false religion for so long. But yeah, he got saved later on in life and he ended up doing more than the other apostles. I mean, think about that. And so those of you from the 11th hour get to work. Amen. You can earn more. You can earn it. Amen. Brother Jose, you know, you can earn it. That's a phrase that he likes to say a lot. Everyone in our church sort of knows that. But, you know, you can earn it. You can you can get those rewards. And so that's a good principle for us to learn. And the last principle that we can learn from this parable before we start bashing on the Jews is the fact that the boss should have the freedom to pay his labors however much he wants. Because we live in a society that wants equal rights and equal pay or whatever for a minimal amount of work. Whereas the boss should just be able to pay whatever he wants. And if you agreed for a penny, then that's what you get. Stop complaining about your pay. And if you don't like your pay, make yourself more valuable and start laboring to earn the amount of money that you want. But, you know, nowadays it's just like now my wife was telling me they're trying to pass laws and stuff for women to receive equal pay as men. You know, not because they work harder or because they're more skilled or just because they want to be on equal playing fields with men. Right. I mean, that's nonsense, my friends. And I saw this interview one time where a guy asked, he was asking this feminist woman because, you know, she was all for that, too. And she was saying, you know, all these companies, they don't hire enough women. And the women they do hire, they don't pay them enough. And so the guy responded with, well, why don't these companies, if they don't get paid as much as men or they don't have to pay them as much, why doesn't the company just hire all women? And she didn't really have anything to say other than just kind of berate him. And, you know, she just got upset because it was like checkmate. Right. And by the way, I'm not for women working in the secular world anyways. Okay. Women are to be keepers at home. But we're just talking about the fact that the boss should have the liberty to pay his employees whatever he deems fit to pay them according to their work. And so if you have a boss who's paying you and you don't agree with that payment, then go work for someone else. Don't criticize him. Okay. But those are great principles to learn. All right. Now let's get to the main interpretation of this because those are great principles. Those are principles that we can live by and learn. But that's a secondary application though. The primary interpretation of this is against the Jews. Okay. You're like, oh, you're just saying that because everything with you is against the Jews. Well, when you take the book of Matthew in its entirety, you see that it's very much geared and focused on the Jews from a negative perspective. And this is one of the reasons why they want to put him to death because he's just spitting all these parables at them. That they even know. And here's the funny thing. Okay. Is that old IFB pastors can't seem to reconcile this. They can't seem to see that this is against the Jews. Yet the Jews themselves knew that it was against them. Like old IFB pastors can't even seem to interpret. They're like, no, you know, he's still, there's still God's chosen people. But even the Pharisees who were a generation of vipers, there were children of the devil, the most wicked leaders of that day, even they were able to interpret it as being against them. He's saying this against us. It's like, man, you guys got more wits about yourself than some of these old IFB Saint pastors do. But, you know, read it for yourself. Look at the entire book itself, and you'll see that it is referring to them because he gives this parable of the kingdom of heaven. And what he's doing here is he's comparing it to what type of people are laboring for the kingdom of heaven. And when you take it from a biblical perspective, historical perspective, two groups of people have been used greatly to spread the word of God, to get people saved. One being the Jews, Hebrews, and then the other being Gentiles. And that's exactly how the Bible categorizes them. Jews, Hebrews, and Gentiles. Okay. And so the people who come at the first hour, at the crack of dawn, is obviously referring to the Hebrews, the Jews. Okay. Because unto them we're committed to the oracles of God. And then, of course, as we go further into the day, we would be considered as those in the 11th hour. Okay. Because we're towards the tail end of history. We are living in the last days. You understand? And so here's the thing is that even though we only have a little bit of time left, we don't know exactly how much, but from the perspective of eternity, and when you look at it from, you know, how much history has passed already, we would be considered as the 11th hour, the last days, where, you know, spiritually speaking, we have an hour left of work. And according to the Bible, we can get paid as much as these Jews have gotten paid, even though we've only been here for an hour. Why? Because the Bible says there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is over all, for the same Lord is over all and rich unto all who call upon him, the Bible says. So it's just like when they say you've made them equal unto us, it's basically saying there's like no difference between us. Where in the New Testament, that's exactly right. Okay. There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. You know, God has, he loves both. But as far as who are his designated chosen people, it's Jew or Gentile who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, at which point, drop the name Jew. It's no longer Jew. Okay. It's just you're a Christian now. Okay. And so you say, well, how do you, you know, you're saying like he's attacking the Jews. Well, when you, when you read this as a Christian, you would think to yourself, why are they so pressed about this? Why are, why would they be offended at this parable? You know what I mean? Because the parable, what it's putting forth is, is, is the amount of labor that they're putting in. But I'll tell you why the Jews are offended at this parable. It's because of the fact that he's valued because God's valuing someone other than the Jews. And they think that they're, they have the superiority complex. They think that they're better than everyone else. Okay. And that's why they say you've made them equal unto us. Oh man. Why is that bad? I'll tell you why, because they think that they're better than the Gentiles. They think that they're better than them. They don't think they, they deserve that type of treatment. They don't believe that they merit that type of wage. And so they're offended not because they're being paid less by the way. Right? Because it's not like God came and said, hey, I know I told you a penny, but I'm gonna have to cut that in half. You know, I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna have to clip, you know, clip the, you know what I mean? I'm gonna have to do what you guys did and just kind of clip those coins a little bit. Right? He didn't pay them any less. He actually paid them according to their work. Right? And according to what they agreed to. They're literally angry because of the fact that he's also treating the Gentiles in a good way. Okay, he's blessing them as well. So it doesn't take anything away from them. God's blessing on the Gentiles takes nothing away from saved Israel. It takes nothing away from them. And in fact, I mean, the next story is about James and John looking for a VIP section on the right hand of God, right? And you know what? They actually get it because they end up judging the 12 tribes of Israel. So the 12 apostles actually do get a pretty prominent space, spot of authority in the millennial reign. I mean, they're treated pretty good. So wouldn't it be weird for me or any other Gentile believer to start complaining about that? He's like, Oh man, why are the 12 apostles, you know, why do they get a place in the millennial reign judging the 12 tribes of Israel? I want to judge the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, I wasn't born 2000 years ago and I'm not a Jew. And you know what? I wasn't baptized with the baptism that Jesus Christ was baptized with. I didn't drink of the same cup that Jesus Christ drank of. So you know what? I'm just going to be content here in 2023, laboring for the Lord and getting whatever comes to me at the millennial reign. I'm not going to complain over the fact that in the millennial reign over in Israel, there's going to be 12 apostles who are judging the 12 tribes of Israel. I'm thankful for that. You know, they put in the work for that. So that's what they deserve. Why be envious of that, right? It would be just as silly for me to say that I'm envious of that. Oh, wow. You know, you said they were going to be ruling and reigning with you for a thousand years. Why can't I rule and reign there in Jerusalem, judging the 12 tribes of Israel? Because you're born at the 11th hour. Because you came at the 11th hour. Because you came at the ninth hour. Because you came at the sixth hour. And you're not a Jew. Okay. And you know what? The 12 apostles, they gave up a lot to have that. Because the 12 apostles are no joke. Okay. They're believers, but you know what? They're very prominent people in the New Testament. They were essentially the catalyst of the New Testament churches. They put in a lot of work. God used them in a great way. And that train, I know I like to say this a lot. That train sailed a long time ago. I know they don't sail, but I have the tendency to say that. So I'm just going to stick with it. I'm just going to own that phrase now. That train sailed a long time ago. Okay. You know, they put in a lot of work. God used them in a great way. And in fact, they forsook all. Isn't that what Peter asked Jesus Christ when he said, you know, what are we going to have for we forsaken all? You know, we haven't necessarily forsaken all. But even if you did, sorry, that train has already sailed. You're born in a different era. But you know what? Gentiles don't complain about that stuff. That's not something we do. Right? We're not over here soaking and souring. We're like, man, I want to judge the 12 tribes. You know, why can't I? You know, we're not over here discontent with our ethnicity either. Like, oh, man, I wish I was like an Israelite, especially not now. You know, I wish I was a Jew. I wish I was like, you know. God created us. And this is the time that we're born into. And so, you know, and by the way, you know, a good parable to illustrate that is the parable of the talents. Some people are given talents, more talents than others. And by the way, that's another parable against the Jews we're going to cover in a future sermon. But you don't see us complaining about, you know, how much the Hebrews are getting paid from the Old Testament. It's just like, oh, man, how come I'm not talked about in the Bible? Get all these Jews and Hebrews are talked about in the Bible, and they'll always be remembered. I'm not in there, you know? Well, yeah, because you didn't live during biblical times. So and here's the thing. The good man chose not to put you in the Bible. He's the author. He can write whatever he wants and put whoever he wants in there. And you're not one of them. So just be happy with the fact that you have a Bible you can read. You know what I mean? Like, I don't even have a Bible name. Think about that. Bruce is not a Bible name. You know, at least some of you have Bible names, you know? But all of us, none of us are in the Bible. None of us were there. Hey, you know, we weren't there when Jesus Christ walked on this earth. Right. We weren't there to see and touch him and talk to him and walk with him. You know, it's just like, oh, man, why are we going to complain about those things? Which we don't, because that's not something we do. That's something that these guys are doing. They're complaining about, even though they were there when Jesus was there, they want to complain about the householder, but they actually rejected not only the householder, but the householder's son. So they're over here complaining about money. You know, apparently all about money. It's all about money in this parable. But yet they don't like the boss. They don't like the householder. They don't like the Lord. You understand? And obviously this particular parable, in my opinion, is referring to saved Israelites. Okay. Saved Jews, because they're working in that vineyard. Obviously, you could take the parable as Israel as a whole, because as a whole, it was given, you know, they were given the commission to go and preach the gospel everywhere. But I believe this is actually referring to saved Israelites, because they're actually putting in the work and they're getting paid for it. Okay. But you know what? Even Jews in this day, in the Bible, in the Book of Acts, for example, you know, they kind of still have that attitude against Gentile believers still. Okay. And so that was a temptation for them to have that. But at the end of the day, you know what? We who came at the 11th hour, we get to rule and reign with Christ as well, in the millennial reign. And we get to be rewarded. And in fact, the Bible specifically tells us in Romans chapter 8, if I can remember the verse, you know, that if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. Actually, that's 2 Timothy. But you know, the principle of the fact that if we suffer for Christ, we shall be heirs with Christ, joint heirs, if so be that we suffer with him. That's what it says in Romans chapter 8. Okay. So even though you came at the 11th hour, if you suffer for Christ's sake, if you suffer for the gospel sake, if you suffer for righteousness sake, you can get paid as well. You can receive a glorified body and be honored at the millennial reign and do great things, even though we're living in the last days. You know, we have, you know, we don't have a lineage of thousands of years of family who have served God throughout the Old Testament. We were, you know, we're late comers. But it's okay because we still have the opportunity to be blessed of God and be used of God greatly in these last days. Okay. And so this attitude that these Jews have, they don't like to be, they don't like that Gentiles are being, are placed at the same level as they are, same importance as they are. And this is why, go to Revelation chapter 3, go to Revelation chapter 3. They think that God only loves them. They think that God only loves them, that he only favors them. And you know what? Some Christians, they have that attitude about Jews too, for some reason. Look what it says in Revelation chapter 3, in verse number 8, it says, I know thy works, speaking to the church at Philadelphia, which is a Gentile church. He says, I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Why? Because Jews believe that God only loves them. And God over here is defending Gentile believers and saying, look, I'm going to have them worship before thy feet, so that they see that I love you too. I love you, I love believers. It's not just a specific group of people that he loves in this world. You know, he loves, he loves the world. Okay, but obviously he has a specific love that he has for his people. Okay, his people meaning those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this doesn't take away in any way anything from saved Jews. Okay, you know, God doesn't see them as inferior or anything like that. You know, he loves them as well. And he's used them in a great way. I mean, think about the Apostle Paul, for example. And the Apostle Paul got it. Because even though he was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisee, once he got saved, I mean, his ministry was to the Gentiles. You know, he went out and preached the gospel to the Gentiles. And here's the thing is that going back to the whole coming at the 11th hour, think about this. The Jews had the vineyard. Think about this. The Jews had the vineyard from six o'clock all the way to, let's say, to three o'clock. Okay, you would think you could get a lot of work done in that time. I mean, you could pretty much finish the whole vineyard at that point. And that can be representative of the thousands of years that the Hebrews had the opportunity to preach the gospel to every creature. Yet those who came at the 11th hour, think about the Apostle Paul, for example. It wasn't until the New Testament in the book of Acts that the Word of God began to branch out further into the world, to the uttermost parts of the world. We understand that in the Old Testament, there were Israelites who were able to go to different nations and preach the Word of God to different nations, God people saved in different nations, but not at the scale that the Gentiles did in the New Testament. Not at the scale that the Apostle Paul did at the 11th hour. Or we can even say he's of the ninth hour. Not at the scale that the Apostle Paul did at the ninth hour, where he's going into Cappadocia, Bithynia, Galatia. He's going into Thessalonica and Philippi, and he's going to Rome. I mean, he's going further. And not only is he going after the preaching of the Word of God, he's establishing churches there, which results in believers going out further into different parts of the world and preaching the gospel to other people. So how successful were they? Here we are. Here we are. So you know what? Those who came at the ninth hour and labored all the way till sunset, they actually got done more than those who labored from six o'clock in the morning till the ninth hour. And it's possible. I mean, think about it. I mean, in the Old Testament, the gospel and the Word of God was pretty much only in Israel. You would have some prophets that actually obeyed the Lord and went to different parts of the world, but in general, it's just kind of exclusive to Israel. And it's not because God necessarily just wanted it that way. He wanted Israel to be an example to the nations, but he wanted the Word of God to go out to every nation as well. You know what? They didn't do their job, which is why he says later on, the kingdom of God should be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof, referring to, say, Gentile believers. And so even though they had nine hours to labor, thousands of years, unto them were committed to the oracles of God. I mean, these people had the ability to even produce miracles. You know, they heard from God. I mean, they had a great opportunity, yet the Word of God was just subject to that particular geographical location known as Israel. But it wasn't until the ninth hour and 11th hour that now the Word of God has spread so much further into the rest of the world. And so that kind of proves there that, you know what? Even though the Gentiles have only been laboring for so many hours, they pretty much got done what someone should have done from six to three. They got done from three to six, right? From six o'clock to nine o'clock, they should have been laboring, preaching the Word of God, but they didn't get enough done. And therefore, that responsibility was given to the Gentiles. And lo and behold, here we are now because people took care of the job. OK, so it's a great parable here for us, for the Jews. They're just kind of like, it's embarrassing. You're like, yeah, that was us, you know. It's kind of being lazy, not really laboring or just focusing on one little corner of that vineyard, only preaching the gospel to themselves or something. Whereas when the Gentiles came and I would include the Apostle Paul, I know he wasn't a Gentile, but he was a minister of the Gentiles. And it was through his efforts that the Word of God spread further. You know, when he came at the ninth hour, I mean, he basically came and say, what about the rest of the vineyard? What about the rest of the world? What about these Romans and all these people? And of course, Peter, you know, with Cornelius, it took a major vision for Peter to get involved with Paul, just took one vision. And then, you know, and then he got saved and it was just like it was a done deal. He understood. But for Peter, it's just like you have to be repeated a couple of times. Right. But, you know, Paul came and he just saw this great harvest, this great vineyard, and he basically did what Israel failed to do in a couple of thousand years. He did, you know, throughout the New Testament. And of course, we see the fruit of that. And so a great parable here to kind of show us that, yeah, you know what? We're not part of the Bible. Our names aren't in the Word of God. You know, we didn't get to see the glory of God. We didn't get to experience those particular miracles or be there by the Sea of Galilee with Jesus Christ. We didn't get to see those things that, you know, in our hearts, we would love to be a part of something like that. But you know what? That's OK, because we can we still are able to do greater works than these. Right. Because even though we're not part of the story that's found right here, we have the story right here. In fact, we have things that happen after after those people have been just long gone. We have the word of God ourselves, something that they didn't have. You know, they had portions of God's word. They heard from the Lord. But, you know, we have a canonized Bible. So as they're waiting for the word of the Lord to come into them, we don't have to wait. We can just open up our Bibles and read it. And there you go. And so great parable there. Now, let me finish off here in verse 20. Look at verse 20 here. I'm going to skip this part about Jesus predicting his death. We'll cover that a little later. Look at verse 20 says, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these two my sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom. Now, this is embarrassing. I remember reading this as a brand new Christian. I was thinking to myself like, man, my mom would do something like that. Right. You just think to yourself like your mom just kind of coming on your behalf, like you're not going to say something. I'm gonna say something for you. You know what I mean? Can my son sit with you? It's just like, Mom, not in front of the guys. You know, it's just like all the disciples are there and everything. And then they had indignation towards him afterwards. So it's just like, how embarrassing. Moms, don't do that to your sons. Okay, let John and James stand on their own two feet. And petition for themselves. Don't come and defend them every time they're in a little bit of trouble or they need to stand up for themselves. Let them stand on their own two feet, amen. So this is embarrassing here. You know, and this mother, we don't know too much about this mother, but she has enough like, you know, she's like, Jesus, I have a request. You know, it's just like, man. Yeah. And she's, you know, everyone's listening probably. They're probably in earshot of this. Oh, man. I would turn to the disciples and be like, I didn't tell her to do this. You know, I don't know. You know, hey, I'm content with being wherever, you know. I'm just content wherever. And she's like, I want my sons to sit on your right hand. It's embarrassing. Look at verse 22. But Jesus answered and said, ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, we are able. So what does he respond with? He says, basically, positions of honor in the kingdom of God are designated for those who are willing to sacrifice much in this life. Because when he talks about the baptism and the cup, he's referring to suffering. You know, are you willing to suffer, though, like I'm going to suffer? Are you willing to drink of the cup of suffering like I'm willing to? And they're like, we are able. And even then, he says in verse number 23, But he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of the cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to 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 of my Father, making a distinction between God the Father and God the Son. And so he's like, whether on the right or on the left, but at the end of the day, the requirements to even have that type of position is based upon how much are you willing to suffer this side of eternity. And we know that the apostles did suffer a lot. Historically, and even some in the Word of God, we see that they did suffer a lot for his name's sake, and they were persecuted heavily. And this is why they're judging the 12 tribes of Israel. But what we see here, what we can learn right off the bat is that for any Christian to gain a position of honor in the Kingdom of God, it not only requires soul winning, it doesn't just require serving your fellow church member or serving others, it requires a little bit of persecution and suffering as well. And when I say suffering, it includes persecution, but it's not only persecution. Because people suffer in this world, you know? And it's just for various reasons, whether it's health reasons, it's trials that they experience, it's difficulties that they go through. You say, well, how does that translate to, okay, you're worthy for the Kingdom of Heaven? Well, because of the fact that if you suffer in this world, not because you're suffering the consequences of your actions, but because evil befalls you of no fault of your own, and you're able to still serve God through that, you're able to still read the Word of God and endure. In God's eyes, that's a very honorable thing. The fact that you're able to serve God, love the Lord, win souls, read the Word of God and not forsake the Lord when you're suffering. That means a lot in the eyes of God. Okay, and that's something I wish all Christians would think about. Because, you know, a lot of times Christians, they go through a difficult time, and they kind of throw in the towel for a couple of months. They just kind of backslide a little bit. They take a break from church, or they take a break from the Christian life. But really what they're doing is they're showing they can't endure hardships. And they think that somehow taking a break from church or from the things of God is like an honorable thing. It's just like, well, I need to take a break from that so that I can get my stuff together, and I'm dealing with some stuff right now. I'm kind of going through some things. Yeah, but, you know, the will of God is for you to go through those things as you're serving God, as you're walking with the Lord. And in fact, walking with the Lord helps you to make it through those sufferings. Because basically what you're doing is when you get out of church, you're saying, I'm going to do it on my own wisdom, my own strength, my own ability. No, you need the church. You need the Word of God. You need to be walking with the Lord because we can't do it without Him. Without me, He can do nothing, He said. And it's in reference to abiding in the vine. And so part of the reward that we receive is our ability to endure afflictions this side of eternity and still maintain a walk with God, still maintain reading the Bible and serving the Lord and having a good spirit. Is it easy? No. Is it possible, though? Yes. And the more you suffer and serve God at the same time, guess what? The stronger you get as a Christian and the stronger you get, the more you realize, you know what? I can continue to serve God, continue to serve God and win souls and do that which is right inside of the Lord. And my circumstances don't determine whether I do or I don't. You know, you're not tossed to and fro. You're just like, yeah, I'm suffering, going through a hard time. But I still read the Bible this morning, still went to church, still winning souls to Christ because the glory that shall be revealed in you, you know, the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in you. So the Bible says, but let me say this is that that suffering will be in vain if you don't do it right. You know, because in order to strive, you have to strive lawfully in order for you to receive rewards, you have to strive lawfully. OK, continue to serve God, even in the midst of your of your sufferings, drink the cup, be baptized with that suffering in order to receive those positions of honor in the millennial reign. I'm going to stop right there because I'm out of time. Let's go and pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you, Lord, for hiring us at the eleventh hour. And we're thankful for anything that we get on top of salvation. The fact that we are even God's children should be enough, obviously. But we're thankful that you give us exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think and you give us all things richly to enjoy. Help us never to compare ourselves with others and forgive us when we do, Lord. I pray that you help us not to be envious at the success or blessings of others and also help us to realize that just because we came at the 11th hour does not mean that we can't get anything done. And in fact, we can get so much the more done because of the urgency of getting it done in these last days and the fact that we could be rewarded even for that which we do or the little time that we have to do it in. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to recognize that. And Lord, may you bless us as we go on our way and bring us back safely on Sunday to hear the word of God, preach to fellowship and to sing praises unto you. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. All right, we have one last song. Song number 15, lead me to Calvary. Song number 15, lead me to Calvary. Everyone all together, nice and strong. King of my life, I crown thee now. Thine shall the glory be. Lest I forget thy thorn, crown, brow. Lead me to Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane. Lest I forget thine agony. Lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary. Show me the tomb where thou wast laid, tenderly mourned and wept. Angels in robes of light arrayed, guarded thee whilst thou slept. Lest I forget Gethsemane. Lest I forget thine agony. Lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary. Let me, like Mary through the gloom, come with a gift to thee. Show to me now the empty tomb. Lead me to Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane. Lest I forget thine agony. Lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary. May I be willing or to bear daily my cross for thee. Even thy cup of grief to share, thou hast borne all for me. Lest I forget Gethsemane. Lest I forget thine agony. Lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary. Thank you for watching!