Is Christ enough?

Gospel of Matthew please. Matthew chapter 19. We're going to begin at verse number 26 and I would like to look at losing sight of of him.

Very similar to what we've heard already and just a little bit different aspect. Matthew chapter 19 verse number 26. This is at the end of the conversation with the rich young ruler who was told to sell all that he had and to follow him.

Verse 26. But Jesus beheld them, the disciples, and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee.

What shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, 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 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 a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.

For because the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard, and when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace 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 and found others standing idle and saith unto them, 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 and whatsoever is right that shall you receive.

So when even was come, the Lord of the servants saith unto his steward, Call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came to 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.

And when he had received it, they murmured against the good man 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. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take that as thine 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. Lord, bless us to read His word.

I'd like to consider the disciples here as they're with the Lord Jesus Christ, and I guess really what has struck out to me this week in reading this over and over is the attitude of the disciples, especially that of Peter. Here they are. They've forsaken all.

He brings the Lord's attention to that in verse number 27. He says, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we get therefore? I thought that was very interesting and very shocking.

And here's a man who had left everything to follow the Lord Jesus, and he was absolutely content with that. That's what he wanted. That's why he left, is to follow Christ and to be with Christ and to experience Him, God manifest in the flesh on this earth.

And now he's asking a silly question, if I could put it that way, what are we going to get? What are we going to get? The Lord Jesus just said to him, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. It doesn't seem like it was enough for him just to be with the one that could do the impossible. Is that enough for you? Something changed in Peter's thinking.

It wasn't good enough anymore just to be with the one that could heal the sick and could save souls. And they wanted more. He's wondering what he's going to get.

All this that I have forsaken, what's going to be for us? For those of you that have seen God do the impossible, whether it's a sickness or whether it is someone being saved, I want you to reflect on that moment. What more in this life do you want than moments like that? To see God do the impossible. There were guys that when we were in business that we would go see weekly and quite frankly the only reason I went is to see what was going to happen next.

You never knew what was going to happen in a crazy way. These guys, just the way they operated their life, you just didn't know what was going to happen. It was quite entertaining, it was quite amazing, but that was the only reason I really went.

I wanted to see what was going to happen next. Dear believer, what is God going to do next in your life? Are you all focused about what you're going to get in an eternity? What you're going to get for reward at the bema? I think our focus is all wrong. You see, Peter lost sight, the reason why he followed Christ.

It wasn't to get something, it was to be with him. It was for relationship with him, as we've already been reminded. It is to see what the Lord Jesus was going to do and who he was.

It wasn't what he was going to get, but now it comes into his mind. All of this that we've left, what are we going to get? His thinking has changed and the Lord Jesus is going to answer his question. I'd like to look at, first of all, Peter and his empty hands.

He forsook everything. He forsook everything to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. His hands were empty.

And I can just see him, there's, Lord behold, we have left all to follow you. We've left everything and his hands were empty. And there was a time in his life that he was absolutely dedicated, he was absolutely consecrated to following the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's all that mattered and that's all that he needed and that's all that he wanted. But now he wants to know what he's going to get. What's he going to get? So as time goes on, I'm noticing a change and the Lord Jesus is going to address this in the parable that we read.

So there was his empty hands and then he's got an inquiring mind. What are we going to get? If this rich young ruler was told to forsake everything and follow him to inherit eternal life, what's in it for us? You know, that's interesting to think about that. What is it that we're going to get? If that man is going to get eternal life, what about those of us that have forsaken everything? The Lord's going to change his focus here in just a minute.

But the Lord does answer his questions and he says to him in verse 28 that ye which follow me, they're going to each have a throne. They're each going to have a throne. So he answers his question.

And now, no doubt, his thinking is going to be on focused on the throne instead of on the person of Christ. What is it that this throne is going to be like? What is it going to be like to judge one of the 12 tribes of Israel and so on? And his focus is now off of Christ and it is on what he's going to get. And so the Lord is giving him a parable to refocus him on what he has in Christ.

Okay? And so I'm going to look at this parable. This is a parable that is hard to understand and I'm not claiming to understand it, but please bear with me and take it from this point of view just for our encouragement today. He talks about a good man of a house that went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.

So just to think about a good man of the house, those of you that are businessmen and you know what your needs are, you know how long it's going to take to combine 1,000 acres of corn. You've got that all figured out. You've got your finger on the pulse.

And this man would have known how many laborers it was going to take to get the job done. So he goes early because he wants to get a good day and he wants to put a long day in. He goes early to the marketplace.

This is where the people without steady income, steady jobs would be gathering, looking for opportunities to work. So he goes there and he goes early. Why? Because he's going to get good men.

That's why. So he goes and he hires those at the first hours of the day and they agree for a penny. Kind of reminds me of Peter.

The Lord told him what he was going to get. He's going to get a throne. There, the deal is done.

You know what you want? You want to know what you're going to get? You're going to get a penny. Okay, so he goes back and three hours later he goes to town and it's interesting the wording here. It says he saw others standing idle.

He saw them standing idle. They weren't doing anything. I really don't think in my mind that he was going there to hire more laborers.

I think he had everybody that he really needed. But he goes there now and there are people and they're standing idle with nothing to do. And he says, why are you standing here idle? Go work in the vineyard.

You see, it was an act of grace. It was an act of grace. He sees people and they have a need and he's going to meet that need and he puts them to work and he doesn't tell them what they're going to get.

He just says, whatever is right, that's what you're going to get. And they were happy with that. And he goes there in the sixth hour and the ninth hour and finally the eleventh hour comes and he says, why are you standing here all the day? He saw them there in the morning.

He saw them there at nine o'clock and ninth hour. The eleventh hour comes, they're still there. Why are you standing there idle? What's that? That's an empty hand again.

Nothing to do. Nothing to do. And so he says to them, go work in the vineyard.

Go to work. Get something done. Get at it.

There's still but an hour left in the day. And so they go with no expectation of what they're going to get. They don't have a clue.

All they know is the good man of the house says, whatever is right, he's going to give us. And they were happy with that because they had nothing. Dear brother, let me remind our hearts this morning as I remind mine to never lose sight of him for reward and especially never lose sight of his grace.

What do you deserve here today? What is it that you deserve? Nothing but the flames of hell is what we deserve. And these men here that worked from the first of the day, you're going to see how their focus was changed. You see, a penny was a denarion.

And I was looking it up yesterday and trying to get a perspective afresh of how much money this was. And the one computer site that I looked up, it said that in the Bible times that an infantry man in the Roman army would have had a salary of about 185 denarion a year. A man in the cavalry would have got about a denarion a day, a penny a day.

Now, Roman soldiers weren't paid the best, but if you were unemployed and a man come and offered you a penny a day, it would have been a very enlightening thing. You'd have been thankful for that. And so these men would have been grateful.

And as their day started, they would have been appreciating the grace of this man to offer such a bountiful thing to them that they could go and work and to provide for themselves and for their families. They would have appreciated the grace of the good man of the house. Just like Peter and the disciples, when they first started to follow the Lord, the man was full of grace and truth.

He was full of it. But the day wears on, doesn't it? And life goes on. And now others are in the vineyard as well.

And the day, the time comes for the pay. So you've got the empty hands of Peter as if were consecrated to him to work and to be dedicated. And you've got the inquiring mind and so on.

Now we're coming to the equal pay. The day is over. The day is over.

The eleventh hour, maybe we should just mention that afresh that we're living in the eleventh hour of this day of grace. And there is much to do. And there are many of God's people that are standing idle.

And they don't know what to do. Because no man has hired them. They're just there and they're occupying space and they're not really accomplishing anything.

Can I encourage you, dear brother, dear sister, get to work for God. Do something. Oh, there's not much time.

We're not going to get much. Never mind that. You're going to get more than you deserve anyway.

And that's really amazing. Get to work. Don't be idle.

I think the master, the good man of this house, he absolutely hated idleness. Everybody he saw standing around idle, he put to work. Get to work.

It's the eleventh hour. There's still work to be done. There's still a harvest to reap.

But God's people are standing around, oftentimes idle. And so now it comes to time to pay. And you remember in the end of chapter 19, the Lord says that many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.

There's many reversals in the Word of God. In Psalm 75 it talks about He'll put down those that are... and He'll raise up another. 147, He'll lift up the weak and He'll put down the wicked.

And Luke, He'll put down the mighty and He'll pick up those of low degree. Those that are hungry shall be filled and those that laugh shall weep. There's reversals.

And here now, the last are first. They're the first to get their pay. What do they get? They get a penny.

And now that's grace. They get a penny. And you know, the Lord told Peter that he was going to have a throne to rule the twelve tribes and and what a gracious thing that is.

And now here's these guys in the eleventh hour, in the ninth hour, in the sixth hour, and they're all going to get a penny. They would have been absolutely thrilled. They would still be reveling in the grace of God.

But these guys that were first, they're disgusted. They're not happy. He says they get there and they're expecting more.

That's a bad thing. They're expecting more. They're seeing God's grace working toward others.

They're seeing marvelous things being done by the good men of the house. And they're not happy with that. You know, Peter would have been happy with that in a day gone by.

Watching the Lord work and watching the Lord's grace as he was bestowing it without limit, really, wherever he went, it was grace being shown. And he would have been thrilled with God working and seeing the grace of Christ. And that would have kept him following him.

It didn't matter who the Lord blessed. It would have been thrilling to Peter. And now you've got these men that have been bearing the burden and the heat of the day, and it was the hot time of the year.

It would have been a sunburn, lip-chapping time of labor. And these men would have been in the vineyards. They would have been on the hillsides where the vines were terraced around the steep part of the hill.

And they would have been wore out, and they would have worked hard. And now to see grace being shown was a disgusting thing to them. What happened? Brethren, are you jealous when God's gracious to others? Are you jealous when maybe in your estimation of your labor, other people that are maybe not getting so much accomplished are blessed by God? Can we not be just thrilled at the grace of God? That God is blessing people? Maybe He's blessing them more than He's blessing us.

Can we not be just enthralled with the beauty of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? You see, this is the point that He's bringing out to the disciples. And there they are. Those guys that worked for just one hour, they got a penny.

Maybe we're going to get 12 pennies. Maybe we're going to get this and this. And they're all taken up with what they're going to get.

And the time comes and they get a penny. And they're mad. They're disgusted.

And it's just not fair. It's just not fair. You have made them equal to us.

Guess what? They forgot that they were still at the same marketplace in the morning. They were equal. They were equal.

They all had the same start, didn't they? They weren't full-time employees of the good man. And they weren't sons in the family of the good man. No, they were there all looking for work.

And they were equal. And they were equal in their privilege to be sent into the vineyard. And so, yeah, they were equal.

And he says, did we not agree for a penny? Did we not agree for a penny? Yeah, they wanted to break the contract now, didn't they? Someone got something else and now they're mad and they want to break the contract. And they want to do another. They want to do this different.

They want to do this over. Instead of being thrilled with what they were thrilled with at the beginning of the day. And now they're envious.

You see the different parts of the person. There's the empty hands. There's the inquiring mind.

There's the envious heart. And now they're envious because they think they deserve more. Can I just say something this morning? Can you honestly say in your heart that nobody owes you anything? Especially, can you say that God doesn't owe you anything? What does God owe you, by the way? Could I speak to the steadfast, consecrated, dedicated Christian? What does God owe you? He owes you nothing.

What do your brethren owe you? Do they owe you an apology? Maybe we could be a little tougher today and say, my brethren owe me nothing. I've been freely forgiven. I'm going to forgive them.

Who owes us anything, by the way? So he goes on. He says, you agreed with a penny. Take what's yours.

Go your way. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Of course it is. It's His.

And now listen to this. It says, is thine eye evil? Because I am good. Where's the focus now? Oh, it's the empty hand in the beginning.

They left all. But the Lord is pointing out the real issue of the problem. It's the envious heart.

It's the evil eye. It's looking at something with the perspective of being evil, what the good man of the house did. The good man of the house could do no evil.

He can do no wrong. He's speaking about God. So the last shall be first.

It's rearranged here. At the end of chapter 19, it's the first shall be last. And here it's the last shall be first and so on.

For many be called, but few are chosen. So the disciples are going to sit on a throne and they're going to judge the twelve tribes. The last shall be first.

Revelation 3 was already quoted and we read of the overcomer there. What's the overcomer going to do? He's going to sit with the Lord Jesus on His throne. Could I encourage our hearts just for a moment? And I don't want you to focus on what we're going to get, but I don't want to leave it out either.

Corinthians says, Paul says to the Corinthians that the saints shall judge the world. The saints shall judge the world. The overcomer is going to sit with the Lord Jesus Christ on His throne who is sitting on His Father's throne.

And the last shall be first. And those that are saved in the very end of the day of grace and those that are laboring now in the very end of the day of grace, we're going to sit with Him on His throne. And not just over the twelve tribes.

No, it's going to be greater than that, isn't it? It's greater than that. But the point is this. Have we lost sight of Him? Could it be that there are going to be some that are with Him in eternity? That are going to be sitting with Him on His throne that hardly know Him? That have hardly had relationship with Him here? That have hardly experienced life with Him? Oh, saved, yes.

But not interested in Him. Thanks for the fire escape from hell. I'll see you in eternity.

Does that sound familiar to anyone here? Thanks for saving me. I've got a life to live. I've got things I want to do.

I'll give you a little time when it's convenient for me. I'll give you two hours a week, Lord. Sunday morning only.

Am I speaking to any of those people here today? No consecration. No dedication. No commitment.

Why? Could I just suggest today that we really don't know Him. We've lost sight of everything that He has done for us. And the thought of forsaking all and following Him is actually repulsive.

Not interested in that. There's a business to run. There's a vacation to take.

There's this and there's that. And it pricks all of our hearts, doesn't it? It does mine at least. And if this word is only just for me, then I'm taking it.

But to think that we could be with Him day by day, watching Him do the impossible. There's nothing like that, is there? To see that God working and bringing people into contact with Christians to hear the gospel. There was a dear woman this spring in meetings in Michigan.

The Lord brought her clear from England to Sherman, Michigan, of all places, when there was gospel meetings going on. In the second night, she's in tears about her sin. That's God.

That's the impossible. She was saved two weeks after the meetings closed. That's the impossible.

Brethren, we're looking and we see the impossible. We see people saved in meetings in our assemblies. And is it just me or does it seem like that doesn't thrill us like it used to? When was the last time we sang oh happy day when someone was saved in your assembly? We just witnessed the impossible.

You know what we say? I hope it's real. We'll see where they are in 25 years. It's kind of become a lot of our attitudes.

You see, Peter was all enough for him just to be with Christ. That was it. He didn't care about the fishing.

He left everything. He wanted to be with Christ. His focus was on Christ, on His person, just on Him.

But as he was bearing the burden in the heat of the day, he starts to ask the question, what am I going to get for this? What's in it for me? Brethren, could our hearts be touched afresh? 2019, the first day of the conference, it's enough for me just to be with Him. It's enough to forsake everything just to be with Him. The last shall be first and the first shall be last.

God, help us to appreciate the Savior and just want to be with Him.