Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
WHICH SON ARE YOU?
Matthew 21:28-32, "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, the first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."
Every man is created in the image of God and is, therefore, called a son in the sense that every human being is God’s creation and the object of God’s Love and plan of salvation. God looks upon every man, woman and child with His great love. He sends the rain and sunshine upon everyone, both the righteous and the unrighteous. God sends the blessings of life, happiness, healing and provisions to us all. The Father’s desire is that we all be called His “sons and daughters”. But, not all will be called “son” when the times of judgment come and we must stand before Him.
Some who are referred to as a son in this scripture, will not be called sons any longer, but will be called strangers.
Matthew 7:21-23, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
There are a lot of people who talk about Jesus as their Lord, profess Him to be their Lord but He really isn’t their Lord at all for they do not those things that He commands them to do, nor do they listen to His voice when He speaks to them.
Every one of us falls into the categories that are representative of these two sons. These two sons had very different attitudes and their ultimate character is shown by what they do and not necessarily by what they say!
Notice that the father went first to the son that would be the most rebellious in his outward expression. That son refused to go work in the vineyard. On the surface this son was absolutely rebellious. He said emphatically, “NO, I WILL NOT GO!”
That’s the picture of the worldly crowd who cares nothing for the work of the Lord or for the Word of the Lord. They are too busy, too caught up in the deception of sin; too consumed by the pleasures of this life; and too blinded to the destination that their life is taking them and, as a result, they don’t desire to change because they think that what they are doing is GOOD ENOUGH.
That’s the problem with the worldly people; they think that they are “good enough” just as they are.
ILLUSTRATION:
I was talking with someone just yesterday concerning that very thing. The question arose as to whether the Father in Heaven would “overlook” or excuse, or perhaps make an exception for those who would never hear the name of Jesus preached to them but who still did everything in their knowledge to live a good, moral life.
That’s the problem that all of mankind has right now. Man has convinced himself that living a “good, moral life” and “doing what is right” will be sufficient to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
I want you to know that living a moral life and doing what is right are wonderful and necessary things but these things alone will never purchase our way of salvation.
But it isn’t just the worldly crowd that thinks they are good enough. There are many in the churches that have taken this same attitude toward God!
We love to go around bragging about how much we love God, how much we love our church, how we are called to a ministry of helps, and how much faith we have, but when it comes to where the “rubber meets the road”, there is very little, if any, involvement in what God is doing through the church and in the church because we don’t have time for God anymore.
Don’t ever forget that just calling Him Lord, and doing good works in His name, will not purchase your way into Heaven. Salvation can only be assured by being an obedient son to the commandments of the Lord! He requires more than lip service! Jesus requires a 100% commitment to the call that He has placed upon your life.
The amazing thing that I see in these two sons and their reactions to the command of the father to work in the vineyard is that the son who is outwardly rebellious becomes the inwardly obedient son while the one who in outwardly obedient becomes the one who is inwardly rebellious.
That’s a picture of how man would see the spirituality of another person. We cannot see the heart of a man; so we judge only by the outward expression and appearance. God knows the heart and judges according to the heart.
If we were to see the outward rebellious expression we would automatically assume that the first son would be the one who is eventually cast aside and the outward expression of obedience of the second son would be assumed to be the one who would gain the inheritance but oh how different God sees these two sons!
Do you know that it is easier to witness of the Love of Jesus Christ and the gospel to someone who is living in sin than it is to witness the same things to a hard-hearted and hard headed, and self-righteous “Christian”?
It never ceases to amaze me that, most of the time, it is those who are New Converts who are more active in what God is doing than those who have been Christians for a long time!
It concerns me that those who have been living for Jesus a long time, aren’t really living “for Jesus” but for themselves. They have their own agenda, their own plans, their own desires and they have no time for “for Jesus” at all. How many people make their plans from day to day and never once consider that God’s house needs their helping hand or that there is a “ministry” where they are needed? WE TAKE SO MUCH FOR GRANTED! We think that just giving lip service or “making a show” once in a while is sufficient but, in reality, if we are not very careful, we will find ourselves in the place of the second son in the parable of this scripture passage.
That second son said, “Oh yes, I will go!” In the end, he didn’t go but went on with his life as usual.
It is this son who was really the rebellious son. It is this son who became the most grievous son to his father. It is this son, who represents those in the church who say, “Yes, I will work in the vineyard. Yes, I will witness to the lost. Yes, I will work in the church and do what God has asked me do.” Then, when the “inspiration of the moment” and the “excitement of the moving of the Spirit” begins to subside, they will quickly forget the commitments and promises and return to life as usual. They become unprofitable to the Kingdom of God!
There are a lot of these folks in the church of today! Their words speak loudly of their commitment to Christ but their actions prove only a commitment to self! You don’t see them cleaning the church! You don’t see them supporting the ministries of the church with their presence! You don’t see them doing any type of ministry or getting involved in much of anything! They are simply too busy pursuing the things of this life, and the devil has blinded them to what they are doing. Believe me, I know what I am talking about because I have been there with them and it is an easy trap to fall into!
There is no doubt in my mind that according to the Word of God, many of these same people who think that they are going to enter into Heaven will stand before God one day and hear those words, “Depart from me I never knew you”!
They are going to be surprised when that happens because Satan has deceived them so greatly into believing that they are “good enough” just the way they are!
“…Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
We can play around with the Call of God and live on the fringes of Christianity all we want but there will come a Day of Reckoning for all of us! On that day it will be too late when we find out that our “good enough” wasn’t really “good enough” after all. There will be many who will cry out, “I was in church every chance I had to be there; I gave of my tithes and offerings faithfully; I helped every chance I could in the church; I witnessed to people of the Love of Jesus Christ; I did a lot of wonderful and great works for the Kingdom of God!” Oh how sad to learn that our wonderful works weren’t “good enough” to get us into Heaven.
Hebrews 2:1-3, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;"
It’s the second son who frightens me the most for he has the same attitude that so many of our modern Christians have! Yes Lord I will do what you ask, but they don’t do anything for God!
It was not the worldly crowd who professed to cast out devils in Jesus’ name! I was not the sinner who claimed to “do wonderful and godly works in the name of Jesus”. These are people that each of us would look at and call them “spiritual Christians”.
What happened to them? Why will they be condemned to spend eternity in hell along with those who never accepted Jesus as their savior? What terrible thing did they do to miss out on Heaven?
The answer is very simple! They rebelled against the commandment of God to serve Him with all their heart! With God, it is either all or nothing! We can’t serve Him half-heartedly and expect God to be pleased with us! We must be committed completely or our commitment is no commitment at all!
Surely God will judge those who never accept his Son, Jesus, as their Lord and Savior and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with every demon and the devil too. We all know that and expect that. What we don’t expect is that multitudes of Christians will be condemned right along with them for their rebellion and disobedience to the Call of God upon their life.
The Apostle Paul knew this was a grave possibility when he said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
Paul understood that he had to continually and constantly keep his own fleshly desires and his own life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It was his goal to always obey the Call of God to preach the gospel and work in the “vineyard of God”. He was one of those represented by the “first son” of our story. He had began by not only rejecting the message of the Gospel, even standing by and holding the coat of those who stoned Stephen, but He had persecuted Christians all throughout the land of Israel.
In the end, he said no, but then obeyed the call of God and became the greatest of all the Apostles. In the end, he said yes to Jesus and was saved from his sin just like you and I.
Even so, Paul was concerned that he would lose his salvation through disobedience. He was constantly on guard against becoming too complacent. He was constantly renewing his commitment to be obedient to the Call of God.
That’s where we must be this morning! We must be vigilant in not allowing Satan to deceive us into being inactive in the work of the vineyard. We must stay involved, stay busy, and keep working for the Lord lest we find ourselves cast aside!
Which son are you? Have you said no, but deep inside you desire to follow the Lord? Today is the day that you can come to Jesus and finally say yes. He is only waiting for your answer and He already has a great life prepared for you if you will only obey Him and go to work in His fields.
Have you said yes, even accepted Christ as your Savior, and then quit working in His vineyard? Have you fallen into Satan’s trap, believed his deceiving lies and been caught in the web of life’s cares and troubles but missed the Call of God to work in His fields?
Come back now! Turn your eyes upon Jesus and surrender your life back to Him! Get on your working clothes and get busy in the fields of the Lord! God’s work, that He has called you to do, is still there, waiting for you to obey Him! Do it now, don’t wait! It may be too late tomorrow or even tonight! Don’t force God to cast you aside as an unprofitable son!
