The Parable of the Two Sons

Lord, we praise You for choosing us. We praise You that in ur grace and mercy You reached down and called us by name and that now we belong to You. We worship You this morning as our Father who works all things together for good, for those who love You, and because You have called us according to your purpose. May our worship be pleasing to You this morning. Amen.

“10,000 reasons”

Words and Music by Hillsong

“King of Kings”

Words and Music by Hillsong

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS

Lord, We invite You and plead with You to open our hearts and give us understanding. Help us to understand the seriousness of sin in the church and how much You detest sin in our lives. We ask that Your Holy Spirit would come down in this place today and reveal things to us that we need to remove from our lives. May we leave with a peace that surpasses all understanding. Amen!

SERMON

Introduction

Matthew 21:23-27 “When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ “But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

This interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees introduces the next three parables that we will be studying for the next three weeks. Each of these parables is not only an indictment for the religious leaders, but also a clear description of what God requires into enter into the kingdom of God.

These Jewish leaders believed they already had the Kingdom because they had religion. They had the right blood line, said all the right things, and looked like God’s people on the outside, BUT their understanding of kingdom righteousness was flawed! And in my opinion, many today who would call themselves religious have a flawed understanding of what God requires.

It doesn’t take long to notice that much of Matthew’s Gospel is about bringing clarity to what it means to be in a right relationship with God. Over and over we find Jesus clarifying what it means to be in the kingdom of God and correcting people’s flawed understanding of that. And that is because it is the most incorrectly understood ChristIan truth (in my opinion).

What does God require? He requires obedience to His will

Matthew 21:28-31 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ “And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. “The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”

Let us begin by identifying the people in this parable

The Father of the sons is God the Father

Notice that he owns a vineyard

Isaiah 5 tells us that God planted a vineyard which referred to Israel

Notice also that the sons were to obey, “the will of the Father”

This reminds us of what Jesus has already said about God’s will

Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 12:50 “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.””

The two sons represent two classes of people: those who do the will of God and those who rebel against the will of God

Notice the first son tells the father “no”

BUT, despite this initial response he regrets it, changes his mind, and goes to work in the vineyard

The second son told his father "yes”

He even acknowledged the Father’s authority over Him by addressing Him as “Lord”

But despite all this he still did not do what he was told

Jesus then asks “which one did the will of his Father”

The Pharisees respond correctly and say, “the first”

The primary point of application from this whole parable is that

Only those who do the will of God are true children of God

Matt 7:21 ““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

Matthew 12:50 ““For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.””

So it is paramount for us to understand today that all children of God do His will and if we are not obedient to His will, we are outside the kingdom of God.

What does this mean to us? There are 4 principles I want to apply from this parable:

#1) If we do not believe, we will not obey

This entire Parable is given to point out the failure of the Pharisees

They were the son who immediately responded with yes, but did not obey

And what made them rebels and enemies of God was their disobedience To God.

This parable links all The way back to the beginning of the gospels with John the Baptist.

John was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus

And do you remember the message that John preached? REPENTANCE

And John had an interaction with the Pharisees, and he told them “Matthew 3:7–8 (NASB95): But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance”

Jesus tells us here why the Pharisees refused to repent: “because they did not believe John”

John proclaimed the right way to live

John denounced a sinful lifestyle covered up with religion

John saw through Pharisees shallownessand told them to repent, turn, change their mind about what it means to be right with God

And they refused to believe him!

It is impossible to be a ChristIan if we do not believe the ChristIan message as revealed in Scripture

It is impossible to be right with God if we do not believe what He says about Jesus

Rom 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”

We must confess (agree with God) that Jesus is Lord

That means there is no greater authority and we are all accountable to Him

And it is impossible to believe what He says, if we do not agree with Him about our sin

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If we do not truly believe God, obedience to His will is impossible

We must believe that God absolutely will and must punish sin becuase He is a just God!

We must belive that the only way we can be made right with God is by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ Becuase none of us are good enough!

We must also believe that there will not be one single person in heaven who has not repented of their sin!

We must believe that to follow Jesus means we renounce this world and give all of us to the Lord Jesus as His servant forever!

What is the reason people ought to believe the ChristIan message today?

Look what Jesus tells them, “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”

God sent them a preacher to proclaim the truth

They did not heed his call to this

They did not turn from their wicked ways

They did not change the direction they were headed

BUT, the tax collectors and the prostitutes did!

Matthew who wrote this gospel was a tax collector and left his tax booth to follow Jesus

Mary Madeline was a prostitute and changed her ways when she met Jesus

AND THE PHARISEES SAW THIS!

So the proof of John’s message was in the changed lives of sinners!

The worst kind of people, who lived the most degraded lives were forever changed because they met Jesus!

AND DESPITE THIS PROOF, THEY STILL REFUSED TO TURN FROM THEIR SINFUL WAYS!

One of the great evidences that Jesus truly was the Messiah was the miracles He did to people

He made the lame walk

He made the blind see

He made the mute speak

He cast demons out of possessed men

He made the leprous man clean

AND Only God can do those things

AND God is STILL changing people’s lives today

He makes makes men walk on path’s of righteousness

He opens spiritually blind eyes to understand the mysteries of God

He takes people who have practiced sin all of their lives and makes them clean

And if anyone is wondering if the message is real, look at the new creation God has made in the lives of His people!

Look at the sin God has saved them from!

Look at the scum of the earth that God has given the ability to follow Him and live a life of righteousness!

Only God can do that!

#2) God’s will CANNOT be obeyed with words alone

The father had work for these two boys to do

He owned a vineyard

There needed to go and prune the vines

There were fields that needed to be fertilized

There were grapes to be sorted, and picked

And since the sons belonged the father, they had a responsibility to obey him

The first son said he would NOT go

His father gave him a clear command and his response was “no”!

Yet he could not be satisfied with that, and something deep down inside of him began to move him and change his mind

And despite what he said, he got up against his own will and went to work in the vineyard

The second son said he would go, yet did the exact opposite of what he said

And there is not mention of remorse in his response which suggests he was absolutely content with his disobedience

And the first son was the obedient son

It does not matter one iota what you and I confess to be, if our actions do not support us

Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

The real evidence of our faith is revealed by what we do NOT by what we say

And God has work for everyone to do!

We are all walking in God’s vineyard today”

Our work is to further God’s kingdom!

We have world that is lost and dying around us and the workers must be diligent!

Jesus said, Matt 9:38 ““Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.””

There is much to do when it comes to serving the Lord

How do we know what God’s will is for our lives?

The same way these two sons did: the father told them

One of the clearest ways we can know the will of God for our lives today is from His Word

2 Tim 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

For everyone of us who own a Bible, God expects us to read it and learn His will for your life

For those who do not read it, are like the son who refused to obey

Everything we need to obey Him is found written in that book.

And we have good translations that are written on a sixth grade level so that we are without excuse

God’s will is Always Synonymous with His Word

He will never contradict what He has written

He will never tell you to do one thing and His Word say another

By those sent to reveal the ways of righteousness

Notice what Jesus says about the Pharisees, “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him”

He is making an indictment against the Pharisees because they ignored the preaching of John because John showed them the way of righteousness

They had His Word

And they had a man sent from God to show them the way

God has also given the church, men to show and explain to them the right way to live and what we are here to do

God forms a church as a missional place where all come together to serve And grow together!

We all contribute to this calling

We all take a personal responsibility for the advancement of the church and our lives

#3) When we disobey, God requires repentance

Notice the first son did not respond with an obedient spirit.

He told his father no.

But, then he regretted it!

He knew it was sinful to say no to God

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

If our repentance does not change the way we live, then it is not true repentance

The word here means to “change one’s mind about something”

And in this context, the son changed his mind about what the Father had said

Application:

When you and I are confronted the written words of God, we are faced with a choice to either agree with them or rebel against them

Often people will verbally accept it, but physically reject it

LAWSUIT ILLUSTRATION

Ashley and I have been studying the book of Corinthians together

We came to chapter 6 that is speaking about the issue of lawsuits

And Paul in this passage makes an argument that believers should not go before the unsaved to allow them to solve Christian disputes

And then he says this, it is better to be wronged or cheated than to sue another believer

What if you are wronged by someone in the church that had placed a financial burden upon you for $20,000. And the only way you were going to get your money back was to sue them in a secular court? What would you do?

Would you ignore the Word of God because that person rightfully owed you that money, or would you let it go to be obedient to God’s Word?

It does not matter what we think or believe about any given situation, it matters what God says about that situation

#4) True beliefs are tested over time

Explanation

The first son said one thing and did another

The second son said one thing and did another

What determined the genuineness of their faith is what they ultimately did

Application

We must be careful NOT to make too much of one’s verbal response to Jesus

I have met far more people who were like the second son who said one thing and did another

And when it comes down to it, actions speak louder than words

At the same time: we must be careful not to count someone out because of their initial response

Some people May reject Jesus, but the Spirit of God can continue to work in that persons life

And over time that person can repent of his initial response, and become obedient to Christ

Not everyone comes to Christ the same way

Some are more of a process that could take years

Some happen in an instant

Conclusion

What does this mean for us?

Which son are you?

There are only two sons in this parable, and everyone falls into one of these two classes

There are those who say one thing and do another

And there are those who make the will of God the priority in their lives

If the Pharisees after hearing this parable would have repented, I believe with all of my heart they would have been saved

But they did not

They only hardened their heart

Do whatever it is God is telling you to do

~PRAYER~

RESPONSE

PUBLIC INVITATION

“Come thou fount”

Words and Music by Hillsong

OFFERING

We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.

Closing Prayer

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