Parable of the Two Sons

Well, good afternoon again, brethren. Certainly good to see all of you. It's always wonderful to be able to get together on the Sabbath and be able to worship God, be able to sing songs of praise and honor. I was reading several of the hymns that are in the—I call them hymns, I guess they are Psalms, the last few Psalms—147, 148, 149, 150—those are all—they look like songs.

I think we have most of them in our hymnal. And yet I was reading those this morning and just thinking about how fabulous it is that we are able to worship God in song and in praise and that we can do that with our whole heart. We can do that with our thinking about God, thinking about Him as our Creator, but also thinking about how much He has done for us, how much He does for us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And so we have a great deal to be thankful for, and again, I'm very thankful to be able to see all of you here this afternoon. I know that the Bible that I currently am using is not a new King James Version, as many of you have. It's a new Revised Standard, so it's similar, but it's a little bit different.

But one of the problems that I don't like about this particular—not the translation, but just the Bible itself—is that the words that Jesus spoke are not in red. Now, in many of your Bibles, if you look at them, the words that Jesus spoke, what He actually said, wherever He said in John 6, that my words are spirit and they are life. He was pointing out something significant, and I know it's not perhaps important as to whether those words are in red in your Bible or not.

But since I know, and I have a number of Bibles that have the red letter addition, I've always thought that that is—that may be even more important, more significant for me if I'm going to study the Bible, if I'm going to learn what it is that Jesus has to say. I know He inspired the entirety of the Bible, the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, but certainly the words that He said, the things that He talked about, the way that He said it, who He was even talking to, because we actually see Him talking to different people at different times, that has always been very important to me.

I also realize that Jesus spoke in parables often. He didn't always speak in parables. Sometimes it was a pretty direct statement. Sometimes it was a direct statement to Peter or to John or to one of the other disciples, and He was asking them a question.

He wasn't talking about a parable. He was discussing something with them. But whenever we see Jesus speaking in parables, and there are, I don't know that I have the number, and there could be some debate as far as how many parables did Jesus actually give, but He spoke in parables. He said that those parables were given in that way in order to conceal what He had to say to some and to reveal to others information that He wanted them to know about the Kingdom of God.

And thankfully, brethren, as we study the Word of God and as we ask God for inspiration and as we are led by the Holy Spirit of God, He can be in a category of having those parables reveal to us spiritual understanding of the Kingdom of God. And I want to focus on one of those parables today. I often have done this. I've covered several of them. I certainly haven't covered all of them yet, but eventually, I guess we could. But I want to focus on the parable that is recorded here in Matthew 21. And as you maybe look at this and read it, you might say, well, that's a very simple parable.

That's almost, you know, why even bother reading it? Well, this is the parable of the two sons that you read in Matthew 21. And I want to mention a couple of things before we go ahead and go to that. As I mentioned, it might seem pretty simple to begin with. But I think you'll find that there's more to it. More to it than we might have thought. So whenever we think about the parables and we study them and want to understand them, it's important for us to realize, and I think the main thing that is significant about the parables, whenever we read a parable, we need to see, well, who was Jesus talking to?

Who was He talking to? Was He talking to the disciples? Was He talking to the crowd who maybe had come up on the mountainside and who were listening to Him? Because He often talked to people who were in large groups. Was He talking maybe in town or close to the synagogue? Was He talking to the Pharisees? Because at times, He was speaking to all these different groups. I'd like for us to take a look before we go to chapter 21 in chapter 18. Because in chapter 18, I can point out to you that it's important to understand who He was talking to.

Here in chapter 18 of Matthew in verse 21, Peter came and said to Him, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive Him? Peter was actually asking a question. He was inquiring about what He needed to do, how it was He was going to be required to live. And of course, what we find in verse 23 on down through the rest of that chapter, Jesus gave a parable of the unforgiving servant.

He gave a parable in answer to Peter's question. Peter asked the question, and he was talking about forgiveness and how much do I really need to forgive? And Jesus gave a whole parable describing and explaining about the topic of forgiveness. Let's also look in chapter 19. Here in chapter 19, Matthew 19, verse 27, you see Peter, again, and Peter being the same disciple, saying, look, and he's saying this to Jesus, we have left everything and we have followed you.

What are we going to have? We have committed our lives and devoted ourselves to following you. What are we going to be given? And even though Jesus goes ahead and he says, Jesus said to them in verse 28, truly I tell you at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. He told them directly that even though I'm going to leave, I'm going to be crucified and I'm going to be away, I'm going to come back.

I'm going to set up the kingdom of God. And whenever I set up that kingdom, you're going to be given responsibility. You're going to be responsible in judging one of the tribes of Israel. But you also see in chapter 20, Jesus again speaking another parable, about the laborers in the vineyard. A parable that talks about how it is that it is God's prerogative to reveal or conceal or to call and to bring people to an understanding of his purpose in their life. Now this is what he was teaching Peter and the disciples.

He told them what the answer was, but he also said, it's really up to me, I'm the one who can work in people's minds and hearts. I'm the one who can cause them to have understanding or I'm the one who often allows things to be concealed. And so you see in those two cases how he answered by giving a parable to a question that Peter asked. Now let's go to chapter 21. In chapter 21, actually I want to start in verse 23.

Chapter 21, Matthew 21 verse 23, this is actually who he was talking to whenever we read the parable of the two sons. It starts in verse 28. In verse 23 he says, when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things and who's giving you this authority?

And so here we find the setting. You see who it was. This wasn't directly the disciples that he was going to be talking to. This is going to be the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, those who were around the temple. And what you actually find whenever you see that these are the people that are asking the question, you see Jesus actually answering that question with three parables. One of them starts in verse 28, the parable of the two sons, the one we're going to study and review here today. The next one starts in verse 33. See, this is a parable of the wicked tenants. And then on down into chapter 22, a parable of the wedding banquet. You know, actually, Jesus, in answering the question of the Pharisees, you know, he gave them three different parables. And you're going to see that they actually understood some of what he was saying. Now, there's more to it than that, but I think it's important that we point that out. All of these parables, these three parables, were directed at the religious leaders, those who thought they were religious, those who felt that they were righteous because of the scribes and the Pharisees, the ones who accused Jesus, the ones who put down him as far as you don't have authority like we do. You know, they felt that they were quite comfortable with themselves. And of course, that also is a little bit telling. You know, we don't want to be too comfortable, even with God's guiding our lives. We don't want to feel like, you know, that we're on top of the world and there's nothing that could bother us. You know, we want to continue to rely on God, be dependent upon God, and live in accordance with his guidance of our lives and his Word. Actually, here in chapter 21, in verse 45, I mentioned these parables, the parable of the two sons and the wicked tenants and then the wedding banquet. In verse 45, see what it is that the scribes, or in this case, the chief priests and Pharisees, see what they thought after he gave them this information. They said in verse 45, when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was talking about them. They realized that he was speaking about those who trusted in themselves, those who really didn't respond and didn't react. In verse 46, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd because the crowd regarded Jesus as a prophet. They were scared of the group, but they realized, verse 45 says, they realized he was talking to them. So, let's look at this parable of the two sons because that's what I want to focus on today.

This parable, like I said, might seem very simple, but there may be more to it than you thought.

Here in verse 28, Jesus said to the religious leaders, what do you think?

A man had two sons, and he went to the first son, and he said, son, I want you to go, and I want you to work in the vineyard today. In verse 29, the son answered, I won't go. I will not.

But then, later, he changed his mind, and then he went.

And then it says in verse 30, the father went to the second son, and he said the same thing.

And this son answered and said, I'm going, sir. But he didn't go. Now, again, you might think, well, that's about as simple as you can ever think of any kind of parable.

And yet, there is a great deal of meaning here, and, of course, an understanding that we should have about who he was talking to, because we've already seen he was talking to the religious leaders. But he goes ahead in verse 31 to ask a question of these religious leaders. After giving this little parable only a few sentences of a parable about one son who said, I'm not going to go, but then who thought about it and who later went. And then the other son, who, when he was asked to go and work in the vineyard, he says, I'll go. And then he doesn't do it. He asked the question in verse 31, which of the two sons did the will of the Father? Which of the two sons did the will of the Father? And, of course, even the Pharisees could say, well, the first. And Jesus then followed that up by saying, truly, I tell you, the tax collectors, those dreaded government workers, those people who are collecting your taxes, I guess it would be the IRS of their day.

Often the tax collectors were viewed as being corrupt, viewed as being cheaters and thieves, viewed as they were taking advantage of other people. He says the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going to go into the kingdom of God ahead of you. Because, he says John in verse 32 came to you in the way of righteousness and you didn't believe him. He's talking about John the Baptist. John the Baptist came proclaiming that Jesus was coming, proclaiming that they need to repent of their sins, proclaiming they needed to save themselves from the corrupt generation that they were in. He says in verse 32, John came to you in the way of righteousness and you didn't even believe him. The tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even after you saw them turning their lives around and coming out of sin, as our sermonette mentioned, we don't continue to live in sin. We strive to come out of sin. We still struggle against sin.

And yet, as he said here, the tax collectors and prostitutes, they repent. They turn their lives around and he says, even after you saw that, you didn't change your mind and then believe John. See, so that parable was directly applicable, a clear indictment of the Jews who refused what John very clearly stated. And he was actually warning the Pharisees that your hard-heartedness, your stubborn, stiff-necked way of doing things, your hypocrisy, is completely wrong. That's what he was telling the religious leaders of the day. And so, of course, that's what the parable is about. And we can say, well, that's about other people. But what I really want to get into is today, how we can learn from and apply to ourselves the lesson of this parable. Because this parable, even a very tiny parable as it is, is not only for the religious leaders of the day back then, it's clearly for all of us. Because whenever we think about it, the two sons, one, in a sense, kind of shrugging off his father's request, but then thinking about it and realizing, well, I really need to change, and I need to repent of what I did or said, and I need to go ahead and work in the vineyard, or the other son, who probably didn't even pay attention.

He wasn't even listening to what his father had said. He says, I go, sir. You know, almost, you know, you think that's respectful, but must not have meant very much to him, because even though he said that, he didn't do it. He didn't follow through. See, so what is the application to us as the people of God today? As Christians today, what does that parable mean to us? Well, I think we could very clearly see that we must be not just hearers of the word of God, as the second son was, but doers of God's word, of his request. Let's go over to James chapter 1, because in James you see this written about very clearly. James chapter 1 verse 22, he says, but be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word, and not doers, then they're like those who look at themselves in the mirror, for they look at themselves and then they go away immediately forgetting what they saw.

But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, the law of God, those who look into that law and who persevere, not being hearers who forget, but doers who act. They will be blessed in their doing. You know, clearly James makes this very plain, and of course James was directly writing to the church. He was writing to the church in general. He was giving instruction and direction, and all of us are clearly aware that, well, it's not enough to hear. But you know, brethren, sometimes that's all we do. Sometimes that's all we do. We hear, and it doesn't correspond with action. It doesn't correspond or isn't followed up with doing.

Of course, that's why James is writing this, so that we will be reminded as the sons, one again saying he wasn't going to go, but later did go, and then one saying, well, I'll go, but he didn't do it. See, it's not the hearers, but the doers and those who act, who are going to be blessed in their Christian lives. And see, this is what we are striving to do. This is what our responsibility is. We might even back up to verse 19, because here in James 1 verse 19, he says, you really need to understand this, brethren. Let everyone be quick to listen, and slow to speak, and slow to anger. For your anger does not produce the righteousness of God.

Therefore rid yourselves of all-sortedness and rank-growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your soul. See, we want the Word of God to be implanted in our heart, in our mind. We want to not only know, and it's not enough to know. It's not enough to just hear. We've got to act. We've got to respond. That's really the lesson that this parable says to us. If we want to be Christians today, well, then we've got to be doers and not just hearers of what the will of the Father is. So the point of the parable is what Jesus said in Matthew 21, verse 31. Which of the two sons did the will of the Father?

Well, it was obviously the first son. He went ahead and did the will of the Father.

And so how is it that each of us can be like that first son and do the will of the Father?

See, how is it that you do that? I think there's some important things. There's three things that I want to mention here in the remainder of the sermon. And they all tie together with this first son and how it was that he actually did the will of the Father. And each one of us need to fall into that category, not just saying, I'll do it and forget it, but actually thinking about it and then responding, being motivated to respond to God and to His will in our lives.

The first thing I want to point out about the first son, and again, it's pretty easy to remember this parable. It's not very long. There's not much to it, but we can remember, you know, what it was. The Father said to the son, I want you to go out and work in the vineyard today.

What was his response? What was what it immediately say?

Now I'm not going to do it. I will not. But then, of course, it says, he thought about it.

He mulled it over. He decided to change his mind and repent, and he went and did the work that his father had asked him to do in the vineyard. See, the first thing I want to point out about this boy is that he, in the process, he resisted his initial desire or tendency to do his own will, and he yielded to the will of his father.

See, I think it's good for us to think about that, because too often we do fall into that category. And whenever I'm saying we, I'm always talking me. I hope you realize, because I know me. I know what happens. You know, I may have every good intention, and I may want to do the right thing.

And yet, as his son, you know, he thought about it, and he decided, well, I really ought to change my mind.

See, he resisted his initial tendency to just do his own will.

And that, of course, is unfortunately what we find in our human nature. Our human nature isn't always compliant with the Word of God. It often needs to be resisted. It needs to be thought through. And then we desire, we wish to be repentant, we want to change, and then we want, even as I believe Mike mentioned, we want to overcome. We want to overcome and be a part of God's family. And so, what he ended up doing is resisting his own will and then yielding himself to the will of the Father. And, of course, we ought to think about, you know, how much do we do that? Do we always just do what the Father says? Is that something that we occasionally do or something that we rarely do? We ought to think about that. And, of course, Jesus' example is one that we can see in the Gospel accounts whenever he was on the verge of being crucified and he was praying in deep, deep prayer. He was asking, you know, is there any way around this? Is there any way you can remove this cup? Is there any way that this, you know, and, of course, he realized, no, there isn't. And so, it's not my will. It's not what I want. It's your will that I want to follow because I'm here for a reason. I'm here for a purpose. I'm here to provide salvation. I'm here to provide forgiveness for the entirety of humanity. And so, you know, his plan, the plan of God that he and the Father had worked out, you know, needed to be followed. And so, I think we can say as we think about resisting our own tendency to do our own will, and, well, I'm not going to do it, or I don't want to do it, or I don't feel like it today, or I'm tired, or I'm sleepy, or any other excuse that we might come up with, you know, we want to yield to the will of the Father. And actually, to know the will of the Father, we've got to read the Word of God to be transformed. See, I know many of us read the Word of God. I'm sure many of us read that regularly. We read it regularly. Many times, we're just reading for information.

We're reading to know what something is about, or as different ones. Mr. Brandon has gone through a number of of sermonettes regarding different beliefs of the Church, and you can go through a lot of information that way, and you can go through a lot of Scriptures, and you can be aware of what the teaching of the Church is, or what the teaching of the Bible is. But see, we want to read the Word of God, not just for information. We clearly need that information because you obviously have to start somewhere, but we need to read the Word of God to be transformed.

By that Word. See, if we're going to do the will of the Father, and that's what God wants for us to do. He wants us to do the will of the Father. He wants us to be motivated by reading the Word of God, and then having it transform us, having it change our mind. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 4.

I want to use this one section, and I picked this one out, and then thought, well, you know, there's a section like this in almost every one of Paul's letters, because he always, not only is giving a direction and sometimes correction about different topics that the Church has needed information on, but you almost always have him give a list of what a Christian is going to be like. And see, whenever we read Ephesians chapter 4, and this is the latter part of Ephesians chapter 4, and there's a lot of really good information in this whole chapter, but the very last section here of Ephesians 4 verse 25, we're given some specific instructions about what to move away from and then what he does want us to do, how he wants us to conform to the will of the Father. And so do we really read the Word of God to be transformed by it?

Here in Ephesians 4 verse 25, he says, so then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbor, for we are members of one another.

And again, we believe that. I'm sure believe that we ought to obey the ninth command, and we ought to believe that that's a definition of sin, falsely accused and lying. Those are things that we want to get away from because those are to be abhorred. Those are to be hated.

And yet, what is Paul telling the people there in Ephesus? He says, well, it's human nature to shade the truth. It's human nature to be partially right. It's human nature to not quite always say the truth. So he says, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth to your neighbor. And then he follows that up by saying, well, be angry, but don't sin. So here he makes it even more difficult, you know, if we do get angry.

And of course, I guess most of us, perhaps all of us get angry at times. He says, be angry, but don't sin. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath or on your anger.

He actually points out how not to sin. And there are biblical examples of anger that occurs.

And of course, all of us can think about, well, are there different things that make me angry or make me upset? And yet, and you see Jesus say example as he walked into the temple and was ready to throw the money changers out and drive the animals and drive the stock leaders there out of the temple. I'm sure he was upset. Was he angry? Well, I would guess that was probably righteous indignation that they were polluting the temple. And of course, that's a real easy example that we can see. That would be a right use of anger.

And yet, you know, in many ways, I happen to fall into the being angry over much less serious stuff, much less significant stuff that I might be angry. And it actually tells us, you know, we may get angry at times, but don't sin. And he even says how not to sin. He says, don't let the sun go down on your wrath. See, solve, solve your issue, whatever it is, whatever has been upsetting. And sometimes this can happen within our homes. Sometimes it happens within our marriages that we get upset over something that was said or done. And maybe many times this could be the case. And yet it tells us, you know, solve that, that day. Don't let that continue to fester. Don't let that continue to bother you because it becomes more of a difficulty as you go along. Don't hold a grudge longer than the day. Of course, he has a lot to say here, so can't focus on only one of these things. He goes on to say, don't let the sun go down on your anger. Verse 27, don't make room for the devil. Now, again, that, you know, we can read that and say, yeah, I don't want to do that. Well, do we do that? Do we allow Satan to get a foothold in our thinking, in our attitude, in our mind? He says, don't make room for the devil. Verse 28, thieves should give up stealing, rather let them labor and work honestly with their hands so as to have something to share with the needy. And so here he's talking about, obviously, stealing, or, you know, don't do that, but, you know, work toward serving and helping others.

Verse 29, let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up as there is need, so that your words would give grace to those who hear.

Now, we have to think about, well, do all of my words, do most of my words, do some of my words, do few of my words, actually build up others that are around and people that I would like to help or love. And we have to think about, again, I'm saying that in order to do the will of God, we've got to read God's Word to be transformed. It doesn't do enough, and if I could quote this, which I can't, I need to read it, but if I could quote it, that wouldn't be good enough.

I have to do it. I have to be transformed. And in verse 30, he says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God with which you are marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

He says, don't neglect the Holy Spirit. The value of that Holy Spirit is immense.

That value is one that God defines as setting you apart to understand the things of God, to understand the Word of the Bible. And he says in verse 31, put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander together with all malice.

So we have to be able to even think and identify some of those things in our lives as far as either what we say or what we think or how we respond.

And then he says, these are all things he says to resist and to put away, and then he says what we're to be like. Here in verse 32 in the last part of the chapter, he says, this is what I want you to be like. I want you to be kind, kind to one another.

I want you to be tender-hearted. I want you to be forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. See, now, when we read the Word of God to be transformed, we read it to find out and not how good I am, but where I need to change, where I need to repent. See, that's what the first son actually did. He thought about the fact that I just said I'm not going to do it.

He thought about his first response was wrong, and he thought about it, and he decided I need to repent. I need to change. And so, you know, if we're going to do the will of God, you know, we've got to be willing to resist our own will, our own inclinations, our own tendencies, and ask God to help us do what he tells us in his Word to do, to be kind, to be tender-hearted, to be forgiving. See, those were actually solutions that Paul was giving to the things that he had mentioned prior to that, and yet he tells all of us that that's what he wants us to do.

Now, the second thing we can see, and this is very obvious regarding this first son, was that not only that he resisted his own will and began to follow what the father said and repent of that, but he obeyed. He did. The second thing is he obeyed. He did go ahead, unlike the other brother who didn't go. He said, I'll go, but he didn't go. He didn't do anything.

See, we have to think about our obedience to God, our desire to obey God. This first son, actually, he did the will of the father. He obeyed, and of course, there are many verses that we can go to about obeying or keeping the commandments of God. Let's look at one here in 1 Corinthians 7. There are actually many, many of them that we could go to, but here in 1 Corinthians 7, you see Paul actually instructing the people in Corinth, mostly in this chapter, regarding different aspects of marriage or people who say were unmarried and the widows or to the married or to the rest.

He's giving information to different categories. He's given direct instruction about how it is that if they're going to do the will of God in their life, how it is that they're to live. And you've got a lot of information that we could cover here. But you also see in verse 19, he says, circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but obeying the commandments of God is everything.

See, now that's what we wish to do. That's what we want to do. And that's what, if we're going to be Christians, then we need to obey the Word of God. And yet, is that all that God expects? You know, actually, I want us to look at Luke 17 because, you know, obeying the commandments of God, that's what the first son did. And that's clearly what is Christians. And if we're going to do the will of God, we've got to obey.

When we see in his Word how that we need to conform to that Word, we need to allow that Word to change our lives. In chapter 17 of Luke, you see, again, Jesus giving a, I don't know that it's a parable, but at least it's a lesson here starting in verse 7. Luke 17 verse 7.

Jesus was talking to his disciples. He was talking to Peter and to those others who were with him. He says, Who among you would say to your servant who's just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, come here at once and take your place at the table? Would you not rather say to him in verse 8, prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink, and later you may eat and drink?

And the question he asked in verse 9 is, do you thank the servant for doing what he was required to do? Do you thank the servant for doing what he was commanded to do? And he says in verse 19, So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, which again we're directed or commanded to obey the Word of God, to obey the law of God, to serve out of a desire to please God and to obey, he says, You also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, you should say that, well, we are worthless servants and we have done only what we ought to have done.

In a sense, the way of life that all of us strive to lead, the way of life of a Christian, the way of life of obedience and responsiveness, of repentance, of appreciation of what God has done for us, you know, in a sense that's kind of the minimum requirement. That's kind of the base information. That is what we're commanded or required to do. And he says, well, if that's all we do, if that's all we do, you know, then we're kind of a worthless servant.

We've only done what, you know, we're supposed to do. But see, what are we to do beyond that? And this is really another section of what we can say about the first son, is that as he recognized that he was wrong and as he chose not to do his own will but to do the will of the father, he repented of that. He obeyed. And what did he do?

He worked. He worked in the vineyard. That's the third point that I want to make. Not only are we to obey God as a way of life, that's really what he expects and requires of us. But he also tells us that I want you to abound. Abound in good works.

Abound in works of service. Now, as he's saying that, well, if we do that, that's going to earn us salvation. Well, that's not the case. He says you're doing that out of a love for God, out of a love for other people, out of a desire to do the will of the father, just like that first son did.

So, I want us to look at Titus chapter 3. Titus, of course, is a book that Paul wrote directly to Titus. He wrote some books to Timothy. He wrote this book to Titus. He wrote a book to Philemon. So, even though he wrote a number of books that were directed to church congregations, he was writing these to specific individuals. And he was telling them, actually, they were ministers and servants who were going to teach the people. And, of course, he told Timothy many things that he ought to be doing. He told Titus what he ought to be doing. And here in chapter 3, I want to point out here in chapter 3, because he is mentioning that Titus needs to encourage the brethren to abound in good works, to go above and beyond, not to be an unprofitable servant, not to be only doing a minimal amount of effort in obeying God, but to truly produce fruit, produce fruit of working in the vineyard, as the first son was asked to do. He says, I want you to work in the vineyard. I want you to produce fruit. So here in chapter 3, we can start in verse 3. And actually, this is, in a sense, kind of an inset section here, because Paul was telling Titus, for we ourselves, talking about himself, talking about Titus, talking about others who were in the ministry, others who were members of the church, we ourselves were once foolish and disobedient and led astray and slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, and hating one another. He was saying, that's our past. That's what we've come out of. That's what we've come to see, you know, that we don't want to be. But he says in verse 4, when the goodness and the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, when God touched our hearts and our minds to desire to please Him and to honor Him with our lives, when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy through the water of rebirth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Here He talks about how it is that, well, it's not by our works that He has chosen to draw us to be a part of His family, and it's not going to be by those works that we're going to have salvation. We don't earn salvation. He says in verse 8, this saying is true. I desire that you insist on these things. So He was telling Titus, I want you to insist of the brethren, insist on these things so that those who have come to believe in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable to everyone. See, here He says, if we're going to be pleasing to God and abounding in good works, you know, that that's how we're going to be a part of His divine family. Actually, if we jump back up to verse 1, He says, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, and to be ready for every good work.

See, He mentions that here. He mentions it down in verse 8. He mentions, if we drop on down to verse, let's see, verse 13, make every effort to send Zenos, the lawyer, and Apollos on their way.

See that they lack nothing. He said, I want you to help these servants that I know are coming through, and you will be able to serve and to encourage. And He says in verse 14, let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs so that they may not be unproductive. Brethren, we don't want to be unproductive. See, I would believe that this first son who chose to do the will of the Father, and who repented, and who obeyed, and who worked in the vineyard, I'm pretty sure that he produced some fruit. I'm sure that he was working in that vineyard throughout that day. And of course, we're told here in this chapter of Titus 3 in three different places that we needed to devote ourselves to good works. And I know that not only do we want to do that, but we are doing that even here in the congregation. You know, recently, you know, we've had several different projects that have been helping people with wood or with coats or with meals. You know, many of you are involved in doing those good works. Those good works do not earn salvation, but they're what we're asked to do. It's what we're asked to do if we want to do the will of the Father. If we want to do what the Father truly wants us to do. So, I think you can see, not only from this, let's back up one more verse here to James, the book of James, chapter 1.

This has always been a scripture that I have thought about and wondered, how is it that we can do this? And I know I used to think about this when I worked for the state and visited and dealt with many, many people who were in very restricted situations. People who are often in nursing homes. People who were obviously there because they needed help. They needed to be cared for, and they often were impaired in some way because, you know, that's why they were there.

But here it tells us in verse 27 of James 1, he says, pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, that you care for the orphans and for the widows and their distress and to keep yourself unspotted from the world. See, caring for those who are in need, caring for those who are in urgent need, as it said over in Titus, that's what he wants us to have concern for other people and especially those who would need special help. That's a part of what he's expecting and asking. And of course, you know, I know that, you know, as we think about this parable and as we think about this first son and his ultimately his doing the will of the Father, you know, we can see how that it was spoken to the Pharisees and it was telling them, you know, you are wrong. You are like the second son. You say the right things, but you don't do anything. You just forget what it is that I'm telling you. And of course, they didn't even accept who he was. But see, that first son is the one that we want to be like. And the parable, especially this part about this first son, has a great deal of significance to us as Christians. And so I want to conclude here in Matthew chapter 7, because as we've seen, you know, this parable certainly points out how that we don't want to be hearers of the Word of God and then forget. We want to be doers of the Word of God who act on what God's Word tells us to do. And here in Matthew chapter 7, and of course this is a part of the Sermon on the Mount, and there is plenty of material to try to cover about what Jesus said Christians would do here in this section of Matthew 5 and 6 and 7. And, you know, so many things that I'm not even, you know, you probably would want to read that at another time. But I want to focus just on one section here toward the latter part. And actually this is in the very last part of what Jesus had to say. What he was telling his disciples, what he was telling others.

Some of the disciples were getting it. Many of the other people, they didn't get it.

They actually, and he said, you know, they're just here because I'm passing out free food.

I'm passing out fish and bread. You know, they're here just because I fed them.

They're not paying attention to what I had to say. But here in the very last part, in the very last part of what he said in the Sermon on the Mount, he says in Matthew 7, in verse 21, he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

So he was pointing out clearly, you know, that it's not enough to say I'll do it and then ignore.

You've got to be desirous of doing this. Actually, we can drop on down to verse 24.

You know, verse 22 and 23, you know, we could read through. But I want to focus on verse 24, because he says, everyone then who hears my words, everyone who hears what I have to say, everyone who reads the Word of God, desiring to be transformed, desiring to have our heart cleansed and our mind purified in our words to be building up other people, he says, everyone who hears my words and who acts on them will be like a wise man who has built his house on a rock. Because when the rain falls and the floods came and the wind blew and beat on the house, it didn't fall because it was founded on a rock. It had an absolutely sound foundation. And that, of course, that foundation can clearly be Jesus Christ and His working in our lives, His work of transforming us, His work of inspiring us and leading us.

And so we want to clearly be built on a sound foundation. We want to be built, you know, not as He mentions here, some saying, Lord, Lord, you know, didn't we do this and didn't we do that? Well, He says, I didn't know you. You know, I want you to be built on a sound foundation, and I want you to be like this first son in the parable of Matthew 21. I want you to be the Christians who will actually read the Word of God and be transformed by it, who will obey the will of God as they understand that. And again, all of us want to grow in our understanding of God's will in our lives, how it is, and He wants us to be guided by His Word. And then, obviously, then, we want to abound in good works. We want to produce fruit by our actions and by our words toward others. So in doing so, you know, we can actually be very much like this first son. And of course, you know, I know that Jesus, as we mentioned earlier, spoke this parable to the Pharisees, and He did it in a very purposeful way. But He was also saying to those who have ears to hear, to those who have eyes to see, you know, there was more to what He had to say than just clearly telling the Pharisees they were wrong. He was telling those who would listen, you know, that this is the will of the Father, and you need to do that will, and I want you to do so because we're all growing. You are all to grow toward, you know, the divine family of God.

So I hope that we can act in the same way that the first son did. Again, you know, being desirous of doing the will of God in everything we do in our lives.