The parable of the two sons, found in Matthew 21:28-32, illustrates different responses to a father's command to work in his vineyard. The first son initially refuses but later repents and goes, while the second son verbally agrees but does not go. Jesus uses this parable to reveal the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, who, like the second son, profess allegiance but fail to act, contrasting them with the publicans and harlots who, like the first son, initially refuse but ultimately repent and obey. The sermon emphasizes that true obedience is demonstrated through action, not mere profession, and that repentance is a change of mind and heart leading to action.
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The parable I would speak on this morning is found in the twenty-first chapter of Matthew, verses twenty-eight to thirty-two. The parable of the two sons, Matthew twenty-one, starting at verse twenty-eight. But what, thank you, A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today 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 there and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father, they say unto him the first. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlests go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and you received him not. But the publicans and the harlests believed in him. And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterwards, that you might believe him. The parable of the two sons is not very well known. I venture to say, that not many of us have heard a sermon preached on the parable of the two sons.
It's short, as you can well see, five verses, and it's only found in the book of Matthew. Most of the parables that are only found in one gospel are in Luke, but a few of them are peculiar to the other gospels. This parable was spoken on Tuesday before the Lord Jesus went to the cross. And so if we hold to a Friday crucifixion, which most people do, it would be three days before the crucifixion. And fortunately, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us the primary interpretation of the parable. We're always glad when that is the case because there's no question as to what the interpretation is.
Toward the end of our Lord's ministry, particularly that last week, and more particularly on the Tuesday of last week, he directed many of his parables to the leaders of the Jewish nation. And the way he did this, and the reason he did it, was to get them to condemn themselves before they really knew what they were doing. He gives a parable that's obviously directed against them, and then he asks them what a question, like in this Who, which one of the two did the will of their father? The answer is so obvious that they couldn't give the wrong answer, and so they condemn themselves in so doing, because they are the very ones represented in the parable.
It's a very good way to get the truth across. If a person can see something apart from himself, and he can see it out here in a parable, then the answer is so obvious. But when it just applies to him, well, then, of course, personal bias and other things enter in, and he doesn't see it as clearly. And so let's look, if you will, at the parable of the two sons. The parable is simple. A certain man had two sons, and he told both of them to go and work in his vineyard. And there were two responses. May I say right at this point that if anyone in the audience has the American Standard Version, or perhaps some other version, it reverses the order of these two sons completely.
It just has it the opposite what the King James Version has it. Of course, that's based on manuscript authority, but if you explain it from the King James and you have the American standard, it sounds like I'm just doing it backwards, but I'm following the King James Version. I say the first response was, I will not. go work in my vineyard he says I will not but later he repented he changed his mind and went he came to the second and said you go work in the vineyard he said yes I go but he never went and then the question which of the two did the will of the father well they answered the first the one that eventually went into the vineyard even though he at first said I will not he finally did the will of the father Well, in so answering, the Pharisees just utterly condemned themselves because they are represented by this second son, the one who said, I go and went not.
They are represented by that son. And so Jesus said, you religious leaders, you're like this second son. You say I go. You profess to be mine. You pose as one's working in the vineyard. and yet you have never entered the vineyard. You aren't saved. On the other hand, the publicans and the harlots, they're the ones that are entering the vineyard. They're the ones that are being saved. Now look at it a little more closely. That's the overall picture. The ones that said I go not and yet later went are the publicans, the harlots, the lower classes. The ones that said I go, sir, and don't go are the religious leaders.
I say, let's look a little more closely. The invitation to the first son, go work today in my vineyard. Now, this doesn't mean that salvation is by works. It's not that you're supposed to work your way to salvation. It's not an effort of the flesh. To work in the vineyard implied the whole scope of salvation, to believe the message, to receive Christ, to have faith in God. All of that, of course, is involved in entering the vineyard. And the first son said, I will not go. Well, as a group, that's what the harlots and the publicans in the center said. They made no pretense of being religious, if you please.
They were publicans, outcasts, political traitors, harlots, which are always looked upon by respectable people as the lowest of any society. But my friend, these are the ones that responded to the gospel. These are the ones that were going into the vineyard. Zacchaeus, the publican, who climbed the sycamore tree in Jericho. Matthew, the tax collector. Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus cast seven demons. And the woman taking in adultery. These are the people that are responding to the gospel. Now there are a few exceptions. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and respected, but for the most part, the converts to Jesus came from the lower classes, such as this.
They came from the first son, who said, in effect, I go not, but they're the ones that went. The second son said, in answer to the command, go work into my vineyard, I go, sir. The same as the first. I believe, I repent, I'm saved. But of course they didn't. Now these are the Jewish leaders who made a pretense of being God's people. They boasted that they were the chosen people. They were the leaders of the religious system. And by their whole actions and everything else, they were saying that we are in the Lord's vineyard.
But they didn't go. They never entered the vineyard. They were not saved. They were hypocrites. They were pretenders. And of course it's to them that Jesus addressed the parable. Now this parable really grows out of the section before this. And I'd like to go back and read that to show something about these Jewish leaders. Back to the twenty-third verse of the twenty-first chapter of Matthew. When he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority? Right up until the very day of the cross, the Jewish leaders questioned our Lord's authority.
and they would not believe. Jesus said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or of man? Now the baptism of John, of course, was not just simply dipping people in the Jordan. The baptism of John included his whole ministry, his message, and everything connected with it. That was the baptism of John. And Jesus said, Tell me, was this from heaven or from man? Where did John get his authority? That's what he's saying. Notice they reasoned with themselves.
If we say from heaven, he will say to us, Why did you not believe him? But if you shall say of man, we fear the people, for all hold John as a prophet. You notice these leaders made no real attempt to decide whether John was from God or not. They didn't weigh the evidence fairly. All they were thinking about, what effect will our answer have? If we say that John was from heaven, well, they say, why didn't you believe him? But if they said John was just a man, then they feared the people. And so in verse twenty-seven, they answered in Jesus and said, we cannot tell.
Isn't that a pitiful response? We don't know. We don't know where John was from, whether it's from heaven or among men. We don't know. Well, Jesus said, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. He says, in effect, if you're not capable of judging John's ministry, how can you judge mine? I will not submit my case to your judgment. And why should he? If they didn't have enough discernment to know whether John was true or not, How would they have been able to judge our Lord's case? Well, they wouldn't. And then the Lord shows the utter inexcusableness, if you please, of their unbelief.
He says there in the last part of the thirty-second verse, John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you believed him not. Well, someone would say, well, didn't Jesus come in the way of righteousness? Well, what he means by that, I'm sure, is that John came in the regular line of the Old Testament prophets. He was just another prophet in the same mold as the rest of them. In fact, you could almost put John the Baptist back in the Old Testament, couldn't you? Repent for the kingdom of heaven's hand. He had a message just in the mold of the Old Testament prophets. Now, Jesus was different.
He came with a different message. He was different. Not that he wasn't righteous, you understand, but he didn't follow in the train of the Old Testament prophets. And so they might have said, well, we have some excuse for rejecting Jesus, but they had no excuse for rejecting John because he was in the mold of the Old Testament prophets, and they should have recognized that. But notice the next statement. And ye, when you had seen it, repented not afterwards, when you had seen what? was a good effect of John's ministry. They saw what John was doing. Sinners were being saved. Pilots were being converted.
People's lives were being changed. And they saw all of that. But even when they had seen it, they wouldn't repent. They just simply would not believe. There's a very interesting little illustration in Matthew eleven that I like to refer to starting at the sixteenth verse that has to do with the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus. Matthew eleven sixteen. But where in two shall I like in this generation? The Lord's hunting for a figure of speech that would represent his generation.
Well, he says, it's like children sitting in the markets and calling to their fellows and saying, We have pite unto you, and you have not danced. We have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and you say, He has a demon. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they said, Behold, O mine gluttonous, a wine-bibber, a friends of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. Where unto shall I like in this generation, said Jesus. Well, he said, it's like children sitting in the marketplace, playing a game. Did you ever place charades at the park?
I've been told not to call it a camp. It's a park. Is that right? A park, a retirement center and conference grounds, but not a camp. So a We used to play it quite often. You know, one group of people would get over on this end and another over here, and then this would come out and act out something. And the other group would try to figure out what you were acting out. It's very interesting. Well, they had a game back in those days where the children, little groups of children would sit in the marketplace. And one group over here would play a tune of some kind, and the other group was supposed to respond in keeping with the type of music that it was. And so, if this group played a sad tune, then these over here were supposed to mourn.
If these piped a merry tune, then these were supposed to dance. And so Jesus said, this generation is like children playing that game. Or he said, they said, we have piped unto you and you haven't danced. We have mourned unto you and you have not lamented. Now, if you just read that superficially, you might think that the ones doing the piping were John the Baptist and Jesus. But no, it's the people that are doing the piping. And they're piping a tune first to John the Baptist and then to Jesus. And they wanted them to respond to their tune. And so when John the Baptist came on the scene, they piped a merry tune.
But John wouldn't lament. Pardon me, let me get that straight. We have piped unto you and you have not danced. We have mourned unto you and you have not lamented. When John the Baptist came, they piped a merry tune. That's what it should be. But John wouldn't dance. He was somber. He lived out in the wilderness. He lived on locusts and wild honey. He wouldn't dance to their merry tune. He wasn't what they wanted. And so we have mourned unto you and you have not lamented. When Jesus came, they piped a sorrowful tune. But Jesus wouldn't respond to that. You say, wasn't he a man of sorrows? Yes, to be sure. But in this particular sense, It shows the other side of his character.
For verse nineteen says, John came neither eating nor drinking. He wouldn't respond to their merry tune, and so they wouldn't accept him. And so they said, he's got a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and Jesus did. He went to weddings. He went to the places of where the people were. And they said, he's a glutton and a wine-bibber. Don't you see? Nobody could please them. If they didn't like John the Baptist, they should have liked Jesus because he was a theology. But they didn't want either one. And so Jesus said, Wisdom is justified of her children.
That means that in the final analysis, it showed that both John and Jesus all acted wisely, even though the people didn't recognize it. And so the parable of the two sons, Go work to my vineyard. I go not, but he went. The public's the sinners. The second son, you go work. I go, sir. But he didn't go. Now, that I have the right interpretation is shown in verses forty-five and forty-six. If you look at those verses, Jesus interprets this. All right, it shows that when the chief priest and the Pharisees had heard his parables, and this one is included, They perceived that he spake of them.
They got the point. They knew that they were the ones he was condemning. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes because they took him for a prophet. You know, it's a very clever thing that Jesus did here to get these people to condemn themselves before they knew what they were doing. We don't, we have that elsewhere in Scripture. You remember the situation in David's day when he had committed that great sin of Bathsheba and then the sin of murder and then of lying and so many others?
And the Scripture says that for a while David tried to justify that. He tried to hide it. He tried to explain it away. But one of the Psalms gives us insight. He was miserable. He was afflicted. He wasn't happy. But he wouldn't confess, but one day Nathan the prophet came with his parable. And I'm sure every Bible student knows this. A certain rich man had everything that heart could desire, flocks, herds, everything else. And a poor man in his journey, a man came to him in his journey. And instead of taking one of his own animals to feed the man, he went to a poor man and took the only little lamb that he had and killed it to serve his guest.
And David, hearing that, rose up in his righteous wrath and said, Let the man be killed. He saw in an instant that it was wrong, that he had condemned himself because Nathan pointed the finger at him, Thou art the man. And then, of course, he made the application. Jesus did this time and again. They perceived that he spoke of them. And so that is the primary interpretation of the parable. But I want to give, if you please, two other applications that we can make of this parable. First of all, I think that we would be justified in seeing a secondary application that the first of these two sons, the one that said, I go not and went, would represent the Gentiles.
and the one that said, I go, sir, and didn't go, would represent the Jews as a nation. Let me look at that just a minute. I'm going to take the second one first. I go, sir, but they didn't go. Is not that what the whole Jewish nation, by their very position, was saying, I go? Were not they the chosen people? Didn't God choose Abraham and blessed him and gave him all the covenants and the Jews had all the blessings. And by their very position they were saying, I go. They reveled in that chosen position.
And they looked down, of course, upon the Gentiles who didn't have it. They are the very ones that could have, should have received Jesus Christ when he came. But strangely enough, they didn't. And so we have those sad words in John one eleven he came unto his own and his own received him not you know it's always sad when someone fails who has every opportunity to succeed one has said of all sad words of tongue and pen the saddest are these it might have been and that's what so grieved the apostle paul in the book of romans he says that his heart was grieved for his brethren's particularly because of their advantages.
He says they have the covenants, they have the promises, the law, the glory, the fathers, and of whom pertaining to the flesh, Christ came. They had all the advantages, and yet they're the very ones that rejected Christ. But the first son who said, I go not, represents the Gentiles. Because by the very position of the Gentile world, they were saying that they weren't going to go, that they didn't belong to the Lord. Listen to Ephesians two, eleven and twelve. Wherefore remember that in times past you were Gentiles in the flesh. You're called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.
That at that time you were without Christ, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise. having no hope and without God in the world. A friend, that's the position of the Gentile world when Christ came into this world. Aliens, far off, strangers. But these are the people that received the gospel. They're the ones that repented and went. In the last chapter of Acts, you remember Paul had come to the city of Rome at the end of the book of Acts. And he gathered the Jewish people about him, the leaders, and presented the gospel to them.
And they would not receive it, even at that date. And so Paul said, Be it known to you that salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear. The first son, is the one that said I don't go. But he is the very one that went. But now I want to make a third application. I've had a primary interpretation. I've had a secondary application. And now if you please, I want to have a tertiary application. And tertiary. I always like to spring that on the students at Moody.
Tertiary. Thirdly. And if you please... I want to add today a third group that's not mentioned in this parable. One group said, I go not, but went. Another said, I won't go, but later went. But I want to mention a third group today. There are those people that say, I won't go and don't. There are people that never make any profession. They say from the very start, I will not go. I won't believe, and they don't. But you know, my friend, there is a false hope in the hearts of such people that somehow this very boldness and this frankness and this fact that they don't pretend to be anything is going to help them in the day of judgment.
After all, they're not hypocrites. They don't claim to be anything. And won't God take that into consideration? I read this statement in some commentary. Men actually seem to persuade themselves that their very wickedness will supply them with a passport to heaven. Now that sounds utterly ridiculous, doesn't it? They seem to expect that they will be made pets in that great day because they made no pretension to sainthood, that they will be fondled by the judge as have been they have been by their companions because hypocrisy cannot be reckoned among their sins i say i think there is a false hope among certain people well i never pretended to be anything i wasn't a hypocrite yes i sinned but i i i had met it and i never tried to cover it up did you ever find people like that when we were ministering in a certain place there was an old man in the community that fell into this category.
A sinner, if there ever was one, spent all of his time in the beer parlor, gambling, drinking, cursing. But when he would confront him with the gospel, he said, well, I'm just what I am. I don't pretend to be anything. I am not like of those hypocrites down there in your church that don't live up to what they profess. I'd never make any professions, and I just think that God will understand all of this. He'll understand, and he'll send him straight to hell. I was watching a certain thing on television, or maybe you read it, of another illustration along this line. A certain boy had a grandfather whom he thought a lot of, that the grandfather was a sinner, a scoundrel, a reprobate, a drunkard, and so on, and the grandfather died.
And this young man had heard about a judgment, and he was upset about it. And he was actually Angry at God. And one time he was standing out there shaking his fist in the face of God that he would send his grandfather to a place of punishment. And finally the grandmother came out and the conference said, Now, son, she said, Grandfather was not a Christian. He was a sinner, but he was open about it. He never pretended to be anything. And God will understand, grandfather. He'll understand. Willie, they're going to be in for a sad surprise. I go not, and they don't.
You've known people like that, haven't you? But wait a minute, there are today those people that say, I go, sir, but they don't go. The hypocrites, the pretenders, the false. We've had these people through the ages, haven't we? Those that pretend to be God's people. I go, sir, but they don't go. I think of Cain in the Old Testament. It came to pass in process of time that the two brothers brought an offering. Abel brought a lamb like he was supposed to because he brought it by faith. But there's Cain. He's worshiping too or trying to, but he doesn't have a blood offering.
He has the fruit of the field. He has his own little project upon which he has bestowed so much labor, but it's not a blood sacrifice. It's not a faith, and God can't accept it. I think of the false prophets down through the ages. There's old Jeremiah telling the people that the Babylonian captivity is going to last seventy years because God said it would, and right at his side is Hananiah contradicting him and say, within two years the captivity is going to be over. Always the false, right along with the truth. I think of those who persecuted Paul throughout his ministry. They were professing believers.
They weren't the world. I think of those at Sardis in the book of Revelation who had a name that they lived but were dead. I think of those of whom Paul said they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. I think of those that James had in mind when he said they're hearers of the word but not doers. And today We have the hypocrites, the pretenders, the false, the modernists, the unbelievers, the critics. And aren't they the ones, my friend, that have caused the trouble to the cross of Christ? Who was it that crucified Jesus Christ?
It wasn't the world. It was a group of Jewish leaders, the leaders of the nation, the religious people, crucified Christ. If you had pardoned the anachronism, There was no church until after Pentecost, but Dr. Barnhouse used to say, and I'm sure he understood the difference, that Jesus Christ was crucified by a group of people on their way to church, and they were so holy, so diligent that they would not enter Pilate's Hall, lest they be defiled. They wanted to keep the Passover. And yet those very people, He sought Pilate that the legs of the Son of God might be broken to hasten his death so that he wouldn't be on the cross on the Sabbath.
Who was it that stoned Stephen to death? It wasn't the world. It was professed believers, was it not? Who hounded Paul throughout his ministry? And my friend, who is it today who undermines faith in the Bible? Who is it that denies the virgin birth? Who is it that denies the substitutionary atonement? What schools are they that undermine the faith of our young people? Well, they're apostate religious schools. That's what they are. In fact, every great university in this country was founded to train preachers. And today, they're tearing down the faith.
They say, I go. These are God's people. This is where the truth is found. And yet it isn't. Yes, I say, there are those that say, I won't go, and they don't. There are those that say, I go, sir, but never do. But finally, there are those that say, at one time I will not, but later they repent and go. And I trust that that's true of everyone in this room, because at one time in our lives we were numbered among those that say, I will not, because we're all sinners by birth, and sinners by choice. But we have heard the gospel, and we who once said, Lord, I will not later repent and go.
Let me say just a word about repentance. Repentance is used here. It's not Reformation. It's not a work of the flesh. The word repentance is usually used of God's people, is it not? who have strayed away from God. It's a characteristic word of the Old Testament. God calls upon his people to repent. In the book of Revelation, he calls upon those people at Ephesus to remember from whence thou art fallen and repent. But can the word repentance be used of unsaved people? Well, I think it can, and I think it when it is so used, it's practically synonymous with faith. In fact, repentance and faith are so united that you cannot have one without the other.
This parable gives a perfect definition of repentance. Go work today in my vineyard. I will not, but later he repented and went. What does that mean? Does it mean he went? Does it mean he did penance? No, he changed his mind. That's all it means. He had a complete change of mind and heart. I won't go. And then just everything that then he changed and he went. Isn't that what repentance means? A complete change of mind and heart. Well, what is the relation of repentance to saving faith? Does it come before or does it come after? Some people put it before.
You have to repent and then believe. If you do that, then you have a dead man repenting because he's dead until he believes. Do you believe and then repent? No, repentance is an integral part of saving faith, isn't it? You cannot put your faith in Jesus Christ and turn from everything else without a complete change of heart and mind. It's an integral part of saving faith. And you cannot truly repent without believing. Someone says, if you say just simply to believe, you haven't preached the gospel. You have to add repentance. Well, may I say that the sign in front of this chapel doesn't so say? It says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
It doesn't mention repentance, does it? But included in that act of saving faith is all the repentance a person needs to do or can do. You remember what the people at Thessalonica did? Paul said, I remember how you turned to God from idols. Well, you can't turn to God from idols without believing. Neither can you turn to God from idols without repenting. Therefore, sometimes in Scripture the words repent and believe are used interchangeably. Acts seventeen thirty. The times of this ignorance God winked at. He passed over, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
In verse, Acts seventeen. Acts eleven, rather. When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath also God granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. You see, it's used interchangeably with faith. And look at the thirty-second verse of this parable. John came in the way of righteousness, and you wouldn't believe him. The publicans and harlots believed him, and when ye had seen it, ye repented not afterwards that you might believe in him there it is doesn't that equate repentance with believing you wouldn't repent that you might believe yes the parable of the two sons go work today in my vineyard the whole scope of salvation believe repent be saved I will not Later he went.
The primary interpretation would be the lower classes of the Jewish nation, the harlots, the sinners, the publicans. A secondary, I think, would be the Gentiles. And today it would be true believers. The second son, I go, but he went not. I say the primary interpretation, the Jewish leaders. They said they were God's people, but weren't. A secondary? would be the whole Jewish nation. And then today it would be those people that make some pretense and yet don't have the real thing. And then there is that blessing class who at one time said, I will not. And we're all in that class.
But later we repented and went. Well, aren't you glad you did? That you belong to Christ, that we are working in his vineyard. And someday he will come and receive it. I'd like to sing in conclusion a song that would express our faith. I am trusting thee, Lord Jesus, number five oh five. I like this hymn. It's wonderful words. It expresses so well.
What we have done, that we have believed, and we're trusting him. Shall we just sing five-o-five? God, we pray for Jesus.
God, we pray for you. God, we pray for you. In the name of Jesus, and in the name of God, and in the name of God. Thank you.
Thank you for me. Our Father, we thank you that over a hundred and fifty times in the New Testament, the condition for salvation is said to be faith and faith alone.
We remember the battle cry of the Reformation, faith only. Many people today believe in salvation by faith, but they add something to it. But we believe, our Father, that nothing needs or can be added to it. To be sure, we're saved in two good works, but certainly not by them. And our Father, when we take this position, we don't cheapen Christianity. We just express its infinite value, that it's so precious and so valuable that nothing we could ever do. We contribute one thing to it, but it was purchased at the infinite cost of the blood of Calvary.
and anything that we would add would simply mar it and detract from it. It's a perfect work, for our Savior said on the cross, it's finished. And what could we add to a finished work of God Himself? It's up to us then simply to receive it and to trust it, to rejoice in it, and then to go out and live in the light of it. And may we do that this day as we pray in His blessed name. Amen.