Word of Salvation – Vol. 19 No.49 – September 1973

 

What Kind Of Son Are You…?

 

Sermon by Rev. Wm. F. Van Brussel on Matthew 21:28-32

SCRIPTURE READING: James 2:14-26

PSALTER HYMNAL: 180; 383:1,2,3; 252; 94:3.4; 232:1,4

 

God, our Father in Jesus Christ, has many, many children.

All of them are called upon to serve Him.

You know what is involved there, don’t you?  As a congregation of the Lord Jesus you are well aware that to serve God means quite a number of things: It means that…
            you LOVE Him with your HEART,
            you CONFESS Him with your MOUTH,
            and you OBEY Him with your whole LIFE.

With respect to this calling that comes every Christian’s way there are four different kinds of attitude among the children of the Father, or if you like, the people of the church, the people of the covenant.
– There are some who PROMISE to serve God
            and they KEEP their promise.
– Others REFUSE to serve God
            and they NEVER repent.
– Still others refuse to serve God AT FIRST,
            but later they repent.
– And finally there are people who promise to serve God
            but who never come around to serving Him.

Two out of the four mentioned we find pictured in this parable of the Lord Jesus.  There is the one who said, ‘no’ and did ‘yes’.  And there is the one who acted the other way around,

We have often noticed when reading the Bible that the parables of the Lord Jesus are easy to follow.  But the strange thing is that this does not at all mean that it is easy to put them into practice.

Jesus tells us here that this father had a small vineyard; his own family could easily handle it.  He rightfully told his sons to go and work in the vineyard that day.  They were his own two sons.  He had reared them and he surely expected them to obey him.  Why not?

But these two sons gave two different answers.  The one said: I am not going to do that!  That was not nice, was it?  It sounded ungrateful.  It was outspoken disobedience.  There was no reason for this kind of attitude.  It really was a hurting experience for this father.

The other son said: All right Dad, I will go.  He was one of those smooth talkers.  His Dad could count on him no worries.

When this father came into the vineyard a couple of hours later he found to his great surprise that the first son who had said he would NOT do it, was working there.  But the other one who had said, “all right’, he was NOT THERE.

What had happened?  Was the first one perhaps struck by the sad look in his father’s eyes?  He repented of his unwillingness, any- way.  He must have felt the shame of it, after all.  And although he did not go back to his father to tell him so, he went to the vineyard and commenced working.

A pleasant surprise for his father, although it would have been much better, of course, if he had never refused in the first place.

The second son, however, was not at all on the property.  He had gone his own way.  HIS WONDERFUL PROMISE AMOUNTED TO NOTHING.  He had said ‘yes simply to get rid of his father.  He did not want to work for him.  And that was it!

What a sad picture: a smooth promise, yet a total lack of obedience.  This son could not be trusted.

Yes, an easy story.  But why did Jesus tell it?

We can be sure that He did NOT do this to let us know that two, or more, children, all belonging to one and the same family, can be so much different.

Everybody knows that all right.

No, Jesus told this story because He wanted His audience TO OPEN UP.

Who were these people Jesus was talking to?  They were the chief priests and the elders, vs.23.  The Lord was talking to the OPPOSITION, this time.  He had just finished a discussion with them about the ministry of John the Baptizer, and in particular about AUTHORITY.  They had asked Him WHAT authority HE had to do the things He was doing.  Things such as the cleansing of the temple, for instance.  Well, what had JOHN THE BAPTIZER been doing?

He had proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was near.  And, that with the coming of that Kingdom there was FORGIVENESS OF SINS

So, it was pretty essential for a person to belong to that Kingdom.  And in particular for a person who wanted to be known as A CHILD OF GOD.

Now, how can a person enter the Kingdom of God?  How can a man or a woman share in the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven, blessings such as forgiveness and eternal life?

THIS IS ONLY POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE WHO REPENT.

Jesus had said that before in His talk with Nicodemus (John 3).  A man must be born again in order to be able to see, and to enter, the Kingdom of God.

And the next step is – and this step will undoubtedly follow once a person is born again – that he is sorry for what he has done wrong, and that he has the strong desire to change his attitude.  That is, THAT HE REPENTS.

John the Baptizer had said this, too, with great emphasis.  He had also invited all who were aware of their sins, and who wanted to be delivered from them, those who were eager to make a new, clean, start to come forward and let him baptize them in the Jordan river.

And, as everybody knew, numerous people had come forward asking for holy baptism.  Yet, not all the sons of the Father had done that.

The main thrust of John the Baptizer’s messages had been very pointedly: REPENTANCE, first thing!!

Now, of course, you as a Christian congregation, all of you know what is meant whenever this word (repentance) is being used.

It is being used so frequently in the church.  It is one of those terms concerning which we take it for granted – (that may be one of our great mistakes) that they are understood by all and everyone in church.

The strange thing was that among John’s audiences on the river-bank there were plenty of people, and among them even priests, elders, and scribes who evidently did not understand it.  THEY did NOT come forward.  THEY did not say to John the Baptizer: Will you be so kind as to baptize me, too, brother John?

Yes, you may be so honest as to say this morning: As we are talking about repentance right now, it might be a good thing if we could come around to DEFINING CLEARLY what it IS that we are talking about.  Yes, what is repentance?

Let us put it this way: Once we repent, EVERYTHING BECOMES DIFFERENT in our lives.  Yes, EVERYTHING.  Our whole life, our whole outlook, our whole attitude.  There will be different standards, different views.  There will be a different idea about God, a different notion of the law of God.  There will be a different view of self.

Repentance means that there is a total change, a radical turn, first and foremost of our inner being.

This was why John the Baptizer, and the Lord Jesus Himself, too, had never-ending clashes with the Pharisees and the priests.  These men did not want to change their views.  They were proud of their standards, their attitudes which had not changed one bit.  They refused to come to John the Baptizer so as to be baptized by him.  They did not need that kind of thing.  They were all right.  They were children of Abraham.  They were first rate, anyway.

We find our Lord Jesus battling against this same LACK OF REPENTANCE here in this parable, in this encounter with the chief priests and elders.

“What do you think”, Jesus asked.  And then He continued telling this parable of the father and his two disobedient sons, yes, his two disobedient sons.

It was up to them to state which one out of those two disobedient sons had done the will of the father.  Once again, Jesus had them in a corner, the thing they always tried to do to HIM.  They were always trying to put HIM in an awkward position, hoping that they would be able to accuse Him of things He would never think of doing.

They had to say something right now in answer to that extremely simple question.  It was so obvious that that one boy who had been rude enough to say, ‘no’, to his father, but who had gone to work in the vineyard, after all, was the one who HAD DONE the will of his father.

And what did Jesus mean?

He wanted them to learn from this simple story that there is no way of entering into the Kingdom of Heaven WITHOUT REPENTANCE.

“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go 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 the harlots believed him, and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.”

John the Baptizer had shown them the way of righteousness, but they had failed to believe him whereas the tax collectors and harlots had repented and believed.

Thus Jesus showed the chief priests and elders that they stood condemned out of their own mouths.

Which of the two did the will of the father?  Jesus asked.

And they answered: The first.

This was what had happened right under their noses.  Tax collectors and harlots, they also were Israelites, sons of the Father, people belonging to the covenant-community.  They were among those who had the Law and the Prophets.  God had called them to serve Him.

But they had said, ‘no!’  They had been using bad language, and they had been living shocking lives.  They had been making it so obvious that they did not think much of God and His demands.  They had DELIBERATELY REFUSED to serve God.

But God had sent John the Baptizer with his urgent call to repentance.  Some of these notorious sinners had been in his audiences.  And as they heard the call of John they had repented.  They had turned away from the path of wickedness and dirt.  They had turned to God in a spirit of penitence and faith.  So these people had entered into the Kingdom of Heaven, and surrendered to the service of God Most High.

What a joy for the people concerned!

What a joy in heaven!

All these former sinners with a terrible reputation had come forward: Matthew, the publican, and Zaccheus, and the Samaritan woman, and many, many more…!

Yet, also in the days of John many people had failed to come forward.  NOT ALL of his hearers had repented.  NOT ALL of the wicked Jews and their friends.

Not all of the Jews with a good reputation, either.  Not all of those who had said to the Father, ‘yes, I will go!’

There were many leaders in Israel who had to TEACH others.  But did that mean that they themselves had heard the call for repentance, and that they had made the full turn, THEMSELVES?

O yes, outwardly it seemed that the Pharisees had heeded the call of God.  They used to make a good show of their religion.  Many people were impressed to a large extent.  The Lord God could count on them, all right!

Yet, IN THEIR HEARTS they were absolutely unwilling to serve God.

Jesus, IN HIS GRACE exposed them.

Please, don’t overlook this.  Our Lord did not put them in a corner for fun.  He wanted them TO DISCOVER that there was STILL TIME FOR GRACE.  It was still possible to sit back and ponder all that God had said and done.

This is why this parable is so important for US today.  The Lord Jesus wants us to become aware of our real condition in order that we come to Him before it is too late.  Perhaps some of us have said, ‘yes’ to Him a long time ago.  But DOES HE FIND US WORKING IN THE VINEYARD WHEN HE COMES?

These people our Lord was addressing here were holding the form of religion but denying the power of it.  What they were doing all the time was, seeking, worshipping, serving self !  They were even busy plotting so as to get Jesus out of the way.

PRETENDED RELIGION, this is just about the most awful thing you can find among people.  Yet, it is so tremendously popular!

Well, it is about time that we make up our minds.

There are plenty of covenant-people, who have been reared in Christian homes and in the Christian church.  Quite a few among us have attended Christian schools as well, perhaps, be it a long time ago.  There are so many people who were brought up in the nurture of the Lord and in the way of salvation.  They have been called to the service of God.

Yet they refuse to serve God.  Some openly dumped ‘the whole thing’ as they call it perhaps, and think that they are pretty frank.  They do not want to be Pharisees, you see.  But they are as proud of their ‘frankness’ as a Pharisee was proud of his goodness.

Others are not so frank about it, perhaps.  Yet they fail to obey, although they keep coming to church.  Not so regularly perhaps.  They do not really want to serve God.

Yet, as long as they keep coming, there is the wonderful opportunity for the Holy Spirit to grab them as they hear the Word of God.  So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ!  There is still the possibility that they repent after all, that they turn away from sin, that they turn toward God.  That they begin to serve Him, after all.  That the Lord will find them working when He comes…!

What a gracious change this is, whenever and wherever it is worked by God in a stubborn sinner’s heart and life!

But some do NEVER repent…!

And, of course, there are those who have made their public profession of faith a long time ago.  They have been members in full communion of the church for many years.  Yet, their spiritual exercises are merely a matter of show.  ALL the vows they ever made were vows coming solely from their lips, and never from their hearts.

When it comes to real living for God you are disappointed with these people.  They are very much like those Pharisees.  They do not serve God.  Only themselves.

They are self-righteous people.  If no repentance comes, all is lost.  But even now, even that kind of people are being called by the Lord Jesus, right today, during this very hour of public worship in this church.

It is not that we say, Lord, Lord. And leave it at that.  That is not enough!

It is not final, if you have said, ‘no’ to God to date.  Or, ‘yes!’

The only thing that matters is that we give heed to what John the Baptizer said, and that we repent in response.

Tax collectors, harlots, lots of people with a bad reputation have done that.  They are still being invited to do that today.  And they, if they respond favourably to the call of the Gospel, go into the Kingdom of God BEFORE THE SHOW-CASES!

Repent, only, and truly, repent!

Nobody can enter without shedding any tears.

People who consider themselves SO moral that they think they have no sin will be left stranded at the gates – unless they, too, repent.

ONLY PEOPLE WHO REPENT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

And finally, the most important thing is still to be said.  In all the history of mankind, and in all of sacred history, there has been ONLY ONE Son Who said what was to be said, and Who put into practice what He said right till the very end.  He said, “Lo, I come; in the roll of the Book it is written of Me; I delight to do Thy will, O My God; Thy law is within My heart!”

Only the Lord Jesus could say this, and know at the same time what He was talking about.

All other sons in the world can only become, and live as, sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, once they have come to HIM ALONE with a heart full of repentance and expectation!  Those who say, ‘yes’, and do, ‘yes’, CAN ONLY DO THIS BY FAITH IN CHRIST.

There is no other way!

This way does not need improvement, anyway.

There is no better way

Jesus is the Way for all the true sons and daughters of God.  For all, and everyone, of them!

Yes, what kind of a son (or daughter) are you?

Amen.