A late call

Sermon notes from Sunday 3 August 2014

Matthew 20 verses 1 – 16

A Late Call

This man owned a vineyard and he called for labourers to go and bring in the harvest.  Notice in verse 6 it was “about the eleventh hour”.  It was a late call for these labourers.  Notice what Jesus does in this portion of scripture.  He points to a man and is going to teach the people an eternal truth through a simple illustration.  A man at one time owned a vineyard.  He worked hard in it.  He sowed good seed and reaped a good harvest.  The trees were laden down with fruit and he wanted men to come in to gather in that harvest.  He had a great concern for the vineyard.  Think about the concern God has on his heart for you tonight in that you are not saved.  Imagine what God has done.  He took his only son, sent him down to this sin cursed world, he knew no sin and was made a sacrifice for our sin on the cross.  He gave his life that you and I might be saved.  He doesn’t want you to be lost for all eternity.  He is doing everything in his power to see you saved.  Those who were hired entered into the vineyard.  They were going in to serve.  If God saves us he saves us to serve.  Jesus is still gathering in.  This man who owned this vineyard went out at certain times of the day – early in the morning, at the third hour, at the sixth hour and at the ninth hour.  Now he is coming at the eleventh hour.  Think of those called at that time of the day.

It was a gracious call.  Jesus paints the picture of the call going out – verse 3.  He went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place.”  He is calling them to work for him.  He points to the vineyard and tells them to go in and work for him and when they had served their time he would pay them their just reward.  The Holy Spirit is going out tonight.  If you are not saved the Holy Spirit is seeking your heart.  He is not pointing to a church or to a denomination but shows you your greatest need – that you are not saved, that you have never been born again of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit points to Christ the door to heaven.  “I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.”  The man didn’t have to hire all these labourers but did it out of the goodness of his heart.  God didn’t have to save us.  It is the “goodness of God that leadeth all men to repentance” (Romans 2 verse 4) Paul said.  When we entered into the world we took Adam’s sinful nature on ourselves.  God sent his son in grace to save us though.  We have nothing to earn or to give in place of God’s salvation, only receive it as his own personal gift.  Have you come the way of the cross, taken the Lord as Saviour for yourself?  Are you looking for heaven’s glory at the end of your life simply through what God has done for you?  The call was gracious in that the day was far spent.  It was the eleventh hour.  This man was still out pleading with workers to go into the vineyard.  There were still people standing outside the vineyard.  The eleventh hour of God’s grace is upon us.  We are nearer God’s return than ever.  God’s word says “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21 verse 28)  There are those in congregations called early in life, perhaps through a faithful Sunday School teacher.  Just like Timothy who had a grandmother who loved the Lord.  His mother also loved the Lord too.  He was being taught the word of God daily but there came a day when he turned to the Lord himself.  His mother and grandmother alone were no good to him in that sense.  He had to come personally to the Lord and take him for himself.  There are children coming to the Lord today through parents and Sunday School teachers.  There are those who have come through their youth, through camps and teenage ministries while others have come to faith later when they were first married and perhaps had their own children.  Enoch in the Old Testament in Genesis 5 verse 22 “walked with God”.  There was a time when he wasn’t walking with God.  It was after he begat Methuselah, after that child came into his home when he looked on Methuselah as God’s grace to him.  He realised his responsibility.  There are many in the latter years, almost at their eleventh hour and are yet not saved.  For many in our province the days in their lives are far spent.  Heaven beckons and they are not saved.  What about you?  Do you know the Lord as Saviour?  Have you trusted him to take away your sin?  What are you clutching onto tonight?

It was a general call – verse 6 “He found others standing idle and saith unto them why stand ye here all the day idle”.  It doesn’t say that they were being taken note of for some special reason.  They were standing outside the gate of the vineyard.  How general it was, not based upon their ability, who they were but on the goodness of the man who called them.  The gospel message is  a universal general call.  God goes out into all the world tonight.  In John 7 Jesus was going up to the feast.  It was the last night of the feast.  People were taking their leave of Jerusalem and going back home.  It was the final day of celebration.  Jesus came and gave a general invitation – verse 37 “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.”  The qualification for that invitation – only if they felt thirsty.  There would be those walking past, going about their normal day’s business but there were also those who would come to the Lord.  The call goes out tonight.  There are those who will rise to their feet, ignore the pleadings of the Holy Spirit and turn their backs, walk out the door – why – because “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4 verse 4)  There were those outside the vineyard that day who heard the call and said “this is for me” and went in to work at that eleventh hour.  Maybe you are saying this call is for me, God has spoken to me in nights past but now he is coming again.

It was a generous call.  All who entered in were awarded the same amount no matter what time they came in.  God’s call and rewards do not change.  Verse 7 – generous in the sense that they had stood back and watched others take up the call and go in but they entered in at this late hour.  God is gracious.  God has taken our sins and placed them on the Lord on the cross.  God’s call is general because you and I can be saved.  Saul of Tarsus looked into the face of Timothy.  He was praising God because of the grace of God which had come to him “the chief of sinners”.  It is the last hour and you have still an opportunity to be saved.

It was a greeted call – verse 9.  The reaction was positive.  They accepted that call at the eleventh hour.  Maybe you have rejected God’s call unwittingly.  You have turned your back on the Lord time and again.  You realised you needed to be saved yet you said no.  Naaman in the Old Testament when he heard what God could do for the leprosy in his body threw back his head and couldn’t do it.  Later he repented and did as he was told and his leprosy was gone.