“Behold we go up to Jerusalem: and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again (vs18-19).”
Christ is the only reason that we shall be saved. It is because of His death that we have life. We have made no contribution to LIFT ourselves above anyone else, and all that we have, is grace.
We will not GET more because we do more, but we will be rewarded according to the goodness of Christ. If we look upon our brethren, expecting more from God because we do more on earth, then we MISS the blessing of the gospel, and we are actually last, instead of first (Matt 20:16). We look upon ourselves as having worked and deserved what someone else sees as free. And, as long as I “deserve” more from God by how I am living, I am forgetting that all that I have is FREE. Christ is the REASON of blessing.
If there is any other reason to be saved, then grace is destroyed. It is nothing but SURVIVAL of the fittest, where Christ is lip-served, while I labor for my belly. God ONLY accepts the labor of love, so we must be cleansed before we can be clean; we must obtain mercy before being merciful. And, we must hope in Christ before the hope is LIVED in us.
We can try to serve God all that we want by gritted teeth and partial forgiveness, but it produces sin. Unbelief is conquered by FAITH in Jesus Christ’s complete SALVATION, unto good works.
1. We were nothing when God saved us – “And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market place” (Matt 20:3). We were going to hell, He intervened, and now we have Christ.
We didn’t help God in any way, deserve, seek, ask for, or even know that salvation existed. We would have gone to hell and not known it.
2. It was God’s mercy in Christ that called us to Himself, “And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and said unto them, Why stand you here all the day idle” (Matt 20:6). He didn’t save us because we loved Him or because we would be such great Christians as to justify His decision. He saved us in love, died for us in pity, and came down here to GLORIFY Himself in redemption, “According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:4-6). God’s LOVE and God’s GLORY, which is to SAVE those He loves, is the gospel.
3. Our sadness in service is not knowing grace the way that we should, “And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have worked but one hour, and you have made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day” (Matt 20:11-12). We are MISERABLE because we don’t look to the hope of salvation, the gift of life, and the slain sacrifice that earned it. To lightly esteem Christ’s SUFFERINGS and grace is to think that serving Christ is bondage, hard, and unfair. To believe on Christ is to see that serving God is a privilege given to the unworthy who must suffer for a little while. We don’t deserve more than hell, and yet we get heaven. Don’t think you deserve more at any time, and you’ll be ahead of the game.
4. Let us not disparage the GOODNESS of the Lord who saves the vilest of men, because that man is you – “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil, because I am good”(Matt 20:15).
You and I look down upon those that do less than we do, that don’t work as hard, do as much, and are not as faithful. Let us rather look at the goodness of the Lord who gives us GRACE to do what we can, and let us SERVE one another by this grace, which pleases Him.
We are not in competition or on a merit basis among brethren. We are BRETHREN graced to help those in need, reprove those who err, and do good unto men by the power of God’s goodness to us. He was SLAIN, so that I can be saved, so let me tell you about His love for men.
5. We didn’t even choose our destinies, “for many are called, but few chosen” (Matt 20:16). It wasn’t that He called, and then we made our mind up and “stepped up to the plate”. We showed no leadership, insight, or any other thing. It was GOD choosing our destiny for us, and then calling us with force that made us DENY ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him.
You and I are MIRACLES of God, if we are saved. He convinced us of the value of Christ by revealing that nothing else could help our ETERNAL souls.
We will not GET more because we do more, but we will be rewarded according to the goodness of Christ. If we look upon our brethren, expecting more from God because we do more on earth, then we MISS the blessing of the gospel, and we are actually last, instead of first (Matt 20:16). We look upon ourselves as having worked and deserved what someone else sees as free. And, as long as I “deserve” more from God by how I am living, I am forgetting that all that I have is FREE. Christ is the REASON of blessing.
If there is any other reason to be saved, then grace is destroyed. It is nothing but SURVIVAL of the fittest, where Christ is lip-served, while I labor for my belly. God ONLY accepts the labor of love, so we must be cleansed before we can be clean; we must obtain mercy before being merciful. And, we must hope in Christ before the hope is LIVED in us.
We can try to serve God all that we want by gritted teeth and partial forgiveness, but it produces sin. Unbelief is conquered by FAITH in Jesus Christ’s complete SALVATION, unto good works.
1. We were nothing when God saved us – “And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market place” (Matt 20:3). We were going to hell, He intervened, and now we have Christ.
We didn’t help God in any way, deserve, seek, ask for, or even know that salvation existed. We would have gone to hell and not known it.
2. It was God’s mercy in Christ that called us to Himself, “And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and said unto them, Why stand you here all the day idle” (Matt 20:6). He didn’t save us because we loved Him or because we would be such great Christians as to justify His decision. He saved us in love, died for us in pity, and came down here to GLORIFY Himself in redemption, “According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:4-6). God’s LOVE and God’s GLORY, which is to SAVE those He loves, is the gospel.
3. Our sadness in service is not knowing grace the way that we should, “And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have worked but one hour, and you have made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day” (Matt 20:11-12). We are MISERABLE because we don’t look to the hope of salvation, the gift of life, and the slain sacrifice that earned it. To lightly esteem Christ’s SUFFERINGS and grace is to think that serving Christ is bondage, hard, and unfair. To believe on Christ is to see that serving God is a privilege given to the unworthy who must suffer for a little while. We don’t deserve more than hell, and yet we get heaven. Don’t think you deserve more at any time, and you’ll be ahead of the game.
4. Let us not disparage the GOODNESS of the Lord who saves the vilest of men, because that man is you – “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil, because I am good”(Matt 20:15).
You and I look down upon those that do less than we do, that don’t work as hard, do as much, and are not as faithful. Let us rather look at the goodness of the Lord who gives us GRACE to do what we can, and let us SERVE one another by this grace, which pleases Him.
We are not in competition or on a merit basis among brethren. We are BRETHREN graced to help those in need, reprove those who err, and do good unto men by the power of God’s goodness to us. He was SLAIN, so that I can be saved, so let me tell you about His love for men.
5. We didn’t even choose our destinies, “for many are called, but few chosen” (Matt 20:16). It wasn’t that He called, and then we made our mind up and “stepped up to the plate”. We showed no leadership, insight, or any other thing. It was GOD choosing our destiny for us, and then calling us with force that made us DENY ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him.
You and I are MIRACLES of God, if we are saved. He convinced us of the value of Christ by revealing that nothing else could help our ETERNAL souls.
