God Is Not Fair | Part 1

0:52 Fairness is a wonderful human attribute we learn when we're young and demand of each other as we grow. In Matthew chapter 20, Jesus shares the parable of the vineyard workers to give us a glimpse of the character of God. At first glance, this story may seem surprising. It doesn't seem fair in our human understanding. But we need to remember that God is not fair, but He is good. If you have your Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 20 as Adrian Rogers begins part one of God is not fair. Take God's word and turn to Matthew chapter 20. Let me tell you about a friend I had. He's a preacher. He's now in heaven. He was follically challenged.

1:41 That means he was bald. Comb his hair with a washcloth. He had a crew cut and the crew bailed out. Great man of God. And he had a little saying, God is good, God is fair, some get brains and some get hair.

2:08 God is good, but God is not fair. I want to talk to you about this subject of fairness now. On a human plane, fairness is a wonderful attribute. and we feel it in bread in us when we're children. Mama, that's not fair. She got more ice cream than I got. Oh, this is not fair. I did the dishes last night. It is not fair. Why should she get the car tonight when she had it last night? And we demand fairness. On the job, if we don't get the promotion and somebody else does, we say, that's not fair. Somebody gets a raise and we don't, we say, that's not fair. If somebody has a day off and we don't get it, we say, that is not fair. And now today we have laws that make employers apply fairness across the board.

3:11 Well, I'm glad that God cannot be sued. For if God could be sued, the Washington lawyers would have a field day suing God because of what they would call his lack of fairness. Now we're in Matthew chapter 20, verse 1, for the kingdom of heaven. These are the words of Jesus. For the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man, that is, an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, now it's not a penny like our penny, that's a day's wages, he sent them into his venue. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said unto them, Go ye also into the venue, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

4:06 Again, he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour, now they were working a twelve-hour day, about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They saith unto him, Because no man has hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. And so when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith to his steward, Call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they that came were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny, that is a day's labor, wages. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more.

5:04 And they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and the heat of the day. And he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? take that thine is and go thy way, and I will give unto the last even as I gave unto the first. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine heart evil because I am good? God is not fair, but God is good. Now you need to get the background of this passage of Scripture.

6:01 There's a man who has a vineyard. He needs some workers, so he goes out early in the morning at the beginning of the day and hires some laborers. Then he goes out again at 9 and hires some more laborers. Then he goes out again at 12 and hires some more laborers. Then he goes in 3 in the afternoon and hires some more laborers, then also some at 5 at the last hour before sunset. Now pay time comes, and he starts with those who came last, and he gives them a day's wages. And then the ones who had been working all day said, boy, this is going to be wonderful. Look, he gave those who only labored an hour a day's labor. I wonder what we're going to get. And they got the same thing. A near riot broke out. The Bible says there was murmuring. They were disgruntled and they felt discriminated against and they voiced their grievance.

7:02 Complaints were uttered. Others just murmured under their breath. Notice Matthew 20, 11. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house. These who were murmuring were those who had toiled for 12 long hours, and they ended at the end of the day saying, it just isn't fair. And it wasn't. But God is good. I want you to learn tonight some incredible truths, some great truths that will see you through in life. And if you don't learn these, I think you're going to get your nose bumped on the spiritual highway. Truth number one, it's always too soon to quit, but never too late to start. Always too soon to quit, but it is never too late to start. Now look in verse 6.

7:57 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? And they came at the eleventh hour. Now he's not talking here about deathbed repentance. He's not talking about burning the candle of life for yourself and then blowing the smoke in God's face. Now there is a deathbed repentance. God will save anybody if they're drawing their last breath, if they call upon Him to save them. But that's not what He's trying to teach here, or what He is teaching here. Now, the thief on the cross was saved in the 11th hour. Just before he died, he turned to Jesus and said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Now, don't deliberately deny Christ and say, well, I'll get saved in the 11th hour, because you may never get to the 11th hour.

8:53 But what is he saying? He's saying it is never too late to start. It is always too soon to quit. Now, these people came into the vineyard even in the 11th hour as soon as they were called. Now, what is the teaching here? It is better to start and to serve lovingly all day, but it is never too late to start. If there's some of you feel like, you know, I've wasted my life. I'm getting up in years. I'm 60, 70, 80, 90. It's the 11th hour for me. I've got wonderful, wonderful news for you. Our Lord is calling you into his vineyard. Listen, friend, it's always too soon to quit. Never too late to start.

9:49 You've been sitting idle all of your spiritual life. The Lord of the vineyard is calling you tonight. Second truth, if you bargain with God, you will cheat yourself. Look now in verse 2. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. That means an agreement had to be made. That means there was some haggling. That means there was a contract. Actually, Williams gives it when they had contracted. They were looking for a certain amount. I can just hear them saying, what are you paying today? And he says, well, I'll pay you a penny a day. And they say, well, no, we think we need more than a penny a day. Let's save the labor at that time for a labor that was $10 an hour.

10:46 And he's saying, I'll pay you $120. for a day's work. And they say, couldn't you pay us more than that? He said, no, I will pay you this much. I heard about a man who applied for a job and he asked his prospective employer, what will you pay me? He said, I'll pay you what you're worth. He said, no deal. I just quit a job making more than that. But they're haggling back and forth. And finally, they agree. There's a contract, and they go into the vineyard. Now, they go into the vineyard early, and there's nothing wrong with that. The earlier you go into the vineyard, the better it is. I was called into the vineyard early. God saved me at 14, call me to preach at 16. I've been pastoring since I was 19. It's all I've ever done. And if you've been called early, praise God that you've been kept from much sinning.

11:53 Praise him for that. I praise God I've never known what it is to use alcohol or tobacco or to be morally impure with fornication. I'm so glad that God saved me from all of that. I'm so glad that God called me early in the morning into his vineyard. And if God has called you that way, thank him, praise him that you have been saved from much sinning. But if God calls you late in the day, Praise Him that He has forgiven you much. You see, listen, friend, to bargain with God is to cheat yourself. Now, these people were bargaining with God, the ones who came early, and nothing wrong with coming early, but they were trying to drive a bargain.

12:52 The others came with what we would call a gentleman's agreement. Look at it in Matthew 20, verses 4 and 5. And he said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard. Now watch this. And whatsoever is right, I will give you. No agreement here. Just trust me. Whatever is right, I will give you. And they went their way. Again, he went about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. And then in verse 7, and these who came at the eleventh hour said, We're here because no man has hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard. Now listen to this. And whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. Now, they were saying, Whatever is right, I'll trust you with. I know that you will do right.

13:47 We know that you will do whatever is right, and we trust you. We don't ask for a contract. We just simply go into the vineyard to work. Now, what our Lord is doing here is teaching the difference between service that comes out of legalism and service that comes out of love. And now in the chapter just prior to this, I think we see the reason for this story that Jesus gave. In Matthew chapter 19, verse 27, Peter, who was about to slip into legalism, asked Jesus this question. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore? Now he was saying, look, Lord, I want to make a deal with you. When we follow you, we want to know what we're going to get paid. Now legalism is always demanding its rights.

14:45 It wants to bargain with God. The basis of the service is debt, not grace. The problem with legalism is not that it doesn't get what it bargains for. The problem is it does get what it bargains for. They bargained for a penny, and they got a penny. Jesus said those who pray to be seen of men have their reward. Jesus said those who give to be seen of men, they have their reward. They make a deal, and they have a deal. The principle is that God gives the best to leave the choice with Him. If you bargain with God, you will cheat yourself. In this story, those who bargained came in last. Look in verse 16.

15:38 So the last shall be first, and the first last. You see, this is not equal pay for equal work. God is not interested in your hours. God wants your heart. God wants you to serve Him, trusting Him with a free heart, a joyful heart, an open heart, a liberal heart, saying, oh, God, whatever you do, I know that you are good. Now, God can treat you two ways. He can treat you like a hireling. You bargain with Him. Or He can treat you like a servant. Now, the Pharisees were legalists, and they tried to bargain with God, and they lived lives of legalism. Just go over to Matthew 23 and look in verse 23 about the Pharisees. Jesus said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

16:35 For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done, that is, you ought to tithe and not to leave the others undone. Now let me tell you how meticulous the Pharisees were. Some of you ladies have a little mint plant in your backyard and you go and pick a few leaves off to put in the iced tea. And I like that. That smells good and just adds a little extra flavor and buoyancy the iced tea. But now the Pharisees were so careful, if they had a mint plant, and as they're picking the leaves, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, those are mine.

17:29 Tenth, that's God's. They were so careful that they do it exactly right. You would think that God commended them for it, but he didn't. Jesus said, woe unto you because you're legalists. You've left off judgment, mercy, and faith. I want to tell you something. It pays to tithe. But if you tithe because it pays, you have a problem. You don't tithe because it pays. It's not a bargain with God. You give liberally and joyfully. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7, God loves a cheerful giver. People say, give till it hurts. No, you give till it stops hurting. Till you can cheerfully give. Now, here's the third principle. You will be very wise if you let God keep the books.

18:27 Now, if you keep a record of your service, you know how many hours you've served, you know what you've done. You're very foolish. Rather than leaving the matter with God. You see, Peter had been keeping books. Peter had his eye on the clock. He said, we've done so and so and so and so. What are we going to get paid? The legalist always has his eye on the clock. He knows how many hours he has served. He knows what so-called sacrifices he's made. And he really doesn't have the vineyard in his mind. He doesn't have his master in his mind. He has himself on his mind. when I was a boy, among other jobs that I worked at, when I was in junior high school, I worked in the drugstore. But that was the kind of drugstore we had back yonder that had a soda fountain in it.

19:22 And I cooked hamburgers. You didn't know I could do that. I made ice cream sundaes. I did all of these things there in the soda fountain for Mr. Allbritton. and in the evening time when it was time to close, which was 11 o'clock, I would sweep the floor. Now, we didn't have air conditioning in that drugstore. We had folding doors that opened right out to the street. I had my eye on the clock. It is now 10.59. 11 o'clock, closing time. I saw a car pull up outside. I went to the door. I began to fasten the door, bolt it down. They came and knocked on the door. I said, we're closed.

20:15 I turned around, and Mr. Albritton was standing right behind me. He said, son, I've had this store for X number of years. He said, that's the first time a customer was ever turned away. I felt about that high. Now, what was the difference? I was a legalist. I had my eye on the clock. I was not concerned about Mr. Albritton's vineyard. Now, listen to me, friend. You'll get more if you let God keep the books. If you keep the books, let me tell you what the danger is. Number one, you may overpay yourself on some occasion. Sometimes we think we're really doing great things, and we may not. I heard a black preacher use a very poignant illustration one time.

21:11 He was preaching to preachers, and he said, Now you preachers, you talk about all of those souls that got saved Sunday morning in your church. You might be prone to think they got saved because of your preaching. He said, Have you ever gone dove hunting? and a man in this field over here will shoot a dove, but he keeps on flying and he lands in your field. He said, that man that fell at your altar this morning, someone may have wounded him a long time ago. Somebody witnessed to him. Somebody shared Christ with him. And you say, look what I did with my preaching. You see, sometimes you may take credit for something that you really don't deserve credit for. And there are other times when you don't even realize how you've been used of God, but God is using you in a very special way.

22:06 Listen to Matthew 25. Now just go forward to Matthew 25. Jesus is talking about those that he's going to reward. And he said, and I was hungered and ye gave me meat. And I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and ye visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee to drink? When saw we thee a stranger took thee and are naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of one of these my brethren. You've done it unto me.