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1:22But my goal, first of all, we have already covered the main point. And hopefully, you still remember from this morning the main point. I had one point, and I hopefully reiterated it enough to stick it into your brains. That's verse 5, which says it plainer than I ever could: unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. That's the point. The parable serves to illustrate that point. And no scripture, by definition of the term, can have more than one main point. There is only one main point. That's kind of what the word means. So, if we're going over this tonight, and I am not preaching the exact same sermon, which I am not, that necessitates that I am not covering the main point, which I am not.

2:28However, when you do this, and I think this is important for us to note, if any scripture always has only one main point, and yet at the same time we say that scripture is inexhaustible, then any time you preach it and you recognize you're not necessarily covering the main point, you must be careful. Because any time you do that, you open yourself up to do a thing. The big word for which we would call isegesis, which is basically saying making up a bunch of baloney.

3:08And I do not want to do that tonight. And I recognize the danger we are in. So walk with me as I take you through where I hope to take us tonight and how I get there. If you do not want to isoget the text, how do you keep from doing that? Namely, by recognizing the limitations, the boundaries, and the tools inherent in the context of the scripture you are studying to understand where you can and cannot go, what it could and could not say, what applications may and may not be permissible. And what did I say this morning was the tool by which we can understand this parable? Hopefully you got it. It's verse 5. You see, the tool by which I understand both the main point and any point I could possibly derive from this still is bound by the exact same context, by the exact same tools by the scripture itself.

4:17And that scripture says, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. This is still the point, still the tool. Still, what we will be using tonight. So, where, given that, do I hope to look? Well, it's a simple math equation. The math equation, if you like to think mathematically, is like this: No repentance, equal sign, no life. All right? No repentance, equal sign, no life. Where I hope to take us tonight is repentance equals life. Now, that sounds like an easy step to make, but, and by the way, if anybody's really good in formal logic, I was tempted to pull up my primers and look it up. Can you logically just multiply times a negative one, so to speak, and get that? But that would be using logic. So, be careful even in this step. Be careful. We still have to make sure: is this a correct possible step to take? And I would suggest to use scripture, not logic. Scripture interprets scripture. So, to double, double-check again, so we can all feel very comfortable with where we're going tonight. Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 23. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Lord God. Wouldn't I prefer that he turn from his ways and live? Another translation might say, repent and live. A few verses later, Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 32, for I have no pleasure in the death. Of anyone, declares the Lord God. So turn or repent and live.

6:07Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 11, say to them, As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways, excuse me, should turn from their ways and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel? And I will remind you, we didn't talk about it a whole lot this morning, but this is Jesus speaking to Israelites. That's a whole lot of Ezekiel. Perhaps we should look somewhere else. Acts chapter 2, verse 38, Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is not enough. One more. Mark chapter 1, verse 15, and this is going to be the Matthew Jones paraphrase. The time is fulfilled, he said, and the kingdom of God is near. Be repenting and be believing in the good news.

7:09The good news of your salvation in context. The good news that you can be saved. Hopefully, I have driven home enough that I believe. If we take verse 5 and we take the negatives out of it, repent and live. This is a thoroughly Systematically, scripturally safe conclusion to draw from our text. So, what might we draw, given that principle from verse 5, out of the parable? What does it have to say about life? You see, we asked a question this morning. If it says, unless you repent, you will die, definitions, definitions, definitions. It always goes back to definitions because you can play word games. I like playing word games, and everybody else likes playing word games, so we just word game the meaning out of the scripture. Well, if we asked in that case, what does repent and die mean? If we're going to look at the opposite side of verse 5 tonight, repent and you will live, we already looked at repent. The obvious next definition we must look at is: what does it mean to live?

8:22What does it mean to not die? I could just say, well, I told you what it means to die this morning. It means the opposite of that. Cool, let's go home. But, alas, not so easy. We're going to go through this just a little bit. I'd like to make three points tonight. One, that to live is to be valued. To live is to have value. Two, life is not fair. To live is not to have fair.

9:01And finally, that life and to have life is glorious. So, first, life. Now, warning. What I'm about to say is going to strike you as off when I first say it. This is not the time to go to sleep. Hear me all the way through. Alright, so there's your warning. Life, you and I, humans, we have no intrinsic value. You said, What are you saying? What do you mean? That's not what we believe. I'll say that again: life, you and I, humans, we have no intrinsic value.

9:54And I'll explain what I mean by that before you bring me down from here. Let me use the example of gold. Gold, most circumstances, has a great deal of value. I would propose to you, though, that if I had a brick of gold in front of me, it would have no value to a lizard. Can we agree on that? The lizard would not care about my brick of gold. Now, let me change the scenario again. You are going. Through a desert, you are on the brink of dying of thirst.

10:36That brick of gold to you would have absolutely no value. The only thing valuable to you in that moment would be a drink of water. Eight times, the exact phrase, I am not worthy, at least in the translation I was looking at, appears, seven of which in the New Testament. I'd point you to explain this further: the parable of the prodigal son. What did the prodigal son say to his father when he came back? I am not worthy.

11:17I'm not worthy. Treat me as a slave, and I will earn subsistence. I'm not worthy of anything else. I cannot be given this subsistence. I must earn it. I don't deserve it. I am not worthy. John the Baptist used this phrase a number of times. I am not worthy. Talked about his straps of his sandals. I'm not even worthy to wash his feet, the job of the lowest of the low in society. Worth. Worthy. Value. You see, value. Value is a choice, much like love. In fact, exactly like love. Value is a choice by the one bestowing the value on the person or thing. The pearl of great price, Matthew chapter 13, that pearl only had value because the person who valued it was willing to give up everything for it.

12:30Now, in our case, why do we have value? Because we don't intrinsically have value. We can't demand anything, but we do have value. We have value because God values us. We have value not because we've earned it, deserve it, or anything about who we are in our nature, intrinsically in who we are, but because it has been given to us. We have value because of our God. And we know that we have value if for no other reason than we have life. This is very similar to a point I already made this morning from our text, purpose. In our text, everything in the vineyard has a purpose, and it is there only because it has a purpose. If you are here, you have a purpose. In life, I made these points this morning, but it also says something more than just purpose. It says you also have value. See, you're not a mistake. You aren't a freak of nature. God placed you here. Saved or unsaved, by the way. You have value, no matter who you are. There is no room for division. There is no room for putting oneself above another human being.

14:03There is no room for any of that. And it is not because of some value to society if we all get along and be friends and sing kumbaya. It is because God said so. Because God gave us the value, all of us, especially and all the more so in the church where we are a body together. And no part of the body is going to be able to devalue another part of the body. In this, I'll point out that there is one arbiter of this value. There is one arbiter and one alone. See, it does not matter if the fig tree is appreciated by birds.

14:44They might have many nests in this tree. Imagine with me, now this is not in the text per se, but imagine with me that there is a whole family of birds, a whole flock of birds making their nests in this tree. They value. Value that tree. Does that matter? No. The only thing that matters, value-wise, is the owner of the vineyard. What about you? What if you don't value yourself? We have, unfortunately, as a society, been plagued with suicide, the devaluing of the individual by themselves. We have been plagued with people who do not understand why they are here or who has given them value, and they think that they and they alone determine their value.

16:00We are not only to seek value in our experiences, in whether you are experiencing good or experiencing bad. Our value transcends that. See, it is not the value of others, and it is not the value we place upon ourselves. And in that, I would like to encourage you in a great many ways. That should be an encouragement to us. Life is cultivated. Life is Valued. He dug around the tree. He fertilized the tree. In Isaiah chapter 5, I don't know that you can say with certainty that this is in mind, but it is very likely in mind here. But in Isaiah chapter 5, he says, referring to God, he dug it, referring to the vineyard. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines, built a watchtower in the midst of it, hewed out the wine vat in it.

17:05Great care has been taken. Nothing that goes on, no matter how painful, is haphazard. Great care has been taken for us because of the love and the value that has been granted us. And I will point out: if none of this rings home to you, there should be one thing above all that does. We have value because Christ paid for us. He paid for us in his own blood, personally, through his death. What of the lost, by the way, in this reference? What do we do with those who are not saved in the work of Christ?

17:58What if this payment is? Rejected. What if we fail to repent? And I point you to Hebrews chapter 6, verses 4 through 6. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have been once enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. There is one payment. There is one way. And he's not going to come again. He's not going to die again. And there is no other means or works by which you can be saved. He died for you, and that is the only price that you can accept, the only value that can be taken, understood, or applied to you. That's it.

18:55You don't get any second chances, as I said this morning. There is no purgatory. There is no other payment or value on which you can base your life or your meaning or your purpose. That's it. The one. And what a price it is. But note that sinners are not wiped out immediately. If they were, then we wouldn't be here right now, not a single person. Sinners are not wiped out immediately. We are held for potential fruit through common grace. I use that term in. Intentionally, common grace. You see, all of us are valued. All of us are spared in the moment. All of us are valued, at the very least, until the time of judgment.

19:48And it is a tremendous value. And I'd like to take a couple applications from these points that I hope I have made. First, stop demeaning yourself. I'm not saying this as some kind of self-help or some kind of feel-good moment. But I'll point out to you: stop demeaning yourself, especially if you are a child of the king. False humility, worldly humility, is not a virtue, it is pride, and you are demeaning, devaluing, and besmirking the value God has placed on you.

20:31Second, stop demeaning others, including your enemy. I mentioned this morning, you're either an ally or an enemy. There's no third category. We are called, however, to love our enemies, hate your enemies, but love your enemies. You need to scratch your head on that one. Yes, I said that. I mean that. Hate is a feeling, revulsion. It is an absolute rejection of everything that something stands for. Those who are enemies to God, I hate. I am revolted by the things they do against my God, but I love them because love is not a feeling. Love is a choice to work everything. And I do mean everything for their good, at the sacrifice of life itself.

21:34I will give myself up for my enemy because I love my enemy. In the same way, God is revolted at us, and yet he loves us, and he spares us, and he values us in spite of us. And we are to do the same. We are to love them. One of my favorite quotes, Spurgeon, December 9th, 1860. If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled to the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go there unmoved. Warned and unprayed for. Now, if that doesn't stir you up, I don't know what will.

22:37We are to love our enemies and value them for precisely the same reason that God does. He has given them value, he has chosen this, and we as followers of Christ must do the same and emulate in doing so the vine dresser. There's a good bit of discussion, by the way, in this text. The vine dresser. Who is the vine dresser, if I'm to think of this as an allegory? Is it the Holy Spirit? Is it Jesus Christ? At the end of the day, I'm not sure. I don't know. I do know that the vine dresser here is to be emulated. The vine dresser here is the positive illustration of what is to happen and is an illustration of the Lord's response. As such, there's a Greek word I want y'all to learn. It's capria.

23:29Capria is dung. Y'all can learn that and be amused by it because that is what the vine dresser is working with. Dung. Specifically, if you look at the etymology of the word smelly dung, be willing to get your hands dirty. If we are emulating the vine dresser, if God here in this parable is showing us something about life, that life is valuable. So valuable that the vine dresser is willing to spend his time and also willing to get his hands dirty, willing to fill it up with smelly dung in order to be good for the tree. It's not helping the vine dresser. The dung is not for the vine dresser, it's for the tree.

24:19If we are emulating that, we should be self-sacrificially willing to get our hands dirty. Be willing to go do what is unpleasant, that which has absolutely no reward for us, that which is dirty in the respects of life, real life, not platitudes, real life. Go meet people where they are, even if you don't like them because you love them. And actions speak louder than words, by the way. Life has value. Next, however, I will point out to you that life is not fair. If we're to understand life, the life that we are repenting for, the life spent in Christ, we will notice that life is not fair. Notice here that the grapes, presumably, and I am presuming, that presumably they're doing just fine.

25:28Interestingly, and I I actually just found this out this afternoon in review. Grapes take approximately three years to mature. Now, you'll remember this morning I said fig trees take at most about four years to mature. Grapes take three years to mature. They take this time to produce. Yet, this is the third year we're speaking of. Even if they take this next year, we can assume that under no circumstance could any normal grapevine at this point be non-productive.

26:05They're working hard. They're producing hard. They're doing what they were meant to do. They're in the vineyard. The tree is doing diddly squat. Notice that. This reminds me a good bit of this parable of, I'll call it the parable of the denarius, which I believe we had a sermon not too long ago on. You have workers who come in, they work all day long, and you have others that come in at the last minute and they do a little bit of work. And guess what? They all get the same pay. Now, that's not fair.

26:45I suggest to you, if the parable is not good enough, go read Ecclesiastes. Notice also that the fig tree in this case, I believe, is an understanding of the non-Christian. Sinners often will be living opulent lives. Don't be jealous. You live for Christ and you have a hard time of it. In fact, you're promised to have a hard time of it. Others live for themselves and they get exactly what they live for. Don't be jealous. Ecclesiastes should be very clear on this. It's all smoke.

27:27But it doesn't stop there. Because notice also that in this parable, the amount of fruit is never in question. Never once does it say it didn't produce, the fig tree did not produce six bushels. It only produced five. I guess I'm going to jump down. I said, no fruit. The question is binary. Fruit, no fruit. That's the only question in mind. No quantities discussed. Some of these vines might work really, really hard. They produce a ton.

28:05Some of them, this tree, for example, produced very little. Also reminds me of another parable I would recommend to you, the parable of the talents. Some that were given ten went out, doubled it. Others given six, and so on. More, less. That's not the point. Stop being jealous of one another. The point is. Not to get a trophy. If you're here in this church to get a trophy, you're, well, I have bad news for you. You're not going to get one. Nor will you get one, I dare say, most true churches.

28:46It's about the vineyard. It's only about the vineyard. That is all. Life is not fair, but it is just and it is great. You see, whether they produce a lot or a little, for as long as God has mercy on the unsaved, whether they live the life of blessing or not, life is about living with God, the one who gives us the life, in service to God, our purpose in living. That is why we live, and that is a lesson for life we see here as well.

29:32My last point: if we're to understand life, if we are repenting and through repentance we live, if we've recognized from this morning the calling on us and we have responded, what is the life we will live? The last point is life is glorious. You see, the plants here in this vineyard, they have the perfect. Environment, the perfect caretaker and perfect understanding. Well, maybe not the plants, but we do. Perfect environment. You have soil that is regularly reinforced, aerated, and taken care of. Weeds are all removed. If you're to use the example I gave from Isaiah, there's a wall keeping out all the animals. It is kept day after day with permanent staff.

30:34Now, here I have to pause for a second because you might, like me, say, well, this doesn't sound exactly like my life right now. And you might be correct. See, this is a physical illustration of a spiritual reality. Spiritually, you have the perfect environment. But I'll also point out to you, that is not the end of it. Deuteronomy chapter 30, and I've pointed this out to the young adults a number of times, it starts out very interestingly. After you have experienced the blessings and curses, these things are going to happen. You see, in Deuteronomy, you have the law, the Mosaic law, and the law says, if you follow me, you'll receive blessings. If you don't, you'll receive curses. We proceed to see the Life of Israel as they are both blessed and cursed. But Deuteronomy chapter 30 says, After you have been blessed and cursed, some other things are going to happen, and there are some wonderful things. I recommend go back and read it.

31:48Spiritually, we have a perfect environment because we have the Holy Spirit who seals us. But that's not the only promise we have, there's also a promise to come. Revelation 21 points us to that, and we will be there very, very soon. Looking at all these promises given. The perfect caretaker, the Holy Spirit, does not just work on our hearts, does not just illumine us to Scripture so that we have the perfect environments, but also takes care of us, cares for us. He is our caretaker.

32:29God is taking care of you. He doesn't only place a value on you in giving you life and in giving it more abundantly, but he also cares for you moment by moment. We have a caretaker. Again, there is what we have here, the spiritual, and there is future. Look again at Revelation chapter 21. I'll be careful. I'll start preaching on that. But when we Get there. The entire, full revelation and presence of God. And what does he do? He wipes away our tears. He cares for us now, and ultimately we will have the fulfillment, the glorification, the end of what we have just started to experience now. In perfect understanding. You see, we are not confused about who we are. We're not confused about how the world operates. We have value. We value others and we understand through revelation what we are to do. That can only be accomplished through life. True life. Abundant life. Through Christ, through the Spirit. If you have repented and believed, and you have obtained the salvation of God, He grants you these things. Repent and you will live. Don't repent and you will die.

34:09If you really live, it will be because you live in Christ. Philippians 1:21, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Now, we didn't really go over it, but I wish I had the time to really dig into it, but if you look, At the beginning of this chapter, the first four verses, and further understand the context here, he's speaking of these Galileans who have recently died. And there's physical death, no doubt, but what is in mind here is the judgment.

34:52Were they worse than us? We're better than them. This kind of idea. They've been judged for what they did in life. I'm glad I'm not like them. I'm glad I didn't get struck down. These are the kinds of things which are implied to be in the minds of those who are bringing these Galileans up. And Jesus is saying here, you have it all wrong. See, to live is Christ. To die is gain. Luke 13:5 and the Jonesy paraphrase again: unless you repent, you will all die just like them. But if you do repent, you will live. And living or dying physically, regardless, you will have peace because you are living in the vineyard, trusting in me, no matter what. Nothing can shake you, nothing can do anything to you because your life is bound entirely in the owner of. the vineyard and nothing else. I pray that this is the life of each of us, the life that we can live secure in the one who has given us life. Let's pray.

36:16Dear Lord, I thank you. I thank you that you have given us such a life. I pray that we will not squander it. I pray that we will reach others and show them the life you have given. But most of all, Lord, I pray that you will receive the glory and the honor for what you have done. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.