Matthew 21:28-32

THE TWO SONS

Matthew 21:28-32. “But what seems to you? A man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said, Child, go today, labor in my vineyard. And responding, he said, I do not wish; and afterward, repenting, went. And coming to the second, he said likewise. And he, responding, said, I, Lord; and went not. Which one of the two did the will of the father? They say to him, The first. Jesus says to them, Truly I say unto you, that the publicans and 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 publicans believed him. But you, seeing, did not afterward repent, in order to believe him.” The Lord called the whole Gentile world two thousand years before He called the Jews. Hence you see that the Gentiles are the elder son, who remained rebellious and alien from God four thousand years; meanwhile the Jews, in due time, received and responded to the call, saying, “O yes, Lord, we are Your people, and You are our God.” But finally becoming proud, vain, arrogant, and self-righteous, they even reject and slay their own Christ, for whom they had waited through the ages, and consequently the terrible castigations of destruction and dispersion overtake them, sending them, aliens and vagabonds, upon the face of the whole earth, till all the Gentiles come into the kingdom. Here we see, from the unmistakable utterances of the Infallible, that it is actually easier to save publicans and harlots, the worst of sinners, than proud, self-righteous Pharisaical professors of Christianity. Hence you see from this clear and unequivocal teaching that, of all the people in the world, the hardest to save and the surest of perdition are these bigoted, dead, formal Church members, and even preachers, who have the form without the power. Matthew 3:7, tells us about these Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the ministry of John, and taking offense at his plain, straight, and awful appeals to them, calling them “generations of vipers,” and warning them to flee the wrath to come, his prophetic eye then contemplating their awful and speedy perdition. That was their good time to repent. They did not; but took umbrage, going away mad because the preacher called them rattle snakes, and demanded of them to repent in dust and ashes and get religion before he would baptize them. While they went away in a rage and abused the preacher for insulting them, the poor publicans and harlots got awfully convicted; saw hell open and the devil after them; wallowed on the ground, irrigating the dust with copious penitential tears, they sweeping with shouts into the kingdom, while these big preachers and proud Church officers go down to hell. Our Savior here beautifully reveals the order of repentance and faith, the latter invariably preceded by the former, which constitutes our indispensable qualification for the exercise of justifying faith, repentance breaking the yoke of Satan, and faith receiving that of Christ. N. B. It is still Wednesday, and yet in the morning, and Jesus is preaching in the temple, having cleansed it Tuesday afternoon. This is a wonderful day, in which He does an immense amount of preaching. His time is getting short, as to-morrow night His enemies will lay violent hands on Him, thus winding up the most wonderful evangelism the world ever saw.