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Good morning, my friends. 
Our King desires to speak with 

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his servants, our father with 
his children. 

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Let us listen to the word of the
Lord. 

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The Kingdom of heaven is like a 
master of a house who went away 

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early in the morning to hire 
laborers for his vineyard. 

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After agreeing with the laborers
for denarius today, he sent them

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on into his vineyard. 
And going out about the third 

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hour, he saw others standing 
idle in the marketplace. 

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And he said to them, You go into
the vineyard too, and whatever 

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is right I will give to you. 
So they went going out again 

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about the 6th hour and the 9th 
hour he did the same. 

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And about the 11th hour he went 
out and found others standing. 

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And he said to them, Why do you 
stand here idle all day? 

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And they said to him, because no
one has hired us. 

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He said to them, You go into my 
vineyard. 

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Then, too, when evening came, 
the owner of the vineyard said 

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to his foreman, Call the 
laborers and pay them their 

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wages, beginning with the last 
up to the first. 

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When those hired about the 11th 
hour came, each of them received

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a denarius. 
Now when those hired came first,

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when those hired first came, 
they thought they would receive 

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more. 
But each of them also received a

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denarius, and upon receiving it,
they grumbled at the master of 

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the house, saying, These last 
worked only one hour, and you 

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gave made them equal to us who 
have borne the burden of the day

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in the scorching heat. 
But he replied to one of them. 

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Friend, I am doing you no wrong.
Did you not agree with me for a 

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denarius? 
Take what belongs to you and go.

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I choose to give to the last 
worker as I give to you. 

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Am I not allowed to do what I 
chose with what belongs to me? 

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And do you begrudge my 
generosity? 

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And so the last will be first 
and the first will be last. 

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This is the word of the Lord. 
Dear God, we do give you thanks 

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for your word as always, and we 
pray that you would use it to 

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transform our lives. 
Lord, make us receptables of 

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your grace and make us 
distributors of your grace. 

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We pray through Christ our Lord,
we ask, Amen. 

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Please be feeding. 
If you would grab your Bibles 

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and turn to Matthew chapter 20. 
Matthew chapter 20. 

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How do you measure spiritual 
growth? 

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How do we measure our spiritual 
growth? 

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My father had a wall, a 
particular wall in a closet 

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there. 
As we grew up as kids, every 

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year he had US against the wall 
there and he marked our 

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measurement. 
That was very easy to measure 

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and and keep track of how we 
were growing as children. 

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How did we grow up physically? 
That was easy to see. 

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Well, how do you measure 
spiritual growth? 

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In particular, how do you 
measure spiritual growth of a 

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whole congregation? 
How do we measure the spiritual 

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growth of Hebron Church? 
Over the past couple of months 

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we've been looking at a certain 
phrase in which we kind of 

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articulate both what we think we
are as a church. 

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This describes us as a church 
right now, but also it describes

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our aspiration, where we want to
be, who we want to become more 

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and more clearly like this. 
The phrase goes like this. 

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Hebron is a biblically based, 
Christ centered community of 

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disciples, A Reformed 
classically evangelical church 

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in the Presbyterian tradition, 
worshipping, growing and serving

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Christ in the eastern suburbs of
Pittsburgh and beyond. 

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This is kind of a description, I
think and I hope, of who we are 

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as a church. 
And I hope is we read that if 

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you've been a fellowship, part 
of our fellowship for some time,

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you can kind of chart and say, 
yeah, that's kind of who we are.

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But I hope you also see that 
we're not fulfilling nearly that

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kind of characteristic as we 
want to. 

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We want to be more biblically 
based. 

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We want to be more Christ 
centered. 

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We want to reflect more of the 
Reformed tradition. 

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We want to reflect more what it 
means to be classically 

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evangelical. 
We want to reflect more what it 

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means to be Presbyterian. 
All of these desires hold 

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forward to us what we want to 
grow towards. 

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Well, how do you measure that? 
How do you measure growth 

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spiritually? 
Now, there's lots of different 

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ways, I assume we could keep 
track of how many people are in 

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Bible studies. 
We could keep track of how many 

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people are serving in different 
areas. 

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We could talk about our prayer 
life together. 

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We could share talk about the 
way in which we share the gospel

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with other folks. 
We could talk about our maturity

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in Christ individually. 
All of that is relevant, I'm 

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sure. 
What I want to do is I want to 

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highlight one particular 
characteristic, 1 trait that I 

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think is woven through all of 
these character traits in which 

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we're talking about as a church,
and try to identify it as the 

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character trait that we can 
measure, that we can see in 

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terms of are we developing, 
growing the way that we should 

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as a congregation. 
And of course, the challenge is,

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are you growing individually in 
this way as well? 

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That character trait that I'm 
talking about is grace. 

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If we are going to be a 
biblically based church, we are 

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going to be a church, a 
community of disciples that is 

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grounded in grace for the 
message of redemption. 

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The message of the Bible is a 
message of grace and God's 

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grace. 
If we're going to be a reformed 

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community, we are going to be a 
community that prioritizes 

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grace, and the grace covers all 
kinds of things. 

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If we're going to be 
Presbyterian in the way in which

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we act and function, our grace 
is not just going to direct the 

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way in which we understand our 
faith, but it's going to direct 

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the way in which we live out our
faith. 

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If we're going to be Christ 
centered, we are going to be 

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Christ like, and that means we 
are going to reflect that 

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character that is central to 
Christ's own character, which is

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His grace. 
This grace is something that I 

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want us to use as a measuring 
stick to try to evaluate how are

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we doing as far as we're going 
in these directions. 

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Do we understand grace? 
Have we received grace and are 

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we showing grace? 
Do we understand grace now? 

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We talk about grace a lot at 
this church, as every church 

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must if we're going to be 
faithful to the Scriptures. 

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We're going to talk about the 
fact that God gives us good 

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things. 
And to a lot of people, that's 

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what grace is, God giving us 
good things. 

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God gives us wonderful things 
every day. 

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You woke up this morning and you
were overwhelmed with good 

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things that the Lord gave us. 
That's not grace. 

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Those are blessings, and it's 
great to have blessings pour out

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upon us. 
That's wonderful. 

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But when the Scriptures identify
grace, they're not talking about

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the good things that God gives 
us. 

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They're talking about the good 
things that God gives us, 

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specifically to those who are 
undeserving. 

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If we're going to be a gracious 
community, we can't just speak 

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of the goodness of God's grace, 
the goodness of God's blessings.

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We have to specify that those 
good blessings come to those who

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are undeserving. 
That's what identifies a 

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community of grace, a community 
of believers at what's 

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identifies an individual who is 
embraced and understood grace 

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that they are receiving this 
from God. 

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Not simply it's because it's a 
good things that God's pouring 

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out upon us, but it's good 
things that God's pours out upon

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us that we do not deserve. 
Now we talked a lot about that, 

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but there's a measuring stick. 
I think at least one has worked 

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in my life, all all my life as a
Christian about to the extent to

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which I understand grace, I 
understand it. 

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I can preach it, I can read the 
definition, I can read books 

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about it. 
I understand what grace is, but 

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how well do I receive Grace has 
been measured through ages by my

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reception, by my understanding 
of the parable of the vineyard 

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workers, the parable that I just
read for us. 

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How I responded, how I have 
responded to that parable 

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through my Christian life has 
done a wonderful job of 

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measuring for me, not my 
intellectual understanding of 

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grace, but my reception of grace
into my own life. 

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I would like to think that it 
might do the same for you. 

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The the parable is really quite 
understandable. 

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It's a straightforward parable. 
Here we have a master of the 

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house, which again we're 
supposed to identify very 

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clearly is representative of God
himself. 

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The master of a house has this 
massive vineyard and through a 

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vineyard, in order to care for a
vineyard at different times 

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throughout a vineyard's life 
cycle needs more workers. 

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So you need a lot more workers 
at the beginning of a vineyard 

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when you're first planting and 
preparing the vineyard and then 

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towards the end, particularly at
the time, you need a lot of 

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extra workers. 
And So what the vineyard owner 

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does is he goes and he hires day
laborers. 

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He hires people that will work 
that particular day. 

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And we see this in verse 2 that 
he goes to the marketplace and 

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most most likely we're not told 
where he's finding these 

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laborers, but most likely they 
gathered at the marketplace, the

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local marketplace. 
The vineyard owner would go and 

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say, hey, I'm looking for X 
number of workers, and the 

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people would line up and then he
would negotiate with them a pay 

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scale and he negotiates with 
them a denarius. 

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Now, a denarius is a normal 
day's wage for a professional. 

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That's what the Roman Legion 
soldiers would get for a day's 

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labor. 
So by paying a day laborer or a 

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manual labor denarius a day, 
that's actually a good wage. 

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So right off the bat, the owner 
is, it's not outrageous, but 

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it's a good wage. 
He's demonstrating his 

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generosity by giving the workers
a denarius a day. 

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So he sends those workers into 
the vineyard and they start 

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working. 
About 3 hours later he goes back

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to the marketplace and he rounds
up some more guys. 

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And you notice this in verses 3 
and 4 where he doesn't identify 

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how much he's going to pay them.
He just says I will do what is 

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right by you. 
And evidently this vineyard 

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worker has a kind of reputation 
around town, etcetera, that 

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people say, fine, we'll take a 
take, take it on that those 

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terms. 
And they go into the and begin 

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to work. 
So the guys start working in the

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third hour, that's about 9:00. 
So the first hour is at six or 

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the beginning time is at 6:00 in
the morning, 6:00 AM and then 

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the third hour is 9:00 AM. 
He goes back and does the same 

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thing at noon and at 3:00 PM he 
does this planning on stopping 

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working at 6:00. 
In the 11th hour, 5:00 he goes 

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out and rounds up some more 
workers and he sends them into 

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the into the vineyard as well. 
OK, so far so good. 

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The whistle blows, the day is 
over. 

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All the workers come gather 
around the foreman and the owner

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of the owner says, now here's 
what I want you to pay. 

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I want you to pay the guys that 
came and worked only one hour. 

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So the 11th hour guys, the 5:00 
guys, I want you to pay them a 

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denarius. 
So they pay the denarius and all

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the other workers are standing 
around watching this happen. 

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The guys that have in the 
vineyard working for 12 hours 

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naturally think to themselves, 
hey, we're going to get paid 

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more. 
Maybe it's unrealistic to think 

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that we get 12 denarius that 
he'd multiply our time by 12, 

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but certainly we're going to get
a lot more money when it comes 

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to here, to us. 
And so when they show up to get 

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their pay, they get a denarius 
and they grumble. 

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Now I have to say that when I 
first became a Christian, I read

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this passage. 
I read through the scriptures. 

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I knew that I was supposed to 
read the scriptures. 

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I read the scriptures. 
There were lots of the parts of 

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the scriptures that I didn't 
understand. 

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I understood this. 
I didn't like it. 

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I completely associated with the
workers. 

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That is, this is a monstrous, 
unfair situation. 

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This is unjust. 
How can you do that? 

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How can you give the the workers
that have been working all day 

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long the same amount that you 
only paid those that are working

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just one hour? 
Now, I was a young believer. 

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I was willing to follow the 
Lord. 

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I was willing to follow the 
scriptures. 

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And so the scriptures say that 
this is the way God functions. 

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So I say, OK, I understand it. 
I mean, I accept it, but I 

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didn't accept it. 
I didn't understand it. 

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I, I was really struggling and I
was really offended that that 

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God would work this way, that he
would handle things so unfairly.

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And let me tell you, 
commentators fall all over 

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themselves trying to explain 
this kind of situation. 

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So just earlier this week, I 
read to 1 commentator that says,

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look, what happened is that the 
workers that he hired at the 

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beginning of the day were so 
bad. 

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That's why he had to keep coming
at the third hour, the 6th hour 

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and the 9th hour. 
They were so bad so that they 

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had. 
And the guys that came at the 

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11th hour were such good workers
that they did as much work 

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during the one hour that they 
did during the 12 hours. 

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And that makes perfect sense. 
And it completely robs the 

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parable of everything. 
The parable makes exactly the 

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00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,280
opposite point. 
And the parable is supposed to 

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00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:30,800
rub you wrong. 
And if it doesn't rub you wrong,

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00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:32,480
then I need to talk with you 
across the board. 

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00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:34,240
OK. 
And so then, and then I read 

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00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:37,440
this other guy said, no, it was 
the coins, the people that got 

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00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,520
the the the 11th hour folks that
only worked one hour, they got 

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00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,760
copper coins, which weren't as 
worth as much as the gold coins 

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00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,680
that the workers at the end got.
Again, completely robbing the 

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00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:50,120
parable of its meaning. 
Because you're supposed to sit 

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00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,440
there and say, wait a minute, 
why is it that the guys who only

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00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,040
work an hour get paid the same 
thing? 

248
00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,800
The guys at work 12 hours? 
How is this fair? 

249
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:06,080
Now, as I grew in my 
understanding of God, and as I 

250
00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:09,320
grew up mostly in my 
understanding of my own sin and 

251
00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:13,200
depravity, and as I understood 
God's salvation in my own life, 

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00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:17,360
I began to understand grace. 
I began to look at this 

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00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:21,000
perspective not from a question 
of fairness, but a question of 

254
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:25,400
goodness, goodness being poured 
out upon those who do not 

255
00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,520
deserve it. 
And after a couple years of 

256
00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,520
being a young believer, I 
started to read this parable. 

257
00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,400
And I said, yeah, but do you 
know what Yeah, Bud is? 

258
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,320
Yeah. 
But yeah, I kind of understood. 

259
00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:38,840
You're in a discussion with 
somebody. 

260
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:40,880
You're disagreeing with them, 
and they make a really good 

261
00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,800
point. 
And you kind of go, yeah, but 

262
00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,320
you're still unwilling to hold 
to, to let go of your own 

263
00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:47,080
position. 
So it's. 

264
00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:48,960
Yeah, but yeah. 
But yeah. 

265
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,240
And so. 
OK, so I tell you, look, this 

266
00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,600
parable is about grace. 
This parable is about God doing 

267
00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,560
good things to his people. 
And you read it and then you 

268
00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,880
kind of go, OK, sounds 
monstrously unfair when you 

269
00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:03,480
first read it. 
It just sounds just wrong that 

270
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:05,920
God would do such a thing. 
So unjust. 

271
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:08,400
And then I say, no, it's about 
grace. 

272
00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:10,480
It's about God giving to those 
who don't deserve it. 

273
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:12,240
They don't deserve it. 
And still God's pouring out 

274
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,720
grace. 
And you kind of go, yeah, but 

275
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,800
yeah, but. 
And as I grew older in my faith 

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00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:24,720
and became more aware of my own 
sinfulness and more aware of 

277
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,160
God's goodness and his love and 
more aware of what grace is, the

278
00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:33,920
yeah, but became dimmer and 
dimmer and dimmer in my mind. 

279
00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,920
And I want to get to that spot 
where I can't hear it at all 

280
00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:45,080
because all I hear is the 
goodness of God and all I see 

281
00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:49,760
and I all I can, all I can do is
rejoice mightily that those 11th

282
00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:58,200
hour people got a full denarius.
Now, if you're like me, you 

283
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:02,920
probably think of yourself as 
one of the first group of 

284
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,240
workers. 
OK, maybe not. 

285
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,000
There are those super Christians
out there that are working in 

286
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,560
God's laboring in God's fields 
all the time, Jerry, like, you 

287
00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:15,200
know, I so I just caught him in 
my you know, there are those, 

288
00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,240
there are those guys who have 
been working in the day all all 

289
00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:19,680
day long. 
OK, I understand. 

290
00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:24,680
But I'm an, I'm 1/3 hour. 
I'm a 9:00 guy or a noon guy. 

291
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,920
Maybe I'm a three o'clock guy, 
man. 

292
00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:38,400
I'm an 1159 guy and I know that 
I am, and so are you and so are 

293
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:42,880
you. 
And God's grace is US seeing 

294
00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:49,080
God's goodness given to people 
who are 1159 folk and rejoicing 

295
00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:51,480
in that. 
Not sitting there grumbling that

296
00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,720
that person has received grace, 
but being overwhelmed by that 

297
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,800
and saying, wow, this is God's 
grace to us. 

298
00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,880
This is God's goodness to us. 
And interacting with a lot of 

299
00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,280
you and knowing some of you as I
do, I know that you're fighting 

300
00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:08,440
to get there. 
You're trying to to tune out the

301
00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,320
yeah, but the yeah, but is 
getting smaller and smaller as 

302
00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:12,880
God's grace gets bigger and 
bigger. 

303
00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,960
When you realize who you are and
you realize that you're on the 

304
00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:20,200
11:59 or then you're grateful 
when God shows his mercy to that

305
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:26,520
Islamic terrorist. 
Where to that perverted person 

306
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:33,240
that preaches the culture, this 
horrific message, or this person

307
00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:38,280
that really aggravates you from 
the other side of the political 

308
00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,480
spectrum? 
And when God reaches them and 

309
00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,040
touches them with grace, wait a 
minute. 

310
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:46,480
Not changes them and makes them 
perfect? 

311
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:48,720
Not changes them and makes them 
perfect. 

312
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,320
That that's an easy person to 
love, but in the midst of their 

313
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,680
sinfulness, in the midst of 
their horror, in the midst of 

314
00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,640
their brokenness, nevertheless, 
God loves them. 

315
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,880
You know that God loves them. 
You see God love them and that 

316
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,880
makes you go yes God, great, 
wonderful. 

317
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,200
It'll be wonderful if you change
them too, Lord, but great for 

318
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:12,079
how far you've got them so far. 
Because that's what grace is. 

319
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,359
That's what God has done in your
life. 

320
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,319
He's given you good, wonderful 
things. 

321
00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:18,960
That's great. 
Those are God's blessings. 

322
00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:22,160
Luckily, God pours those out 
upon the world, but 

323
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:26,200
specifically, He's given to us 
the grace and the blessings that

324
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:31,760
we do not deserve until you can 
read the parable of the vineyard

325
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:33,800
workers and get to the end of it
and go. 

326
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:36,160
That's great. 
I'm so glad God did that. 

327
00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:38,760
You haven't yet understood 
grace. 

328
00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:43,480
You haven't yet embraced grace. 
And when I talk with people 

329
00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:48,960
about God's grace, when I talk 
with myself about God's grace, I

330
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:56,240
still hear yeah. 
But all too often, if you're 

331
00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:01,200
saying yeah, but in your head, 
you've got to think again. 

332
00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:07,320
You got to read more. 
You got to understand more. 

333
00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:14,600
You got to pray more, you got to
talk to me more, you got to talk

334
00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,640
to somebody else more because 
there's going to be a time where

335
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,840
the yeah, but disappears and all
you see is the beauty of God's 

336
00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:29,960
grace. 
But having received grace is 

337
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,920
only half of the issue. 
I believe if we are community 

338
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:38,720
here that truly understands God 
giving good things to people who

339
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:42,480
don't deserve it, and when we 
see it happen in this world, we 

340
00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:46,360
rejoice. 
We don't think, yeah, but all we

341
00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:51,160
do is rejoice. 
When we become that kind of a 

342
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:57,400
church, we are growing. 
We are maturing into what we 

343
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:06,080
think the Bible calls us to be. 
But more than that, Grace is 

344
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:09,640
also a measuring stick, not in 
terms of how much we receive or 

345
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,720
how we understand what we 
receive, but what we share with 

346
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,280
other people. 
This is the parable that Jerry 

347
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,640
read for us, the parable of the 
unmerciful servant. 

348
00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,240
Many of you know this parable. 
It's a pretty straightforward as

349
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:22,760
well. 
Once again, you've got a king 

350
00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:24,720
that wants to settle debts. 
We're supposed to understand the

351
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,480
king here in terms of in terms 
of God himself wants to settle 

352
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,600
those who owe him a debt. 
And he calls before him a 

353
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:32,520
servant who owes him 10,000 
talents. 

354
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:39,240
Now 10,000 talents translates up
into 4000 lifetimes worth of 

355
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:45,440
salary, 4000 lifetimes worth of 
salary. 

356
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:47,800
That's how much 10,000 talents 
is. 

357
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,240
That's how much the servant 
owes. 

358
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:53,040
He owes this and, and it's it's 
intended to be ridiculous. 

359
00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,320
The amount that Jesus uses in 
this parable is intended to be 

360
00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,280
it's not billions, it's 
gazillions. 

361
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,600
It's intended to be a number 
that is so outrageous that you 

362
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,800
just look at it and go, OK, I 
get the point. 

363
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,800
There's this horrific amount of 
money somehow that God owes. 

364
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:10,960
OK, so God is owed this horrific
amount of money, this 

365
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:15,480
overwhelming, this 10,004 
thousand lifetime's worth of 

366
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:19,600
money. 
And the and the servant falls on

367
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,800
his knees before the king, and 
says, Be merciful with me, 

368
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,680
pleased with him, would not 
forgive me my debts. 

369
00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:30,200
He pleads with him and says let 
me have time and I'll pay it 

370
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,640
off, which is ludicrous. 
It's stupid on its face. 

371
00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,000
You know, that's not, that's 
not, that's impossible. 

372
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:41,520
And the king knows that and so 
doesn't say, OK, fine, go live 

373
00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:43,960
your 4000 lifetimes and pay me 
my money back. 

374
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:46,280
He just says, forget it. 
I'll just forgive you your debt.

375
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:50,560
He forgives him his debt, and 
that servant, having received 

376
00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,640
that immense grace, that 
overwhelming gratitude, that 

377
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,880
1159 hour grace that is poured 
out into this servant's life, 

378
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,520
turns around and finds another 
servant that owes him 100 

379
00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,880
denarii. 100 denarii is about 6 
months worth of wages. 

380
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,280
So it's a lot of money. 
He owes him a lot of money. 

381
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,920
It's six months worth of wages 
compared to 4000 lifetimes of 

382
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,400
wages. 
And of course, what we know, the

383
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:17,960
servant refuses to give grace to
this to his fellow servant, 

384
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,400
instead throws him into prison 
until he pays back all his debt.

385
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,160
That was something that was a 
confusing about debtors prison 

386
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,920
back then. 
You'd be thrown into prison and 

387
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:28,680
you wouldn't get out until you 
paid off the money. 

388
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,280
But you're in prison. 
So how can you work for the 

389
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,400
money? 
You sell your kids, which might 

390
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,600
sound like an attractive never 
mind you sell your kids, you do 

391
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,520
something like that. 
That's what that's what debtors 

392
00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,920
prison was for this young man 
and that's what this unfaithful 

393
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:46,520
servant does. 
And So what happens? 

394
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,960
Of course the king goes 
ballistic and says, do you not 

395
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,680
realize the grace that you have 
received? 

396
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,360
Have you not been a person that 
has received this 11th hour 

397
00:21:56,360 --> 00:21:58,960
grace? 
Don't you realize who you are 

398
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,120
and what you have received? 
Then how could you not? 

399
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,640
My mouth runs away from me 
occasionally. 

400
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,000
And some of you have been 
beneficiaries of that. 

401
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,480
No, the non beneficiaries of 
that. 

402
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,760
I have this utter fear that one 
of these days I'm going to be up

403
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:19,040
front here and I'm going to 
swear. 

404
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,880
I'm not a big swear, but I do 
once in a while. 

405
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,560
Something slips out occasionally
and I'm terrified that one of 

406
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,440
these days I'm going to do it. 
I'm terrified for a couple of 

407
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:29,600
reasons. 
One, that would be a horrible 

408
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:33,040
reflection upon my Lord. 
There's a reason why God calls 

409
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,480
us to watch our tongue. 
There's a reason why our tongue 

410
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,400
is so measure of of our standing
before the Lord and all that 

411
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:40,960
kind of stuff. 
So I have an appropriate fear 

412
00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:43,880
that I don't want to do that. 
It's something that's it would 

413
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,440
be terrible witness as far as 
all that's concerned. 

414
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,400
But you know why I'm really 
terrified of doing it? 

415
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,280
Because five years from now, a 
number of you are going to 

416
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:57,680
remember that I did it. 
Five years from now, you're 

417
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:02,960
going to make jokes that I swore
in the pulpit. 5 years from now,

418
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,440
that's still going to be a turn 
off to some of you people. 

419
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:15,160
Because as loath as slow as we 
are to grasp, the Goddess poured

420
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:21,520
us out grace, so much slower are
we to actually show that grace 

421
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:27,240
to other people. 
And I know that to be true, and 

422
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,400
you do too. 
How many of you think that you 

423
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,720
would be wonderfully comfortable
coming into this community with 

424
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,840
your sins wide open, publicly 
exposed? 

425
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,160
You get accused of something and
it gets into the papers and 

426
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,440
everybody knows it. 
Would you feel comfortable 

427
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,480
walking into this group knowing 
that you were going to receive 

428
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:55,600
that which you do not deserve? 
How do you respond to people 

429
00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:57,720
when you know that they're 
gossiping about you? 

430
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,520
You just know they are because 
people do, and they're gossiping

431
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,400
about you and they're sitting 
right across the room from you. 

432
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,800
How do you respond to them? 
You guys know what cancel 

433
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:17,320
culture is. 
Cancer culture is the antithesis

434
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:22,040
of grace. 
Grace is exactly the opposite of

435
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,680
canceled culture. 
Grace is exactly the opposite of

436
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,440
unfriending somebody. 
Grace is exactly the opposite of

437
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,800
staying, of saying, have you 
ever thought in your head, you 

438
00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:31,760
know what? 
That's just it. 

439
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:36,520
They've crossed the line there. 
Is there anything that the that 

440
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:40,240
the parable has taught us other 
than that there is no line? 

441
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:44,360
There is no line for you? 
How wonderful is that? 

442
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:46,200
Then? 
How could there possibly be a 

443
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:51,360
line for the person you're 
sitting next to until we become 

444
00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:55,400
a community of grace. 
I, by the way, I feel like I'm 

445
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,240
wanging on you guys. 
I don't mean to do that. 

446
00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:58,640
And I don't even know what Wang 
means. 

447
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:06,680
I, I, I, I feel like I am not 
saying that I, I, I don't have 

448
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:08,440
in my mind these different 
scenarios. 

449
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,520
Like while I remember when you 
were ungracious and I remember 

450
00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:13,880
when you were. 
I don't have particular things 

451
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,240
in mind. 
I simply know this, that if we 

452
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:23,200
were reflecting the grace that 
God gave us to our interactions 

453
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,920
with one another, this place 
would be different. 

454
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:32,440
I don't know how I, I don't, I 
can't say how, but we're getting

455
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,200
there. 
We're on the way there. 

456
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:39,160
But the measure of, of this 
community's health, the measure 

457
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,720
to which we are fulfilling what 
the, what our statement says 

458
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,240
about us, that we're a Bible 
believing, a Christ centered 

459
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,760
community of believers. 
The measure of that is how 

460
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:53,360
gracious we are with each other.
And gracious is not treating 

461
00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:56,000
each other nice. 
You're good at that. 

462
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,480
We got a lot of nice people in 
this room. 

463
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,960
Grace is treating like people 
like they don't deserve where 

464
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,320
you know that person talks about
you behind their back. 

465
00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,440
You know that person has 
betrayed you and yet you're 

466
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,640
going to treat them like they 
don't deserve. 

467
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,560
That's when we're going to know 
that we're a community the way 

468
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,960
God wants us to be, that we're a
community of grace. 

469
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:29,600
When you learn, when you show 
that kind of grace to somebody 

470
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:37,440
else, God, make it so in my 
life, make it so in our life, 

471
00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:43,520
make it so. 
Lord, we pray, let's.