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But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went
out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius
for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he
went out about the third hour and saw others standing
idle in the market place; and to those he said, "You
too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will
give you." And so they went. Again he went out
about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same
thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and
found others standing; and he said to them, "Why
have you been standing here idle all day long?" (NASB)
Matt. 19:30-20:6
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When the day was over the farmer paid each worker one denarius.
Each one was paid exactly the same amount;there were no exceptions.
But the workers who had been laboring since the beginning of
the day complained that it was not fair to pay everyone equally.
They had worked all day and the last workers had only labored
a short time. The farmer answered that how much he paid his
workers was his choice.
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" Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man
the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my
own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" Thus the last shall
be first, and the first last. (NASB) Matt. 20:14-16
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Then Jesus once again adds the phrase, the "first
will be last; and the last, first." The meaning of Jesus'
phrase is that being first or last is not important. There
is no advantage to being rich or being the first worker when
talking about going to heaven. A person does not get into heaven
because he or she works hard.
Conclusion:
Jesus' point is that we do not get into heaven because we are
rich or have worked hard. We do not get into heaven by good
works. God will not look at our works - how much or how little
we have done. It does not depend on our efforts. It depends
only on God and He gives heaven - a denarius - as a reward
to each person who believes
in Jesus Christ
.
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