 Amen. Joshua chapter 16 is a short chapter, but it's talking about the children or the inheritance of Joseph. So that's what we're going to look at this evening is we're going to look at some details about Joseph's family and one thing first of all, you'll notice is Joseph is a little bit of a unique situation. If you read through the Old Testament, you read through the inheritance and when the children of Israel settled the land, you hardly hear about the tribe of Joseph. Instead, you will hear about the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Manasseh, which we've already heard several things about. Looking down at Joshua chapter 16 and verse number one, so we'll explore that this evening and look at why exactly that is, how that came about to be and see what we can take from that. There's a lot of pictures that we can take from that situation towards our own lives and towards the situation that we find ourselves in today. Look at verse number one. And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, under the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that go up from Jericho through Mount Bethel and go up from Bethel to Luz and passed along under the borders of Archi to Adaroth and go it down westward to the coast of Jefleti, unto the coast of Bethhoran, to the nether, and to Gezer, and to the goings out there thereof at the sea. When you talk about the sea, it's talking about the sea on the west side, which would be the Mediterranean sea. So the children of Joseph, so now we get into this, the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim took their inheritance. So that's the only tribe that you'll see, Joseph, where his children actually got the inheritance. So he's a unique situation. The tribe of Joseph is not really given an inheritance. Instead, it went to these two sons of Joseph, turned to Genesis chapter 49. And let's look at that. Jacob, of course, gave a blessing to all his children in Genesis chapter 49. And in Genesis chapter 49, let's look at the blessing that Joseph received first, and then we'll go into his children. So in Genesis chapter 49, Jacob is once again, he's blessing his children. And look at verse 22, is where the beginning of Joseph's blessing becomes. Joseph, the Bible says, in verse 22 of Genesis 49, is a fruitful bow. Even fruitful bow by a well whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. So this is talking about the trouble that Joseph had in his life. Joseph had a very troubled life. And of course, you know, I don't know if it's a literal, it's interesting that it brings up a well right at the beginning here in verse number 22. Because if you remember, Joseph's brothers actually threw him into a well. Look at Genesis chapter 37. He had much trouble in his life beginning with what his brothers did to him. So Joseph was the second youngest son of Jacob. The only other youngest son of Jacob was Benjamin. So basically, he was the second to last son of Jacob. And look at Genesis chapter 37 in verse number 3. The Bible says this. It says, now Israel, this is Jacob. This is Jacob's name was changed to Israel, if you remember. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. So Israel, Jacob, he favored Joseph. He favored Joseph over all the older boys. It was the son of his old age. You know, he was kind of, I don't know if you've ever heard of this pattern, but the youngest is always spoiled. This is kind of what you're seeing here. The youngest kind of gets the easiest out of the, you know, if you're the youngest child, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. But the youngest is usually the one that is spoiled, because parents, I don't know why they do this. I probably do it as well. But the youngest kind of gets the easiest way. And in this case, Israel, Jacob literally just favored Joseph over the others. And look what happened. Look what happened out of that. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. So if it turns into something like favoritism, that could be a real problem. I mean, just that's just kind of a side note. Favoritism with your children is never a good thing, folks. First of all, it's a selfish thing for a parent to do, all right? And it's maybe what the flesh wants is to favor one child over the other, because look, I mean, I suppose, you know, your children have different personalities. That could be one reason for it. And, you know, personalities maybe match, you know, a certain parent better than the other children. But look, it will affect what the Bible here is showing us is that it will actually affect their relationship with their siblings. So you could be actually hurting the relationship that your children have with each other when you're dead and gone. Think about it that way when you think about favoring your children. So don't do it. Don't do it. You must go to great lengths to not favor one over the other. And I mean, I put my wife and I, this is something that, you know, I'm not sure why my parents really stress this, that they provided everything for one that they would provide for the other. My wife also has this mind about her. But here's the thing, much thought in my family goes to not favoring one child over the other. Meaning, you know, we're not going to give an advantage to one child that we wouldn't give to the other child. And, you know, it's something that needs to be planned on purpose, especially when you look at, you know, girls and boys. And, you know, that's not going to look the same. So I'll just kind of give you, you know, my opinion about this is this. My thought is this. I have, because I really don't like, I really don't like the word equality. Because it's just, it always goes bad. The word equality is just, it always ends up bad. So look, things are not going to be equal when it comes to, especially raising boys and girls. But the goals for my children are the same. The goals that I have for my children are the same. They're the same for the boys and they're the same for the girls. I'm not going to get into the details of that. But the thing is, the path for the girls may be different than the path for the boys. But the goals, I am going to support my children in those goals, whether they be girls or boys in our family. So supporting them in those goals, it's super important that you do that with the same amount of effort as you do for all your children. And, you know, so we see just kind of an example here. It's not the point that we're going to get to in this room. We see an example of favoritism gone wrong with Joseph. So his, his brothers literally hated him. And we're not saying that's the right thing to do either. His brothers hated him because their father loved him more than them. Let's go back to the story. Look at verse 18 of Genesis 37. Back to the arrows. Remember the arrows that the blessing was talking about. Verse 18. And when they saw him afar off, this is talking about Joseph, the brother saw him, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. Look, they hated him so bad, they wanted to kill him. And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore and let us slay him and cast him into some pit. And he will say some, and we will say some evil beast that devoured him. We shall see what would become of his dreams. And Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands and said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto him, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him that he might, they might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again. And it came to pass when Joseph was come unto his brethren, they stripped him out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him. And they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty, there was no water in it. So this is kind of why I think that the well of verse 22 of the prophet or the blessing that Jacob was giving is this pit. It's a water hole of some kind. There was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread. So they put him in the hole, they put him in the well, they put him in the water hole, and they sat down to eat bread and they lifted up their eyes and looked. And behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spice theory and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let our hand not be upon him, for he's our brother in our flesh and his brethren were content. So Judah kind of, you know, saves him here. He kind of saves him by being clever and saying, hey, let's sell him. And at least we can get some money that way. So they basically take their brother. They were going to kill him. And instead they have mercy and they sell him into slavery. So Joseph was literally sold to a bunch of slave traders. Then of course the story goes he was sold to Potiphar, who was, you know, kind of a leader in Pharaoh's house. And then of course Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph of, you know, coming after her and he goes to prison for a couple of years. So Joseph's life had much trouble. And though through it he remained faithful and God brought him out of that trouble is the story of Joseph's life. Go back to Genesis 49. Go back to Genesis 49. Through all that trouble, through all that trouble, I'm not going to preach through the whole story of Joseph's life, but he gets himself, he remains faithful. He gets himself out of prison. He interprets some dreams for Pharaoh. We know how that turns out. He ends up being a great blessing to his very family that was in famine at that time and brings them to Egypt and actually ends up saving his family. So look at Genesis 49 and verse 24. But his bow abode in strength. And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. So this is saying in verse 24, as Jacob is blessing Joseph, he's saying, but you remain strong. You remain strong through all those trials, all that difficulty that you had in your life from your brothers trying to kill you, to slavery, to, you know, being falsely accused, to being put into prison. And you remain strong through all of that. Look at verse 25. Even by the God of thy father who shall help thee, and by the almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lie thundered, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be upon the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. The blessings of Joseph, literally he was separated from his brethren, but literally the blessings of Joseph saved the rest of his brethren in the story. Go back to Joshua chapter 16. So that is the story of Jacob's troubles and Jacob's strength and the blessing that, I'm sorry, Joseph's troubles and Joseph's strength in the blessing that Jacob gave him. Now look at Joshua chapter 16. Look at verse number five. And the border of the children of Ephraim. Now we're not talking about Joseph anymore. Now we're talking about Ephraim. According to their families was thus, even to the border of the inheritance on the east side, unto Athorathadar, unto Bethhoron the upper, and the border went out to the sea to MacMethah on the north side, and the border went about to the eastward, onto Tannath Shiloh and passed it by the east to Janoaha. And it went from Janoaha to Adorath to Nairath and came to Jericho and went out to Jordan. The border went out from Tapua westward onto the river Kana and the goings out thereof were at the sea, talking about that river flows into the Mediterranean Sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of children of Ephraim by their families. And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. And they draved not out the Canaanites that dwell in Giza, but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and serve under tribute. So the land of Ephraim in Manasseh looks like this. You have basically Judah in the south, and then you have just above Judah, you have a little strip of Benjamin, which is one of the reasons that Benjamin was part of the lower nation or the southern kingdom of Judah. And then right above that you have Ephraim. So Ephraim was the border city or the border nation of the northern kingdom of Israel with Judah. So if you remember and you read about in the kings, when you have the northern kings and the southern kings, and there's wars against the two, many times it would just refer to the northern kingdom of Israel as just Ephraim, because that is the nation that is directly on the border of Judah when it came to warring with the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah. So go back to Genesis chapter 48. So really there's no tribe of Joseph when it comes to the inherited land. It's only this Ephraim and Manasseh, and then right above Ephraim is Manasseh's land. So you have Ephraim and Manasseh, and then Manasseh of course had land on both sides of the Jordan. Go back to Genesis 48. So now we're in one chapter before Jacob's blessing to Joseph. So this is a unique situation where Joseph's inheritance was really given to his two sons, so he got a double inheritance. And let's look at what the Bible says in Genesis chapter 48. And Israel stretched out his right hand. So here Israel or Jacob is going to give a blessing, he's going to give a blessing to Joseph's sons. Because of the situation that Joseph was in and what Joseph had done for his family, for his brothers, for his father, when Jacob was old or Israel as he is called here. And he's giving this blessing to Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And look what the Bible says in verse 14. And Israel stretched out his right hand, remember that, and laid it on Ephraim's head. Who was the younger? And his left hand upon Manasseh's head guiding his hands wittingly. For Manasseh was the firstborn. So he's saying he purposely, wittingly means he knew what he was doing. It means he did this on purpose. And the right hand goes on the youngest and the left hand goes on the oldest. Look at verse 15. And he blessed Joseph and said, God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life unto this day. The angel which redeemed me from all evil blessed the lads and let my name be named on them. In the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. Why? And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it, my sons. He knew what he was doing. I know it. He shall also become a people and he shall also be great. But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he. And his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you and bring you again into the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren. Now he's talking to Joseph and he's saying, I'm giving you two portions, one for each of these boys, which I took out of the land of the Amorite with my sword and my bow. So Joseph got a double portion for his sons. That's number one. And the younger was given the blessing of the birthright blessing over the older. So it was kind of reversed in that way. So that's kind of the main point this evening. You say, why is it? He did that on purpose. Why is that? It's a picture for us. That's why that is. And it's a common theme throughout the Bible. What's the common theme of rejecting the firstborn? Rejecting the firstborn is a common theme throughout the Bible. Go to Genesis chapter 25. Even just one generation back, just one generation back with Esau and Jacob. We see the same thing happen, albeit it was, you know, some sneaky circumstances, but the same thing happened. It's a picture. God is trying to show us something here. And let's see if we can figure out what that is this evening. Look at Genesis chapter 25 and verse 29. The Bible says in Jacob sawed Pottage and Esau came from the field and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red Pottage for I am faint. Therefore his name was called Edom. So Jacob is, he's at home and he's cooking. All right? He's cooking stew or Pottage, as the Bible says. And Esau is out in the field and we'll find out later that Esau, you know, he's a hunter and he's out in the field and he must have been out there for a while because he was faint and he must have been very hungry because in verse number 31, Jacob takes advantage of that and Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright. See, Esau was the older child. Esau was the older child, meaning he is to get a double portion of the inheritance and he is to get the greater blessing from his father. And Jacob here says, sell me your birthright, sell me your inheritance as the oldest son. And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die. And what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob says, swear unto me this day, and he swear unto him. And he sold his birthright onto Jacob for a cup of soup. He sold his birthright. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and Pottage of lentils and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Yes, Jacob did a bad thing, but Esau apparently didn't value his birthright is what the Bible is saying here. He didn't have any value to him, he just sold it for a cup of soup. So Esau, it's interesting because Esau, you know, he was a really hard worker and we'll see that, you know, as he went out and he was a hunter, we'll see that later in the Bible. But look, that may be, you know, just another side note here, that may be his downfall. We talk a lot about that in this church, you know, talking about, you know, working hard and going out and just earning a living and doing all this. But look, you know, many people, especially unsaved people, many people, the fact that they're such a hard worker and that they might be, they're a, I'm a self-made man, you know, this could actually keep people, that pride could keep people from salvation. When you think about it that way. So being a hard worker is good, but don't begin trusting in yourself. Don't begin trusting in your own hard work. I remember, I think I told you this door, but I remember I worked for a man when I was younger and this man was, was a devout Catholic and I worked for him and he was a very hard worker. And I remember he was a very devout Catholic person and it surprised me that he would say this, but he'd say, God doesn't put food on my table. I do. You know, but he was a very devout, you know, Catholic, you know, whatever, you know, so he, he, he appeared religious, but he was such a hard worker that that was a stumbling block to him. That was a stumbling block to him because he was trusting in himself, in his work. So don't trust in yourself. Don't get, it can even make a saved person proud. It's good to do, but we always must trust in the Lord. So he sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. Go back to Genesis chapter 27. Genesis chapter 27, just a couple pages or a couple chapters over, and we'll see now Jacob steals the blessing from him too. He stole the, the birthright. He's going to trick the blessing out of him too. So basically Esau goes out hunting. Jacob says, you know, I'm going to, or Isaac, I'm sorry. Isaac says, you know, I'm going to give the blessing. Esau, go out and get me some venison. And then here we have, you know, Rebecca and Jacob conspire to fool Isaac because he can't see anything. He's old. He's blind. So they're going to steal the blessing from Esau. Look at verse number 33 of Genesis 27. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, who, where is he that had taken venison and brought it me? And I've eaten of it all before thou came us and blessed him. Yay. And he shall be blessed. This has already happened. So Jacob has already come in and he has already stolen the blessing. You know, his mom, Rebecca, dressed him up to be, to feel like a hairy man. He's already tricked him. And now Esau is finding out what's happened after he came back from hunting. And Esau heard the words of his father and he cried with a great exceeding bitter cry and said, into his father, bless me, even me also, oh my father. He says, no, no, no. He's like, give me the blessing. It was wrong. And he said, is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, hest thou not reserved a blessing for me? He's like, is there nothing else for me? Esau says. And Isaac answered and said to Esau, behold, I have made him thy Lord. And all his brethren, have I given to him for servants? And with corn and wine have I sustained him? And what shall I do now unto thee, my son? So he says, look, I've given him the blessing. He's like, you're going to serve is what he says. So basically, Jacob tricks Esau again here and he tricks Isaac and him and his mom, Rebecca, they conspire to steal the blessing from Esau. Turn to Romans chapter nine. Turn to Romans chapter nine. So Jacob, here we have again, again, we have this story where the younger receives the birthright and the blessing over the older. It's kind of, it's switched just like Ephraim over Manasseh. Look at Romans chapter nine and verse number 12. Romans chapter nine and verse number 12. And it was said unto her, speaking about Esau and Jacob, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. Again, the story we just read in verse number 13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Speaking about the prophecy of these two nations that these men would, would create or this would come from. It's a prophecy of which nation God chooses to carry the people into the promised land. The nation that God chooses that, you know, which nation the Messiah will come from. But it's also a picture, it's also a picture of how God chooses his people. Turn to Genesis chapter four. There's another example of this in the Bible. There's another example of the younger getting blessed over the older. Look at Genesis chapter four and verse number one. We see the story of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel. Look at verse number one of Genesis chapter four. Genesis chapter four. And Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bear Cain. So Cain was the oldest and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord and she again bear his brother Abel. Now he's the youngest and Abel was a keeper of the sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the ground. Look down at verse number three. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of the flock and the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well shall thou not be accepted? If thou doest not well sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire and thou shall rule over him. So Abel brought a blood sacrifice. Turn to Leviticus chapter 17 and look at verse number 11. Abel brought a sacrifice of the animals that he was raising, the firstlings of his flock. Look at Leviticus chapter 17. Leviticus chapter 17 and look at verse number 11. This is a super important verse in the Bible. You should highlight this or put a bracket around this verse in the Bible. This is a hugely important verse that ties a lot of doctrine in the Bible together. In Leviticus chapter 17, look at verse number 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I've given it unto you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. This is a super key verse for us right here. It is all about the blood. It must be blood. Look, it's all about, and look the blood of bulls and goats didn't take away their sins, but it was a picture of the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And that shows us that it is the blood of Jesus that covers our sins and that takes away our sins. So that is the problem with turn to Genesis chapter 3. So that is the problem with Abel or with Cain's sacrifice. Go to Genesis chapter 3. Go to Genesis chapter 3 and look at verse number 17. Because what Cain did was instead of bringing an animal sacrifice, what he did in verse, look at verse number 17. On the judgment of man where the Bible says, And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and as eaten of the tree, which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou return. He is showing them how hard it is going to be, how much work that they are going to have to put in to till the ground to grow food to eat here is what he's telling. So that is what Cain brought. Cain brought the fruit of his own labor is what he brought, symbolizing his own work, the sweat of his own face. Look, farming even today is hard. It's hard work. And God, he brought a sacrifice, symboling his own work, and God rejected that sacrifice, as he will reject that sacrifice from anybody at all time. Turn back to Romans chapter 9. He will reject the sacrifice of your own work no matter how hard you have worked. He will reject that sacrifice from anyone always. Now, let's think about this in the perspective. So we see that the youngest, there's this symbolism of the youngest getting the inheritance or the blessing or the birthright over the oldest. And we see this again and again in the Old Testament. Let's look at nations. Let's look at nations. Israel was the firstborn nation. Israel was the firstborn nation, but they are not the chosen. It is the same with Israel for the same. And guess what? It's for the same reason that Cain's sacrifice was not accepted. Look at Romans chapter 9 and look at verse number 30. Romans chapter 9 and verse number 30. The Bible says, What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, hath attained a righteousness. Even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. So that's interesting because Israel had fallen into, you know, a works-based salvation. They had fallen into, you know, following the law for their salvation. Now look, like there's two ways to heaven, right? Faith and never sin. But, you know, good luck on the second one. So they had not attained. They were following the law for righteousness. Look, if you're going to follow the law for righteousness, you better be righteous. But there's none righteous. That's the problem. So they followed the law of righteousness, but they had not attained. They had not attained. We can't attain to it. We better find a different way. But they had not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were the works of the law, they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Look, if you think that you're going to work your way to heaven, you're going to stumble. You're going to stumble at that stumbling stone. So Israel had started to trust the law. They had started, they fell into works-based salvation. And the Gentiles, they received salvation by faith, not by the works of the law. And thus they will receive the birthright. Anyone that seeks Christ through faith in him will receive the birthright. We are the chosen. Anybody that seeks Christ through faith is the chosen. But we were not the firstborn. We were not the firstborn. Look at Matthew chapter 20. Go to Matthew chapter 20. Look, this works for individuals and this also is a picture for nations. It's also a picture for nations. Look at Matthew chapter 20, one of my favorite parables in the Bible. Look at Matthew chapter 20. We're going to read this parable, Matthew chapter 20. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when they had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. So right away at the beginning of the day, he agreed that he'll pay them a penny a day. And he went about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. So the third hour, nine o'clock in the morning. So a day starts at six in the morning, by the way. Six in the morning the day starts and nine a.m. on the third hour, he goes out and he's looking for more workers. And he went out and he sent it to them. Go also into the vineyard. Whatever is right, I will give you. And they went their way. So he didn't even tell them what they're going to get, what they're going to get paid. He just says, hey, I'm going to hire you, go out in the vineyard and just get working. And he went about the sixth hour, which is noon and the ninth hour, which is three o'clock. And he didn't likewise. And about the eleventh hour, which is five o'clock, he went out and he found others standing idle. And he says unto them, why stand ye here all day idle? That's a great question, by the way, but I'm not going to get into that. So what are you just standing around for? And they say unto him, because no man hath hired us. He said unto them, go also into the vineyard. And whatsoever is right, that ye shall receive. So when even was come, and the Lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, call the laborers and give them their hire. Beginning from the last unto the first, when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. So this is a super interesting story. So first of all, the only people he told was getting a penny a day was the first people that he hired at six o'clock in the morning. And everybody else, he just said get out there and work, and I'll pay you what's right. And so everybody else, the third, at the sixth, at the eleventh hour, he just said get out there and work, and I'll pay you. So now they come back in, and who gets paid first? But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received, but they that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. He starts paying the guys that started working the last, he pays them first. And what does he give them? He gives them the same thing that the people that were first, that had agreed that they made the full price, the full price of a day's work, he gives the people at the eleventh hour, and he gives it to them first. And right away, what do we see happen? But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house. So it's interesting here that the worst people here, the worst actors, the people that are murmuring and causing trouble, the worst people were the ones that started and agreed for a penny a day. They were the first. The first were the worst in this story. That's interesting. And you know what? You'll see that. You'll also see that with Esau, you'll see it with Manasseh, and you definitely see it with Cain. They were the worst. They were the worst. Okay, maybe I'm being a little bit hard on Manasseh, but Joseph was pulling from Manasseh. He was saying, no, no, he deserves. Put your hand on him. Put your hand on him. Where Esau, he was, you know, he was angry and bitter over the whole thing, but he despised his own birthright. Nobody forced him to do what he did. So the worst, the worst were the first, and it's because they thought that they deserved more. That's why they were the worst, because they just thought that they deserved more. Look, the deal was fulfilled here. Nobody did anything wrong here. They were promised a penny, and they got a penny. But they were the worst out of all the groups of people. They said, these last have wrought but one hour, and now has made them equal unto us. Which have borne, see, there's equal. Equal is always like a bad word. Thou hath made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden of the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I did thee no wrong. Dis that now agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way, and I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. It is not lawful for me to do with what I will with my own. Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last, for many be called, but few chosen. And there's the salvation lesson right there. There's the salvation lesson. So first of all, it applies to the nations, because the first is going to be last. You know why it's really hard to get a Jew saved? Because they think they're the first. What they need to be saved, just like everybody else. But they think they're the first. They think they're the first. It's super hard to get past that. It's super hard to get past that pride. And look, here's the thing. Somebody that's 89 years old and on their dying breath that accepts Jesus Christ is going to the same heaven that you are. They're getting a penny. They're getting a penny. And you know what? God says it's mine to give. And I'll give it to who I want. Look, it's all the same. Apostate Christianity today is all the same. It's all these people saying, look at how hard we've worked. Look at all the great things that we're doing. It's all the same. It's just different forms of works-based salvation. That's all it is. I mean, all the apostate Christianity today, the Catholics. I mean, we just met one today. Who was I with? Brother Francisco. Just like, I know I'm, you know, I'm the first. Get off my porch. That's what he was saying to us. It's like, I'm the first. Get off my porch. Because I'm Catholic. Who are you? You know, that's the American Catholic right there. Super prideful. You won't see that in the Filipino Catholic and Catholics, other places in the world. You know, you see some more humility there, which is why they're so easy to give the gospel to. But boy, there's some proud apostate Christians today. And it's going to keep them. Look, they think they're the first. They think they're the first, but they're relying on the sweat of their face. They're relying on the fruit of the ground that they've harvest themselves. And look, it's going to be rejected. It's going to be rejected. The Protestants are no different. It's veiled works. It's even worse. It still works, but it's veiled works through the idea that you can lose your salvation. Working to get it or working to keep it is the same thing, folks. There's no, there's no logical difference there. The trust is still in yourself. The trust is still in your own works, but the Protestants, they're so twisted up that they'll sit there and they'll tell you, yeah, it's believe in Jesus and then get baptized and walk. We met this one today too. Get baptized and walk and walk the walk and live that life and follow the Bible and all this. And I'm like, who are you trusting in? Jesus. That's how twisted up the Protestant is today. You know, I mean, I'd rather, you know, it's much easier to get through to a Catholic with the Bible in many, many cases than it is Protestants because of that reason. They're so twisted up. They're like, you got to do right. You got to get baptized. You got to go to church. You got to do all these things. You can't turn away from God. You got to live a good life and all this. But who are you trusting in? Jesus. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's like they've been brainwashed. But look, you can see this in action. You can see this birthright in this idea that the firstborn thinks that they deserve the birthright. You can see it out in action soul winning every single time you go. But look, it's the birthright and the blessing. It only comes through faith is what the Bible is teaching us here. It doesn't come through your own works. And that is the picture that is the picture of what the Bible is showing us when the first is the last and the last is the first. When you see that every single time in the Old Testament, it's a picture of us. It's a picture of Jesus. It's a picture of salvation itself in the Bible. I thank God for that picture. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.