Matthew 21:28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.'
29. "And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went.
30. "The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I [will], sir'; but he did not go.
31. "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.
32. "For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing [this], did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him
Like the first son, we are sometimes prone to say no to God and only then realize whom we have rejected. God loves us too much to settle for our superficial answers to his call. The second son, who said he would obey and then didn’t, represented the nation of Israel in Jesus’ day. They said they wanted to do God’s will, but they constantly disobeyed. They were phony, just going through the motions. It is dangerous to pretend to obey God when our heart is far from him, because God knows our true intentions. Our actions must match our words.
