WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.080 And go to the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.120 We're going to be in chapter 21. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:23.519 So I said last week we're entering into what is called the Passion Week, the final week of life of Jesus' earthly ministry, moving toward that day of ultimate suffering, the cross. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.640 We find him in our passage again in the temple. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:31.760 We're going to be looking at verses. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:40.880 Well, we'll start in verse 23 and work our way all the way to the end of the chapter, a big section, but very related to one another. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:54.159 And as Jesus enters into this temple, he returns to teach and finds himself confronted and interrupted by religious authorities with a question about his authorization for doing that. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:03.600 And we find the conflict that's been swirling around Jesus since his birth and all through his ministries coming to a head. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:21.200 And starting at the point that we'll look at, all the way through the end of the chapter and into the end of this next chapter, we're going to witness no more than five confrontations, five tense encounters between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:27.840 Today we're going to look at his interaction with the chief priests and the elders, beginning in verse 23. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:31.599 And in verse 45 mentions the chief priest and the Pharisees. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:44.799 In the next chapter, which we'll look at later, we'll see a confrontation with the Pharisees and Herodians in verses 15 and 16, the Sadducees in verse 23, and even a specialist in the Torah in verse 35. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:54.239 And following that will be Jesus' stinging condemnation of the religious leaders that is found in chapter 23. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:12.400 Throughout all of these encounters, Jesus confronts and silences the religious leaders with the various means, his actions, his questions, his scripture quotations, and his parables. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:25.039 In each of those situations, he is seen as a master of scripture, an expert in argumentation, and he has the ability to shut the mouths of those who try to silence his. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:32.560 We're going to cover two of these confrontations today and a third one next week, and then more in weeks to come. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:45.199 But I want us to understand what's happening here in the life of Jesus Christ as he confronts people who have not been fulfilling their roles and responsibilities in leading people into the kingdom of God. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:54.639 In fact, the religious leaders have been countering any effort to bring the kingdom of God into the lives of others. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:59.840 The first thing I want us to notice in verses 23 to 27 is a stony stalemate. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.159 A stony stalemate, I call it. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:07.919 Take a look at verse 23. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:15.680 He enters the temple, the chief priest and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things? 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.080 Who gave you this authority? 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:25.520 If we don't realize on the surface quickly what's being said here, it's important to know what's going on. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:27.199 These two factions of people. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:31.199 They're described here as the chief priest and the elders of the people. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:37.919 Without our understanding, we would just sort of go past that without realizing the significance of those remarks. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:43.840 The chief priests were one group, high-ranking members of the priestly line. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:52.080 They joined together with the high priest himself in giving oversight to the temple activities, to the treasury, to the priestly orders, and all the sacrifices. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:59.280 The elders, on the other hand, the elders of the people, were members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:07.120 And so we have here representatives from what would be the faction of the Sadducees and people who are representative of the Pharisees. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.719 Those two people hated each other. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.080 How much did they hate each other? 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:25.199 Well, we discover an insight in a little passage in Acts 23 where Paul is under trial and he's in the middle of a group answering for himself. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:36.720 And it says in that passage that he realized that a part of the crowd was Sadducees, and the part of the other crowd were Pharisees. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:40.800 And so he takes advantage of the moment. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:00.959 Why did he say that? 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:13.680 Well, Luke tells us, because the Sadducees say there's no resurrection at all, nor angels nor spirits. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.920 And the Pharisees accept those things. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:22.959 And immediately Paul is no longer the focus. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:27.040 Now they're lobbing stones at each other. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:32.879 And it says here that a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.160 And then in verse 9 it says, the shouting grew louder. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:46.480 And some of the scribes and the Pharisees got up, and even though they hated Paul, they began to argue vehemently, Luke says, We find nothing evil in this man. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:49.199 Paul's one of us. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:58.879 And then it says, when the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:08.319 Not because of what he said about Jesus, but because he said, I'm not a Sadducee, I'm a Pharisee. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:29.360 So here are these two groups in this passage of Scripture who would rip each other limb from limb in any other argument that they had, or all of a sudden here, arm in arm, pals, because there's one person they don't like, and that's Jesus. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:36.879 And they both ask this question By what authority are you doing these things? 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:39.600 Who gave you this authority? 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.639 This is not a casual question for them. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:54.319 These were the religious leaders, priests, scribes, Pharisees, members of the Sanhedrin Council, whose authority among the Jews was among the highest. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.199 And it wasn't an improper question, if it was asked sincerely. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:06.079 I mean, here Jesus just walked in the day before into this holy place and started rearranging the furniture. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:13.600 And here, the next day, he's back and he's teaching like it's his place. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:17.120 Who is this man? 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:29.600 This Nazarene, this man, he's not a scribe, he's not a Pharisee, he's not a Sadducee, he's not a priest, he's not an elder, he's not a well-known rabbi, and he's teaching here. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:31.519 Why are you here? 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:40.879 Why are you saying you have the authority to do these things, they say? 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:43.519 Well, what are these things? 00:07:43.680 --> 00:08:01.040 Well, yesterday, the triumphal entry, yesterday, the cleansing of the temple, yesterday, the healing of the lame and the blind, today, standing in the middle of the temple and teaching, or in the temple complex and teaching. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:07.360 All of those events have said something about Jesus. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:17.360 They've conferred on him a fourfold title that he's king and judge and healer and teacher. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:25.040 When he came in, they cried out, Hosanna to the Son of David. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:28.959 He's the king, he's the Messiah. 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:36.879 By calling him the Son of David meant he fulfilled all the obligations that needed to be fulfilled to be the Messiah. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:41.440 As the judge, he is the divine legislator. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.639 As the healer, he's the creator himself. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:49.440 And as teacher, he's nothing other than incarnate wisdom. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.080 And these religious leaders have no way to deal with this. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:09:08.960 There's no way they can accept that all of these titles should converge on this one man without their giving him the authority to be that one man, to be all of that. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:24.960 And they can't deal with the truth that all of these things have come upon Jesus with such obvious force and such obvious absoluteness that his origin is from God. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:33.519 So they ask this vital question: Where is your authority? 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:35.919 Because we didn't give it to you. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:41.039 Jesus responds with a question. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:46.320 And he does so in a very common way that would have been argued back then. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:54.559 An adverse question is responded to by a counter question, and then there's an admission, and then there's a final return. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:57.600 This is a common way of conversation here. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:01.840 Argumentative, yes, but common to them. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:04.799 And he responds with a question. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:06.960 I've got a question for you. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.399 John's baptism, where did it come from? 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:15.200 From heaven or from human origin? 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:22.559 And these religious leaders realize that Jesus has just laid a logical trap for them. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:25.279 They can't answer it. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:35.039 On one hand, if they validate John's ministry, Jesus is going to connect the dots between John and Jesus. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:40.000 Because what John says about Jesus is really, really important. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:44.000 And that's what Jesus is driving at when he asks the question. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:46.879 Well, what did John say about Jesus? 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:50.480 Matthew's gospel, we read this back in chapter three. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:58.639 Jesus said, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:01.679 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:07.919 His one-owning fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.720 He was talking about Jesus. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:15.919 John's gospel, John's baptism or testimony, gets even clearer. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:18.879 I am the voice of one crying into the wilderness. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:22.000 Make straight the way of the Lord. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:28.879 And then he said in John 1, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:40.639 Well, if they say that John's baptism came from heaven, then John's pronouncement about Jesus could have, well, that would have also come from heaven. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:41.440 They can't do that. 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:42.879 They won't do that. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:51.039 But they can't publicly deny the ministry of John the Baptist either. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:57.600 Because the people saw him as a prophet, ordained of God. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.879 And they feared the people because of that. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:08.799 Even though John had been dead for some time, he still held sway over the people the people's opinion. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:15.600 And so here they are, stuck between two impossible answers for them. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:18.399 And so they equivocate. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.080 Oh we don't know. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:25.279 Squirming. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:33.440 Like a politician who's been given a very direct question. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:38.960 And doing like politicians do and like the rest of us do. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:43.440 Interested not in the truth, but in making our opponent look bad. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:50.000 These religious leaders are not interested in pursuing the truth. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:54.399 They're interested in pursuing an outcome that's best for themselves. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:01.600 And so their refusal to answer this question immediately exposes their dishonesty. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:06.399 It exposes them to the accountability of their equivocating answer. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:09.440 They're spiritually dishonest men. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:12.559 They're not seeking truth from God. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:20.159 They've hardened their hearts already to God's revelation, or they would have responded differently already to Jesus. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.159 And so Jesus' condition has not been met. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:21.200 He refuses to enter and later changes his mind and goes. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:27.120 The second son, however, says, Dad, I'll go, but doesn't. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:33.039 And Jesus asks the question, which of the two did what the father wanted? 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:36.960 And these men answer the question. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:42.000 Well, the answer's obvious. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.679 The one who went. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:49.440 To agree to go and not go is to not go. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.399 To say you're not going, but then go is to go. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.320 It's a very obvious point. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:00.480 But the application is very pointed to the Pharisees. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:11.200 They claimed to have a favored relationship with God. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:21.759 But when God called them to affirm the ministry and message of John the Baptist, they refused. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:24.559 They didn't go. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:31.519 And he picks out two categories of people: prostitutes and tax collectors. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:39.279 People who, on the very surface of it, are certainly not laying claim to having a special relationship with God. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:49.279 However, when they heard the preaching of John the Baptist, they repented and were baptized. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:54.639 They said no at first, and now they've gone. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:16:08.960 And so these priests and these Pharisees who have all this outward appearance of allegiance to God are the unrepentant ones and don't believe the preaching of John the Baptist. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.960 And Jesus brings the point home to them. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:23.759 He says to them, I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:27.759 For John came to you in a way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:36.320 Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him, but you, when you saw it, didn't even change your minds then and believe him. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:58.320 These look ready but actually refusing Pharisees can't stand the fact that Jesus has shown them so disfavorably and unfavorably before God by exposing them over against these people who look rebellious but are repentant. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:07.359 And then Jesus tells them a second parable, parable of a vineyard owner, beginning in verse 33. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.240 And without a pause, he launches into the second story. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.359 It's a stinging one, just like the first. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:20.799 A landowner plants a vineyard and rents it out to some farmers. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:27.519 And when harvest time approaches, he sends servants to those tenants to collect the fruit. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:30.720 But that doesn't happen. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:36.240 The tenant sees his servants, they beat one, kill another, and they stone a third one. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.119 And then the landowner sends more servants, and they do the same thing to them. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.720 And then the landowner sends his son and they kill the son. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.119 It's a very, very tragic story. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:18:01.200 But it's simply and sadly this that God so loved the world that he chose Israel from among the nations to be a blessing to the nations. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.160 He gave them his law. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:07.759 He set up a city. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.599 He gave them instructions for how to understand the forgiveness of sins. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.640 He told them that he would be their God. 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:29.839 There are several verbs in verse 33 that describe how much God or the landowner works on behalf of this land to prepare it for the people that are going to rent it. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:43.440 The Lord sends his prophets among the people to reap what he's sown, and the leaders of the nation of Israel persecute and kill the prophets. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:49.440 Then with great patience, God sends them more prophets, and the same fate is met by them. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:55.039 Finally, he so loves Israel that he sends his own son, Jesus Christ. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:02.000 And Israel's leaders plot, arrest, and kill the son. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:07.440 So back to the story. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:14.400 Jesus asked the question when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these farmers? 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:19.599 And the religious leaders are once again speaking their own judgment. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:25.279 He will completely destroy these terrible men. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:30.880 And lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit of the harvest. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:44.079 And if you look down at verse 36 46, they end up being the answer to their own statement. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:50.000 Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds because the people regarded him as a prophet. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:20:05.759 So here's this stony stalemate that's followed with two stinging statements that are made here in these stories about the leaders. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.400 What are we to learn from this? 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.000 Well, there's some significant things here. 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:18.799 And the first thing that we learn from this is God's refusal of empty religious devotion. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:26.079 In the first parable, Jesus exposes these the false religion of the chief priest and the elders. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:30.079 They're all about saying that they obey the Lord. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:37.039 But when it comes to actually working in the field, just like the son who said he would go but didn't, they refuse. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:47.039 The second son, if you were to look at the two of them, that second one looks so much better than the first one. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:54.960 The father speaks to the second one, and his reply is verbally all the father could really want. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:58.000 I will go, sir. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:13.519 With this perfect politeness, the second son speaks to his father in a way to give his father the greatest confidence that what he wanted done is going to get done. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.960 That he's fully at his father's disposal. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:21.279 I'll do whatever you want, Dad. 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:28.079 He ascends to his father, he consents to his father's request. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:33.920 He is very polite and precise and good-sounding. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:47.759 He carries himself with this easy natural religiosity, which makes it feel like he's someone who stands in great contrast to his ungodly brother. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.680 But he didn't go. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:53.839 But he didn't go. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:22:06.400 All of his fine phrases, all of his fair Promises, they're really nothing but words of deceit and falsehood. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:14.319 You see, the older brother, or the second brother, never did go to the vineyard. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:17.680 He didn't even go to look at it, let alone work in it. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:21.200 He didn't pick up a pruning knife or a spade or anything. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:22.960 He didn't go. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:30.400 His father's vineyard could go to ruins for all he cared. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:45.920 And yet, all the while he's bowing and scraping, promising and proclaiming, lauding his father, saying he's in submission to him and never is. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:58.319 And the Lord paints a picture of vain religious worship with that stark of a story. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.559 You see, we look at religious people and think, how wonderful for them, how devoted they are. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:10.079 I hope they find significance in life from what they do. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:16.880 From God's vantage point, it's repulsive and dishonoring. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:33.119 They profess great reverence for the divine word, but when the divine word was spoken to them through John the Baptist, they plugged their ears and refused to hear it and carried on with their religious play. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:40.880 The book of James tells us to be doers of the word, not hearers only. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.240 Because if we do that, we're deceiving ourselves. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:52.079 If anyone's a hear of the word, not a doer, it's like someone who looks in his face in a mirror, walks away, and forgets what kind of person they are. 00:23:53.680 --> 00:24:01.920 He says this one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:05.200 This person will be blessed. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:17.440 If anyone thinks that their religion, without controlling their tongue, is worth anything, James says it's useless and we're deceiving ourselves. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:21.920 He said, true devotion to God will show itself. 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:32.000 It will show itself in caring for the distressed and caring for those that are looked down upon and those who are in difficulty. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:40.720 And it will also mean internal purity of heart, keeping yourself undefiled from the world. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:53.200 So here, one of the significant statements of lesson we receive here is God's condemnation against empty religious, vain religious activity. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:56.960 He doesn't care a whit about it in any favorable way. 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:00.079 In fact, he pronounces judgment upon it. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.279 There's another significant thing we learned from this. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:12.160 Jesus pulls it to a point for these religious leaders at the latter part after all of the stories are over. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:21.680 Verse 42, he says, Have you never read in the scriptures the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.960 This is what the Lord has done, and it's wonderful in our eyes. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:30.160 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:37.440 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:43.519 The second thing we learn here is the retribution of God upon all who reject the Son. 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:50.400 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken into pieces, and whoever it falls on, it will shatter him. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:56.559 Let's go back to that second parable for a second. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:04.000 Things didn't turn out like the patient, long-suffering landowner had hoped. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:10.799 He sent the servants, and then more servants, a lot of servants, and then his son. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:23.440 And when the sun came, just like the sun is in front of these chief priests and elders, they did exactly what the story tells. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:28.720 When the tenant farmers saw the sun, they plotted against him. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:34.000 When these chief priests and elders saw the sun, they plotted against him. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:38.640 And they said to themselves things that they wouldn't dare say openly. 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:41.279 They hate Jesus. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:52.319 They know he's the Messiah, but they're afraid that he's going to assume a position of authority and steal away their authority and their inheritance and the wealth that they'll receive. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:55.039 They say, This is the heir. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:57.039 Let's come, let's kill him. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:01.359 Let's keep this, let's seize this inheritance. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:05.279 They knew he was the heir. 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:14.160 They knew that he was the one who was going to receive the inheritance, but they were trying to figure out a way to make it work out so it was better for them. 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:19.599 And so they caught the son, going back to the story. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:24.000 They cast him out of the vineyard, and they killed him. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:28.400 And here Jesus becomes prophetic in his story. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:33.519 These tenant farmers immediately carry out what they plotted. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:37.039 No sooner was it said that they went about doing it. 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:40.160 And then the three acts of this drama are carried out. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:45.279 They catch the sun, they cast him out of the vineyard, and they kill him. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:50.880 They catch Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:54.240 They cast him out of the council halls of Caiaphas. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:58.000 And they take him to Calvary and they kill him. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.680 The air is slain, the job's done. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:05.519 But it's not. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:07.519 It's not. 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:16.079 These murderers don't long enjoy the luxuries of the vineyard that they thought they now had in their possession. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:20.240 Swift justice overtakes them. 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:31.039 Jesus asks the Pharisees and the chief priest to answer the question: What will happen to these men? 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.920 What will the owner of the vineyard do when he comes? 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:46.559 He will completely destroy these terrible men and lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit of the vineyard. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:51.039 And they pronounce the judgment upon themselves. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:10.240 All of the share and the honors of the kingdom that these religious leaders could have enjoyed if they had acknowledged the king, Jesus, is going to be ripped away from them and given to another people who will produce fruit. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:22.960 Jesus presses that theme of judgment home in these latter verses when he says, He who falls on the stone will be broken into pieces, but if that stone falls on them, they're going to be shattered. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:27.279 And he pulls together a couple places of scripture. 00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:36.160 The first half speaking about the personal liability, the judgment of individuals who stumble or fall over Jesus Christ. 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:38.079 Isaiah chapter 8. 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:47.279 He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he'll be a stone that causes men to stumble in a rock that makes them fall. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:51.680 For the people of Jerusalem, he will be a trap and a snare, and many of them will stumble. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:53.359 They will fall and be broken. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:55.599 They'll be snared and captured. 00:29:55.920 --> 00:30:07.680 Jesus pulls from Isaiah 8, and he also pulls from Daniel chapter 2, of the stone that was cut out, not made with hands, and rolls over the kingdoms of the earth and crushes them. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:16.240 At the end of days, Jesus will come as judge, and he will fall on humanity. 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:22.640 And if the sun falls on an unrepentant heart, it will be shattered. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:24.319 Shattered. 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:33.119 This despised stone will stand as the cornerstone over all humanity. 00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:46.240 You see, Jesus is not only chosen by God and promoted to a place of prominence, he is also dangerous to ignore. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:58.319 And these men should have known it, because the last prophet of the Old Testament says this in Malachi chapter 3. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:05.920 See, I'm going to send my messenger to clear the way before me, John the Baptist. 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:10.160 Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:16.319 The messenger of the covenant you delight in. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.279 No, he's he is that messenger. 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:22.400 See he's coming, says the Lord of armies. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:26.160 But notice the next verse, Malachi three. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:30.799 But who can endure the day of his coming? 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:34.799 And who is able to stand when he appears? 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:40.160 For he will be like a refiner's fire and like a launderer's bleach. 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:43.359 Who will be able to stand? 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:46.240 Not a one of us. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:48.559 Not a one of us. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:32:04.559 Peter picks up these verses that Jesus uses to encourage the people of God and to tell them that with them there is acceptance. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:09.519 He says, Honor will come to you who believe. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:19.440 But for those who are unbelieving, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:23.039 They stumble because they disobey the word. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:26.079 They were destined for this. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:35.039 Jesus is not only premier and prominent, he's also dangerous to ignore. 00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:39.119 This is what Jesus is warning these men about. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:44.400 But let me continue on because there's a few other lessons I want to get to. 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:48.160 And this one might seem contradictory, but it's not. 00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:52.720 God's repeated patience to all sinners. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:56.000 God's repeated patience to all sinners. 00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:58.720 Let's go back to the first story. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:01.839 Man has two sons. 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:04.160 He says to the first, go. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:05.839 And he says, No. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:12.480 This first son's quite a quite a son. 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:18.960 Son, I want you to go to work today in our vineyard. 00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:24.799 And immediately there is the relationship, father and son. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:27.039 There is the father's claim of authority. 00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:34.079 There's the son's duty and the scope and sphere of his responsibilities, all in one word. 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:40.079 And this first son, no, no, no, no, no. 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:41.200 Not going. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:48.000 And he's outspoken in his denial to be willing to do anything his father wants him to do. 00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:52.640 I've got better things to be concerned with than to think about what you want. 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:53.759 Dad. 00:33:57.599 --> 00:33:59.200 I will not go. 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:04.640 I don't know, Dads, what would you do if you had a son who said that to you? 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:06.079 Clean the garage. 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:16.400 No! It's rude, it's rebellious, it's ungrateful, and it's counter to family love. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:18.800 And you'd say that and a whole lot more, right? 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:22.000 I have. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:28.960 Let me bring out a point here. 00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.239 The shock is that the father puts up with it. 00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:39.199 The father bears with that. 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:42.559 Huh. 00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:46.079 The second story. 00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:49.920 Here's this landowner. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:35:00.320 He doesn't just take a sort of briar-filled section of unattended land and hires people to make it better. 00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:07.840 He goes to great expense and energy to take that plot of land and to make it fruitful. 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:16.559 He plants it, he fences it, he puts a wine press in it, he guards it with a tower. 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:20.159 It's ready to bear fruit right there. 00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:27.039 And he hires these guys to, well, casually watch what's already made up. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:33.199 Everything that's there for good production is done by the landowner. 00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:36.159 He sends his servants to collect the fruit. 00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:37.599 Seems very natural. 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:45.199 These guys would have to say, look, I'm not working a field like my cousin over there, who's having a really rough time of it with that landowner. 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:48.000 This landowner is a great guy. 00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:58.559 These servants who ought to have received the servants, or these tenants who ought to receive the servants with the same respect as the landowner? 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:00.960 No, they don't. 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:04.159 They beat them, kill them, stone them. 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:09.119 What does the Lord of the Vineyard do? 00:36:11.679 --> 00:36:12.800 What would you do? 00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:17.760 Three of your servants were killed by some guys who are renting out your property. 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:22.159 I think I'll send them some more servants. 00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:28.480 That's what he did. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:35.199 Anxious to win over these tenant farmers. 00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:41.599 He thinks maybe I just didn't send enough guys to tell him how much I want this fruit. 00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:43.360 So he sends them more. 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:46.239 Way more than he sent them the first time. 00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:53.599 Trusting that these men would yield to all these repeated calls. 00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:56.880 Nothing good comes out of it. 00:36:57.360 --> 00:36:59.760 They do the same thing to those guys. 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:03.119 He sends his son. 00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:04.960 Who would do that? 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:15.679 Luke even has the landowner posing the question, what shall I do now? 00:37:16.079 --> 00:37:19.280 They killed those servants, they killed all those servants. 00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:21.280 I'll send my son. 00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:40.480 Waves of servants being killed. 00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:43.840 More waves of servants being killed. 00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:44.960 His son. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:49.760 What is this telling us? 00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:57.119 This father who puts up with a rebellious son, this landowner puts up with these rebellious tenant farmers. 00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:05.119 The strength of God's long suffering and patience to rebellious people of all kinds. 00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:08.800 All kinds of people. 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:13.440 Take a breath. 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.599 It was God's to give you. 00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:48.320 Every life, every moment of life, every table filled with food, every season in its cycle, every day that dawns and every night that comes, every laugh around a table, the enjoyment of family and friends, these are the gifts of God. 00:38:49.360 --> 00:38:53.039 He makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust. 00:38:53.360 --> 00:38:58.400 He gives them harvest in their seasons and gladness in their hearts. 00:39:00.719 --> 00:39:07.599 This benevolent landowner, however, has his patience come to an end. 00:39:09.599 --> 00:39:13.199 And God's patience will eventually come to an end. 00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:19.920 Let's pull it away from the context of this story with these religious leaders. 00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:25.199 But let me speak kindly but urgently to all of us. 00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:30.960 We must never regard the scriptures as speaking simply to strangers and people in past ages. 00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:33.199 This is something to say to us here. 00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:39.760 And the rejection of God's prophets here, that's a sin of all of us. 00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:46.000 The murder of the Son of God was a crime, but it wasn't just a crime of people in the past. 00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:48.320 It's a crime of us all. 00:39:49.199 --> 00:39:51.199 We've all shared in it. 00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:55.760 We might say, look, we weren't back there, we might have done things differently. 00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:56.639 Really? 00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:07.920 How many messengers has God sent you in the vineyard to receive the fruit of the land that's his? 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:17.119 How many days have you woken up with your heart loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength? 00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:19.360 I haven't. 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:24.320 God has sent us many messengers. 00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:29.199 He's given us wave after wave after wave of patience. 00:40:31.199 --> 00:40:33.119 And what have we done with it? 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:37.519 We've had family members plead with us about our soul. 00:40:37.679 --> 00:40:41.199 We've had friends tell us about the life that they've received in Christ. 00:40:41.360 --> 00:40:42.239 And what have we done? 00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:43.760 We've ignored it. 00:40:44.079 --> 00:40:45.679 We've run away from it. 00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:49.760 We've neglected it, or we've argued against them. 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:53.599 God has sent his messengers. 00:40:54.719 --> 00:41:09.039 And time after time we've opposed, especially when our consciences have been struck, and we find ourselves needing to wrestle not only with them, but our own conscience, and so we speak louder, hoping to drown them and it out. 00:41:17.280 --> 00:41:24.719 We've heard the message of his death, of his burial, of his resurrection, of his sacrifice for sin, for his call to eternal life. 00:41:24.880 --> 00:41:30.000 And how often have we said, not today, not today. 00:41:40.559 --> 00:41:46.079 And if you're still refusing him today, you stand as an adversary still. 00:41:53.840 --> 00:41:57.760 Be careful lest the prophecy becomes true of you. 00:41:58.559 --> 00:42:09.280 He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and he will let out his vineyard to other farmers who will give them the fruit that's due him. 00:42:11.440 --> 00:42:18.159 What an unhappy people it is to reject the message and to reject the Son. 00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:20.480 May it never be said of us. 00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:28.719 May it always be said of us that he has become our teacher, our friend, our savior forever. 00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:33.519 Let me give you two more points very quickly. 00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:38.639 God's reception of repentant people, regardless of their past. 00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:54.000 One of the most beautiful truths of this parable, especially the first parable, is that the gates of God's kingdom are burst wide open to the ungodly who repent. 00:42:55.280 --> 00:43:07.199 The prostitutes, the tax collectors, the I'm not going rebellious son, who thinking about it says, What am I holding on to? 00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:09.440 And repents. 00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:30.000 You see, this is the ironic reality of it all. 00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:33.679