First Baptist Church of Tampa Sermons

S1 E22: The Cornerstone Rejected

• First Baptist Church of Tampa • Season 1 • Episode 22

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Sermon Overview

Series: Following Jesus

Title: The Cornerstone Rejected

Text: Mark 12:1-12

Date: July 5th, 2026

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SPEAKER_00

As you're being seated, if you would join me in the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 12 this morning. If you don't have a Bible with you, there are some in the pew back. We're going to be on page 909 in that Bible. Mark chapter 12. We are coming to the conclusion of Jesus' earthly ministry. He just has a couple days left to live before he's crucified. And so Mark has slowed us down in this section to look at this last week of his life. We're celebrating 250 years as a nation this weekend, and I am unapologetically patriotic. I believe it is a great blessing to live in this country. I make no apologies for being proud to be an American, to live in this country. That is not to say I think our country does everything perfectly or does everything even right. But I am blessed to be a part of this country. I am old enough to remember our bicentennial celebration. I hesitate to say that, but I know it's the 250th, but I actually do remember the 200th anniversary of our country. And I think that might have been where it started to put in my heart just a love for our country and the patriotism. I still get geeked when I hear a good rendition of the national anthem. I still enjoy seeing the the eagle fly across the screen. I enjoy a good fireworks display. I don't know what it is. I think maybe it's uh in honor of my dad and my grandfathers who served in our armed services, but I am proud to be an American. Our country, though 250 years old, in relative terms, is very young. When you look at the rest of the world and you look at many countries, they have much longer histories than ours. And yet, in the 250 years that our country has existed, God has definitely blessed our country. I'm proud to be an American. Now, having said that, I need to put it in context. Because I believe I live by a biblical worldview. And a biblical worldview tells me that God's word is inerrant, it is infallible, it is the authority in my life to teach me how to live and what to do. And it teaches me in Romans chapter 13 that I am to give honor to who is due honor, and to support the authorities that are over us. We're to be good citizens of whatever country that we live in, to support the leaders, because God uses the church to take the gospel around the world, and God uses governments to provide and protect for people. He describes governments as his ministers, and they would not be there if he had not ordained it to be so. And so God tells us to honor the authorities that are over us until such point as they tell us to do something against our higher authority, who is God Himself. I encourage you to come back next week because we're going to talk about that in more detail, because next week we come to the text of Scripture where Jesus famously said, render unto Caesar what is Caesar, and under God what is God's. We're going to look at that in more detail next week. But I am proud to be both an American and to be a Christ follower. I recognize that the Bible teaches us that we are just sojourners. As Christ followers, this is not our eternal home. We are just passing through. That heaven is our eternal home. But while we are here, whatever country we live in, we are to make a difference for the kingdom of God. And so I recognize that we are here. You know, as I read the Bible, I don't see where it tells me the end or the future of the United States of America. I haven't found the text yet that says this is what happens to this experiment that has worked so well for 250 years. I don't find how it ends. But I do find how the kingdom of God ends. And I do find how those who reject the kingdom of God, how it ends for them. That's the context for our text this morning in Mark chapter 12. When God presents his kingdom, and we choose to either repent from our sin and trust in his kingdom, or we reject the one he sends and reject his kingdom. This is the context for Mark chapter 12 this morning. If you're willing and able, would you stand with me once again as we read from God's word? We stand acknowledging that these are not the words of men, but these are the very words of God. And Jesus began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine growers. They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed. And so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son. He sent him last of all, saying, They will respect my son. But those vine growers said to one another, This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture? The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And they were seeking to seize him, and yet they feared the people. For they understood that he spoke the parable against them. And so they left him and went away. Father, we pray that you would bless the reading of your word today. That as Darren has already prayed, that Father, you would change our minds that need to be changed, and changed our hearts that need to be changed, and change any actions that need to be changed. Lord, let your Holy Spirit enlighten us to the truth in this text and empower us to make a difference through it. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for your kingdom. And thank you for the King who came to bring your kingdom. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Thank you. As we consider our text this morning, I just have two key thoughts that I want to hang our conversation on, I want to hang our thoughts on. The first is the rabbis report, and the second is the rebel's response. The rabbis report, and the rebels respond. Mark tells us that Jesus began to speak to them in parables. He began to tell them a spiritual story. When Jesus taught in parables, he did so for two reasons. He did so either to reveal truth or he did so to conceal truth. A simple definition of a parable was a teaching technique that Jesus would use. It is a earthly story, if you will, with a spiritual or a heavenly meaning. Jesus would often, when he would teach, employ this technique in order to reveal truth to those who were listening. It was a story that he would throw alongside the point that he was trying to make. It was something that he would take from everyday life, maybe a object lesson or a scenario that people would be comfortable with, they would be familiar with, and he would take those object lessons and those scenarios and apply them to the spiritual truth that he was trying to help them understand so that it might enlighten them, so that they might understand. But Jesus also taught parables at times in order to conceal the truth. You see, wherever Jesus went and taught, there were those within the people that followed him who were not sincerely seeking to learn from him, who were not sincerely seeking to become his disciples. In fact, they were antagonists. They were there to provoke him, they were there to trip him up, they were there to trap him, they were there to try to figure out how they could destroy him. We've seen this over and over again in Mark's gospel. And to those who had already rejected his truth, to those who had already rejected him as the Messiah, he would speak in parables so that those around him might understand it. Those who were sincerely seeking him would understand truth, but those who were insincere, the truth would be concealed from them. And so Jesus sometimes spoke in parables to reveal truth, and at other times he spoke in parables to conceal truth. As we get closer to his crucifixion, the frequency of Jesus speaking in parables increased. He spoke in parables more towards the last part of his ministry than at the beginning, and that was because these groups began to come around him more often, seeking ways to destroy him, and he was trying to teach his disciples truth while keeping the truth from those who weren't sincerely seeking it. As we come to chapter 12, Jesus speaks in a parable. He does so because he is confronted once again. You'll remember that we are in the middle of Passion Week, the final week of Jesus' life. He has come into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. On Sunday, he came in through that triumphal entry where they were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They were celebrating as he was coming into the city. He went to the temple and he observed what was going on in the temple, and then that night he went back to Bethany and stayed at Mary and Martha in Lazarus' house. On Monday morning, he rose and he started to go back into the city to go to the temple, and there he saw a fig tree that had leaves on it. And assuming that it had figs on it, he went over to have breakfast. But when he found that there were no figs on the tree, he cursed the fig tree. He then went into the temple, and seeing that the court of Gentiles had been turned into a den of robbers, he began to turn over the money changers' tables and to cast out those who were keeping people from coming to God. He then went back to Bethany, spent the night in Bethany, and on Tuesday morning he went back into the city. As he went back into the city, his disciples noted the tree that he had cursed the day before had been withered from the ground up. And he went back into the synagogue, or excuse me, into the temple. And in the temple courtyards he began to teach. And some representatives from the Sanhedrin, the ruling body, came up to him and wanted to know whose authority are you working under? Whose authority do you have to do these things? Whose authority did you have to cause all the ruckus in the temple yesterday? We know it wasn't from us, and we're the ones who give authority. Whose authority are you working under? And Jesus says, I tell you what, I'm going to ask you a question. If you can answer my question, then I'll answer your question. Here's my question. Here's my question. Was John the baptizer, was his baptism of God or of man? We talked about this last week, you may remember, and they they pulled off to the side and they began to debate with one another. They said, Well, we can't say it's from God, because if we say it's from God, then they're gonna say, He's gonna say to us, then why didn't you believe his testimony? And his testimony was that he pointed to Jesus and said, He is the Messiah. If we say he's from God, then we have to admit that this man is the Messiah. We can't say that. Even if it's true, we can't say that. But if we say it's of men, all the people believe that John was from God. He was a divine prophet. They believe that. And if if we say he was from men, then they're gonna turn against us. And so they came back with the clever response. We don't know. They knew. They just chose expedience over truth, they chose their positions and their power over submitting to the authority of Christ in their lives. And they were speechless. They had nothing else to say. Jesus has put them on their heels. He has backed them up. But while they're speechless, Jesus is just getting started. Jesus has much more to say. And while they back up and say, we don't know, Jesus tells this parable. And as he tells this parable, usually he's telling a parable to conceal truth to those who have rejected him. But in this particular instance, Jesus tells this parable not to conceal truth from this group, but to reveal truth to this group. Because this parable is about them. And the story is so compelling that they get drawn into the story. They can't help themselves but get involved in the story until they realize, oh no. This story's about us. And Jesus has turned the tables on them who come to him and say, Whose authority are you doing these things by? And Jesus teaches this parable in order to provoke them. Jesus is not running from them. Jesus is not hiding from them. Jesus, in fact, is provoking them. He has taken on the offensive. With the question about John the Baptist, he embarrassed them. With this story, he exposes them. For who they are and for what they believe. So let's just look at these two areas. First, the the rabbis report. Let's look at that for just a moment. As Jesus tells this story, he tells a parable. Now, typically, parables, each element of a parable doesn't necessarily represent something else. That's called an allegory. An allegory is you tell a story and component A actually represents something else, and component B represents something else. With parables, that's typically not the case. Parables typically tell one story, and that story has one point. It's telling one thing. In this particular instance, however, the various elements of the story actually do represent something beyond themselves. So there are six components to this story. Let's just walk through them, see if you can tell me who they represent. So there is a man who builds a vineyard. He goes to great lengths to dig it out and to build this vineyard. Who might the man represent? God. There's a vineyard that he builds. He protects it, he provides for it. Who might this vineyard represent? Let me give you a hint. Isaiah chapter five. Let me read these words to you. Isaiah chapter 5, verses 1 through 7. Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and he built a tower in the middle of it, and also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. And now, O inhabitants of Israel and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones. So now let me tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed, I will break down its walls, and it will become trampled ground, I will lay it to waste, it will not be pruned, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his delightful plant. Thus he looked for justice, but behold bloodshed, for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. The man who built the vineyard was God. Who is the vineyard? The nation of Israel, his chosen people. A group that he called out and provided for, a group that he called out and protected, a group that he called out and gave purpose to take his glory to the nations. A group that he said, I want you to produce great fruit, good grapes. The third component then is these tenant farmers, these tenant vine growers, these people who are hired to come in and care for the vineyard in order that it might produce fruit. Who do the vineyard vine growers represent? The scribes, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. These are the ones who have been hired to take care of the vineyard. Then there are servants who the vineyard owner sends to the vine workers to collect what is due to him. Who do these servants represent? The prophets. These are the prophets of God who he sent over and over and over and over again. Then he says, I've got one more that I'll send. He's not a servant, he's my son, he's a beloved son. Who might that represent? Jesus Christ. See, you guys are pretty good at this. You guys are figuring this out. There's one last component. He says, What shall I do with the ones who haven't done what they're supposed to do? With those who haven't produced grapes, who haven't produced wine? I'm gonna take it from them and I'm gonna give it to others who will produce the wine that I'm expecting, the fruit that I'm expecting. Final component, who are the others that it's taken away from and given to? Who are the others? We are the church. Those who have trusted in Christ, Jew or Gentile, no matter what nationality you come from, he says, I'm gonna take it away from you and I'm gonna give it to you. You with me? You guys are good. We see this symbolism. In this symbolism, I want you to note that Jesus is pointing out the goodness of God. He's pointing out the very goodness of the man who owns the vineyard, who went to great pains to create the vineyard. He has the plot of land, he digs out the plot of land, he takes stones out of the way. There he plants a vineyard, he plants a vine. In the midst of it, he then builds a vat. He builds a two-layered vat, one where they crush the grapes and one where it collects the juice from the grapes. He builds a tower in the middle of the vine, the vineyard, so that he can have people on that tower to protect it from wild animals coming in and thieves who might destroy. He builds a wall around the vineyard. He then hires people to come in to take care of the vineyard, to grow the vines, to grow the grapes, to crush the grapes, to produce the fruit, to produce the wine. He hires people to come in with the expectation that he will receive his proper due. They are allowed to live on the property, they are allowed to work the property, but the property is not theirs. They get some of the benefits of the property, but ultimately it belongs to the owner. Would have been a very familiar story to the people that Jesus was telling the parable to. This was a common practice in Israel where people own the land and then they hire people to work the land and then the owner would get the benefits of the land. It was a very familiar story to them. They would have recognized this story. This man was a good man. Who is the man representing? Not rhetorical. Who is the man representing? God, God the Father. Who's the vineyard representing? Israel. As Jesus tells this story, Israel has been in existence for 2,000 years, from the time God called Abraham out of the Ur of Chaldees until the time of Jesus, roughly 2,000 years. During that time, God has called his people out. He's built a covenant with them. He's made a covenant with them. He has delivered them through Moses out of slavery. He has given the laws and the rules to the people through Moses. He has provided for them direction in his presence while they wandered through the wilderness. He has provided manna for them. He has provided water for them. When they go and take the promised land, he does the fighting for them and gives them cities that they did not build and vineyards that they did not dig. He sends prophets to them, he sends judges to them. He gives them kings. Take my name to the nations. How good God has been to the nation of Israel. And how did the people respond during those two thousand years to God's purpose and God's provision and God's protection? A cycle of rebellion, sin, judgment, repentance, return. Over and over and over again. The people of God turned away from God, served false gods, felt the judgment of God as a result of it. God sent a messenger, they repented because of the message. God relented, and they started the process all over again. Over and over and over again. Not only do we see the goodness of God in the rabbi's report, we see the patience of God in the rabbi's report. Jesus tells the story. He says, here's what's going on. A man builds a vineyard. He then hires people to come and work in that vineyard, and at the right time he sent a servant in order to collect what was rightly his from the vineyard. And what did they do to that servant? They beat him and they sent him back empty-handed. To which the owner responded by sending another servant. This time they hit him in the head and treat him shamefully and send him back empty-handed. To which the owner responds a third time by sending another servant. What do they do to that servant? They kill that servant, to which the owner responds by sending yet another servant. And another servant. And another servant. And another servant. Over and over and over again. He kept sending servants. Some they beat, some they killed. Who do these servants represent? The prophets of God. Let me just give you some scriptures. You might want to write them down. You can do your own homework later. We're running out of time. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 35 through 38. Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 26. Matthew chapter 23, verses 34 and 35. Here's what they did to some of the prophets. Jeremiah, they stoned him, they beat him and put him in stocks. Isaiah, he was sawn in two. Zachariah was stoned to death. John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament, was beheaded. That's just a handful of what they did to the prophets that God sent to them. To bring a message. We see the patience of God because God had a rightful expectation. The owner had a rightful expectation. He had entered into an agreement. I will provide, I will protect, you build the land, you work the land, and you give me the fruit of the labor. They had an agreement. Everybody would have understood this agreement. It had two parts. I want you to be fruitful, I want you to be faithful. Be fruitful. Grow the fruit of the vine. Be faithful to me, to give me what I am due. Two things. That was the extent of it. Fruitfulness, faithfulness. And yet we see in the midst of that, man's rebellion. Each time he sent someone to collect what was rightfully his, they rejected him. They beat him. Some they killed. Some they sent away. Over and over and over again. Why was the owner so patient? Why was the owner, why did he send so many? He would have been in his very rights the very first time that they sent his servant out to come and destroy. When they began to kill his servants, he could have called upon capital punishment, but he kept sending messengers. You know, in our sinful arrogance, we look at the Bible and we question God's goodness. We look at the Bible and we think the God of the Old Testament is a vengeful, mean God. And yet, for 2,000 years, from the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus, God continued to send messenger after messenger after messenger after messenger to the nation of Israel, saying, You need to repent and follow me. And for 2,000 years, from Jesus Christ to today, 2 Peter chapter 3 tells us that God is not impatient, but he is patient, not wanting anyone, not wanting anyone to perish. And in our arrogance, we want to say God's not just. Oh, I thank God for his patience. I thank God for his patience for lost people, and I thank God for his patience in my life as I seek to become more like him. We see the goodness of God, we see the patience of God. You guys need to listen faster. We see the grace of God. The story takes another unexpected twist. After sending all of these servants, the owner says, I know what I'll do, I'll send one more. But this one is not like the others. He's not a servant. I will send my beloved son. Surely they will respect my son. Beloved son is not incidental in its choice of words. When Jesus was baptized, you remember the voice from heaven? What did it say? This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. In Genesis chapter 22, God commands Isaac to take his son, his one and only son, and sacrifice him, and then holds his hand in his place. In Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, we are told that a child is born and a son will be given. This one you're probably more familiar with, John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he sent his what? Only begotten son. The owner of the land, God said, they're going to reject my prophets. Okay, I will send my only son to these unworthy sinners. Surely they will respect him. But this is it. There is no one else. There are no Moan messengers after him. If you reject this one, then there is no one else coming. If you reject the Son, you reject the Father. And what do they do to the Son? They recognize him as the Son. They say, hey, look, this is the heir. He's not a servant, he's the heir. They're assuming that the Father is dead because he's sending the Son. And if we kill the Son, what? We can have the inheritance. If we kill the Son, we don't submit to the authority. If we kill the Son, we can have everything that is rightfully his. And then Jesus asks a question. What will the landowner do? You can imagine that the Pharisees, the scribes, they've been drawn into this story because they think they're the landowner. They think they're the ones who have provided so much. And now Jesus asks, what will the landowner do? And their thought process is, well, he has every right to have them killed. In fact, in Matthew's accounting of this, here's what they say. The owner will bring those wretches to a wretched end and will rent out the vineyard to other vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper time. The Pharisee says, here's what should happen. Those people are wretched. They deserve a wretched end. The owner should take things away from them and give it to somebody else. And Jesus answers the question in verse 9. He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. What does he mean he will destroy the vine owners? The vine growers. He says, I've sent prophet after prophet. I've sent my own son. You've rejected him. There is no one else coming. And when you reject him, the only thing left is judgment. AD 70, some 30 years after this takes place, this temple is no longer standing. The Romans come in and completely destroy it. They destroy the priesthood. There is no more priesthood today. There are no high priests, there are no Pharisees, there are no scribes, there are none of them. He says, I'm going to destroy this because you have been unfruitful and you have been unfaithful. And I'm going to give it to those who will be both fruitful and faithful. I'm going to take it from you, and I'm going to give it to somebody who has not rejected my messenger, who has not rejected my son, but has recognized their sinfulness, turned from their sin in repentance, and they have trusted in Christ. And he asks them this Have you not heard the scripture? Have you not read the Scripture? And he quotes for them, Psalm 118. They had read the scripture. They knew this scripture. In fact, they had heard recently this scripture. Psalm 118 is a psalm of praise. It's a psalm of ascent. It was actually the psalm that they were praising on Sunday when Jesus came into the, came into Jerusalem on the back of a dog. They were singing Psalm 118. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? The stone that they rejected is referring to Solomon's temple, the temple that was originally built. There was a stone there that they rejected. They threw it off to the side, and it had been sitting off to the side in a pile of rubble for years. But when they rebuilt the temple, they took that stone which had been rejected and they placed it as the cornerstone of the new temple. The cornerstone, the most important stone, the foundation stone, the stone that sets the size and the symmetry of the building. Everything comes off of the cornerstone. And he says, You have rejected the cornerstone. But God has a different plan. And just as you've rejected it, he's made it the chief cornerstone. You see, you've rejected the Son of God. And that sounds tragic, but the one who has been rejected is now the cornerstone of the church, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20. And all who come to him do not trip over the cornerstone. They're not crushed by this cornerstone, but their lives are built on the cornerstone. That's the rabbi's report as we finish. What's the rebel's response? Somewhere along the way, the scribes and Pharisees figure out this story is not good for us. In fact, this story is against us. Jesus has just told us what we're going to do. He has just told us that we are going to kill him and throw him outside the city. He's told us exactly what's going on. We are in his story the vine growers, the tenants who have been unfaithful to the owner, who have killed all of the prophets, who have sought to take away the inheritance from the king. We are, somewhere along the line, the light went on. And yet they still have a chance to respond. Jesus is telling them who they are. He's telling them, I am the Son who is here. Don't reject me, because there will not be another one coming after me. But if you repent and if you turn, there is still salvation to be made for you. But what do they do? Verse 12. They were seeking to seize him, but they feared the people, for they understood that he spoke the parable against them. So they left him and went away. Nothing was going to prevent them from destroying Jesus. The truth was not going to prevent them. Nothing was going to prevent them. They could have repented, but three days later, they hand Jesus over to the Romans to be crucified. Nothing prevents, nothing is going to hold back humans, fallen sinful man, from rejecting the authority of God in our lives. Except for the goodness and the grace and the patience of God. Let's make application and then we'll pray and hopefully take this home with us. This isn't just a history story. This is a lens through which we ought to look at our own lives. Two things, just as we apply this. Number one, we can either see ourselves as the as the tenants who God has provided for, God has protected, God has given us a purpose in life to make him great, to make his name known. And we can reject him. We can take all the benefits of living in his land and refuse to give him what he's due. We can reject him. Many choose to do just that. Because they want his inheritance. They don't want to submit to his authority. They don't want to give what's rightly due to him. They want to keep it for themselves. We can reject. Or we can recognize that we are sinners in need of a savior. And God has sent his son, his one and only son, so that we might be right with a good, holy, loving, just, patient God. If we will just turn and repent from our sin and trust in him. Secondly, I would say this, and finally, I would say this. As Christ followers, the kingdom has been taken away from those who were not producing fruit, and it was given to the church. That's me and you. The expectation, however, has not changed. God still expects those who are watching over his vineyard. God is still expecting those who are watching over his church to do two things. You know what they are? To be fruitful and to be faithful. To bear the fruit of the kingdom. The nation of Israel was not supposed to keep the goodness of God to themselves. They were supposed to share it as a light to the world. We are not supposed to keep the gospel to ourselves. We're not supposed to keep the goodness and the patience and the glory of God to ourselves. We are supposed to bear the fruit of the kingdom. We are supposed to tell others about it. Are we being fruitful? They were to be faithful. To give unto the owner that which was due to him. His honor. His glory. So I can ask us as a church, are we being fruitful? Are we being faithful? And then we can take it and apply it even more deeply, even more personally. Perhaps even more challenging. Am I being fruitful? Do I see the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life? Do I see the fruit of God's kingdom being borne out through my actions, through my words, through my life? And am I being faithful? Jesus told a story in Matthew chapter 16, happened to be a parable. He said, There was a man who heard my word and he acted upon it. He's like a man who built his house on a solid rock. When the waves and the storms of life came, his house did not get knocked over because it was built on the strong foundation. But there was another man who heard my words and did not act upon them, and he was like a man who built his house on the stone. And when the wind and the rays of what life came, it hit his house and knocked it over because it could not stand. Is your house built on the rock? And if it is, are you being fruitful and are you being faithful?