WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:06.559 This is uh the teaching text comes from Mark 12, verses 1 through 12. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:09.279 And this is what Mark writes. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.960 He says, Jesus then began to speak to them in parables. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:20.000 He says, A man planted a vineyard, and he put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:24.320 Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:30.399 And at harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.640 But they seized him, they beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:40.000 Then he sent another servant to them, and they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:43.439 He sent still another, and that one they killed. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:47.200 He sent many others, some of them they beat, others they killed. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:51.679 And he had one left to send, a son whom he loved. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.200 And he sent him last of all, saying, They will respect my son. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.719 But the tenants said to one another, This is the heir. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.960 Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.719 And so they took him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:09.280 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:13.120 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:15.280 Haven't you read this passage of scripture? 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.879 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.159 The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:31.040 Then the chief priests and the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:32.799 But they were afraid of the crowd. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:34.959 So they left him and went away. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:36.400 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:44.959 When I was nine years old, nine, I went to vacation Bible school for the first time. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:52.640 And at this old school Baptist church in Riverdale, Georgia, South Georgia Baptist churches are one of a kind. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:01.280 It's the first time I had ever heard the gospel, and uh the man that was preaching was he was visibly angry. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:05.920 Like just his he was sweating and his face was like blood red. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:12.879 He was shouting and he was telling me the good news about Jesus in a very different kind of non-happy way. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:19.599 Um and uh honestly, like when I looked back at it, I was like, when I heard it, I was terrified. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.800 I was like, I don't know what this man, I've never heard this before. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.520 This is this is crazy, and the guy's angry too. 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:33.120 Um and so during the altar call time, when you know, old school, you get to come forward and uh you know respond. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:35.759 Uh I was basically like running to the front. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:43.919 I remember my brother was there with me, and I remember walking by him because he was in a different grade in VBS, and so I remember walking by him, looking at him and be like, What are you doing, you idiot? 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.000 Get up here! Did you hear what the man said? 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:47.439 We're all gonna burn. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:49.520 Like, I was like, this is crazy. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:56.479 And so I ran up front and um, you know, my brother didn't walk up front, and I was like, Oh, whatever, man. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:57.680 Like, it's crazy. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:02.080 Um, but I was going up front, not because I was in love with Jesus. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:07.919 I was headed up front to this thing, not because he had made Jesus so wonderful and beautiful, and I felt so much affection. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:09.680 I wanted to follow Jesus. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:11.840 I didn't want anything to do with Jesus. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.000 I didn't want to follow him, I didn't want to be his disciple. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:22.479 All I knew is like, I don't want to experience the hell that you're very graphically, very angrily, very spittingly telling me about. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.319 I don't want to experience anything like that. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:28.240 And so that was my first experience hearing the gospel. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:28.639 Okay. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:36.960 I say all of that because that man's message is actually the message that I want to share today. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:45.759 However, I want to present that message very, very differently, because I believe the scriptures actually present that message very, very differently. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:52.800 And I think Jesus presents a message here that isn't that the man, the pastor in Riverdale, that his message was untrue. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:04:00.560 But I do think that there's something here because the man didn't lead me to fall in love with Jesus and choose Jesus. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:03.840 I was just I wasn't choosing Jesus, I just wasn't choosing hell. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:10.560 And so there you see in the scriptures, like people hear about Jesus or encounter Jesus, and they're just captivated by him. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:12.000 They just fall in love with this man. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.840 So Mary Magdalene, it's just like I I'll give up my life to just follow you around. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:16.959 I love you so much. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:28.319 Uh, Zacchaeus, uh Thomas, Paul, uh, the woman at the well, like all of these people, like they were just taken by this man that is like, and not like captured, but like just captivated. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:29.920 Like, we want everything to do with you. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:32.560 And that's not why I chose Jesus at nine years old. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:33.439 I didn't choose him at all. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.399 It took a long time for me to actually come back to faith. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:50.079 Um, but I say all that because I want to teach that same message because what he was saying was true, but I do think that there's a way of teaching about the truths of scriptures that lead us not to just run away from something, but actually run to someone. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:55.920 And I believe that's what we're supposed to be doing, running to Jesus and not just away from something and be like, is Jesus there too? 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:57.279 I don't know, and I don't really care. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:04:58.480 I just don't want that thing. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:01.600 And so I want to say the same message, I just want to preach it differently. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:09.759 Because in this passage, Jesus describes God as someone who is a patient father pursuing people. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:10.959 That's how he describes him. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:16.879 He is the most patient father seeking to pursue people, not angrily chasing them down with condemnation. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:18.240 He's extremely patient. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:30.079 But then we also see what we invite into our lives if we choose to consistently reject the people that he sends to us and eventually reject the son that he sends to us. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:30.959 We see that as well. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:41.360 And so I want to take those one by one, um, looking at what Jesus describes God to be like, and then what he says is the outcome of those who actually reject the Son. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:47.360 And so the first thing that Jesus describes in this passage and in this parable is he describes the patient heart of God. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:49.199 This is verses two through five. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:56.879 He's talking about at harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants who are renting from this farm, sent a servant to collect just some of the fruit. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:57.920 You can keep most of it. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:59.759 I just need my share of this thing. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:03.839 He sends him to collect it, but they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.079 Right then and there, you don't send another servant, you send an army, a militia. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:09.680 Like you're like, all right, y'all are done. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:11.199 But the father doesn't do that. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.879 He sends another servant to them, and they struck that man on the head and treated him shamefully. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.879 Again, one more time, like, I'm not, I there's no, I'm not sending anybody else. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.639 But then he sends another, still another, and that one they killed. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:26.399 And even after they killed one of his servants, it says he sent many others. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:28.800 Some of them they beat, others they killed. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.639 And so the father wants these people in this story that Jesus is telling them. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.360 He wants them to turn to him, to respond to him. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:43.680 And so instead of crushing them, instead of trying to just threaten them and say things to him, he just keeps sending people into their lives, trying to get them to respond. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.000 He doesn't steal from them or take what's theirs. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:48.959 He doesn't try and take it back and like, sorry, you're out, we're done here. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:52.240 He continually sends servant after servant after servant. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:54.639 He gives them chance after chance to respond to him. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:07:03.279 And what Jesus is doing in this passage is that he is painting a picture of what the story of Israel's history has been to this point. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:18.959 So God creates a garden, he creates a vineyard, and then he has people in it, and those people reject him, and then he has an starts over in a new garden with a new earth because the Lord swallows the earth in water, and then what Noah ends up creating is he plants a new garden. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:23.600 So you have another garden that he's starting over again, but then Noah's people actually turn against him as well. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:29.199 And then on and on and on, God is sending people to the people of Israel to try and get them to respond to him. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.800 And Jesus is saying, like, they just aren't doing that. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:40.879 And so he's painting the picture of what Israel has been so far, but it's not only what the way that God has been with Israel, it's also the way that God is with us. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:50.720 The way that God treats us and is with us about our salvation, he does not want any of us to miss out on the life that he actually has for you or for me. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:52.079 He doesn't want us to miss that out. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:53.839 And so we send servant after servant. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:56.399 He's very, very patient in sending people to us. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:00.720 And Peter actually says this in his second letter. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:10.800 He's writing, it's it's post-resurrection, all these different things, but Peter says this about the patience of God because people started asking him, like, hey, Jesus said he was going to come back. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:14.000 And honestly, it's been a minute and he's still not back. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:15.920 And we're wondering why it is taking so long. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.240 And so Peter is responding to this and it's like, hey, Jesus is not slow in keeping his promise to return. 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:24.079 Instead, he is being patient with you. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.160 He doesn't want anyone to perish, but he wants everyone to come to repentance. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:30.319 And so, why is it taking so long for Jesus to come back? 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:32.320 It's like, because he's incredibly patient. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:33.919 He does not mind waiting. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.720 He longs for people, for anybody in the world. 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:40.720 He longs for everybody in the world to actually respond to what he has for them. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:42.240 He wants everyone to come to repentance. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:43.919 He wants no one to perish apart from him. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:51.200 It's a very different style of message that I heard when I was nine from the Riverdale pastor, which it really sounded like God wanted to burn some folks. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:55.679 And I was very, I was like, I gotta, I don't want you, but I also don't want that. 00:08:55.840 --> 00:09:03.120 But like what Jesus is presenting is like the patient pursuit of God for every single person in this room, for every single person in your life. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:05.120 God patiently pursues us. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:17.039 Even when we push him off, even when we run away, even when we ignore him, even when we're mean to the people that he sends to us with the message of his salvation, even when we reject it and we're cruel to them or whatever, like it doesn't matter. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.000 Even in the midst of all of that, when he should go, all right, you know what? 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:20.480 I tried. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.559 You made your bed, you lie in it, I tried. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:23.360 He never does that. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:25.919 He's like, I'm constantly going to be pursuing you with patience. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:26.960 I want you to respond. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:32.399 I want no one to have experience life apart from me because I understand what life apart from me is. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.240 And so I don't want anybody to do that. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:36.799 And so he constantly sends people to get our attention. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:40.080 He constantly sends people to get us to turn and turn to him. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:41.200 C. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:41.519 S. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.480 Lewis talks about, um, and if you're familiar with C.S. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:48.799 Lewis, he's brilliant, um, but talks about how God did this to him. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:54.320 Like he just persistently, patiently pursued him day after day, year after year. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:55.039 And so C. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:55.279 S. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:01.840 Lewis at one point was an atheist and wanted nothing to do with God whatsoever, no desire to believe in God, no desire for any of those things. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:08.159 Grew up kind of in some type of faith, but walked away from it and was like, logic and reason and philosophy is the rest of it. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:19.440 And so what he says though, he's like, but there came this time where like God started chipping away at his thoughts and kind of getting in the middle of his life in ways that he didn't want him to. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:21.759 He describes God as the one that he never wanted to meet. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.919 He's like, You have to, you have to understand, I wanted to be left alone. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.559 Like, I did not want God to interfere with my life whatsoever. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:33.600 But he says that God begins chipping away at his life and he describes it as chess moves on a chessboard. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.519 There were all these moves that God did to get him into checkmate and finally admit that he's God. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:39.919 And so he said the first move was C. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:40.080 S. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:43.360 Lewis noticed that there was this longing for beauty in his soul. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:48.240 And this longing for beauty and joy, and he just could not satisfy that anywhere else. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:11:00.320 And one of the things that he wrote, he says, When I he's like, if I find something in myself, a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:08.399 And so he begins dealing with these things that he's going through, and God is uh like bringing stuff out in him, and he's going, I don't know how to satisfy this longing. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:18.480 There's not enough, there's not enough beautiful books in the world, there's not a beautiful mountains, like the the skies are beautiful, but I cannot, something out there is not satisfying the longings that I have in my heart. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:24.799 And so the probable explanation, the most logical one, is to go, maybe I'm made for a different world if I can't find anything in this world to satisfy it. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.080 So that was the first move. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:34.159 The second move was uh he was just he just made these Christian friends uh at Oxford while he was a professor there. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.559 And so one of them, the most notable one, was J.R. 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:40.240 Tolkien, who uh wrote Lord of the Rings and a number of other books. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:44.399 Um, but they were Christians who took Christianity seriously, and C. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:44.639 S. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:54.720 Lewis just really had a struggle with anybody like anybody who believes this is like there's no way that they're cerebral, logical, really knowledgeable people, brilliant intellectuals, like certainly not. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:59.440 And then he meets these people, and they're they they they take Christianity seriously, but they're brilliant in their own right. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:08.000 And so they would take walks together and discuss theology and they would discuss God and they would discuss Jesus, and that was another way of chipping away at some of the preconceived ideas that he had. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:18.240 And he says, then the third move was that he got to this point where he was like, I could not get through a time in my life, a day, a moment, without thinking about God. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:19.919 Like he was all he called him spirit. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:20.799 He didn't call him God. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:21.919 He didn't want to call him God. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.320 He's like, I just could not stop thinking about spirit. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:26.159 There was never a moment when I couldn't do that. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.600 And so he was he was always feeling like God was right there with him. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.159 And so he says this in one of his books. 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.720 It's like a memoir of his talking about his early life. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:38.240 But he says, a young atheist cannot guard his atheism too carefully. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:39.919 You've got to be real careful if you're gonna be an atheist. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.320 You gotta make sure you stay an atheist because it's hard. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:46.080 He says, dangers lie in wait for him on every side. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:53.600 He said, All of my acts, all of my desires, all of my thoughts were being brought into harmony with spirit, what he called God. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:55.440 He's like, I could do nothing. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:01.279 I could not last one hour without continual conscious recourse to what I called spirit. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.919 And then he only said to me, I am the Lord. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:05.519 I am that I am. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:17.759 He says, You must picture me alone, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted, even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of him, him who I so earnestly desired not to meet. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.440 That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:27.759 And in the Trinity term of 1929, I gave in and I admitted that God was God. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:34.639 And I knelt and prayed, perhaps the most that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:35.679 It's a brilliant story. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:37.519 He's like, I don't even want this. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.759 But I do like agree with probabilities and logic. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:47.200 And he's like, I have to, I have to say, I guess there is a God, and I had to announce it. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:49.919 And he's like, I don't even want to announce it, but I'll do it. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:51.200 And that's what he says. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:52.080 And that was when C. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:52.320 S. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:53.519 Lewis began believing in God. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:57.759 He didn't really believe in the resurrected Christ yet, but it was more conversations with J.R. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:02.080 Tolkien, taking those walks that he eventually led him to believe that Jesus was the resurrected Son of God. 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:02.879 And what I love about C. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:03.120 S. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:14.639 Lewis's story is like he was able to pinpoint like the patient persistence of like these little things that God was doing in his life and trying to get him very slowly, very patiently, not dogmatically. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:15.840 He wasn't threatening. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:22.639 It was just like, hey, I want to get you to shift and remove blinders slowly enough to where you eventually turn to me. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:26.240 The same was true with other people, uh, other brilliant people, really. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:26.879 Uh so St. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:29.679 Augustine had the same, the same type of story. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:34.720 Uh, before Augustine was Saint Augustine, uh, he was a ladies man. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.639 He really, he loved the ladies. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:38.240 Uh, he was very promiscuous. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:39.840 Uh, he had a child out of wedlock. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.080 Uh, he said, I was in love with love. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:43.759 I was in love with love. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:48.240 Uh, he was the guy that prayed, um, God grant me chastity and continence. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:49.279 Just not yet. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:50.159 Just not yet. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.559 I want to be faithful to you and I want to give you my life. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:55.279 I'm just really loving what I'm doing right now. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:57.039 And so that was his whole experience. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:03.840 But he had this point in his life where he, similar to Lewis, where he he was struggling between like, I'm trying to find satisfaction. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.639 And like all the women isn't doing it. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:09.200 Like it's uh, I can have as many lovers as I want. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:11.440 And it's not filling this desire in my soul. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:14.799 And so we had this point in his life where he was like, I want to be satisfied. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:21.759 I don't know if I should do that in God, the way my mom wants me to, or if I should do that with my sinful sexual life the way that I want to. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:28.720 And he was battling this and dealing with this and going, God, if you just, if, if you would just take these desires away, then I would know that this is what you want me to do. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:32.240 But God wanted him to choose those things and to choose him over those things. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:41.120 And so in his book, Confession, he said that one day he was sitting under a fig tree and he uh was praying to God and going, I don't know which to choose. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:43.840 I don't know if I should choose my sin or if I should choose you. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.600 And then he hears these kids singing, take up and read, take up and read. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:16:01.039 So he hears this, he believes it's from God, so he grabs his Bible, opens it up at random, which is a terrible way to read the Bible, uh, opens it up at random, and then like puts his finger down on a verse and then reads, and it says, Romans 13, this is what he read and then what he said. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:09.360 Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality or debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy, rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.159 And do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:17.600 And he he speaks and he said, I had no wish to read further, nor was there any need to. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:27.279 Instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty, and all the gloom and doubt vanished away. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:34.799 And he says that that was the moment that he surrendered his life to Jesus because he believed that God was saying, Look, you're wondering, should you pursue your sin or should you pursue me? 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.120 And I'm just telling you, do not look. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.840 You won't find it in trying to gratify your own sinful desires. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.799 What you're looking for is to be clothed in righteousness, to be clothed in Christ. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:47.200 You're looking for fulfillment and satisfaction, that longing that you have, you won't find it anywhere else. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:48.000 You'll find it in me. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:49.919 And so he gives his life to Jesus there. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:58.720 And it's just, you just see like this patient pursuit of God, just very slowly, just with other different small things, just like moving into someone's life and doing something. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:00.240 And the same is true of my story. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:10.559 I mean, as I started thinking about like how God has patiently pursued me over the years, and like nine years old, I wanted nothing to do with them because honestly, hell sounded really scary and God seemed to really like to put people there. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:12.000 And I was like, I don't want you. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:13.839 And so that was like the worst thing to me. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.200 But then over time, like I had this longing in my heart. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:18.559 I was like, I want to be full. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:22.799 And so I remember ninth grade, I was praying to God and I was like, hey, I'm leaving. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:25.599 Like, I'm not doing you anymore. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:27.200 I'm not doing God's stuff anymore. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:31.519 I'm going to search for high and low for anything I can possibly find to fulfill me. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:37.759 And so if I see something that I think might fill my cup and make me feel better, if it's girls, if it's drinks, if it's whatever, like I don't care. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:42.400 Like I'm gonna do whatever it takes, I'm gonna pour it all in, and I'm gonna say no, I'm gonna have seconds of everything. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:43.599 That's what I'm gonna try and do. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:49.279 And so I did that for three years, and at three years in, I was more empty than I was when I started. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:51.279 And I was like, how is this possible? 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:52.720 I have tried everything. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:54.720 Like, there's not a thing that I said no to. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:59.759 Seriously, there's not a thing I that I said no to, unless I just felt like it would harm me in some way. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:03.279 But if I felt like it might fulfill me, I gave that Joker a shot. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:04.880 I was in for whatever. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:08.160 And I was like, there's no way that I'm still empty. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:11.039 And I was, and there was this thing that I was still there. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:20.160 And so I was battling that and dealing with that, and then I tore my knee up, playing baseball, and they said you might lose your knee, and that was another piece in it because I started thinking and praying to God a lot. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:25.039 And like, look, I know that you might hate me and I don't really like you all that much, but honestly, please don't let my knee go away. 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:26.960 I like the other half of my leg. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:31.759 Um, and so please, you know, and then I went through the surgery and it was fine, and then I stopped praying because I was like, appreciate that. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:32.559 See you later. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:41.519 Um and then I went to church uh when I turned, you know, 16, 17 and heard the gospel, but heard a different gospel. 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:47.599 This man, Mark McClendon, preached a gospel and used Romans 5.8 like, even though you're a sinner, God loves you. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.680 Like, even though you're a sinner, he loves you. 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:51.279 And it was a very different gospel. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.279 It was the same message, honestly, but it was just presented in a very, very different way. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:56.240 And it shook me. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:07.759 And then one night, the the final straw for me, one night when I was drunk at my house, again, still trying to pour in everything I possibly could, um Romans 5, 8, just would not leave my mind. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:09.039 I kept repeating it over and over. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:11.519 I'm drunk, I can't even put words together. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:16.880 Um, but I was repeating in my mind over and over, uh, while we're still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:18.720 Wow, we're still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.000 And he was just pursuing me. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:25.680 And I woke up the next morning and gave my life to Jesus and was like, all right, then you can take it, you can do your thing. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:34.640 But it was just this space for me where I felt like God was like, he should have said, You suck at this at life, it's not going well. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:39.279 You've tried your way, and you've basically rejected my way and told me that I'm terrible. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:42.480 And so fine, live in the truth of your own bad decisions. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:45.759 And he didn't do that, he consistently pursued me patiently. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.319 And that's what Jesus is telling us the Father is like. 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:50.799 He is always pursuing us with great patience. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:54.799 Paul says that this is true for every single person in this room and every single person in the world. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:20:01.519 That he, that God never, he will pursue everyone so that no one will ever be able to say, I would have believed, but he didn't pursue me. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:06.000 Paul says, No, no, no, he pursues everyone so that no one can say, I didn't have a shot. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:06.799 And this is what he says. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:12.400 He says, What may be known about God is plain to people because God has made it plain to people. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:22.799 For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power, and his divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood by what is made, so that people are without excuse. 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:25.279 They cannot say, He did not pursue me. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:35.759 And so the heart of God that Jesus is trying to reveal to people through this parable is like he is a patient pursuer of people, and he will be so patient and consistently to pursue you. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:37.759 That is my first point and the longest one. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:38.720 We're gonna move on. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.880 Second thing that Jesus reveals is why God sent the son. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:44.400 Why he sent the son. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:50.079 And so in verse 6, it says, He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.599 And he sent him last of all, saying, They will respect my son. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:58.559 And so the tenants aren't responding to the father, who desperately wants to see them respond. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.920 They're not saying anything, they're not moving an inch. 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:04.160 They're actually getting worse as it goes along. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:09.839 And so, again, instead of blasting them, instead of rejecting them, instead of taking away from them, he reasons. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:22.240 The father reasons, like the best chance I have at getting these people to turn, not to condemn them, the best chance I have to not have to kill them is to send my son to them so that they don't have to experience a death. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:28.400 And so I will send my son, whom I love, because he's the best possible option to get people to shift around and turn around. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:31.359 And we need to see that, because that's a very important thing. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.680 God sends his son out of a great hope. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:35.200 I'm going to send somebody. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:36.720 These messengers, this is not working. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:40.160 I so desire for them to turn, and the messengers aren't taking. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:41.119 It's not happening. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:44.799 But if I send my son, certainly, certainly they're going to respond to him. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:47.359 And it's out of this incredible hope that people will respond to him. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:49.359 Certainly they'll listen to him. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:59.039 And so, just as the owner sent his only son to the workers, the father has sent his only son to get us to respond to him as well. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:01.759 He has sent His only son to get us respond to God. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:09.119 John talks about this in the most famous verse that probably is the most famous in our particular generation, but we know this that God sent his son out of love. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:15.920 He says this God so loved the world, not God so hated the world, or God so was displeased with the world, or God was so furious with the world. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.559 Like, no, like I want them to turn. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:24.720 God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:40.000 And then verse 17 for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him, that whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned currently because they're not believing in the name of God's one and only Son. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:55.839 And so you see that Jesus is saying from this parable and from other texts and the thing, God's desire is to actually see us respond, and he just believes if I send my son, and not that he didn't know what was gonna happen, but he's like, this is the best. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:59.039 This is the best possible way to get them to respond. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:03.200 And any normal person might be like, hey man, they just killed some of the servants. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:06.000 You're about to send your son in a space where he might die. 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:08.640 And I think God would have responded, I understand that. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:11.519 But I love them too much not to try. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.359 Like I gotta do something. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.720 I have to make sure I've I've I've spared no options. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:24.079 I have to send every possible option to the people that I can send so that they have the best possible space to turn back to me. 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.559 Because he doesn't want people to have life apart from him. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:27.680 He doesn't want people to perish. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:29.119 And so they might kill your son. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:30.400 I know, but I gotta send them. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.000 I love them too much to let them perish. 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:35.519 And so I have to send somebody that gets them to respond. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:43.039 One of my favorite quotes of all time is on how much God actually values us, is from Greg Boyd in his book, Present Perfect. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:47.440 And he says this, and it's it's right in line with what Jesus is showing about the Father here. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:55.119 He says, Despite our sin, our constant rebellion, despite our sin, our creator thinks that we are worth experiencing a hellish death for. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.519 In fact, it was for the joy of spending eternity with us that Jesus endured the cross. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:04.880 In other words, the cross is supposed to reveal our unsurpassable worth and significance to God. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:07.839 And at the core of our being, this is what we long for. 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:14.880 And to me, when I was listening to that man preach when I was nine, I didn't get any of that. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.319 I didn't feel that God cared about me at all. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:21.519 I felt like he is ready to send me to a fiery hell. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:23.440 So you better get up here and make sure he doesn't. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:26.000 Dad's mad, and you better come forward. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:27.680 And I was like, Dad's mad, let's go. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:30.799 And I tell my look at my brother Tony, I'm like, come on, man, let's do this thing. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:32.000 And he's like, nah, I'm all set. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:34.079 I'm like, you're gonna burn. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:42.960 But the father sends his son out of love and hope that we will be able to turn to them. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:45.599 And so that's the second thing. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:47.359 That's why the father sends the son. 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:48.480 Please turn. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:49.759 I will even send my son. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:50.880 I will sacrifice my son. 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:53.920 See the loving heart of the Father, the sacrificial heart of the Father. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:55.680 I will send my son, even though you'll kill him. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:58.880 I'll send him because he's the best bet to get you all to turn. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:01.519 So that's the third, or the second. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:08.559 Number three, you see Jesus in this parable that he talks about what we invite into our lives when we reject the Son. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.279 Here's what we invite into our lives when we reject the Son. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:12.400 Verse six through nine. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:15.599 He had one son left to send, or one left to send, a son. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:16.799 One left to send. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:18.480 And he sent him last of all. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:21.279 But the tenants said to one another, This is the heir. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:22.319 Come, let's kill him. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:23.680 The inheritance will be ours. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:26.079 So they took him, killed him, and threw him outside of the vineyard. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.200 What then, Jesus asks, will the owner of the vineyard do? 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:32.240 He will come, kill those tenants, and give the vineyard to others. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:41.359 And so when they reject the son, what they invited into their lives, what they brought in by their own decision, they brought in death and loss. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.039 The father had been fighting to get them to avoid death and loss. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:48.400 And when they reject the son, what they invite into their lives is death and loss. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:54.160 And this reason is very, very simple why they invite, why is death and law, death and loss their experience? 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:55.039 The reason is simple. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:58.400 It says it in verse 6 there's no one else to send. 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:00.400 He has one left to send. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:01.839 And so he sends him last of all. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:05.839 And the truth is, if there was someone else to send, God would just continue to be patient. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:16.880 If there was constant, unending servants to send, unending sons to send, he would just consistently be patient enough to continue to send another person and another person and another person and another person. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:23.839 Because his heart is that somewhere, somewhere along the way, that you will respond to him and not actually have to experience death and loss. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:27.839 If there was someone else to send, he would send them, but there's no one else to send. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:31.039 And so what's the option when you don't have anybody else to send? 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:33.359 The option is death and loss. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:35.599 And that's what you invite into your life. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:44.240 And so because they reject the Son, they reject the last possible option to be set right with the Father, and then their experiences death and loss. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:54.240 And so just as the people in the parable reject the Son and experience death and loss of what they could have had, because they could have had this vineyard, they could have had this thing, and they lose that thing. 00:26:54.720 --> 00:27:03.279 So everyone who rejects the Son here and now, because the parallel is still true, whoever rejects the Son experiences death and loss apart from him. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.200 And this is not just true of non-Christians, this is also true of Christians. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:11.200 As a Christian, like you've received Jesus, that's awesome. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.720 Really, that's awesome. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:21.200 But even as a Christian, if you choose to reject his words to you, like you received his word, like you need his forgiveness for salvation. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:24.079