Life of Christ Lesson 124b: Judgment for Rejection - Part II {Parables of the Two Sons and Wicked Vinedressers

Lord's blessing on our time together. Father God may you sanctify us through thy truth,

thy word is truth. We just pray that as we open the word your spirit would do his work in every heart

according to every need. I have no idea how that might go take place, Lord, because I have no

idea what's going on in individuals hearts, but you do. And you have promised that your word

is sufficient for every need that we face in life. And I just pray, Lord, that your spirit would

work today. And that most of all, Jesus Christ who alone deserves glory and the praise that he

would be magnified today, that we would again see him afresh for who he is, that he is the son of God,

that he is our Lord, and he is our Savior. And to us in the church, he is our foundation stone.

Lord, I pray that you would help your servant to put every thought captive to Christ,

and that you would help me to have a clear mind and speak your truth boldly and in love,

or we do pray these things in the Lord's name. Amen. Well, we are currently in the process of

looking at the third and the longest section of our outline for our two part, which has really

become a three-part study of judgment for rejection. If you're in your books, you want to look at

lesson number 124. This could be called lesson 124b. We have just begun to discuss all the many

events that took place on Tuesday of the Lord's Passion Week, which started with the disciples

amazement, if you want to look at the first page and the outline, started with the disciples

amazement, part 1, over the withered and dead condition of the fig tree Jesus had cursed the

previous morning, Monday morning. And then we took a look at the rulers antagonism, part 2 of our

outline. A delegation of chief priests and scribes and elders had very rudely interrupted Jesus

as he was teaching in the temple to those who had ears to listen, and they interrupted him in

order to challenge him with these questions by what authority doest thou these things, and who

gave this authority? That's in Matthew 21, verse 23. And his answer, part 3 of our outline,

his answer back to them, remember, began with a counter question of his own that had to do with

John the Baptist ministry. That's in verse 24. In effect, he asked them to tell him where John

got his authority, and if they would do that, then he would tell them where he got his own authority.

These wickedly motivated rulers had hoped to ensnare Jesus, and you know, trip him up, get him to

say that his authority came from God the Father, and then they could accuse him of blasphemy and

stone him to death. But with his simple question back to them, they were forced to look like the

foolish and competent false shepherds of Israel that they really were. Now being asked by Jesus

to make a definitive statement about the Baptist, publicly, before the massive Passover crowds,

the Sanhedrin delegation instantly knew that they were put in checkmate. Have you ever played

the game of chess? You know, if you're checkmated, you're in trouble. Only, therefore, a week

and evasive response would not get them in trouble, according to them. You see, if they answered

that John's authority came from heaven, then it would logically follow that Jesus' authority

also came from heaven. Why? Because John's message was all about Jesus. He was the forerunner of

the Messiah. And he pointed at Jesus and said, to hold the Lamb of God, which comes to take away

the sin of the world. And they didn't want to admit that Jesus' authority came from heaven,

even though it was true. On the other hand, if they said that John's authority did not come from

heaven, did not come from God, then they would be even more unpopular with the masses of people.

And they might even be stone to death, which is their own thoughts if you read over in Luke 20,

verse 6. They said the people perceived John to have been a prophet. So they'll stone us to death

if we say his source of authority was not from heaven. So what did they answer? Those little milk

toasts. They said, well, we just can't tell. We don't know. They claimed the Fifth Amendment.

And I'm sure when they did that there was a lot of snickering going on among the crowd that day.

But even more than the snickering, I think there was a lot of anger directed toward them by the

people for such a spineless response. I'm sure they wanted the religious rulers to say, of course,

John the Baptist was a true prophet. And his authority came from God. And when they didn't,

the masses would be very angry with them. So instead of discrediting Jesus and the esteem that

the people held for him, it was there esteem before the people that was seriously discredited.

Isn't it amazing which is one question how he turned everything around? Now interestingly,

we found last week that although the religious rulers would not commit to stating where John the Baptist

got his authority, Jesus did answer that question, didn't he? They wouldn't answer it, but he did

answer it. He asked the question and he answered it. And he did so not for their benefit. He did

so for the benefit of the disciples who were there and he did so for the benefit of the crowd,

listening. And of course, he did so for you and I who would be studying this account in the

scripture. He said that John, look at verse 32, John came out in the way of righteousness which

was an indirect way of also saying that he himself came in the way of righteousness because

John's message pointed to him. So he was really, he was really, he managed to answer the original

challenge question about the source of his authority, didn't he? And yet he did so in such a way

that they could not accuse him of blasphemy for making himself equal to God because he didn't

answer and say, well, I get my authority from God the Father, he did it in a roundabout way

by saying that John's authority was, you know, the way of righteousness. So do you see how clever he

was? Very, very clever. And all of that was just the first part of the Lord's answer. See part

three on your outline, the Lord's answer. That was the first part, this whole study is called

judgment for rejection. First of all, a, judgment, their judgment is because they rejected John the

Baptist. And then the second part of the outline there under the Lord's answer is regarding their

rejection of God the Father. And that is what we saw in the parable of the two sons covered in

last week's lesson. He pointed out her rejection of God the Father who was pictured in that parable

of the two sons by the Father who asked his sons to go work in his vineyard. Even though there were

those in Israel who were like the first son, we discussed this last week, if you weren't here,

you can get up to get the CD. But there were those in Israel who were like the first son,

such as the publicans and prostitutes. They initially said no point blank no to the Father,

but later what did they do? They repented and they did go and work in the Father's vineyard.

So even though there were, there was a remnant of people like that in Israel, yet think of Israel

corporately as a nation, corporately she did follow her religious rulers. And they were represented

by the second son who said, I go, sir, yes, sir, I go, but what happened? He never went.

The publicans and the highlights go into the kingdom before you, Jesus said to the religious

rulers in verse 31, Israel as a nation, she outwardly professed her obedience to the Lord God

as in the days of old, as in Israel under the in the days of Moses had promised. Remember all

that the Lord have commanded, we will do. But what happened? She didn't follow up her profession

with performance. So by the time Christ arrived, Israel was fruitless because she had not gone to work

in her Father's vineyard. She said she would. She had a profession, but she didn't have the

performance. Were there many Gentiles being brought to a saving knowledge? Were she building up the

kingdom of God on earth like she was supposed to do? Now she looked down her nose at Gentiles. She

wasn't trying to to win them over to a saving knowledge of God. So she was fruitless. And in the

big scenario, I don't know if any of you discussed this in your groups, but on the big scene, you could

really say that the first son represented Gentiles because overall Gentiles said no initially to God,

and they were worshiping all their false gods and doing their own thing. But what's the church

made up of primarily Gentiles? So many of them, like those seeking Greeks, repented and they did

go to work in the kingdom of God or in the Father's vineyard, whereas they were the first son,

whereas Israel is the second son. Well, after speaking his parable, the two sons, in verses 28 to 30,

and then giving a statement of judgment against the rulers for the rejection of John the Baptist

ministry and his message of repentance. And by the way, John the Baptist, did I say this last

week, his baptism was not the same as our baptisms today. Today we have a baptism that is supposed to

be after salvation, after salvation, and you are baptized to to symbolize your identity with Christ

and his death burial and resurrection. But John's baptism was different. John's baptism was a

baptism of repentance. It was to prepare the people for the coming of their Savior. So really,

if someone was baptized with John's baptism, they were saying, I repent of my sins. They were

getting their hearts ready and clean, but then when Jesus came along and they accepted Christ,

then they should were to be baptized again to identify themselves with Christ. I just want to

make that clear. Anyway, after all after that message in verses 31 and 32, we notice that Jesus

just kept right on talking. Okay, he said in verse 33, here another parable. And again, I thought

it was interesting to find that the very men who prided themselves on their power and their

influence over the people just stood there as he spoke another parable. Actually, we're going to

find that they just stand there and he'll speak even a third parable, even though the parables

get progressively stronger against them. I am sure that these ecclesiastical dignitaries had

doubtless felt that they had heard enough after Jesus said to them, you know, that the publicans

and and Harlott's going to the kingdom before you. Don't you think right then and there they

have had it and maybe left. They couldn't do anything to Jesus because they feared the crowds,

but they didn't. They just stood there in impotence, impotence silence and listened to him rub more

salt into their already sorely stricken reputations. I can't talk to them by going even further

in exposing these religious rulers than he had done in the first parable. Now in the first parable,

he exposed them for their false profession for being all talk and no walk. And now in the second

parable, which is called the parable of the wicked vine dressers, and that's all we're going to

cover today, he exposed them for being murderers. So it does get worse. First parable, false

profession. Second parable, you guys are a bunch of murderers. And this parable is really it's

complicated. So put on your thinking caps. But it is one of the most interesting parables Jesus

ever taught because it's both both historical and predictive. It covers a lot of ground. It is

retrospective. In other words, it looks back at Israel's history of having rejected divine truth

sent via the prophets of God. And not only is it retrospective, but it is predictive. In other

words, it looks forward to Israel's future when she would kill God's son and her spiritual

privileges would be temporarily transferred to a different people. And who are those different

people? The church. However, its main intent, the main intent of this parable was for it to be

introspective. Yes, it is retrospective and it's predictive, but the main thing is it's to be

introspective. It was for those to whom Jesus spoke to look within their own hearts and repent of

their sin before it was too late. Now this parable, which could also be called in addition to the

parable of the wicked vine dressers, we could call it the parable of the rejected son.

And it is found in all three synoptic gospels. It's found Matthew, Mark and Luke, but we're going to

be using Matthew's gospel because it's the most detailed. And in it, we're going to notice that

Jesus continued the setting of a man who owned a vineyard. Although this vineyard owner, we will

find in this second parable only has one son. How many sons did the first vineyard owner have in

the parable of the two sons? He had two sons. This vineyard owner only has one son.

Now, if you don't mind, I don't know why I had you in Matthew 12. Well, yeah, we've been looking at

some verses, but would you please keep your finger in Matthew 21 and go over to Isaiah chapter five,

Isaiah chapter five and get yourself positioned there.

The, oh, wait a minute, I'm jumping the gun. Go back, keep your finger there when you find it and

then go back because I am going to read the text. I forgot to read it. Just keep your, keep your

finger in Isaiah five. Once you found that and then go back to Matthew 21. He's going to use the

same analogy of a vineyard. And the hillsides of Israel back in those days, and I think still pretty

much today, were covered with great vineyards. So in that agricultural society, the Lord's listeners

could easily have comprehended the physical aspects of planting and maintaining and harvesting

vineyards, because they were all very familiar with vineyards and what went on in vineyards. Now,

of course, his reason for giving this parable as is true with his reason for giving all of his

parables was to take something ordinary from life, such as vineyards, and use it to teach a deeper

spiritual truth. So that's exactly, of course, what he does. And on the spiritual

end of things, we find that in this parable, I'm going to tell you before we read it, so as you read it,

you can be looking for this. In this parable, the vineyard owner represents or symbolizes who

would you think? God the Father, all right? The vineyard itself symbolizes the nation of Israel.

And it also, on the bigger scheme of things, pictures the kingdom of God, and the Lord Jesus says

that in verse 43. So in Israel and the kingdom of God, we really almost could look at it as the earth

as well, the earth, the vineyard as the earth. Now, the servants of the vineyard owner

represent the prophets, God's prophets. The son of the vineyard owner, I'll let you guess on

this one, represents symbolizes Jesus. Okay, the son symbolizes Jesus. The wicked husband men

who are the vine dressers, the ones who take care of the vines for the vine owner, are the religious

rulers. And I think I've covered all of that. All right. So now let's look at the parable,

and then I'll take you to Isaiah 5. Let's look at it in verses 33 to 46 of Matthew 21.

He says, here another parable, there was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and

hedged it round about and digged a wine press in it and built a tower and let it out. That means

he leased it out or he rented it out to husband men, or you can call them vine dressers and went

into a far country. A lot of his parables have the man in the story going into a far country. Now,

over in Luke's account of this, it says he went into the far country for a long time. Verse 34,

and when the time of the fruit drew near, when it was harvest time, he, the vine owner, sent his

servants to the husband men that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husband men took his

servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he, the vine owner, sent

other servants more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, he sent

unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. But when the husband men saw the son,

they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance.

And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. When the Lord, therefore,

of the vineyard comet, this is a question Jesus poses to the religious rulers, what will he do

unto those husband men? And here's their answer. They say unto him, he will miserably destroy

those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husband men, which shall render him the

fruits in their seasons. Isn't that amazing? They, they, um, they sentence themselves there with

their answer. And verse 42, Jesus say unto them, did you never read in the scriptures the stone,

which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say, I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you

and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall

be broken, but on whomesoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And they finally get it.

And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude because they took him for a

profit. Now keep yourself right there with a marker and go back to Isaiah 5 or go to Isaiah 5. The

background for this parable that Jesus speaks in Matthew 21 would be something very, very familiar

with the Jewish people and the rulers, because they knew oftentimes that in the Old Testament,

Israel was referred to as a vineyard which was planted by God, such as in I,

of Psalm 80 and in Jeremiah. And in what we call the song or what the Jewish people call the song

of the vineyard, which is found here in Isaiah 5 verses 1 to 7. They have actually put this into

music. This is the song of the vineyard. And in this song, the prophet Isaiah described a vineyard

that had been planted on a very fruitful hill. He says, now will I sing to my well beloved,

a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard, my well beloved, half a vineyard in a very

fruitful hill. And what did he do? He went to a great deal of trouble to make sure that this vineyard

would produce a bountiful harvest. In verse 2, it says he not, well, verse 1 says he not only

planted it on a very lush hillside, but he had been very careful to prepare the soil so that it

would receive the vine. He did this by digging up the soil, tilling it. And then he went through

the land and he removed all of the stones. And there's a lot of stones in Israel. He removed all

the stones so that growth of the vines would not be impeded. And then he set a fence around it,

which was a hedge. It wasn't a fence like a wooden fence or a stone fence, which some vineyard

owners would do, but predators could rather easily get over stone fences or through wooden fences.

And but this vineyard owner wanted to make sure that no wolves or any other kind of animal or

thieves could get over the fence. So he made a fence. He had a hedge, which was a real thick tall

hedge of thorns, a thorny hedge. And I don't know if you've ever seen thorn bushes in Israel, but they

like, you know, when they made the crown of thorns, they have long thorns on them. And an animal or a

thief would not be able to get over a hedge like that. So he made that kind of a hedge around it.

And then what else did he do? He put up a tower in the midst of the vineyard so that a watchman could

sit up in that tower and keep a protective eye over the vineyard not only to look for any

possible predators or thieves, but also for fires. And this too was a common practice back in those

days. And the towers were generally around 15 to 20 feet tall, although sometimes they were as

high as 80 feet. And then it says he also dug a wine press. However, as Isaiah 5-2 tells us, when

harvest time came, the vineyard owner came to collect the fruits thereof and what did he find?

All it had produced was wild grapes. And the word for wild literally in the Hebrew speaks of rotten

or stinking grapes. And then the the song is interpreted. It was it was God who planted the vineyard.

It was God who brought Israel out of the paganism in ur of the counties in the seed of Abraham.

And it was God who later brought her out of her bondage in Egypt. It says in Psalm 88, Thou hast

brought a vine out of Egypt. And it was God who brought Israel out of her rebellion in the wilderness

in the days of Moses. And where did he bring her? He brought her to a land that he had prepared,

gone to great trouble to prepare for her, a land that was flowing with what? Milk and honey.

He made sure that she was abundantly endowed with great privileges. She was hedged about with his

own protection, which was provided to her in the law. You know, the law was the hedge of protection

around Israel. I got to thinking about that. And this is our hedge of protection. You know,

you always pray, put a hedge of protection around your children and around everybody you love and

this is our hedge of protection. If we obey this book, we'll be protected from the evils of this

world. I mean, we might be persecuted, but this is what will keep us from sin. And there are

consequences to sin. This is our hedge of protection. And he protected Israel with the law because the

law kept her separated from predators who would destroy her. They would come and destroy her.

They would want to absorb her into the rest of the world. That's why Israel is still a separate

people today is because of God's hedge of protection around her. He gave her the law to keep her

separate and to keep her unique because he had a peculiar, a special mission for her. She was to

produce a bountiful harvest. She was the one who was supposed to grow the kingdom of God here on

earth. Did she? Was she successful? We said that before. No. All she produced was stinking wild

grapes, rotten wild grapes. And then the Lord God stood guard himself in the watch tower to

ensure the preservation of his people. He was the watchman over Israel. He gave Israel both material

and spiritual blessings of every kind, everything conceivable he gave to her. And his only request was

that she produced good fruit for his glory. But the wild grapes that he found as described in verse

7, if you look at Isaiah 5 verse 7, those wild grapes did not at all please him. Instead of finding

good fruit like justice, he found wild grapes of oppression and bloodshed. And rather than

finding good fruit like righteousness, he heard the cries of her rebellion. Verse 4 of Isaiah 5,

God asks a rhetorical question which gets a negative answer. What could have been done more

to my vineyard that I have not done in it? And the answer, obvious answer is nothing. There was

nothing more he could have done to prepare the land so that the people could have produced a

bountiful harvest. It reminds me of Eden, the Garden of Eden. Didn't God do everything conceivable to

make a perfect environment, a living place for man, but it didn't take him long to produce wild grapes

that it stinking fruit. He did everything conceivable. You see God didn't fail. Israel failed.

Well, in the parable of the, now you can go back to Matthew 21, I think I'm through with Isaiah 5.

In the parable of the wicked vindressers, Jesus continued the same imagery as, and the people,

like I said, were familiar with this song of the vineyard. So they would pick up immediately when

they heard his parable. They would pick up with what he was doing here. He continues the same

imagery as he reviewed Israel's history. God was the landowner in his parable. He had planted his

people Israel the vineyard in a good land, and he had provided her with every protection through

his law. And therefore he anticipated the fruit of righteousness from her. And now here's where the

Lord's parable in Matthew 21 diverges a little bit from the song of Isaiah that we just looked at.

The owner in Jesus' parable rants out the vineyard, but we didn't see that in the other one.

Isaiah 5, but he leases out the vineyard to husbandmen or vindressers. And he goes off where

into a far country for a long time. But he was not so far out of touch that he didn't know what

was going on. He stayed in touch with what was going on through his servants, his ambassadors.

Now the husbandmen to whom he rented out the vineyard, they were supposed to be held responsible

to cultivate and to prune and to fertilize and tend to the vine so that it would produce a

bountiful harvest for the vineyard owner. So the full management of the vineyard was entrusted to

these men who were to pay the owner an agreed portion of the crop that they would produce. They

would make an agreement. This was common practice. And the vine owner would, you know, he would let

them keep part of the crop and he would receive part of the crop. And this was all a divine test

for the vine dressers. What would they do when the owner was not around on a daily basis looking

over their shoulders? Would they be faithful? Well, in Isaiah we found that they were not faithful

at all. Apparently they didn't tend to the vineyard at all. They were off doing their own thing.

And all that happened was, you know, wild grapes took over the vineyard.

But in Jesus' parable, he reports that while they apparently were working the vineyard,

they did work the vineyard, yet they revolted in their hearts against the absentee owner.

And they decided that they would not fulfill their agreement with him, the leasing contract.

They worked in the vineyard, but they wanted to keep all the fruit and the benefit of the vineyard

to themselves. They didn't want to share it with the vine owner. So you see the difference in Isaiah,

they didn't even work the vineyard. And that's true. If you look at back in the Old Testament,

they were constantly, Israel was constantly being pulled to false gods and she just wasn't tending to

business at all. She wasn't winning Gentiles over. She wouldn't do anything. She was just letting

wild grapes come up. And he had to keep reprimanding her and all that. But, you know, after they're

70 years in captivity, they learned a lesson at least about adultery. So after they came back from

their captivity, they did work in the vineyard. But they wanted to keep everything to themselves.

The religious rulers didn't want everything just for themselves and they even looked down their

noses at the people. So there's the difference. And it is really hot in here. Everybody's

fanning. Can you possibly turn down the temperature? Maybe Belva? Well, when harvest time drew near,

and the landowner's servants were sent to collect the rent, which would be a portion of the fruit

of the vine, they were treated very harshly, terribly by the vine dressers. One servant we are told

was beaten and sent away empty with no fruit. Another servant was killed and yet a third servant

was stoned. This is in verse 34 of Matthew 21. Over in Mark 12, 4, we learned that the one who was

stoned, I don't know the significance of all this, but the one who was stoned had a terrible wound

to his head. You know, big stone hit his head. And he was treated shamefully. It says he was

shamefully handled. That's in Mark. I don't know. I got to thinking about that. Why was that put in

there? Maybe the Lord Jesus knew about a certain prophet, and we don't know about, because it

wasn't recorded in the Scripture. But this was probably something that happened to one of his

prophets, that he was stoned in the head with a terrible wound and shamefully treated. But there

was no excuse. Absolutely no valid reason for the violence that was displayed against the servants

of the landowner. These servants, of course, represented God's messengers, the Old Testament

prophets who were sent by God repeatedly throughout Israel's history to call the people to repentance,

just like John the Baptist. You know, constantly go into the people trying to get them to repent of

their sins and obey God and to try to encourage them to live righteously so that they would bring

forth fruit for the vine owners glory. Now, by the way, I want you to take a sneak preview of what the

in my Bible, I only have to turn one page. Look at Matthew 23 verse 34,

what the Lord Jesus is going to say in what is called his denunciation discourse. If you think he

doesn't pull any punches in what we're just reading here, you know what he says, the publicans and

prostitutes go into the kingdom before you, and he's called them in hypocrites and all that sort of

thing. Why do you see what he does to them in the denunciation discourse? He says, he scribes and

fear, well, one to use, scribes and Pharisees, you know, hypocrites, and they call them

whited sepulchers, blind leaders of the blind, what else, vipers and all sorts of things. Anyway,

he really gives it to him in the denunciation discourse. But if you look at verse 34,

he claims there to be the one who sent the prophets. See it? Wherefore, behold, I sent unto you

the prophets. That is, maybe we wouldn't notice it if I didn't point it out, but that is yet another

claim to deity, because in the parable of the wicked vine dressers who sent the prophets, the vine

owner, God, and yet Jesus says that he sent the prophets. So if Jesus was also responsible for

having sent the prophets, it only logically follows that he too is God, right? Another claim to

deity. Okay, go back to Matthew 21. The privileged husband, the vine dressers abused their great

privileges. The Jewish rulers became, as we know, very proud, very selfish, very unscrupulous,

and hypocritical, pretending piety while actually being full of evil, self-love. Eros,

Catherine, right? And so they turned violently against the prophets because of the way that the

prophets God inspired ministries and messages disturbed their own consciences. You know, the kings

of Israel and Judah and the people, the religious rulers, they didn't like the messages of the old

testament prophets because their consciences were taken out of their comfort zones, and they robbed

them of, just like Jesus was doing, the reverence that they got from the people and the respect of

the common people. So they would do their best to try to silence the Old Testament prophets.

And here are some of the things we know that happened to some of the Old Testament prophets

just from the Scripture. We don't have everything recorded about the prophets, but a lot all of them

guess we could say suffered for being God's ambassadors. But Jeremiah, I would have hated to have

been Jeremiah. That poor guy, I mean, he preached for a long, long time and never had anybody listen

to him. And he wept his heart out over the people. He loved the people and he wanted them to listen,

but what did they do to him? Well, they beat him up, they put him in stocks, and later on they threw

him into a pit and left him there to die, but he didn't die there. I think he was carried off

somewhere to Egypt. Mikeia, the prophet, was put into prison and he was only given bread and water

because he proclaimed, he dared to proclaim the truth. That's in 1 Kings 227. You know what they did

to Isaiah? We've just been reading from Isaiah. Do you know how he was martyred? They put him in,

this is in the Hall of Fame chapter in Hebrews chapter 11. They put him into a hollow log and

they sawed him in half. Oh, oh, oh, oh, and Eurijah, the prophet. Haven't heard of him, right? But

he's in there. He was slain with the sword. Jeremiah 26 versus 21 to 23. Amos, you've all heard of

Amos, Hosea, then comes Amos. Amos was murdered with a club. They clubbed him to death.

Zachariah was stone to death, 2 Chronicles 24, 21. That's just to name a few that we know about.

You see, they couldn't touch the vine owner. Why? Well, he was off in a far country,

but they could and they did attack his servants. But rather than sending instant judgment upon

these wicked vine dressers, you know what the owner did? In his great, amazing grace, he sent more

servants, look at verse 36, more servants to try to collect the fruit of the harvest and to try

to get the vine dressers to repent of all their former evil. It was a most unusual display of grace

and patience. Every step, you know, those who say that the God of the Old Testament was merciless

and not a God of grace are so wrong, they're just reading it wrong. They're not understanding that

everything he does is to try to get people to repent, to see their wickedness and to repent.

Every step of the wickedness of the vine dressers was met with his renewed mercy and patience

and with fresh calls to repentance. And that is how God is with Israel, always has been and still is.

And that is how he is with you and I, right? He's so long suffering. If I was God, oh my goodness,

I would have squelched things long ago. Through Jeremiah, God said, since the day that your fathers

came forth out of the land of Egypt, unto this day I have even sent you all my servants, the prophets,

daily rising up early and sending them. That's in Jeremiah 725. However, every time the owner of the

vineyard sent servants to collect the rent, the husbandmen mistreated them every time. Matthew 2136

says that they did likewise to the next set of servants as they had done to the first set of servants.

And as we discussed last week, they had just recently allowed John the Baptist, who was the most

recent prophet. They had allowed him to be arrested and imprisoned and beheaded because they were

glad to be rid of him. They could have made a ruckus and have gotten him released, but they wanted

him silenced. And we have learned that they even tried to kill Lazarus, didn't they? Because after

Lazarus was raised from the dead, he became a testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. And then shortly

after the Lord's resurrection, they would be responsible for the stoning to death of Stephen and also

for the killing of James, the Apostle James, and on and on. The wicked vine dressers perverted the

grace and the patience of God into opportunity for more evil. Every time God was gracious to them,

they would just take that and use it for doing more evil. And tragically, if you think about it,

most people in the world today misuse the grace of God. You know, we're still living in the day of

grace, aren't we? And they're not, they're not taking advantage of this extended period of grace.

You know, Lord could, could come at any minute. If I were him, like I said, I would have come a

long time ago and ended all this rebellion. But we're living in an age of grace and yet instead of

using the time of his extended grace to repent, they think that his grace means no judgment.

You know, I don't know if there's not going to be any judgment. And so they use that

to do more evil. But this will merely add to their judgment in the long run. His grace, you see,

is only a postponement of judgment so that men will have more time to repent and to be saved.

Well, then, in the most unusual display of grace in all of history, in all of history, the owner

provided the wicked husbandman one more opportunity to repent and to pay him the fruit of righteousness

that he deserved. He deserved it. It was his by right. Who owned the vineyard? Did they own it?

No, he owned it. He could have collected all the fruit. But he was allowing them to have a portion,

but they weren't even giving that. But so he gave them one more opportunity. Who did he send to them?

He sent to them his son. This reminds me of Hebrews 1 versus 1 and 2. If you look at that when you

have time, at first he sent his prophets and then he sent his son. He sent them last his son,

thinking to himself, surely they would reverence his son. Now, you don't see it here in Matthew,

but in Luke 20, the parallel passage in verse 13, we learned that this was a beloved son.

And the vine owner said to himself over there, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may

be they will reverence him when they see him. And then in Mark's parallel account, in Mark 12,

6, he calls the son the well-beloved son, which is interesting because that was the term used

in Isaiah 51 in the song of the vineyard, twice that word well-beloved is used. And Mark also says

something we don't see in Matthew, which is that he was his only son, having yet therefore one

son. Now, this son, this one well-beloved son, is mentioned in contrast to the prophets and

as higher than the prophets. The prophets were called servants. This son is a son, and he's the

heir, so he's much higher than the servants. Well, the only son of the Father represents who,

of course, the only begotten son of the Father, Jesus Christ. And if the religious rulers were

getting all of this, now we know they weren't yet because of verse 41, when we know they're not

getting it at this point. They do get it by the time of verse 45, but now they're not getting it.

But if they had been boy, they would really be steaming under the collar. I mean, you know,

steams coming out of their ears when they heard that the prostitutes and publicans going the kingdom

before them. But if they had understood this, they would really be hot to try, because Jesus was

once again indirectly telling them the source of his authority. He is the only beloved,

eternal son of the Father. And once again, he was therefore managing to answer their original

trick question in such a manner that he could claim deity, and yet they could not outright

accuse him of blasphemy, because he's telling them truth through a story. Right? None of the

characters in the story have names. He didn't come right out and say, I am the vine dresser's son,

but at the end when they got it, they got it. They knew what he was saying, but they couldn't

accuse him of blasphemy. Well, when the husband men saw the son, what did they do? They consulted

among themselves. And isn't that what they had just done Monday night? Didn't they have a little

powwow session all Monday night about how they could ensnare Jesus? So it says they consulted

among themselves. And they said, this is the heir. Oh my. Did the religious rulers really know who

Jesus was? I think so. I think many of them did. And that's just what makes their willful

unbelief that much more tragic and awful and sinful. They said, this is the heir. They understood

and they acknowledged that he was the future owner of the vineyard because of his hereditary

rights. Don't you think the religious rulers of the Sanhedrin when Jesus came on the scene,

the first time he cleans the temple, immediately ran to the temple and looked up his genealogical

records and saw, oh, we better not mention that because he does have the right hereditary lineage

to be the true king of Israel. And so they say he's the heir. He has the right. He was to them.

Jesus was to them the unique obstacle, the stumbling stone, the rock of the fence. He was the

one obstacle that stood in the way for them to seize the vineyard for themselves. So they plotted

how they could rid themselves of him. They say, come, let us kill him and let us seize on his

inheritance. And in this part of the parable, the Lord was demonstrating his omniscience really

here because he was telling the religious rulers that he knew exactly what had been going on behind

all their little closed-door meetings when they were having their little caucus meetings. He knew

that they were plotting to kill him and he was also boldly and fearlessly confronting his foes

and telling them to their faces that he knew that they would be successful in killing him. They

would catch him. He would allow them to catch him and try to seize the vineyard for themselves.

You see his murderers thought that with him dead, they might be able to again use the law of God

to serve their own interests and their own ambitions and regain the honor and the influence over

the people that they had lost because of both John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. So they

wanted to get him out of the way so that they could seize Israel back to themselves. They liked

being the mighty mucky mucks and having control over the vineyard. Now in verse 39, Jesus went on

with the parable saying that the husbandman did catch the vineyard son and they cast him out of the

vineyard and slew him. And that was a prophetic statement by the Lord as to what his enemies would

do to him in another two days. The Sanhedrin would seize him. They would falsely accuse him and

they would have him crucified outside. It says they would cast him out. They would have him crucified

outside the city of Jerusalem in order to symbolize his expulsion from the community of Israel.

They wanted to excommunicate him. They wanted to cut him off from the people of God and from their

blessings. But in doing that, they actually cut themselves off, did they, from the blessings of God.

Well, the parable closes with some plain language about the judgment that would come upon the wicked

vine dressers who so horribly had mistreated and rejected not only the servants of the vineyard

owner, but even killed his only beloved son. Their rejection and their hatred of the son

gave evidence, didn't it, of their true attitude toward the vine owner? Did they love the vine owner?

Obviously not if they killed his son and did the religious rulers really love God?

They were so full of self-love. They had no room to love God. You know, you can only have one

person on the throne in your heart and they had self on the throne. They had filled up the

measure of their iniquity by putting the owner's son to death. And now Jesus very wisely, everything he

does is why it's important to look at his life because you just see how perfectly wise and clever he

is. Why wouldn't he be? He's got. But he gets the delegation from the Sanhedrin Council to pass a

righteous sentence on themselves. Now these guys, they're standing there and they actually, it's

interesting. They actually got caught up in the story. Just like Nathan did with David. They got

all caught up in the story. And so then he asked them, well, you know, here's this question,

when the Lord, therefore of the vineyard, cometh, what will he do to those husbandmen? And they're so

caught up in the story that they immediately, they didn't have a little powwow session. Oh, how

should we answer him? They just immediately gave him the right answer. And I'll get to that answer

in a minute. But first of all, I want to point out something else. Who is the member of the Godhead,

the Trinity? Who not only went into a fire country from the vineyard, but also will one day suddenly

return to the vineyard? Jesus. So do you see that Jesus is again claiming deity? Not only as the

son of the vineyard owner, but also as the returning Lord of the vineyard. Now he's hard to,

you know, separate it because God is three persons, but he's in one. So he's really claiming,

again, he's the one who went off into the fire country and he's the one who will return the Lord

of the vineyard. Well, the immediate response of the religious rulers is he will miserably destroy

those wicked men and will let out or lease his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render

him the fruits in their seasons. These religious rulers had easily seen when they thought the story

was about someone else, just like David, when they thought it was about someone else, they had

easily seen that the returning owner, the Lord of the vineyard, needed to exercise his authority

and remove those who had so miserably treated his servants and killed his son. And then they also

readily agreed that the owner should appoint new overseers, new vinedressers who would produce

the harvest that rightly belonged to them. So they were passing judgment on themselves.

Isn't that neat? And they failed to see at this point how this parable involved them,

but Jesus is going to make that clear. By the time we get to another four verses, he makes that

clear. Speaking to the religious leaders who had stayed up all Monday night plotting how they

could ensnare him so that they could have an excuse to kill him, Jesus told them that they were

merely doing exactly what the scripture said. I know you guys are plotting to kill me and I know

in two days you're going to be successful in killing me, but have you not read what the scripture

said? Now here's why I want you to go over to Psalm 118. This is by the way the third question he asks

in this section. He had asked them about the baptism of John. He asked them about what the

the vine owner should do with those wicked husbandmen. And now he says in verse 42,

did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected the same as become

the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Now that was

a quote from Psalm 118. And the Jewish people were very familiar with Psalm 118. It was by the way the

very Psalm from which the Passover crowds had cried out to Jesus just two days earlier on Palm

Sunday when he officially presented himself in Jerusalem seated on that little donkey as Israel's

Messiah. In fact the crowds, Hosanna, cries to him came from this Psalm that the religious, you know,

it was those cries that the religious rulers had tried to make him hush up. They said tell them

to be quiet. Why? Because the people were quoting from this Psalm. Look at verses 22 and 23.

Their Hosanna cries were from this Psalm. Hosanna means saved now. Look at, excuse me,

look at verses 24 and 26 where it says this is the day that the Lord hath made. Remember when we

study Palm Sunday we said that is speaking about the day he officially presented himself to Israel

as her Messiah. The very day Daniel the prophet had said he would come. This is the day that the

Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. That's what the people were doing as they were

waving their palm branches. They were rejoicing and they were glad in it. And they were saying what?

Save now, which is Hosanna. I beseech you, Lord, O Lord. I beseech you, send now prosperity.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. They also said that.

So Jesus was now reminding the Jewish religious leaders and the people of the two verses that

immediately precede what I just read. That's where I want you to look at verses 22 and 23.

While the Passover multitudes were fulfilling part of the the Psalm with their palm waving

Hosanna's, the religious rulers, those who were supposedly to be the builders of the kingdom of God,

those who were to build up the temple of God, they were doing exactly what it says in verses 22 and

23. What do those verses speak about? The stone which the builders would reject becoming the chief

cornerstone. You know the Jews acknowledged that Psalm 118 was a messianic psalm. In other words

they knew it spoke of the coming Messiah, but what they had not seen in this Psalm. That's why he

says, do you never read in the scripture? See they would read the scripture, but they would never

really read it. I mean they would never really hear it. And they had they were familiar with this,

but they missed where it says that the stone they would reject the stone. How does how is it

worded? That they would reject their Messiah when he came. And that's exactly what these verses

say. That it predicts their own rejection of their own Messiah, but they just missed it. They

didn't see it. And again, you know he's called a stone, Jesus is called a rock. He's the rock of

ages and several times in the New Testament he is clearly called the rock. Do you know who else

is called a rock? Throughout the Old Testament. God is called a rock and Deuteronomy 32, a bunch of

places in Deuteronomy 32 also in Psalm 18 and other places. It was so God and Jesus are both called a

rock. It was with regard to this very same psalm prophecy that I'm showing you here in Psalm 118,

that Peter would later preach in Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost. He would preach these

words. He'd say, and this is to the religious rulers. He said, be it known unto you all. He was a

southerner. And to all the people of Israel that Jesus Christ, whom ye crucified, whom God raised

from the dead, this is the stone. Who is the stone? Jesus Christ is the stone which was set at not

of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. That's an Acts 411. You see the rejected

stone. The stone that the builders rejected, that's the rejected stone, is the crucified Christ.

While the chief cornerstone, you know, the rejected stone became the chief cornerstone. The chief

cornerstone is the resurrected Christ, which is further confirmed by the way by Paul in Ephesians

chapter 2. The Lord's quotation from Psalm 118 carried his teaching beyond that of the wicked

vindresser, parable, because it spoke of the final destiny of the son whose death was the climax

of the parable. You know, the parable of the wicked vindressers basically sort of ended with the

death of the son, right? But now, in talking about Psalm 118, he's telling of the final

destiny of that crucified son, that rejected, and now he changes the analogy. He goes from

a rejected son to a, or a crucified son, a killed son, martyred son to a rejected stone.

But we know the stone is still speaking about the one only beloved son. He just merely changes

the picture from also from a vineyard to a building. You got to follow him, he's quick.

Anyway, the husband men who rejected and killed the vineyard owner's son are one and the same

as the builders who rejected the stone. When they were confronted with the stone, with a

capital S, Christ, God with us, the rock, God, they subjected him to their scrutiny, and they

determined that he was not worthy to be built upon. See, they rejected him. But this evil

assessment of him was predicted all along. There's no surprises to God. He knew that to Israel,

Jesus would be a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and that Israel under her evil leaders

would reject her true Messiah. But wonder of wonders, in his death and resurrection, he created

his church. And in his church, or to the church, the Lord Jesus is, who? The foundation stone,

he is the head stone, ahead of the corner, he is the chief cornerstone. You see, the rejected

stone became the chief cornerstone. What is a chief cornerstone? Well, a chief cornerstone

is the stone that they put in a corner that binds together to adjoining walls,

believing Jews and believing Gentiles, who together make up his church, and he's the chief

cornerstone that holds them together. To the church, Christ is understood to be the God

rock of the Old Testament scriptures. And all of this was the Lord's doing, and it is what?

Marvelous in our eyes. And he quotes that. And that's in Psalm 118. And he repeats it here in

verse 42. It's beautiful. This is so beautiful. Well, he goes on in verse 43 to reveal the judgment

that would come upon Israel for having followed her leaders, not only in her rejection of God,

the Father, which we saw in the parable of the two sons, but also in her rejection of God,

the Son, in the parable of the wicked vindressers. We saw that. He told them that the kingdom of God,

and here we can go on to definitely say that the vineyard also pictures the kingdom of God,

that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to a nation. Look at that in verse 43,

a nation that would bring forth fruit for the vineyard owner. The Greek word for nation that is

used there is the word ethnos. It's where we get our word ethnic. And it means a people group. The

people who were given the responsibility to produce the fruit of the kingdom of God after God

temporarily removed that privilege from Israel are those who make up Christ's church. Didn't Peter

call us a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and then what does it say? A holy nation,

same word ethnos, a holy nation, and I always love this one, a peculiar people. How many of you are

peculiar and proud of it? The world does look at us as being peculiar. They can't imagine why we

would be here on a Tuesday morning. I'm a pretty day like this studying this, but we're peculiar to

the world. Israel one day. Now, don't believe this replacement theology, please, where

and this is really popular in the churches today in Christendom that Israel has been replaced by

the church. And God is finished with Israel. That's called replacement theology. No, no, no, no. God is

not finished with Israel. He is going to keep all of his promises to Israel. He is not at all

finished with her. It'd be like leaving the story of Joseph unfinished. You know, his brothers finally

do one day recognize him and repent and ask for his forgiveness. One day Israel is going to recognize

her Joseph. Anyway, who she thought she had killed, but where was I? Oh, he's not through with

Israel, all right? He's not through. Israel one day will receive back her responsibility to bring

forth fruit for the vineyard owner and she will be successful in doing this. Did not

going to be any more wild grapes and she's not just going to produce nothing except for herself.

One day, especially under the ministry of the two mighty witnesses who we read about in

Revelation and the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, one day she will win many people to a saving faith

in Christ. Now many of those will have to be martyred, but she will have a bountiful harvest one day.

But for now, her privilege has been removed from her and that privilege has been given to us

as the church. Now, I don't know what we're producing. I don't think we're doing too much better

than she did. You know, I think there's a lot of wild grapes out there today that we're producing as

well. But then in verse 44, the Lord gave one further prophecy and it had to do with the generation

of those who rejected him and it even went as far as his second coming. He said, and whosoever

shall fall on this stone shall be broken. Now, you can take that two ways. Some commentators take

it as meaning that the generation that rejected the stone, that the stone fell on them and they

were crushed in 70 AD 40 years later. That was like a generation and they were crushed by the stone.

Others, and I like to be an optimist, others say that he's giving an invitation here. If you'll

fall upon the stone, you'll be broken. If you'll just fall before Christ the stone with a broken

and contrite heart, you will be saved. I think he's giving one more invitation with that part.

But then on the second party says, but on whosoever it, the stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

That looks ahead to anticipation of the Lord's second coming. At the end of the seven years of

tribulation, when the Lord in Revelation 19 does come back, down to earth, you know, in his army,

you and I will be there in the Holy Angels, and he will end the war, the Battle of Armageddon,

and he will judge this earth. That is according to Daniel chapter 2. You remember when Nebuchadnezzar

had that dream that Daniel interpreted about the huge statue that the head was of gold, you know,

Babylon, meet a Persian Greece in Rome, it represented, and then a stone cut out without hands,

which speaks of a miraculous supernatural stone, one that came from a virgin, would come from

the heavens, and it would fall on that big image, which represents all of the world empires,

the Gentile empires of this world, it would fall on the image where on the toes, the Revived Roman

Empire, the Ten Toes, and the whole image would just crumble to powder, and the wind would come

along and blow it away. That is speaking about the destruction at the end of the tribulation.

Those who willfully chose to not have Jesus Christ as their foundation stone, their head stone,

as their deliverer will certainly experience him as their crushing, smiting stone, as their destroyer.

Well, when the religious rulers heard these things and finally got it and perceived that he

spake of them, they understood that they were the second son, the son who would not do his fathers

will by working in the vineyard, and they understood that they were the wicked, or at least that he

was saying, they were the wicked vine dressers who were worthy of judgment. But unfortunately,

they did not fall on the stone himself, the son of the vineyard owner, and beg for his forgiveness.

That's what they should have done. They should have fallen before him and said, we see it. We understand

who we are, what we have done, and we ask for your forgiveness. And would he have forgiven them?

Absolutely. But instead of doing that, what did they want to do? They wanted to lay hands on him

right then and there and kill him. Doing exactly what the parable of the wicked vine dressers

had said. However, they didn't do it because they still feared the people because the people

took him, took Jesus for a prophet. And that's not real happy news to end on. Oh yeah, it's nice

that they thought of him as a prophet, but they're putting him, this is why the people as a nation

were judged because they still saw Jesus on the same level as the prophets and as John the Baptist.

They failed to understand that he was far more than a prophet. He wasn't a servant, he was a son,

he was incarnate God. They neglected to come to him as Lord of Lord and King of kings as their

Savior and Lord. So as a nation, Israel remained unbelieving and fruitless even after God did send

her his son. You know, God's grace is great, but grace forever despised brings devastating

judgment. And the Jewish people are still paying a terrible price for having rejected the son of

God. But good news is, he is not finished with her yet, just like he isn't finished with you and

not yet, is he? Thank God.