Well, we continue our study in the Gospel of Matthew, and today we come to Matthew chapter 21 to close out chapter 21. And we have two back-to-back parables here, and today we're considering the parable of the tenants. I invite you to turn to Matthew 21, page 982. We'll read through verse 33 to the end of the chapter.
Last time we considered the authority of Jesus, and it, as the religious leaders challenged it these are parables of response to this. Beginning at verse 33, this is the word of the Lord: "Here another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, they will respect my son, but when the tenant saw the son they said to themselves this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their season."
Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this was the Lord's doing and is marvelous in our eyes Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet. And there will end today the reading of God's word.
Well, we are in the section of Matthew of Jesus moving to the cross. So you would expect after all of this ministry and after all of this really confrontation with the religious leaders of Israel that things would reach a climax and a boiling point where the heat is turned up on Israel to respond to the Messiah who has been sent to them. And that's why these section this section here from really from post triumphal entry all the way through chapter 23 is a section showcasing Jesus as the prophetic King of Israel but also a prophet of judgment. We've been looking at that. is what Matthew wants to drive home here: so that we have certain lessons. He is a prophet of judgment on the nation of Israel, and that has immense teaching application for us as we consider what is being driven home and what went wrong as Jesus confronts the nation.
You'll remember that he had arrived at the temple and that he cleansed the the temple and the great reason that Jesus did that and that's what I want to keep before us why is Jesus seemingly so combative in these in these texts and so direct in laying out prophetic judgment here? It is because of what had happened to the entire ministry in Israel. He walks into the temple, and it's a den of thieves. They've made it a swap meet. They've they've made it a house of merchandise. And Jesus said clearly that the temple was always designed to be a house of prayer for all the nations. The ministry had been wrecked in Israel. The whole intention of ministry and because they would not believe in him judgment is falling on them. And that's what happened in the last parable. Remember, Jesus made the shocking statement in the last parable. To think about it: the pastors of israel when he said, "The tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom of God before you, for they had John and they believed John the prophet, but you rejected John. You did not receive his ministry, which was a ministry about me."
And what's coming in Matthew chapter 23 is some of the strongest language you're going to get from Jesus. As I said with the fellow I talked with in the community, these are the passages that never really get preached. So that's why people have such a warped and lopsided and wrong view of Jesus himself. Think of this language: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. You fools!" Think about this language: "You also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."
You see what he's going after? It's what Matthew's been showing us the whole time. He wants to pull back the curtain and show that all this outward stuff that people are doing in in the ministry of Israel is phony and it's false. These are the people that "draw near with their lips, but their hearts are far from him," and Jesus has nothing to do with that kind of religion. So this soft really soft view of Christ in our American context today, which can't process process him this way, is not helpful when we come to passages like this. It's a direct combat to how we perceive of what the coming of the messiah is he is a prophet of salvation And he is a prophet of judgment and that's why the response is so important: of people will they come to him? Have we come to him and believed? They just stubbornly refuse. They just won't come. And that's why we've reached this climax.
So what we have today is kind of a last call, in a sense, through this parable. Even though there's a little bit more to come before he goes to the cross, this parable is a very powerful parable that I think functions as a very pivotal and crucial moment of last call for Israel, in a sense. And we're going to see that as something that this demonstrates that was also laid precedent in the Old Testament as we work through this.
So we come to verse 33 this morning, and we begin this great parable the tenants. "Here another parable: There was a master of a house who had planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country."
A common parable and theme that Jesus has been using in Matthew. The parable of the vineyard. you remember, the workers in the vineyard And last time we had the vineyard theme again. But here Jesus takes a little bit different of a turn with it. The landowner, the owner of the vineyard is here pictured as constructing a beautiful vineyard in the earth. this vineyard he anticipated to bear much fruit. that when he came, and since he had set this vineyard up so well and crafted this beautiful vineyard, how could this vineyard not produce fruit? is the great real point of that he is driving home here.
And any sort of landowner or anyone who has vines and produces this kind of thing understands the pride that goes into building a vineyard. Just go over to Napa, or if you go over to the Central Coast and just look at these vineyards that that just, you know, over the hills and are just glorious. They're beautiful. He is pictured here as loving his vineyard. Three things about it: he set a hedge around it. Uh, because of all the theft and the threats of animals, they would hedge them out to keep all the threats beautiful protection of this vineyard. He dug a wine press in it, you'll notice, and built a tower. These vineyards would have great wine presses in the middle of them, and lined with beautiful stone and the grapes would tread out the juice that would flow through pipes into these stone jars. This is just a magnificent vineyard. And then a tower a tower that functioned for storage but also to keep watch, sound the alarm when danger is coming. This is one wonderful, beautiful, constructed vineyard.
So we read that he leased it to vine dressers and went to a far country. He did the most amazing thing. He He crafted this vineyard. He he paid for this vineyard he made this vineyard and then he gave the privilege for vine dressers to flourish the beauty of his vineyard; okay it's not their vineyard, it's his vineyard right? That he hedged around with all this careful thought. And you would expect that the workers in this vineyard with such a great landowner who took such care for this vineyard would work hard for them to bear that vineyard fruit, that they would give their hearts to it, that it would be a great joy to serve in that vineyard for such a good landowner as this, that they would be excited to, we'll anticipate from Matthew 25, when the workers come back, "Look at what we brought back, double!" They would be excited to present the fruit from the vineyard.
Well, we read in verse 34 that when the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. Vintage time. And the story takes a shocking twist. "And the tenants took notice of this his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another." That's that's stunning. It's meant to be. They they beat when They flog the word here is to flog they they they stripped the clothing and had the flesh stripped and cut and shredded with a device that was made from strips of leather, sometimes pieces of metal or animal bone, to make the strike on the people more damaging to the body. By the way, he had just made a court of whips. We know he didn't do this? who did this They flat out killed another. Then we read that they stoned another they threw big boulders on him.
Imagine you've made this vineyard and you've hired these people and you've poured all that you have into this vineyard. And then this happens. They kill and they stone and they kill the servants who were just sent out to collect the fruit. Well, what would you do? What would you do if this were your vineyard and that happened? Well, you would come back to your vineyard as the owner and you would tear them out of that vineyard, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you tear them out of that vineyard? Wouldn't you prosecute them? Wouldn't you do all in your power to deal with reckless people like that?
But this good owner, this really, really good man, this is shocking. Instead, he comes and he gives them another chance by sending more. than the first," and you read the ominous little phrase, "and they did the same thing." And then in verse 37, you get to the the moving part of the parable: "Finally, he said, you know what, I'll do? I'll send my son. I'll send my son that they will they will respect my son
But the landowner just does something moving here, doesn't he? thinks to himself, "They've killed all my servants. They've stoned them. They've whipped them. They've flogged them. They wouldn't do that to my son. They wouldn't do that to my son. Surely they'll respect him." It's a tender word. It means surely they'll reverence my son. Sure. Surely, they will be such joy when my son comes to them that they will reverence him. They would never treat my son that way.
And in verse 38, you get the most horrible part of the parable: "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and they threw him out of the vineyard and they killed him."
What kind of people are this? "This is the air. And you're supposed to stop and say, they did what? Imagine if this were your son now. Okay, not just your workers. Imagine if this were your son. What would you do if they killed your son?
And Jesus says, "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what do you think he's going to do to those vine dressers?" And from their own mouths, they said, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." Would you do that? That's a powerful passage. They just said, "Yeah, the right deserved judgment is he will put those wretches to death if they kill his son. And he'll put other people there who will bear the fruit."
The certain landowner is God the Father, if you want to apply it directly. The creator. He built this beautiful kingdom on earth. He hedged it in. Oh, he loved this kingdom! He loved this vineyard! And he put towers there for fortification. And if you want to know where this directly comes from, it's this: "I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard." Isaiah 5: "My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. What do you think Jesus is taking this? Right from Isaiah 5. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
"Now, you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I'm going to do to my vineyard: I'll take away its hedge and it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, never pruned nor cultivated, and briars and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it."
The vineyard of the Lord Almighty ready is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah they are the vines. He delighted in and he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed, for righteousness, but he heard cries of distress.
What would you do with a nation like that, right? Where in that nation there's only bloodshed and injustice and cries of distress? They had taken the vineyard and they had tried to make it their own, and they had never fulfilled what it was intended to be. And Jesus has been teaching us this the whole Gospel of Matthew. "They they have not healed the hurt of my people. Comfort, comfort my people! They did not bind up the broken. They did not maintain justice. They ruined the temple, which was made to be a house of prayer for all the nations, and they did not bear fruits of repentance. But most of all, there was no faith."
That's what we're seeing. When the owner of the vineyard sent his son, God had sent throughout all the years prophet after prophet after prophet. Why does he do that? Why does he continue to do that? Why does he continue to send pastor after pastor after pastor? Why does God continue all those years to send prophet after prophet after prophet? And the Old Testament is a great story of what they did to the prophets. You know what Justin Martyr said happened to Isaiah? They took a massive saw and sawed him in two. Hebrews picks that up. They punched Micaiah in the cheek. They put Jeremiah in a prison. They persecuted Elijah.
But then the wonderful Heavenly Father. The wonderful Heavenly Father. He said, "I'll send my son down there, the prophet. They're going to reverence my son, my eternal son." And even before it happens, Jesus captures exactly what they were going to do to him in two days, a few days. They would kill him and cast him outside the vineyard. They would flog him outside of Jerusalem. They would fasten him to a big wooden cross as a spectacle for all to see. The very Son of God himself who was sent.
And Jesus explains this, and he says, "When the owner comes, what do you think he's going to do?" They said, "He'll destroy them. He'll destroy them. And he'll give it to different landowners, different people who will bear the fruit, bring the fruit."
And Jesus responds here from Scripture. "Have you never read right? Have you never read in the scriptures? verse 42 the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this was the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes They they pronounce their own judgment, and Jesus says, "Have you not read the scriptures? Have you not read that you're fulfilling everything that the scriptures talked about? You boast in having a good understanding of the scriptures, and here correctly apply the parable: Do you not understand that what you're doing to me has been prophesied?
And in the worst climax of the parable, they killed him, and they cast him out.
Psalm 118: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." Cornerstone was the foundation stone upon which the structure rested. When they made the building, it's a massive stone. If it were not cut right or set right, the whole structure would be faulty. When what Jesus says here don't you understand? It all speaks of me. I am the stone, and I will be the chief cornerstone, and this is going to be a marvelous plan."
And so Jesus says in verse 43, "Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it." That is that is overwhelming statement! Do you know? Do you know what he just said? "I'm taking it from them, and I'm giving it to you. you us the gentiles And they'll bear the fruits and this is just what all the the new testament writers celebrated about what is marvelous of God's doing.
"But you are the chosen generation, first peter a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him that called you out of darkness into this marvelous light, who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." That is now how do you find Gospel in this? That is Gospel for you! Christ is saying, "He opened the kingdom to you. He brought you in. You weren't included in this when anyone who is a Jew and a greek now as the promise made to Abraham, all the nations of the earth would be blessed anyone who has faith will bear fruit."
Now, this is a huge moment in the ministry of Christ. I was really wrestling with this, thinking, "It just seems so simple. It just seems so simple. Don't add anything new to it. It's just a simple message, isn't it?" But then I thought, "There's something that happened in Israel's history that they should have known. Do you remember when David was living in adultery with Bathsheba in that account in Second Samuel?" And he didn't even see it. And do you remember what the Lord did? He sent a prophet to David. And Nathan comes, and he tells a parable. And he tells a parable of a poor little man who had nothing in this life, and this wealthy king came, and he he he stole the one little man's lamb. And David's anger was greatly aroused. Remember? And he said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this thing shall surely die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and he had no pity."
And Nathan said to David, "You're the man."
How could he? How could he go live in adultery like that when God had been that good and never see it and think he was good with God? And right then and there, Nathan has a moment. David has a moment. Remember? He says, "I've sinned." And then you get Psalm 51.
The shocking part of the parable is: eyes were opened! By the Pharisees and the chief priests, in verse 45, "When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parables his parables they perceived he was speaking about them." Stop.
But if they perceived he was speaking about them, what should they have done? Repented. But the reality is, verse 46 ends saying they wanted to arrest him. They didn't believe in him. The only reason they hadn't done it yet, and they're staying silent, is because of the crowds because they all held Jesus to be a prophet, like John.
There's something captured here of the larger context that we learn that speaks to the entire ministry of the Gospel, beloved. What has God done for us? Wonderful things. This vineyard is His. This pulpit is not Chris Gordon's. This church is not yours. The whole plot of land here is not ours. We don't own it. He leased it. We are laborers in His vineyard. He comes to gather fruit. But what does he find? That's the great question, isn't it? There is a time where he comes to gather fruit when he calls for fruit. And that this vineyard right here on this little plot of land, what does he find? Is this a house of prayer for all the nations, for all the peoples? Is the joy of forgiveness being enjoyed by you? Most of all, do you believe? Do you believe in the gift of his son?
Fundamentally, that's why we're here. If we will not respond in faith, God will always have a vineyard of people who bear fruit. And if we will not respond, then it will be taken from us and our children, just like them.
Verse 44: "Whoever falls on this stone will be broken into pieces, but whoever on it falls, it will grind him to powder. It will crush him." Jesus is saying very clearly here: an attitude of rejection of the sending of God's Son to this earth, to us, to reject Him, to not believe Him, to not listen to Him, to not have His Word abide in us, invites judgment.
The driving point of the parable is to see how foolish it is to reject the authority of Jesus Christ.
And I want to end on this note because it's so important: that at Pentecost, this truth is what caused mass conversion. Peter stands up in his first sermon after Pentecost, and here's what he says. And this is again where we're taken: "Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it."
Peter says to everyone there, all the peoples: "You did that to him. Our sins did that to him." Then he says this: "But the stone which has been rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and it's marvelous in our eyes." Here's fulfillment! He grabs it again, Psalm 118. And then in Acts 4 he says, "Let it be known to you all and all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands before you whole. no Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
And you see, beloved, that's the pressing question of the text today. Have we come to him? Have we fallen on him and turned away? We looked at last time: the authority that people want to live under is their own authority. Have we turned to him in faith and repentance? The silent will make the excuses, but it's a reminder that God's merciful moment that we enjoy now is not forever. It's a call to come today.
And how happy you should be if you can say in your hearts today, "I've come. I've come. I believe him. I rest in his promise. And his judgment's right. But I trust him for salvation since he laid down his life in the master plan of it all."
Do you realize, to close this today, you live in the day of restoration? The cry of the Old Testament was, "When will your vineyard that's been torn down be brought back to life? When will there be fruit again?" And here's Psalm 80, to close this:
"Restore us, so God of Hosts. Cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved. You have brought a vine out of Egypt. You have cast out the nations and planted it. You prepared room for it and caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow, and the mighty cedars with its with its bows She sent out her bows to the sea, and her branches to the river. Why have you broken down her hedges so that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? The boar out of the woods uproots it, and the wild beast out of the field devours it. Return, we ask you, oh God of Hosts. Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine and the vineyard which your right hand is planted and the branch that you have made strong for yourself. It's burned with fire. It's cut down. They perish at the rebuke of your countenance. Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand this is Psalm 80 upon the Son of Man whom you've made strong for yourself. Then we will not turn back from you. Revive us! Revive us, and we will call upon your name. Restore us, oh Lord, God of Hosts. Cause your face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved."
That's when you live. That's what he's doing to the nations. And there's fruit. And it's coming in Christ, is the Man of His choosing. And those who have welcomed His son God's son Who has been sent to us, He has made us lasting inheritors of all that is. The sons so rest in Him, believe in Him, trust in Christ, and be encouraged that He has fulfilled the plan. We are part of that plan, and all who receive Him by faith will be received into eternal life on that day and not judgment. What a wonderful Savior He is to us and our children!
Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, thank you. We praise you for showing us the story and for also your righteous judgment on the unbelieving. Grant us faith, and let us see your love properly in the gift of your Son. Thank you for being so long suffering throughout history and that your master plan of bringing together all the nations under one Head and a people's who will bear the fruit of it is something that we enjoy this day. Grant us faith to believe you and to trust you and to not doubt and to be overjoyed that this gracious, good landowner sent His son to us. May we be about that work of bearing fruit for His praise and glory in making known His name to the nations so that the peoples would come in and be saved. In jesus name, we pray. Amen.