Well, if you're a visitor this morning, we are coming back to our study in the Gospel of Mark, Matthew, Mark, second book of the New Testament. Last time, we considered a section on authority, and that really it all can be boiled down to when people refuse to hear the Lord or submit to Him as an authority issue, and we looked in some detail at that particular challenge and problem there at the end of chapter 11 now we come to a further development in this dialogue and struggle that jesus is having there with the chief priests the scribes and the elders this great confrontation that is taking place so we'll read the first 12 verses of chapter 12 of the gospel of mark this is the word of the lord and he began to speak to them in parables a man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country when the season came he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard and they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed again he sent to them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully and he sent another and him they killed and so with many others some they beat some they killed he still had one other a beloved son finally he sent him to them saying they will respect my son but those tenants said to one another this is the heir come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours and they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard what will the owner of the vineyard do he will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others have you not read the scripture the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this was the lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes and they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people for they perceived that he had told the parable against them so they left him and went away you ever um felt that a sermon's preached right at you you ever commented that you felt well the pastor must have been speaking to me today that is something that the pharisees the scribes the elders felt here in this particular passage where they knew jesus's sermon was aimed right at them the intention of course was that they would repent but they would not hear that i want to reorient us to a particular place to the particular place that we are in the gospel of Mark. Jesus is addressing the consequences here of Israel, who has essentially rejected her Messiah. And it has the effect this morning of challenging us. This is what Paul does with this in Romans 11, when he looks at this great phenomenon of saying, don't do the same thing. That has that kind of effect this morning. And this particular section is nothing easy. You'll notice it's a nasty conflict. This goes along with everything that happened as Jesus was heading to the cross and the other gospels of when he essentially throws down the curses upon them there and the woes in Matthew chapter 23. And then, of course, his prophetic description here of what will happen to the temple. Jesus, of course, had come into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, and the multitudes had laid down their palm branches, testifying to the truth that he was indeed Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The next day he came, remember, as he was heading to the temple, he walked up and he saw a fig tree, all beautiful with leaves and blossoming, but no fruit. If it had those kind of leaves, it should have had fruit, and it didn't. And Jesus cursed the fig tree. And Mark wanted us to make the connection for immediately he heads right on into the temple as if to say, let me show you this fig tree that I just cursed. Look at all this hustling and bustling. Look at all this stuff going on in worship. Look at all this that's supposed to be in my name. Look at all that's happening. And he overturned tables, and he kicked over chairs, and he made a whip, And he did all these things to cleanse the temple, showing a holiness that we're not so comfortable with, with Jesus. They had taken the house and made it a den of thieves. They had never fulfilled the intention of that house to be a prayer place for the nations, a place where broken sinners would hear the word and pray and receive forgiveness. Well, Jesus, after us cleansing it and overturning tables, gave the intention as it was to be a house of prayer, healing, gospel forgiveness. They leave and they come back by that fig tree. And Peter says, wow, Lord, look. The thing is dead by the roots. I mean, the whole thing that quickly withered up and died and Jesus gave a teaching on faith, explaining to them what their mission would be like and that they should believe they would cast down all sorts of stuff against the gospel mission. Well, in the midst of all these events, Jesus has provoked all of the religious authorities. You really do see a man who knows he's going to die. He has no fear. If you're holding on to this life, you struggle with boldness and fear, don't you? He has no fear. He knows what he's going to go do. He knows he has to die. And look what he's doing. Look at the boldness. He has made all of the leaders in Israel furious by what he's doing. And in verse 23, we came across this big battle in the middle of the temple court as he went back in there the next day and began to teach on the kingdom of God. They had confronted him, the temple police and all the people had confronted him. By what authority are you doing these things? You have no authority to do this. Who gave you the authority to talk to us this way? And the people were always blown away by his authority, remember, because he didn't talk like the scribes and the Pharisees who were just, you know, this is what people want. Light, kind, make it all easy, no confrontation, no confrontation of sin. Just tell everything, everyone's great, and talk about a lot of personal trial. You'll be a great Pharisee and a scribe. Not Jesus. Not Jesus. he was not speaking that way. Jesus threw it down. And after this struggle on the issue of authority, I want you to hear what Matthew records right at this moment of what Jesus says. He's in the temple. Think about this. And he says to them in Matthew's Gospel, Assuredly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots will enter the kingdom of God before you. The whores, they're getting in before you. Whoa. That's a serious moment in the Gospels, isn't it? That is Jesus bringing judgment on Israel. And right in front of his disciples, Jesus is making a clean, fast break with the nation. Dealing with Israel on a national level doesn't mean we're not going to see Jews come in and be saved. That's not what we're talking about. Dealing with this one nation in the earth, the way that he had through all these years, breaking with Judaism in the way that the Lord had dealt with it. It was all external, Isaiah 1. It was all dead. They had corrupted the house of God. They had made it their own design. It was not delivering anyone from bondage. You'll see that with the widow who comes in and puts her two mites and Jesus says that is so rare. We're going to tear this whole temple down because we're not seeing that. Well, this is helpful because what Jesus does with this, He essentially gives now a parable saying it's over for you, Israel. Nationally, that way. I'm giving it to somebody else. And that should have a sort of two-fold effect today. It should strike fear in anyone who doesn't respond to him after continued pleas. It should have us to think a lot about that. But it also should make us full of joy inexpressible for the gospel that has brought in Gentiles to be in the kingdom, right? Who we are. And that is sort of the path and trajectory I want to look at this with this morning. Let's just unfold this parable and think through this parable and apply it appropriately, seeing what Jesus is saying this morning, that we would understand what happened with Israel and that we would respond in faith, realizing what a blessing it is to be in his kingdom and vineyard. In verse 33, he starts to tell and speak to them in parables. Remember, he would do this as signs of judgment we looked at this earlier but in this particular parable they understood what he was saying a man planted a vineyard verse 1 and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country this landowner wanted to plant a beautiful vineyard just a beautiful vineyard vineyards are are just wonderful places if i could uh have some land at the parsonage i'd build a vineyard when i give me some land i'll build a vineyard over there for relaxing you walk through the vineyard you look at the leaves you see the grapes just a wonderful place this is what this landowner did built a fence around the vineyard you'll notice he says three things that he did to really build up and make this vineyard a great place he built fences he didn't want animals coming in he didn't want harm coming in he didn't want things to attack and hurt his beautiful vineyard he dug a wine press in it and built a tower around it you'll notice that they have these wine presses they did in those days in the middle of them and they would be lined with beautiful stone i mean it was just a really wonderful place to be grapes would be treaded upon the juice would throw flow through pipes and put into these big stone jars in the day the tower a place for storage but also a watch place where they could see if any enemies were coming there was a lot of protection a lot of care a lot of nurture a lot of feeding a lot of blessing in this particular vineyard. You see what's developing here. The landowner made this beautiful vineyard, and we read that he leased it out to tenants. It's not their vineyard, of course, but he leased it out to tenants, and he went off to a far country. He did the most amazing thing. In this vineyard, he gave all this blessing. He set it up, all this flourishing that would take place in the vineyard beauty protection of the vineyard hedging it in with a protection and watchmen well as uh vintage time drew near you read there when the season came he sent a servant to his tenants to get some of the fruit of the vineyard amazing he wanted some of the fruit he wanted to see what fruit he was getting out of his vineyard what fruits coming out of the vineyard what we read in verse 2 is really should be shocking to us it's unthinkable notice what it says verse 3 and they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed no fruit to bring back no fruit in the vineyard they shamefully treated this man and in the process uh you'll notice there it says they they beat him they flogged him a person being flogged they would usually uh uh strip them of their clothing they would they understood what jesus was describing they would strip him of his clothing they would make large leather straps they would attach either bone or metal to those straps and they would strike the servant making it a painful and shameful display sending him out of there bloody and bruised with nothing. Again, he's taken by this. I'm going to send another servant. It says they took big boulders and threw them at him. Hitting him in the head and utterly shaming him. If you're into this story right now you should be sort of gasping I would think, if you're in the original audience. I mean, what a terrible thing. Look how wonderful the owner has been. Look at this. He has built a vineyard. He has flourished them. He has blessed them. And they're doing this to his servants. Look at all this. What are they unsatisfied with? That's the question, isn't it? What in the world do they have to be unsatisfied with? They have everything. And they do what? Oh, the owner sends another. They killed them. It's just remarkable that you read, he sent another and they killed him and so they did with many others. Some they beat, some they killed. What a long-suffering owner of the vineyard to just keep sending servants, keep sending and sending and sending. I mean, how often do you, how much do you keep doing this when the people are responding this way, when you've given your vineyard to be, I mean, if you had a vineyard and you sent your loved ones to your tenants who were watching over your vineyard and that's what they're doing to your loved ones whom you sent to get some of the fruit, what would you do? Well, he had one more son. This was a beloved son. Oh, it's a good son. Everything a father loved. They'll respect him. i'll really respect him i know they will they've killed my servants but they wouldn't do that to my son it's a tender word the reverence my son they have to think highly of him such a good man when the first seven tenants saw him. They said to one another, this is the heir. Come, let's kill him and the inheritance will be ours. And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. Just stunning. Stunning story. Now Jesus at this point, does something brilliant. He asks the next logical question, of course, to the hearer who's been caught up in this particular story. When the owner of the vineyard comes, you guys all tell me, what do you think he's going to do? Well, you know. As a matter of fact, in Matthew's gospel, he asked them, you tell me what he should do, what he's going to do. What do you think he would do? They said, he's going to destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vine dressers and give to them the fruits in their seasons. Of course He's not going to let that continue to go on. He's got to stop that. He's going to destroy them and give it to somebody else out of their own mouth. All of a sudden it must have set in, you know, I think He's speaking this against us. You know, I was thinking about this parable this week and I thought it was an interesting moment when you think about parables and how they're often used. And you have a sort of Nathan and David moment here just with an entirely different response. When David had been sinning and David heard the parable and Nathan came and told the parable, there was a man and he had everything and then he came and stole one little ewe lamb from this man who had nothing. David arose, oh, that man needs to be killed. You're the man, man. You're Him. Jesus does that right here. Jesus responds with Psalm 118. Right after they said that, He said, what do you think He's going to do? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. You are the builders. And you have rejected the chief cornerstone. The foundation stone upon which the structure rested was a massive stone. If it wasn't cut right, just to set right, the whole structure would be faulty. We know that. And the stone was always, they thought, Israel. They thought, this is us. Israel being the stone, always hated and despised by the nations. Jesus says, no, that's me. I'm the stone. I'm the Israel. I'm being rejected. Well, that's the parable. Let's apply this and think about this for a minute. The certain landowner here evidently is God the Father, our Creator, you'll notice. He built this beautiful kingdom evident in the earth. This kingdom, His church, His people, He hedged it in. Oh, how He loves His church. this vineyard and what did he do throughout history he raised up this people he raised up and set apart a people in the earth and he gave them fortification he brought them out of egypt he fought their battles he delivered them and he gave them everything in the land he fulfilled every good word that he said he would do joshua inspired saying that and he gave them to be of members in his vineyard entered into covenant with them paul would say gave them the adoption the glory the covenants the law what happened the end of that old covenant is no fruit barren they had externalized the whole thing of course they had taken the vineyard and they tried to make it their own vineyard did you notice that here they tried to make it their vineyard with their own people only that was not the intention we saw they're never the intention of the temple that it was to be a prayer place for all nations tribes and tongues and peoples they never fulfilled what it was intended they did not heal the hurt of the people they did not bear fruit themselves worthy of repentance they were just an eat drink and be merry jewish club that's what they were the story of the old testament tells us what they did to the prophets they punched micaiah in the cheek remember they threw jeremiah boy what jeremiah went through threw him down into a dungeon and beat him that wicked woman jezebel and ahab remember what they did to elijah the poor man always having to run out in in fear and in the caves justin martyr tells us what happened to isaiah you know what they did to isaiah the great prophet isaiah that i read this morning in chapter one they took a massive saw and they cut him alive in two pieces jesus says in matthew 23 therefore indeed i send you prophets wise men and scribes some of them you will kill and crucify, some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Those are all his prophets. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. That's the history of Israel. They did nothing but reject the prophets and they persecuted them and they destroyed them. God sent them, why? To correct. To bring repentance. Surely this wonderful heavenly Father, then He would send His Son, His beloved Son, whom He loves in all His delight, the Father. Thou reverence my Son. And right in front of you, what are they trying to do to Him? Kill Him. As a matter of fact, they will. They will take Him, they will flog Him outside of Jerusalem. They'll fasten Him with massive pins to a wooden cross as a spectacle for all to see what they thought of God's Son. Jesus says, when the owner comes, what do you think he's going to do? I say to you, I want you all to look carefully here. What will the owner, verse 9, do? He will come and destroy the tenants. and give the vineyard to others. You understand the offense of that? Who's he saying it to? Israel. It's ours. You know what Luke says when he said that, you know what their response was? They started all yelling out, certainly not. God forbid. In other words, some heard it, it was such an awful thought that it would be taken they said god forbid that could ever happen i mean put this in context feel this a little bit this morning it would be like saying look at what i've built here look at what i am building you've been in this church for years has there been fruit has there been repentance in your life think about it would feel like this you've never responded you've sat here for years playing the game you've never come you've done this all for the sake of your tradition there's been no fruit in you and your children the people's all around you look at you and know it's all about you could he give that indictment i'm taking this from you and giving it to others i think that would cause any angst and anger well this is um a parable of judgment but if you now see and know who you are it's a wonderful statement because peter would understand when he preached how to apply this and he would look at gentiles just like you and he would then say the very same thing that old testament said of israel he would say to gentiles but you first peter 2 are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light who were once not a people but now are a people of god who once had not had mercy but now have obtained mercy that's wonderful that's what he's saying to you today christ is saying he's opened the kingdom to you because that's what happened with israel you're included and it was always his plan this was not plan b this is what he said to abraham would be the fulfillment that in him all the nations gentiles peoples of the earth would be blessed this was always in the plan that anyone who is a believing jew and a believing greek is God's people are I think if you understand uh what the old testament was like and all those nations sitting in darkness that Paul says in acts in bygone generations God suffered them all to walk their own way but in these last days brought you in you are the most blessed and fulfilled people understand that I mean this is what Jesus said in his gospel ministry many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. They'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus took it from national Israel and made a nation of people, of Jew and Greek together, of all peoples, all peoples, made them one as the Israel of God. You can read that at the end of Galatians. They heard this. How does this little parable end, this little section? We read, they sought to lay their hands on him. That was it. They knew he had spoken this parable against them, so they left and they went away until the opportune time. Now, we're all about application. I'm about application. You've got to apply it as the text tells you to apply it, right? Let's talk application for a minute. God turned His program to us. You know what He's done for you? Some of you can testify from birth. He has put His sign on you. You know, in the course of your life, He has done the same thing. He has sent messenger after messenger after messenger. You've been in the church all your life. When have you really ever sat without a pastor? He just keeps raising them up and sending them. We're dispensable. I can come and go. I can be taken out tomorrow. He just keeps sending them to you. I've seen more acts of love and care from the people here. But think about that for a minute to those not responding. All of these things you have are little messengers from God. You've been given Bibles. you've been given pleadings. Come to the Lord today. You've been given parents. Any of you who have loving, believing, trusting parents who love you? And who their great concern in life for you is what? That you believe. I mean, anyone who's a godly parent is not about you being successful in this life. But has the single great care, and I pray this for my children all the time, Lord, don't let them leave this life till they know you and are saved by you know what i am right now i'm i'm a i'm a messenger i'm a pastor pleading on behalf of god be reconciled an ambassador pleading be reconciled to him i look over my life even i have all had all these wonderful saints all these blessings all these these people who've encouraged me along the way i don't think about them now but all along the way, they encouraged me. Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, we all take it for granted, but they're there. And they're little messengers helping you. They're there from God to encourage you, to tell you, believe, ultimately. All sorts of blessings. Has He not planted you? Has he not fenced you in and hedged you in? Does he not care for you? Does he not build a tower in our midst? Has he not from the beginning of your day sent you servants? And if you're here today by grace and you've come in later, well, then you know what grace is. You get it. What has he not done for you? I'm going to ask the question. That's the application, isn't it? You've got a hedged in life. Your life's not very hard. You are a blessed people. See how good you have it? You got it really good. You've got the Lord's announcement to you today of gospel and love. One of two things is happening in this room right now. You're softened by that love and that gospel has overtaken your heart and you're hearing it and you're coming and you're turning and you are really enjoying the unfolding love of God and His church and His vineyard. You are knowing your master. You're growing in that love. The gospel of peace is your comfort and your hope and you know it. You know it. It's your only hope. What a blessing to know that. This sermon is gospel to you because you know where you could have been and today you know who you are and what you've been brought into and it's a marvel to you. There could be something else happening or your heart could be being hardened right now and it's shown in frustration and bitterness and anger at these calls. This is all some kind of infringement on what you want and what you really want to go do. Remember, it's an authority issue. And deep down you think, this is really our vineyard. This is our vineyard. We want it just how we want it. We're going to build it how we want it for us and our children, for our group. It's not your vineyard. None of this is yours. Never has been, nor ever will be. Just like this, these people in our text, that thought infuriated them. I had a letter from somebody who attended here, and I won't disclose the name. He was a doctor and a psychologist, and he heard the sermon on authority and wrote me such an encouraging letter, and I thought it's helpful just to read a little bit of it. He said, I won't read it all. As a psychologist, I work with broken relationships, broken marriages are chiefly represented by the failure of these relationships is the most often a direct result of individuals failing to submit to God's authority. So he's responding to the authority sermon, but here's what he said at the end of the letter. I'm praying for you, pastor, for two things. First, I pray that God will strengthen your resolve to remain true to the scripture. I fear that you may lose your vigor because the road is very difficult. Second, I pray that God will protect you. God's message is often unpopular. I fear that there will be those who want to hurt you. My only consolation, which is enough, is that God is in command. Thank you, Pastor, for commitment to the truth. May each of us be so committed, your brother in Christ. I read that letter more than a few times this last week, and it was that last statement. Some may want to hurt you. And I thought, well, that's what we signed up for when we went into this, that could happen. But why? Why are there martyrs all over the face of the earth today? Why are Christian pastors being martyred all the time over the face of the world? Well, it's for the simple reason of what Jesus said. Do you hate me because I spoke the truth to you? It's not about us. It's about me. They killed Jesus in this passage for this. they kill God's son. If you're concerned about that statement, some may want to hurt you, don't worry about me. Think about what is being proclaimed to you here. They killed God's son. And so if you reject the landowner's son, the question he asked today is, what should the landowner do when he comes if you reject him? We're no better than Israel. In fact, it was this truth at Pentecost that produced mass conversion. Peter went up and in the very first sermon at Pentecost, listen to what he did. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. This wasn't just them doing it on a whim. 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. It's just wonderful. You did that to him. Let it be known to you all and to all, listen, let it be known to all of you and to 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. This is the stone. Notice what he's doing. this is the stone that was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved what he's saying there is recognize what you did recognize what you're like and come to him he'll forgive you and they were so cut to the heart with that sermon 3,000 people got saved that day. We did that? We did that? And that's why Psalm 2 is saying, kiss the son, kiss him today, lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are those who put their trust in him. I want to close with this. Psalm 80. When this psalm was sung years ago by Israel, You enjoy the fulfillment of it today. That's how blessed you are. Restore us, O 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. 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 will pass by the way pluck her fruit? The boar out of the woods uproots it and the wild beast of the field devours it. Return, we beseech you, O Lord of hosts. God of hosts, look down from heaven and see and visit this vine and the vine which your right hand is planted and the branch that you've made strong for yourself, It's burned with fire and cut to the ground. Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. Then we will not turn back from you. Hear that? Then we're not going to turn back from you. Revive us, and we'll call upon your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts. Cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. well that's where you are and if you have jesus and you have trusted in him that's what's happened you are saved it can't be taken from you so don't delay come to him today what is the air answer to a barren religion bow to his authority and believe in him he's gracious long-suffering the lord is merciful and kind abounding in loving kindness and he will not give you as your sins deserve. Let's thank Him this morning. Heavenly Father, what a wonderful message, but also so sad that so many people would do this, and yet it's all of us. It reflects our hearts to what our own Heidelberg says that we hate God and we hate our neighbor. That's the problem. May we hear this gracious call from You today to believe in Your Son and to not harden our hearts, to not stiffen ourselves and make Your vineyard and Your church what we want, but to realize what a treasure it is to be about Your kingdom and Your service and to serve in glory in the true servant who gave His life so that we can live. And may we hear this message today and respond in the kind of trusting, childlike faith that You desire from us. And thank You for the new covenant. that you say you will remember our sins no more. We bless your name today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.