A Plain Parable with Profound Truths | Mark 12:1-12 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Well, as I mentioned earlier, today is what is traditionally recognized as the beginning of holy week, which is essentially the yearly reflection of the final events leading up to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you're fully aware, it's usually on this day that churches visit the the story, the the scene of Jesus entering into the city of Jerusalem triumphantly, yet also humbly. Well, our church was a little early with that message. As you know, a handful of weeks ago, we just through the natural study and the series that we are in in Mark brought us there. And so I'm sure you can agree that it's not, probably necessary to revisit that this time around.

Nonetheless, what we are going to look at today together is an event that took place during Holy Week. A few days after Jesus entered into Jerusalem the way that we know that he did. And I want us to turn our attention to that scene together in our bibles to discover the profound truths in it in Mark chapter 12, where we'll be looking at a parable. Parables are not common in the book of Mark. Mark is not too concerned about revealing Jesus as a teacher.

He's more concerned about revealing Jesus as a servant. And so with the very little of parables that we have in this gospel account, it says something for us to see, allegorical message from the lips of the savior in our study. And here we find the Lord Jesus in the temple, and he has been teaching and preaching the gospel to the masses who have gathered from around the world to observe the Passover feast. But while Jesus is there, he was ambushed by the chief elders and the scribes and the priests who located him because while the people were preparing to celebrate the Passover, these religious leaders were consumed and preoccupied with a plot to get rid of Jesus once and for all. They have reached now to a boiling point.

Enough is enough. After that whole spectacle of him coming into the city and the masses celebrating him, they felt as though things were changing quickly, and they needed to do something about it just as quickly. And so they were armed with an interrogation, and they attempted to surprise the master with a set of questions, hoping to catch him off guard and to find some kind of evidence that would be enough grounds to charge him for blasphemy and to condemn him to death. And what we learned last week is that whatever question was brought to him was countered with his own question, and Jesus gives a question to them to reveal and to test their honesty and their integrity, which they failed, and instead were exposed for their hypocrisy. They were not genuinely asking by what authority do you do these things or who gave you the authority to do them.

They were again trying to trap him. And and the Lord saw through that, but he just wanted to show that he knew it, and he want to show that he can expose it. And so you would think after that interaction, that brief conversation, both parties would go their separate ways and we would move on in this story, but that's not what we see. We find Jesus still in the temple courts with the audience of these corrupt religious leaders before him, and this is what we find in verse one of chapter 12. 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 winepress 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 and some they killed. He had still 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 they threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing and it is 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. Pray with me. Father, we do ask, oh, Lord, we believe that as we're praying, you hear us. And that invokes a set of emotions even.

I can't believe you hear us as we pray to you. So we have this awe of you, but we also feel this liberty in knowing that when you look at us, you see blood bought children who have been accepted in the beloved. We believe you love us. We believe you care for each of us. And we believe that one of the greatest ways you show your care for us is that you've given us your word.

We realize that this is your word and we humbly receive it. But help us, Lord, understand it. Lord, we we are but flesh, and we're aware that even now in this holy moment, thoughts can race through our minds. Even as we're praying, we could be thinking about something else. Lord, deliver us from distraction, and deliver us from being flustered or or being caught up in something else that would rob us of the moment that you have set up for us today.

So, Lord, help us experience you through your word in a transformative manner. This is our desire and our plea, and we ask it with great humility and eagerness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You know, as Jesus opened up this this parable, I'm convinced that right at the introduction of it, the people here who heard it, namely the Pharisees and the components of the Sanhedrin, understood exactly what he was getting at.

Parables tend to be complicated and mysterious, and that's on purpose. But this is one of the clearest and most obvious parables of them all. And the reason why the religious leaders would have been so aware of what Christ was saying is because Christ is borrowing certain truths from the Old Testament that these people especially would have would have been familiar with. In essence, what Jesus is doing is he's building this teaching upon something that the people of Israel would have been very knowledgeable of. Because, again, what Jesus is saying is strikingly similar.

This this profile that he is presenting to what Isaiah the prophet said early in his book. And so turn with me to Isaiah five and look at this with me beginning in verse one. Because when you and I look at Isaiah five, you know what's gonna happen. We too will be able to crack the code of this parable and have zero doubt, zero doubt that what the Lord is speaking about when he is addressing the chief priests, scribes, and elders. Isaiah five verse one.

The prophet writes, let me sing for my beloved, my love song concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines. He built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it. And he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

So here's the prophet Isaiah expressing his longing and his desire, yes, moved by the spirit to sing for his beloved. And the subject of his song was not just the beloved, but something that the beloved owns. He owned this vineyard. And as you can see and compare, the beloved and his handling and his treatment of this property property is very similar to how Jesus describes this man and the investment that he made with his own vineyard. And that is on purpose.

It's because the Lord Jesus here is again drawing from Isaiah five so that he can make a correlation with his immediate audience. But is there any way that we can know who this beloved is? Is there any way we can know what this vineyard represents? And the answer is yes. The answers are actually found in Isaiah five itself.

So scroll down to verse seven. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting. And he looked for justice, but behold bloodshed for righteousness, but behold an outcry. It's as plain as day. The owner of the vineyard, the beloved in Isaiah's words, that owner is God.

The Lord of hosts. And the vineyard that he purchased and he provided for is the house of Israel. And Jesus again, by using this familiar language, wants us to see the parable that he presents in Mark 12 with the same lens. The man in his story is God, and the vineyard is speaking of the people of Israel. And we're gonna fill in the gaps with the other actors in this story, but essentially what Jesus is doing by giving this parable is that he is defining the relationship that God has with Israel at the very moment of his day, while also ready to expose even further the religious leaders that were standing before him.

Because in this parable of Mark 12, Jesus is gonna reinforce, I'm the son. I'm the son of God. And he's also going to show them, and I know that you're going to try to kill me. And so this is powerful. And we might be tempted to appreciate it from a distance and think, well, this is a parable that's exclusive to the nation of Israel.

And that is right in its context, but God has preserved it for us for our benefit as well. Let me pause here and give you like a discipleship point, if I may. If you are eager to learn anything from any passage in the Bible, including the ones that are not directly instructive to you as a follower of Jesus Christ in the new covenant, you have to be willing to do something. People often ask me, how is it that I can dig and find gold? How can I mine precious jewels in the Bible?

How can I go deeper? And my answer in the beginning is always the same. Always the same. You have to be willing to have a conversation with the Bible. I said, what do you mean conversation with the Bible?

Well, if you want the Bible to speak to you, you gotta ask the Bible some questions. And if you're willing to ask the Bible a set of questions, you're gonna come out of any reading with something. And those questions vary. The ones that I am often prone to asking are these. Are there repeated words in this passage that the author is trying to emphasize, appoint with?

Does this passage complete or does it connect with another passage? Is there a warning in this passage that I am to take heed of? Is there a promise in this passage that I am to enjoy? Is there a sin in this scripture that I am to identify and avoid in my life? Is this an illustration that helps me know and understand even further a new covenant principle or reality that's especially helpful in the Old Testament?

Does this point to a gospel truth? Does this point to something that I need to see in the person of Jesus Christ. And here's my all time favorite. Here's my go to question that I have a conversation with the word of God with. This is my go to one.

What does this tell me about God? If you ask that question from Genesis to Revelation, you could read through Leviticus and get a lot out of it. What does this tell me about God? Have a conversation with the Bible, and I trust that the Bible will say something to you. And that is the exact question.

That's usually my first question whenever I read any passage. And that was the question I asked this parable in Mark 12. What is this parable? Yes, it's obviously about Jesus defining the relationship that God has with Israel, the fate of Israel, even the fate of the Son of God. It's something to study.

It's something to to appreciate concerning who Jesus is and his omniscience and his brilliance. But what does this say about God? And the answers from that question I present to you today. That in this parable about God and Israel, you can learn three things about the character of the almighty. I wanna present those three things to you.

You're gonna leave this place out of Mark twelve one to 12 with three things about God. And the first one is found in verse one of Mark 12. So let's go back there together. 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 it and the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country.

Notice at first the great contribution that this man makes toward his property. These are not insignificant details. We are to send something about the heart of this man for his vineyard. The attention that he gives to it. The funding that he puts into it.

He is not a negligent land owner. He is not careless. He is not a thoughtless manager. No. Instead, you see someone who supplies and provides everything necessary for this vineyard to flourish.

And the first thing that we learn here from this parable of this man represents God and vineyard represents the vineyard represents Israel is that this shows us the grace of God. This shows us the grace of God. Because what this represents is the overwhelming blessings and privileges that the Lord granted to Israel in order for her to bear fruit the way God desired. All the things that he has deposited, all the things that he has brought to their disposal is exactly what Jesus is getting at here. In other words, there was no reason for Israel to live poorly before God.

There was no excuse that they could make to reject the son of God with all the light that they had for thousands of years. With all the heat that they experienced for centuries. It just doesn't make sense. And that's exactly, that's precisely the point that even Isaiah makes back in chapter five. So listen, we read verses one and two of Isaiah five.

Look at verses three and four of Isaiah five. I should have mentioned you should have stayed in Isaiah five as well. So stay there. In Isaiah five three and four, look at what Isaiah says. After describing what Jesus similarly describes in his day, the things that were dug up, the things that were built, the things that were used.

And now, oh inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? Pretty straightforward, isn't it? So the Lord in Isaiah five invites a jury, and he's asking, hey, can you guys, can you guys I'm curious to know your ideas.

Maybe you're smarter than I am. Is there anything else I could have done for my people in order for them to be inspired to live in the way that I desire? K. Let me know. And Paul tells us that even this people were privileged above all other nations.

For again, thousands of years, the covenants that they received. The miracles, the manifestations of glory, the law. All these things that were brought to them, the connection that they had with God left them with no excuse to be the way that they were. And that grace continues that God showed into the life of Jesus Christ as he stands before a stubborn crowd, a stubborn clergy who would not believe and accept him as the Messiah. What more could have Christ done to convince them that I am indeed the Messiah that you've been anticipating?

What other miracles could Jesus have done? What what what other authority could he have performed over nature, over demons, over sickness? Was not his sinless life enough? And that is precisely what we see here. Jesus getting to this crowd the same way Isaiah did.

Can you point out what more I could have done for you to surrender and to joyfully serve me? Let's not just apply this Israel because God has made a new people in Christ. That's you. That's me. And it's no less true that he has provided so much for us.

I would say we have less excuses than Israel did. Because according to Ephesians one, we have been enriched with every spiritual blessing because we are in Christ Jesus. Here's what that means practically. There's no excuse or blame from a blood brought Christian to not be able to overcome lust, to not be able to defeat rage, to not be able to conquer impatience, to not be able to be delivered from envy, addiction, profanity, worldliness. We have every divine resource at our disposal in order to love, forgive, serve, commit with the standard, even the standard that God has in mind for us.

You know, a verse came to mind while I was driving here in light of this thought. There are much there's much debate about Paul's words and arguments from Romans chapter seven. I do the things I don't wanna do and the things I don't wanna do, I do. Remember that passage? And here's the debate among Christians.

Is that Paul speaking about his struggle as a born again believer? Or is that Paul describing his struggle as an unregenerate person? Do you do you understand the debate? Is this Paul speaking about his struggle as a saved individual or is this Paul describing his struggle unsaved? And people bring up different points, you know.

People love to use the words of Paul because Paul is deep to come up with different conclusions. Here's my answer, and we'll get to Romans, I don't know when, but we'll get to it eventually. But I always tell people to just kind of limit the back and forth. Whatever you believe about Romans seven, you gotta read Romans eight. Because what happens in Romans eight is that Paul then describes life in the spirit.

So lend where you will with Romans seven, but you have to keep reading into Romans eight. And here's what he says among other things. The victorious life in the spirit. Verse 12 of Romans eight. So then brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh.

We're not debtors to the flesh. To live according to the flesh, and this is what he says in verse 13. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. If you put to death the deeds of the body, how?

If you, bang your head on the wall long enough, if you jump through religious hoops, if you slavishly try to observe aesthetic ways of dealing with your body and its impulses, no. If you put to death the deeds of the body by the spirit, If if you don't know what it means to live in the spirit, if you don't know how to tap into the resource known as the Holy Spirit, you'll never know victory over the flesh. And I am promised victory over the flesh because of the spirit who is mine in Christ Jesus. So that's just one sliver to show that God has dispensed in our lives everything that we need to know fruit bearing future. That is not to say that these characteristics will be developed in one day, in the same way that none of us expect natural fruit to be grown in its maturity overnight.

But it does mean that we are set on the path for growth and transformation. That is totally possible no matter who you are because of what God has given you freely and generously, which brings us to our next point. This is not just speaking about the grace of God. We also learn in this parable about the patience of God. So come back to Mark 12 and look at verse two.

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 and some they killed. What you see here is the magnificence of God's long suffering.

How patient he is and it's manifested in a couple of ways. The first way is in the timing that the owner seeks to retrieve a harvest. Look back at verse two again. When the season came. When what season came?

When the expected fruit should arrive. You know what that tells me about this owner? He's not unrealistic. He's not hurried. He's not impatient.

He is someone who fully understands that fruit takes time, that development can face some delays. And that's something that you and I have to understand concerning ourselves because in the same way this man came at a realistic time, the Lord also graciously understands your growth in the spirit. He does. We should be glad that this truth is proclaimed on the heels of learning that God has made a great investment in us and he is expecting a return. Yes.

He has empowered you. Listen, he has empowered you and I. This is not something to be condemned about. This is something to leap for joy about. He has empowered you for a no excuse sanctification.

And yet at the same time, he's also aware of the epidemic limitations that we face daily. The things that would cause setbacks, the things that would cause shortcomings in the process. Our God is aware of those things. He does always remember that we are but dust. And this is something extremely comforting, not to those who abuse the idea of God's grace, but to those who long to live like Jesus, but find themselves tripping along the way.

And the truly righteous can often be tempted to be deeply discouraged, especially when they find themselves in a trap. Something that they thought they were able to overcome and dodge. Something that they thought that they dealt with. And here are these flare up of the flesh. Have you not experienced that ever?

You had a you had a good three day track living like Christ. And all of a sudden you're in a situation where there's pressure, whatever the case may be, and something comes out of your mouth and you're like, why did that come out of my mouth? Or you act in a certain way, why am I acting this way? Why am I reacting this way? And there you are now convicted, and you feel like you want to just crawl away into some corner and reconsider God's love for you, reconsider God's use of you.

There are righteous people who feel that way. And this is how they view them. This is how they view God rather. That when they do find themselves there in the flesh for a moment and they slip, Here's God now looking over the balcony of heaven, crossing his arms and turning his back on you. When instead the way you should be seeing God at all times even in your sin is that when you are in a place where you shouldn't be, when you're doing something that you shouldn't be doing, when you have been acting a way you should not been acting, the master is on a stool with a towel in his hand ready to wash your feet.

That sounds almost scandalous. That's the grace of God. God's grace didn't begin and end at the cross. He told his disciples, I have washed you, but your feet need still washing. Meaning you're saved, but as you traverse through this world, you're gonna pick up some dust.

And I'm just as eager to wash those feet as I did when I initially washed you. Do you believe that about Jesus? You should. Here we see this man patient. God is patient with us.

He's patient with your growth. Yes, he expects something. Yes, periodically we should be able to see advancement, but oh, everything in between and even when there are seasons where there is great stalling. The one who saved you is waiting for you and ready to wash you and empower you again. That is the grace of God shown through his patience.

But it's not just through coming at the right season, so to speak. It's also in the repetitive sending of his messengers. You saw it. Right? Verse three, he sends one of his servants.

Verse four, he sends another of his servants. Verse five, he sends another and then it summarizes that he sent many. And do you notice the progression of the aggression of the tenants? The tenants who were given the land are getting more hostile and aggressive as the man sends more of his representatives. So they they strike one and then the next one he they strike him on the head and then finally they start killing some of them.

Look, if I was an owner trying to collect rent and I send one person to go and collect that rent for the month, it wouldn't take more than one case of abuse for me not to send another one, but to send the police, to send legal authorities to arrest such people. And what you see here instead is that the man is sending another empty handed pure hearted submissive servant to get what is the owner's rightful due. And it's not difficult to see who these servants represent. All you have to do is look at Israel's history, and Jeremiah summarizes it so well in Jeremiah seven verse 25 to 26. You don't have to turn there.

Just listen to these words. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants, the prophets to them day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Show that to somebody who says that God is not gracious in the Old Testament.

And come to Bible study on Fridays to be even more informed about how God is extremely merciful even under the old covenant. I've sent prophets to you day after day for hundreds of years. And what were these people doing in the meantime? Sacrificing babies to false gods among other things. And instead of sending judgment after ten years, after a hundred years, no, I'm just I'm gonna send more of my messengers to get your attention and to hopefully get you to come to repentance.

You know what this parable shows us? It shows us that humanity's response to God's patience is one of two ways. His undeserved kindness will either move you to surrender to it, or it will encourage you to remain an even worse sin in your sin because you translate God's patience as his permission to sin. One of two ways. Either it dawns on you that I've been a rebel against God since I could remember, and now I will fully surrender to him because all he's done is given me grace upon grace upon grace.

It's so undeserving, but here I am willing to receive this cup of friendship. It's either that or it's, it seems like God is okay with this. Seems like God is fine with this. There's no divine interruption in my life. And as Ecclesiastes eight says that sinners plunge into deeper darkness and run even harder after sin because there is delayed judgment.

Where are you? Which one are you? Ask yourself that question. How many promises have you made to God while being away from him? Oh, Lord, if you just get me out of this mess, I'll come back to you.

I'll give my life to you. Do you know how I know people ask that? Because I used to. I used to. As a kid who knew enough about Christianity, but who also loved the world and knew that living in the world would get you in trouble from time to time, but there is Jesus ready to get you out of the mess whenever you call upon his name.

It's so cute. So which one are you? How many loosed vows have you made to God? Young man? Young lady?

Where are you at? How are you interpreting God's patience? Because here you are coasting through your life with all your plans and desires and dreams and, there's something in your peripheral, in your conscience there in the corridor on the side about God wanting to save you and redeem you and use you, but you you ignore it and you visit it from time to time especially when you're in trouble. But are you not baffled yet by how through your prolonged delay of surrendering to him, god has not struck you, that god has not wounded you, that instead he showers blessing upon blessing on you. Maybe today can be the day where the script changes for for your life, where this is yet another thunderclap of God saying, hey.

I'm trying to I'm trying to get you to understand that I wanna forgive you and cleanse you and fill you with my spirit and name you among the redeemed. Enough is enough. Here's another message. Here's another bible study. Here's another friend, a coworker coming into your life and is reminding you of the gospel.

Can you pause and think about all the messages that you've heard, all the messengers that you've encountered throughout your lifetime? Has it not yet convinced you that God is trying to allure you to himself? I pray today, if that's you, that today would be the last day where you translate his patience as false permission. And that you would fall in love with the Prince of Peace and give your life to him. And you thought if you thought that the patience of God has reached the limit here and if you haven't been pulled in your affections yet, look what it says here in verse six.

He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally, he sent him to them saying, they will respect my son. So after all his employees either came back bruised or never came back again, what is the solution of this man at this point? Where the rebellion of these tenants are only getting it's only getting worse and worse, defying this man's kindness, defying his mercy, defying his patience. I'm gonna send my son.

And notice the great tribute that the father makes for his son. Regardless of how great those other servants were, how faithful they were, they do not compare to the loveliness of the son. And so great is the loveliness of the son in the eyes of the father, that he even expresses how he is such a treasure that perhaps even the wicked will be able to perceive the treasure that he really is. They will respect my son. Surely?

And so instead of sending servants of God, God arrives on the scene himself. The son now comes. And how did these tenants receive the son? Look at the justification for their premeditated murder in verse seven. But those tenants said to one another, this is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. So here's what these men foolishly believed. If we get rid of the heir, then perhaps the man, the owner, would just surrender and give up and give up even the land to these tenants. That's how foolish these men really were. In thinking that by removing the sun from the scene, we can actually keep what it is that we want to keep.

And what Jesus is getting at is he's exposing not just the plot of these Jews that are ready to kill him in a few days, but the reason why. These tenants wanted to secure what they believe prospered them, empowered them, benefited them, and they saw the sun as a threat. Is that any different with the religious leaders? They have known the religious respect of the masses, of the general population of Israel. And here comes this rabbi from Nazareth now and he is sweeping everybody off their feet, and now it's only getting more intense where you're having on this great holiday known as the Passover, people celebrating his name.

Well we're being pushed back in the crowd. We rather gruesomely murder this man than surrender what we believe to be our right. We want to secure our positions. We, yes, want a political Messiah, but not a spiritual king. We occupy the office of spiritual authority.

Who's this man think that he is? So in the same way as described in the parable, let's get rid of the sun and we can keep this for ourselves. And what about people today? Why do people metaphorically kill God in their unbelief? Or as many, many years ago, not too far back, the culture declaring that God is dead.

Why do you think that is? Because they wanna protect their ridiculous right to be their own God. That's why. If we get rid of the author of life from our world view, then we can be the owners of our own lives. Isn't it the same train of thought?

Get rid of the son and we get to keep this. Get rid of Jesus Christ. Get rid of the exclusive claims of the gospel. Get rid of the infallibility of the word of God, and we get to be our own owners. Foolish.

Foolish in the same way that the owner of this vineyard is so clear and obvious. You are not the owner of your own life. Someone made you. Someone created you in his image. And as we're about to find out with that whole argument about paying taxes to Caesar, because his image is on you, you belong to him.

You do. Do you believe that? Or do you believe that Jesus is helping you be the king of your own life? That's not what Jesus is all about. Jesus is king of your life and you serve him.

He doesn't serve you. He doesn't serve you in how you wanna do this thing called life. No. You realize he gave me life. He died for my life, not just in this life, but in the life to come.

I throw myself at his feet. So you either receive Christ and acknowledge him as the rightful owner, or you kill him in your rejection and denying him. And that's what lead us to our third and final point of what this reveals about God. This parable doesn't just teach us about the grace of God, it doesn't just teach us about the patience of God, it shows us the justice of God. Look at verse nine with me.

What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. He will come and destroy the tenants. That is the fate of those who also reject the son. You say, well, this is this is intense.

Well, don't forget the intensity of his patience. That day after day and providential moment after providential moment and sermon after sermon, an invasion of his grace after invasion of his grace. When a person keeps resisting and hardening their hearts, their fate is set in the same way that these men's faith were set. Destruction is on its way. Destruction is on its way for all those who do not receive the son.

That's part of the gospel by the way. Holy week as we come to Good Friday, as we come to resurrection Sunday. What do you think Jesus just came to die for what? He came to save you. From what?

From the wrath of God. That's from what? I know you don't hear it that much of these days, but I don't care. It's what the Bible says. It's what God has revealed.

It makes the gospel that much more glorious that instead of the right righteous wrath of God being poured out on us, it's the love of God that's poured out on us through his son Jesus Christ. That's the truth of the gospel and you have a choice to make. And these men clearly decided the wrath of the owner. And so wrath it shall be. But what's unique about this particular verdict about these people, these tenants, is not the destruction that's coming.

It's not the eventual retribution. It's the transfer of ownership for the tenants. The lease is going to change. Look at verse nine again. What will the owner of the vineyard do?

He will come and destroy the tenants. Okay. We understand that, but notice this, and give the vineyard to others. This is unique to Israel. And this is the immediate context.

So the vineyard is going to be now given. It's going to be now given over to a different group of people. And we know that to be what? The Gentiles. So this is a prophetic forecast that Jesus is making about the faith of the Jewish people.

That in light of their denial of the Messiah, this is gonna now make way for the Gentiles to enter in and enjoy the spiritual blessings and treasures that the nation of Israel forfeited. That is why the church today is the light of the world. That is why the church today is a royal priesthood. That is why the church today are the ambassadors of Christ. That is why the church today is the pillar and buttress of the truth.

That is not to say that God has now forsaken completely the people of Israel. Read Romans 11 and you'll come to that clear conclusion. But what it does mean is that the people of Israel even up to this day have forfeited so much in the meantime. They were originally called to be the light of the world under the old covenant, and ultimately through the rejection of the son of God. Now that responsibility and that privilege has been given to you and to me.

We now shine the light of the truth of God's word and truth. And so this is what he's saying, you gave it up. This is it. There is there is nothing left after what you did with the son. What you do with the son will determine your fate.

True for this moment and true for you and I. We're not waiting for any other messenger. We're not. Sorry to disappoint those who believe in Joseph Smith. We're not waiting for anybody to complete this revelation.

There is no other final messenger including Mohammed. Jesus Christ has come and Jesus Christ is the final revelation of who God is and the complete one at that. And so we see here that he says the tenants will be destroyed and the vineyard will be given over to other others. And as the Lord is ready to now close this parable, he assures his audience then and now that the death of the son is not the punctuation mark to the story. Because that's what you heard.

Right? That's what you saw. That they killed the son and in verse eight, they threw him out of the vineyard. So this is even a degrading death. It it wasn't honorable in any way.

They left them out to the field to be open to the elements and animals. That's all ultimately a picture of what they would do to Christ, the brutality of his death. But Christ Christ wants to end this by assuring that again, the death of the son is not where it ends. Notice what he says here in verse 10. Have you not read this scripture?

Isn't that like offensive to guys who teach the Bible? These guys memorize the scriptures like books of the bible. These guys apparently teach and he goes, have you not read this scripture? I wish I could have seen some of those faces squirm. Have you not read this scripture?

And then he quotes Psalm one eighteen verse twenty two and twenty three. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. So now Christ goes back to the book of Psalms and he pulls out a messianic Psalm. A Psalm that predicts the Messiah to come.

But he still stays within the lane of the theme of rejection. So in the parable here of the tenants, they rejected the son. So he's still there because in this in this Psalm, there is a rejection of the stone. And why he's coming to this text is because in this promise, the people who rejected the stone should now expect a great reversal. Because what you have rejected according to the Psalm is going to return.

The stone that you have rejected is gonna come back and it's actually gonna become a cornerstone. The most important piece of the foundation of a building that would set the alignment and the strength of the rest of that structure. You rejected the stone, but this stone is gonna come back and build something new. In other words, Jesus is telling these leaders of Israel by using the scripture that though they will kill him. He knows it.

He's like, I know you're gonna kill me. You're gonna kill me, but you will not be able to thwart the eternal purposes of God. Do you know how Jesus ends this parable? This is how he's doing. If I can translate it in a way that will be memorable.

Providence will prevail. God's providence will prevail. And that's why he goes into verse 11, which is also part of Psalm one eighteen. Look at Mark twelve eleven again. This was the Lord's doing.

This was the Lord's doing and look at this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. How can you interpret a murderous rejection as being marvelous? Only if you understand God's providence. That your rejection will ultimately lead to resurrection and will lead to redemption. So the truth here is that this is God declaring that no matter what you're coming up with you Pharisees, God's gonna come out victorious.

And this is a declaration of God's sovereignty. And the brilliance of God's sovereignty is not that he makes robots in his creation to do his bidding without a choice of their own. The splendor of his sovereignty is that even through man's autonomy, even in their horrific sinful defiance against the will of God, God's still gonna get his will done. So plot what you want, do what you want, fret all you want, plan all you want. God's will will be done even if you kill the son.

And in this case, Israel's rejection is going to become the world's redemption. How do they respond to this? This is brilliant. This is this is amazing. The the parable is so plain and he made it plain on purpose, so that they can understand by being sucked into this story because Jesus was such a profound storyteller.

And if you read in the other gospel accounts in Matthew and Luke, they get so sucked into when Jesus asked what should be done about these tenants. The Pharisees themselves says, kill them. And then at some point it dawned on them, uh-oh, he's talking about us. And that's why you read in Luke's version where he asked the question, they go, surely not. So when you marry all these texts together, they did admit their own guilt, but at some point they're like, no no no no no, actually we change our mind.

And this is what we see in verse 12, how they truly responded. 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. Human depravity is an awful thing. You know what you take away from this is that man can be confronted with God's truth about themselves, man can be left undone and unable to deny that what they just heard from God's word applies to them personally and they are still capable of hardening their hearts.

When just a second ago before the preacher closed the service with an amen, it was pricked. And you felt in that wooden pew, I think the sky, and it's not this guy, is speaking right to me. You can be given a perfect diagnosis of your sinful condition and be moved by the Holy Spirit to realize that you were guilty before God, and at the end still say, I want nothing to do with this. That's what they're doing. They perceived that they were being addressed.

They even made an honest verdict according to Matthew's account. And what happens? They still say, we're coming back for you. We're coming back for you. And so in the same way that you and I can interpret God's patience of one or two ways, it's a truth about the conviction of God as well.

And so if your heart is convicted today even now in this reading of the word, in this proclamation of the word, here's my final exhortation. Let your heart not be hearted. If it's sensitive right now, if it's been touched, if you're moved in an unusual manner, even if you've been through so many services, so many holy weeks, so many Good Friday, so many resurrection Sundays, but some for some reason now, you're here and you're thinking and you're feeling to yourself, I feel drawn to this. You have the power to walk further into that and to know the glories of it or to cut it off and perhaps never feel it again. And so I beckon you today.

If you're a visitor here, we welcome you. We rejoice in that, but we really believe what we preach here. And we really believe that this story that Jesus has given us, that God has preserved for us for the ages applies to men today. And that you can know this Christ that has been proclaimed. And believers, because this is not an evangelistic meeting, so I'm speaking to also the family of God.

You've been redeemed. You're secured in the hand of the father. Let me remind you today through this parable of the grace of God. He has made every investment he could make for you to flourish in Christ, to be the husband that God has called you to be. I know it's hard.

I know it's hard. I know it's hard. It was probably hard this morning on your way to church. I know. Wives, I know.

Mothers, I get it. In in this crazy age, I get it. But but be remember now, God has given you everything to be victorious and to know steady success in this. And even as you stumble and fall, even as you maybe even backtrack a little bit, understand the patience of God. For centuries, he was patient with the people who killed the very messenger of a holy man.

He was still willing to work with them. How much more you after you accepted his son Jesus Christ? Why do you doubt his love for you? Why? Why do you question if he's going to use you?

Why do you think that he puts you in a penalty box even after you repented and asked for forgiveness? He's patient toward you. He cares for you. He's aware of the limitations that you face, and he's day by day, second by second ready to work with you. Be patient with your own growth as long as you're set on growing.

And lastly, the justice of God. The justice of God. Here's how you, family of God, can be comforted even by that truth. The justice of God has been dealt with two thousand years ago. You never have to question or fear destruction from God because Jesus drank your destruction.

It's done. And he will never ever ever transfer you into the place of the condemned. Never. He will keep you until the end. You're hearing this today and you're not a Christian.

You're wondering, this is too good to be true. This is the gospel. It's called the gospel because it means good news, and you're invited to share in that destiny today. Do you see how I'm like leaning over the pulpit. Do you see this?

Because I'm trying to trying to compel you and convince you that you can actually today know new life in Christ. You can't today. Today. I would cancel my lunch plans to make that right. I would.

I know you probably have a nice lovely dinner waiting for you, but I would I would cancel everything to make sure that you know for certain that you have Christ Christ's favor over your life. If you repent and believe, it can all change. It can all change. Lord, we thank you for the service today. Thank you for helping us understand this parable and how it reveals something about your heart.

Thank you for, Lord, these precious people who have gathered here on a Sunday afternoon to hear the word of God and to give you praises. Lord, even with a word like this as sobering as it is, we ask and pray that there would be joy because there's joy in the truth. Because your word says, my truth shall set you free. And so, Lord, even now, oh God, if there has been any interference with the truth being deposited in us, Lord, give us mercy and help us leave here with something. Let us not be forgetful.

Let us not be stubborn in believing. And, Lord, for the person that doesn't know you, we ask with with great intense desire that there would be a testimony for them leaving this place. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your patience. And yes, even thank you for your justice.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Church, let's stand and worship the Lord together.