"33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But
when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is
the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" 41 They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42 Jesus *said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44 And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are grateful, that God is using this
ministry in reaching the lost and the deceived, working in and through
the lives of His people. Thank you for helping to accomplish His plans
and purposes by sharing the ministry website and social media platforms. As we continue to pray for God’s mercy on our church families, extended families, our community, our country, and our world, let's trust Him to put us where He wants us to be.
This is the last week of our Lord’s life, it is Wednesday morning, Friday He will die. This is a judgement parable, extremely profound teaching. The religious leaders are infuriated with Him, His teaching contradicts everything they taught. He cleansed the temple, overturned tables, He made a whip and drove out all those who were buying and selling. In our last message, they confronted Him, demanding to know by what authority He does these things. Our Lord responded to their question, with a question of His own, followed by a trilogy of parables. As we've said before, a parable is very simple, powerful way of illustrating a great spiritual truth in common earthly terms. Jesus Christ is the greatest teacher that ever has lived on the earth, captivating His audience. Today, were going to look specifically at parable number two.
First, let's pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your Word. Lord, may we understand it is privilege, but our great responsibility to share the Gospel with the world, may we do it in truth, with love and compassion. We pray for those whose hearts willfully reject Christ, as we continue to plant seeds and trust You to lead us to receptive hearts that You have prepared. We pray this for Your glory glory, for Christ's sake and the increase of Your kingdom.
In Christ's name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: Rebellion in the Vineyard
Vineyards were a very common scene in the every day life of Christ's hearers, the land of Israel is literally covered with vineyards, so this is genius illustration for our Lord to use to explain something that would have been otherwise beyond their grasp. Jesus is an amazing storyteller, I imagine His audience would have been in awe, completely immersed in the parable, hanging on to His every word.
The point being the vineyard owner took extreme care in preparing and protecting the vineyard, and they would have understood that. Though a man may own land, he cannot cultivate it on his own, so he contracted people or leased it out, and they are to give him a certain portion of the crop each year, this was also very common.
Open your Bibles, to the twenty-first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter twenty-one, verses 33 to 46. I invite you to follow along with me, as I read them to you. Let's open our hearts and our minds, to hear what God has for us today.
"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But
when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is
the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" They *said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons." Jesus *said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures,‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet."
Let's begin by look at the people involved in the parable. The landowner, is clearly God the Father. Jesus is obviously the Son. The chief priests and the Pharisees, are the tenant farmers whom He is speaking about. The servants that were sent out are the prophets of God. The vineyard represents the kingdom of God. The death of the owners Son, represents the upcoming crucifixion of Jesus.
Now let's look at verse 33, "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey."
Jesus begins with "Listen to another parable," He uses the Greek word "állos," meaning another of the same kind. Remember, He had just given them a parable of Two Sons, which was about judgement. So, He's saying this is another parable about judgment. To those who reject Him, these parables bring judgement upon them. Now, let's look at the parable; "There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey."
Let's put the pieces of the parable together; God protects His vineyard, He provides for His vineyard and He desires to see that His vineyard has produced. How patient was God, calling upon the religious leaders of Israel to accept His teaching, to work according to His plan to enter into His kingdom. They've rejected the message delivered through the prophets, Isaiah was sawn asunder. Jeremiah was stoned. Amos was clubbed to death. .they've rejected His message delivered through John the
Baptizer, and John was beheaded. They stoned Stephen to death. Now they are rejecting His message, delivered through His Son
Jesus, whom they are planning to put to death. Ultimately, rejecting God’s grace.
Verse 34, "When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce."
In other words, he sent his servants to them to receive from them what was due to him. The servants came in his name, on his behalf to collect what was due him. This is where the parable becomes unbelievably uncommon. Nobody would keep sending His servants to be killed. Our Lord is making His point. This is really an amazing series of events, is exposes the just
condemnation of the wicked men, illustrating that it will not end well
for the religious leaders of Israel who have continuously rejected God’s
grace.
Matthew ties them all into one verse.
Verse 35, "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third." In Mark's parallel account,
chapter 12, he records the sequence singularly. "At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others." They wanted the inheritance for themselves.
This first one they beat, He uses the Greek verb "deró," which means to scourge or flay, to beat raw and bloody and sent him away empty-handed. The second one, they killed, He uses the aorist tense verb "apokteinó," implying they killed instantly or immediately, to distinguish from stoning. Mark adds "they wounded him in the head, so perhaps they killed him with a spear or a sword. The third one, they stoned, he uses the verb "lithoboleó,"meaning they pelted him with stones, crushing the life out of him.
Verse 36, "Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them." It didn't matter who he sent, their reaction was the same. The fact that God continues to send His servants demonstrates His gracious, merciful patience for them until there no one left but his son. He uses the verb "entrépō," meaning turning away in shame. That which leads a man to consideration of his condition. Full of emotion, he says surely they won't do it again, they will turn away from their wicked behavior in shame. They will respect my son and stand in awe of him.
Verses 38-39, "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him." This is absolutely amazing, they knew exactly who he was and they planned his murder so they could take his inheritance. Can you imagine? His hearers know it’s a parable, they know there's a spiritual point to the story. They must have been captivated by the evil of these men, overcome with compassion for this father, who lost his son and all of his servants.
Verse 40, "Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?"
Jesus is leading them down the garden path and drawing them in, so they can conclude the story themselves, without any interpretation. After all, it’s pretty obvious what the landowner would do. The chief priests were ready to give themselves a pat on the back, congratulating themselves, grandstanding their righteousness. Jesus is feeding their hypocrisy, little do they know they are about to condemn themselves with their answer!
In verse 41, we see their two-fold answer. "They *said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."
What our Lord is doing here is sheer divine genius! Follow along carefully. They have said it themselves, first there is judgement, then there is replacement. This is so powerful because they have just condemned themselves, those who pride themselves on knowing Scripture.
So, in verse 42, "Jesus *said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?"
In other words, He's saying did you who claim to excel in the Law miss this one? He's quoting from
Psalm 118:22-23. What an indictment. The cornerstone is a massive stone. It is the most carefully selected stone in building, because it sets the foundation. If the cornerstone is off, everything else in the building is off! It's the most important stone in the entire building. The cornerstone is the divine plan of God for redemptive history. In the historic sense of the psalm, Israel is the builders stone the world rejected. But, there’s a double fulfillment. In the messianic perspective, intended to go far beyond the nation Israel.
In
Acts chapter 4, when Peter is addressing the same group of religious leaders Jesus is addressing here in chapter 21, he said "
let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
Let's tie the meaning of the prophecy from the Old Testament Psalm to the parable. I absolutely love the way He uses the Word of God to explain the parable. The builders are the farmers. Just as the farmers rejected the landowners son, and killed him, the farmers are the religious leaders of Israel and all the people that followed them, who will reject the stone The stone is the Son who is Christ. But God will raise that stone again and put it back in the corner. God put you in a place of blessing, God sent His prophets to you and you robbed God of what was due Him. You gave God nothing but killing those prophets one after another. They knew they are the sons of those who killed the prophets. Jesus is saying, "Go ahead with your plans to kill and crucify Me! God will raise Me back up." They knew who He was, and they still wanted Him dead, afraid of losing their power and position, they wanted the kingdom on their own terms! He says the kingdom of God will be taken from you, given to someone else.
Verses 43-44, "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." God is going to miserably destroy you wicked men who seek to seize His Son and kill Him. When the final judgment falls, Christ is going to come in judgment, and grind into dust all those who have rejected Him!
They got the message. There was no doubt that He was talking about them now! They knew they were the ones who would kill the Son. They understood that kingdom of God is built upon the cornerstone of Jesus. Look at verse 45, "When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them."
You would imagine, that by now, they would feel so convicted, they would drop to their knees, turn to Christ in repentance. Did they? No! There was no shame, no guilt, no remorse, they don’t care that He is the Son of God, they didn't they will face judgement, they wanted to seize Him and kill Him anyway.
That brings us to our conclusion, in verse 46. "When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet."
Unbelievable! This is devastating, considering they just affirmed from their own mouths that they knew what was going happen, but they are so lost, it doesn't matter! The know the truth, that the wicked would be destroyed, they understood it all and they didn't care, the only thing that stops them is they were afraid of the people, not God.
In Closing..
You know, the world is filled with people like that, God sends them many people, sharing the message of the Gospel, and they reject Christ. Unbelieving that there will be a judgment day! Listen very carefully, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
How many times has God sent a messenger? You can either fall on this stone and be broken and healed, or you can let the stone fall on you and be crushed. God has brought you here, to this place, where you can respond to Him. Some of you will receive Him, others will likely reject Him. His return is imminent, it's only a matter of when.
What you choose to do with Jesus Christ will determine your eternal destiny.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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