Receive the Gift of Salvation — Sermon by Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans

let us

pray

father like Paul wrote to the

Philippians we pray that you would make

us your own and Father grant us true

repentance grant us renewal of life

through the preaching of the gospel

grant us salvation and faith to be yours

fully through Jesus Christ in whose name

we pray amen please be seated

the scriptures begin with the bold

assertion that in the beginning God

created the heavens and the

earth and that God created man in his

own image in the image and likeness of

God he created them male and female he

created them and God blessed them and

God said to them "Be fruitful and

multiply fill the earth and subdue it."

God created people created us to be as

much like himself as possible for a

creature to be like his or her creator

he placed them in a paradise where he

would know them they would know him and

he would have eternal fellowship and

communion with them in that garden

Genesis tells us in two chapter 2 10

that the tree of life was in the midst

of it and the tree of knowledge of good

and evil and the Lord God took the man

and put him in the garden to work and to

keep it and the Lord God commanded the

man saying "You may surely eat of every

tree in the garden but of the tree of

the knowledge of good and evil you shall

not eat for in the day that you eat of

it you shall surely die."

People were created to be with God

forever in a paradise choosing to be

obedient to him to maintain a

relationship with him their creator who

had given them everything as his

stewards of the creation they were

commanded to avoid the fruit of that one

tree for which the consequence of eating

would be death

it seems an easy and obvious choice that

God who created you placed you in a

paradise has given you everything

forever and told you not to eat from one

tree in the midst of many good trees but

Genesis 3:1 tells us that the serpent

Genesis 3:1

was more crafty than any other beast of

the field that the Lord God had made and

he said to the woman "Did God actually

say you shall not eat of the fruit of

any tree in the garden?" And the woman

said to the serpent "We may eat of the

fruit of the trees in the garden." But

God said "You shall not eat of the fruit

of the tree that is in the midst of the

garden neither shall you touch it lest

you die." But the serpent said to the

woman "You will not surely die for God

knows that when you eat of it your eyes

will be opened and you will be like God

knowing good and

evil." And as we know sadly Eve ate of

the destructive fruit and gave it to

Adam and he also ate of it and in doing

so Adam and Eve gave themselves to

rebellion against God in a delusional

effort to be like him their creator and

to usurp his authority over their own

lives over the creation and in doing so

they gave themselves to sin and death

and to the oppression of Satan and his

demons and gave us along with themselves

to that same end god created hell not

for people but for Satan and his angels

as a consequence of their

rebellion for people God had created a

paradise to be with him forever but

people followed Satan and sinned and

doomed themselves to follow him into

that lake of fire that was created for

him and his

angels people rebelled and have rebelled

to this day against the creator and

lover of their souls we've become like

Satan evil and fallen and rebellious

we've become distorted and perverted

versions of how God created us to be and

apart from God's intervention the

thoughts and intentions of our hearts

are evil all of the

time good

morning it's hard to think of ourselves

that way but it's true we have pride in

ourselves

we have trouble believing that ourselves

and all people by nature are evil fallen

sinful doomed to exile from God and his

paradise forever along with the devil

and his

angels paul tells us in his letter to

the Romans in chapter 3 23 and in

chapter 6 23 that all people have sinned

and fallen short of the glory of God and

that the wages for that sin is death

we are helpless in ourselves to remedy

this

reality but in the midst of this

reality in the midst of this fall and

sinfulness of man and women God so loved

the world that he gave his only begotten

son that whoever believes in him would

not perish but would have eternal

life this is the assertion of scripture

of the good news of the gospel this is

the assertion of Jesus himself in Luke

Luke 19:10

19:10 that the son of man came to seek

and to save the

lost into this world of fallenness into

the hearts and souls and lives of people

rebelling against God overcome with evil

and sin the Son of Man came to seek and

to

save however the tendency to rebel

against God remains

jesus's parable of the vineyard and the

tenants that is our gospel passage for

today is a warning to people not to make

the same mistake as the first humans

made in the garden in rejecting God as

their Lord and Creator and asserting

themselves over and against him in an

attempt to usurp his authority over

their

lives and to reject God's salvation and

the free gift of eternal eternal life to

not reject the son who's the beloved son

of God but who also is the lover of all

people who came to this vineyard in the

parable who in reality came to a sinful

people to redeem that which was his and

is his people made in God's image and

likeness created for an eternal

fellowship and communion with God their

creator the message is a warning Do not

give yourselves over to sin and death

and the ongoing oppression of Satan do

not give yourselves over to the doom of

hell instead embrace that beloved son

embrace that loving son who has come to

save

what a delusion it is to continue in

rebellion against the creator the giver

and sustainer of life the one who has

manifest himself in the world through

Jesus the son offering the free gift of

salvation and redemption out of all that

is evil and sinful out of death and out

of hell to have a fulfilling and eternal

life with him forever in a renewed

paradise that is his kingdom i want to

read this parable again and take it to

heart as this message of the gospel as

this exhortation from

Jesus luke

Luke 20:9

20:9 Jesus began to tell the people this

parable a man planted a vineyard and led

it out to tenants and went into another

country for a long while when the time

came he sent a servant to the tenants so

that they would give him some of the

fruit of the vineyard but the tenants

beat him and sent him away empty-handed

and he sent another servant but they

also beat him and treated him shamefully

and sent him away empty-handed and he

sent yet a third and this one they

wounded and cast out then the owner of

the vineyard said "What shall I do i

will send my beloved son perhaps they

will respect him." But when the tenants

saw him they said to themselves "This is

the heir let us kill him so that the

inheritance may be ours." and they threw

him out of the vineyard and killed

him what then will the owner of the

vineyard do to them he will come and

destroy those tenants and give the

vineyard to others when they heard this

they said "Surely not." But he looked

directly at them and said "What then is

this that is written the stone that the

builders rejected has become the

cornerstone everyone who falls on that

stone will be broken to pieces and when

it falls on anyone it will crush him."

The scribes and the chief priests sought

to lay hands on him and at that very

hour for they perceived that he had told

this parable against them but they

feared the

people jesus will weep over Jerusalem

and say "Jerusalem Jerusalem the city

that kills the prophets and stones those

sent to you how often I would gather you

together as a hen gathers its chicks but

you would not have it and he would warn

them "Your city is left to you

desolate." Jesus the beloved son weeps

at his own rejection he weeps at the

rejection of the messengers of the

gospel that have come to tell the people

of

salvation the scripture the stone the

builders rejected has become the

cornerstone jesus speaks of himself it's

from Psalm 118 and I want to read the

larger context of it psalm 118 verse

Psalms 118:19

19 open to me the gates of righteousness

that I may enter through them and give

thanks to the Lord this is the gate of

the Lord the righteous shall enter

through it i thank you that you have

answered me and have become my salvation

the stone that the builders rejected has

become the cornerstone this is the

Lord's doing it is marvelous in our eyes

this is a day that the Lord has made let

us rejoice and be glad in

it what the parable doesn't reveal is

that that beloved son gives himself

willingly for the sake of the wicked

tenants he has come to give his life and

has come not to condemn those who even

kill him but to give his life as a

ransom for many for the sins of all that

the sins might be forgiven the psalm

alludes to this one who is rejected who

becomes the cornerstone he not only

becomes the cornerstone he becomes the

gate for the righteous he becomes our

salvation he becomes our reason to

rejoice in the Lord always and to be

glad in him he is the source for the

psalmist in Psalm 126 that fills his

mouth with gladness and places of joy

upon his tongue he comes and he brings

the dream of which the psalmist says we

became like those who dreamed but it's

not a dream it's a reality that has

broken into this fallen world that

brings the reality of the kingdom of

heaven and the promise of eternal life

for all who will rather than reject this

beloved son receive him into their lives

as their savior paul writes in Romans

5'8 that God shows his love in this that

while we were yet sinners Christ died

for us while we were as wicked as those

wicked tenants that we scoff at in that

parable while we were as wicked as we've

ever been or could ever be God has

demonstrated his love in sending his

beloved son that perhaps some will reach

out to him and receive

salvation after the death and

resurrection of Jesus after his

ascension into heaven and after the Holy

Spirit was poured out upon those who

received him and then they began

ministering and Peter and John went up

to the temple and they healed a man in

the name of Jesus who had been lame and

everyone came around and

celebrated and then they were arrested

by those same people that turned Jesus

over to be crucified the scribes and the

rulers and the high priests and the

other

priests and when Peter is speaking to

them after their arrest he confronts

them with this truth but also with a

promise he writes in Acts chapter 4 or

Acts 4 · chapter mention

he says in Acts chapter 4:15 "You killed

the author of life."

Or actually I'll get to that in a minute

first he said to them "This Jesus is the

stone that was rejected by you the

builders he has become the

cornerstone." And here's the promise

there is salvation in no one else for

there is no other name under heaven

given among men by which we must be

saved jesus was a stone rejected by you

but even you can be saved through his

name even you can receive salvation

through the one whom you

killed and it was prior to this when the

crowds had gathered after the man was

healed that g that Peter preached to

them and said what I'd started to say

earlier this is earlier in Acts in

chapter 3 he tells the crowd of people

in Jerusalem "You killed the author of

life and God raised him from the dead to

this we are witnesses and now brothers I

know that you acted in ignorance as did

your rulers but what God foretold by the

mouth of the prophets that his Christ

would suffer he thus fulfilled

repent therefore and turn back that your

sins may be blotted out that times of

refreshing may come from the presence of

the Lord what a

promise going all the way back to the

garden it's as if God's saying to the

first sinners Adam and Eve I know you

did this in ignorance you didn't know

you were deceived and corrupted and he

says it to every person alive today you

have sinned in ignorance you thought it

would bring you fulfillment you thought

it would satisfy you you thought it

would bring you what you wanted in this

world you thought there was no other way

but now he

says repent and turn back from that

sinful way of

living and those sins that you have

committed they will be blotted out they

will be forgiven they will be wiped away

and what comes but times of

refreshing times of refreshing from the

Lord peter has said on the day of

Pentecost to those who were cut to the

heart he said "Repent and believe in

Jesus." He promised that the promise of

the Holy Spirit that they were

witnessing was not just for the apostles

not just for those who had been with

Jesus today it's not just for those who

are good enough who get it all right who

have never sinned or if they did sin it

wasn't that bad it's not just for anyone

it is for all whom the Lord calls to

himself and for all who say yes to Jesus

I will receive you into my life i'll

receive your forgiveness of sins i will

receive the spirit of the

Lord the promise is for all who say yes

the times of refreshing are for all who

say yes the times of renewal and the

newness of life is for anyone who will

say yes to this beloved son who has come

into the world to save the lost what

Paul writes in the beginning of our

reading today from Philippians I want to

emphasize he says "Whatever gain I had I

count it as loss for the sake of

Christ." Indeed I count everything as

loss because of the surpassing worth of

knowing Christ Jesus my Lord we have

everything to gain through Jesus and

only the destructive things to lose if

we could know the reality and the truth

that nothing compares to knowing Jesus

that salvation is a step of an eternity

lived with him that will lead us to

paradise that will lead us to his

kingdom

forever so this son who came into the

world to save and was rejected by people

he's alive

he's alive and he's present with us

through his Holy

Spirit and while in the parable he came

to a vineyard to redeem that which was

his

today he comes to the door of your heart

he comes to the door of your life and in

a letter written to a church in the book

of Revelation a church probably not

unlike our

church Jesus says "Behold I stand at the

door and knock if anyone hears my voice

and opens the door I will come into him

and eat with him and he with

me." Jesus stands and he knocks maybe

he's knocking for you to open that door

to him for the first time and invite him

into your life to save you and to give

you salvation and to come and bring the

Holy Spirit maybe he's knocking on a

door that's been opened but

then it falls closed or it's open

sometimes it's closed other times he's

knocking on that door that you might

give him your whole life that you might

invite him into every minute every day

of your life every area of your life and

not close that door of any area of your

life to him because he has come to

redeem that which is his that which he

purchased with his own blood upon the

cross that which belongs to him and not

to us

so this morning wherever you are in

terms of Jesus standing at that door and

knocking I want to encourage you to open

it to say "Jesus I open to you this door

of my heart jesus I repent and I'm sorry

that I've ever closed it against you

come in Jesus and give me newness of

life give me that which is fulfilling

give me that which is eternal

come in and fill me with your Holy

Spirit and wipe all my sins away and

help me to live this new life with

you this is God's desire this is what

leads us to paradise and to his kingdom

even through the trials of this world so

I want to close and say a prayer over

you as God is present and moving here in

each of your lives let us pray

father we thank you that you have

created us in your image and likeness we

thank you that you have not given up on

us oh God we thank you Holy Spirit that

you are present wooing us with your

love God you've created a new heavens

and a new earth for us and you want us

to be there with you and we thank you

for it we thank you that you want us to

be there so much that you gave your son

in love for us and that he gave himself

in love for us and in obedience and love

for you so Father forgive us if we have

shut the door on your

salvation lord help us to open the door

fully to your son and to your

spirit jesus come into our

lives wipe away and blot out our sins

come and bring us eternal life come and

fill us with your Holy Spirit come and

show us the life that you have for us

and help us to live

it beginning today may our lives be

transformed may we live for you and with

you as you

desire amen