Mark 11:27-12:12 || The Book of Mark || Pastor Haron Kaisa

Father, God, Merciful God, we come before you. You've commanded

us to gather together to pray for our desires and

the desires for others. We pray that you would renew

our hearts in the Holy Spirit, tune our ears to hear,

our hearts to receive eyes to see.

May your word go.

Forth in Jesus' name. We pray in God's people. Say Amen,

Amen I title tonight's message divine authority. And we are

in the end of Mark chapter eleven and the beginning

of Mark chapter twelve. We've been covering the Book of

Mark for.

The past year on Wednesdays.

This is a picture of a timeline of what's taking place.

This is kind of give you the broader concept of

what's taking place as you see there. This is Passion Week.

Mark chapter eleven through chapter sixteen covers the end of

Jesus's life. Fashion week is known as events leading to Easter,

events leading to his death and resurrection. And if you

remember several weeks ago in Mark chapter nine to ten,

six months ago, an actual timetable, Jesus told his disciples

that they were going to Jerusalem, that he would be

handed over to the chief priest. The Sanhedrin the elders

and described to be mistreated and killed, but he would

rise again the third day. That was the last of

the three predictions that Jesus told them awaited when he

arrived in Jerusalem. Fast forward six months later, they finally arrive.

On Sunday, the first.

Day of that final week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem the

triumphal entry. If you were here two weeks ago, passal

Sonas preached a phenomenal message on that and you see

the follower lay their cloaks and branches in his path,

all the while proclaiming, blessed is he who comes to

the name of the Lord. Blessed. It is the coming

kingdom of our father David Hosanna in the highest. This

was a fulfillment of Zachariah nine that the Messiah will

come this way. Who do you think you are? Jesus?

The next day, Monday, his second and third symbolic actions.

He cursed the fig tree. If you were here last week,

Pastor Aaron preached a great message on epp and he

cleansed the temple. He went to the court of the

Gentiles and began cleaning house, overturning tables, chasing out the

money changers. He drove out all who had a hand

and made a mockery of the temple and Passover. He

drove out all those people who were keeping people from

the true worship of God. Why Mark eleventh seventeen says,

my father's house shall be called a house of prayer.

I love that last song right, a house of prayer.

For all nations.

But you've made it a robber's Then judgment had come

against the religious leaders.

And Jesus brought it by what authority?

Who do you think you are? Day three, Tuesday, his

third symbolic action. On the way to Jerusalem, Peter saw

a fit tree withered from the roots up the day

before it was in full leaf, meaning this tree had fruit,

It had nourishment, it had rest, it had growth. Jesus

went and found only leaves, no fruit. It was a

case of false advertising. So he acted out of parable

an object lesson. He cursed the tree, and it withered.

Why did he curse the tree because it was a

great picture of the religious system of the day, the

temple and the religious system of the Pharisees. They look good,

they look like they have nourishment. It looked like you

could come meet God here, but it only had leaves,

meaning while it looked good from a distance, there was

no fruit.

There was no life of God.

There By cursing the fig tree, Jesus condemned their system

and promised them something else. That judgment is coming by

Who's authority? Who do you think you are, Jesus? So

we are still in day three Tuesday as we arrive

in our text right now, that's the context, Mark eleven

twenty seven. If you're taking notes, here's two lessons that

Mark reminds us, and that God is teaching us less

than number one. The authority Mark chapter eleven, verses twenty

seven to thirty three. The allegory Mark chapter twelve, verse

one through twelve. Note what verse twenty seven says. And

they came into where Jerusalem. Notice that Mark mentions Jerusalem

four times because he wants us to show He wants

to show something to us. And now as he was

walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes

and the elders came to him, and they said to him,

by what authority underlying that are you doing these things?

So who gave you this authority to do them? Jesus said,

to them, I ask you one question. Answer me, and

I will tell you by authority I do these things?

Was the baptism of John? From heaven or from man?

Answer me?

And he discussed it with one another.

If we say from heaven, he will say, why then

you don't believe in me?

But shall we say from man? They were afraid of.

The people, for they all held that John was a

prophet verse thirty three. So they answered Jesus, this is

very humiliating for them. We do not know. And Jesus

said to them, either, will I tell you by what

authority I do these things? The authority of Jesus requires

us to understand three things. Acknowledge, recognize true authority. And

as you recognize true authority, you'll notice what God is

doing in this text. Alarm the danger of the danger

of hard heartedness, and appeal God's judgment. As you see

there the call to not only God's judgment but to

honest evaluation. Notice verse twenty seven to twenty eight. Here

we find Jesus in the temple. What is Jesus doing

in the temple. He's walking, But he wouldn't be walking

too long before he was ambushed. He was attacked by

three groups of people, the chief priest, the scribes, and

the elders.

They came to him.

Now, now these groups are three main components of the

main religious Jewish body of the time, known as a Sanhedrin.

They were the top dogs, They were the top leaders,

They were the top figures. They were the top authority,

heads of the spiritual and religious for the Jewish people

for that time. Here are these men who come pouncing

on the opportunity that Jesus is in close proximity to them,

and they're armed with a new scheme, a set of

questions that they believe will cause Jesus to stumble and

to expose his foolishness and his inconsistency. So with aggression

they ask him this question, who do you get you

authority from?

From whom do you find this?

Who gave you.

This authority to do them?

But before we look at those questions, we have to

first establish that these requests were not prompted by sincere curiosity.

It was and motivated by murderous animosity. Notice marked eleven eighteen.

The last time we heard of this group. They came

to Jerusalem on that Monday morning, passionate week from Bethany.

They entered the temple, and they began to drive, and

he began to drive out those money changers. Notice Mark

eleven eighteen. It says this, and the chief priest and

the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to

destroy him. So the motive behind this question and these

questions was to find a reason, to find some kind

of evidence to condemn Jesus to death. That was their

mo It was this type of interrogation that would be

the way to gather the necessary proof to justify their

evil ploy Who gave you this authority, Jesus, for whom?

And why would this put g Jesus in a dilemma?

Why would this put Jesus in a dangerous place? If

Jesus has said it was with his own authority that

he did these things, then he could be easily dismissed

as a self appointed prophet. He could be discredited in

the public eye. But if he did claim what he

said over and over and over before this moment, that

in fact, he was sent by God, that he was

from heaven, then that would be fresh grounds for them

to say that he's a blasphemer. So they think they

have him in a corner here they think they got

Jesus figured out. They say, what authority, by whom who

gave you this? What are these things that they're talking about.

It's what we learned in Mark eleven. Look at the

texts verse eighteen. They heard about this. They learned that

Jesus came in and bulldozed the corruption out of the

House of God. That there's something else that Jesus was

doing that caused them to ask this question. You won't

find it in the book of Mark. You'll find it

in Luke chapter twenty. So if you have your Bible's

turned there. Mark tells us that Jesus is walking in

the temple, but Luke says something else. Luke twenty, verse

one through two says, this, one day, as Jesus was

what teaching the people in the temple and what preaching

the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the

elders came up and said to him, tell us by

what authority you do these things? Or who is it

that gave you this authority? So it wasn't just about

the news of how he came in, because we learned

he was fulfilling his role as a priest to purge

out the corruption. But it was in fact that with

authority was teaching within the temple, and not just teaching,

he was proclaiming and preaching the Gospel of God. It's

interesting to see the parallel that you see in the

Book of Mark. If you recall Mark chapter one, verse

fourteen says this, now actor John was arrested, Jesus came

into Galilee doing what proclaiming the Gospel of God.

And here's another parallel. If you look at.

Mark chapter sixteen, verse fifteen, it says, go into all

the world and proclaim the Gospel of God to the

whole creation. Jesus preached the Gospel of God. And now

we come to the near end of this book and

obviously near the end of his ministry on earth. And

what do we find Jesus doing in the temple preaching

and proclaiming the Gospel of God. When we're introduced to Jesus,

he's preaching the Gospel at the end of his life,

the last week of his life on earth. What is

Jesus doing preaching the gospel. Mark also wants us to

focus on this. What's the key word in this section here, authority.

It's mentioned four times in this section. Authority is the

word that gives meaning to this confrontation, and it's the

Greek word of exocia, and this word means the liberty

of doing one pleases. In other words, he has the

right and the freedom and the liberty to act. To

have authority is to essentially have the right to act,

to exercise your will, to exercise force to determine that's authority.

Here Mark tells us Jesus had authority over the disciples

Mark one, p. Seventeen. Jesus had authority over doctrine Mark

one twenty seven. Jesus had authority over deemons Mark one

twenty eight. Jesus had over disease Mark one twenty nine.

Jesus had an authority over sin Mark two to ten.

Jesus had authority over the Old Testament Sabbath Mark two

twenty three. Jesus had authority over Satan Mark three twenty seven.

Jesus never asked for permission. He had full authority to

do anything he wanted to do. He was not under

any earthly authority. He possessed all authority in himself as

a divine son of God. He never consulted the Pharisees.

He never consulted the rabbis, he never consulted the Sanhedrin.

He did not consult anybody. Everything he said was from himself.

He had the ultimate freedom to do as and say

whatever he wanted to say, and guess what it was

right and it was true.

That's Jesus.

Jesus had one authority in his life, and that was

the divine rule of the Father, which he knew perfectly.

Jesus had authority acknowledge true authority. Second alarm the danger

of hard heartedness. Look at verse twenty nine and twenty three.

Notice what Mark says here, right. You'll notice that you

can tell the tone here is strong, and for good reason,

because Jesus can see right through their insincere interest. Right,

these men aren't interested in the truth or inquiring about

his authority. They were actually trying to challenge it. And

so until Christ comes back, men have resisted the authority

of God. Men have reveled against the authority of God.

Men have fought against the authority of God. It was

prophesied in Psalms chapter two, one of the most quoted

verses in the Bible Acts for twenty five through twenty seven.

The Apostles here point to the psalm as a fulfillment

of it, connecting to Christ through the rejection of Pontius,

Pilot and Herod when they crucified Christ. And let me

remind you what's happening here in some small measure was foretold.

You could expect it to his reign his rule. Psalms

to one says why do the nations rage? And the

people's plot in vain? David writes an absolute astonishment. What

is he saying? Why are people so angry towards God?

Why are people so hostile towards God and their creator?

What is it about Jesus that is so off putting?

What is it about Jesus that is so offensive? See?

This universal hatred is not just a random theoretical tension

that people feel about the concept of God. It's about

someone specifically, and that's in the next verse, verse two.

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers

take counsel against the Lord and against his What anoints it?

Who's the anointed one? Jesus Christ, it's him. These religious

leaders are against the anointed One. They were against him,

then they are against him. Now. These religious leaders had

so many conversations with Jesus, so many conversations, and never

did they come to Jesus to find out the truth

about God. The nature of false religion is they never

probe for the truth.

It's always the false pretense.

And so this confrontation with Jesus created this animosity towards him.

The issue was that Jesus was saying and doing things

without their permission, contrary to their will and to their way.

They think they got Jesus now, they got him in

a corner because of what he's doing and doing what

he did to the temple without permission, because blasphemy was

in their minds, If ever there was a blasphemy, doing

this in a temple must be the ultimate blasphemy. They

were convinced that he was the ultimate blasphemer. But notice

what Mark fourteen. If we go two chapters later, verse

sixty one, they ask him, are you the Christ, the

son of the blessed One?

What does Jesus respond?

What does the response? I am, and you shall see

the son of Man sitting at the right hand of

power and coming with the clouds of heaven. What do

the priests do in this exact moment Verse sixty three,

what further need do we have of witness? You have

heard the blasphemy? How does it seem to you?

And they all.

Condemned him deserving of death because blasphemy was a capital punishment,

a capital crime. You see, one hundred and fifty years later,

the Jewish leaders put together, it is one hundred and

fifty years after Christ, they put together a codification called

the Missionah. It is it is. It is all the

laws and all the teachings and all the regulation in

the Mishnah. The death penalty is required for the blasphemers.

And one of the definitions of the blasphemer is this

one who assumes false authority. They only put that in

the Missionarh one hundred and fifty years later, but it

was already in full force here in this text. And

the truth is this Jesus isn't the blasphemer. They were

the blasphemers in Luke twenty two sixty five, the ones

who are holding Jesus prisoner, mocking him, blindfolding him, beating him.

And then what does the text say?

And they were saying, many there's things against him, blaspheming him.

The blasphemers were the people against Jesus, not Jesus. They

wanted him to say, my authority comes directly from God,

and they would use that as a final straw in

this blasphemy. But he was too high for that. And

so we go from the confrontation to his response. Look

at Mark eleven thirty. Was the baptism of John from

heaven or from man? Answer me, Jesus knew their intentions

because they never sought the truth. They never wanted the truth.

You see, John the baptized that the Baptist was the

forerunner of the Messiah. He was the greatest prophet ever

to live up until this time, the chosen one filled

with the Holy Spirit from his womb, the one who

conceived miraculously by Elizabeth and Zacharias because of the miracle

plan of God. John baptized the Baptist, the one who

was in the wilderness, preaching repentance and preparation for the

coming of the Messiah. John's whole ministry was teaching, preaching repentance,

preaching preparation for the Messiah, preaching that Jesus is a Christ,

and he was baptizing with the baptism of repentance.

This was his ministry to.

Prepare people for the arrival of this Messiah.

So what is he talking about here?

He's talking about all of John's ministry, all his teaching,

all his preaching calling all the people to preparedness and repentance,

and most importantly, the declaration of Jesus as a messiah.

So the ministry of John the Baptist, was it from

heaven or from man? It was either of men or

of God, Jesus says, answer me. If they said the

ministry of John is from God, then they would have

to admit that Jesus is the Messiah, because that's what

John said. If they say that the ministry of God

is not from God, it's from men, then they have

got a problem because all of the people knew that

John was what a real prophet. The leaders wanted nothing

to do with Jesus, and they certainly wanted to do

nothing with John, who said that Jesus is the Messiah.

So they got a big problem here, and Jesus knows

them when he says, answer me. So look at the

appeal of verse thirty one to thirty three, the call

to honest reflection. And here's their response, and the disgusted

with one another's thing. If we say heaven, he will say,

why didn't you not believe him? But shall we say

for man? They were afraid of the people, for they

all held that John was a prophet. So they answered, Jesus,

we do not know. And Jesus said to them, neither

will I tell you by the authority I do these things.

They had to have a meeting. They didn't know. They

begin dialoguing among themselves, even debating. If we say from heaven,

he will say, then why didn't you believe in me

as the Messiah? And we can't say that. We can't

say he's from heaven or we're dead because John and

Jesus and John said Jesus is the Messiah, we can't

say that. So now you understand the dilemma, right, What

are they going to do? Because you gotta remember, this

is the Sanhedrin, and all they want is praise of men.

It was everything to them, power, prestige, honor, respect, privilege.

They wanted the chief seats always in the synagogues, the

high places. They wanted to be given titles and honor,

and to be recognized in public as holy, lofty, elevated men.

Just the opposite, it would happen to them. If they

say John's ministry is from God, then they would have

to embrace Jesus, and they cannot do that. If they

say it's for man, they're liable to get stone to death,

and they can't let that happen. And so they're reduced

to the worst possible thing that can happen to someone

who has intellectual pride. I don't know, we don't know.

It's your duty to know. It's your duty to observe.

It's your duty to evaluate, it's your duty to research,

it's your duty to search the evidence. But again, never

did they have any interest in the truth in dealing

with Jesus. Their blind dishonesty revealed their true intentions. Their

hearts acknowledge true authority, alarm the danger of hard heartedness,

and appeal a call to honest reflection. See, while Jesus

will not answer their question, he is not content to

stop there.

What does he do?

He tells the parable which this group of men realize,

this toad against them. So if you go to Mark

chapter twelve, it's the second lesson. This allegory requires us

to understand three things. Acceptance, God's patience, affection, God's love, astuteness,

God's judgment, and at the end God's grace acceptance. We

see the patience of God towards sinners. When you read

chapter twelve, verses one through five, you see this parable

would have been very familiar with this audience. Because this

parable it was a foreshadow of Isaiah chapter five one

through seven. And the summary of Jesus's parable is that

a certain vineyard is mismanaged by a group of wicked

tenants who kill and mistreat the servants. The owner sends

to them to.

Gather as harvest.

As a last resort, the owner sends his beloved son,

who they ultimately kill. The owner in turn destroys the

tenants and gives the vineyard to others. Remember this is

Passion Week, It's Wednesday Friday. Jesus will die right.

He knows that, he knows it, and.

In the story he says that they're going to do

to him. Been saying it for months, for months, he's

been saying to his disciples, I'm going to be arrested,

I'm going to be ridiculed, I'm going to be killed.

I'm going to be right from the dead.

So there are no surprises in the life of Jesus.

Here he came to give his life as a life

for many.

He came to die.

He knew that from the beginning, he even knew the details.

Yet he still showed up. He knew that he would

be mistreated, he would be abused, he would be hit,

he would be crucified.

He knew that.

And so here in this parable on Wednesday, he tells

the very people who are going to kill him that

they're going to kill him.

He knows this without question. This is no surprise to

him at all.

The audience of the chief priests and the scribes and

the pharisees and the elders are outraged at the behavior

of these vinegrowers. They are the ones who upheld the temple,

the Sanhedrin, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the rituals, and more importantly,

the law of God. They were the.

Representatives of God in this.

World and righteous behavior and holy living, and more importantly

their their expectation.

Of God's law.

And they're shocked at this behavior of this man. They're

shocked at the behavior of.

The vine growers, the owner.

They're shocked at everything that is going on in this story.

Look at verse one in chapter twelve, he began to

speak to them in parables the day before he cleared

out the temple.

Here's the temple.

The man planeted a vineyard and put a wall around it,

and dug a vet under the wine press and built

a tower. This allegory, this parable is about judgment, and

it's not and it's not a parable to hide the

realities of the Kingdom of God, because whenever Jesus would

talk in parables, he would always say, the Kingdom of

God is like this. But in this parable, he's talking

about the reality of God's judgment. Not God's kingdom, but

God's judgment. So when he speaks, he speaks in very

familiar words. He's quoting Isaiah five. Isaiah five was a

well known book and chapter to the people of Israel.

He's warning them about this coming judgment, in fact, specifically

the Babylonian invasion. He's warning them about that. Look at

verse seven and Isaiah five. For the vineyard of the

Lord of the Host is the house of Israel, and

the men of Judah are his pleasant planting. And he

looked for justice. So who's the vineyard? It is Israel

and Judah. And if you follow chapter five, verses eight

through thirty. You see that this identification of God planning

Israel in the land and blessing Israel and providing everything

for them to bear fruit. You also know that in

this parable they're charged because instead of bringing forth fruit,

it says here and Isaiah five to two, they brought

forth by shim, which is a sour and edible berry,

they produce nothing of value. Verse four, What shall I do, God,

a speaking first person, what should I do to my vineyard?

Verse five? He says this, I would destroy my vineyard.

And then the rest of chapter five describes the massive

sin that Israel have committed and the judgment that's coming

from Babylon. If they were listening, they would have caught

that describes he goes.

On a long journey.

It says, there, right, the man has done everything for production.

He's planted a vineyard, he's put a wall for protection,

he's dug a vat for the pressing of the grapes.

He put a watch twer for anyone that may invade

or or or take away the stuff. And he's even

had the storage for the implements. Everything has been done.

Then he goes on a long journey. You know it

takes five years for a vineyard to be fully fruit

five years.

So day the tenant farmer has been waiting for a while.

Mark twelve to two says this. When the season came,

he sent a servant to the tenant to get from them.

So verse two then picks up the story that the

lord creates.

This is all.

Pretty normal stuff, this is normal kind of procedure. But

then the shot comes in verse three. It says they

took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed.

The verb there it means to punch. It means se

bash your head, to physically beat and this is criminal behavior.

Obviously they've been cared for during that time with the wages.

Let's continue on the verse four again, he sent them

another servant, and they struck him on the head and

treated him shamefully. So the first servant gets beat up,

the second one gets hit on the head, and it

is struck right, and the occasion is that the first one.

Then it come back, so he send another one and

they wound him in a head. They literally bash his

head in. They bashed his head and treated him insaulting

him dishonorably and in a shameful way. This is outrageous.

You can hear the You can hear these self righteous

scribes talk about who would do this? What kind of

person would what would treat these servants like this? Mark

twelfth to five says, he sent in another servant, and

what happens to that servant? He's killed. They beat the first,

smashing the head of the second, and kill the third.

Matthew twenty one to thirty five gives this account, and

the people starts to say, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute, first,

we have to conclude that the behavior of the tenant

farmers is really outrageous. Now we're gonna question the sanity

of the guy who owns the land. It just he

keeps sending people in there. Notice the affection love of

God is rejected by sinful man. Verse six. He still

had one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him

to them, saying, surely they would respect my son. I'm

the owner. All he's got left is a beloved son.

And at this point they must have said, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Please know he's the future, he's the heir, he's the family.

Don't send him, you know their behavior. He sent him

last of all to them, saying they will revere my son.

This is the ultimate shock in the whole story. This

is completely beyond comprehension. The question is why does he

keep sending his servants to be treated that way? And

why would he ever send his own son? Why what

did they do to the sun got verse seven through eight.

But those tenants sent to one of the this is

the air. Come let us kill him and the inheritance

will be ours. And they took him and killed him

and threw him out of vineyard. They took him, killed

him and threw him out like a ragdog, shocking roadkill, scavenger,

flesh for the birds. Then Jesus asked the question mark twelve,

verse nine, what will the owner of the vineyard do?

What would you do?

Well? By Old Testament law Genesis ninety six says, whoever

sheds the blood of man by Manshaw's blood be shed

for God made man in his own image. This is

a multiply murder At this point, right, they're completely sucked in.

How do they know it was them? Because they knew

their history. They begin to realize that this story was

about them, that they're trapped with their own condemnation. They

have condemned themselves. Look at the history of Israel told

in the story. These are examples of prophets. Isaiah was

sown in half, Jeremiah was thrown to death. Ezekiel was

murdered because he rebuked the righteous. Rebuked Amos had to

run for his life and was murdered. Zachariath the priest

and Second Chronicles twenty four was rejected and chased into

the temple where he thought was safe, and was stoned

to death. Micah the prophet was constantly hit in the

face by the leading false prophets. In First Kings twenty two,

as it records, this is the Jewish history treatment of

the messengers of God. They got worse and worse, and

worse and worse, and rejecting and abusing the messengers of God.

Turn the Matthew twenty three.

As we close, he says, this, woe to you, scribes

and Pharisees. You build the tombs of the prophets, adoring

the monuments of the righteous, and say, if we had

been living in the days of our fathers, we would

not have in partners with them and shedding.

The blood of the prophets. We would have done that.

What they did so, you testify against.

Yourself that you are the son of those who murdered

the prophets. Fill them the measure of the guilt of

your fathers, You serpents, you bru of vipers. How will

you escape the sentence of hell? They knew their history,

They knew it very well. They killed the prophets Mark

twelve eight. And they took him and killed him. They

threw him out of the vinyard. They crucified him outside

the city on Friday. This is Jesus talking about his

own death. And such action will go unpunished. This is

the last point, the stutiness, the judgment of God on

sinful man Verse nine. What will the owner of the

vinyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and

give the venyards to others.

So what will the owner of.

The vinyard do? He brought a condemnation of woe, woe, woe, woe,

and judgement came in the hands of the Babylonians. The

judgment will come in seventy a D. At the hands

of Titus Vestien, who led the wrong men hoards in

seventy a d. And so no one can trace any

lineage today, No one knows who's a levit. No one

knows the line of aaron. Today. This system was totally destroyed.

God destroyed it. And this is the final insult. Not

only did he destroy the vineyard, but he gave it

to someone else. And that someone else is you and me.

We are the new stewards of this vineyard. And he

closes his dialogue in chapter twelve, verse ten through eleven.

Have you not read the scripture? The stone that the

builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was a lord's doing,

and it's marvelous in ours. This was Jesus' response. Jesus

often responded with scripture, scripture, interpret scripture. So Jesus uses

scripture to remind him. And I love this response because

what is he quoting. He's quoting Psalms one eighteen, which

is the hellal Psalms. They would often read these Psalms

walking up the steps into the temple. And this was

the last chapter, the last chapter of the hellal Psalms.

This hellale was sung and recited that passover. In fact,

on Monday, when Jesus came into the city, what were

they saying? They were quoting the hellal Psalms blessed is

the one who comes. What does that indicate the resurrection?

And this is their response verse twelve, And we're done,

thank you for being here, being patient. And they were

seeking to arrest them, but fear the people, for they

perceived that he told the parable against them, so they

left him and went away. They can't possibly get out

of it, which vindicates the judgment that had already been

pronounced on them. But they feared the people. He didn't

fear the right person, who should have? They feared God.

And closing, when we read this parable, we should not

make the mistake that because Jesus was primarily speaking to

a Jewish audience, that it doesn't apply to you as well.

We are all just like the Jewish people and must

take an account of our own place in God's vinard.

God has given you time, God has given you talents.

God has given you skills and treasures, and he would

hold you accountable for everything you do here on earth.

And so the question got to ask ourselves before we close,

what are we doing in God's vineyard? Are we bearing

fruit or are we resting? Let's pray, Father God, we

thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth.

And John seventeen seventeen that says, sanctify them in thy truth.

Your word is truth, So sanctify us, make us more

and more like you. May this word not just come

out of one year. May this word soak into our

hearts and our desires and our motivations to live a

change life. May we take the principles and the lessons

from this story and apply it to our own lives.

Father, God, may we.

Be good stewards of the time we have here on earth.

May you guide us in everything that we do. May

we follow you more closely.

May we love you more.

Dearly Jesus name, we pray. I don't want to leave

without sharing the most important message, which is a gospel.

In this story.

There's a word here about the parable the tenants. It

was a word that kind of struck my heart, and

it was the word journey. The owner went on a journey,

and you and I tonight we are on a journey.

And this journey has two destinations, Heaven and Hell. You know,

as I'm watching the Olympics, these these athletes had a journey,

and their journey was four years of preparation. When when

I look at a pregnant woman.

They're on a journey right there.

There are months and and and they're going through that

and and and they're gonna birth this baby soon. And

so as I think about the Christian life, you and

I are on this journey, and on this journey there

are many stops, and I want to share a couple

of stops. Stop number one, Romans three twenty three says,

we have all fallen short of the glo layer God.

That means no one in this room is perfect. You

and I are sinful people, and we need a savior,

and that savior is Jesus. The good news is this

that Jesus made away for us. So Romans six twenty

three tells us that right. But also Romans five to

eight says, for God demonstrated his love towards us, and

that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for you.

Stop number two. Man is sinful, but God is love,

and his love is unconditional. It doesn't matter what you do,

It doesn't matter what you've done it yesterday or last

week or last year. God loves you with no condition.

But there's also another bad news Romans six twenty three,

that we have fallen short of the glory of God.

I love this because the Gospel says this. Romans eight,

verse one, the fourth stop. There is now no them

nation for those who believe in Jesus. And so as

you're on this journey to get to heaven, how do

I how do I know my places in heaven? How

do I how do I secure my spot?

How do how do I know?

On my deepest desires that I will go to heaven?

Romans ten, verse nine and ten says that if you

confess with your mouth and believe that Jesus is Lord

and Savior, then you shall be saved.

That's you deny.

I want you to raise your hand on count of three, one, two, three,

raise your hand.

See some hands over there, some hands over praise God.

If you if you raise your hand, will you all

repeat with me after with me? As we close together, say,

Dear Jesus, I confess my sin. I turn away from it,

and I turn to you. I make you Lord and

make you savior. And Jesus, they we pray s