Matthew Pt. 82 - Unfaithful Tenants

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

I haven't preached in two weeks, so that gives me 45 minutes, 45

minutes plus today's 45 minutes. So I hope you packed a lunch.

Yeah. Or you can just fast, like

that'll work as well. Matthew 21.

I have to keep recapping. It's not an apology.

I have to keep recapping so you can remember what moment we're

in. 3 1/2 years of Jesus's mighty ministry is all

culminating. We are in the final week.

He has the weight and pressure of knowing that the cross is

coming. He's going to give himself up on

Thursday night. He knows that he'll be abused.

He knows he'll be tormented. And he willingly does it because

he loves you. He willingly does it because he

is the Lamb who was crucified before the foundation of the

world. So this is all God's plan.

It's all his design. But it's also a massive pressure

on Jesus, who as a, as the ultimate man on the mission,

comes to sacrifice himself and get his life for his bride.

So now he's come. It's the Passover week.

Many, many, many, many, many, many thousands have descended

upon Jerusalem. Potentially millions, guaranteed

hundreds of thousands of people. You can get 100,000 people in

the temple courtyards. So there's all of this taking

place. Remember, Jesus has come in.

He's overturned the tables. He is.

He has rebuked everyone publicly and now they think he's going to

to new levels to rebuke them and to shame the Jewish leadership.

He cursed the fig tree. He did that as a living parable.

He is condemning Israel. He caused a massive uproar that

many people have seen, many people know about.

Everybody knows about this Jewish rabbi.

He does not just have 12 followers.

There are many thousands of people who would say that

they're followers of Christ at this point.

Some of them are going to drop off, like my microphone just

did. Battery.

Probably some of them are going to drop off.

Yeah, looks like it's battery, Sir, but this is the setting

that we're in. So Jesus has done this.

He overturned the tables yesterday, and now he's come

back into the temple today. And the Pharisees come up, the

Jewish leadership, the ruling elders come up, and they say, by

what authority are you doing these things?

What you did yesterday, all the things that you're saying and

doing, What authority are you doing these things?

And that's where we're going to pick up, and we'll start reading

again from verse 23 of chapter 21.

That way you get the full picture of what's said and

what's done. So in verse 23 and when he

entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the

people came up to him as he was teaching and said, by what

authority are you doing these things?

Who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them.

I also ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then

I also will tell you by what authority I'm doing these

things. The baptism of John, where did

it come from? From heaven or from man?

They discussed it among themselves, saying, if we say

from heaven, he'll say, then why didn't you believe him?

But if we say from man, well, we're afraid of the crowd.

They all hold that John was a prophet.

So they answered Jesus, we do not know.

And he said to them, neither will I tell you by what

authority I do these things. So they think they're trapping

Jesus. Jesus pulls the Uno reverse card

on them and exposes them in front of everybody.

They're liars, they're hypocrites.

He knows they're not going to own up to it.

And now he begins to tell parables about them.

What do you think? He launches right into this.

He doesn't come up for air. He doesn't miss a beat.

What do you think? A man had two sons, and he went

to the 1st and said, Son, go and work in the vineyard today.

And he answered, I will not. But afterward he changed his

mind and he went, and he went to the other son and said the same.

And he answered, I will go, Sir. But he did not go.

Which of the two did? The will of his father?

And they said, the first one did.

Jesus said to them, truly, I say to you, this is a nuclear

moment. The tax collectors and the

prostitutes go into the Kingdom of God before you.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did

not believe him. But the tax collectors and the

prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you

did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

And now he continues. This is our passage for the day.

He doesn't come up for air. He doesn't miss a beat.

This is all one stream of consciousness.

Here another parable. There was a master of a house

who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, and dug a wine

press in it, and built a tower, and then leased it to tenants.

And he went to another country. When the season for fruit drew

near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit,

and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed

another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants

more than the first, and they did the same to them.

Finally he sent his son to them, saying, they will respect my

son. But when the tenants saw the

son, they said to themselves, this is the heir, come, let us

kill him and have his inheritance.

And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed

him. When therefore the owner of this

vineyard comes, what will he do to to those tenants?

They said to him, He will put those wretches to a miserable

death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who give him

the fruit in their seasons. Jesus said to them, Have you

never read in the scriptures the stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing and it

is marvellous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the

Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a

people producing its fruits, and the one who falls on this stone

will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will

crush him. When the chief priests and the

elders heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking

about them, and although they were seeking to arrest him, they

feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet.

God, we glorify the cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one

that all of life, all of heaven and earth is oriented around,

the one who holds all things together by his power.

Jesus be glorified this morning. And Lord, I pray that we would

not look on, look onto this passage with condemnation for

others, for the Jewish rulers, or for the the parable of the

tenant. But God, I pray that we would

inspect our own hearts to make sure that we are pure and that

we are bearing fruit that you the Master are seeking in our

lives. Help us to make right

application. Lord, guide me, anoint me and

serve your people with power in Jesus name, Amen.

During this Passover week, a Jewish family would get their

Passover lamb and throughout the week you would be inspecting the

lamb. You're inspecting the lamb to

make sure that he is ready for the sacrifice.

This is exactly what's happening to Jesus all week long.

They are inspecting him, they are inspecting him, they are

testing him. He is found without fault and

that is why he is crucified. They think on one hand it's a

it's a massive injustice. On the other hand, it's the

perfect will of God. The Good Shepherd has become the

Passover lamb, and the Passover lamb inspected, found without

flaw, is now crucified and given up without blemish.

The Lord Jesus Christ absolutely models everything that he needs

to model. And now here he's pointing out,

not only is he the Lamb, but he's also the shepherd.

He's also the master. The vineyard belongs to him and

he's come to reclaim all of it. This thing continues to build.

It's going to continue to build for the next couple of chapters.

But here in this parable, this parable of the tenants, this

vineyard, this fence, that's this fence that's put around the

wine press, the tower, the leasing, everybody hearing this

parable would understand what's going on.

This is just a really common practice.

A master would get this piece of land, a wealthier man.

He gets this piece of land and he he provides everything it

needs. They they remove the stones.

He plants the vineyard. He puts a fence around it to

protect it. He puts the wine press in place

so that the grapes can be crushed and the wine can

actually be produced. He puts a tower, a watchtower to

watch the crops, to watch for predators, to watch for

whatever. He did all the work at his

expense. And then he finds tenants,

managers, stewards. And he says, hey, you guys come

manage this for me. I'm leaving.

I'm going to move on, but I want you to be my property managers

and I'll send my servants to collect my portion of things

from this vineyard. Everybody understood this.

This is a common practice. Archaeologists have found all

kinds of there's disputes between masters and tenants that

we can find throughout history. Just a really common

understanding. Everybody knows what Jesus is

talking about. They're following along with it.

But beyond this reference to daily life, there's something

more going on here. It's it would also be clear to

the Jewish audience who knew their scriptures, who this

parable was about right from the beginning because in Isaiah

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, the Lord makes very plain who the vineyard is.

So in Isaiah chapter 5, I'm going to read it to you.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

You can turn there if you want to go quickly.

But Isaiah 5 verses one through 7 or just write it down.

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, cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines.

He built a watchtower in the midst of it.

All. This sounds pretty familiar,

doesn't it, From the parable Jesus we're just quoting.

And he hewed out a wine VAT in it, and he looked for it to

yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, O 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 already

done in it? When I looked for it to yield

grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured.

I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

I will make it a waste. It shall not be pruned or hoed,

and briars and thorns shall grow up.

I will also command the clouds, that no rain may fall upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts.

What's this vineyard he's talking about?

We're about to find out. 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.

He looked, but behold an outcry. Israel is the vineyard.

It's crystal clear. Isaiah expresses it with plain

detail. So now they all understand

clearly what's going on, not only here, all through the Old

Testament, their references to Israel being the Lord's vine and

being the Lord's vineyard. So this is the context as Jesus

is building the weight. Now, what's the application?

What's the meaning? Well, it can't be good for the

tenants, right? Nothing good is coming for these

guys and even the Pharisees and the the Jewish leaders and the

elders, even they knew this. Back in Matthew 21, verse 33.

Matthew 21:33

Here, another parable. There's a master of a house who

planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, dug A winepress

and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went to another

country. When the season for fruit drew

near, He sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

Who is this? This is God talking about Israel

and the servants who were sent to go collect the fruit for God

and inspect the fruit for God or all of the prophets.

We're getting a history lesson of what's happened throughout

Israel. Jesus is saying time is up and

God has sent his servants. So the Master planted his

vineyard, He created Israel. He said you are to be a steward

of the Kingdom. You are being given the Kingdom

of God, not to hoard unto yourselves, but to steward and

shepherd it, so that the whole world would be saved.

Not only the genetic descendants of Abraham, not only the heirs

of Abraham, but the heirs of Abraham also by faith, the

spiritual children of Abraham. So that if you don't have any

Jewish blood in your body, the true Jew is whoever is like the

father Abraham, who believes God and then has that faith counted

to him as righteousness. This is the Lord's plan.

This is the Lord's will. This is why people could also be

saved in the Old Testament who were not Jewish if they would

put faith in God. There was a process, there was a

means and there's a way, but which God wanted to save the

world. So God sent his prophets to

inspect the actions of Israel throughout the ages and to

collect the fruit, but they found none.

Not only did the prophets not find what God wanted and what

Israel should have been providing, but Israel killed

God's prophets. Verse 35.

And the tenants, they took the servants of the master, they

beat one of them, they killed another one, and they stoned

another. Maybe the one who got stoned

also died later from his wounds, we don't know.

But the prophets were dealt with terribly.

Isaiah, who we just quoted and read from, he was cut in half.

So this is what Israel literally did to the prophets.

Now, afterwards, after a prophet dies, everybody always admires a

prophet and goes, they really stood for truth.

But when a prophet's alive, they're not really loved.

Prophets are either hated or they're respected, but they're

not ever really loved by anybody.

They might be honored and feared, but they're probably

often, most often hated. And this is what happens in

Israel. And in Acts Chapter 7, when

Acts 7 · chapter mention

Stephen was preaching, he's accusing the leaders of Israel,

He says, which of the prophets did your father's not persecute?

He is going off, which gets him killed because he's preaching

very prophetically there, he said.

And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming

of the righteous one, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.

He said, which of the prophets did you not murder?

Which of the prophets have you not attacked?

Which of the prophets did you actually love?

All the prophets experienced persecution in the hands of

Israel. And these are the tenants of

these are the servants that the master sent.

Hey, check on my harvest, check on my vineyard.

Bring me back good fruit. Go tell them, go warn them, go

tell them it's time to pay up. And that's what a master would

have done. Probably annually.

He would have sent his servants to go collect a harvest at the

harvest time and to collect wealth and resource the money

that's owed to him. So he would send his servant.

And the news comes back. They, they beat me terribly,

Sir. What?

The master sends another one. They murdered another servant.

And the second year, the third year he sends another one.

They stone them. And then he sent many others.

He continues to send the people. And look at the arrogance of the

tenants, so entitled, so privileged.

Day after day, when they did not see the master, they forgot

whose the vineyard was. They thought it was theirs.

They started acting like they owned the place.

He dug it out. He put the fence in.

He put in the watchtower. Those are his grapes.

That's his ground. Everything belongs to him.

But they've been around it so long, they start to feel

entitled like this is mine and they forgot that the Master

provided everything for them to enjoy there.

He put them to work in it and that's their place and it should

be their privilege to do so. But they start acting like they

own the place. The tenants took his servants,

beat one, killed another stone another.

Verse 36 again, He sent other servants more than the first,

and they did the same to them. Look at the patience and the

long-suffering of God over and over to Israel.

More patience instead of just destruction.

We're going like Lord, enough is enough and the Lord's going.

I'm so patient. I am so long-suffering and and

look at the Lord's servants in the meantime.

They just said here I am, Lord, send me.

Some of them had some reluctance, but they walked out

obediently. What the Lord called them to and

now they have great reward in heaven because of it.

And the Lord is pleased with his servants.

Precious is the death of His Saints in His eyes.

So the Lord wasn't forsaking His prophets.

He wasn't forsaking His servants.

He loves them and they have a particular reward and blessing.

And really their blessing is also going to be even more

judgment. That's even more judgment and

condemnation for Israel. It's not that they just

disobeyed, but they all, they opposed God deliberately.

They killed His prophets. They hated the words of God in

claiming to be the stewards of the words of God.

They were the stewards of the words of God, but they also

hated the words of God. They made everything about

themselves. This is why Jesus is being so

savage. He didn't wake up on the wrong

side of the bed. He is the King who is worthy,

and he is the Son who has come to collect for his Father.

He knows about all of his Father's servants.

He knows how grieved his Father's heart is.

So now the Son has been sent into the vineyard, and the Son

comes all the way into Jerusalem, the hill, the fertile

city where the vineyard was planted, the city of God.

And the Son says I'm here to collect for my Father, and Jesus

is prophesying what's going to happen with him later in the

week. This is the Son.

They took him outside of the vineyard and they killed him.

This is the Son. They took Jesus outside of the

city and they crucified him. Verse 37.

Finally he sent his Son to them, saying they will respect my son.

He's sending his authority. That's what his Son is.

If I send my son to somebody and I tell someone and one of my

employees and I, and my son tells him to do it, I'm

expecting him to follow through. Hey, my father wants this thing

done. And he should know that my son

bears my mark. My son bears my authority.

He speaks for me. But when the tenants saw the

son, they said to themselves, this is the air notice right

away. They know exactly who he is.

The Jewish leaders in Israel can see exactly who Jesus is.

It's not that they're confused. It's not that they don't really

know if it's him. Their hardness of heart makes

them hate him. And in their pride, in their

foolishness, and in their blindness, they also come up

with this concocted idea that if we kill him, we'll get his

inheritance. They're holding on to what they

think is power. It is a stewardship.

It is not ultimate power. They're holding on to this

position that they have. They're jealous of Jesus, the

Son who they're supposed to be worshipping and honoring, who

they're supposed to joyfully hand the vineyard over to and

say, we've been handling it all this time, but now that you're

here, take your Kingdom, take your seat, take your throne, Son

of David, everything belongs to you.

Where do they get this idea that they could rule, that they could

have the Son's inheritance, probably from their father, the

devil, who thought that he could make himself like the Most High.

That was Satan's temptation. That was what he said to himself

before he fell in his pride. That's what he did.

He said, I will make my throne. I will raise up my throne above

the stars of God, and I will make my throne like the Most

High. That's the first sin that we

know of. It was Satan's rebellion against

God and that pride of I want to be elevated.

I'm not satisfied with who he made me to be.

I'm not satisfied with my assignment or my role, and I

want his glory. The Lord won't tolerate it.

He won't stand it. The tenants saw the sun.

They said to themselves, this is the air.

Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.

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

Exactly what's going to happen to Jesus later in the week?

He sends the son, they take him outside of the city, they murder

him. Verse 40 When therefore the

owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those

tenants? Jesus is still using this

commonly used thing at this time, this question and answer

teaching method, which is a profound and excellent teaching

method, but a lot of rabbis would use it so.

But what's funny to me is that these guys are still answering

him to their own condemnation. He's telling the parable and

they're like getting riled up as they're hearing it, not knowing

that he's telling it yet against them.

They perceive it later, but in the moment they clearly don't

recognize because if they did, they wouldn't answer the

question. They wouldn't answer it.

Then we just feel like we don't know like they did earlier when

they lied, but they think they know.

So he's like, I want to tell you guys a story like I'm going to

get this one right. This is how gain status again in

front of everyone and Jesus again hits him with the Uno

reverse card and makes him look like idiots who are completely

rejected by God, which is what they are.

But they're saying, I know, I know what's going to happen when

the Master comes to his vineyard.

What do you think's going to happen when he comes to his

vineyard? And they answered him.

He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and he will let

out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the

fruit in its season. How right you are, boys.

You're exactly right. You have answered.

Well, that is exactly what the master is going to do.

Wait a second. No, we didn't mean.

No, you did mean. And I meant, and it is please

the Lord. It's marvelous in our eyes.

This is what the Lord is doing and this is what's happening.

And Jesus is condemning them. Jesus doesn't just come to be

the Son. He says, hey, guys, I'm here to

collect for dad to get murdered. He's saying, hey, I'm going to,

I'm framing it up for everybody so everybody can see.

So what's taking place here in Jesus's crucifixion?

The Lord is going to RIP the curtain to show that the temple

worship doesn't continue anymore.

The temple of God is in it, the hearts of His people who believe

in Him by faith. And then in 70 AD the full

judgement is going to come against all the Jewish

rulership, and they are going to be murdered, them and their

wives and their children and all of their families.

The Kingdom is fully taken away from them and given to others

who will bear the fruit that the Lord wants to bring and that the

Lord is owed and that the Lord deserves.

Wretches means worthless and wicked.

These guys are fired up. They're charged up.

They can't believe the injustice of this parable that they're

hearing. They're so angry about it.

They, they realize that the master needs to come and, and

kill these evil tenants. But this passage, this gives us

the history of Israel and the future of Israel out of Israel's

own mouth and then out of Jesus's mouth as well.

Jesus responds when they say what they said.

Have you never read in the Scriptures?

Which again, is another insult. Yes, they have read the

scriptures. They know the scriptures.

Jesus is deliberately insulting people.

I'll say it again for those in the back or those in the front.

Jesus is deliberately insulting people.

What are you trying to say, pastor?

I'm just trying to show you the whole Jesus.

I'm not telling you to go deliberately insult people.

I'm just saying there's a time and a place for all things.

Well, I think it's yeah, you're probably wrong.

You and I in our flesh, we probably are going to to air.

But the point is there's a whole truth from Scripture to see.

There's a whole Jesus to know not.

I like this part of Jesus. I like this part of Jesus

because I tend to be more that way.

Well, Jesus is Jesus, whether you like him or not.

He is the way, the truth and the life and we need to know him

fully. We want to understand Him

completely and we want to continue to get to know Him and

love Him and worship Him. Well.

We can only do that through His Word.

How right you are boys. Now He goes to verse 42.

Have you never read in the Scriptures?

The stone that the builders rejected has become the

cornerstone? And this was the Lord's doing

and it is marvelous in our eyes. So the cornerstone, whenever you

would start to build a building, the cornerstone is a perfected

stone and the cornerstone is the stone, the stone that is the

perfect calibration for everything else to follow.

We're building this whole building with this is our

starting point. Like if we're starting a

journey, we need to know how the compass works.

We have to know which way N is. I don't know which way N is.

Nobody else. I thought Don was just going to

have it. I thought Don was going to be

like, it's this way. We have to know which way N is.

And now we can. Now we can use our map, but our

map isn't going to do us any good unless we first have a

calibration. The cornerstone is the

calibration for this whole structure.

So that's the significance. That's what a cornerstone is.

Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, but Jesus is quoting

Psalm 118. It's a heavily messianic Psalm

that was just quoted when he made the triumphal entry a

couple days earlier from here. Remember, blessed is he who

comes in the name of the Lord. They are quoting the messianic

Psalm. That's why the Jewish leaders

were so angry, because they're going, whoa, whoa, you're

quoting Psalm 118 for this Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus going.

Yeah, rightfully so. It's being fulfilled today.

It's happening right now. Blessed is he who comes in the

name of the Lord. That's verse 26 from Psalm 118.

Jesus is quoting verses 22 and 23.

That's what he just was quoting to them.

He is the cornerstone. But the builders, the Jewish

leadership, they're rejecting the cornerstone.

He's the perfect cornerstone. The Master sent him from the

rock quarry and said this is the cornerstone I want you to use

for the building, for everything.

And the cornerstone is finally arrived and the builders go,

Nah, no, we're not doing that. No, no, I don't know if you

heard the architect said this is the cornerstone.

This is the cornerstone. But the builders thought they

had some jurisdiction. They got confused like the

tenants. This is our vineyard.

Did you plant those? Did you plant those vines?

Did you build that watchtower? Did you install that fence?

Did you dig the wine press? The master has spoken.

God has all authority. It's his vineyard.

The Kingdom belongs to him. Israel belongs to him.

Where did you get this idea? But they're rejecting the

cornerstone. And by murdering him, God is

going. And when they murder him, God is

going to reject the Israelite builders.

And that's what he's talking about.

This stone that the builders rejected, this was the Lord's

doing. The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone, and this was the Lord's doing.

It's marvelous in our eyes. We don't want that stone.

And the Master said that's the stone.

Everything is to be built off of Him.

Everything is calibrated and everything points to Him.

Your whole Bible points to him. From Genesis to Revelation.

All of Israel was worshipping him.

Abraham loved him, Moses loved him.

They longed to see his day and now his day has come.

And the Jewish stewards go, no, that's not the one.

Verse 43 Therefore I tell you, Jesus is telling them they're

exactly right in their interpretation of his parable.

Good job, you got my parable correct and the consequences of

it. Therefore I tell you, the

Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to

people, a people producing its fruits.

The vineyard is the Kingdom of God and God is going to take the

Kingdom from them and give it to others who will give him the

fruit he deserves. This means he is taking the

stewardship role that Israel has in the Kingdom and he is giving

it to the true people of God who are the true people of God,

those who believe in Jesus and bear fruit.

That includes ethnic Jews who are genetic descendants of

Abraham as well as non ethnic Jews who are the spiritual

descendants of Abraham who believe God and have that very

faith counted to them as righteousness.

That's who the Kingdom belongs to.

That's who the stewardship of the Kingdom belongs to.

There's a lot of debate in the body of Christ and some people

would say be careful. It sounds like you're talking

about a replacement of some kind.

Use whatever language you would want to.

Let's stick with the text. The Kingdom is being taken from

you. It's being given to a people.

Who is the people? Can I get in that club?

You absolutely can get in that club under the name and under

the blood of Jesus, but not your genetic connection to Abraham.

That doesn't save you. God can raise up rocks and make

them genetic descendants of Abraham, so clearly that doesn't

count for stewardship anymore. You know what God rewards in

stewardship? Faithfulness.

You know who what Jesus will also do in the church?

He'll take a candle out of the church He threatens to in

Revelation. I will take that Candlestick out

of your church, that light, that anointing, and that power if you

do not walk faithfully with me. So like I prayed beginning at

the beginning of this, we don't look at them with condemnation

to go. How could you be so stupid?

We look with humility, but we are honest about what took place

this day. We are clear about what Jesus

was saying. The Kingdom of God will be taken

away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

Verse 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to

pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

So Jesus goes farther. Now the cornerstone analogy, the

cornerstone parable, the cornerstone reference from Psalm

118. Jesus now adds to it and he says

this cornerstone that you rejected, they're like, yeah, we

just don't want to use it. Bad news for you.

The master is going to crush you with the very cornerstone that

you rejected. That's what's coming.

You thought the tenants should be thrown out of the vineyard.

Absolutely. That master should come and just

get those guys. He is.

He is going to come and get those guys and in his beautiful,

in his beautiful poetry, he's going to take the very stone

that they rejected and he will crush them with that exact

stone. Jesus is the stone that crushes

you. If you do not submit to the Lord

Jesus Christ, if you do not align your life to the

cornerstone, if you do not set your compass on the north that

is the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be lost.

You won't know which way N is, and then you will be crushed.

You either trip over the stone and stumble through unbelief.

I don't think that was the stone.

I don't know what that was about.

But ultimately, Jesus is either your savior or Jesus is your

condemnation. He wants to be your savior.

Good news, good news, good news. He's the Savior of the world for

whoever will believe and submit and trust him.

But for those who harden themselves against him, you get

crushed by Jesus. He comes back with a sword and

his second coming. So God is extremely patient,

servant after servant after servant after servant, even

after He sends his Son. Can't you see the patience of

God and the mercy of God in your life, in your sin, in your

lostness, in your foolishness? Even as a believer in our sin,

can't we see the kindness of God?

But we should beware. We should realize the Lord is

always looking to reward faithfulness.

Jesus is the cornerstone to align your building and your

life by Him. But if you do not align your

building or your life by Him, he becomes a stone to crush you and

condemn you. This is the Lord's doing, and

it's marvelous in our eyes. Back to Psalm 2, which we read

for our magnification this morning.

Why did the nation's rage and the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take

counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed,

saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast their cords away

from us. God has cords and He has bonds

on humanity. God owns this vineyard.

He owns everything and everybody.

So the rulers of the earth here could be anybody.

They could also be you and I. Let's not just put our

politicians. Let's not just put the Jewish

leadership in it. Let's make sure we put our own

heart in here and say, what about the times where I go?

I want to do it my way. I want to ignore like we

continue to talk about the Lord and His kindness to us in the

season of surrender and salt where testimonies are popping

off as many of you I know are surrendering in deeper and

beautiful ways. But we could be hard hearted say

I'm going to push off the Lord's controls here.

He who sits in the heavens laughs.

The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in

his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying As for me, I've

set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son

today. I have begotten you as a ask of

me and I will make the nation's your heritage.

That's which belongs to Jesus. The nations, everything belongs

to Jesus, and the Father wants Jesus to have his full

inheritance. The ends of the earth are your

possession. You shall break them with a rod

of iron and dash them to pieces with a Potter's vessel.

Jesus isn't going to smash everybody.

He's just going to smash his enemies.

Good news, you don't have to be an enemy of God.

Nobody has to be an enemy of God.

This is why you and I carry good news to the world to say, hey,

we were all enemies of God. That's the bad news.

Good news, God loves his enemies.

God is not the God who kills his enemies.

God is the God who dies for his enemies so that his enemies

could become his sons. This is the good news of the

gospel. This is the message that you

must carry, because how much would you hate somebody to want

to see them crushed? How much would we have to hate

our loved ones? That one didn't make any sense.

How much would we have to hate people around us, acquaintances

and the people that we see in our life?

Do you really believe in Hell church?

Jesus does. So if we are actual believers,

then we know there's consequence, and that motivates

our prayers, That pushes us to pray, that pushes us to talk and

to tell and to encourage and to bless and to invite, because we

don't want to see them broken and dashed into pieces like a

Potter's vessel. And the Lord gives the warning

in Psalm too. Now therefore, O kings, be wise,

be warned. O rulers of the earth, serve the

Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the sun lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, For

His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are those are all who

take refuge in Him. Kiss the sun lest he be angry.

That's what the tenants should have done when the sun comes

into the vineyard. When the sun finally came to the

vineyard, we're so sorry for all the servants He sent.

He sent His authority to us. Now we're so sorry.

Please tell your father. Here's this and here's that and

here's this and here's that. And however we can honor you and

bless you and please you. But that's not what happened.

This whole scene in this whole passage in Matthew 21, it's

reminiscent of David when he had committed adultery with

Bathsheba. He had her husband Uriah killed.

So David, it's supposed to be off at war.

He's not. He sees another man's wife, he

commands that she's brought to him.

They commit adultery together. She's pregnant and he goes, Oh

no, now what do I do? He invites her husband back from

war so that he will go be with his wife and make his wife think

and or make everyone think that this is his child that she's

pregnant with. But Uriah being a righteous man

says I can't go to my wife. All the men are on the

battlefield. How can I go home to my wife

tonight? So he sleeps outside the gate.

David tries over and over and over to get this righteous man

to go just just be with his wife.

That would not be sinful. But he's so honorable.

He's like I if, if the the armies of God are sleeping in

tents tonight, I can't go sleep in a warm bed with my with my

wife. So David's only plan now is go

well, he commands his men to pull to send your eye to the

front lines where the heat of the battle is.

And he says, and then when you're all there together,

withdraw and leave Uriah to be exposed and killed in battle.

He murdered Uriah deliberately and skillfully.

And second Samuel chapter 12, the prophet Nathan comes to

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

David after David has done this. David thinks he got away with

it. David thinks nobody knows what

happened. Second Samuel chapter 12, verse

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

one, the Lord sent Nathan to David.

He came to him and said to him, There were two men in a certain

city, the one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor

man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought.

And when he brought it up, and it grew with him and in his

children, it used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup,

and lie in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling

to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guests

who had come to him. So he took the poor man's lamb

and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

What a wicked, awful, awful story this, this one man has

this only one thing. He loves it, cherishes it, cares

for it. The rich man has many, but he

doesn't want to sacrifice anything he has, so he takes the

precious thing that the poor man has.

Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he

said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this

deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold

because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

Nathan said to David, You are that man.

David had many women, David had many wives, he had many

concubines, he had many sheep in his pasture, and he saw

Bathsheba and he said, I want her.

And he has Uriah killed for it. It's the same kind of trap that

Jesus said here for them. Nathan tells the parable and

David says, I'll tell you what you ought to do with that guy.

And Nathan said, you are that guy.

The Pharisees. I know what we ought to do with

those evil tenants. And the Lord said, you're

exactly right. That's exactly what it's time to

do with those evil tenants. The leaders of Israel and the

tenants in the vineyard, they know that the tenants in the

vineyard deserve harsh punishment.

You and I can see that. The problem is they didn't see

their own sin. And that's my problem too.

And that's your problem too. It's easier to see your sin that

it is mine. It's easier to see others sin,

isn't it? Everybody say Amen.

I can see it so clearly. It's so obvious they did wrong,

and I can explain it 5 different ways and I can tell you what

their appropriate consequence should be.

You're welcome. Instead of holding up the mirror

and humbly coming before the Lord.

Thankfully, David does come to the Lord in repentance and

humility. There's still consequences for

the tragedies that he created throughout the rest of his life,

but the Lord does forgive David and he doesn't utterly destroy

David. We have to be humble.

We have to be careful as we look to the parable of the evil

tenants, as we look at the evil stewards of Israel, we should

look and make sure that we don't resemble them.

As we look at unfaithful Israel, we should make sure we learn

from their sins. They were cut off from the tree

we were grafted in. And now you better bear the

fruit that the master wants if he you're dealing with a master

who's willing to cut branches off.

I'm the new branch. OK, Bearing fruit is the name of

the game around here, not being a branch.

Branches aren't the thing around here.

Fruits the thing the master likes fruit.

I'm a branch on the tree. Hey, hey, hey.

That's not a big deal. There's other branches that were

that used to be here. What happened to them?

Just bear fruit, OK? Trust me.

You just you just really want to focus on letting the life of the

master flow through you and bear fruit.

Cause the master's going to come back to the tree and he's going

to look for fruit. I have leaves everywhere.

He doesn't care about leaves. He only wants fruits.

Look at all of my leaves. No, you're not hearing me.

Listen, you need to bear fruit. I've been here a while.

I've been bearing some fruit myself.

The master's big into fruit. Doesn't care about leaves,

doesn't care about branches, just fruit.

That's all. That's what he's really after

here. Bear fruit for the master,

because if you don't, he'll cut you off.

And then the branches get cut off, they get burned.

So just just bear fruit, OK? That's the priority, That's the

focus. Jesus was doing a particular

thing in a particular moment with these particular people,

that's for sure. And also you and I should take a

particular lesson from it and say we should bear fruit and we

should be inspecting ourselves and not bragging about our

leaves because Jesus cursed the fig tree that was full of leaves

and bore no fruit. Jesus throws out his spiritual

stewards of his Kingdom, throws them out entirely and says I'm

getting new stewards in this vineyard.

It's going to be people who believe and trust and obey and

bear fruit. It's the church which is

comprised of genetically you come from whoever you want to,

as long as spiritually you come from the Holy Spirit and you've

been born again. But we have to be careful not to

be like the tenants, and we're closing the tenants who just

want His blessings, who just want his protection, his

provision. I want the fence.

I want the wine press. We want the vineyard.

Be careful not to be that Christian who just enjoys the

vineyard. I love it here.

I love it here. Hang on, hang on.

There's work to be done. I know it's good.

You should love it here. There's a blessing and there's

work to be done. Bearing fruit of Lovejoy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

self-control. Those are the fruits that He's

expecting in His Kingdom. Multiplication of disciples is a

fruit that he's expecting in His Kingdom.

Maturity, care for others, genuine care for others in the

Kingdom is a sign of growth and fruit that He looks for in His

Kingdom. He expects to be loved, not

competed with. We have to be careful that when

they're when it comes time to give God what he deserves, that

we don't do what the tenant farmers did and offer nothing or

be like the evil Jewish leaders. If we just want the vineyard.

I want the Kingdom, but I don't actually want the king.

There are many people who want the Kingdom of God, and they do

not want the king. They don't want God himself.

I want his blessings. God should do all of these

things for me. I think God should be like this.

I think God should be like that. Well, God is who God is.

There's no other script to play by that ends well for us.

But he is so rich in mercy. He's so kind to foolish tenants

like you and foolish tenants like me.

And he continues to be gracious. He continues to be patient, but

do not think that the Lord's patience and His graciousness is

a wink and a nod to encourage sin because there comes a time

when the Master shows up and the cornerstone has either been

obeyed or the cornerstone does crushing.

Jesus can remove His presence and the stewardship of the

Kingdom from those in the church for not bearing fruit as well.

The privilege and responsibility for the Kingdom is always tied

to faithfulness of the manager. If you bring him no fruit, do

not be surprised if he says he never knew you.

And later in Matthew 25, Jesus is going to make this point

again when he teaches on the parable of the talents.

God rewards faithful stewardship and if someone is unfaithful,

even the little they have will be taken away from them.

Thank God, Romans 11 tells us that the Lord is is not utterly

forsaken. The genetic descendants of

Abraham, He still is going to save more of the genetic

descendants of Abraham, the heirs of Abraham through blood.

He's going to save them by bringing them into Christ.

But we should still look at these warnings and the severity

with humility. God owns the vineyard, and God

expects fruit from you. If you do not surrender to him

what you should, He will raise up someone who will, someone who

will love him, someone who will love others.

There are plenty of people hanging around Jesus that day.

Thousands of people would have been hearing this message as

he's yelling it through the courtyards, as it's being

conveyed, as people are. They said this and Jesus said

that, and people were making decisions.

They were weighing and deciding I'm not really going to submit

fully and completely to the Lord Jesus Christ and allow him to

reshape and reform my entire life because that's what he's

calling for. He refuses to be a the sprinkles

on top to what you think you get to control.

You're a vineyard and you belong to him.

The Master has expectations of how you'll live, how you'll

think, how you'll speak, what you'll believe, where you'll

work, who you'll marry. The Master has all those

expectations for your life. Good news, your master is very

good, but everybody got to make their choices.

There are people who are screaming crucify him come

Friday morning. There are people who fall in him

faithfully all the way to the cross.

There are people who were sinful at that time and then later

repented. But everybody has to reconcile

with the cornerstone. Say pastor, I've I've, I've

genuinely been trying to build my life by the cornerstone.

Sometimes I get out of alignment.

I'll I'll start laying a few bricks and I look back against

the cornerstone and go, oh, I'm at it.

I'm a few inches off. Just keep making adjustments.

The whole building hasn't fallen down.

You're not lost, but keep looking to Jesus.

My life doesn't look like his. I know I'm just pleasing the

Lord in that area. I still know He's called for

surrender in that thing that I still haven't given up yet.

That is an alignment issue that should concern you because a

small degree of the rudder of the ship when you cross the

ocean, it's 1000 mile difference.

Well, I've made a small adjustment with the rudder that

will make a difference. The higher this building goes,

the bricks that you put in place are going to have consequences

for later. And at that point people often

want to pray for the breakthrough.

God in his mercy has and will brought those breakthroughs.

But also God in his wisdom commands us at the foundation

level to build rightly. Build what Jesus wants you to

build, and you can start building today.

If you've never built, you can come bow down and worship the

Lord Jesus Christ, Trust him and submit to him.

And if you're out of alignment slightly, another good

opportunity today to make it right.

Heavenly Father, we come to you in the way that the only way

that anyone can come to you through the name and the blood

of the Lord Jesus Christ. We honor you as the cornerstone.

Lord, help us to not just be trees with leaves, but to be

trees with fruit. God, help us to not look on

condemnation with anyone. Help us to be gracious towards

everyone, Lord. Help us to be thankful for all

the grace you've extended to us. Lord, I pray for for the two

different people that might be in this room, Those who are

already walking with you and those who are not yet walking

with you. Those who are not yet born

again. God for the Saints who are in

Christ, I pray you would reveal any alignment issue to them

right now. Saints, don't don't dismiss the

Lord's commands. He is revealing things.

He's showing you things. What alignment thing might the

Lord say? Hey, make this adjustment.

Make this adjustment. This will put you back into a

straight line with the cornerstone.

The Christian life is marked by repentance and ongoing

fellowship and ongoing love and ongoing adjusting.

Keep us calibrated Lord, keep us close.

And then for those who have not really been born again, not been

made a new creation, maybe made reference to the Lord, maybe

know the Bible, maybe been in church for a long time.

As we can see, for the Jewish leaders, being religious did not

help them one bit. Knowing the scriptures

unfortunately did not help them one bit.

Only submission and devotion and believing in the Lord Jesus

Christ can make a difference in someone's life.

So if that's you, you can call upon the name of the Lord today.

So with heads bowed and eyes closed, Lord, I bless these

people. I ask that you withdraw all

those to repent who have not yet trusted, who have not yet

forsaken their sins, and that you would strengthen the Saints.

Draw us all near save by the power of the Holy Spirit, and

bring that breakthrough God that comes from our surrender in

Jesus name. Now the Lord bless you and keep

you. The Lord make his face Shinedown

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name.

Amen. God bless you.

Yeah, thanks bro.