I want to invite you to turn to Mark's gospel this morning. In the institution where I serve, we are making our way through this book of the Bible, and last week we had the privilege of covering chapter 12, verses 1 through 12, so I thought I would share that same Same scripture with you all here this morning, especially since we look together at the preceding text, end of chapter 11, just two weeks ago, excuse me. Mark chapter 12, verses 1 through 12. Before we hear the Word of God read and proclaimed, however, let's pause and ask for the illuminating power of the Spirit to quicken our hearts, to give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we're familiar with many of the statistics or realities surrounding your printed Word. that it's the most published book in the world, that it's the most purchased book in the world in the history of the printing press. Yet we know, Heavenly Father, that many eyes have graced its pages and yet not felt its power. Because reading this book, Father, we know is not some sort of automated process. The way that you do your work in humanity is a mysterious thing. It is governed by your sovereign will. And so we come to you, Father, as you who sovereignly determines when and where you will dispense your spirit. We come humbly asking that you would continue to show your power here in this place as we worship you. The power of our worship is never inside of us. It never resides within us in and of ourselves, but it is a gift to your church from you, Father. And we pray that you'd give us more of that gift, especially as we hear the word read and proclaimed in our midst, because we know from that word itself, that it is in the reading and especially the preaching of the word that you do your work in human hearts. It is through the old, simple, even foolish method of proclamation that you convert, that you regenerate, that you call. Men and women, boys and girls, to faith in your son, to stop trying to justify themselves and to rest completely, wholly in the mercy of Jesus, in the worthiness of his perfect life and his undeserved death. Help us to do that this morning, Father. Give us ears to hear that. Give us the eyes to see Jesus as we hear the word read and proclaimed. We can only do that by the power of your spirit. And so we come and we ask. And we don't ask vainly, Father, but we ask because you yourself have told us that we are your children. That this is our heritage. It is our right. Because you've given it, you've declared it as our right. And so we pray, Father, that you would bless us in this way, in this hour. Through Christ we pray, amen. Mark chapter 12, verses one through 12. Brothers and sisters, this is the word of the Lord. And he began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants. and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed. Again, he sent to them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another and him they killed. And so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. He still had one other. a beloved son. Finally, he sent them to him saying, they will respect my son. But those tenants said to one another, this is the heir, come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the courtyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And they were seeking to arrest him, but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away. In God's Smiling Providence, a couple weeks ago in the Sunday School Hour, we had the privilege of listening to Dr. R.C. Sproul talk about the mediatorial role of Christ, that Christ is our go-between, between us and God. And he pointed out that Christ's meditatorial office is actually expressed in three offices that permeate scripture. The offices of prophet, priest, and king. That Jesus is the fulfillment of those three Old Testament offices. That Jesus is the prophet par excellence. He is our great high priest who is greater than all the high priests of the past. Read the book of Hebrews if you want more on that topic. Jesus Christ is our King, having been born in the line of David to whom God had given the promise that he would always and forever have a person to sit upon the throne from his family. This was a wonderful smiling providence of the Lord because last week, or excuse me, two weeks ago, the last time we were together, the last time I preached here, we watched Jesus' authority get questioned. And as we took a look at that text, I focused two weeks ago, two Lord's Days ago, on the interchange between Jesus and his interlocutors, between Jesus and those who were seeking to question his authority. What I want to focus on this morning is the identity, of those people. Because usually when we read the New Testament, usually when we see Jesus arguing with people, he's arguing with the scribes and the Pharisees. It's almost, I had an English teacher or an English professor in college who called that the rubber tire effect. You know, when you hear something repeated so often, it's just like air and wallpaper. Scribes and the Pharisees, scribes and the Pharisees, scribes and the Pharisees. So whenever we read in the scriptures about Jesus being challenged by people, we automatically, I do anyways, I go scribes and Pharisees. But look who is mentioned In Mark chapter 11 verse 27. Look at who it is that is challenging Jesus authority. who is questioning whether Jesus has the right to do what he is doing. And of course, if you remember the context of chapter 11, it is Jesus cleansing the temple, kicking out the stools from underneath the people selling pigeons, turning over the tables of the money changers, and driving out, if you read another gospel, fashioning a whip and whipping, you know, the buyers and the sellers out of the temple. Who is it that is questioning Jesus' authority to do this. Well, it's a group of people that is not described as the scribes and the Pharisees. It's a group of three, and this is really unique in the New Testament. If I would have had more time, I would have seen if this phrase is ever repeated, this group of three people is ever repeated anywhere else in the New Testament. But look at who it lists. The chief priests, The scribes, who may have been Pharisees, historically speaking, and the elders. The chief priests, the scribes who functionally were Jerusalem's prophets, and the elders who exercised the work of rule, just like a king would have. In other words, my friends, the prophets, priests, and kings of Jerusalem came to the prophet, priest, and king of Jerusalem and said, on what authority are you doing this? And in response to that, Jesus tells the parable of the tenants. He's really good, isn't he? for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. Gee, you think? Yeah, this was pretty much aimed at you guys, that's right. Well, actually, that's true, and yet it's not. And I want to talk about that in the sermon today, how this is actually very much about the religious leaders of Jerusalem in Jesus' day, how it is about the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, but it's also a very relevant parable for us. Again, on the one hand, it is true that Jesus spoke this parable against the religious leaders of Jerusalem because this parable in many ways is Israel's story culminating in the time in which Jesus finds himself here at the Feast of Unleavened Bread just before the Passover, just before his crucifixion and death. You see, the Lord had planted a vine in the form of Israel, his people, and he built a fence around that vine by destroying her enemies under Joshua and giving her a strong beginning in the land, if you know your Old Testament history. Jerusalem, the holy city, David's city, became Israel's tower, a source of strength and power. Again, under David and even more under his son Solomon. The temple was commissioned, of course, by David and built by Solomon and was intended to be the wine press. where the fruit of righteousness and faith born by God through his people was to be harvested. And God placed tenants over this vineyard. Again, elders and kings, priests and Levites and prophets, people to take care of this vine, to nourish it, to make it grow. But when God sent his servants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard, and I think this is a wonderful metaphor. When a person plants a vineyard, it's because they want wine. They want to enjoy the vine. A vine is not something you like cuddle up to with a blanket and a pillow and you pet it, okay? That's a cat or a dog. A vine has thorns, it's prickly. You don't enjoy a vine by hugging it. You enjoy a vine by drinking or eating its fruit. And so the Lord wanted to enjoy his people, to enjoy the outcome of this process, of this call to Israel, to fellowship with his people. I mean, for us as Presbyterians, I mean, this is like question and answer one of the shorter catechism. What is the chief purpose, chief end of man, of humanity? to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God wants to enjoy, wanted to enjoy Israel. But those servants that he sent were either beaten or killed by the tenants, by Israel's leaders. And so in a last ditch effort, the owner sends his son, believing that if they're gonna listen to anyone, they're gonna listen to him. And of course the answer to that is no. they desired to destroy him, reasoning that in doing so, his inheritance would default to them. This is really wicked, isn't it? We're gonna kill the heir in the hopes that we get the inheritance. Which of course, in the parable, Jesus says, they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard, which of course is very proleptic in terms of his own fate. It's exactly what they did to Jesus, the son of God. They took him, had the Romans crucify him, and buried him outside the walls of Jerusalem. So this is very much a parable spoken against the leaders of Jerusalem in Jesus' day. But on the other hand, it is also true that the murderous response to the owner's servants was as true of the people as it was of their leaders. It was as true of the vine as of the tenants. In fact, I'd like to demonstrate that to you this morning by turning to Ezekiel chapter 13. If you have a copy of the scriptures in front of you this morning, I wanna encourage you to turn there. Excuse me, Ezekiel 15. And it's important to read chapter 15 of Ezekiel's prophecy in the light of what comes before it, in light of chapters 13 and 14, because in chapter 13, God condemns Israel's false prophets, again, leaders. In chapter 14, the Lord condemns the elders, again, tenants, leaders. Later in the second half of chapter 14, Jerusalem is on the chopping block. Again, leadership, tenants. But then look at what chapter 15 says. It reads as follows. And the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood? The vine branch that is among the trees of the forest. Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything? Therefore, thus says the Lord God, like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I have given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set my face against them, though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them. And you will know that I am the Lord when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate because they have acted faithlessly. declares the Lord God. This is an argument from the greater to the lesser. If the unfaithful tenants, this is stretching the metaphor of course, metaphors have that reality about them, they start to break down at some point. But if the unfaithful tenants are not going to be spared, what about an unfaithful vine? If the trees of the forest are cut down because of their uselessness, what about the vine, which was never good for anything to begin with? Before even Ezekiel, we read in Jeremiah 25 verse 3 and following, For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Ammon, king of Judah, to this day the word of the Lord has come to me And I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants, the prophets. In fact, this reality about the vine is not only true if we want to say in the Old Testament, but it's repeated again in the New. We see it in Jesus' own life and ministry. The people who in the beginning of chapter 12, the people who caused the chief priests and the scribes and the elders to be afraid are at the end of Jesus' life, the same people calling for his death. I think as the Church of Jesus Christ, we find ourselves in a remarkably similar situation today because ultimately the point of this parable, and I want to be clear about this, ultimately the point of this parable is not necessarily the evil of the tenants. That's historically highlighted. It's historically true of the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. But the real crime here, the real evil, is the idea that the vineyard might belong to anyone other than the one who planted it. The owner of the vineyard is God. And if we want to extend the metaphor, the sin, the sinful idea that it might belong to someone else, that the vine might own itself or that the tenants might own the vine. is something that both can equally share in. What does that look like today? What does it look like today when the vine or the tenants try to take ownership of the vineyard? I don't think that's necessarily an easy question to answer. But the Lord laid upon my heart two things that are very present in the institution that I work in. And I trust that if we search not only our own hearts, but also the state of the church today, we'll see these very same things. There's just two things I want to bring to your attention this morning. What does it look like? when people try to, whether it's the vine or the tenants, when they try to steal the vineyard from the Lord God, its owner. The first is this, they or we exchange law for gospel and repentance for faith. Listen to what Paul writes in Galatians chapter three. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the spirit by the work of the law or by hearing with faith? Earlier in chapter one, Paul wrote to them, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. In other words, let him be damned. The inmates that I serve struggle with this. They're all convicted felons. And once they realize that they did bad things, Once they realize that they're not good people, once they have a moral awakening and realize that there's this thing called right and wrong, they crave desperately to be good. And they often end up approaching Jesus, they often end up approaching the Bible, they often end up approaching the scriptures, wanting the scriptures to make them good. They want to harvest principles from the Bible to sanctify their living. In prison speak, a lot of the Christians talk about their walk. How's his walk? They measure each other based on that. And I'll be the last preacher to ever take away anything from the goodness of God's law. But brothers and sisters, this line of thinking, which I don't think is necessarily confined to the inmate population in America, is extremely dangerous. Every time I have this conversation with one of my Christian inmates, I just want to grab them by the collar, and I don't because I'm a skinny white guy, but I just want to grab them by the collar and say, why are you measuring your righteousness? Measure your faith. Why are you all comparing each other to how righteously you're living? It's a show. We're not saved by that. Even on our best day, we're failures. Our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. And if you really knew how bad of a description that was, I'm not sure I should use it in Sunday morning worship, but it's really gruesome. We, as the vine, myself as a tenant, duly called and ordained, absolutely must not confuse the outcome of faith with faith itself. We are saved by, we're saved by the sentiments of the song that we sang after the reading of the long gospel. Out of the depths of woe I cry because here's... Here's why I love preaching inmates, because I can tell this to them and they know exactly what I'm talking about. In God's courtroom, we are all convicted felons. We are all convicted felons worthy of capital punishment. I don't care how many years you've paid your taxes and you haven't been delinquent. It doesn't matter. Whether you're an awesome parent, a mediocre parent, or you need a lot of help parent. None of that matters. You are not saved by any of that. You're completely redeemed by the righteousness of Jesus. We can never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever replace gospel with law. We cannot supplant faith with repentance. We cannot trade in the promise for the law of Moses. The second thing, the second way I think this process of trying to usurp the vineyard from its rightful owner is that by replacing law for gospel, what it allows people to do, whether leaders or not, is it allows them to enslave themselves or others so that they don't have to live like Jesus. And I struggle with talking about this because it's hard to really nail down exactly what I mean. It's such a subtle thing. But I'm telling you, in my ministry at the institution, I see it all the time. And whenever I leave the institution and I look at American Christianity, I see it even more. I had a Muslim inmate say to me yesterday that he listens to Christian radio preachers in order to better influence his own ministry. his own preaching to the Muslim community at our institution. That scared me. Because often in American Christianity, we are better at doing what Muslims do than we are at publishing our own gospel. We're often better at selling law because it benefits us because it gives us big churches and glorious, successful ministries, than we are at telling people what God wants them to hear. That you're sinners and you're completely lost without any hope, unless you put your hope and faith in Jesus Christ. We have a lot of men in our institution who follow ministries that are worth tens of millions of dollars and who are led by people who live in sprawling mansions, but Jesus says concerning himself in Matthew chapter 8 that foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. We have religious groups in our institution whose leaders have personal security details and they live in compounds surrounded by fences and wires. And yet Jesus lived the prophecy of Zechariah that reads, strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. And to our shame, and I have this in my own personal history, we often follow these people. I love the way Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 11. He's very to the point. He says, for if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or devours you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or strikes you on the face. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we follow the false teacher. We follow the purveyor of law in hopes that we might share in what he has, that we might share in his praise and honor, in his money, in his ease, in the success of his ministry. What will the owner of the vineyard do? What will the owner of the vineyard do? Literally, this question is as scary as hell. That's not an expression, that's a, I meant it. Jesus says he will come and destroy the tenants. It's as scary as hell, but it's also as beautiful as glory. It's also as beautiful as the gospel because it not only says that he will come and destroy the tenants, but it also says that he will give the vineyard to others. He will give the vineyard to others. So if your hope is in Jesus, and you love to hear the gospel, and it feels good to repent, not good like haha good, but like this is good for me, kind of like eating bran flakes. If you delight, in his gospel and you delight in worshiping with other people who love that gospel, then the vineyard is yours. Have you not read the scripture, brothers and sisters? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven. Father in heaven, you commend us to yourself. You show us the folly of our own fleshly theology. by doing the completely unexpected. By doing what no person on the face of the earth would ever contemplate doing. That you who were rejected by your people and mistreated and killed as a criminal, you have become the holy one to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth. We thank you, Father, for planning your vineyard, and we thank you for for tending that vineyard. We thank you for for being its prophet, priest and king. We thank you that. that you have not forsaken your vine to unfaithful tenants, but you have, through the ages, again and again, called your people to yourself, called them to the gospel, called them to leaders who are faithful to the gospel so that you might be glorified. And we rejoice this morning, Father, that although you do glorify yourself, and that is very good, your glory always means our good. You always bless us in the process. We don't deserve that. We deserve to be treated like the vine that your prophet Ezekiel describes in the 15th chapter of his writings. But you don't. You show us mercy. You sweetly persuade us that you are worthy to be worshiped. We are humbly thankful for that this morning, Father. And we pray that you'd bless our church in this great gift, that we would be zealous for the health and well-being of your vineyard, and that we would take great joy in being the vine and just in being a part of the process. As we pray for ourselves in this respect, Father, we are mindful of Pastor Mark and his presence at Snow Camp, where he is himself faithfully tending the vineyard in terms of the youth of our congregation and the Chinese congregation. We ask and pray, Father, that you would richly bless his efforts and his labors, that he and the kids together with each other would really enjoy a sweet fellowship and that they would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also pray for the many other ministries of our congregation. We think of Women's Fellowship as it prepares to meet. We think of the Presbytery Men's Retreat next month. We ask for your blessing on our community groups, that all of these events and meetings and gatherings would be fruitful for your glory and for our good. This Heavenly Father, we ask and pray in Jesus' name, amen.