Well last week we were in verses 27 to 33 of Mark 11 and we confronted the willful unbelief and point-blank refusal to embrace Christ's authority, to accept Christ's authority. There was no group of people so privileged as the Pharisees and the scribes and the chief priests and the Herodians and the Sadducees and the Jewish people. They would not embrace the obvious. They did not deny his authority. Their question was, who gave you the authority? Now of course that was a trap. They were hoping he would say God and then they could charge him with with blasphemy. But what I'm telling you here is that if you won't live in the light of this clear evidence for the authority of Christ, so documented in the historical record before us, as it is delivered to us by the eyewitnesses, you will never know Christ because God can give you no more than He's given to you. And people say, well I'm waiting for some sort of clearer evidence, I'm waiting for some sort of visible evidence, I'm waiting for some sort of sign or some sort of dream. Listen, these men had more than you could ever dream of and what you see is that unless God is merciful to the human heart, these men will not believe because they will not believe. It's as simple as that. Unbelief. It's willful unbelief. It is deliberate unbelief. And the reason they would not embrace Christ was because Christ was a threat to their lust. Christ challenged their authority. You see, until this point, they are the leaders and teachers in Israel. They are the influencers in Israel. They hold the monopoly of power in Israel. They are the ones who are looked up to in Israel. And for them to embrace Christ means repenting of their religiosity, of their of their worldliness, of their materialism, of their carnality. The Lord has said to them that you must be born again. Your religiosity, your outward deeds, your praying so that men may hear you, your tithing. These things, these things do not justify you in the sight of God. You need to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. To embrace Christ would be to relinquish a life lived for self and it would be to place themselves under the headship and the authority of Jesus Christ. They saw then Christ as a threat to their worldly ambitions. And you see Christ is a fork in the road to every man or woman. When you hear of Christ, when you read the Christ of the Gospels, and in one sense, as a Christian, you're doing this every time you confront him, you're encountering the need, do I repent? Do I yield to Christ in this area of my life? Or do I see Christ as a threat to living the way I want to live? You can't confront Christ and be neutral. Christ must have all of you or he does not have you. Jesus said he who is not for me is against me. Now what we have then in Mark 12 is astounding. You see normally when you read the parables or to put it another way why did Christ give parables generally? Normally he gave parables to conceal the truth from the hard unbelievers in order that those who are seeking would be by the parable invited to ask questions of its meaning and therefore to find the truth. So parables generally used to harden some and lead others to the truth because those whom God was working in would hear the parable and go I'm not sure I understand this but there's something quite profound here. I need to get to the bottom of this. So you find the disciples saying to the Lord Jesus privately, what did you mean by the parable of the sower? What was that about? And of course it was an opportunity then for Christ to teach them. But you see for the Pharisees and the scribes they'd hear a parable and go, what is he on about? Not realising the truth that Christ was speaking. This is an exception. This is a parable that was actually designed to help the Pharisees see themselves. To help the Pharisees understand what they're doing. It's almost like, actually, this is a parable of mercy to the Pharisees. This is like one last attempt from Christ to appeal to their consciences. If there's any conscience left, if there's any sensitivity to truth left in your souls, if you're not so Far gone. He tells his parable just that there might be one last chance for them to realise what they're doing and to turn from their sins. This is a parable they don't deserve. This is an opportunity they don't deserve. You know, we were sobered, weren't we, by John's sermon. Behold, I'm coming quickly. If you do not repent, I will remove the lampstand. We never know in our lives when the Lord has said, you've heard enough sermons. We never know in the life of a country, in a nation, when God says, you know what? You do not want to listen to my servants. You do not want to listen to my preachers. And so now I'm going to withdraw the light of the gospel and give you over to insanity. We never know these things. We never know when God is dealing with a local church, when that's the last time the book will be opened. You know, every chapel that is now a carpet shop or a mosque or apartment building, there was a last time, wasn't there? You think about that. There was a last time when the pastor said, turn with me too. This is the word of God. And there came a time when the Lord says you will not hear the word of God anymore. I was talking to a dear pastor in mainland Europe this week who's going through a very difficult time in a church in a particular country. And he said this to me, I was so humbled by this, he said, when I pray to him now, when I see all these things going on that happen in churches, I pray, Lord, if my life is going to bring dishonour to your name or an action is about to bring dishonour to your name, kill me. You understand what he's saying? So zealous is he for the glory and honour of God in his life and in his church. He says, if I'm about to mess things up, take me out. Kill me. A sense of responsibility before God. You've entrusted me with a church, with a people, with my own soul. And, Lord, I want to be faithful with what you've given to me. And here is Christ appealing to the Pharisees to do some self-analysis, some self-reflection, which obviously the Pharisees don't like to do. Because they like to walk around with a log in their own eye like this and go, you've got a little speck in your eye like this. They don't like to do self-analysis. And there's a lot of Christians that don't like to do that today. Do you know something? Self-analysis is really unpopular in the modern church. I've learned that through my preaching. People say, you preach to us like some of us might be unconverted. As if that was a problem. You preach to us like some of us might be living in sin. There was a pastor this week, I don't know if many of you know him, I won't mention him by name, although it is public, who was on track to become one of the great Reformed Baptist theologians and scholars in the 21st century. A man by the age of 38 years old. Okay, he's written books that I have been blessed by. He really came across as a very godly, humble man. He's just confessed having eight months of adultery with a female member of his congregation. He's married with children. Now my question is, if it's possible that that level of sin could be going on by the pastors, is it not also, is it inconceivable to suggest that we never know what's going on in the pews? that we never know what sin is being concealed. And so we, like the Pharisees, we need to avoid their danger of being unwilling to look in the mirror. Unwilling to face up to the absolutely blindingly obvious. You remember when David fell into sin with Bathsheba? You remember when Nathan came to expose his sin? And Nathan told this parable of the man has a little ewe lamb and he had a great many lambs and there was a feast and rather than take one of his own lambs from his own flock of which he had an abundance, he took this one man's little ewe lamb to feed. And David was infuriated. That's unbelievable! That man should pay the price for what he's done. And Nathan says, you are the man. You have many wives and you took one man's only wife. A man who was your servant. And so what it shows us is we are far more gifted at spotting sin in others than in ourselves. We're all very gifted at that. We're all very gifted at seeing the problems around us than actually seeing the problem within. And disparable then is Jesus speaking actually very clearly because they would have read Isaiah 5. and many other passages, they knew, and that's interesting, what did it say in verse 12? They knew he'd spoken a parable against them. They understood exactly what he was saying. This parable was as clear as day. And yet still, still, we're told they went on to plot his destruction. Here is a parable where actually Jesus is demonstrating his authority once again. He speaks in this parable, and we're going to come on to this. He speaks of the master after all the servants have failed to receive what was God's due, the master's due. He then sends his only beloved son. And what does Jesus say in this parable? What will they do to him? Kill him. Jesus is demonstrating his omniscience. I know what you're up to. I know what you're scheming behind the scenes and I know you plan to kill me. At that point they should have been going, what are we doing? What are we doing? He's proving by revealing to us that he knows, that he is the son of God, that he is the Lord of glory, that he's omniscient, that he knows these things. And yet they would not. Well firstly, let's look at the parable. So we've got three points. The parable, firstly. the parable's interpretation and lastly the parable's application. So quite straightforward. So firstly the parable, and under this heading see with me firstly the owner's work. So there's a man, he's a wealthy man, he's a man that possesses tremendous resources, He owns the land, because in verse 9 he's the owner of the vineyard, and he plants a vineyard. And unless you just think, oh, planting a vineyard is digging a hole, no, it involved digging in a rock, a limestone or chalkstone or something, and what you'd have to do is dig a hole within the rock itself, because the rock was designed, you'd have two levels, you'd have You'd have the upper level, which is where all the grapes would go in. It would be the wine press where they would be trod. And then you'd create channels that run down into two fervor vats. Think of them as like vaults almost. Two fervor vats where the wine would be collected and it would ferment. And then at the appointed time, you would put it into wine skins and you would have wine. So he's going to great efforts. to build this vineyard. Tremendous efforts. And not only does he plant a vineyard, as I've said, but he protects it. He hedges it all around. And then furthermore, he builds a tower. And the tower, of course, would serve as a way of watching for danger and would warn when danger was coming, when there was impending threats. So this vineyard had everything necessary to flourish. There was nothing more the owner of the vineyard could do than he did. This was going the extra mile. And then he made an amazing offer. He leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country. And so he's saying to these men, you can enjoy the wine of the vine. You can make use of the produce. All I ask is when I come at the appointed time that I have my, what is rightfully mine. But you can work it, you can provide for your families from it, you can trade with it, but you need to remember that ultimately the reason it's there is because at the appointed time I'm coming to receive what I've been labouring for. But then you see fourthly under this heading, the servant's treatment. We've had the owner's work, the owner's offer, the owner's expectation, which is fruit. Fourthly, the servant's treatment. Vintage time comes, verse 2. He sends a servant to the vinedressers that he might receive some fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. And look how he's treated. He's treated shockingly. They take him, they beat him and they send him away empty-handed. Now immediately, if I'm the owner here, if I'm the owner of the vinedresser, I'm sending the troops in now. I'm turning up And I'm saying, give me my vineyard. How dare you treat one of my servants like that? Who do you think you are? But he sent them another servant. And at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Now you're thinking, surely at this point the master was patient, alright, first servant, maybe they didn't recognise that servant, or maybe he wasn't good in his approach, I'll send one more. But at this point I'm like, This is strange. This is unusual patience. That's the fifth point under this heading, the parable. The owner's patience. This is extraordinary. Because after sending his second servant, he then sends another, and him they killed. So now you're like, this is getting out of hand. Who do these people think they are? He planted it. He hedged it about. He built the tower. He leased it to them. It's his vineyard. And somewhere between them agreeing to, they signed the contract, they signed the terms, they knew that at vintage time they had to give to the owner what is rightfully his, somewhere along the lines they become arrogant, proud, self-seeking, and they're stealing what is not theirs for themselves. And more than that, they've done great harm to the master's servants. They beat the first one. They beat the second one and wounded him severely in the head and sent him away. They've killed the third one. I'm thinking, right, I think that's amazing patience already. I think to some extent that's scandalous patience. I think if we would almost be questioning, is the man sane that he would be patient anymore? And yet what do we read in verse 5? He sent many others, many. And these servants had value to him. He probably purchased them. He fed them, he clothed them. He maybe was very fond of some of them. But they beat some and they killed some. I don't know about you, do you find the patience of the master a bit jarring? It's almost so much patience that you're almost questioning at this point, is he a just man? Does he even care about righteousness? Does he care about justice? What does the scripture say? If a man sheds a man's blood, I will require his blood. That's justice. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. That would be justice. Give them what they deserve. I imagine the other servants sort of like, back with the master wherever he'd gone to, saying, you can't send another one. He can't send another one. Master, what's wrong with you? Look what they're doing to them. Look how his body came when he came back to us. You're sending me to them? Do you not love me, Master? I have been a faithful servant to you. I have done everything you've asked me to do. I have been kind. I have been loyal. And you're sending me to these people that kill us when we go. But his patience still hasn't run out, has it? Look at verse six. Therefore, still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, they will respect my son. At this point, the servants are looking at the master and saying, do you not love your son? Do you not care for him? You're sending your son into men who want your vineyard and have killed and beaten every servant you send. Would you take such a risk with your son? Your only beloved son. How could you do that? The master says, because I love these servants and I don't know what's happened to them, but I want to give them one last chance. One last chance to put this right. How can they put it right? Why would you do that? Don't send him. Go with all your men. Enlist the local militia. Call the authorities. Seize the vineyard. Bring justice. And bring them to the executioner's rope. But he's my son. They'll listen to him. They will not treat my son like that. They remember him when he was a little boy. They used to play catch with him. They used to allow him to tread the wine dress with them when they first began their work and they will not do that to my son. Alas. Verse seven. The wine dressers said among themselves, this is the year. What we've wanted all this time is to have this for ourselves. If we kill the heir, it's ours. The master's old. We don't even know where he's gone to. He might not even be fit enough to come back. Kill the son, it's all ours. So they took him, killed him, and threw his body out of the vineyard to rot and to be eaten by vultures. Now Jesus asks a question then. This is where you see how searching his ministry is. They don't realise that they're about to indict themselves. Jesus says, what will the owner of the vineyard do? Now if you turn to parallel accounts, so in Luke 22, we get a little bit more clarity that they answered his question before Jesus gave the answer. Verse 15 of Luke 22, what will the owner of the vineyard do? The Pharisees answer. Sorry, Matthew's account is where you see them answer. Keep your finger in Luke though. Matthew 21. Yeah, Matthew 21 verse 40, he asked the question, what will Master do? Verse 41, they answer his question. They said to him, he will destroy those wicked men miserably. They haven't realised, who are the wicked men? Who do they illustrate? They illustrate themselves, as we will see. but they are able to see themselves in the parable. What they're basically showing us is that if we saw the things we're guilty of in others, we would condemn others. But of course, it's when he gets a bit close to home that we suddenly deflect. But they understand. This is abundantly wicked behavior. He will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him the fruit in their seasons. They understand the principle. He owns this vineyard, it's His. And if these men mistreat Him and do not steward what He's given them, the mast has every right to say, I will enlist some people who will be faithful and who will care for my vineyard and give me what I deserve. They agreed. But secondly, see the parables interpretation now. We've seen Isaiah 5, verse 7. Let's just turn back there, Isaiah 5. My well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a wine press in it. He expected it to bring forth good grapes. See the parallels? Mark 12. Verse four, what more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Turn with me to Psalm 80, verse nine. So verse eight, you brought a vine out of Egypt. Who is the vine? Who came out of Egypt? Led by Moses. Israel. So Israel is the vine. You brought a vine out of Egypt, you have cast out the nations, that's speaking of the nations that were in the land of Canaan, he's cast them out, and planted that vine, Israel, in the land. And the Lord prepared room for it and caused it to take deep root, it filled the land. Verse 12, why have you broken down the hedges? so that all who pass by the way pluck a fruit. The boar out of the woods uproots it and the wild beasts of the field devour it. So there you've got an image of God's vineyard being desecrated and destroyed. Turn with me to Jeremiah in chapter two. And 21, 221. Yet I planted you. Sorry, verse 20, because the context is clear. You said, Israel, I will not transgress. That's the promise you made. But you said that when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down playing the harlot, they worshipped idols. Yet I have planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? For though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord God. So firstly under this heading, the parables interpretation, who is the one who is the master and owner of the vineyard? It is the Lord. And Psalm 44 verse two tells us the Lord planted a vineyard. Literally Mark 12, nine, owner there could be translated Lord. Who is the vineyards? The vineyard is Israel. It is the nation of Israel. And you think of the privileges that they had as a nation. You think of the fact that they had the truth, they had the law, they had the moral law of God in the Decalogue. They had the types and shadows in the temple showing them the way of salvation by atonement, by sacrifice. The need for a mediator, for a high priest to take a sacrifice and then offer it on behalf before God for the atonement of the sins. You think of the scapegoat sacrifice that the priest would confess all the sins of the nation on the scapegoat and then send the scapegoat away into the wilderness showing that sin has to be entirely removed. You think about the privilege of circumcision, how circumcision pointed them to the need for a new heart, a circumcised heart, not to be merely circumcised outwardly but inwardly. And thirdly, who are the vinedressers? They're Israel's leadership. They're those teachers and priests and elders that were responsible for cultivating that vineyard. For seeing that Israel becomes this fruitful nation bearing the fruits of repentance and faith and contrition and humility and zeal for the Lord. But alas, they did not cultivate the vineyard for the Lord. They cultivated it for themselves. See Ezekiel 34 after Jeremiah and verse 2. Ezekiel 34 verse 2. Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds, those responsible for caring and tending to the nation, to the vineyards. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? There are pastors that do this today, don't they? They seek to get rich and comfortable off the backs of God's people whilst they suffer. Here is the false shepherds of Israel. They fat and clothe themselves. but they do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who are sick. They have no interest in caring for God's people, but they use God's people to care and tend to themselves. And then who are the servants that come at the appointed time? They are the prophets. Has it ever occurred to you how much the Old Testament prophets suffered at Israel's hands? I think this is often not, we don't realise this. Just think about some of these names I'm going to mention to you and this is not an exhaustive list. Elijah. Elijah definitively demonstrates that the Lord, he is God. He has that showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and God comes by fire and consumes the offering, proving. Elijah's God is Israel's God and the Baals are no gods at all. And what was the treatment of his prophet, of his servant? Jezebel pursued him and chased him into the wilderness. So much so that the man was left broken, dejected, demoralised, insecure, depressed and possibly even suicidal. What else can we say? Zechariah. Zechariah was stoned to death near the altar. Then there was Jeremiah, who was beaten and put into stocks. Uriah was killed with the sword. The second century Christian apologist Justin Martyr tells us that there were records at his time that tell us Isaiah was sawn in two within a tree trunk. So they placed Isaiah in a tree and they sawed the tree in half. Isaiah, the one who says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, speak tenderly to Israel, who has believed the Lord's report. Amos fled for his life. And Hebrews summarises it like this. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawn into, that's got to be a reference to Isaiah, and they were put to death by the sword. And the Old Testament documents these things. So in 2 Chronicles, chapter 35, we read in verse 15 to 16, Sorry, 36, verse 15 to 16. Every time you see an open air preacher in the street, God is having compassion. Every time a church is planted in a town or in a place, God is having compassion. but they mocked the messengers of God, despised his word, scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Time does not allow us to turn to Nehemiah 9 in verse 26. Our Lord also speaks about this. Turn to Luke 6, verse 22 to 23. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you, when they revile you, cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice and be glad in that day, for indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in the like manner their fathers did to the prophets. Matthew 23, 29 to 31. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous and say, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Therefore, you are witnesses against yourself that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt. And of course, then there was a Stephen in Acts 7, 51 to 52 that also made reference to the way they treated God's prophets. So they have failed to cultivate the vineyard of the nation. God has, by Christ now, come to his vineyard. And he finds no repentance, no faith, no humility, no love for the Lord. They've cared not for the vineyard. Now whose patience is the Master's patience resembling here in the parable? It's this extraordinary patience. See when we preach on wrath to sinners and when we tell people of the judgment day to come, people take offence to that as if somehow that's not deserved. The astounding fact is that God has not judged the world now. that God has not judged, the day you sin you shall surely die. I deserve to be judged the moment I sinned. The very first time. But he didn't deal with me like that, he hasn't dealt with you like that. And here, the patience you're witnessing that's almost jarring, that's supernatural, that's out of this world, that's extraordinary, that exceeds anything normal known among men, is God's patience with sinners. Hosea 11, we read, Verse seven to nine. My people are bent on backsliding from me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him. Look what God says next. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over to the executioner, O Israel? My heart churns within me. My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger, for I am God and not a man. The Holy One in your midst, and I will come with terror. I am more patient than men are. It's astounding patience, isn't it? See the heart of your God. Turn to Micah, in chapter 7, in verse 18. who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnants of his heritage. And so God is patient, patient in quite an extreme way, a patience that we cannot understand. If we saw ourselves as God saw us, if we were to have a glimpse in the mirror and to see what God daily bears from us, we would be astounded at his patience. Do you know what annoys me more than anything else is when my children take something and don't say thank you. It infuriates me. Well, that's one of our greatest sins, isn't it? The absolute ingratitude that every moment you've lived on God's kindness, even if your diet consisted of bread and water, that's a kindness you don't deserve. The damned in hell would love to have a diet of bread and water. It's astounding, the patience of God. But the patience of God is not just seen in the attempts he goes to reach them, but in the ultimate one he sends to them. Because here, Jesus is expressing the gospel in the parable. I have my beloved son. I will send him. They will respect him. But those viandressed have said among themselves, this is the heir, come, let us heal him. What does God do when he considers all his bloodied and murdered servants? And when he looks in heaven on Isaiah and the scar across his belly, And when he sees all the cries of the martyrs calling for some vindication and retribution, what does he do? He sends his only begotten son to Israel. He came to his own. What would you do if you were God? Well, listen to what Luther says. I love Luther. Luther doesn't mince his words. Luther couldn't be a prophet, a pastor today in England, I don't think. But he says, quote, if I were God, and the world treated me as it treated him, I would kick the wretched things to pieces. And imagine Luther saying that in German, with a German accent, and with a German. Yeah, you see what he's saying now? What about you? What would be just? or the Pharisees had indicted themselves. He should come and kill them! And he should give the vineyard to others! And when the Son of God says that, they suddenly row back. If you go back to Matthew's Gospel again, in Matthew 20, 21, Sorry, I get confused. Luke, sorry. So they answer him in Matthew, and then when Jesus affirms what they say, you're right, in Luke's gospel, in Luke 21, sorry, Luke 20, verse 16, at the end of verse 16, and when they heard it, when they heard Jesus like affirm to them, you're right, suddenly the penny drops. Certainly not! They suddenly change their mind. What caused the change of mind so quickly? Because they realise, we are the wicked vinedressers, he's speaking about us. I'm telling you, if you think of your faults, if you think of the way you've treated others, if you think of those nasty words you've spoken to others, if you were to actually see a record of your life, if you saw that record on anyone else, if you saw them as they were, you would say they deserve to go to hell. But suddenly we get on the defensive when the spotlight's on us. That's hypocrisy. And that is what these men were. But what does God do? Does he call fire down from heaven? No, he sends his only beloved son to seek them one more time, to give them one more opportunity to repent. Why would he do that? I imagine the angels at the door, the Lord's servants going, don't send to him. covering their faces, I can't believe he's doing this. And they cover their mouths when they see the sun exchange the glory of heaven for the manger and then the cross. He came to bring salvation. He came to bring forgiveness. He came to his own to seek what was his, but they murdered him. They would ask for him to be nailed to a cross. They would say, give us Barabbas. Why would they kill him? They wanted a vineyard for themselves. And they didn't just kill him. They brutally killed him. I mean, there'd be no excuse if they just quietly took him around the corner, slit his neck, and walked on. That would still be abominable, evil, but they didn't just do that. They sentenced him to a Roman crucifixion. Roman crucifixion, not even Romans could be crucified. Roman crucifixion was reserved for slaves and for Gentiles, for criminals of the highest rank and order of the scum and venom of society. The people today, our nation says, those rapists and those murderers. There was a man in the last few weeks in America who set a young white girl on fire. He poured gasoline over her, he set her alight because she was white. Where's the outcry about that? Doesn't fit the narrative, does it? And what should be done to people like that? Well, people say, that person doesn't deserve to live. Do you know why this person hasn't been sentenced to jail, let alone execution? Because they're mentally unwell. So every act of evil is now called mental illness. He still killed her, brutally. And they killed Christ brutally. He didn't even fight back. He didn't call down fire from heaven. Rather, he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they're doing. They killed the only Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They killed the one who held children in his arms. They killed the one who embraced the lepers. They killed the one who welcomed those that society had written off. They killed the one who forgave the unforgivable. They laughed at him in pain. They stripped him naked. Now unless you're thinking, well what does this have to say to me? You would have done the same. You say, no I wouldn't. Yes, you would have done. Every single one of you has enough venom in your heart to have done the same. Do you want to know something? If you or I had been born under Shia law and had gone to a radical Islamic fundamentalism school we could have easily been one of the ones flying those planes into the Twin Towers. If your circumstances were slight, this is what a lot of English people do not realise and we need to tell them this. They think that we're superior because we're not barbaric like that without realising they are the way they are because they've been raised under the common grace of Christian influence. Go to other nations where the gospel has not been and you will see how people behave when they've not had the light of the gospel on them. It is not that white Europeans are superior to anyone else. It is that we've had privileges that we're spurning very fast. But by nature, we are just like every man or woman. Beloved, if you had been born among cannibals, you would have been a cannibal. And you would have torn the flesh off men and women and eaten it and feasted on it. If you do not believe me, you need to read your Bible again. You need to ask God to show you your heart. We are sinners, we are totally depraved. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You ladies, if you've been born into different circumstances and into a hard life and had to fend for yourself in Victorian England, you could have been a harlot on the Victorian streets. Selling your body to the highest bidder. You could have been porn stars. Every single one of us has the same propensity to evil. And if we had been there among the crowds that cried out crucify him, we would have cried out crucify him. Unless by his mercy and grace the Lord had changed our hearts. As a hymn says by Stuart Townend, I hear my voice call out among the scoffers. The human condition is no more evident than what you see in Israel here. Because no nation had better laws. They were to be a light to the nations. They were even more superior than the British Empire in terms of their privileges. The law they had was better than British common law. It was better than the American constitution. The best things about Western civilization don't come close to the law God gave to Israel. They had advantages superior to any other people. They had all the reason not to kill Messiah, and yet they did it. Jeff Thomas says Or to quote J.C. Ryle Men never saw God face to face but once, when Jesus became man on earth. They saw him holy, harmless, undefiled, going about doing good, yet they wouldn't have him, rebelled against him, and at last they killed him. Let's dismiss from our minds the idea that there is some innate good in our hearts. I am British, I am civilised. Those things will strain your heart. Let's put away the common notion that seeing and knowing what is good is enough to make a man a Christian. The great experiment has been made in the Jewish nation. Nothing but the spirit of God can change the heart. We must be born again. Have you been born again? Because unless you've been born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Now if you agree that others deserve to be judged, If you're good at seeing the speck in other people's eyes, what about your eyes? A man rapes a woman. What's the sin there at its root? It is coveting her for himself. If you lusted at another woman, that's not yours. God hasn't given to you. You've raped her in your heart. Do you understand that the Lord looks at the heart and that the desires of their hearts are in God's eyes the same as the outward deeds. That's another question as to in civilization there's no doubt about it it would be better if people stopped at the desires of the heart and didn't actually do those things for sure. But in terms of the bar of God's justice we need to be born again. And they indicted themselves and if we friends when we are on the judgment day The Bible says all men will be without excuse. We will agree with God's word. It's a hymn that says, could we bear from one another what he daily bears from us? Think about that. How many friends would you have if you were as ungrateful and unkind and as selfish towards as you are with God? How many friends would you have if you robbed their homes of their stuff to use it for your own purposes? Because sin is robbing God of what is his and using it to serve your own lusts and pleasures. Could we bear from one another what he daily bears from us? Yet this glorious friend and brother loves us though we treat him thus. Though for good we render ill, he accounts us brethren still. And so lastly, and briefly, see the parable and its application. They kill him because they think that by killing him they're going to secure the vineyard for themselves. What they do not realise is that by killing the Son of God they're going to lose everything. And people think that if I come to Christ I'm going to have to lose too much. Yeah, you will have to lose some things. You will lose friends. You will lose status and reputation. You might become a laughingstock to your loved ones and family. But actually what good is it to gain a whole world and lose your soul? The way to secure your soul and everything else is actually to lose stuff in this life to gain Christ now and in the life to come. And notice what Jesus says, he warns them of this. has become the chief cornerstone. So you're building this vineyard, you think that you're building a kingdom, but I'm telling you, the one that you're going to reject, I'm going to, over here, lay as a foundation stone, and I'm going to erect a new kingdom. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. And I'm going to give the privileges that you've been enjoying, I'm going to take them from you, and I'm going to give them to them. I will claim what is mine. Now friends, we have to bring this closer to home because God is generous to us all this morning. He's given us so much blessing, families, health, prosperity, intelligence, his word. We're debtors to him. Will we find the Son of God when he comes to us, whether he calls us home or we see him, he comes again, Will we end up saying with the Shulamite woman, my own vineyard I've not kept. What mercy we've received. You've been born in a land of privileges, open Bibles, preachers. Some of you have recovered from awful illnesses. You had something serious that could have taken you and you've been given another opportunity to breathe and to hear of his mercy and grace. You've pulled through a bad operation. You've been relieved by pains and medicines. And he comes to you and he looks for fruits. The fruit of repentance, the fruit of humility, the fruit of thanksgiving. What does he find when he inspects your hearts? The Bible tells us that God waited patiently in the days of Noah, even though he saw that every thought and intention of the heart was only evil continually. And he waits patiently today, not willing that anyone should perish. The other thing to see here is none of us have any reason to believe that God does not want us if he even sought those vile men. I mean, he seeks these men that killed all his servants. He seeks these men that are about to kill him. And we wonder, am I beyond the grace of God? Could I be saved? Could I be forgiven? Is my past too shameful? Am I too far gone? Who is the Lord sending his son to? The worst people imaginable. All day long I have held out my hands to a rebellious and stiff-necked people. They are the most blessed and the most wicked, and yet Jesus comes to the most depraved, the most evil, the most vile, the most arrogant, the most cruel, and he says, still says over them, Father, forgive them. They know not what they're doing. It's not the righteous he came to call, but sinners. It's not the well who need a doctor, but the sick. Wherever you or I stand today, one said, in the depths of our own depravity, in our arrogance towards God, whatever wreckage we have left behind us in a train of our meanness and greed, wherever we are, to wherever you are, to wherever I am, there is a saviour coming now, a prophet, priest, and a king, and God hasn't sent him to condemn you, but that you might be saved. You're saying, Pastor, this is a very strong sermon. Can I ask you, why did he tell them this sermon, this parable? Because he willed to destroy them? Or because he longed that they would repent of their sins? Because he was compassionate towards them? Because he was patient towards them? And so when we hear these truths, we must understand the heart, the heart of Christ towards us. Sometimes I'm stern with my children, Very stern. But I'm stern with them because I love them. And I want them to understand the severity of certain things, the danger of certain things. I don't want them to ever say, you didn't warn me enough, you didn't tell me that was, no, no, I told you and I told you urgently. Do not do that, it's dangerous. And so the Lord is telling us as a church, again, when he expects his church, think of what John said, these things tie up nicely. And I'm actually quite scared that the Holy Spirit is leading us to these subjects in Providence. I'm actually quite scared because I'm actually asking myself the question, why was John coming to bring that message? Why is the next passage in Mark's gospel this passage? Is the Lord saying to this church now, I am inspecting my vineyard? I am looking for the fruit of a love for the Lord. Because what will he do with even a local church, with this vineyard, if when he inspects for fruit, there is none? He will take it away and he will give the privileges we've enjoyed to someone else. It's very sobering. It is very scary. And yet, here's the point. God is striving with us. God is speaking for us. It doesn't have to be that way. If there's repentance and faith, if we would ask the Lord to change our hearts. He doesn't have to be that way. He speaks his word that we would be reconciled to him. And I ask you individually, tonight, if tonight the Lord says to your soul, this night, your soul is required of you, what will he find when he inspects you? When he searches you? You need my saviour. You need my Christ. You need him who loved sinners and gave himself for them. This should be, if you're not in Christ, this should be the most urgent. thing that you set yourself about to do. Don't go here and put the telly on. Don't go here and be distracted. Go home and ask the Lord to give you the heart that will turn to him in faith and repentance. You have all the more reason, you see. You've seen what they did to him and you've seen that actually they were accomplishing the will of God. That's the irony. They were plotting to kill him but Jesus was saying, I know you're going to do it. So yet he still allowed it to happen to himself. He died a voluntary death. It was a vicarious death and he gave himself so that we could be saved and reconciled to him and to his father and could be freed from all our guilt and shame. Do we know these things? And all the more reason than we have in light of these things to bear fruit. You say, well, how do I bear fruit? Because what have I got to do? This is the good news for a Christian. How do you bear fruit? Jesus said, unless you abide in me, you cannot bear fruit. Well, how does Christ abide in us? His word. His word, the words that he speaks to us, they need to abide in us. They need to take deep root in us. They're like seeds that once they've planted in our souls, over time, they just produce fruit. So that's what you do. You go home, you read the scriptures, you come to church, and you regularly pray, oh Lord, would your word abide in me? Would it bear much fruit? And as we do that, we can be confident that his grace is working in us, that we are not like these people, and we can trust him to bless us and to give us more blessing and more responsibility in his vineyard. Shall we pray?