Please take your Bibles this evening and turn to Mark 11. It has been a little while since we've been in Mark. Thanksgiving and being gone a Tuesday and then being sick a Tuesday. And then we did have that one message to wrap up Mark 11, 24 through 26 on prayer. And now we find ourselves moving on in our text. For a while within the Mark series, we have been focused upon faith. Beginning in chapter 8, Jesus sought to establish his disciples in this idea of faith. And we have studied that quite extensively. Beyond this, we have seen a strong focus in the last two chapters upon the true definition of greatness, if you recall, which culminated in Jesus' triumphal entry, an act which not only fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9, 9, but which showed us what Jesus has taught us, what greatness before God looks like. Jesus exemplified in himself what he has been teaching us for some time, the true definition of greatness. But, but, excuse me. But as we think of these lessons on faith, beginning in chapter 8 and following, and we think of these lessons on greatness, as we've thought about in the last two chapters, chapters 10 and 11, we need to not lose sight of what we would understand to be the functional purpose of the Gospel of Mark. And if you recall, going all the way back to our book sermon, we have said that the functional purpose, the intent of the Gospel of Mark is to show Jesus Christ as the Son of God with all authority. with all authority. And it is this theme of authority which we find our way back to today. So you're there in Mark 11, beginning in verse 27, we read this, and they came and they come again, excuse me, to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests and the scribes and the elders and say, unto him. By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority to do these things? So Jesus comes again to Jerusalem, the Bible says. Recall that he has daily been going back and forth between Jerusalem and Bethany. walking the two miles into the city every morning, and then walking the two miles back to Bethany every evening. Of course, within that time between them, he cursed the fig tree, and we talked about that, and the like. So Jesus is now again in Jerusalem, where we have a unique record to the Gospel of Mark. And by this, I mean that none of the other Gospels record this interaction. And that might actually be quite surprising to us, because it is rare. that something is in Mark, which is by far the smallest gospel, which is not in any of the larger gospels. However, this one also perhaps would not surprise us because the interaction is not particularly relevant to any proof of Jesus as Messiah. And we know that that was the purpose of Matthew. Matthew was written to prove Jesus is Messiah. So this passage does not have any particular, it does not levy any particular information that would help us understand Jesus as Messiah necessarily. So it's left out of Matthew. It is also, not necessary to the historical narrative. Luke was written specifically to be the historical narrative of the ministry of Jesus Christ, so we might not be surprised that it's left out of Luke. The closest we could come to a relevant gospel for this particular account would be John, because it does touch on the idea of belief and unbelief in a way. But truly, the theme of this interaction is about authority. And that is, I believe, the focus of the Gospel of Mark. So, of course, we're going to find it. Mark is going to add this account, even if Matthew and Luke and John don't necessarily feel it relevant to their purposes in their writing of their Gospels. It is definitely relevant to the purpose of Mark's Gospel, because it is all about authority. So Jesus is walking into the temple. It is presumably the day after he cleansed the temple. Recall, we have already seen that. Jesus went into the temple, he cleansed the temple, then he left, and then we see all the stuff with the fig tree. Right? So now he's back in the temple again, presumably that day, that next day, and the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, who are now determined to destroy Jesus, the text tells us, confront him. And they ask him directly by what authority he claims the right to cast out the money changers, to do these things. And Jesus, well, this is the great controversy that Jesus confronts. with His presence in Jerusalem. The chief priests and the scribes are the God-ordained spiritual authority in Jerusalem, in Israel, in the temple. And take note, they are indeed a God-ordained authority. A couple, well, I guess there's a little more than a couple of weeks ago now in our morning series, we spoke on authority, we spoke on submission, reminding ourselves of our duty to submit to God as it relates to the ordained authorities that He has placed into our lives. These men are in that position of God-ordained authority. God has established the position of authority. They are rightfully in that position of authority. Therefore, they are God-ordained in said authority. And that demands, of course, God-prescribed submission along with God-prescribed. accountability and responsibility. So much so that when Paul the Apostle stood before the high priest some years after this event, we read an interaction between him and the authorities that goes like this. In Acts chapter 23 beginning in verse 1, we'll read through verse 5, the Bible says this, I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, that forsittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law. And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wish not, brethren, that he was the high priest. For it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. So Paul speaks the truth against the high priest, calling him a whited wall, who sat in judgment over men while sanctioning lawless actions against Paul. But when he was rebuked and told that this was the high priest, he immediately acknowledged the biblical mandate to honor the ruler of one's people. Now these men then have authority. But Jesus was operating authoritatively in contradiction to their will and wishes. Jesus was operating by an authority, but he was not operating by their authority. He was casting out the money changers and the sellers of doves, and in doing so, he most certainly operated in an authoritative manner, but he was not operating under the authority of those who technically ran the temple complex. So they asked Jesus, by what authority doest thou these things? Who gave Jesus the authority to cast out these money changers, these sellers of doves and the like? And I don't know quite what to think of this question. After all, much of the miracles and teachings that Jesus has done have been in Galilee. This is not to say that the chief priests and the scribes did not know Jesus, had not heard of what he had done, were not familiar with the miracles that they were said to have done in Galilee, or did not know people who were eyewitnesses to those miracles. However, the fact of the matter is Jesus had actually done relatively few miracles in Jerusalem itself. We know he did some miracles early in his ministry in Jerusalem. John 2, 23 tells us that during the Passover, and really a lot of these come from John, the insights come from John. During the Passover, many believed on his name when they saw the miracles he did. That's all John 2 says is that they saw his miracles and they believed on his name. John 5, verses 1 through 15 records Jesus healing the invalid at the pool of Bethesda. a pool on the south end of the old city of David, a place where miracles seemingly happened on the regular anyway as the angels stirred the water. So maybe they weren't all that impressed or shocked by the miracles that Jesus did because that was a place of miracles anyway whenever the angels stirred the water. And then we have John 9 verses 1 through 12 which records Jesus healing a blind man by compelling him to wash in the pool of Siloam. a very large pool, which actually was a part of the Jerusalem aqueduct system. We're studying Hezekiah right now in Sunday school, or we were. We're finished with Hezekiah. Well, no, I guess we've got one more week on Hezekiah. So as we're studying Hezekiah, we recognize that Hezekiah was the one that built that aqueduct system, and this pool was a part of that system that was fed by the springing Gaian through Hezekiah's tunnel. And that is all that we have regarding the miracles of Jesus in Jerusalem. So that to whatever degree these chief priests and these scribes stayed in Jerusalem and did not venture beyond its walls, that's where they lived, that's where they ministered. We know that some of them in fact did travel to Galilee. We read early on in the ministry of Jesus that the scribes and the Pharisees came up from Jerusalem in order to see the things that Jesus was doing because most of his miracles were there in Galilee. But likely many did not. To that same degree, these spiritual leaders in Jerusalem were not, perhaps, deeply familiar with Jesus' teachings, not deeply familiar with eyewitness accounts of His miracles. Likely, they were only tangentially familiar with His claims of authority, and utterly unconvinced of those claims, even to whatever degree they knew of those claims. So that there was a measure, I would imagine, personal opinion, that there may have been a measure of genuineness to this question that they ask here. By what authority do you do these things? If they have the authority over the temple and they did not delegate that authority to him, then what business did he have casting these money changers out? What business did he have casting out the sellers of doves? Now, all of that being said, there is also the distinct possibility that they knew full well all of the implications of Jesus's actions. Now in this instance of purging the temple, Jesus did not appeal unto God as his father. He did that in John 2 when he purged the temple that time. Recall in John 2 verse 16, Jesus said, make not my father's house and house of merchandise. Maybe he said a similar thing here at the end of his ministry. We don't have a record of that necessarily, but in John 2, Jesus explicitly stated that this was his father's house and that they had merchandised his father's house. So that time he claimed, as it were, familial authority, purging the house of his father and doing so in his father's name. This time in Mark 11, also in Matthew 21, Jesus does not invoke his father's name. He only invokes the scriptures. Namely, he quotes Isaiah 56 five, which we discussed several weeks ago now. He quotes that scripture to invoke in them the reality that what they were doing is wicked. That's from verse 17. Is it not written, my house shall be called of all the nations, a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. But that being said, it does seem somewhat unlikely that the chief priest did not understand at least a little bit of what Jesus was doing here. That he was claiming divine authority. By what authority do you do this, they ask, and maybe Jesus recognizes in that a little bit of disingenuity. And this is likely what they were trying to do here. They were trying to get Jesus to connect himself directly with God. so that they could accuse him of blasphemy. Say, Pastor, why would you think this? Why would you think that they're asking this question? Possibly a little bit, genuinely, because they really weren't knowing him, but why do you think it's more likely or more certain that they were doing it disingenuously and that they were looking for a way to get him to connect himself with God so that they could blame him, accuse him of blasphemy? Well, because that is actually what we're going to read later in Mark 14. We're obviously not there yet, but in Mark 14, 61 to 63, the Bible says, again, the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes and saith, What need we any further witness? So the priest finally found an opportunity for Jesus to connect himself with God. And in connecting himself with God, they immediately accused him of blasphemy and they were ready to stone him. it is also very possible that that's what they were attempting to do here. We know that early in his ministry, he said, my father's house, this is my father's house. And so they say, well, if we can get him to call it his father's house again, if we can get him to connect himself directly to God again, then we can accuse him of blasphemy and we can take care of that. Likely hoping here, that in Mark 11 that Jesus would say something deeply incriminating by which they could then arrest him and bring him to destruction. So the chief priests and scribes asked Jesus by what authority he did what he did, and Jesus responds in verses 29 and 30, and Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it of heaven or of men? Answer me. Now Jesus doesn't actually answer their question here, as we can see. Jesus' time was not yet. It was not yet time to give these men a reason to arrest him. It was not yet time to kick that hornet's nest. That would come the night of the Passover. So Jesus instead kind of turns the tables on them. He tells them that he will answer their question about the authority by which he is doing what he is doing. if they will answer a question of his first. And Jesus could do this because the people, if you recall, were astonished at him. He spoke truth. His actions in cleansing the temple resonated with them so that Jesus had, if you will, the de facto upper hand in any claim of authority here. The de facto upper hand as it related to these things, Jesus was not obligated to answer them, but he expresses that he's willing to answer them their question if they will simply answer a question of his first. And that is reasonable. And the people would have seen it as reasonable. He did not feel the need to answer them, and yet this did give him an opportunity to expose their hypocrisy. So he asked them this question in return. Was the baptism of John, that would be John the Baptist, that would be the herald of Messiah, that would be the one who came early in Jesus' ministry, then was subsequently arrested and beheaded, was the baptism of John from heaven, or was it of men? And Jesus says, if you answer my question, I'll answer your question. And this put these leaders into a real bind. And that bind is explained in the subsequent verses, verses 31 and 32. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, if we shall say from heaven, in other words, John's baptism was from God, he will say, why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say of men, in other words, not from God, but just made up by John, They feared the people, for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. Now as we read the reasoning of the scribes and Pharisees, the bind that they were in was not that they didn't know the answer that they would want to give. They absolutely knew the answer they wanted to give. The bind that they were in. was that regardless of the answer they gave, it would either show their hypocrisy, or it would increase Jesus' favor with the people. And if they're trying to make Jesus look bad in the eyes of the people, And we're going to see as we continue in Mark 12 in the subsequent weeks, they are working overtime to try to make Jesus look bad, to try to bring up controversies that will get people angry, that will get somebody angry at him so that they can have reason then and support to be able to arrest this guy and subsequently kill him. So they are looking for that opportunity, but they're in this bind. If they say that the baptism of John was from heaven, then Jesus would ask why they didn't believe John. Because what did John proclaim? Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. You should be baptizing me, not me baptizing you. If they say that the baptism of John is not of heaven, however, but of men, not of God, then the people would get very angry because they all regarded John as a great prophet. So you're either denying God or you're denying the prophet of God. So that because the chief priests and scribes were not men of truth, they were not men of principle, they were men of political expedience, power, and manipulation, this question backed them into a corner. And this is the blessing of truth, Christian. The blessing of truth. Speaking the truth does not always make you popular. Speaking the truth is not always going to get you what you want. Speaking of truth sometimes comes with difficulty. It comes with consequences. Speaking truth sometimes makes you feel vulnerable, uncomfortable. Speaking the truth will sometimes get you into deeper trouble of a sort. But if our loyalty is to truth alone, then we never have to be backed into a corner where we cannot speak. because we are willing to accept the consequences of speaking truth, and because we're willing to accept the consequences of speaking truth, we are free to speak it. And if the consequences of speaking truth is that it makes us look hypocritical, well, praise be to God, I need to fix that. I need to stop being hypocritical. I need to repent. I need to change. Whenever we speak the truth openly, if our loyalty is to the truth, then when we speak the truth, when we seek the truth, when we find the truth, when we examine the truth, when we proclaim the truth, regardless of whether or not it actually aligns with me, I've succeeded. But of course that was not the Pharisees and the scribes. So we read their answer in verse 33. And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering, saith unto them, neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. So the religious leaders state that they cannot answer Jesus's question. Simply put, they say, we can't answer your question. Was it of God? Was it of men? We don't have an answer for you. And so Jesus says, well, if you can't answer that, then I am not going to answer yours. Thus they lost any credibility they may have otherwise had to question Jesus's authority. So Jesus replies that he won't answer their question. And while this event most certainly served to discredit the religious leaders in the eyes of those who are looking on, I would imagine that the primary purpose of Jesus' actions here were, as I mentioned already, to avoid giving these leaders the opportunity that they were seeking to destroy Him this early. Because there was still a little bit of time left before he was going to be arrested. This does not mean, however, that Jesus could not use this instance to teach some lessons. And this is exactly what we find as we continue in chapter 12. I'm going to read a chunk of scripture here. In chapter 12, beginning in verse 1, we'll read through verse 12. The Bible says this, And he began to speak unto them by parables, A certain man planted a vineyard, and set and hedged about it, and digged a place for the wine-fat, and built a tower, and led it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant. And at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another, and him they killed, and many others, beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, this is the heir, come, let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen and will give the vineyard unto others. And have you not read this scripture? The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This was the Lord's doing and it was marvelous in our eyes. And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people, for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them. And they left him and went their way. So Jesus is among these chief priests and these scribes. They have asked him by what authority he does these things. He says, I will only answer that question for you if you answer this question for me. John's ministry, John's prophecies, were they of man or were they of God? They say we cannot answer because it was a no-win situation for them. Jesus says, I'm not answering you. But then he gives this parable. And recall what a parable is in scripture. A parable is a fictional story that is intended to teach a very real lesson. A parable is not an allegory. And this is very important because a lot of people try to turn parables into allegories. Now, an allegory is a story where everything in the story corresponds to something in reality. where every little aspect of the story has a corresponding aspect in real life or in reality. Parables are not allegories. Parables are looking at one particular lesson. It may be that the elements of the parable represent something in reality, or it may be that those elements are just designed to support the story itself. And here Jesus gave a parable of a man who planted a vineyard. And we have some things that are representative. We have the man that plants the vineyard. We have the husbandman he lets them out to. We have the servants and we have the son. All of these are representative of something in reality. The man being God the father and the husbandman being the leaders in Israel. And the vineyard being the election of God for Israel. and of course the servants being prophets, and the son being Jesus. So we have all of those things, but then we have all sorts of other things here that simply are there. Because this is not an allegory, they are simply there to round out the story. The Bible speaks of the man planting the vineyard, setting a hedge about it, digging a place for the wine vat, building a tower. You could rack your brain, okay, what's the tower? What's the hedge about it? What's the wine pot? But you don't need to do that. You don't need to do that because this isn't an allegory. This is a parable. Those things are simply there to build up the story, to supplement the truth that is being stated here. And as a matter of fact, all of these actors in the story are not the point either. They are only there, they represent something, but they serve to bring about a conclusion, and that conclusion is what we're looking for, which we'll talk about in a minute. So here we have this parable of a man who plants a vineyard. And he puts everything in place necessary for the wellness of that vineyard. And then he lets this vineyard out to husbandmen, and he goes into a far country. Now this lord established the vineyard, and then he delegated the care of that vineyard to other men, paying them to care for his vineyard while he is gone. But it's still his vineyard, and everything in that vineyard is still his. However, while the lord is gone, he would at harvest time send a servant to that vineyard to receive from the husbandmen the fruit, naturally. He would send a man to get those things that he was paying them to manage, which was his by right. So the servant came. And the Bible says that the husbandmen, when they found the servant, they grabbed him and they beat him and they sent him away without anything. Get out of here. And they refused to give the Lord what was rightfully his. And we see why that is as we continue the parable. because these husbandmen had no interest in giving the Lord that which was his, or of taking care of this vineyard for that Lord. They desired instead to claim the vineyard for themselves. Now we aren't quite there in the account yet. This man is sent away empty. The servant is sent away empty. He's been beaten and now he's sent away empty. So the owner sends another servant. Maybe there was a misunderstanding. Maybe they thought it was someone else. Maybe they thought he was a robber, whatever it might be. I can't understand it, but I'm just going to send another one. And the Bible says they cast stones at him and wounded him in the head and sent him away empty and degraded. And the owner then sends another servant. Maybe they misunderstood again. Maybe there's something weird going on. And that servant, the Bible says, they killed. And then the Lord sent many more, and they beat some, and they killed others. So finally, the Lord decides to send the one that has the greatest authority next to Him, and that would be His only and His well-beloved Son, reasoning that the problem is that they simply aren't willing to accept the delegated authority of His servants. But certainly they will reverence His Son, If he sends his son, those husbandmen would respect the authority of the son and would finally submit to the will of the lord of the vineyard, over the vineyard. But in this parable, that is not the case. Instead, when the son arrived, the husbandmen saw a greater opportunity. rather than just stealing the fruit from the vineyard of the Lord, as they had been doing to this point, not allowing that fruit to get back to the Lord of the vineyard, they now see the opportunity to take the vineyard from the Lord. This is His heir. If He has no heir, then we can get the vineyard. By killing the one and only son of the heir of the vineyard, and heir, excuse me, of the vineyard, they could then have the vineyard for themselves. So they took the son, and they killed the son, and they cast him out of the vineyard. And then Jesus asks the question, and this is actually what the parable is about. The rest of this was only there, this was setting up. Again, all of those things, some of them corresponded, some of them didn't. You say, no pastor, I think it's an allegory. Okay, the Lord plants his vineyard and then leaves to go to a far country. Try to explain that one in an allegorical sense. You're going to get yourself in some very interesting doctrinal places if you try to make this an allegory, but it's a parable. All of this, the things that represent something, the things that don't represent something, it's all building up to answer this one question. This is the point of the parable. The question is this. What will the Lord of the vineyard do? What will the Lord of that vineyard do? And the answer is natural. The Lord of the vineyard will destroy them, destroy those husbandmen, and he'll give the vineyard unto others who will obey his will and regard his right to his own vineyard. Now don't get caught in the weeds of the account and attempt to allegorize it all. It's obvious that Jesus was speaking about the chief priests and the scribes here, that he is saying that they have been given charge over the election, God's people, the nation, But instead of leading his people under God and to God's authority, they have sought to take for themselves that authority, to take for themselves that right. And this is exactly why they chafed at what Jesus had done. Because Jesus came in his Father's authority, establishing the authority of the Lord of the vineyard. And they say, how dare you come into our vineyard and mess around with our vineyard. But if we kill you, then we can keep the vineyard. If we don't kill you, then we are reminded that there's a Lord of the vineyard who's coming back for his vineyard. Jesus, as the only one and beloved son of the Lord, had come and exercised his father's authority in the temple. And instead of acknowledging God's will and authority, instead of humbling themselves at their mismanagement of the delegated authority they have been given, they instead became angry, they became jealous, and they reasoned that if only they could kill Jesus, the beloved Son of God, the Father of the Lord of the vineyard, then they could claim the nation for themselves and operate not under God's authority, but under their own authority. And Jesus' warning was that when they killed the son to claim this authority for themselves, they would be destroyed and their responsibility would be given to another. And Jesus solidifies this point by quoting from the prophecy of David in Psalm 118 verses 22 and 23. The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. And we're going to think about this passage quite a bit more in the weeks to come, actually in our morning series, as we continue in Romans 9, 10, and 11, as we have just begun exploring those, just finished Romans 9 this week, which helps illuminate the connection between the prophecy of Psalm 118 and the warning of Jesus in Mark 12. This is actually great timing because what Jesus is warning about here, even the ideas of the vineyard and the authority of the vineyard is right in line with what Paul is teaching in Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11 about the nation of Israel and about their standing before God. Long story short, however, Jesus Christ is the headstone of the corner. It is God that has placed Jesus as the head of the corner. God has removed now the nation of Israel from the nation of Israel, the right to be that elect body by which he would show the world how to be rightly related to God. And he gave that election to the church instead, because those that represented the nation of Israel sought to claim the authority for themselves through the law, rather than submitting themselves to the authority of the Lord of the vineyard. And so God destroyed that nation, 70 AD, and gave that election opportunity, the stewardship of that election, put it that way, to another. Now the reason Jesus spoke in parables was so that the spiritual reality of his words would be revealed only to those who would receive them by faith. We know this from early on in the book of Mark, early on in the other Gospels, where they ask, why do you speak in parables? And that's exactly what he said. That it would fulfill that idea in Isaiah 6, that seeing they would not see, that hearing they would not hear, and that in doing so, they, through their lack of faith, would be condemned for their disobedience. However, The Bible says that the Pharisees, though they did not really understand what Jesus was saying, because they did not have eyes to see and ears to hear, they at least discerned that Jesus was speaking about them. And maybe you've been there before where somebody says something, maybe oftentimes this is something with a sibling or a family member or whatnot, where they've got a smirk on their face and they're saying something and you know they're talking about you, but you can't really put together how it is they're talking about you and it's driving you nuts because they're saying something and they're giggling and it's an inside joke and they get it and you don't. And you know they're talking about you, but you just don't know how. And that's kind of what the Pharisees seemed to be feeling in this moment. They didn't really know what it meant, but they knew that he was talking about them and that made them grumpy. They knew that Jesus was likening them to the husbandmen, even though they didn't have the spiritual insight to understand how. But because they lacked that insight, they had no recourse against him. They couldn't peg what Jesus was doing. They couldn't accuse him of anything. There's no blasphemy or anything there, although if they had understood it, they could, because Jesus was claiming to be the son of the Lord of the vineyard. But they didn't understand it, so they couldn't do anything against him. They just walked away angry, because they knew that he had just spoken against them, though they didn't know how. They were more resolute than ever then, we might imagine, that Jesus needed to be destroyed. And there are many things that we can take away from the history that we've considered this evening. We see it in a renewed testimony of Christ's authority, which we've considered many times in the Gospel of Mark already. We see in it another testimony of the threat of truth, which I preached a couple of months ago, that idea that truth is a threat to those who live under lies. So we've talked about that already also. So what I'd like to just briefly do this evening is not necessarily rehash the ideas of Jesus' authority or even rehash the threat of truth to liars, especially liars in authority. Instead, I'd like us to think about stewardship. And here's why. I mentioned already Psalm 118 was fulfilled when the elected purpose of Israel was given to the church. Jesus was rejected as the head of the corner by the nation of Israel, by their leaders, by those who represented them. They stumbled at the stumbling stone, which is Christ, and their elected purpose was given to another. And Peter would warn the leaders of Israel about this in Acts chapter 4, verses 8 through 12. The Bible says, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. So Peter says here, Jesus is the great cornerstone that they, the builders, that they had rejected. And he's speaking there to the leaders in Israel. All who would desire to carry on the elected purpose of God must come through faith. And that faith must be in Jesus Christ alone, the head of the corner, so that there's no name under heaven whereby one must be saved, and one cannot then carry on the elected purpose of God if they have not received the elect Messiah. So that as Peter writes to the scattered church, the diaspora, right, the scattered churches throughout the empire of Rome, he says this in 1 Peter 2, verses 1 through 10. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming is unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, rejected of men, but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Notice our purpose there. Our purpose in Christ is to offer up spiritual sacrifices. That's our elected purpose. Wherefore, also it is contained in the scriptures. Behold, here's that Psalm 118 again. I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. God has laid in Zion a chief cornerstone. He is elect, he is precious, and all who believe on him will not be ashamed. And that, now that Christ has risen from the grave, that group of all who believe on him, that is the church. The church is made up of all of those who have believed in the chief cornerstone. And so I've entered into this election, this body, and notice this body's purpose. Notice the election. The election is not to be saved. We talked about this a lot in Romans 9. It is not to be saved. Nowhere does it say that. First Peter doesn't say that. What it says is that we are chosen We are a chosen generation, we are a royal priesthood, we are a holy nation, we are peculiar people. Unto what purpose, what election? To show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. And that was Israel's elected purpose. That is the vineyard. That is what their elected purpose was. Their elected purpose was to show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light, to be rightly related to God through the law in their day, in order that they may then show the world how to be rightly related to God. That's the vineyard. And they were made husbands over the vineyard. And then they failed, because they sought to take the vineyard for themselves. And because they sought to take the vineyard for themselves and bring to themselves glory rather than God glory, God says, I will destroy those husbandmen and I will let them out to a new set of husbandmen who will keep my vineyard. So the elected purpose was given to another. And if you're a born again believer under the sound of my voice this evening, you are a part of the church, the elect body under whom this purpose has been given. founded upon the apostles and prophets, Ephesians 2.20 tells us, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. We are now the husbandmen of the Lord's vineyard. We are the stewards over God's heritage. We are the holy nation chosen to show forth the praises of the God who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so I said that the thing I wanted to focus on this evening in our application is stewardship. And indeed, that's what I'm asking you about this evening. The question that we have to ask is this, are we being good stewards of God's vineyard? good stewards of this elected purpose, good stewards of this commission. Are you in your family, in your community, at the grocery store, among your friend groups, showing forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light? Are you a good husbandman over the Lord's vineyard? And there's a warning with this as well. God's glory will be manifest, if not in us, then in someone. We'll talk about this a lot more when we get to Romans 11. But Romans 11 says that Paul uses the illustration of an olive tree. And he says the natural branches were broken out of that olive tree and wild olives were grafted into that tree. Now that tree is not salvation, that tree is election. That tree is the elected purpose. And God, Paul even calls it there Israel's tree. So that is their original purpose. And we have been grafted into their purpose. And then Paul says, don't be surprised if God re-grafts in the originals and don't let the wild olive branches boast against the natural branches. Because God is just as able to remove you. Now, of course, if that olive tree is salvation, then we're talking about losing your salvation. But thank God, the olive tree is not salvation. The olive tree is elected purpose. It's election. God has removed the original branches, the nation of Israel, from the olive tree of his elected purpose to be rightly related to God so that we can show the world how to be rightly related to God. He has grafted into the church, into that olive tree. But this is a stewardship unto which we are called. And Paul warns there. If you fail, Romans 11, 20 and 21, because of unbelief, they, that's Israel, were broken off and now standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. If you and I are not good stewards of our purpose, if we are not good husbandmen of the Lord's vineyard, just as he removed the stewardship of His glory to Israel and instead gave it to the church, so too God is completely within His right, if we become selfish, if we become rebellious, to remove us from that stewardship and to give it to another. Taking careful note, as I've said, that this passage has nothing to do with being saved, or staying saved. Election in the Bible has nothing to do with salvation. You step into your election the moment that you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. You accept Jesus Christ by grace through faith, and then you become one of the elect. You step into God's election, and that election is a stewardship, a stewardship of purpose. And this should, in fact, cause us to fear this evening, church family. If Legacy Baptist Church becomes selfish, rebellious, and refuses to do what God has called us to do, if we get so caught up in the material things of being here in this new property, in this new building, new, very old building, if we get so caught up in all of the ins and the outs of the logistics and of the ministries and of the material things, If we lose focus on what we're here to do, God has every right to use someone else. If I, as a born-again believer, become selfish and rebellious and fail as a husbandman over my Lord's vineyard, that elected purpose that He's given unto me, God is more than able and willing to find someone else who will be a good steward. And God forbid that this should happen to us. I want the privilege of being the man that God uses. I want my sons and my daughters to be good and trustworthy stewards for the master's use. I want Legacy Baptist Church to be God's choicest stewards of the gospel in Minnesota. And whether God chooses to use us in some wonderful way is up to him. But this we can know for certain, God doesn't use those who are not usable. If we become selfish husbandmen, if we become proud husbandmen, if we become rebellious husbandmen, if we seek to claim the Lord's heritage for ourselves, we will not be successful in taking it from God, that's for sure. But the blessing of this stewardship will most certainly be taken from us and given to another. And may we, unlike the chief priests and scribes in their day, be good stewards over the elected purpose unto which we as the Father's Church, as the Father's husbandmen, as the stewards over the vineyard of the Lord, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone, may we be good stewards over the elected purpose unto which we have been called. May we daily show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Thank you for listening to a weekly sermon of Legacy Baptist Church in Independence, Minnesota. While online sermons are not an adequate substitute for a local church in the life of a believer, we hope that its contents has served to assist and encourage you when you walk with the Lord. More information about Legacy Baptist Church and the library of sermons are available at www.legacybaptistchurch.net.