We're beginning on a new chapter this morning in our study of the gospel of Mark, but we are not in a new context at all. So the change from chapter 11 in Mark to chapter 12 does not signal a shift in time or location. So don't be distracted by that big number 12 on that page of your Bible. That number is not inspired like the words are on the page. It was just added to make it easier to find the page that you're looking for. Now, if you're there, you found it. Don't pay too much attention to that 12 now. We ended last week with Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem on Tuesday of the week that ends with the death of Jesus. two days before, and just going through this again to remember the context that we're in, we saw Jesus riding into Jerusalem on that little donkey on what seemed to be a glorious day. It seemed like the people of Israel were really recognizing that Jesus really was that promised King and Messiah. We saw that there were all kinds of shouts of praise and glory for Jesus. But then that has kind of fizzled out since then. Nothing really came of it. On Monday, Jesus went back into Jerusalem. He entered the temple. He flipped over tables and drove out all the people who were in the temple course buying and selling because all of their just outward show of pretend worship was a disgrace. for what the temple was actually meant to be. A house of prayer for all the nations. A place for everyone to come and to worship, to seek to understand and to pray to the one true God of heaven. It had been turned into a place of business. Well, the next day, on Tuesday, the day that we are still on in Mark chapter 12, Jesus came to the temple again to teach to preach the gospel. And he was confronted by a group of men who were apparently some representatives of the Sanhedrin. We're told it was the chief priests, scribes, and the elders. Most powerful men in the nation of Israel. Most powerful Israelites, anyway. And their intention in their confrontation of Jesus was to begin to carry out or to find the way to kill Jesus. They are very intent on accomplishing that now. They are going to kill him because of what had happened the day before in the temple. They were going to kill him anyway, but now it's serious. The last straw has been broken. They're going to kill him. So they asked Jesus a question, and the question seemed to be aimed at causing the crowds that were around Him, listening to Him, and still admiring Him, to realize that He's nothing. Asked by these powerful people of Israel to show them that they were something, Jesus was nothing. And the question that they asked Him in front of this crowd was, by what authority are you doing these things? or who gave you this authority to do these things? We saw last week that Jesus countered with a question of his own and it would answer their question if they answered his question correctly. Jesus' question was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? We saw they would not answer because the right answer would have incriminated themselves. The wrong answer that they actually believed to be the right answer, that it was just from man, that John was a con man, that answer wasn't popular with the crowds. And they feared the crowds. So they didn't answer. They told Jesus, we don't know. We're not going to tell you. And that meant Jesus wasn't going to answer their question either. So their plan failed. because Jesus outsmarted them. And Jesus goes right back to teaching. They tried to trap him. They thought they had a way to stop him. Completely failed. Jesus, because he is the authority, goes right back to teaching. Verse one of chapter 12, it begins like this. And he began to speak to them, in parables. Then Mark records a parable that we'll be spending most of our time on this morning, but just before we get to that parable, Matthew records that there was another one that came first. Before this one we have here in Mark, there was one other parable. We aren't going to spend much time on this one, but I'd like to, if you turn to Matthew chapter 21, just for a little bit of additional context, Matthew is close by comes just before Mark, Matthew 21 and verses 28 through 32. Remember the context, the questions that were asked, the Sanhedrin guys said, we're not going to answer you. Jesus said, well, I'm not going to answer you either. Then these words follow. But what do you think? Matthew 21 verse 28. But what do you think? He's still primarily talking to these Sanhedrin guys. He's asking them, what do you think? A man had two sons. And he came to the first and said, son, go work today in the vineyard. And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing. And he answered, I will, sir. But he did not go. Which of the two did the will of the father? They said, the first. Jesus said to them, truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. Now this you again is those Sanhedrin guys. Tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you. in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him. And you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him." I remember the question that Jesus asked of these men. The baptism of John, where did it come from? Was it from heaven? or from men. They wouldn't answer him. But in this parable, Jesus answered the question for them that they wouldn't answer. John came in the way of righteousness. John was not a fraud. He was a real prophet. John proclaimed truth. And that means that the tax collectors and the prostitutes who believed what he taught were in a much better position with God than these leaders of Israel were, who didn't believe him. So that's what they had just heard from Jesus. When Jesus begins to tell the next parable, it's recorded as the second one in Matthew, the only one we have here in Mark and also in Luke, We're gonna look at it in Mark chapter 12, verse one. And he began to speak to them in parables. Now this time, the parables were not meant to conceal the truth from those who didn't want to believe it and were blaspheming the truth, as was the case earlier in the gospel, Mark, with some of the parables that we've looked at before. Now these parables are meant to make the truth unmistakable. To be so clear that the guilty will be without excuse. He began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. If your Bible is one that indicates when there's a quote from the Old Testament, many of them do that by putting it in capital letters, you will see that much of verse one is a quote from the Old Testament. If you have notes in your Bible, in the margin, you will see that this quote comes from Isaiah chapter five. I'd like us to turn back there for just a little bit. A little harder to find than Matthew if you're in Mark, but it's still a big book. It's not too hard to find. If you find Isaiah, if you find the book of Psalms first, because it's even bigger, let's turn a little bit to the right and you'll find Isaiah. Isaiah chapter five. Now this parable that Jesus uses here in Mark 12 would have been very obvious to those who are standing there, especially the chief priests, scribes, and elders, because they would have recognized How it begins, oh that's in Isaiah five. I know that one. Isaiah chapter five, let's begin in verse one. As let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. Verse two. He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it. And that's the picture that Jesus uses from Isaiah five in his parable in Mark chapter 12. The parable goes on here in Isaiah. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. And now, oh, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done for it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones? So now let me tell you what I'm going to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed. I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste. It will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his delightful plant. Thus he looked for justice, but behold bloodshed, for righteousness, but behold a cry of distress." Verse 7 in Isaiah 5 tells us that the vineyard in this story is the nation of Israel. The plants are the people of Israel. Now here in Isaiah, this is used to describe or explain, it's a prophecy about the upcoming Babylonian captivity because of the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel. In the context of Isaiah, it has a very clear meaning. Now back again in Mark chapter 12, Since we're flipping around a little bit, it's a good thing that 12 is there, right? You can find it again. Mark chapter 12. Jesus uses the same imagery, but tells us a different part of the story. Many of the same things are true from Isaiah 5 in the story that Jesus tells in Mark 12, but he's telling us a different part of the story. The same vineyard, Israel. The plants are the people of the nation. The one who planted the vineyard is God. God raised up this nation. He gave them the promised land. And you see it more in Isaiah, but even here in Mark, the wording of it gives an emphasis on this vineyard that he put a lot of work into it to make it just right. all the right conditions for it to be a very productive vineyard. Now the new information in Jesus' story is that the owner of the vineyard, God, entrusted the care of this vineyard to others. It says in verse one, and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. Now, God didn't leave the nation of Israel. Something that's important to understand about parables is that every little detail of the story doesn't necessarily directly correspond with something in reality. The parable is told as man would see it. So it's like as though God had left Israel in the care of the vine growers. Now, who are the vine growers? Well, we don't have to wonder. You can jump ahead to verse 12, and you can see in verse 12, right in the middle of the verse, it's referring very clearly to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. They understood that he spoke the parable against them. They, the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, Right now, as Jesus spoke this parable on that Tuesday, those men, the Sanhedrin guys, they were the vine growers. As we go through this parable, we will see that this is basically a history of the nation of Israel. So right then, this is what was true of those guys now, but in almost every generation of Israel, the same has been the case. There were priests, there were kings, there were other spiritual leaders who were supposed to be faithfully leading the people who did just what these vine growers do in this story. What did they do? Let's see, verse two. At the harvest time, he sent a slave to the vine growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine growers. Now this picture that Jesus is painting here with his words is something that was commonly done at the time. The people who are listening would have understood what he meant. They would have gotten the picture clearly because this was done. There would be wealthy investors who would buy some land. They put a lot of money into it to make a vineyard, an established vineyard that should do really well and then rent it out and go somewhere else and start on another money-making venture. Once that vineyard started to produce good grapes and wine, then the renters would pay the owners with an agreed upon percentage of what the vineyard produced. It was something that was commonly done. We'll bring the story into the reality, the produce of the vineyard that God wanted was faithfulness. In Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 13, God said, Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. So as a nation of Israel, would come into the temple on these celebration feast days, their performance of the rituals in the flesh meant nothing to God. Just outwardly keeping the law while sinning in their hearts was an abomination to God. It wasn't the outward performance that He wanted. He wanted their faithfulness. It was the vine growers, the priests, the scribes, the other spiritual leaders who were supposed to be helping the nation to achieve that. To be modeling faithfulness, encouraging and teaching the people to be faithful. The slave in Jesus' story, Mark 12, 2, is one of God's faithful prophets. a prophet that God sent to his nation to collect the produce. We talked about it some last week, and you remember what was the reputation of the nation of Israel for how they treated the prophets that God sent to them. It wasn't good, was it? Let's see how the slave is treated in Jesus' story, verse three. says they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed. The slave comes to collect rent. What he gets, no grapes, no wine, not even a raisin, just a knuckle sandwich and get out of here. In reality, God sent faithful prophets to his people. This is one of them that he sent. And this is how the spiritual leaders treated him. Beat him up and sent him away. Verse four, again, he sent them another slave and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. The second slave sent to collect the rent He's treated even worse than the first one. This one, he was given a concussion, or a big gash on the head. It was something that he'd probably be laid up from for days, if not weeks or months, from these injuries. In reality, God sent another prophet to his people. This was how the spiritual leaders treated him. Beat him up even worse and sent him away. Now suppose, what if this was you? Let's put it into an example that we could maybe understand. Suppose you owned a house. You rented it out. You sent someone who works for you to collect the rent from the tenants of your rental house. They beat him up. They send them away empty-handed. What would you do? Well, I think what most people would do, and probably what we would do in that situation, call the police. We'd report the assault. We'd contact a lawyer or whatever it is you need to do to get eviction papers drawn up. I've never done it. I don't know how you do it, but something like that. But a crime was committed. We were wronged. Someone was injured and we would want justice. We would be done with those people who did that to our people after the first time. Wouldn't we? But God sent another prophet. And then verse five, and he sent another That one they killed. And so with many others, beating some and killing others. It just kept getting worse. God sent more prophets, and it got to the point where they killed this slave. Third one that the vineyard owner sent to kill them. In real life, they killed some of God's faithful prophets. And not just one. Jesus' story says there were many that they beat. Some they killed. Someone pointed out, have you noticed how long the Old Testament is? Compare it in your Bible, how many pages thick the Old Testament is. It is so long because it is a long history of God showing so much patience and grace to sinners who keep rebelling and rejecting him. That's what Jesus is emphasizing in these verses. God kept sending prophets. So many of them over and over. Faithful prophets over all those generations. They kept being rejected. Some of them beaten. Some of them killed. Most recent of those, John the Baptist. These spiritual leaders of Israel weren't the ones who killed him, but they had no use for him. They may have killed him themselves if Herod hadn't done it for them. After all those years, so much patience from God, so much grace, and yet in return, so much rejection, God still wasn't done. Verse six, he had one more to send, a beloved son. He sent him last of all to them saying, they will respect my son. Now this is another place where this is how it would appear in the story from man's perspective. A vineyard owner might have an expectation that his tenants would show some respect to his son. Even if they didn't to his slaves, maybe they would to his son because he's someone with more authority than the slaves had. They ought to respect his son. In reality, God knew what the religious leaders of Israel would do to his son. Jesus knew what they were going to do. But as the story goes, and as we would see it, surely people would have some respect for the Son of God. Surely they wouldn't reject the Son of God. Surprisingly, as the story goes, it doesn't turn out that way. Verse 7, but those vine growers said to one another, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. I think this story that Jesus tells has some implications for their challenging of Jesus about his authority to do those things in the temple. What authority do you have to do these things here? It's as if they were saying to Jesus, this isn't your vineyard. It's ours now. You don't have any authority here. We call the shots around here in our vineyard. There's a name for that. Pirates. These vine growers were pirates. The chief priests, the scribes, the elders of Israel were pirates. taking away what didn't belong to them. It's why they were so intent on killing Jesus. Because He was a threat to their authority. Jesus was a threat to their control over the nation. The nation that was actually God's, belonged to God, but they wanted it. They thought they were taking over. They were going to run this nation their way. And if this last hindrance was taken out of the way, then they would really have some power. They want to get Jesus out of the way. Well, in the story, the vine growers, they thought if there's no one left to legally claim this property, then it would be theirs. That's in a way, the way the spiritual leaders of Israel were treating everyone that God sent, even his son. They wanted the nation to be theirs. They didn't want to be accountable to anyone. And we know from a comparison of Isaiah 5 and Mark 12, Jesus is the son of the owner in the story. Jesus knows, and we can see it through his telling of this story, that he knows what these guys are going to do to him. They're going to kill him. Now that's a bad story so far. Patient, gracious vineyard owner. He's now lost his son. But Jesus knows that's not the end of the story. He goes on in verse 9, he asks a question of all the people standing around him. What will the owner of the vineyard do? From Matthew's account, we know that the answer came from the crowd. He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. As Mark records it here, and it kind of looks like it's Jesus answering his own question, Maybe it's that Jesus repeated their answer because they were right. This is what will happen. The owner will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. These vine growers were not going to get away with this. They, and what they've turned this vineyard into, their part in it, was going to be destroyed. Literally, in 70 AD, when the temple would be turned into rubble, the priesthood, all the stuff that was involved with it, would be done. Now, who are the others? It says the vineyard would be given to others. Who are the others that will be given the charge of the vineyard in their place? It's the apostles, initially. It's the apostles. That group of nobodies that followed Jesus around. Fishermen, a tax collector, commoners. That was one of the things that these religious leaders hated about Jesus so much. That he was circumventing their power and their authority by not coming to them for them to be his posse. If He really is the Messiah, He ought to be coming to us for us to be His followers, His caretakers. Not those nobodies. Jesus was teaching and training these no-accounts. He was giving them gifts to do miraculous things. He was training them to take their place. They hated that about Jesus. But it was going to happen. Because the one who had the real authority was going to make this happen. Verse 10. Have you not even read the scripture? The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Most of these two verses here, verses 11 and 12, are a quote from Psalm 118. Jesus is saying that this is referring to him. This is what is going to happen after the vine growers kill him. Now Jesus is changing the metaphor in his story. Now he is the stone. And these representatives of the Sanhedrin They're not the vine growers now, they're the builders. They were supposed to be building up the nation of God, of God's chosen people. But when they got to this stone, most important stone in the whole building, they rejected it. But the stone they rejected became the chief cornerstone. That might be referring to the stone that gets laid first in a building, then every other stone gets laid in relation to it. Most important stone in the building to get the rest of the building built right. It could also be referring to something more like the keystone of an arch. The words that are used here, it could be either way. The keystone maybe makes more sense that they've been building this building and they come to this stone, but they reject it. Either can work, it's not a big deal either way. But the point is, the stone that the builders rejected turned out to be the most important stone. And that stone did get put in its rightful place, despite the builders really bad decision to throw it out. And that's what verse 11 means. God did it. These builders rejected the most important stone, but God put the stone in its place. God fixed the mess those builders made. And he did it by Jesus rising from the dead. Those builders could not stop Jesus from having his rightful place, because he is the one with the authority. And it is marvelous in our eyes. So marvelous, because people wouldn't expect it to turn out this way. When the religious leaders of the nation conspired to have Jesus killed, it looked like they won. it looked like they were having their way. But by God's doing, they actually accomplished the very thing they were trying to prevent. They were trying to get rid of Jesus. They were trying to keep him away from their vineyard, from their building, but they actually accomplished the very thing they were trying to prevent through putting him on the cross because he won. He defeated death. He won, they lost. And they understood that this is what Jesus' story is getting at. Do you see it in verse 12? And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away. It wasn't time yet. They were going to do what Jesus said they were going to do in the parable. They would kill him, but not yet. One more time here, Jesus shows everyone who is in charge. They came, put their plan into progress to kill Jesus. It wasn't time yet. Jesus made them leave. They couldn't accomplish it until it was time. Now, It's a great story that Jesus tells. But we're not the vine growers. We're not the builders of the story. What does this have to do with us? Well, there are a lot of people in the world today. There could be some in this room this morning who are pretty much doing the same thing. as the vine growers and the builders of Jesus's parable. There are people, many people, who think that they are going to maintain authority over their own lives. Kind of like those that are told of in Psalm 2, the rulers, the kings of the world who say, we're going to cast off the fetters of God. We're going to do things our way. This is our vineyard now. They're going to make the decisions about how they live their lives. And it will be up to them what comes next. If heaven or hell are the options at the end, I'm just going to tell God the way it is, and he'll have to let me into heaven. I've heard people talk like that. If there is a God and I stand before him someday, we're going to have words. And I'm going to set him straight. or people thinking, well, I'm the one who's going to decide my path to get to heaven. I have the authority. I make the decisions. The authoritative scriptures given to us by the sovereign Lord over the universe says otherwise. Salvation, a relationship with God, is only through Jesus Christ. He is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. So if someone will be saved from their sins, if someone will have a relationship with the Father, if someone will have eternal life in heaven, it can only be had by turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. It can only be had by putting your faith in Jesus Christ alone because of his substitutionary and sacrificial death on the cross. Substitutionary means in your place. You deserve that death because of your sin. Jesus died in your place. It was a sacrificial death on the cross because the wages of sin is death. What we have earned because of our sin is death. There must be a death to pay for our sin. And Jesus made that sacrifice Himself on the cross. Because He rose again in victory over sin and death and Satan. All authority is His. In heaven and on earth. And there is no other way. If you reject that, as these men in Israel were doing that day. If you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, you have rejected your only hope. Jesus will be installed in his rightful position. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. There is no other way. So we must listen To those who the Lord has sent to proclaim the truth, we have it right here in our Bibles. We must listen to God's word. It is the authority. We must submit to what he has said, because he is the final authority. And what he has proclaimed, that Jesus, his son, is the only way.