And 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. 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. They took him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave. And they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed, and so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son. He sent him last of all to them, saying, they will respect my son. But those vine growers said to one another, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him. The inheritance will be ours, and the inheritance will be ours. They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this 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. 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. So far, reading in God's holy word. Beloved people of God, those chief priests, scribes, and elders have challenged God's authority. They have thrown down the gauntlet, you might say, asking that question, who do you think you are? What right do you have to be overturning these tables, to be driving out these money changers and those doing business that is sanctioned by us? We have given them permission to do this. We are the religious leaders. We are the judges. We are the ones who hold Scripture. We determine what's right and wrong according to our religious traditions. Yet Jesus turns to them, and He asks them a question. What Do you think about John the Baptist? Is his message from heaven? Was he from heaven? Or was it from men? He challenged whether they understood or could hear God's very Word, for He was a prophet. A prophet who proclaimed Jesus' authority that He would be the one to come that would baptize them in the Holy Spirit. And even in John's baptism to Jesus, we saw the heavens opened. and declared that Jesus was his Son, his beloved Son. And so as we read this parable, I cannot help but think of Hebrews 1, 1-4, which says, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions, in many ways, in these last days, has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world, And He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the Word of His power. This is the Son who stands before these religious rulers, questioning the one who is the exact representation of God, the Son. And so Jesus now tells a parable, a parable that is intended to be a warning, that they are to see Him as the Son of God, and if they reject Him, they will be destroyed. And the vineyard given to others. So as we look at this theme, we we will look at the owner's preparation, the tenant's persecution, and finally, the owner's return, the owner's preparation, the tenant's persecution and the owner's return. Now, Jesus tells these religious rulers a parable. Parables, when I was a young kid, I learned the definition of a parable as this earthly story with heavenly meaning. Meaning that these stories grew out of the very soil of society. And so, this parable fits that definition perfectly. It would have been familiar to its hearers for two reasons. First of all, this was a common practice of a landowner to come and to do all this preparation, to put all this investment in, to put all the care into the land, and then go on a journey. And here we see this man planting vines, building walls, digging a vat under a wine press, erecting the tower. The preparation of this owner shows the care that he has and the expectation of future fruit, that he is doing everything that this vineyard needs to survive and to produce the fruit. However, there is a second reason that this parable would have been immediately familiar to them. The religious rulers who were well-versed in Scripture would have picked up on those opening words of Jesus that he was using from the prophet of Isaiah. Those opening words echo Isaiah's prophecy. Listen to Isaiah 5, 1 and 2. Let me now sing for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug all around it, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it, and also hewed out a wine vat in it. And he expected it to produce good grapes. The astute religious rulers would have picked up on these words. However, Jesus doesn't continue in the same vein as Isaiah. He goes on to talk about one further provision by talking about those tenants or vine growers that he places over this vineyard and then goes on a journey. And so we see here that immediately the religious rulers would have seen the connection to Isaiah. That God the Father is the owner, yet He has placed certain people to rule over. But as the parable continues, we see that these tenants, these vine growers, persecute the messengers that the owner sends, the messengers that God sends to get that agreed upon portion of the produce. Which brings us to our second point, the tenant's persecution. He sends a servant. And you can see the increasing hostility and violence against these servants. First of all, they simply, well, in some ways, simply beat him and send him away empty handed. Next, they're striking him on the head and wounding him in the head, treating him shamefully. Finally, it climaxes in killing. But the owner keeps sending messenger after messenger, servant after servant, being beaten and returned, even killed. We read those words from Jeremiah, in which God continued to send His messengers to the kings, to the rulers, and to the people of God. Asking for them to be faithful to their covenant. To be faithful to their agreement. His gracious reminder. Yet, all we have to do is read the history of Israel to see that Elijah was threatened. His life was threatened and ran into the wilderness. Zechariah was stoned in the temple according to history. Daniel is thrown into a lion's den. They were often beaten, shamed, stoned, and killed. The history of Israel is an ugly one. As God sent messengers calling them to be faithful to their covenant. And it also shows God's graciousness. As time and time and time again, God sent messengers. Be faithful. Follow me. Do what I have commanded to you. Jesus brings these religious rulers right into the story. and places them as divine growers, and calls them to watch over and care for that vineyard, that they are not the ones in the highest authority, but there is one that transcends, and that God continually sends servants to remind them to be faithful, and they need to heed and listen to them as they are prophets and servants of God. that he is being long-suffering despite their ill treatment. But the landowner now has nothing left to send, no servants left to send. The way the text reads in verse six, he had one more to send. It seems that God has exhausted his messengers. He has given all that he can so far, yet he has one more, one more to send, one more to show his long-suffering and his care, one more to show his call upon them. And so he sent his son. Now some of us probably read this story and think, man, that landowner is quite foolish. I mean, look at how they've been treating his servants. Why? Why would he send a son? It seems foolish. However, when you read the story, where does the foolishness lie? God sends this Son because He is the One who has the greatest authority and power as His very own Son, the heir and have rights over this vineyard. Yet, these foolish vinedressers say, let's kill this Son and we will be out from under the authority. We can do what we want. We can have this vineyard. We will have the inheritance because we've killed the Son. And Jesus challenges them with that question. As we come to our third point about the owner's return. He asked that question. What will the owner of the vineyard do? If they kill this son, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine growers. He doesn't even give them a chance to answer. He tells them, He will come and destroy the vine growers. He will give the vineyard to others. They will get their reward. How can they actually think? How can they actually believe that if they murder the son, the owner will just let that go? The foolishness is on the side of the tenant. And through this parable, Christ is calling these leaders, just as God called the disciples on the mountain. This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him. Repent. Believe. Hear His message. For He is the Son. These are the last days. This is the last word. This is the moment of grace. Hear Him. I have sent Him for you. Yet, of course, He is killed. Our thoughts of foolishness seem to be confirmed in one sense, right? He sent his son, for what? To be killed? What good did that do? Yet listen to those final words that Jesus gives. He says, have you not read this scripture? He says to those religious rulers, don't you understand? You haven't even read this portion of Scripture, have you? Because it says there, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone. You think that you are able to kill and therefore be outside of the authority and power of God. That you have killed this king and can rule and reign the way you want. Yet the very one that you have rejected, the one you have discarded, the one you have thrown outside the vineyard, the one you have killed, has become the chief cornerstone. He is the very one upon whom this kingdom stands. And it is even through that killing that the wrath of God is appeased. That their pride, our arrogance, our sinfulness, our desire to be captains of our own fate, Our desire to do things the way we want. I don't want to listen to the Word of God. Listen to those messengers. It is on Him that we find forgiveness for these things. It is because Jesus is the Son, and we must receive Him. We must obey His rule and His reign, and the leaders must guide and direct the church according to His ways. Christ calls you through this church, through this authority that He has placed on earth for your good, to see the Son. He is calling you today to repent and believe for the forgiveness of your sins. And one cannot reject the Son and not expect punishment. One cannot reject and not submit to this Son without destruction. So beloved people of God, we are coming to this table this morning. We come because we are receiving Jesus Christ by faith. that we need His forgiveness. And He is the very foundation, the very support, the very cornerstone of the church. And so we must continue by faith to live in Him. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious and merciful God and Father, we ask that you would build us upon this firm foundation, that you would soften our hearts, that we would not be a stiff-necked generation, that we would not reject the Son, but that we would live in repentance and faith. that we would recognize our sin as a lack of submission to You, as a lack of desire to be captains of our own fate, of Lord of our own lives. And so Lord, would You be faithful to Your covenant? and bless us with forgiveness of sins and strengthen us that we may be renewed by your spirit day by day, that in the very resurrection of Jesus Christ, we may have that power to conquer sin, to be servants of you. This we pray in Jesus' name alone, amen.