Beginning with verse nine, then he began to tell the people this parable. A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time. Now at vintage time, he sent a servant to the vinedressers that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard, but the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent another servant, and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And again, he sent a third, and they wounded him also and cast him out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him. But when the vinedresser saw him, they reasoned among themselves saying, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, certainly not. Then he looked at them and said, what then is this that is written? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Whoever falls on that stone will be broken. But on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on him, but they feared the people, for they knew he had spoken this parable against them. Amen. You may be seated. We see how so much of scripture all connects so beautifully together. Passages from Isaiah, passages from the Psalms with the words of our Lord. Truly, he could bring together so much in a compelling message of rebuke to the people of his day. So we are in Luke chapter 20, starting with verse 9 through 19. And a passage that comes to mind in light of this passage would be Exodus chapter 19. where Israel is gathered before the Lord, gathered at Mount Sinai, and the Lord declared to them, this is Exodus 19, starting with verse 5, now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19, five and six. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We can say that much of the Old Testament is the record of how Israel failed in this duty, failed in terms of keeping God's covenant, failure in terms of living as a kingdom of priests, as a holy nation. Jesus in Luke 12, 48 says, to whom much is given, much shall be required. So Luke 20 deals with the failure of Israel. What would that mean for God's people? What would that mean for the ministry and work of Jesus? This parable and the instruction that Jesus gives gives answer to that. The failure of God's people in receiving their Messiah would lead to a great judgment. We see more of that, not just in Luke 20, but also in Luke 21. But their failure would not be the end. Their failure would not frustrate God's plans. The record of scripture is this, where Israel failed, the Lord would triumph. Psalm 118 speaks, the stone which has been rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Frustration and failure becomes the means for God to accomplish something even greater. We have that wonderful truth in Romans 5.20 where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. That is the glorious God that we serve. So we'll look at Luke 29 through 19 first by studying the parable. then considering its interpretation, and then looking at further application of it. We are reminded, even though we have been given a great calling, our own failure is not the failure or the frustration of God's faithfulness and God's plan. So let's look starting at verse nine with this parable. Luke actually skips one parable that's recorded in Matthew that doesn't need, or that need not worry us. For whatever reason, he focuses on this parable and skips over one parable that Matthew does have, but we can say this, this would be the second parable of judgment that Jesus delivered while in the temple courts in that week leading to his great suffering and death. It's a judgment parable. It would be very similar to the parable that Nathan brought to King David. It's interesting when we consider David's great sin. A king at the time of David, he could have killed anybody he wanted. In fact, he arranged for the murder of one of his faithful servants. But we can say David was convicted of his sin in that he did not have Nathan put to death after Nathan delivered that critical parable of judgment. The response here is quite different, isn't it? As Jesus, the faithful prophet, brings a word. Now, I had us read from Isaiah 5 earlier, Isaiah 5, 1 through 7. Obviously, that's part of the background. Notice that Jesus doesn't just take Isaiah 5 exactly, but he uses it as the background and puts a twist on it. In Isaiah 5, it's the failure of the vineyard to bring fruit. Here, it's not the failure of the vineyard. It's the failure of the workers. The vineyard is bringing fruit. It's the workers who are faithless. And so the parable, we can say, is realistic. A wealthy man plants a vineyard. He has other people oversee the vineyard while he goes away into a far country for a long time. He's separated from the vineyard. And when the fruit is ready to come forth the owner sends his servants or slaves, we might even say, to collect this fruit. Verses 10 through 12 here, verses 10 through 12 would be a summary of so much of Old Testament history. Here in the narrative as Jesus describes it, there are free servants that are sent, and they're all treated in wicked ways. They're beaten, they're sent away empty-handed. And one of the themes that we do see in the Old Testament is how Israel received the prophets. And even a good king, if you're familiar with King Asa, relatively speaking, he's a faithful king, but in 2 Chronicles 16, 7 through 10, you see how even A good king, a generally good king like Asa, was very cruel to one of the prophets that brought a message of rebuke against him. The owner here then determined, verse 13, what shall I do? I shall send my beloved son. And we observe here, the vinedressers knew this was not just a servant. that was sent. They recognize this is the son, and we don't need to worry about what was their logic, thinking how if they killed the son, they could somehow take the vineyard over. They're irrational, we can say, and they're evil. But they took the son, cast him out of the vineyard, and then murdered him. Verse 15. Jesus gives the question, the conclusion, what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? It's interesting as you study Matthew and Luke, there's some differences, the same message. Here, Jesus gives the answer, verse 16. He will come and destroy these vine dressers and give the vineyard to others. And those who heard Jesus, when they heard it, they said, certainly not. That phrase, certainly not, or may it not be, is a phrase you find throughout the New Testament in the book of Romans. Sometimes Paul asks a question, and he answers it with the strongest no possible. May it not be, or certainly not. It was too horrible. for those who heard this parable to accept what Jesus was saying. Too horrible for them, even though they understood it. Parables are allegorical in that they are not just about vineyards and people who are sent to collect fruit. Obviously, this has a message bigger than just the storyline. So it's a form of allegory. Now, very little in scripture we would say is allegory. We should not, generally speaking, try to interpret the Bible like it's allegorical. That would lead us in very dangerous directions. The early church often strayed. But parables, they do have an allegorical element. And we have to focus on the main storyline. What is the main storyline? This is how Israel received the prophets that God sent. That's what this parable is about. That's how it connects to the Old Testament. Now, notice it doesn't capture every detail of the Old Testament. There were times of great joy when you read the Old Testament. Often, when you're reading the Old Testament, you start in Genesis, and Genesis ends, and we go into Exodus. Exodus is exciting. You maybe stumble a little bit in Leviticus and Numbers, unless you've been to our Sunday school in the morning and you see how precious it is. Then you get into Judges. And Samuel, we have the story of David. There's some joy in that. And then you get to Kings and Chronicles. And generally speaking, they are very sad books. That leads to the judgment, the captivity in the north, the captivity and destruction of the temple in the south. So there were a few elements of joy. In some cases, there is seasons of reformation. King Hezekiah brought about a reformation. Josiah, gratefully. Received the word he shuddered at the message of judgment that the law announced He turned his heart to the Lord and there was for a brief time. There was a period of Reformation but This parable though does capture the the main storyline and it's a very sad history, isn't it? Again, God called his people, be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, but they rejected those that God sent to say, you're not doing what you have been called to do. Listen to four Old Testament passages, two from Jeremiah to begin with. This is Jeremiah 20. It talks about pasture. He was a priest and a political leader. just like we have in the New Testament. Pasher struck Jeremiah the prophet, put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. Then just a few chapters later, Jeremiah 26, 23, they brought Uriah. He was a godly prophet. They brought Uriah from Egypt, brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with a sword, cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. You see the language that Jesus is using in this parable, really it's coming from the Old Testament. In 2 Chronicles 24 verse 21, we have the last of the martyrs, Zechariah. So they conspired against him, Zechariah the prophet, and at the command of the king, they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Now in that case, they did not even take him outside to kill him. They murdered him right within the temple courts. And according to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah also would be stoned to death. Listen to Nehemiah 9 and verse 26. Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their backs, and killed your prophets who testified against them to turn them to yourself, and they worked great provocations. And yet what was the greatest failure of God's people? Is it in the Old Testament or is it in the New Testament? And the answer, the greatest rebellion of God's people, it's not in 1st or 2nd Chronicles or in Jeremiah, it's at the time of Jesus. And it's interesting, in the Old Testament, the prophets often proclaimed against their idolatry, bringing in the bales, the temple is turned into a place of abomination. The prophets are bringing a clear word against that. At the time of the New Testament, it's not idols. but rather they've taken the truth that God gave them, they've twisted it, turned their own traditions as even more important, but outwardly speaking, they're not bowing down to idols, but they're rejecting the beloved Son. It's the horror, not of bowing down to an idol, but of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 13. Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. I'll send my beloved son. Turn, if you would, back to Luke 1, 32. Luke 1, 32. The message brought to Mary is he will be great. and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. Jesus here is identifying himself as the Son. It's not the first time it's in Luke, Luke 1, obviously, Luke 1.32, but it's the first time Jesus is declaring, I am the Son, the Son that has been sent. So verses 14 and 15, they don't have to exactly parallel all that the religious leaders were doing, but they understood very clearly the point. And as I say, it is a horrible picture of the rebellion of man. Starting in verse 17, Jesus takes another passage of scripture. He's been dealing, we can say, with Isaiah chapter five. In verse 17, now he moves to Psalm 118. Psalm 118, what then is this that is written? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. And why does Jesus now move to Psalm 118? There's several reasons for that. First of all, there's a play on words, the word stone. and the word son in Hebrew or in Aramaic are similar. It's a play on words. So that's the first thing, stone and son, the rejected son and the rejected stone. Second, Jewish tradition From what we know, linked Isaiah 5 that we read earlier with the temple and Psalm 118 is also a psalm that was connected either with Passover or with the people of God going up to the temple for worship. Look back earlier in Luke 19. Verse 38, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. That's a quotation coming from Psalm 118. So the people of God have Psalm 118 in their minds, and so it makes sense that Jesus also brings up Psalm 118. Third, Psalm 118 is a psalm of rejection. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Psalm 118 was giving an encouragement to God's people, even when their king was being mocked or rejected by the other nations, the faithful in Israel were still to sing the praises of God, despite all that they might have been suffering. Do you see what Jesus is doing here? He's taking a psalm they would have had great familiarity with and he's using it against them. Jesus is in the temple using a temple psalm against these religious leaders. Jesus also uses this to show what? The parable ends just with judgment. He will come and destroy the bind dressers and give the vineyard to others. That's a message of judgment. Now in Psalm 118, Jesus shows death is not the end. There is going to be judgment, but for Jesus, there will be resurrection and exaltation. Then look at verse 18. Whoever falls on that stone will be broken But on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Jesus is now taking two more passages from the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 8, 14 and 15, and also Daniel chapter 2. Listen to Isaiah chapter 8. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock offense to both the houses of Israel as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble they shall fall and be broken be snared and taken Jesus is taking the words of Isaiah 8 and says this is applying to me in Isaiah chapter 8 Yahweh the Lord is the Hebrew name there, Yahweh. Yahweh will be the place of refuge. He will also be that which causes men to stumble and fall. Maybe you've heard people say, well, why doesn't Jesus claim to be God? Why doesn't Jesus just go out and say, I am God? Well, he does so, but just not in ways people are able to always understand. Jesus is taking Isaiah 8 and saying this is fulfilled in me." Jesus is also then taking the great language of Daniel 2, that stone that's cut without hands that destroys the other kingdoms, and Jesus is saying, this is fulfilled in me. In fact, the atheist, the scoffer, doesn't really understand how, indeed, how great the claims of Jesus are. We think of the familiar words of C.S. Lewis, Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or he is the Lord. Jesus is who he claimed to be, or he is the greatest liar and deceiver that has ever lived. Notice the call of the gospel in the words of Jesus. Whoever falls on that stone will be broken, but on whoever it falls it will grind him to powder. There is only one way of salvation, and let us never be ashamed of standing boldly on that. The pressure to conform to the spirit of this age is so, so very great. And this has been going on for a long time, where supposed Christians have said, no, the goal is to get people to be better Muslims, to be better Hindus, not to try to bring them to Jesus, but get them to be better in terms of their own faith, tradition, and the like. That's not the message of salvation that we offer. Look again at verse 19. The chief priests and the scribes, that very hour, sought to lay hands on him, but they feared the people for they knew he had spoken this parable against him. They wanted to kill Jesus that very hour. That would not be God's plan, though just a few days later things would change. This parable is not about earning God's favor. It's about receiving the Son. Now, to whom much has been given, much shall be required. We do understand that, but this is about receiving the truth, the message that Jesus brings, the light of God's grace in Christ. And we think of how the history of the Old Testament, it is a powerful reminder of man's condition. If God's people had the truth, they had the law. It's not a lack of information. that is at the root of man's problem. Yes, man does need to be directed by the Lord, but having a Bible does not save anyone. How many people have a Bible somewhere in their home? Someone said that the greatest dust storm would be if people got out their Bibles and read them, but having a Bible doesn't save you. You need God's truth. But Israel, they had everything they needed. That was not going to be salvation. Being part of God's covenant, to hear the truth of God from your earliest days is a tremendous blessing. We believe that. We celebrate that, that God often determines to work in the lives of his people. There are special promises given to the children of professing and believing parents, but even being part of God's covenant, is not sufficient for salvation. In John 1 and John 3, we have two powerful statements that Jesus and John brought together. We know John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And then John 1, 11, he came to his own and his own did not receive him. Maybe you've asked this question, why don't more people believe in the true God? When I was at the U of I, I had the assignment of picking up an atheist for a debate that was being held there. And one of the arguments of the atheist was, there cannot be a God because so many people do not believe in that God. It was a rather foolish argument, but he was trying to make a point. And we might be asked that question. If Christianity is the only true religion, why are there so many people that don't believe in Jesus? It's an interesting question, but we can't answer that like we can answer other questions. There is an element of mystery in God's plan. We know that God is sovereign, but you know what would be a better question than some of those? How could I be more faithful in reaching others with the truth? Are there ways that I could be more useful in greater service? Do I pray sincerely for those who are lost in this? And what am I doing to spread the truth? Turn, if you would, to Romans 11. In Romans 9 through 11, you know these chapters very well. Paul, the Apostle Paul, wrestles with some of the most challenging truths in all of Scripture. God's sovereignty, man's rebellion, God's choice, and the judgment that comes when man does not turn to the truth. In Romans 11, let me start reading in verse 19. as we go through the book of Luke, so many times you see how the Apostle Paul takes what's found in the Gospels and applies it to the particular situation. So in Luke 29-19, the parable of the wicked vine dressers, the Apostle Paul in many ways is taking that parable as the basis for what he gives us instruction on. I'll start in verse 19, Romans 11. You will say then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well said. Because of unbelief, they were broken off. And you stand in faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either. Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell. Severity. But toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? So the Apostle Paul is dealing with some of the most challenging doctrines, but then notice the great benediction that ends Romans 11. This is where we must always end in some of these discussions. Verse 33, Romans 11, starting with verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments. and his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we must bow in submission to you, in thankfulness for your truth, but we must always stand in awe. We can only go as far as you have directed us. The rest we must leave unto you, not in doubt, but in trust, not in skepticism, but in worship. And so strengthen us. What you have revealed, that is the main thing that we should consider. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God. The things that have been revealed are for us and for our children. Heavenly Father, we pray indeed for your great work. Even in these very dark times, we pray for the advancement of your kingdom, the spread of your glorious gospel. Let us be more faithful as we work and labor in your vineyard to be those faithful servants. Work in our own families, oh Lord, we pray. Work in the life of this congregation for your glory. We ask all of this in Jesus'