Good morning. Our message this morning is going to be from Mark chapter 12, and it is verses 1 through 12. And the title of the message is Man's Depravity on Display in God's Vineyard. Sam accused me of using a Puritan title this morning because it was so long, but it kind of is. I've tried to make them a little bit shorter, but this was the only way I could really really say what I wanted to say in the title. So Mark 12, one through 12, man's depravity on display in God's vineyard. Let's read it. 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 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 even 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. Father, we just thank you for this word and we thank you Oh Lord, we just thank you for revealing these things to us, for making your purpose clear, for teaching us through your word. And we ask that you be with us this morning as we look into this text, that you help us to understand this parable, that you help us to see how it applies to us and what it means to us and how we can grow from it in our worship of you. Lord, we thank you for these things in Jesus' name, amen. So Mark chapters 11 through 16 are an account of the last week of Jesus' earthly life and ministry. And they lead up to his death, burial, and resurrection. At the beginning of chapter 11 was the account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. down from the Mount of Olives and across the Kidron Valley, riding on the colt of a donkey, and then through the Eastern Gate and into the Temple. Every detail perfectly fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies of how the Messiah was going to enter Jerusalem. The glory of the Lord that Ezekiel saw depart from Israel's Temple. Ezekiel had a vision and he saw the glory of the Lord depart from the Temple. and go up and rest on the Mount of Olives whenever Judah was taken into captivity. Well, that same glory incarnate descended from the Mount of Olives, crossed the Kidron Valley, and reentered the temple in order to cleanse it and make it new. Then in the middle of chapter 11, Jesus began to do just that. But first he stopped to pass judgment on a fig tree that was in full leaf, but it wasn't bearing any fruit. And as we learned, fig trees produce leaves and fruit at the same time. So being in full leaf, it should have had fruit on it. It appeared to be something that it was not. And so Jesus stopped and he passed judgment on that tree. The cursing of the fig tree was an object lesson. The tree represented the barren Jewish religious system of laws and rituals and sacrifices. Judaism was just covered up with religious leaves, but it was completely devoid of the spirit of God, so it produced no fruit. Well, then Jesus went on to the temple and he turned over the tables of the money changers and the sellers of the doves, and he prevented people from bringing merchandise, in other words, livestock, into the temple to sell. And then he began to teach from Isaiah 56 that the true purpose of the temple was to shine God's light into the darkness of this world and to bring people from all nations into communion with the true and living God. That's the fruit that the Lord was requiring from his fig tree. It's also the fruit that he's looking for from his vineyard in our text that we're gonna look at today. Well, instead of using this massive temple complex that they had, along with all the scriptures and the sacrifices pointing to Christ, and all the light that was there in Israel, instead of using that to proclaim the glory and the majesty and the mercy and the salvation and love of God, the religious leadership of Israel was focused on the leaves of religious trappings and making a nice profit off of those who came to the temple to worship. Jesus indicted them for turning his father's house into a den of robbers. Then, as Jesus and the disciples were returning to the temple the next morning, the disciples noticed that the fig tree had withered. And Jesus explained to them that they should put their faith in God. When they got back to the temple, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, in other words, the Sanhedrin, this ruling religious council was waiting whenever Jesus got to the temple and they confronted him, wanting to know by what authority he was doing these things. By what authority are you shutting down our program? By what authority Are you turning these tables over and running off these fine merchants and stopping all this good commerce from going on? And Jesus answered them by pointing to the true and only source of all authority. He asked them if the authority by which John the Baptist was carrying out his ministry before he was executed, if it was from heaven, or if he was operating on his own authority. They couldn't answer. Of course, his authority was from heaven, but they couldn't answer. Because if they admitted that John's authority came from heaven, they would have to recognize Jesus' authority as well, because John testified of Jesus. On the other hand, If they claimed John was operating on his own authority, they'd be in trouble with the common people because they all held John to be a real prophet. Since they refused to answer, Jesus told them that he wouldn't answer them either. However, he actually did. He did answer them. Implicit in what he asked them about John was this truth. The only real source of authority is heaven. All authority comes from God. All truth comes from God, it's all God's truth. When Jesus cleansed the temple, he was acting on the authority of his father. And his own authority as the glory of God incarnate. The one who came down from heaven to do the will of his father. And then, Jesus immediately confronted them with this parable that we're looking at today. I know chapter 12 is another chapter, but there is no, in the original text, there wasn't a chapter right there. And there is no indication that he didn't say, nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things, and then immediately begin the parable that we're looking at today. There's no indication that that's not what happened. So I think that it is. He said, nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things, and then he immediately began teaching this parable. Because they were there when he was teaching the parable. a man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it. And verse 12 tells us that they understood the parable. So he tells them, they have a conversation about authority, and then immediately he tells them this parable and they understood the parable. Typically, unbelievers didn't understand the parables of Jesus. He explained that to his disciples in Mark chapter four, verses 10 through 12. We're gonna look at it right quick. Back in Mark chapter four, he had just told the parable of the soils. Parable of the soils. I believe Brother Wayne just covered it a couple of weeks ago on Wednesday night. Looked into it again. And we had looked into it when we were back in Mark 4. But Jesus had just told the parable of the soils. And then in Mark chapter 4, verses 10 through 12, the disciples asked him about the parables. It says, as soon as he was alone, his followers, along with the 12, began asking him about the parables. And he was saying to them, to you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God. But those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand. Otherwise, they might return and be forgiven. So, typically, unbelievers didn't understand the parables. They didn't get it. However, the meaning of this parable wasn't hidden. It was a different kind of parable. It was very clear to the Sanhedrin what he meant. He meant for them to understand it. They knew that God was the landowner. They knew that Jesus was the son, and they knew that they were the vine growers. I want us to think about that as we look into this text today, and I want us to think about the helpless depravity of the unconverted human heart. I'm not sure if there is any more pitiful condition in the world than natural human depravity. Leprosy is a terrible condition. You know, it's funny because the Bible uses leprosy as a metaphor for sin, for the natural depravity of man. Cancer is a terrible condition. There are lots of terrible conditions out there. But I don't think there's anything more terrible or tragic than natural human depravity. Let's look at verse one. 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 winepress. and built a tower and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. He did a lot in that verse. So Jesus introduces this parable by setting up the same scenario that we had in our scripture reading this morning from Isaiah chapter five, verses one through seven. The parables aren't exactly the same. But the metaphors are basically the same. And the problem is basically the same, and the outcome is basically the same. The only real difference is that Isaiah is focused on the collective depravity and rebellion of all the grapevines in the vineyard. Isaiah describes their fruit as b'yishim, b'yishim. The King James Version renders it wild grapes. The New American Standard renders it worthless ones. You know what the word literally means? Worthless, stinking, poisoned berries. That's what the vineyard was producing. That is the natural fruit of human depravity. Worthless, stinking, poisoned berries. Listen to how Paul describes the fruit of natural human depravity from Galatians chapter five. In Galatians chapter five, beginning verse 19, Paul says, now the deeds of the flesh, this is the fruit of human depravity. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's the natural fruit of human depravity. In Jesus' parable, however, he's focusing not on the fruit of the vines themselves, but on the wickedness of those who are supposed to be tending the vines and helping them. Those who are supposed to be the vine growers that are helping them to produce an abundant harvest for the owner of the vineyard. In both parables, the vineyard is Israel. Except Isaiah is talking about national Israel and Jesus is talking about the true Israel. He's talking about the kingdom of God that was present within national Israel. In many cases, it was only a remnant. But it was still there. I've driven, actually I was riding, Charlie's brother was driving, but I've ridden through wine country in Germany and France, and you see miles and miles of hillsides covered with rows of grapevines. Ancient farming practices were a little bit different. A vineyard in ancient Palestine would have been a few acres on the side of a hill with a stone wall around it to discourage animals and thieves from getting into it. It would have had an elevated watchtower on which someone could stand during, they didn't stand there all the time, but during production time for the grapes, when they were beginning to ripen. If you ever grow fruit or grapes, you'll notice that they'll stay on the vine for a long time, or tomatoes. The instant they start to ripen, the thieves come and they're going to steal that fruit. And that's what the watchtower was for. The tower is put there so that when it comes time for the fruit to ripen, somebody can stand on that tower and be there to run the predators off, to run the animals or the human thieves that come after the fruit. And they would also have a vat to catch the grape juice. as it was extracted from the grapes, whether they did it with a press or whether they stomped the grapes. And it worked both ways. Now, I have a couple of pictures that I have found to help us with the visual imagery. So this is actually a vineyard in Palestine. And you can see the stone wall there. And you can see it's not very large. It's not huge. It's not miles and miles of hillside. But that's what Jesus would have had in mind in this parable that he's talking about. It's something like that. And then I have another one. I wasn't able to find one with a picture of that, but this one has the watchtower. So see, it has this tower that overlooks the vineyard here. during the time of production, somebody can stand up there and watch and see if either a human or an animal thief is after the grapes. So that's what we're looking at. That gives us a visual image of what this parable is about. Now, of course, the parable is a metaphor. And all the elements in the parable are metaphors. But I think it will help us understand the metaphors if we kind of have a picture in our minds of what he was describing. So as you can see from all of this, that would have been a, you do all of that from scratch, that's a pretty sizable investment that the landowners put in this little piece of property. And he builds this thing, and he does all of it. He clears the land. removes the stones, he plants the grape vines, he gets it all ready, he builds the wall around it, he builds the tower, he puts in the vat for the extraction of the grape juice to make the wine, he gets it all set up and ready to go, and then he hires these guys to take care of the vineyard, and he doesn't hire them for wages, he hires them for a portion of the harvest. They're basically sharecroppers. This part of the country, we know what a sharecropper is, or was. I don't think they do that anymore. But they didn't have the same upfront investment as the landowner, but they still had a vested interest in getting a successful crop, because that's how they make a profit. If they take good care of the land, it produces a good crop, the owner's happy, and they're happy. So with that being the case, even though they didn't own the property, they still have an interest in it succeeding. So they wouldn't be on quite the same level as a hireling, because they do have an interest in the outcome. But they're not the same as they would be if they were actually the owner. So let's look at verses two and three. At the harvest time, the landowner sent a slave to the vine growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine growers. So when it comes time for harvest, assuming it's probably been a year or so, the landowner still hasn't returned. But he sends a servant to the vine growers as his representative to receive his share of the vineyard's production. Rather than honoring their agreement with the owner of the property, they beat up his servant and they keep all the harvest for themselves. Now, isn't that amazing? It's like they believe that the owner will never return to claim what belongs to him. What happens in our world if you renege on a contract like that? I mean, you're gonna lose everything you've got. You might wind up in prison. But it's like they think there will never be a day of reckoning. Listen to Psalm 10, verses four through 13. The wicked in the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him. All his thoughts are there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says to himself, I will not be moved throughout all generations. I will not be in adversity. His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. He sits in the lurking places of the village, in the hiding places he kills the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair. He lurks to catch the afflicted. He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, and the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. He says to himself, God has forgotten. He has hidden his face, he will never see. And then also, Ecclesiastes. Chapter eight, verse 11. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. Landover's way, he's in a far country. He's off on a journey. He doesn't know. Let's look at verses four and five. 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. Before I get too far, my wife shared something about herself in Sunday school this morning. I'm going to embarrass her a little bit. It's a pretty good illustration of verses 2 and 3 and of what we were talking about there with People acting like God doesn't see, doesn't know, and there'll never be a day of reckoning. Before my wife was converted, she said, you know, she'd start reading the Bible, and she'd be convicted by something, and she would just immediately stop. She was afraid to read the Bible. She felt like as long as she didn't know what was in there, then she wasn't accountable to it. It's like an ostrich, you know, with their head in the sand. If I can't see God, He can't see me. That's the way humanity operates. That's part of that natural depravity. And then verses four and five, they just continue and they go farther and farther. He sent servant after servant. He was extremely patient. with the vine growers, mercifully patient. He sends many servants to him and he gives them opportunity after opportunity to repent and do the right thing. But they refused. And they just kept going from bad to worse. They killed some of the servants and they beat others, but they didn't listen to any of them. And they didn't bear fruit for their landlord. Of course, The owner of the vineyard was God, the vineyard was Israel, and the vine growers were the priests and the Levites, the religious leaders of Israel. God formed the nation. Oh, and the slaves, the messengers, they were the prophets that God sent to them. God formed the nation. of Israel from the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He gave them a country to live in. He made Himself known to them. He gave them the Old Testament Scriptures. He made a conditional covenant with them. The Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant. Do this and you will live. Do this and I will prosper you. If you do this, then I will do this. If you don't do this, then I will cast you off. It was very conditional. And by the way, they'd never kept that covenant. Not even for a minute. But he gave it to them. And he gave them mercy even when they broke it. And he promised to reward them generously if they would just trust and obey him, if they would depend on his provision, if they would follow his covenant. And then he appointed priests and the Levites to guide the people and to teach them how to love God and their fellow man. See, this is the equivalent of clearing the land, planting the grapes, building the wall around it, putting up the watchtower. God did all of these things. And He created this nation that was supposed to be holy, supposed to be set apart and live for Him. See, there's a problem with this, though. The problem with this is that the priests and the Levites were depraved human beings, just like everybody else that's born under the sun, a child of Adam. Every part of their being was corrupted by sin and selfishness. We call this the doctrine of total human depravity. Total human depravity doesn't mean that you're as bad as you could be. You may be a really good person. It just means that every part of your being is corrupted by sin because every part of your being and nature and character is at enmity with God. You would be like God deciding good and evil for yourself. You would be sovereign. You would be on the throne. And I would too. That is our natural condition that we're born in. It doesn't mean that we're even morally bad. There's lots of really moral good people out there that are still totally depraved because they are the sovereign of their lives. their hearts, their thoughts. Every part of their being was corrupted by sin and selfishness. They had plenty of information about God in the scriptures. And they had plenty of rules telling them how they ought to live. But they didn't have the Spirit of God in them actually giving them life. So they always broke the covenant, and the only fruit they produced was worthless, stinking, poisonous berries. Listen to Jeremiah chapter five. Jeremiah chapter five, verses 30 and 31. An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority, and my people love it so. But what will you do at the end of it? See, God did send many true prophets to call the nation to repentance. He called, he sent prophets to call the people to faithfully bear fruit for God. But you know what they did? They celebrated the false prophets. They celebrated the ones that said, peace, peace, when there wasn't any peace. But they stoned the ones who told them to repent and trust the Lord. They killed the true prophets because they couldn't bear to hear them. Verse six says, he had one more to send, a beloved son. He sent him last of all to them saying, they will respect my son. So at this point, Jesus introduces another character to the parable. The one, the only, the unique and beloved son. The true heir to the vineyard. Now, of course, in reality, God knew that the religious leaders of Israel were going to reject Jesus. He spoke the end from the beginning. He works all things after the counsel of his will. He grew the tree that was going to be cut down for the cross. And he made the iron ore that was going to make the nails. See, God was sovereign. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Did you know that that Psalm is talking about the crucifixion? And that is the spirit of Christ speaking those words about the day of his own death on the cross. And he's saying, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. See, God was sovereign over every detail. of the rejection and crucifixion of his son. It's not that he didn't know it was going to happen. And he makes it also very clear from Psalm 2, which we'll look at in a little bit. But from a human perspective, the landowner sends his son as the one with the rightful legal authority over the vineyards. Those who have been given the privilege of stewardship over the vineyard should, from a human perspective, respect the status of the legal heir to the property. You would think, wouldn't you? You know, Paul tells us in Romans 1 that this is the judgment against man, and this is why the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against us, because although we knew God, The knowledge of God is evident within us, but although we knew God, we failed to honor Him as God or give thanks, and our foolish heart was dark. See, Paul says in Acts 17, when he's preaching there on Mars Hill, he says, the God who is gives to all men everywhere, life and breath and all things. We're just stewards. We don't own anything. The vineyard's not ours. God owns it all and he gives it to all freely. But we don't honor him or give thanks or bear fruit. Even though he's the one that has the rightful legal authority over it all. In Him we live and move and have our being. He has legal authority over us. But we don't honor Him as God or give thanks or worship or bow. We would be as God. Let's look at verses seven and eight. 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. Can you imagine? Think about this thing. Jesus is talking to the Sanhedrin and these people have been planning for months to kill him as soon as they can. They've been looking for a way. They've been trying to figure out how to trap him. They've been testing him. They've been scheming and planning, trying to find a way to get rid of him. And he looked those chief priests and scribes and elders right in the eyes, and he told them every dark thing that was in their hearts. Right there. in front of God and everybody. He called them out. The Son of God, the one and only true heir to the vineyard, has come to claim what is His, and they can think of nothing else but how are we going to kill this guy? How are we going to get rid of him? Because they want to rule over the vineyard themselves. They want to rule. I am the captain of my fate. I am the master of my soul. That's human depravity. See this, this world, the beastly system of this world, And the unconverted people, even moral, upstanding religious leaders, are naturally at enmity with God and would kill Him if they could. Displace Him. I know that's true without a doubt because it already happened. He came in the flesh. But we're not like that though. Really? It would happen again today. Jesus came into this world of darkness and he didn't do anything but heal people and love them and speak the truth to everybody everywhere. He spoke light into this dark world, but he spoke it with absolute authority. Absolute authority. 2,000 years ago, Jesus spoke with authority and he was crucified because of it. Can you imagine what the tolerance police would do to someone today if they spoke with the authority of Jesus? Sure you can. You can just look around and see what they do to somebody that just speaks truth, even though they don't have any authority of their own. But they couldn't bear Jesus. I just want to point out some things about the doctrine of total human depravity before we move on. See, this is the, this is that pitiful helplessness that I was talking about earlier of our depraved condition. It's the most pitiful condition there is. We're slaves to our own desire for autonomy. When I first came to the doctrines of grace, I realized really quickly, all you have to do to really get in trouble is speak the doctrines of grace to somebody who's a real strong proponent of my own free will. I chose God, and I'll have you know that. I'll have you know a lot of things, I can't repeat most of them. People get really upset. Why do they get so upset? They get upset because you're attacking their God. They have themselves up here on this pedestal. I'm the sovereign. How dare you say that I'm not? That's the nature of human depravity. The first thing I want us to understand is from a human perspective, these folks that Jesus is talking to and telling this parable about, they're good people. They're moral people. They're upstanding and respected and they're religious. And the second thing I want to point out is these people knew Who Jesus was, they knew what he did. They knew that he created food out of thin air and fed thousands of people. He didn't do those things in a corner. They knew that he gave sight to people who were born blind. And as the one blind man in John chapter nine pointed out to the Sanhedrin, he said, not since the beginning of the world has it ever been known that somebody who was born blind has been given sight. and you wonder where this man came from. See, they knew. He healed every malady known to man, and he even raised people from the dead, and they knew it. They knew that he expounded the scriptures like no one ever had before. They sent soldiers to arrest him one day and the soldiers came back and they said, well, where is he? The soldier said, no man has ever spoken as this man speaks. And they knew that he knew what was in their hearts because he just told them what was in their hearts. And all they could think about was killing him before he took away their vineyard. That's the doctrine of total human depravity in a nutshell. Verses nine through 11. So Jesus asked him, 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 even 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. In Isaiah's version of the parable, the owner destroys the vineyard because it fails to produce good fruit. In this parable, Jesus doesn't say the owner's gonna come and destroy the vineyard. He's going to come and destroy the vine growers and give the vineyard to others. And just in case, They didn't understand what he was saying from the parable. Mark doesn't record it, but in Matthew's account, he records in chapter 21, verse 43, that Jesus went on to tell them explicitly, just in case they didn't understand the parable, Jesus went on to tell them, therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it. It's gonna be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it. What does that mean, given to a people producing the fruit of it? The destruction of the vine growers was fulfilled in 70 AD. The temple was destroyed, the Jewish sacrificial system was destroyed, Judaism was basically eradicated. It's never been practiced the way it was before 70 AD, not since then. There are people still following some of the traditions. There's people that keep the feasts here and there to a degree, not as they were prescribed under the law. But to actually follow the system of Judaism and live under the law is impossible. You can't do it now. The temple's not there. And it was the centerpiece. So that was eradicated. The priesthood, the Levitical priesthood was done away. Now the commentaries say that what Jesus meant by giving the kingdom to a people producing the fruit of it was that Jesus meant that he was going to take the kingdom away from the Jews and give it to the Gentiles. I don't agree with that. Yes, it's not a matter of Jew or Gentile, that's the issue. The physical nation of Israel was a type, a shadow, of the true Israel, the vineyard. And it was destroyed. But the vineyard was not destroyed. It was taken from those unconverted leaders of the Jewish religion who rejected Christ, and it was given to a people both Jew and Gentile, who have been reconciled to God through faith in Christ. And they will bear the fruit of it. At this point, Jesus quotes Psalm 118, 22 and 23. He says, 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. That's in that same psalm where this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. It's talking about the crucifixion and Jesus is saying, yeah, you guys are gonna reject me, you're gonna kill me and cast me out of the vineyard, I'm the cornerstone. The kingdom is gonna be taken from you and it's gonna be given to a people who have faith in me, who are reconciled to God in me. See, the kingdom, the vineyard, is founded on Him. And the people it's given to are those who have the Spirit of God in them, giving them faith in Him, and ethnic heritage doesn't have a single thing to do with it, not at all. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3, 28 and 29. If you are in Christ, you are a citizen of the kingdom of God. And all the promises of God that He's ever made are fulfilled for you in Christ as a citizen of the kingdom, as a true Israelite. 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. See, when they heard this, they wanted to seize Jesus right then. They wanted to kill him. Because they knew the parable was about then. But they feared the people, so they left him and they went away. So, what do we take away from this? Well, the big lesson for me in this is something that's kind of subtle. We could miss it because it's not explicitly stated. But I think the big lesson for me in this is the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit to bring about true conversion and cause fruit to be produced. Scripture and law and religion, apart from the Holy Spirit showing a person the glory of God in Christ. All of those things, apart from the Holy Spirit, opening a person's eyes to see Christ is only going to produce religious leaves like it produced on that fig tree. just religious trappings. It's never gonna bring about repentance toward God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord uses his word. He uses his gospel message. It's an absolute necessity. But you can have all the information in the world, and without the Holy Spirit, you have nothing. That's the doctrine of total human depravity. We are helpless. We're helpless. There's actually several pictures of that. Jeremiah describes us as being like an infant laying on the ground. What could a newborn human baby do to survive? Nothing. We quickly die. That's our condition. We can't do anything to help ourselves or come to God. He has to come to us by his spirit. He has to impart life to us. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man or any man to enter the kingdom of God. With people, it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. This is, my wife pointed something out to me last night that I would have completely missed if she hadn't been paying attention and pointed it out, but this is, today is Pentecost. 50 days since Passover. I think that's kind of fitting because that's really the point of this parable and our message today is that it's the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. You can have all the knowledge, all the information, all the good works, all the rituals, all the religion, you can have everything that the flesh can produce and not have a single bit of fruit. And that's the picture that Jesus is painting of the nation of Israel with the law and the prophets and all the things that it had under the Mosaic covenant. But it just continued to fail. It could never succeed. It's a picture of total human depravity. But on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down in power. 3,000 people are converted. And we have this church, we have this kingdom of God, this kingdom that Christ is building, this temple, this Israel of God, that every single one of them has the Holy Spirit in them. The top, there were some people in the Old Testament nation of Israel that had the Spirit, there were some. There was always a remnant. The vast majority, however, did not. But in the new covenant, people of God, they all know me, even from the least, even to the greatest. And that's why they bear fruit. If the Spirit is there, He's gonna bear fruit. And if He's not, there'll only be leaves. Let's pray. Father, we thank You. for your grace and mercy. Lord, we ask that as a church you fill us to the overflowing with your spirit. As individuals, Lord, we need your spirit. We need the truth, yes, but we need your spirit applying the truth to our hearts and our minds and our lives, or the truth does us no good at all. Lord, send your spirit to fill us, to guide us, to comfort us, to empower us, and to stir us up to bear fruit for you, for your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you for all of these things in Jesus' name.