Luke chapter 20 and verse 9 Luke 20 and verse 9. Then began
he to speak to the people this parable. A certain man planted
a vineyard and led it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far
country for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant
to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit
of the vineyard. But the husbandmen beat him and
sent him away empty. And again, he sent another servant,
and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him
away empty. And again, he sent a third, and
they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of
the vineyard, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be they will reverence
him when they see him. But when the husbandmen 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. What therefore shall the
Lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy
these husbandmen and shall give the vineyard to others. And when
they heard it, they said, God forbid. And he beheld them and
said, what is this then that is written? The stone which the
builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but on
whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And
the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands
on him, and they feared the people, for they perceived that he had
spoken this parable against them." Again, as we have seen several
times in our studies, we see the Lord pictured as a householder,
as a gardener, a farmer. Here we see he plants a vineyard. And the householder, as we've
seen really in all of our studies, is the one who's in authority.
Everything belongs to him. And it's been several years ago,
we looked at a similar passage in Matthew chapter 21, and I'll
be referring to that because there are some things in that
passage that are not specifically mentioned in this account of
it. But the Lord owns the whole thing. It's his land, it's his house,
it's his vineyard, it's his earth, it's his plants, it's his fruits,
it's his hedge, his winepress, his tower, his servants, and
he's the one who said go, and they went. And this is the first
thing we need to realize and we need to see something here.
In verse 17 it says, he beheld them and said, what is this then
that is written? The stone which the builders
rejected, the same has become the head of the corner." They
didn't reverence his son in the story. And that's what's being
talked about here. But he is the chief cornerstone.
And how they dealt with his son before, he's saying, what am
I going to do? And he didn't say, I'm going to destroy them.
But when he sent his son, and they did what they did to him,
and he said, It's over. You're goners. This is the condemnation. That God's light came into this
world and we loved our darkness and hated God's light. That's
the condemnation. And we need to understand here
that he is the chief cornerstone. He is the head of the corner.
He tells this parable and then he asks this question to apply
that truth to the parable. He uses one verse of scripture
to reveal to them the point of all. of the story and the consequences that are the result of it. And
the reason I want to look at it now is because everything
we see in the parable should be seen through the eyes of that
understanding. He beheld them and said, what
is this then that is written? Because you see, they said, God
forbid, this is a terrible story. It's a disaster. Everybody dies.
God forbid. And in effect, he's saying, what
do you mean, God forbid? It's written. This is what's
going to happen. What is this then? If this is
something that shouldn't happen, why is it written? The stone
which the builders rejected, the same, has become the head
of the stone, a corner. This same Jesus whom you crucified,
whom you thought not worthy, You thought him worthy of killing
him in the worst way you could think of to kill him. But here's
what God thinks of him. He's highly exalted. And he has made
him both Lord and Christ. And so that's what this whole
parable is about. It's about Christ rejected, Christ
exalted, and the consequence of not bowing to him, not reverencing
God's son. He's despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was crucified,
bearing our sins, the sins of his elect, in his own body on
the tree, but he was exalted. That's that one verse that is
the culmination of this whole story. He's exalted and given
a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ,
the householder's son, is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And we see that all of this, in every detail, in circumstance,
in purpose, in implementation, in the perpetuation of it, in
the completion of it, it is the Lord. Listen to Matthew 21. Again, I said I was gonna refer
back because this is the same thing. Listen to Matthew 21,
42. You'll recognize our text in it, but also something else.
Jesus saith unto them, did you never read the scriptures? You're
saying, God forbid, have you read God's word? The stone which
the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. That's Matthew 21, 42. And we
see something else here. To those who know him, who love
him, to his sheep, we see him rejected. We see Him exalted. We see Him given a name which
is above every name. And we see this, to those who
know who He is, He's the Son. Surely that they'll reverence
my Son. No, but some will. And you know what they're gonna
say? This is marvelous. Some are gonna say, God forbid.
Others are gonna say, this is marvelous. This is marvelous. It's, you know why it's marmalade?
It's the Lord's doing. That's what it says. He's the
one who planted the vineyard. He said in another parable that
Satan sowed tares among the wheat in a similar parable where the
Lord owns property and plants seed. Satan sowed tares among
the wheat and there are weeds in the vineyard too. There's
weeds everywhere. Something's planted in this world. This world is full of weeds.
But the ones which the Lord planted are his loved ones. Just because
Satan planted some weeds doesn't make it Satan's field. It's not
his field. God still loves his world because
it's his and his vines are in it, his wheat, his elect, his
grapes, his fruit. And he'll deal with the weeds
in his own time, as he said. He'll separate the wheat from
the chaff and the chaff will be burned up. because it's his
vineyard. And in a similar parable in Matthew
13, he said, this is what the kingdom of God is like. The one
who sowed the good seed is the son of man. The field is his
world. And the good seed are the children
of the kingdom. So the The elements of our text
are clear. And of course God loves his kingdom
and his children. It doesn't mean he loves weeds.
He loves his kingdom. He loves his world. He loves
his vineyard. Because the vineyard is not just
a piece of property. It's what he planted. What he
nourishes. The fruit that he brings forth.
He loves his own. It says also in Matthew's version
that he put a hedge around it. What a beautiful picture. He
puts a hedge around it. Anything that would come in and
steal, that would damage the grapes, he protects against that. Matthew 21, 33. There was a certain
householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about. This
is the parallel passage, Matthew 21, verses 33 through 40 something. There was a certain householder
which planted a vineyard and he hedged it round about. We're
gonna talk about these different elements. He hedged it, he digged
a wine press in it. Why have a vineyard if you're
not gonna make any wine? And he built a tower in it. And
he led it out to husbandmen and went on a far journey. So you
see the Those details are not in our version of it in Luke,
but it's the same picture. There's a hedge around all of
God's people. As a people, as a church, there's
a hedge around this church. There's a hedge around each one
of his sheep, individually. Satan said to God, when the Lord
said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there's
none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth
God and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made a
hedge about him? So why does he put a hedge around us? That
we might fear him, that we might love him, that we might not stray.
The hedge is not just to protect us from danger from the outside. The hedge is to keep us in because
God knows us, doesn't he? He knows us. You made a hedge about him and
about his house and about all that he hath on every side. I pray that often for my family.
God put a hedge around my children. And Satan went on to say, you've
blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased
in the land. You did that. He said to God,
you did that for Job. That's right, sure did. And we
see there in Matthew's version that there's a hedge around his
entire kingdom, the whole thing, all of his people. Each one of
us individually, Job had a hedge around him. But also, Christ
said, all of his people, he said, they're in my hand and none can
pluck them out. He said, all that the Father gave me, I'm
not gonna lose any of them. Why? Because of his hedge. He's
not gonna let it happen. the hedge of his sovereign protection
under the blood of Jesus, safe though the worlds may crumble,
safe though the stars grow dim. Christ in his shed blood is the
hedge. His hand, his pierced hand. And in Matthew 21.33 it also
says he digged a winepress. There's a place in the vineyard
where the whole purpose of the vineyard comes to fruition. The
point of having a vineyard is to make wine. And what is that? What is that
wine press? You know what that is? It's the
same thing as the hedge. The hedge is Christ. What's the
winepress? It's Christ. Listen to Isaiah
63, 1. Who is this that cometh from
Edom, with dyed garments from Basra? This that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength.
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art
thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth
in the wine fat? I have trodden the winepress
alone. That's why his garments are red,
because he's trodden the winepress alone. And of the people, there
was none with me. What is my protection, my security?
Christ, the hedge. Where does all of the purpose
of God's kingdom come to fulfillment and fruition? Christ crucified. The winepress. And he built a
tower. I have no doubt that this tower,
this fortified structure, that's the meaning of the word, is God's
temple. That's what it's referring to,
the place of worship and sacrifice and singing of praises unto God.
There's always been a place of worship for the people of God,
and that's the tower. We go in, the church is the refuge. But really the church is Christ,
it's wherever he is. Where's the tower? Well, it's
here in, no, it's up there in Lexington. No, it's over in Danville.
No, it's wherever Christ is. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, there I am. He's our strong and mighty tower.
The church is just another way of saying we're in Christ. Are
you a member of the church? You're a member of his body.
Is that what the scripture said? David said in Psalm 18, two,
the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. He's my tower,
my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn of
my salvation and my high tower, the son of God. And he led it
out to husbandmen. This is the Jews. He's talking
to the Pharisees here, the Jewish religious leaders who had the
authority in the temple and in the worship, so-called worship
then of God. and represented the stiff-necked
and rebellious Jews of all ages. He said, you've been killing
my prophets from the start. He accused the Pharisees of that. They weren't even alive then.
He said, you're the same one. You're their sons. You're just
like them. You're of your father, the devil. The devil's been doing
this from the start, and you're of your father, the devil. In
our text, the Lord applies this. in such a way that it's clear
that the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees are
the husbandmen here. The servants that our Lord sent
to receive the wine are clearly his true prophets
and preachers and apostles. They're the ones that are killed
by the wretches that pretended to be, you know, in charge of
the whole thing. They're the ones who preach the
gospel of Christ. Ephesians 4.11, and he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. So we all come in
the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ. They're involved in the work
of God, receiving the fruit of his vineyard. Paul said, we plant
and water, God gives increase. Neither is he that planteth anything,
nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. He's
the husbandman. It's his vineyard, the glory's
all his. Whatever is produced, it's his.
And our Lord said, herein is my father glorified that you
bear much fruit. The fruit is God receiving glory. That's what God gets. What can
you give God? He made everything. He owns everything. He is everything. He's in this
for the glory. You can mark that down. That's what He receives from
making a universe and putting some people in it. He gets glory. So that's the fruit. And what
is it that glorifies Him? His Son. Father, glorify Thou
me, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. That's what it's all about. To the glory of God the Father.
Everybody's going to bow. Why? To the Son. To who? To the Son. Why? Glory of God
the Father. Why does God have a vineyard?
Why did He send His Son into it? Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee. That's why. Even the letting out of this
vineyard to the unfaithful husbandman was the Lord's doing. And we
see his purpose of love and grace toward his elect in all of this.
It's marvelous in our eyes. He sent his servants into his
vineyard, and these evil men persecuted them and beat them
and stoned them and killed them. And he said, I'm going to send
my son. They'll reverence my son. And
they will. They will. But first, they're
going to kill him. One of these days, they're going
to bow to him. But they're going to kill him first. Notice why they killed him. They
said, all of this will be ours if we kill him. It's for their
own glory. Religion, more than any other
riches on this earth, are in it for what's in it for them.
Religion is all about gain. It's all about the prosperity
of the flesh. Even their heaven is a place
where they live in a big mansion and angels are peeling grapes
for them. It's foolishness. It's all fleshly foolishness. It has nothing to do with the
Son of God. They saw him, not as the all-glorious
Son of God, but as a rival. You see that in the text? Here's
the heir. He's supposed to get everything,
but we want everything, so we'll kill him. That's the gospel. That's the dark truth of the
gospel. And they knew who he was. You
think about that. This is the heir, so there's no excuse, is
there, for their sin. They knew who he was. This is
God's heir. They knew exactly who he was.
The devil knows who he is. But they wanted the glory. They
wanted the glory that belongs to God only. Is that what happened
in the garden? It's the same thing happening
today, too. God put Adam in his garden and said, dress it and
keep it. Be a husbandman. And what did Adam do? You shall
be his gods. This can all be about you. It
should be about you. That's what's happening in religion
right now. Who gets the glory in modern religion? They say,
we'll take his word, we'll take his gospel, we'll take his kingdom,
we'll take all, you know, and we'll use it for our glory. Our Lord is telling these religious
leaders what they're about to do to him. Think about that.
They said, he's sitting there, and they knew it, didn't they?
They knew he was speaking that parable against them. You remember
that part where we read? Against them. And what did he
say they were gonna do? You're gonna kill my son. You're
gonna kill God's son. That's what you're gonna do.
And you know what? In the very text, that's what
they said about to do. In verse 19, did you see that?
In verse 19, and the chief priest and the scribe, that same hour
they sought to lay hands on him. He stood there and told them,
you're gonna kill the Son of God. And you know what they tried
to do? Kill the Son of God. It didn't stop him. It didn't
stop him. How could he know that? Well,
he's God, that's why. But did that stop him? Not for
a second. In that very hour. When he asked that question in
verse 15, what ought he to do? And you know, they said in verse
16, God forbid, God forbid. And they condemned themselves
with their own answer. They didn't realize until after
that he was talking about them. But even when they did realize
he was talking about them, he's speaking this parable against
us. It didn't stop him. And the Lord said in Matthew
21, 43 in the other version of the therefore I say unto you,
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation
bringing forth the fruits thereof. I'm gonna get my glory one way
or another with you or without you. Is that what he's saying
to them? I'm gonna take it from you who want the glory for yourself
and I'm gonna give it to somebody that'll give me the glory. You remember the fig tree? He's
going to get what he came for. One way or another, isn't he?
You remember the fig tree that didn't have any figs on it? You
remember what he said about it? Why cumbereth it the ground?
What are you doing in charge of the vineyard if I'm not going
to get any wine out of it? What's a fig tree doing growing
in my earth without any figs on it? What's the point of that? Why cumbereth it the ground?
God is gonna be glorified. He's gonna get his wine, he's
gonna get his figs. He cursed that fig tree and he
got his figs somewhere else. This is a clear picture now.
God's gonna get glory one way or another. You want in or out?
These characters wanted out. They wanted the glory for themselves.
And it's not gonna work that way. It's not gonna happen like
that. As Paul said, there's a remnant.
Listen, the only reason God let out his vineyard to the Jews
for a time at all, and he talking about Jew and Gentile there,
I'm gonna take it from you and give it to a nation, Gentiles,
nations, because there was a remnant among
the Jews, so he let it out to them for a while because of that
remnant we see all through the book of Isaiah. And he said in Romans 11 5, even
so at this present time also, there's a remnant according to
the election of grace. But everything that God has purposed
in the planting of his vineyard will come to pass exactly as
he purposed it. He did all he did for his glory
and he shall be glorified in all of it. In the saving of his
elect and in the damnation of his enemies, he's gonna be glorified
in all of it. With you or without you, with
me or without me, the fruits will be brought forth." He gave the kingdom to other
husbandmen to plant and to water and to dress and to keep. In Acts 13.46 it says, then Paul
and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you, talking to the
Jews. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles." That's what that verse is talking about.
I'm going to take it away from you and give it to somebody that
by God's grace is going to rejoice instead of saying, God forbid. May God give us grace to bring
forth fruit unto Him. That's how the Father is glorified,
that we bear fruit. And we don't do that by nature,
it's the fruit of His Spirit. We just don't. By Him, therefore,
listen, by Him, by Christ, by Jesus Christ, therefore let us
offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. There's some fruit
we bear unto Him, by His grace. Him working in us both to will
and to do of His good pleasure. He sent His Son knowing exactly
what was going to happen. Think about it. He that spared
not His own Son. God the Father spared Him not.
He sent Him knowing exactly what would happen in that vineyard.
Knowing how they felt about Him. Knowing what they would do. Knowing
what they wanted. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Can we glorify him? Think about
that now. He sent his son deliberately,
knowing what would happen. Why? He said, I've come to seek and
to say that which was lost. Can we give glory to him if not
We ought to go to hell. There's nothing for us but to
go to hell. If we do not reverence his son,
we ought to be anathema, maranatha. May God, by his grace, cause
us to labor in his fields for his glory, reverencing his son. What is the work? What do we
got to do specifically in the vineyard for the husband? Go and preach. Go and preach. The work of the ministry, as
Paul said, we preach Christ in him crucified. And as we do, God is glorified. God is glorified. Preaching what Peter preached
in Acts 4.10, be it known unto you all and to all the people
of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him, that
this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which
was set at naught of you builders. There's him preaching the same
verse that our Lord preached to these religious Jews in our
text. And listen to how he did it now. He's preaching Christ.
By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand
before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at naught of you builders. God's son whom you crucified,
which has become the head of the corner, and neither is there
salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby We must be saved There's the stone rejected and
exalted And as we do go and preach look verse 18 in our text as
we do go and preach Some are going to fall on him The stone
which the builders rejected some are going to fall on that rock But it's going to fall on others Whoever falls, now think about
this, some are going to be crushed, some are going to be broken,
and some are going to be crushed. Whoever falls on him, and that word means,
you look that up in the original, you know what it means? It doesn't
mean to stumble, you know, and fall down. It means to descend
from a higher place to a lower place. Zacchaeus, you come down. Same picture. That's what it
means. It don't mean to stumble and
fall. That's a different word. In 1 Peter 2.8, Christ is a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense. That's not a good thing. But
coming down from a higher place to a lower place onto Christ,
into Christ, that is a good thing. Different word. Whoever falls on this stone,
whoever descends, Whoever comes down from you shall be as gods
and say, Lord, I bow at your feet. You're God's son. I reverence
you. I reverence you. You're going
to be broken. You're going to be broken, broken
in heart. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not
despise. He resisteth the proud, but those
who come down, he won't despise you. He's the one that brought
you down. But on whomsoever he shall fall,
he will grind him to powder. Now think of it this way. Either
way, you've got to go. You're either broken in pieces
or ground to powder, one of the two. But either way, you as you
are is a goner. Isn't that true in salvation? Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. I'm a goner. We're goners either way. Whether
you fall on him or he falls on you, you're a goner. But you're
a goner in a good way if you fall on him by his grace. You're
gonna be broken and you're gonna thank him forever for it. You're
gonna be smashed to bits and you're gonna praise his holy
name for smashing you. Oh, may God do that for us. We've got to go. To some we are
the saver of life unto life, and to others the saver of death
unto death, but Christ always causes us to triumph. Who is
sufficient for these things? We've been entrusted with this
gospel. Think about this. He sent messengers into his vineyard.
He entrusted somebody to go see to it that he receive the fruit
from his vineyard. We, his sheep, his people, his
church, his witnesses, we've been entrusted with his gospel. Do you see us in this parable?
Hated of the world, but listen, God has included us in this business
of him getting what he wants from his vineyard, and he's going
to get it. First Timothy 111, according
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed
to my trust. And I thank Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful.
He didn't find me faithful. He counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry. He sent me into his vineyard. Wow. May his free, electing, distinguishing,
sovereign love constrain us to be faithful in his ministry. and to bear unto him much fruit. If we do, if we are faithful,
if we are privileged to honor and reverence his son, you think
about this now. If we faithfully do what he's
given us to do, you know what we'll say when it's all over?
This is the Lord's doing. and it is marvelous in our eyes. Let's pray. Thank you, gracious Father, for your everything, for being everything
to us and for us. Thank you for including us. Thank
you for keeping us. Thank you for blessing us. All
of your blessings are in Christ Jesus unto us, and they are yes
and amen. And our blessed Savior, may we
go from here rejoicing in him alone. In his precious name we
ask, amen. Amen, you're dismissed.