Our lesson in verse 33 here begins
with, hear another parable. And we've been looking at parables
that the Lord had spoken. You know, he'd come into Jerusalem,
he's getting ready, I mean, he's approaching that day where just
a few days away from giving his life, the shepherd of the sheep,
the good shepherd, giving his life for the sheep. And He made
His entrance into Jerusalem on that Monday. Remember they cried,
Hosanna, Lord save us. And the multitudes, they heard
Him teaching, they saw Him heal. Hosanna to the Son of David.
The next day, on Tuesday, he entered into the temple and he
drove out the money changers, all of that, showing forth how
the worship that was prevalent in Jerusalem at that time was
no more than an outward show. And when I look at that, I think
about Isaiah. When he talked about, in Isaiah
1, when he said that God was sick of their ceremonies and
their approaching unto Him because it was without grace, it was
without truth. It was without heart and soul,
without Christ. You know, religion without Christ
is the most dangerous tool that Satan uses to set centers on
the road to damnation. We need to understand that. You
know, we hate the evils of alcohol, the evils of drugs, the evils
of all the immoral things that people do. But there's nothing
more dangerous and more, we might say, more so that gets people
ensconced in their ways of damnation than false religion, especially
that religion that comes in the name of Christ but denies the
truth. And we need to understand that.
And that's one of the things that Christ is teaching in all
these parables that he had he had talked about. So he drove
out the money changers, and now it's Wednesday and he's in the
temple, he came back to the temple, and he's teaching God's Word
to the multitude. Now you remember the Pharisees,
the elders, they challenged his authority. They wanted to know
by what authority are you saying these things? Because these things
were so against what they were teaching. And what Christ taught
in the gospel, what we teach in the gospel, exposes false
religion and shows it for what it is. It challenges the hope
that sinners have outside of Christ and tells them, listen,
you think you're fine, you are comfortable in that false system,
but you're in danger. You need to repent. You remember
he talked about John the Baptist, you know, when they challenged
his authority. He said, well, and he, he had told them before
many times where his authority come from. It comes from the
father, comes from heaven. It didn't come from man. That's
what Paul said about the gospel. The gospel that I preached to
you is not of man, it's of God. And how do you know that? Well,
it glorifies God alone and it leaves men no room to glory.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And so he told them many times
where his authority come from and they kept asking him because
they didn't want to accept his answer. And he said, well, let
me ask you a question. John's baptism, where did it
come from? Was it from God or was he a false
preacher? And they didn't want to answer
him because they knew the multitudes loved John the Baptist. And you
remember what John said to them in Matthew chapter three, he
said, you vipers, You need to bring forth fruits, meat for
repentance. You need to repent of what you believe. Your religion
that you think is so acceptable to God, God will spew you out
of his mouth. That's throw it up. That's what
he's saying. That's just a way of saying how God hates that
religion. And so they knew that if they
said, well, John was a prophet sent from God, that that would
point the fingers at them. Well, yeah, we should repent.
So they didn't want to say. And so Christ, you know, he trapped
them that way. And he began speaking these parables. He spoke the parable of the barren
fig tree. the two sons, the one that did
the will of the father, the one that did not. And here, he spoke
the parable of the wicked husbandman. And all these parables show forth
the gospel. And the main message here is
how the truth of the gospel came first to the Jews, but then because
the majority rejected that message of salvation by God's free grace
in Christ, that resulted in God fulfilling His sovereign purpose
which was set before the foundation of the world to take the gospel
away from the Jews and get it out to the Gentiles. So here,
think about it, you had the fig tree, the barren fig tree, well
that was Israel under the curse of the law, the wicked husbandmen,
we saw that and now here we come to this parable of Well, this
is the wicked husbandman in verse 33, beginning at verse 33. And
so look at what he says here. He says, he said, there was a
certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round
about and digged a winepress in it, built a tower and let
it out to the husbandman and went into a far country. Now
this is God's work in the nation Israel. The certain householder
is the Lord God of heaven and he's the one who planted a vineyard
which is the nation Israel whom he chose and through whom he
would bring the Messiah into the world. He chose this nation
and he chose them by Abraham and all of this he planted a
vineyard and he heads them about by giving them the land of promise
by preserving them from their enemies in the appointed time.
He digged a wine press in it, built a tower by it. He gave
them the truth. He gave them the worship of the
tabernacle. And all of that, as you know,
pictured Christ in the gospel, Christ in his church. He lent
it out to husbandmen. He went into a far country. And
what it is, the husbandmen, they were the prophets and the priests
and the kings that he sent to lead the people in the ways of
God. There were also false prophets there too, and there were evil
kings and all that, and evil priests, all of that. So it was
not always, they didn't always do what they were commanded to
do, but that was the purpose of God also. But He did send
them true prophets, He did send them true priests, and there
were a few kings who led them in the ways of the Lord, all
right? But none of that lasted. So look
at verse 34. He says, and when the time of
the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husband that
they might receive the fruits of it. And the husband took his
servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. And
again, he sent other servants more than the first and they
did unto them likewise. Now, we see the national rejection
of the truth in their treatment of these servants of God. God sent them faithful prophets.
You can go back, Samuel was a faithful prophet, Elijah, Elisha, go on
through the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all of them. And he
sent them, these prophets to teach them the truth and they
killed them. They persecuted them. They rejected
them. there were also false prophets
and ungodly priests among the people. We know that Jeremiah
speaks of that and those prophets who speak peace where there is
no peace. It's like false preachers today
who preach a false gospel and tell people if they believe this
they're okay and what they're doing they're speaking peace
when there is no peace. You see the only peace that we
can have with God is through Christ and his righteousness.
The work of righteousness is peace and assurance. And that
work of righteousness is what Christ accomplished as our surety,
our substitute, our redeemer. It's his righteousness imputed
to us. That's the ground of our salvation.
That's the ground of our peace with God. And there is no other
ground. So any preacher who tells you
that you have peace on any other ground, but the blood and righteousness
of Christ is a false preacher. And I know people don't like
to hear that, but that's what it is. As I said, they persecuted these
true witnesses of the gospel. And as the time grew near for
the coming of the Messiah, their sinfulness, their rebellion,
their rejection grew more and more and more. It got worse.
When Christ actually came into the world in Judea, Think about
what the state of the people were then. They were so dry,
so barren, no truth, very, very few that knew the truth. One of them I think of is Simeon,
you remember? He's the one, he said, I've seen the Christ child
and all of that. So he came to a barren land,
a dry land. He grew up as a root in a dry
ground, Isaiah said. And that was the state of the
nation. But one thing I wanted to bring out here, is one of
the things that in all of the purpose of this as the rejection
of the majority of the nation Israel. Now, throughout their
history, you remember how God brought them together as a nation
through the old covenant after he brought the Hebrew children
out of Egypt. He formed them as a people by
giving them the law through Moses. And throughout their history,
the vast majority of them rejected the truths of the gospel. They
even rejected the law, what the law was given for, which was
to show them their sinfulness and show them their need of grace. And the majority always rejected,
but thank God there was always a remnant of a few people among
the Jewish nation who knew the truth of the gospel. Moses was
one of them. Aaron was one of them. Joshua,
we could go on through. And again, the prophets and the
priest who knew the truth, the kings, David and Solomon, people
like that. Most of them rejected, but there
was always a remnant. And remember, the idea of the
remnant is so special in the Word of God. Paul called it a
remnant according to the election of grace. So there was always
a small remnant, and that's a beautiful thing. And it's just like today,
among the Gentiles there's a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if you want to read about that, read Romans 9, 10,
and 11. That's what that's all about.
So understand there's that remnant. But go back to Matthew chapter
13. It's always good to remember why the Lord spoke in parables. And, you know, like I've told
you before, you know, A lot of people, they look at the parables
as children's stories, and they're not children's stories. They
were illustrations of the truth of the Kingdom of God given to
God's people, but they were meant to be a judgment against those
who refused to believe the truth. Now again, when we see that now,
we always know that were it not for God's sovereign grace and
power, we'd be right with them. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're
spiritually discerned. So remember that. Whenever we
look at the rejection of Christ by the majority of national Israel,
we need to always say what that old pilgrim said. Were it not
for God's grace, there go I. So we need to understand that
the fact that we know Christ and the fact that we receive
Him, it is not a testimony to our goodness, that we're better
than those who reject it. It's a testimony to God's sovereign
power and grace and goodness to save his people from their
sins. And you remember in Matthew 13, when the disciples, look
at verse 10, the disciples came and said unto him, why speak
thou unto them in parables? Why are you talking to them in
parables? And listen to what he says. Verse 11, he answered
and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It's a gift. Do you know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven? Well, if you know the gospel,
you do. Now there may be some things you don't know, like the
disciples. They kept their minds thinking
that the kingdom was going to be established on earth, and
so they didn't know that at that time, they learned it later.
But they knew the gospel. They knew their sinfulness and
their depravity, their deservedness of damnation, and they knew that
Christ and his righteousness alone was their only hope, they
knew that. But he says, and if you know
that, it's a gift. Don't ever forget that. Don't
ever take it for granted. It's a marvelous gift. And if
you're a sinner saved by grace who believes in Christ, you're
a walking, talking miracle, not of your own will or your own
power or your own goodness, but of God's will and God's power
and God's goodness. And so he says, to them, it's
not given. Verse 12 of Matthew 13, for whosoever
hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance,
but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away, even that
he hath. Now that's what we're seeing in these parables. Those who did not receive the
truth that the prophets and the godly priest preached, What they
had there was going to be taken away. They had the tabernacle,
they had the altar, they had the priesthood, they had the
sacrifices, all those wonderful things. It talks about it in
the book of Hebrews, especially chapter 9, where they had these
things. But they turned, instead of looking
to what these things pictured and typified, which is the person
and work of Christ for our salvation, they turned it into a legal system
of work salvation which was despicable and hated in the eyes of God.
So he said, what they have is going to be taken away and it's
going to be given to the Gentiles. And that's not referring to a
literal temple or a literal altar or a literal priesthood of Levi,
he's talking about the gospel. The gospel. In Matthew chapter,
what is it? 23? 24? Where he talks about
the gospel must be first preached in all nations because God has
a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
So it's going to be taken away from them. and given to the Gentiles. Now that doesn't mean that there's
still not some remnant among the Jewish people who believe
the gospel. And that's what Paul deals with
in Romans 11. He says, don't you Gentiles who
believe get puffed up now and act like that just because they're
Jews, they're lost. No, God still has a remnant.
So he says in verse 13 of Matthew 13, Therefore speak I to them
in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing you shall hear, and
shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not
perceive. Now I want you to look at this verse 15. It's really
important. All the verses are important,
obviously. For this people's heart is waxed gross. That means
their heart has grown harder. Man's heart by nature has always
been hard, hard-hearted against the glory and the things of God.
Jeremiah spoke of it in Jeremiah 17. The heart is deceitful, desperately
wicked. Who can know it? That's why we've
got to be born again. That's why we've got to be given
a new heart, a heart that's pliable to bend and bow to the word of
God. it says their ears are dull of
hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they
should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should
understand with their heart their mind their affections their will
and should be converted and i should heal them what is it they don't
want they don't they don't want to be converted well what does
that mean they do not want to let go of their false self-righteous
pride-feeding religion And isn't that the way with people today?
I've had people come here, and you all know this. They say,
man, I believe what you're preaching, but they're not going to let
go of the past. The dead works. Why does it say in 2 Peter 3
and verse 9 that God is not willing that any of them, any of us should
perish, his people, that's what he's talking about, his elect,
but that all should come to where? Repentance. And how do you get
to repentance? Through faith in Christ. Read
Philippians chapter three. And that's what these Pharisees
did not want to do. I'm sure that it'd be like most
people today who are false religionists, who claim to believe the doctrines
of grace. They can't deny them because
they see they're in the scripture, but they're not going to let
go of what they had before, which was dishonoring and despicable
unto God. I'll tell you when the Spirit
of God does his work of conviction is when he makes it despicable
unto you too. And that's what Paul said in
Philippians 3, I counted all but lost but dung that I may
win Christ. Isn't that right? Well, but he
says in verse 16 of Matthew 13, but blessed are your eyes for
they see and your ears for they hear. And then he talks about
the prophets. Go back to Matthew 21. Now one
of the things that we see in these parables of the gospel
being taken away from the Jewish nation, the gospel is never taken
away from true believers. You understand that, don't you?
That remnant according to the election of grace within the
Jewish community, they always had the gospel. And you see that
in Paul and Peter and James and John. The first believers in
the new covenant were Jews. to the Jew first and the Greek
also. But one of the most important things that's being taught in
this is this that the promise that was given to Abraham that
all nations would be blessed through him is the promise of
salvation of God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. And this is how God purposed
to do it. By the rejection of the nation Israel He came unto
his own, and his own received him not. And as a result of that,
pronouncing judgment on them in an earthly way, and taking
the gospel away from them, and bringing it out to the Gentiles.
Because in Christ Jesus, now if you look at the second paragraph
on the first page of your lesson, you see I made a mistake. And
you better mark it, because that doesn't happen very often. But,
I don't know why I did this, I got in a hurry is what happened.
But it says the last line of the second paragraph
says, in Christ Jesus, and I began a quote from Galatians 3.28.
There's neither June or Greek, there's neither bond, and I forgot
to put the rest of the verse in there. So you add that, okay? That's Galatians 3.28, where
he's showing there that Christ broke down the middle wall of
partition by his work on the cross, his obedience unto death. There is, in the gospel, we are
all equal members of a spiritual kingdom and nation. And our differences
make no points here. Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile,
male or female, black or white, whatever. It means nothing. All that means anything is do
we belong to Christ? Is He our Savior and our Lord? So that's the point. Now go back
to our text now in Matthew 21. Now as this husbandman, he sent
his prophets, he sent his people to come and they killed them,
they killed the prophets and if you look at verse Well, go
back to verse 35, the husband took his servants and beat one
and killed another and stoned another. He sent out other servants
more than the first and they did unto them likewise. But last
of all, he sent unto them his son saying, they will reverence
my son. Now that's Christ, all right? They will reverence my son. And
all of this now is according to God's purpose now. nothing's
taking him by surprise. And he says in verse 38, but
when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this
is the heir. Come, let us kill him and let
us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, cast him
out of the vineyard and slew him. And all of that, again,
according to God's sovereign will. We know Christ was the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And you remember
those famous passages in the book of Acts, where Peter, preaching
at Pentecost, he talked about, you with wicked hands have taken
the Son of God and crucified him. But he says, you did no
more than what God determined before to be done. Isn't that
amazing? And you know, a lot of people don't like that. You
know, what are you talking about? God's not the author of sin,
and he's not. But he determined, you know,
just like Joseph said in Genesis 50, you meant it for evil, but
God meant it for good. And there in Acts chapter 4,
you know, where he talked about the kings of the earth stood
up, the Jews and the Gentiles and Pontius Pilate and Herod,
both, they all got together for one purpose, and that was to
kill the son. The rejection of the son. And
that's what's happening here in this parable as illustrated
by this parable. And so they slew him. Do you
think they slew him against God's will? Well, you know, we've always
talked about this. There's the sovereign will of
God. And then there's the revealed
will of God. The revealed will of God says thou shalt not kill.
The revealed will of God says thou shalt not bear false witness.
But the sovereign will of God works all things according to
His will, the purpose of His glory, all things, even the sinfulness
of man, and yet He holds sinners responsible. The majority rejected
Him, sought to murder Him, but that didn't frustrate the purpose
and will of God. All of that. Christ said all
along to His disciples, to go to the cross and die for the
sins of his people. He said, that's the very reason
I came here into this world. That was not God's plan B or
anything like that. So understand that sinful men
meant it for evil, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass,
as Joseph said, as it is this day, to save much people alive. It's for our salvation. Look at verse 40. When the Lord
of the vineyard cometh, what will he do to those husbandmen,
those evil husbandmen, the wicked husbandmen who slew his son and
slew the prophet? And they say unto him, he will
miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard
unto the other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in
their season. And so, national Israel, you
know, all this by divine appointment, holding men responsible for our
wicked, evil ways and thoughts. And the vineyard here doesn't,
the vineyard here, you know, God's vineyard, we could talk
about the church being God's vineyard. Because the Bible talks
about us in 1 Corinthians, for example, I think it's chapter
three, about how God's preachers coming forth to plant a sow in
the field. And God brings the increase.
But this vineyard here is talking about national Israel because
they had been so privileged by God to be a people through whom
the Messiah would come in his humanity. And Israel refused
to believe in Christ. And just like that withered fig
tree, the disobedient son, the Lord cursed him. And he removed
the gospel from them and sent it out to the Gentiles. Because
as I said, God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. Look at verse 42. Jesus saith
unto them, did you never read in the scriptures the stone which
the builders rejected? The same has become the head
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. Listen to this. And it's
marvelous in our eyes. Now this is where I got the title
of the message from. Right here. He says, therefore
say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and
given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. These are
the fruits of God's grace. This is the fruit of repentance
and faith and perseverance. And whosoever shall fall on this
stone, this stone which the builders rejected, that's Christ. He's
the stone which the builders rejected. Peter spoke of that.
Paul spoke of that. Christ himself spoke of that.
And this is quoted from Psalm 118, you can look at it yourself.
And when Christ says, have you not read in the scripture? He's
showing, they claim to be the masters of the scripture. Remember
he told them one time, you do err not knowing the scriptures.
They didn't know the scriptures they claimed to be experts in. And he says in verse 44, and
whosoever shall fall on this stone, that means to reject him
or to go after him, to kill him, shall be broken, but on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. That's his judgment.
And when the chief priest and the Pharisees had heard this,
his parable, they perceived that he's speaking of them. You're
talking about me. That's what it was. And it says
in verse 46, but when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared
the multitude because they took him for a prophet. So think about
that. That's a marvelous, marvelous
episode in Christ leading up to his death on the cross to
save us from our sins. Okay.