Matthew 21. Matthew 21, I'm taking
the title from the words that our Lord quotes here. He was
a preacher of the gospel. He used the word of God all the
time, the word of God that he had written. And the Lord said
to these self-righteous Pharisees, scribes, and Sadducees. Did you
never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders
refused, rejected? That same stone that they cast
away has become the head of the corner. He is the Lord of Lords,
King of Kings. This is the Lord's doing. And
it is, and still is, it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day
the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. I'm taking the title for the
message from that verse, Christ the rejected foundation. Christ
the rejected stone. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
Lord. He is the chief cornerstone.
He's the only foundation that God has laid whereby sinners
may rest upon for all of salvation. There is no other. There is no
other foundation. There is no other salvation.
There is no other gospel. Don't look anywhere else. The
Lord said, I'm the way, I'm it. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. Our Lord said through the apostle
Peter, This same Jesus whom you have crucified, He is both Lord
and Christ. He's not Lord and Christ by anything
we do, any decision we make. He is Lord and the Christ of
God by the decree of the eternal Almighty God. You remember we
studied in the Revelation chapter 19, Hallelujah for the Lord God
Omnipotent reigneth. When hasn't He reigned? He's
the everlasting God. He rules and reigns over all
things. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
set forth in Scripture as the only foundation, reason, cause,
and hope of salvation alone in Christ and Him crucified. He
is that only foundation upon which sinners can rest. He is
that chief cornerstone that God has laid for us to rest upon. By His grace, I rest right there.
I rest my case. I rest my case on Him. You remember
Isaiah 28, Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in
Zion for a foundation of stone. He's a tried stone. He's a precious
cornerstone. The law tried Him. Satan tried
Him. God tried Him. Never failed. He's a tried stone. He's a precious cornerstone.
Do you believe He is precious? He is the sure foundation. There's
nothing in this life sure but Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the same today, yesterday, forever. He is the sure hope
of salvation. That covenant of grace is ordered
in all things and is sure, this is our hope. He that believeth
on Him, Isaiah 28, 16, He that believeth on Him shall not make
haste, will never be confounded, will never be ashamed, will never
be forced out. Those who are blessed to rest
upon Christ, he said, I'll never cast them out. All that the Father
has given to me, they come to me and those that come to me,
I'll never, no never cast them out. I'm with you always, even
to the end of the earth. The apostle said this in 1 Corinthians
3, other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid Which
is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other foundation.
Would you insult God by trying to bring another foundation to
rest upon? We had on the radio this morning,
if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
This is the Lord's doing. And it's the same as saying salvation
is of the Lord. We know from the record of Scripture
that all salvation is totally and completely of the Lord's
doing. He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. He is the beginning. From election to glorification
and everything in between, it's all of God. Salvation is of the
Lord. The psalmist said, David, in
Psalm 52, I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth
all things for me. He shall send from heaven and
save me." Did he do it? Absolutely. He said it's finished.
It's finished. I like what Job said in Job 23. Job 23, 14. He's of one mind
who can turn him. And what his soul desireth, even
that he doeth. in the army of heaven among the
inhabitants of this earth, and none can stay his hand. Job moreover
said, for he performeth the thing that's appointed for me, and
many such things are with him. He's appointed salvation. You
remember Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5, I think it's verse 9, God
has not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. We obtain salvation only by his
appointment. He's appointed salvation for
us. Now this quote here in verse 42, this quote is also found
Peter and John in Acts chapter 4 when they're standing before
a religious tribunal. They quote this scripture in
Acts 4 verse 11 and they said, neither is there salvation in
any other. than the name which you have
rejected and the stone which you have rejected, neither is
there salvation in any other name, but the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Again, Paul quotes this in Ephesians
chapter 20, where it says that all the apostles and all the
prophets have all appointed and declared that Jesus Christ is
the only chief cornerstone of salvation. And then Peter quotes
this in 1 Peter chapter 2. Now I think when we close the
message, we'll read that together. But it comes to the conclusion,
to you who believe, 1 Peter 2 verse 7, to you who believe, Christ
is what? Precious. He's altogether lovely.
All those references are showing us clearly that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only way of salvation. To reject the chief cornerstone
is to bring upon yourself and to invite the holy wrath and
eternal judgment of God. If you cast away the only hope
that any sinner has, is there any other hope of forgiveness,
of pardon, of righteousness but the Lord Jesus Christ? He said,
I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man come to the
Father but by and through me. Those that are blessed of God
to fall upon and bow and submit to the Lord Jesus Christ, as
it says there in verse 44, whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall
be broken. Lord, break my stony heart. Give
me a repentant heart. Give me a convicted heart. Those
who are blessed to fall upon, submit, and worship the Lord
Jesus Christ are indeed blessed of God. they build upon the only
foundation stone of Christ in Him crucified, that will be a
blessing. He's not, then, of a broken heart.
He saved us such as be of a contrite spirit. Remember Psalm 34, 17.
Believers are made willing in the day of
God's power to believe the gospel. We believe the gospel only according
to the working of His mighty power. We only believe the gospel
because He made us willing to bow and submit to His absolute
lordship and authority. Now, the meaning of this parable
is obvious, isn't it? Even these Pharisees understood
the Lord was talking about them. As it says down there in the
last two verses of the chapter, the chief priest perceived, oh,
he's talking about us. He's talking about us. Now, the
meaning of this parable is obvious. They even understood it. And
the Lord here is in the temple, He's preaching the gospel to
them, and He's using these parables. And we're going to see this in
the next couple of chapters, all the way over to chapter 24,
when He leaves the temple. But we're going to see that in
chapter 22, 23, 24. And the Lord is reminding them
again and again, again and again, as He says there, I sent you
prophet after prophet after prophet and you rejected them, you rejected
them, you rejected me. Judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. Now, hold your place there. I
want to show you an example of that found in the book of Acts. The book of Acts, right before
the book of Romans, the book of Acts Chapter 13, you remember
this from our study through the book of Acts, when the Apostle
Paul went preaching the gospel, he always went to a certain city,
remember whether it's Ephesus or Colossae or Thessalonica or
the region of Galatia, and he normally went to a synagogue.
He normally went to a synagogue and he preached the gospel to
the Jews. Now look at Acts 13 verse 44.
The next Sabbath day came almost a whole city together to hear
the word of God. Paul had plainly preached the
gospel to them. Back in verse 38, Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
to you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things by which you could not be justified
by the Law and the prophets. And the next day, verse 44, the
next Sabbath day came almost the whole city to hear the word
of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken unto you, But seeing you
put it from you and you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, lo, behold, we turn to the Gentiles." The apostle Paul
was that apostle sent forth to the Gentiles. For so he commanded
us saying, I've set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that
thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, They were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. Now look at verse 48 carefully.
As many as were ordained to eternal life. believed. God had an elect
among those Gentiles that must hear the gospel and God granted
them faith to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
all-knowing Lord has told them their past history and what God
is going to do in the future. He was given to convict and condemn
the Jewish nation for their sin and their rebellion against God.
He came into his own, remember, and his own did what? They received
him not. He said, another you will receive,
another you will receive, but you won't receive me. Came into
his own nation, his own people, his own country, and they said,
away with him. We want to have this man reign over us. But it's
also giving to us as a warning. and a caution, lest we neglect
the gospel message and the privileges and the blessing the Lord has
sent us. You remember in the Revelation,
in chapter 2, when he writes to the church at Ephesus, we
have an epistle written to the Ephesians. He writes to them,
he said, you have left your first love. And the Lord said, I'm
going to remove the candlestick. So God removed that from that
Jewish nation. He took the prophets away from
them and sent gospel preachers to the elect among the Gentiles. And God, in the day of that church
at Ephesus, when that revelation was given, God removed the candlestick
there. Where are the churches in Ephesus
today that preach the gospel in that country? I don't know
of any. I don't know of any. So let's not presume that the
Lord will not remove the gospel witness from this community,
this country, and give it to others if we neglect so great
salvation given unto us. Let us take heed. Let us take
heed. Let us beware. Let us not grow
lukewarm and indifferent over the gospel of Christ. Let us
be zealous always. Let us not presume the Lord will
not remove the gospel witness from us. The Lord has established
the vineyard of His people. The Lord has established that
Old Testament church. Those people, those Jewish people,
were the natural sons of Abraham. They're called in this parable
the husbandmen, or the farmers over the field. The Lord sent
them how many prophets over the years? Over 1,500 years, God
sent them prophet after prophet after prophet, servants, prophets
to help them, to encourage them. They had Moses, they had the
giving of the law, they had the priesthood, they had the Day
of Atonement, they had all these things God sent them, and you
read to the record, in Jeremiah's day, in Isaiah's day, Those prophets
were beaten, stoned, and killed. Israel would not hear the message
of God. They rejected their message and
killed them. Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned. Isaiah was killed. John the Baptist
was beheaded. Our Lord said this, The Father
judgeth no man, hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that
all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that
sent him. John 5, 21 and 22. John 5, 21,
22. Now, we're gonna turn over here to Matthew 23. Matthew 23.
We're gonna see more of this. The Lord's warnings. Look at
Matthew 23, verse 33. Matthew 23, 33. Again, this is the Lord still in the
temple. And in the temple, In Jerusalem, he's still preaching
to these same Pharisees and scribes, hypocrites he calls them, verse
29. Outwardly you appear righteous unto men, verse 28. Matthew 23,
but within you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Verse 33, you serpents
and generation of vipers, how shall you escape the damnation
of hell? Now look at verse 34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you
shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge in
your synagogue and persecute them from city to city. That's
what they had done all those years the Lord in His long-suffering
sent them prophets. Look at verse 35. That upon you
may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the
blood of righteous Abel, and to the blood of Zacharias the
son of Bacchus, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.
Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. Now notice the Lord's long-suffering. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets and stonest them which I sent unto
you, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as
a hen gathers her chickens under her wing, but you would not. You would not. Now look at the
judgment. Behold, your house is left desolate. For I say unto you, you shall
not see me henceforth till you shall say, blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord. Their house was left desolate. They rejected God's messengers. They rejected God's prophet.
Finally, it says in verse 37 back in our text, God sent servant
after servant, verse 35. The husbandmen beat one, killed
one. He sent more, and they did likewise. The last of all, verse 37, He
sent unto them His Son, saying, They will reverence My Son, verse
38. But when the husbandmen saw the
Son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come! Let's kill him. He's talking
about wickedness. And let's possess, let's seize,
let's take the inheritance, let's take that that's not ours. Let's
just kill him and take everything. Finally, the Lord and owner of
the vineyard sent his well-beloved son, that they should reverence
the son. In Mark chapter 12 where this
is given, it's said this way, having therefore yet one son,
Mark 12, 6, His beloved son, he sent him also unto them saying,
they will reverence my son. They will respect and regard
my son. But we know the story, don't
we? We know exactly as he said here. They'll catch him and cast
him out of the vineyard and then they'll kill him. The Lord is
telling them exactly what they're going to do unto him. the very sight of the Lord of
all things fixed their heart with malice and hatred toward
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're no different apart from
the sovereign grace of God. We know that the Lord is referring
to himself here in his coming and his rejection and his dying
In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them. You remember when
Pilate brought Him forth and said, Behold your King? Remember
what they said? We have no King but Caesar. Away
with Him. Crucify Him. And Pilate tried
to wash his hands. He said, I'm clean from the blood
of this man. You remember what they said?
His blood be on us and our children. Judgment fell. Judgment still
falling today on that rebel nation we know as Israel. We see it
every day, don't we? Judgment, judgment, judgments
falling. Why? They rejected the prophets
of God. They rejected the message of
God. Their malicious plot was to kill the Son of God and to
seize the inheritance for themselves. Remember, they said, we'll not
have this man reign over us. Verse 40, the Lord, look at verse
40, back in our text. Matthew 21, verse 40. And here's His question. The
Lord is so wise, He's going to set a trap for these fellows.
And they're going to fall right into it. And out of their own
mouths, they're going to condemn themselves. And when the Lord
God, when the Lord of the harvest, When the Lord, therefore, the
vineyard coming, and he's coming, what will he do to these husbandmen,
these Jewish people that had all these things sent from God? And they say unto him, now they're
just thinking about this story right now. They're just thinking,
oh, we know the answer to that question. We know the answer
to that. And they said unto him, well,
he will miserably destroy those wicked men. They just confessed
their wickedness, didn't they? And will let out his vineyard
unto other husbandmen. And the Lord has taken the gospel
from them and given it to the Gentiles, which shall render
him the fruit in their seasons. Now the Lord is so wise, he's
so smart. Their answer, they give, and
in doing so, they condemn themselves. He will justly come and he will
justly destroy them and give them just exactly what they deserve. The wages of sin is death. Right? The gift of God is eternal life,
but the wage of sin is death. It's appointed unto me in which
to die, and after that judgment, and give His, and he says there
in verse 44, or verse 43, therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of
God shall be taken from you, and given, given to a nation. He's talking about His elect
among the Gentiles, and they will bring forth fruit unto My
glory. He will come and justly destroy
them. Judgment's coming, and He'll give His vineyard to others.
Remember our Lord said in John 10, Other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, they shall hear
My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Thank
God He sent the Gospel to us. The Jews had a corner on that.
But they rejected that. They refused that. And God sent
them judgment. And the casting away of them
was a benefit to us. That's what it says in Romans
10, 11, 9, 10, 11. Now, what can we learn from this?
And let me wrap this up here. What can we, what lesson, what
is a lesson for us today? What can we take away from this
parable? Well, we see a history story
that's true, isn't it? But we see also spiritual truth
is set forth. Three things I think we can learn
from this. We certainly see the wickedness of men. The wickedness
of men. As it says in verse 41, he will
miserably destroy those wicked men. We see the wickedness of
men. I told someone the other day,
I was at the dentist's office and you know how they put you
in the dentist's chair and they almost stand you on your head.
And I was right eye level with the technician that was right
there getting ready to work on me and we got to talking about
sickness and disease and I told her that I'd been diagnosed with
cancer and she said all that. I said, well, that's what sin
brings. It brings disease and death. And I said, if I wasn't
an evil, wicked man, these things wouldn't come. And she looked
at me, she looked at me like, you're a preacher. I said, yeah,
that's the problem. I'm an evil and wicked man. And
here, why do we say that? Why do we say that? Because that's
the testimony of scripture. Listen to this. God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, Genesis 6, 5, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Now what God said of us then
is true, and what God says of us today is also true. It's true of you. And if you
don't see yourself in that light, you're deceived. You're deceived. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seek it after God. They've all gone out
of the way. There was none. No, not one. Men left with their own wicked
hearts would throw God off His throne if they could today. That
was Adam's sin, wasn't it? To try to dethrone God? But God
cast Adam out of the garden. God didn't vacate His throne
because of Adam's sin. And this is exactly what these
wicked Jews did to the Lord of glory. They caught, as he taught
them daily in the temple, this is Luke 19, 47. As he taught
them daily in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes
and the chief elders, they came and they sought to destroy him. Peter at Pentecost preached him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. You have taken and have crucified and slain the Lord
of glory. And then he writes in chapter
four that Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Jews and Gentiles were
all gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel before determine to be done. This is the Lord's doing,
it says in verse 42, and it's marvelous in our eyes. We would
have no hope of salvation without Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
So that's the first lesson. We see our wickedness and how
great our need of the Lord Jesus Christ to put away our sin. Here's
the second thing I want us to see. We see the long-suffering
of God. The long-suffering and forbearance
of God. God is long-suffering to usward
his elect, not willing that any should perish, but all come to
repentance. The Lord sent them so many prophets
with his message. And most of the time, the message
was rejected, the prophets were killed, and then the Lord, in
His long-suffering mercy, sent them more and more servants to
preach the gospel. He sent the apostles. What was
the end of the apostles? They were, for the most part,
all killed, weren't they? Someone said this, persecutors
may destroy ministers of the church, but they cannot destroy
the church. Remember our Lord said, I'll
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. They may kill the servants of the Lord, but they cannot
destroy the purpose of God. The Lord is a God of mercy as
he described in scripture. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. He's a light to show mercy to
whom he will. He's the father of mercies and
the God of all grace. He is long suffering to his people. Here's the third lesson. We also
see that judgment is a reality of the holy character of God.
the holy character of God, verse 44, whosoever shall fall on this
stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind and grind and grind and grind eternally to powder,
total ruin, everlasting destruction. On whomsoever the stone of the
gospel shall fall, the judgment of the gospel will fall. The
wrath of the Lamb will fall. He that believeth on the Son
has life. He that believeth not in the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on them.
You remember Revelation 6. Those people cried to the mountains
and rocks when the Lord came back to fall on us and hide us
from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne from the wrath
of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath
is come. Who is able to stand? Judgment's
coming. Look to Christ. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. All those that reject the gospel
of Christ have nothing but a righteous, holy God to face in eternal judgment
with no hope of mercy. Now, if you want to turn with
me, you can, but you don't need to. I'll read it to you in Hebrews
10. Hebrews 10, verse 28. Hebrews
10, 28, he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under
two or three witnesses. Hebrews 10, verse 29, of how
much sore punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy
who had trodden underfoot the son of God and had counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified in an unholy
thing and had done despite to the spirit of his grace? If judgment
fell on those that rejected the prophet of God, Moses, what about
those that reject the prophet of God, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Nothing but judgment. For we know him that has said,
verse 30, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. Those for whom the Lord falls
upon them in judgment. It will be an eternal, eternal
judgment. But whosoever shall fall on this
stone, whosoever shall fall on this stone, they'll be broken. They'll be converted. Whoever
shall fall and rest on the stone, the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus
Christ, that foundation stone that God has established. God
will give them a repentant heart, a broken heart, and we know that
stone is the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to consider this personally.
Have I, have you, fallen upon the Lord Jesus Christ for all
of your salvation? That's the same as saying, look
unto me and be ye saved. Fall on this stone. To whom coming
as unto a living stone? Am I resting all of my hope of
salvation upon that one foundation? Christ. His person, His work,
His doing. I told you I'd close with this
scripture. I'm going to try to be good to
my word. And we'll close with this. 1 Peter 2. Turn over to
1 Peter 2. Let me see if I can make good
on what I'm trying to say. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Wherefore, verse 1,
laying aside laying aside all malice and guile
and hypocrisy, envies and evil speaking, as newborn babe, desire
the sincere milk of the word that you might grow thereby.
If so, be you tasted that the Lord is gracious. Taste and see,
the Lord is good. The Lord is gracious. Psalm 37.
To whom coming as into a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious. There's that same scripture.
Psalm 118. chosen of God and precious, to
whom coming unto the living stone, disallowed indeed of man, chosen
of God and precious, you also as living stones are built up
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it's contained
in the scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, He is the elect. We're chosen in Him. He is precious. This is my well-beloved Son in
whom I'm well pleased. And he that believes on Him shall
not be confounded, shall not be ashamed or forced out. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. It'll be a stone of stumbling.
It'll be a rock of offense even to them that stumble at the word
being disobedient were unto also they were appointed. Verse 9,
you're a chosen generation. You're a royal priesthood. You're
a holy nation. You're a peculiar purchased people
that you should show forth the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were
not a people, But now are the people of God, which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. May the Lord be pleased to do
the work of grace in our heart and make us new creatures in
Christ. No one ever hardened his heart against the gospel
of Christ and prospered. Opposition to the Lord Jesus
Christ is only injury to yourself. You cannot fight against God
and win. Surrender. Surrender. Submit to His Lordship. Submit. Confess that He's Lord,
your Lord, to the glory of God the Father.