Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 126. Psalm 126. To understand this Psalm, we need
to understand that the Babylonian captivity for the children of
Israel is is a type of our life here in
this world. Scripture says that a man's life
is three score and ten and they spent 70 years in Babylon living
among the pagans. And the psalmist here is rejoicing
at the return of Jerusalem from Babylon to Jerusalem. And it's
a picture of the believers rejoicing longing for that day when we
will be delivered from Babylon and be taken home. So let's read
this psalm together. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them, that dream. That's what it's gonna be like,
just be falling asleep and waking up. in glory. Then was our mouth
filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then said
they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them.
The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the south, they that sow in tears. and that's where we are now,
sowing in tears, shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth weeping,
bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him. Let's pray together. Our gracious and merciful Heavenly
Father, What great hope we have in the
faith that you've given us to believe you and to trust that
you are faithful to all of your promises. What great hope we
have in knowing that we have an advocate. We have a savior. We have one who has satisfied
your holy justice. He's fulfilled your law. He stands
in our stead, and Lord, he's all our righteousness and all
our salvation. And oh, how we pray that you'd
be pleased to send your spirit in power and to cause the Lord
Jesus Christ to be lifted up among us. We pray that you would
give us eyes to see, that as we look into your word, Lord,
that you would just comfort and and convince us once again of
your glory and of Christ accomplished work. Lord, give us our rest
and our hope in him. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 168 in the Hart Fact. 168 in the hardback timbrel. Let's stand together again. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing,
Thou art scattering, full and free. Showers the thirsty land
refreshing, Let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me,
let thy blessing fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Saviour,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favour,
whilst Thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let thy
blessing fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty spirit,
Thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
Speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, Thy lost one bringing,
bind my heart, O Lord, to Thee. ? While the streams of life are
springing ? Blessing others, O bless me ? Even me, even me
? Let thy blessing fall on me Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 125. Psalm 125. I've titled this message Restraining
Grace. Grace that saves, restrains,
and keeps and perseveres all the way to the end. We are kept
by the power of God unto salvation. That's our hope. If the Lord
didn't keep us, if he took his hand off of us, if he left us
to ourselves, we would forsake him. But here we have, once again,
in God's word, his promise that he will never leave us nor forsake
us. Look with me at Psalm 125. They
that trust in the Lord. You've ever trusted Christ for
your salvation. You trusted him alone for all
your righteousness. God has ever put in your heart
a need for Christ, knowing that without him, you have nothing
but your sin to separate you from your God, and that Christ
is your only advocate. He's your sin bearer. The Lord's ever giving you that
faith, that trust, that's not something that he gives and then
takes away. When he gives that kind of faith,
he maintains that kind of faith. They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed. It cannot be removed. But abideth forever. Forever. What God starts, he
finishes. When God calls out, a sinner
and saves them, he saves them eternally. He gives them eternal
life and the gifts of God are not taken away. As the mountains
are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people
from henceforth, even forever. This is God's promise to his
children. How often we're prone to wander,
how often we're prone to leave the God we love, how often we
feel fearful about our salvation and yet here's the Lord's promise,
I'll not leave you nor forsake you. I will keep you and I will
present you faultless before the throne of God. Even when
we're not faithful, he remaineth faithful. That's what the Lord's
saying to us. This is his promise. This is
his word. This is the good hope and the
strong consolation that the scripture speaks of in the book of Hebrews.
The inability to fall away. Look at the next verse. For the
rod of the wicked, and that word rod is scepter, and a scepter
is a symbol of rule and reign. And so what the Lord's saying
here is the rule and reign of wickedness or unbelief shall
not rest upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous
put forth their hands unto iniquity. If the Lord didn't break that
scepter and deliver us from our sin and secure our salvation
by his precious blood, we would take our hand toward unbelief. We would forsake our God if he
didn't do that. And here's his promise. The scepter
of wickedness, the scepter of unrighteousness, the rule and
reign of sin shall not land or should not stay on the lot of
the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands into iniquity. Do good, O Lord, unto good. Notice that the words, those
that be good, is in italics. Do good, Lord, to good. There's none good but God. I
came in tonight, Robert asked me, he said, what do you know
good? I said, the only thing I know good is the Lord. He said,
yeah, you're right. There's none good but God. None
good but God. Do good to good. Lord, add your
goodness to the goodness that you've already started. The goodness
of your grace, continue it. Grow us in your grace and in
the knowledge of Christ. Lord, don't let the scepter of
wickedness and unbelief reign in my life. Continue to do good. And when we quote from Romans
8.28, we know that all things work together for good. That goodness is not necessarily
ease or pleasure in this life. That goodness is our salvation.
That's the goodness of God. And so it's all working together
to accomplish the end result, which is our salvation. And to them that are upright
in their hearts, we looked last Sunday what it means to have
a right heart before God, a believing heart. A heart that God gives
you to trust Christ and to rest all your hope in Him. That's
what it is to have a true heart. As for such as turn aside unto
their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the
workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel. This turning
aside, dog returning to its vomit, this swine returning to its wallow. How often we've taken our hands
off the plow and look back. How often we're prone to look
away from the Lord. And yet what he's talking about
here is apostasy. That's what he's talking about.
You know, talking about the daily struggles and temptations that
we all have with the flesh and with this world, he's talking
about forsaking the gospel. And what he's telling us here
is that that's not going to happen. I'm not going to allow it. The
sin of apostasy, denying Christ his glory and salvation and going
back to a works gospel, trampling the blood of Christ underfoot
and counting the spirit of grace a common thing is the one sin
that the Lord will never allow his children to do. That's what
the Lord is telling us here in this psalm. He's not gonna let
you forsake him. He's gonna keep you. Believers are capable of anything,
and if the Lord just lets our leash out a little bit, there's
no telling what we could do. But here's what the Lord's saying
to us, brothers and sisters, I'm not going to allow you to
fall away. I'm going to keep you. Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains. I've hedged you about with a
wall and a hedge of thorns and a wall of fire, and I've prayed
for you, and I'm going to keep you. There's our hope. Now, although
this sin of apostasy is the one sin that that the believer cannot
and will not commit. It is the sin that does so easily
beset us. It's the sin that we're most
prone to be tempted toward. How often, you see, when we look
aside to the pleasures of this world or to something else, what
are we doing? We're looking for our comfort
and our hope and our peace somewhere outside of Christ. And that's
the root cause of apostasy. And what the Lord's saying is
that every time you look away from me, I'm gonna look toward
you. and I'm gonna bring you again and again. We're always
being tempted to look somewhere other than Christ for our comfort
and our hope. How often we're tempted to compare
ourselves to the law and to get some hope of our salvation based
on something that we're doing or something that we're not doing.
And that's denying Christ, his glory and salvation. And the
Lord said, I'm not gonna let you do that. I'm not gonna let
you go there. I'm not gonna let you play the
hypocrite. I'm gonna keep you coming back
and you're gonna continue coming to Christ and placing your hope
in him. Yes, this temptation of apostasy
is a daily experience for the child of God. And yet the Lord
is promising us here as the mountains are fixed around Jerusalem and
cannot be moved. And as the rule and reign of
sin is a constant temptation, the temptation of sin, it's not
going to rule. The scepter will not reside on
Jerusalem. And you're not going to turn
aside unto a law gospel. I'm not going to
let you do it. I was telling somebody recently,
I guess 1975 maybe, when I got out of the Navy, one of the first
jobs I got, I went to work for a finance company. We had an unspoken, unwritten
policy. that we would not loan money
to politicians, preachers, or policemen. And I didn't know, all I knew
was that those three professions weren't very reliable in paying
their debt. Now I know why. Now I know why. Politicians write the law, preachers
interpret the law, and policemen enforce the law. These are professions
that are bound up in the law. And I'm not suggesting that we
don't need civil laws to have order to society. What I'm saying
is that the hypocrisy of someone who's engaged in the law is so
obvious when it comes to the spiritual things of life, doesn't
it? Our looking to the law is nothing but hypocrisy. It's what
it is. It's thinking that somehow we
can satisfy the demands of God's law. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. The Lord said, I'm not going
to let you go back there. I'm not going to let you go back
to the law. I'm not going to let you play the hypocrite. I'm not
going to let you trust in anything other than Christ for the hope
of your salvation. The Spirit of God and the Word
of God and the preacher of the gospel is gonna keep bringing
you back. For as the mountains are surrounded
about Jerusalem, so is, they cannot be removed, they abide
forever. So the Lord is around his people. You know, the truth is, if we
can leave the gospel, we will, we will. And there's our hope. Our hope is that we can't, the
Lord won't allow us. It's called the perseverance
of the saints. It's called the preservation
of the Holy Spirit. It's called restraining grace.
It's called God keeping his people. Peter put it like this in 1 Peter,
we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. If God's ever given faith, that
faith is not going to be taken away. The gifts of God are not
taken back. He's going to grow us in that
faith, ready to be revealed in the last day. Turn with me to
1 John chapter 2. This is such a great hope and
comfort for the believer. We were talking last night with
Jeanette and Donnie, and we were talking about, you know, not
knowing exactly when the Lord saved us. And I said, you know,
it's really not important, but if we had a mountaintop experience,
we might find ourselves trusting that experience rather than looking
to Christ right now. The hope of our salvation is
not being able to pinpoint a moment in time or a feeling or an experience
that we had. It's whether or not the Lord
has given us faith right now to believe on Christ, to rest
our hope in Him. And if we have that, if we have
that, it's never going to go away. That's our hope. The Lord said, you're not going
to fall away. You're not going to go back. I'm going to make sure of it.
What I've started, I'm going to finish. There's our hope. Look at 1 John 2 at verse 18. little children. It's your way,
the tender way in which the Lord speaks to us. I mean, we bring
our little children up to us. We stoop down, we condescend
to them, and we treat them with gentleness and tenderness. We
don't speak harshly. rough with our little children. So the Lord said, little children,
it is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist shall
come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that
it is the last time. Now in the Bible, we've been
thinking and hoping, well all of our believing days that we're
in the last time. Every generation from the first
coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ has had the
hope that their generation was the generation the Lord was going
to return. Even the first generation, they were
concerned that some of them were physically dying and the Lord
had not yet returned because they were convinced he was going
to return in their lifetime. And so it is with every generation. The last time is the whole period
of time between the first and second coming of Christ. And
the Lord has revealed the details of His second coming in such
a way as to give every generation of believers hope that it would
be in their day. And we have more hope than any
generation before us that it would be in our day. So the Lord
is saying there's many antichrists. They're already in the world.
This is not an individual person like we hear the fundamentalists and the dispensationalists
speak of an antichrist that's going to raise up and rule the
world. No, this is the spirit of antichrist. This is everything
that is contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished
work of redemption on Calvary's cross. And so the Lord's saying
to us, little children, there's many antichrists in the world.
There's many that are pleading for your attention. Look at verse 19. They went out
from us. Where did they hear about Christ?
What did they, what did they, they, They heard about him from
the scriptures and then they perverted the truth and the Lord
saying they went out from us but they were not of us for if
they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with
us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they
were not all of us. So apostasy is impossible for
the believer. But it is what Antichrist does,
forsakes the gospel. Here's our hope, look at verse
20, but you have an unction from the Holy Ghost, you have the
Spirit of God. He continues to abide with you. He continues to convict you of
your sin. He continues to reveal your righteousness
in the person of Christ. He continues to give you a need
for Christ. You've got to have Christ. And
he continues to convince you that the Lord Jesus Christ was
successful in what he did on Calvary's cross in redeeming
his people. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
You have the unction of the Holy Ghost and he's not going to let
you go. I have not written unto you verse
21 because you know not the truth, but because you know it and that
no lie is of the truth. I'm not going to send you a strong
delusion. You're not going to believe a lie. Oh, you may be
many, many times tempted to try to find your hope somewhere else,
but I'm not going to allow it to be. The scepter of wickedness
is not going to land on Zion. It's not going to be among my
people, lest they put out their hand and take it. The Lord Jesus prayed for his
church in John chapter 17. Father, I pray not for the world.
I'm not praying for everybody, but I pray for them, which thou
hast given me out of the world. Thine they were. thou hast given
them unto me, and I have kept them. I've given them your word.
Lord, I pray that you keep them in the world. Not that you take
them out of the world, but that you keep them while they are
in the world." And what did the Lord say that we're to pray? Lord, deliver us from evil. Lord, deliver me from evil and
from temptation. Lord, I, you know, my days of
wanting to do something great for God have long gone. Lord,
just keep me from shaming the gospel. Keep me, keep me in Christ. Isaiah chapter 42, he shall never
fail nor be discouraged. Here's our hope. Here's our hope. The Lord's not gonna fail. He's
not going to be discouraged. He's not going to lose one of
his sheep. My sheep hear my voice. They follow me. I'm going to cause each and every
one of them to persevere. And I'm going to restrain them
along the way. I'm going to restrain them. I'm going to restrain them
in their sin. And I'm going to restrain them for forsaking the
gospel. Acts chapter 21, you know the apostle Paul had to
be restrained. I mean, who knew the difference between law and
grace more than the Apostle Paul? Who was more clear and who had
been given more revelation and been given more light on the
sovereign grace of God and how Christ had fulfilled the law
more than the Apostle Paul? And yet, when Paul goes back
to Jerusalem, there's a bunch of Jews that say they believe
Christ, But they're continuing to promote circumcision. They're
continuing to promote the law. And when they saw Paul come back
into town, James, one of the apostles, got with Paul and said,
you know, look at how many Jews there are that are believing.
But they have heard that you are preaching against the law
of Moses. And you're telling men not to
be circumcised. And we need for you to do something
that's going to calm their fears and unite us together. This was the apostle saying to
Paul, we need you to do something. Well, what do you want me to
do? Well, we've got four men here. They've already shaved
their heads. They've already taken the Nazarite
vow. And if you'll join them in this Nazirite vow, they're
about to make a blood sacrifice. A blood sacrifice. The shedding
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was the last blood shedding
and the only blood shedding that God... Paul knew that. But he
was tempted by the other apostles. And he thought, well, okay, I'll
go along with this. And he entered into a Nazarite
vow with these other four men and went into the temple to make
a blood sacrifice. You read this right there in
Acts 21. God stopped it. A riot broke
out. Paul was arrested and did not
allow him to do that. Now that's restraining grace.
That would have been such a denial of the gospel for Paul to have
done that. Peter did it. In Galatians chapter
2, the Lord tells us about what happened in Antioch when Paul
showed up and some of the apostles came up from Jerusalem. These
apostles in Jerusalem, Yeah, I don't know how to explain what
was going on in these early years of the Jerusalem church with
the Jews that were trying to figure out law and grace and
trying to figure out what part of the Old Testament do we continue. But nevertheless, it was a struggle
for them. And James, again, comes up to Antioch. And when Peter
sees the apostles from Antioch, Peter gets up from the Gentile
table and goes over and sits with the Jews in the church. What was he saying? You know,
the Jews have more righteousness, the Gentiles are still in there. Paul rebuked it, turn with me
to that passage, it's in Galatians chapter 2, let's look at it again
real quick. Galatians chapter 2 verse 11. But when Peter was
come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was
to be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were
come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them that were
of the circumcision. All he did was get up from one
table and go sit at the other one. But his motive was evil and his
act risk jeopardizing the truth of the gospel. When I saw, verse 14, that they
walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I
said unto Peter, before them all, if thou, being a Jew, livest
after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst
thou the Gentiles to live as the Jews before the Gentiles? The group got here from Jerusalem.
You, you were sitting with the Gentiles and now you've moved
over. You, what do you say? You're saying to the Gentiles,
they need to become Jews. They need to be circumcised.
They need to get under the Mosaic law. Verse 15, who We who are Jews
by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law. You see, that's what
you're doing, Peter. You're confusing the gospel of
grace and you're making the message of salvation to be legal. You're
playing the hypocrite. We're not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the
faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the
works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Peter had to be
restrained. He compromised the gospel. Paul
compromised the gospel and the Lord had to stop him. And he
will do the same thing for each one of his children. As soon
as we start looking to anything other than Christ, he will restrain
us. He will cause us to look again
and again and again back to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will rebuke
us. That's what this psalm is telling
us. That Jerusalem is a city that's built with mountains that
cannot be removed And the rod of wickedness shall not rest
on the lot of the righteous. And such as turn aside, here's
our text. Now verse five, such as turn
aside and forsake the gospel, they forsake their own souls.
First John chapter two, they were never of us. They were never
of us. There's our hope. There's our
hope. If we're the Lord's, he's going
to keep us. He's going to cause us to persevere. That's my comfort. Not only do we look back at our
salvation, when are we saved? We're being saved. We're being
saved right now, aren't we? As the Lord keeps us. Lot had
to be restrained. Turn to me to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. Look with me at verse
7. And delivered just Lot, vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked, For that righteous
man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve
the unjust until the day of judgment to the punishment. The Lord knoweth
how to deliver his children. And Lot lingered. You go back
to that story that when the angels came to Sodom, Lot didn't want
to leave. He lingered. He was vexed with
what was going on there. But just like us, we get vexed
with our sin and with things of this world, and we linger
at the same time, don't we? And the Lord took him by the
hand and drug him, pulled him out of that city before it was
able to be destroyed. There's the Lord's persevering
grace. There's his restraining grace.
There's his faithfulness to keep his people. Hebrews chapter six
tells us that it is impossible for our God to lie because he
has given us a strong consolation by two immutable things, two
immutable things, the covenant of grace and the oath, the promise
that he made. that he will keep us and give
us a sure hope and an encouragement of faith. How many times we read of the
Lord restraining his children. I mean, Abraham went down to
Egypt and to save his own skin, he
told Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister. And Pharaoh took Sarah
into his harem. And the Lord sent a plague, and
Pharaoh found out that Abraham had lied. Abraham restrained,
the Lord restrained Abraham and Sarah with a plague. And Pharaoh didn't ever touch
Sarah, told Abraham, take your wife back. Why'd you do this
to us? You know, the Lord knows how to deliver his children from
temptation. He knows how to restrain them.
And generally, he does it with his word. Turn with me to Job
chapter 40. Job chapter 40. This is the means
by which the Lord increases our faith. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the word of God. Why are we here right
now? Lord, I need to be saved. I need
to be saved from myself, from my sin, from this world, from
Satan. I'm vexed with the wickedness
of this world. And Lord, if you don't deliver
me, I will take a hold of the scepter of this world. Lord,
you've got to keep me. I've got to have Christ. Now,
in the book of Job, the Lord begins speaking in chapter 38.
In 38 and 39, the Lord speaks to Job. After Elihu has preached the
gospel to Job, the Lord speaks. And as soon as Job gets an opportunity
to respond, this is what he says. Look at Job chapter 40, beginning
at verse one. Moreover, the Lord answered Job
and said, shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?
He that reproveth God, let him answer it. Job, are you trying
to instruct me? That's what Job was doing, calling
God into question. And Job answered the Lord and
said, verse four, behold, I am vile. I'm vile, Lord, I was wrong. I didn't know what I was saying.
What shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth
once I have spoken, but I will not answer yea twice, but I will
proceed no further. I will proceed no further. Lord,
I cannot pursue this path against you. You have restrained me. You have spoken. You have revealed
yourself. And and my mouth is shut. I had
heard of thee by the hearing of my ear, but now mine eyes
have seen thee and I repent in dust and ashes. The Lord goes
on to say to Job, brace yourself like a man. I'm gonna ask you
a few more questions, Job. And Job just becomes more and
more humble. This is the means by which the Lord perseveres
his saints. This is the means by which he,
every time we were tempted to call God into question, he puts
us in our place. And that's a good thing. That's
a good thing. And he constrains us by his love. Don't you love the story in Genesis
chapter 39 when Potiphar's wife tempts Joseph? And Joseph says
to Potiphar's wife, he says, you know, the master of this
house has given me everything except you. How can I commit
such a sin against my God? What Joseph is saying, what every
believer experiences, God has blessed me with his grace, how
can I? He restrains us with his love. Hosea chapter two. Let's look
at this passage. This is wonderful. This is so
glorious. Hosea chapter two. You know the story. Hosea is
a type of Christ. Gomer is you and me. Gomer is the church. She is the
harlot who has forsaken her husband for another. And that's what
we're, every time we look away from Christ, that's what we're
doing. That's what we're doing. We're playing the harlot. And
the Lord said, I'm not gonna let you go there. And just as
Hosea restrained Gomer successfully until he purchased her and brought
her back into his house and made her his own, so the Lord restrains
us and keeps us. But I want you to see something
here in chapter two. Look at chapter two of Hosea
beginning at verse five. For their mother hath played
the harlot, She that conceived them hath done shamefully, for
she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread
and my water and my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. I'm going to pursue my lovers
in hopes that they will provide for me the things that I need
in life. Therefore, Behold, I will hedge
up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find
her path. I'm not gonna let her. I'm gonna
hedge her up. I'm gonna build a wall around
her. I'm not gonna let her get her
comfort and her hope and her salvation in another. And she shall follow after her
lovers, but she shall not overtake them. There's our hope. She's gonna keep looking and
keep being distracted, but she's not gonna overtake them. And
they will not overtake her. And she shall seek them, but
shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will go
and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me
than now. Isn't that your, is that your
experience? Is that your experience? Always
playing the harlot, always looking for something else to provide
for you, the pleasures and comforts of life, and you can't ever achieve
what you're looking for. There's pleasure and sin for
a season, but in the end, it leads to death. It doesn't satisfy
the soul of a believer. Now, the unbeliever can continue
down that path and be perfectly content the rest of their life,
deceived. But the believer can never find
contentment. That's who Hosea, that's who
Gomer is. She's not going to overtake them.
And in her pursuit of them, she's gonna come to this conclusion.
The very conclusion that you and I come to every day, I'll
return to my husband. He's the one that satisfies my
soul. He's the one that helps me. He's
the one that gives me hope and comfort. He's the only one that
can forgive me of my sin. I'll return to him. Aren't you thankful the Lord's
hedged us up? I'm gonna hedge her up. I'm gonna put a wall
of fire around her. She's not gonna fall away. In
closing, turn with me to Mark chapter 12. Verse one, and he
began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard,
Now the vineyard is the church. The Old Testament church was
Israel. The Lord is speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees
who were the leaders of Israel. A certain man planted a vineyard,
that's God. He's the one who elected a people
before the foundation of the world. He's the one who planted
that vineyard. And he set a hedge about it and
he digged a place for the wine fat and he built a tower and
he let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country. He's built a hedge by his word
and by his spirit to protect his vineyard. And he's built
a tower and a wine fat, that's the cross. That's where the blood
of Christ was pressed out in the wine press of God's wrath.
And he's built a tower. That's the preaching of the gospel.
And he's put watchmen in that tower to declare to the people
whenever there's enemy coming. And he's done all of this. The
owner of the vineyard did all of this for his church. And as the season and at the
season, he sent to the husbandman a servant that he might receive
from the husband, the fruit of the vineyard. Now that servant
was the Old Testament prophets. He sent his prophets to Israel and they caught them and beat
him and sent him away empty. And again, he sent to them another
servant And at him, they cast stones and wounded him in the
head and sent him away, shamefully handled. And again, he sent another,
and him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing
some." These are the Old Testament prophets. These are the ones
the Lord spoke of the Pharisees. He said, you're treating me in
some way that your father's treated the prophets. Having yet therefore
one son, you know who that is, that's Christ. His well-beloved,
he sent him also last unto them saying, they will reverence my
son. But those husbandmen said among
themselves, this is the heir, come, let us kill him and the
inheritance shall be ours. They hated him without a cause.
Their cause was envy and nothing's changed. Men want to take to
themselves the glory that only belongs to Christ. And a works
freewill gospel is nothing but that, denying Christ his glory
and taking credit for yourself. And that's what the Lord said,
my people will not do. They won't do it. I'm gonna keep
them. They're gonna give my son all
the glory. But the old, that Israel didn't
do that. And so they killed the son. In verse 7, but those husbandmen said among
themselves, this is the heir, come let us kill him and the
inheritance shall be ours. And they took him and killed
him and cast him out of the vineyard. And the Lord says to these Pharisees,
who this parable was about. What shall therefore the Lord
of the vineyard do? And they unknowing pronounced
their own judgment when they said, well, he will come and
destroy those husband men and will give the vineyard to another. Have you not read in the scripture,
the stone which the builders rejected has become the head
of the corner. This was the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in
our eyes. The Lord did exactly that. He
took the vineyard away from those lawmongers, those who denied
Christ his glory and salvation, those who wouldn't listen to
the prophets, those who for envy killed the son. And he gave it
to another. He gave us that vineyard. And
he said, they'll not leave me nor forsake me. They're not gonna
be like that Old Testament Israel where they had to say to one
another, you need to know the Lord and rebuke one another for
they shall all know me from the least of them even unto the greatest. I will put a new heart in them,
take away that heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh.
They will be my people and I will be their God. And just as the
mountains around Jerusalem cannot be moved, so they cannot be taken
away forever and forever. Our Heavenly Father, thank you,
thank you, thank you for your mercy, for your faithfulness,
for your grace. Lord, we confess to you that
we are so prone to take our eyes off of Christ. How thankful we
are that you keep bringing us back Keep causing us to have
a need for Christ, a love for Christ. Keep rebuking us, Lord,
of our unbelief. And give us the hope of knowing
that you are faithful to keep your children and to present
them faultless before your throne. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. That's all. 175, let's stand together, 175.