Good morning, everyone. It's nice to see you on a rainy
Sunday morning. I pray we'll have showers of
blessings. We had a good time in the conference, Friday night,
Saturday morning in Sellersburg. It was good to be there, good
turnout. A lot of brethren came from other
places, and it was a wonderful time. Brother Frank preached
with me Friday night, and Brother Kevin Thacker preached yesterday
morning, and they just brought wonderful messages. Brother Obi
is in San Diego preaching for Kevin. Brother Luke is in Catlettsburg
preaching for Brother Frank. And Brother Tony is going to
bring the message tonight to help me. So let's be remembering
all of us. Pray the Lord will help us and
bless us and be with us. Let's go to him in prayer. Our high and holy Heavenly Father
Lord, we. Come to you this morning. Very
thankful to be gathered in your name. Very thankful Lord to be. Called your people counted among
your people. And Lord, we pray that you might.
Look upon us today as your people as the people that you've chosen
to. Call to yourself and quicken to yourself and. quicken to who
you are, and we pray, Lord, that you will look upon us today. We pray that you will meet with
us today. We beg of you for your presence.
We beg of you for your spirit, Lord. We pray that you will sincerely
help us to worship you. We pray this not for only our
assembly this morning. We pray for our brethren who
are traveling, preaching, be with Brother Obi, be with Brother
Luke, be with Brother Tony tonight. We pray for the men who are still
preaching in the conference this morning. We pray for the brethren
all over this nation, all over this world who are standing in
truth. declaring the good news of your
gospel. Lord, help them, strengthen them,
encourage them. And we pray for all the brethren
who hear the gospel. Lord, help us all. Help us all
to truly hear the word. Lord, help us to feed on this
word. Help us to need this word and
love this word and help us to grow, we pray. Be with our teachers
this morning, Lord. Be with our children. Plant a
seed in their hearts if you would be willing. Be with our loved
ones. Be with this city, Lord. We pray
for Kingsport. Help us and save us, Lord. Have
mercy on us, we beg for Christ's sake. Amen. Turn with me to Matthew 21. Matthew 21, so far in this chapter, this chapter began with our Lord
riding into Jerusalem and a multitude of people throwing
palm branches and coats in His way, crying, Hosanna, oh, save
us. And I pray we might cry that
today, truly. Lord, save us. And when he got
to Jerusalem, he went into the temple and he threw out the money
changers and them that sold doves. He purged it of man's false religion,
man making his own sacrifice, trying to make his own sacrifice.
And then he went that evening to Bethany and he spent the night
there. And the next morning on his way back to Jerusalem, he
came up to a fig tree and he was going to eat some figs off
of it and there was no fruit. So he cursed the fig tree. He cursed man's works. That's what that represented.
Man's own work. He purged the temple of false
religion and cursed man's works. And then when he got back to
Jerusalem, he went into the temple and he was met by some Pharisees,
some false religion Pharisees who questioned his authority. What a foolish thing to do. They
questioned his authority and in his authority, he did not
answer their question. I love that. He didn't answer
their question. And then he taught a parable
on repentance, having a changed mind about these things, a changed
mind about who God is and who man is and what salvation is. And now he's gonna teach another
parable. As we already said, this is the week leading up to
his crucifixion, and he is very kindly coming back to the temple,
preaching each day, and he's gonna bring another parable to
them now. If you look at verse 33, Matthew
21, verse 33, he said, hear another parable. There was a certain
householder which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and
digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out
to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time
of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen,
that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took
his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent 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. 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 and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. When the Lord thereof
of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
They say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men and
will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall
render him the fruits in their seasons. 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 and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore
say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and
given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever
shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief
priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived
that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands
on him, they feared the multitude because they took him for a prophet. Now there are two things specifically
that our Lord said that grabbed my attention and made me want
to spend some time on them. And because I didn't want to
rush either one of them, I've decided to split this up into
both of our services this morning. We're going to look at the story. We're going to look at the parable
in the message in just a moment. For this Bible study, I want
us to really get a hold of one line. One line. This line struck me, especially
considering what the story is, understanding what the story
is. This really struck me. When I read this, it hit me hard
that this is something every soul on this earth needs to know. This is something to ponder.
This is really something to realize. Let's see if the Lord will let
us get a hold of one line right here. Toward the end of verse
42, it says, this is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's doing. This
is the Lord's doing. That's something men and women
need to get a hold of. This is the Lord's doing. I don't
care what we're talking about. Whatever the circumstance may
be, this is the Lord's doing. Whatever it is, this is the Lord's
doing. For this Bible study, I want
us to really enter into the fact that the Lord our God is sovereignly
in control of all things, no matter what it is and no matter
how it affects us. He's in control of the rain.
He's in control of the power, the electricity. Really, he's in control of all
things. The reason is because all things
were purposed and ordained by him. Everything, everything from
before the foundation of this world, everything that was, everything
that is, everything that will ever be. was purposed and ordered
by the Lord our God. Whatever it is, it's the Lord's
doing. This is the Lord's doing. Now I have a few scriptures I
want to show you to prove this, and the first one is in Acts
15. If you want to turn with me to
Acts 15. Acts 15 verse 18 says, Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. Everything he would do. Everything
that he would do. The end of verse 17 says, The
Lord who doeth all these things. He's the one who does all these
things and known unto God are all his works from the beginning
of the world. The Lord is the one who does
all things and everything he would ever do. He knew what it
was before the foundation of the world. Ephesians one says
he chose and elect people before the foundation of the world.
He knew that he would create a people. He knew those people
would fall into sin. I want us to really get ahold
of this right here. He knew those people would fall
into sin and he let it happen anyway. Okay. He allowed it to
happen. He knew that sin would enter
the world. This perfect world that he said,
it's very good. He knew sin would creep in and
ruin all of it. He knew he would create a people.
He knew that those people would sin. He knew that he would redeem
the ones he chose to redeem because he provided a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. But here's the point I'm trying
to make. He allowed it to happen. He allowed it to happen. The
fall of Adam was no shock to God. He'd already provided a
lamb slain for that fall before the fall ever even occurred.
In the beginning, God created a people. God created a world. He did not leave that world to
chaos and chance. He ordered everything about it. Turn with me over to Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46 verse 9 says, remember
the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have
purposed it, I will also do it. Known unto God was everything
from the beginning. He declared everything all the
way to the end from the beginning. From the greatest things, to
the smallest things. From what a man does to what
a bird does. He spoke all things. That's the
reason everything happens the way it does. He purposed all
things. That's why all things come to
pass the way they do. Ephesians 1 verse 11 says, he
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. All things, everything. Somebody
hears this and I mean, I get it. I say this too. The response
is everything, everything, everything. Look with me at Matthew 10. Matthew 10 verse 28, it says,
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without
your father. What that means is a sparrow
cannot die and fall to the ground. or a sparrow cannot just fall
to the ground without the permission and the command of the Almighty
God. Verse 30 says, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. That's amazing, isn't it? A hair can't fall out of a head. If a hair falls out of a head,
that's one less number, still numbered. Nothing happens without the permission
of the Almighty. Acts 17, 25 says, he giveth to
all life and breath and all things. Every breath that we take is
the Lord's doing. Every time our heart beats, it's
the Lord's doing. Turn over there to Acts 17. Acts 17 verse 22. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, you men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things you're too superstitious. That word means religious. You're
just too religious. For I passed by and beheld your
devotions, as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found
an altar with this inscription. To the unknown God, whom therefore
you ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. The God that made
the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven
and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped
with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth
to all life and breath and all things. He gives to all life
and breath and all things. Verse 26, and hath made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the
earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation. He has determined the times.
He has determined the bounds. Man's days are determined. The
number of his months are with the Lord. Our time on this earth is in
the hands of the Lord. Our time is in the hands of the
Lord. Samuel had to tell the prophet Eli one time. The Lord
called Samuel and Samuel said, here am I, speak Lord. And the
Lord said, I want you to tell Eli that because of the sin and
iniquity of his two sons, I'm going to kill his two sons. And that's how it works. The
Lord said, I kill. I make alive, I wound, I heal. That's the Lord's doing. And that's what Eli confessed
when Samuel came to him and told him that after hearing that God
was going to kill both of his sons. This is what Eli said.
He said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Let him do what seemeth him good. Let him do what seems good to
him. Whatever our Lord does is good. Whatever purpose of his comes
to pass, it's for the purpose of good, always. The story of
Joseph, Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. At the end
of his story in Genesis 50, Joseph told his brothers, he said, it's
okay. You know, they realized this is Joseph and we're standing
before him. And that's a good illustration
of what we're about to look at in the message in a moment. But
they were crying out to him. And he said, it's okay. He said,
fear not. You meant this against me for
evil. But he said God meant it unto
good that he might bring to pass as it is this day to save much
people alive. God allowed this to happen to
save much people alive, to bring good. And that's the thing to
realize in everything that God brings to pass. It's for the
purpose of good. Whatever it is, it is the Lord's
doing. And it's for the purpose of bringing
his good. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. You know, we hear this and, and,
and again, I, our response naturally, naturally is how can the things
that come to pass out there bring good? How? There's so much sin in the world. There's so much sin in the world.
There's so much wickedness in this world. How could God bring
good out of that? How could God bring good from
that? Well, I'll tell you this. I don't
know how God can bring good out of all the wickedness that we
see in the world. I don't know. Just like Joseph didn't know
at the time how God was going to bring good out of him being
sold into slavery. Do you think Joseph understood
what God was doing? Just like the apostles and the
disciples of the Lord did not know at the time how the Lord
was going to bring good out of his crucifixion and his death.
They wanted to stop it. Peter was ready to pull his sword
and fight everybody. They begged him not to go to
Jerusalem. They had no idea how he could
bring good out of his crucifixion and death, but he did. He did. He accomplished the salvation
of his people through that. God is not the author of sin. He is not the author of confusion,
but he allows man's sin and confusion for the ultimate accomplishment
of his own good. Judas and that mob laying hands
on him. That was sin against God, literally. That was sin against God. The
way those Pharisees lied on him and accused him of blasphemy,
that was sin against God. The way those soldiers beat him
and spit on him and mocked him, that was all sin against God.
The way Pilate gave command to strip him and crucify him, that
was sin against God. But do you know why they did
every bit of that? You know why they did every bit of that? Turn
over to Acts chapter four. Acts chapter four, verse 26. It says, the kings of the earth
stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. Why? For to do whatsoever thy
hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." They were
doing what God determined before to be done. Everything that happened
in that, that was the Lord's doing. That was the Lord's doing. The entire transaction of the
cross was the predetermined, foreordained purpose of the Lord. That was the sovereign victory
of the Lord. That was the will of God the
Father. That was the will of God being
done, every bit of it. Look at Acts chapter two, verse
23. It says him being delivered by
the determinant council and for knowledge of God. That's why
he was delivered. The determinant council and for
knowledge of God, him being delivered by the determinant council and
for knowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. He allowed that to happen. He
said, that's why you by wicked hands were allowed to do that.
Man in his wickedness thinks he's having his way. Man thinks
he's having his way. But even man's wickedness, there's
no excuse for our sin. There's no excuse for our wickedness.
But even man's wickedness accomplishes God's way. This is how sovereign
he is. This is how in control he is.
Man in his wickedness does what he wickedly wants to do. But
even in man's wickedness, he is just a pawn in the purpose
of God. Our God is going to have his
way. The will of the Lord Jesus Christ our God. That's the only
will that's going to be done. That will is completely for the
purpose of accomplishing the salvation and the redemption
of His people. And that's good. That's good. Even if we don't understand His
will, even if we don't understand His purpose in the things that
are being done, We have this promise from his word to hold
on to, all right? We'll end with this. Go to Psalm
104. Psalm 104, verse 24. It says, oh Lord, how manifold,
many fold, how many, much, how many are thy works? In wisdom hast thou made them
all. The earth is full of thy riches. Everything that he does is wise.
Everything he does is wise. Everything that He is allowing
us for the purpose of bringing good to his people, glory to
himself. Whatever it is, God's people
can say, this is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes.
So marvelous. Now, in just a moment, we're
going to look at the story. We're going to look at the parable
that the Lord said that in. All right, you're dismissed.