Mark chapter 12. I have a set of notes here and
I'm going to use them. I'm going to use them. But I don't want to preach an
outline this morning. I don't want to preach an outline.
I want to preach a sincere message to the hearts of men and women. And I mean this. I mean this. If I've never preached a sincere
message to the heart of men and women, may God allow me to do
it today. There is a truth that God has
revealed in this word. There is a truth that God has
recorded in this word and every soul on this earth needs to hear
it. Every single soul needs to believe
this and needs to bow to this. How privileged we are. Our Lord told us this truth through
the simplicity of parables. Aren't you so glad that's how
He chose to speak with us and teach us? Through the simplicity
of parables. A parable is an earthly story
with a heavenly meaning. That's what a parable is. Now
let's see what our Lord has to say right here. Mark 12 verse
1. And he began to speak unto them
by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard,
and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine-fat,
and built a tower, and led it out to husbandmen. and went into
a far country. This man owned a piece of property
and he planted a vineyard. He's the one who planted the
vineyard. And then he hired some servants
to take care of the vineyard. All right. Now hold your place
right here. We're going to come right back
and go with me to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2, verse 1 says, Thus
the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. It was God's heaven and it was
God's earth. He made them. He owned them. Right? Verse 8 says, And the
Lord God planted a garden. eastward in Eden, and there he
put the man whom he had formed." God planted the garden, it was
God's garden. Verse 15 says, and the Lord God
took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it
and to keep it. Alright, now go with me back
to our text. Verse 1 in Mark 12 says, And
he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted
a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place
for the wine-fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen,
and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to
the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandman
the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught that servant
and beat him and sent him away empty. And again, he sent unto
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." This parable is about God and
man. That's what it's about, God and
man. This parable is about God's right. It's about God's ownership. It's about God's lordship. This is all God's. It all belongs
to him, so do we. This parable is about the sin
of his servants against him. That's what it's about. This
parable is about the goodness and the fairness of the master.
The indescribable goodness and fairness, God put Adam in a beautiful
garden. beautiful garden. He said of
every tree in this garden, you may freely eat, but one, right? Not this one. This is my commandment
and the servants of God willingly. And that is the key word. That's the key word. And if,
if we were all honest with ourselves, if we were honest with our hearts,
we would say, yeah, that's the truth. His servants willingly
sinned against him. Willingly. Now, every man or woman after
Adam can say that is not fair. I was not there. And physically speaking, that's
right. That's right, I was not there. I was not physically there. That's true. But every man or
woman since Adam and Eve has done the exact same thing Adam
and Eve did. The exact same thing. God delivered
Israel out of Egypt and he gave them 10 commandments, didn't
he? You know what the first commandment is? Out of those 10 commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Do you know what the children
of Israel were doing while Moses was up on that mountain receiving
the Ten Commandments? You know what they were doing?
They were melting all their gold down so they could make a golden
calf to fall down before it and worship it. While he was up there
receiving the Ten Commandments. The Lord was so good to Israel,
he was so good to his people. God in mercy and in kindness,
he sent them prophets. He didn't have to do that, did
he? He did not have to send them preachers. He did not have to
send them messengers to tell them the truth. But you know
what they said? We're sick and tired of them. We're tired, we don't want them
anymore. I'm tired of your prophets." What they said is, we want our
own kink. We're sick and tired of Samuel, give us Saul. Isn't
that what they said? God in mercy kept sending them
prophets. We have all of these Old Testament
prophets. He sent Isaiah. He sent Jeremiah. He sent Ezekiel. He sent Daniel. They rejected every single one
of them. Every single one of them. Then
God in mercy sent one last servant. All right, one last servant. He cried, behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect in
whom my soul delighteth. Isn't that what he said? He shall
grow up before me as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground,
and He is going to have compassion on those wicked sinners. Isn't
that amazing? He's gonna have compassion on
those wicked sinners. We know the verse well, we quote
it all the time. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. Isn't that right? Let me show
you a few other verses, all right? These verses are so amazing.
Go to Matthew chapter nine. Matthew chapter 9, look at verse
35. And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes,
He was moved with compassion on them because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. He was moved with compassion
on them. Knowing man, you know, since
Adam, man has not changed. This good and holy and right
God How could he look on man and
be moved with compassion when man is so at enmity against God? But he did. He was moved with
compassion on him. Look with me at Luke 19. Luke 19, verse 41. Let's see
if we can enter into this. Luke 19, 41, when he was come
near to Jerusalem, he was coming into Jerusalem. When he was come
near, he beheld the city and wept over it. You know, we have
that verse of scripture, Jesus wept. over Lazarus, and Mary,
and Martha, and he groaned within himself. But he looked at the
city of Jerusalem. And when he was come near, he
beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. He said,
if you had known, isn't that amazing? If you had only known,
if you only knew what was in store for you, he wept over it. If you only
knew what was in store for you, how can you describe the judgment
of God? How could you enter into the
judgment of God? If you only knew what was waiting If you
only knew what was immediately after you cross over. If you
only know. Look at Luke 13. Luke 13, verse
34 says. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which
killeth the prophets. I sent you prophets and you killed
them. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth
the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee. How
often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth
gather her brood under her wings, and you would not." You would not. For God so loved
this world, He sent His only begotten Son, and what did man
do with Him? What did man do with Him? Go
with me back to our text in Mark chapter 12. Mark 12 verse 6 says, Having
yet therefore one son, 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. And they took him and killed
him and cast him out of the vineyard. He said, while he was hanging
there, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. They
said, crucify him. Crucify him. We will not have
that man reign over us That's what this flesh says. I don't
want to hear it. I'm sick and tired of hearing
it. I'm tired of you telling me about a man who's going to
judge me. Leave me alone. We hate him. We hate him. Quit sending prophets. Quit telling
us about him. We hate him. I hate him. I don't want to hear about him.
I don't want to hear about His death. I don't want to hear about
His righteousness. I don't want to hear about His
mercy. I don't want to hear about His truth. I don't want to hear
about His grace. I don't want to hear about His
love. I sure don't want to hear about His election. I hate Him. Kill Him. How does that apply to us? How
does that apply to us? We can argue the fact that whenever
they brought him to that cross, we were not there. When Adam sinned, we were not
there. Not physically like we are right now. When they brought
him to that cross, we were not there. That's true. Not physically
like we are right now. But every time we deny his deity, Every time we do not believe
this is God Almighty. We call him a liar, don't we? And we hate him every time we
don't bow. Every time we acknowledge to
him, you're not our king. You're not our king, you don't
reign over me. We hate Him. Kill Him. Kill. I got better things than
Him. Every time we say that His blood
was not enough, every single time, every time we say, I must
add something to this, yes, Christ died, but every single time,
We deny His accomplishment every time. We deny who He is. We deny what He has done. And
in our hearts, we have crucified Him. Now, verse 9 says, What shall
therefore the Lord of the vineyard do? What do servants like that
deserve? What do they deserve? What would
be fair? What would be just and right
in dealing with them? Verse nine, he goes on to say,
he will come and destroy the husbandman and will give the
vineyard unto others. And have you not read this scripture? The stone which the builders
rejected is become head of the corner. This was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes. And they sought to lay hold on
him, but feared the people, for they knew that he had spoken
the parable against them. And they left him and went their
way. God is telling us that is exactly
what I'm going to do. That's exactly what I'm going
to do. I don't want to preach an outline this morning. Let
me tell you what the gospel outline is. Let me tell you what grace
is. Man fell in sin. Christ redeemed him by his blood,
and God's Spirit regenerated him back to the Father. I'm not
interested in preaching an outline this morning. We've sinned against God. We're about to meet Him. And
He says right here what He's going to do to us. This is what
He will do to us. I've never attended a funeral
where the person dead didn't go to heaven. Never. Not one time. I don't see how
anybody could be in hell. Everybody's in a better place.
I've never attended a funeral where the person went to hell. We're blind. We are blind. We can Google the statistics
how often men go meet God every second of every day. We're blind. We're going to meet God and He
is not like we think He is. He has clearly declared to us
what He is going to do. Very, very clearly. Now, God's messengers never beg
men and women to do anything. Never. God's message is not a
negotiation. It is a declaration. In that declaration, God's messengers
are not begging. They are not begging, but the
scripture does use the word pleading. Pleading to God. Pleading to God. Pleading to
God. I'm not pleading to you and I'm
not pleading to me. I'm pleading to God. Job said,
as a man pleads for his neighbor, Look with me, if you would, at
Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, this is talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 7 says, Who in the days
of His flesh when He had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save
Him from death, and was heard in that He feared. Though He
were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered,
and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey Him. Now I started this by saying
I don't want to preach an outline. I don't want to preach an outline.
I want to preach a sincere message to the hearts of every one of
us in this room, old and young. from the oldest to the youngest. And right now, I plead to God
on behalf of us, as a man pleads for his neighbor.
And here's why. The stone which the builders
rejected has become the head of the corner. The lamb that
was slain has become the lion of the tribe of Judah. The judged
has become the judge and vengeance is his. He will repay. In this parable, though, in this
parable, he has given us the absolute truth of one hope. I do mean one. There is one hope. It would crush me. It would crush
me. We know about our brother who
passed away in Rocky Mount this week and they had a funeral.
A man left the earth, entered into eternity, into glory. And that man had such a good
hope. And it was a happy funeral. But
it would crush me. to find out that one soul in
this room left this earth without this one hope. Our Lord gave it to us in Matthew's
account of this story. Go with me over to Matthew 21. Matthew 21 verse 37. 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 therefore
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
season. Jesus saith unto them, Did you
never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders
rejected? The same is 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." Here's the truth. Here's the
truth. Men stand up and they believe
they're telling souls the truth. Oh, we heard the truth today.
Here's the truth. Here is the truth. This chief
cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ, the stone on which every stone
is built, has been rejected by every single one of us, starting
with the preacher of this church. He has been rejected by the flesh
of every single one of us. Because of that, His judgment
and His wrath is going to fall on every single soul and grind
him to powder. Every single soul. But this is
His promise. This is His promise. Every soul
that falls on this stone Right now, the scripture says today
is the day of salvation. Tomorrow might be too late. We're
not promised tomorrow. Every soul that falls on this
stone falls on the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging the sin
against him. Begging him for mercy. Lord,
please be merciful to me. Every soul who falls down before
him is going to be broken. He said that hard hateful heart
against the son of God. I don't hate God. God says we do. We just called
him a liar. But he said every hard hateful
heart. I'll break it. The greatest thing
that could ever happen to us is if God would break us. If
God would break us, he said, I'll break it. I will cause it
to cry out for forgiveness. I mean, gut wrenchingly cry out
for forgiveness. I'll cause it to be truly sorry
over the sin it has committed. And a broken and a contrite heart,
he said, I will hear. I will, I'll answer. And I'll
have mercy on it. I will take out that heart of
stone and I'll put in a heart of flesh. I'll put a heart in
there that loves God. I'll put a heart in there that
loves his word. I'll put a heart in there that loves his messengers.
the messenger that brings the word. But most of all, I'll put
a heart in there that loves his son. That soul will bring forth
fruit unto God. That's what I'll do. Every soul
who falls on Christ for mercy. Now, I don't know how much time
we have left in this vineyard that we call the earth. I don't know how much time we
have left. I really don't. A day is as a thousand years,
a thousand years as a day. The Lord created everything in
six days. On the seventh, he said it's done. He made Adam
6,000 years ago. We're in the morning of the seventh.
I don't know. People can read into all that stuff they want
to. These last days men will be scoffers and mockers. Boy,
is that not the case? I don't know how many more days
we have left in the vineyard that we call earth before the
husbandman comes back. I don't have any idea. But here's
what I want to say to every single one of us. Here's what I want
to say to myself, to my wife, my children, every one of us
in this room. Before he comes back, we need
to kiss the sun lest he be angry. We need to fall on our chief
cornerstone and beg him for mercy. Every soul who does is going
to find it. Every soul who does. Fall on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you don't know what that
means, ask him. Lord, I hear you say that I must
be in Christ. I don't even know what that means.
Nicodemus said, I mean, can a man enter his mother's womb the second
time? How do you get in Christ? Ask him. How can I be in Christ? Ask him. How do I fall on the
chief cornerstone? I don't even know what that means,
but I believe he is the chief cornerstone. And I also believe
that the stone that everyone rejected has become head of the
corner. How do I fall on you? What does
that mean? cause me to fall. Lord, would
you lay hold of me and pick me up and throw me on that stone?
Break me. Ask him, ask him every soul here. I'm pleading to God on our behalf.
Fall on the Lord Jesus Christ. OK, let's all stand together.