The Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by Pastor Don Fortner
of Danville, Kentucky. For information about how to
obtain a copy of this sermon, please visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. And now, here is Pastor Don Fortner. Let's turn together to Mark chapter
12. We read at verse 1 that the Lord
Jesus began to speak unto them by parables. He began to speak
to the chief priest, the scribes, and the elders who were standing
in his presence. This is the parable, the first
of several. A certain man planted a vineyard
and set a hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine vat,
and built a tower, and led it out to husbandmen, and went into
a far country. And at the season, when it was
time, he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he, the servant,
as the messenger of God, might receive from the husbandmen the
fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, 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
they killed him, and many others, beating some and killing some.
Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him
also last unto them, saying, but they will reverence my son.
They will reverence my son. That's all he required. That's
the fruit he was looking for. 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. Now there's the
motive. And they took him and killed
him, cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the Lord
of the vineyard do? What would you do? He will come
and destroy the husbandman, and will give the vineyard to others.
And have you not read this scripture? The stone which the builders
rejected is become the head of the corner. This was the Lord's
doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And they, that is the
chief priests, the scribes and the elders, the leaders of the
Jewish nation and their Jewish church state. They sought to
lay hold on him, but feared the people, for they knew. What about his speculation? They
knew. The word of God stuck like a barbed arrow in their hearts.
They knew that he had spoken the parable against them. And they left him and went their
way. Now, clearly, this is a historical parable. We are told in this
twelfth verse that these chief priests, scribes, and elders
of the Jews knew that the Lord Jesus had spoken directly concerning
them. Now the history of the Jewish
nation from the time that God took them out of Egypt until
the time that he sent the armies of Rome into Jerusalem in 70
A.D. and thoroughly destroyed that
nation and that city and that people as far as their civil
and spiritual structures concerned, he just annihilated them. He
utterly destroyed them. Now the whole history of the
Jews from the time they came out of Egypt to 70 A.D. is described
here in this passage. And in these 12 verses we have
a picture given and a very clear interpretation drawn by the Son
of God of God's dealings with the whole nation of Israel during
all that time, both in providential mercy, in patience, in long suffering,
and at last in severe just judgment. The parable then is clearly a
historic parable, but it is recorded in this place here in Mark's
Gospel in the book of God. for more than just to give us
a history of the Jews. It is recorded here by divine
inspiration and stands as a beacon to warn us, lest we who have
received and experienced far greater mercies than the Jews
ever knew anything about should also at last be dashed in pieces
upon the rocks of God's righteous retribution and judgment. Without
question, there is here a warning for us as a nation. And I would
be remiss in my duty as God's messenger if I didn't speak it.
The United States of America is a nation which has been blessed
of God, perhaps like no other nation in all history with providential
mercy. We have enjoyed almost from our
inception prosperity like no other nation in the world. We
have lived and still live for the most part in the lap of luxury. Our straightened circumstances
are better than most people in the world ever dream of having.
We live, for the most part, without any fear of war, terrorism, those
things that disturb other nations of the world incessantly. We
live with freedom and we live with safety. There's never been
a nation more blessed of God than ours has been historically
in the most important area, and that is with the gospel of God's
free grace. This is the land of what the historians refer
to as the Great Awakening. God has sent faithful prophet
after faithful prophet, generation after generation to this country.
They've gone through the length and breadth of this land. Israel
of old had peculiar privileges as no other nation in her day,
but their providential blessings were nothing compared to what
we've enjoyed. But like Israel of old, throughout our history,
we have provoked God to jealousy over and over and over again.
It seems to me, both as I read history and as I look over the
brief experience of my existence in this world, that the more
God has just opened the windows of heaven and showered blessings
upon us, the more greatly More blatantly, more signally, we
have turned from Him, seizing after just the material, carnal,
sensual things of this world. Truly, we must acknowledge. We
must acknowledge. Turn back and let me show you.
Hold your hands here, Mark 12. I'll get to it in a minute. But
turn back to 2 Chronicles 36. We must acknowledge, as did the
psalmist, He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities. We have behaved just exactly
like the Jews described here in 2 Chronicles chapter 36 and
in verse 16. Look at verse 15. The Lord God, let's read it.
Let's read it personally, all right? We'll do no injustice
to scripture. You read it just like this. The
Lord God of our fathers sent unto them by his messengers rising
up the times and sending because he had compassion on his people
and on his dwelling place. But they and we mocked the messengers
of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until
the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no
remedy. I'm going to tell you, it is
a thousand wonders to me. It is a thousand wonders to me
that God has not destroyed our nation. Our streets run red with
blood. Blood shed by unrestrained, undisciplined
children. This generation of children and
young people, I'm going to put this on the radio and I hope
every mama and daddy in the country hears it. This generation of
young people have barbarians for parents. And some of you
behave like it sometimes. Parents these days are more like
brute beasts, crawling reptiles who just lay their eggs in the
sand and bury them in the sand of this world and forget them,
leave them to raise themselves. Now you listen carefully to me,
I'm saying exactly what I intend to say. Parents who refuse to
train, govern and discipline their children, who refuse to
mold the characters of their children for good, are nothing
more than breeding beasts and I apologize to the beast. And
these days it's customary for men and women, boys and girls,
simply to breed like dogs, first with one, then another. Adultery
is so commonplace that you just expect it. And from the White
House down, it's given way to an utter disregard for any kind
of commitment to responsibility and obligation, utter disregard
for marriage, for law and for order. fornication is smiled
at as a like thing. It's as common for girls these
days to have babies out of wedlock as it is for dogs to scratch
fleas. Homosexuality is not only tolerated, it's accepted, it's
promoted, it's taught in our classrooms, in schools from the
earliest times you send your children off to school. It's
taught on everything that comes out of Hollywood. It's the common
theme of everything that's written in our day, in every aspect of
what's called cultured society. And as it has been throughout
history, when nations have abandoned God for their lust, abandoned
His way for their pleasures, abandoned His law and His order
in the name of freedom and human liberty, human life has become
cheap. Human life in our society is
cheap, so cheap that babies are boarded more commonly than folks
go get their teeth cleaned. Unborn infants are looked at
as just unwanted fat. You just suck it out when you
don't want it. And I lay the charge, two places, I lay the
charge and responsibility at the doors of mom and daddy who
do not take the responsibility of parents. Now you moms and
dads, you young folks who think about becoming moms and dads,
if you don't intend to raise your children for the glory of
God, do the world and yourself and them a favor, don't have
them. Don't have them. Well, we don't want to interfere
with that little boy. We don't want to interfere with
that little girl. It might make them feel bad. That's the intention.
You want them to hurt when they don't obey. That's the intention. Somebody came up to me one time.
Faith was a little girl. She'd sit right where Shelby
sits now. She's just a little tot. She'd come to church. We
didn't bring toys for her to play with. Brought her to church
to hear the Word of God. We didn't bring things where to write and
scribble on. We brought her to church to hear the word of God. And she'd misbehave. When she
misbehaved, she was just a little tight. I'd step out of the pulpit.
Rather than go into that door, I'd go to this door. We'd go
outside, and we'd have a talk. And I did all the talking and
didn't say a word. One of the fellas met me at the
door one day, or one of the women. She said, Brother Don, you're
going to give that child a complex. I said, I fully intend to give
that child a complex. I want her to do what I tell
her to do. And she's going to do what I tell her to do first
time I tell her. You mamas and daddies, I hear you, you say,
do this. No. My soul, I wasn't even raised
anywhere around Christianity. If I said no to my mom, I wouldn't
have had any teeth to this day. That's nonsense. That's utter
nonsense for you parents to let your children get by with you
speaking a word to them and not obeying you. And the reason we
have the conditions we have in this society is both moms and
dads have been raised with the notion that somehow we don't
want to interfere with anything. If you don't interfere, foolishness
is bound up in the heart of a child, and left to itself, it'll be
raised up to be nothing but a fool. And we're living in a generation
of mad fools, and they rule the universe as far as politics and
education and such of that's concerned. It's astounding. As I said earlier, that God has
not simply wiped us off into oblivion, and yet the fact that
he hasn't done so gives me some hope. Maybe our great, gracious,
and glorious God will once more in wrath Remember mercy. Maybe he has in store for our
land such a great spiritual deliverance as he gave to the Jews and brought
them out of Babylonian captivity physically. Maybe he will be
pleased to bring us out of the Babylonian captivity of spiritual
darkness into which we have plunged ourselves by disobedience. Now
having said that, horrible as things are on the streets of
our cities, in our classrooms, in our political leaders, in
the houses that people call families. Bad as social fabric is in our
land, there's a worse problem. And the worst problem is the
root cause of all the other problems. The problem I speak of is this
fact. The teachers, preachers, spiritual leaders, churches,
local and denominational throughout our land, Those who profess to
be God's servants, who claim to be responsible to teach God's
word and God's ways and God's truth, have long abandoned the
glory of God and the gospel of God because they take things
that belong to God to themselves. If you'll read the first chapter
of Romans, you will see that the moral decline of any people
begins with spiritual decline, with idolatry and with apostasy
from the revelation of God given in his word. And I lay the responsibility
for homosexuality, for the crime in our streets, for the blatant
disregard of all things concerning the law of God, I lay it at the
doorstep of Arminian free will, works, idolatrous religion. Folks
have been taught all their lives that they are, after all, God.
And they just decided, so, I'll do what I want to. The parable
here given in this 12 verses of Mark chapter 12 speaks historically
of the nation of Israel. It is without question a warning
to us as a nation, and a warning to all other nations of this
apostate age like ours, who are reaping the consequences of forsaking
God and His Word. He still visits the iniquities
of the fathers, unto the children and the children's children,
unto the third and fourth generation of them who will not obey Him.
He's still a God of judgment. But this parable is primarily
a warning to you and me. That's primarily the purpose
it's given. It is a warning to this local church, a warning
to us who are now so greatly blessed in these dark, dark days,
with the privilege of sitting under the ministry of the gospel
in the house of God, hearing the word of God faithfully proclaimed. Now, this is what God, the Holy
Spirit, intends for us to learn from this parable. You can read
it for yourself in his own words in Romans chapter 11, verses
20 and 21. But this is the lesson. This is what the parable means.
By being Judaestus, Meryl and Charlotte Hart, Don Shelby Cortner,
everybody else here, this is what it means. Be not high-minded,
but fear. For if God spared not the nation
of Israel, the natural branches take heed, lest he also spare
not thee. That's what the parable teaches.
Now with that warning in mind, I'm going to wrap this up by
making seven statements that are plain lessons given from
the parable. First, God's church in this world
is His vineyard. That's what it says in verse
1. Now, I'm speaking primarily here of the local church. There
certainly are applications of the parable to the church universal,
and there certainly are lessons to be had here for every true
local church, but I'm talking to Grace Baptist Church, Danville,
Kentucky. And this is what the Lord tells us concerning this
assembly of professed believers. This church belongs to God. Doesn't
belong to the Baptist denomination. Doesn't belong to the deacons.
Doesn't belong to the pastor. Doesn't belong to you. Belongs to God.
It's his church. He separated a piece of ground in his own
property. He separated a piece of ground.
I'll plant my vineyard right here. And he planted his vineyard. By his hand, by his providence,
he planted it. He digged a place for the wine
vat in his vineyard. And he's hedged it about. Oh,
he put a hedge around it so that the wild boars in the field couldn't
come through and tear down his vineyard. And this local church,
this vineyard of the Lord, I hope you know, is the greatest blessed
privilege and blessing you have in this world. I don't mean it
takes first, second, third place. It's the first thing. Greatest
blessed privilege and blessing you have in this world. You might
not think so now, but if the Lord God should come take away
this candlestick, it wouldn't take you long to find out. Secondly,
the Lord God has led out his vineyard to husbandmen. Now, this is what that means.
This is exactly what it means. God has entrusted to you and
me his vineyard. Oh, wow. He's led it out to us
husbandmen? It is our privilege and our responsibility
to care for His opinion, to maintain His vineyard, to see to it that
all things are done well for His vineyard. Thirdly, at the
appointed time, the Lord God sends His messengers, His servant,
and looks for and rightfully expects fruit from his vineyard. He establishes his vine and he
plants it, hedges it about. And he said, no, it's going to
bring forth fruit. That's the reason he planted it. That's
why he planted it. And he comes to collect rent
from the husbandman. And this is all the rent he asked.
All the rent he demands. And he's going to get it. Reverence
for his son. Surely they'll reverence my son.
Reverence his word. Reverence him. Reverence His
ways, reverence Him. Reverence His doctrine, reverence
Him. Reverence Him for His obedience unto death, by which our sins
are put away, for His righteousness, by which we stand accepted and
holy before God. Surely they'll reverence my Son.
Here's the fourth thing. As you read through verses 2
through 8 again, God sent, He sent His servant and they stoned
him. He sent another one. They shamefully
used him, sent him away empty. He sent another one, and they
killed him. He sent others, and they killed some and mocked others.
And at last, he sent his son and said, surely they'll reverence
my son. And they said, this is the heir. Let's kill him, and
we'll have the whole thing to ourselves. Now, here's the lesson. As you receive or despise, as
you esteem or mock God's messengers, So you receive or despise, esteem
or mock God's Son. That's not too much said. Our
Lord said to Samuel, they haven't despised you, they despise me.
You're just the dearest they can get to me. If they receive you, they receive
me. If they reject you, they reject me. Now that's not talking
about this person. My soul, this man speaking to
you, is not fit to be embraced, received by anybody. If you had
any idea what I really am, you'd run from me like the plague.
But I come to you as God's messenger. And Bob Ponce, if I've got God's
messenger, you better receive it because God's speaking to
you. God's speaking to you. I'm not up here offering you
some good advice. I'm not up here offering you some counsel,
saying, hey, you take this home, study it out for yourself. See, if
you agree, I'm here speaking to you God's word, and you better
hear God's word. To despise it is to despise God.
God's servants throughout history have been ill-treated by most
of the people to whom they preach. And they did so because they
were God's servants. And God's servants today must
not expect any better. When God's own son came here,
they seized him and nailed him to the tree. But this is the
fifth thing, and we need to understand it. Lost religious men and women
love religion. Religious duties, religious activities,
religious clothes, religious jewelry, religious beads, religious
trinkets, religious ceremonies, religious history, religious
tradition. They love everything about religion.
But lost religious men and women utterly despise God, His Son,
His Gospel, and everybody who preaches it. If they could, they'd
get hold of God's Son by the throat, jerk Him off His throne,
and crucify Him all over again, throw Him out of His kingdom.
Let us break His bands asunder, cast His cords from us. Let us
throw Him away, get rid of Him, and the inheritance will be ours.
You wonder, why on earth do men who stand in pulpits, men who
teach in seminaries, men who have positions of leadership,
men to whom other men look for direction toward God, why will
they reject the counsel of God and deny the Word of God and
despise the Gospel of God? How come? Because they're not
about to turn loose of their religious power over men. They
love it. Let's get rid of God, get rid
of God's Word, and we'll do just exactly what we want to. And
if you don't believe that's what goes on, just read what goes
on when these religious denominations get together and decide what
they're going to do. God's glory got nothing to do with that.
God's word got nothing to do with that. God's truth got nothing
to do with that. God's gospel got nothing to do
with that. The souls of men got nothing to do with that. They
do what they do because they count noses and count dollars.
That's all. They're motivated by nothing
else except their own power and their selfish interest. And I'll
tell you something else. You better learn from this. Conviction
is not conversion. This text here says these scribes
and elders and chief priests knew, they knew the Lord was
talking directly to them. They knew it. And they said,
we can't kill him right now, but we won't hear this anymore.
And he walked away. It's not conviction that's conversion,
but it's Christ in you. causing you to bow to Him, trust
Him, believe Him. That's conversion. A lot of folks
have had conviction about one thing or another. Some of you
sitting in here tonight, you know, you have a little trouble,
you get a little difficulty, and you keep feeling guilty. Oh, I better get me a Bible and
read it. Read about four or five verses. Oh, I feel better now.
I better start going to church. Come church time or two, everything's
all right now. If you go to most churches, they'll get you down
here and they pray you through and everything's all right now,
and everything's fine. And then you get a little convicted
again, you better pray a little, better read a little, better
go to church time or two, everything worked out now, and it goes all over
again. But conviction, not conversion. Conversion is the turning of
your heart to God Almighty. The turning of your heart to
Jesus Christ. Sixthly, it is clear from this parable that
if we despise the privileges and opportunities God has given
us, He will take away those great privileges and make those things
which might have been the means of our everlasting salvation
and joy, the means of our everlasting destruction and misery. What should I do with my vineyard?
Take it away. Give it to somebody else and
send your judgment and destroy this people. What I do, what
you do, is exactly what God does. Well, I don't despise the gospel.
I don't. Oh, and I preach. You don't get me wrong. I don't
despise the church of God. I don't despise God's people. I'll tell
you what it is to despise it. I've got a garden planted up
there to despise it is to just leave it. Just leave it alone.
Just leave it alone. Well, weeds are growing day after
day. You know, I got a ballgame. Weeds are growing day after day.
I won't go fishing. The weeds are growing day after day. Granny
came in. The weeds are growing day after day. Yeah, but the
kids have come home. The weeds are growing day after day. To hell with the garden. I want
everything else. That's what it is to despise God's church.
That's exactly what it is. God's people are meeting today.
To hell with that. I've got something else to do.
That's exactly what it is. And that's what it is to absent
yourselves from your responsibility and your privilege. What a wait. One more thing. Though we despise it and though
these privileges may be turned to judgment against us, and though
they may be turned to judgment against those we dearest love,
because they have willfully despised God's Word, God's purpose still
stands. He said, I set my soul upon my
holy hill of Zion. Though the builders have rejected
this headstone, he's still on the headstone of the corner.
And this was the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. Oh, the depth of the riches of
the wisdom and knowledge of our God, His ways, our past understanding. You have just heard a sermon
by Pastor Don Fortner of Danville, Kentucky. For a copy of this
message, please visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. This is Pastor Rick Warta of
the Yuba-Sutter Grace Church. Each Sunday we meet at 11 a.m. in the Yuba County Library located
on the corner of 2nd and C Street in downtown Marysville. We pray
that God would be pleased to make himself known to you in
the gospel of his son.