Matthew chapter 21 and verse
33. We'll read this parable that
ends this chapter, remembering that all we've seen in this chapter
from our Lord commanding His disciples to go find that donkey
and its colt, and bring them, and his triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, his driving the money changers out of the temple, his
refusal to answer the question of the Pharisees and demanding
an answer from them, his authority all through this chapter is displayed,
and he's exalted as the sovereign. And we see that here also in
verse 33, Here another parable. There was
a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round
about and digged a wine press 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 therefore
of that vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
And they say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked
men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbands, 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 is become the head of the corner? This
is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. He's suggesting there if they
had read that, they may not have answered the way they did. and condemn themselves. Therefore
say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you.
It's going to be just like you said. Except what you don't understand
is that you are the wicked men. 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."
Again, we see our Lord pictured as the householder. This is familiar. We've seen parables of our Lord
similar to this one. We see also this world as his
field, his vineyard, his property, his farm, his garden, and other
places. And here, his vineyard. The householder
is the one who, as we've seen in this entire chapter, is in
authority. He's the owner. He's the one
that He calls the shots. He's the one in control. He's
the owner and the lord of the vineyard, as he's described in
the very text. Everything belongs to him. This
earth is his vineyard. It's all his. His earth, his plants, his fruits,
his hedge, his wine press, his tower, and his servants. And he is the one who said to
them, go and they went. He said to Matthew, sitting at
the receipt of custom, you follow me. And he followed him and he
sent him to preach and he went. He's the Lord of the harvest.
And this is the first thing we need to realize. And we need
to see something in verse 42 before we can even talk about
any of this. He asked these Pharisees a question. When our Lord tells
this parable and they answer it, and then the Lord uses one
verse of scripture to reveal to them the point of all of this
parable. And the consequences that this parable, that the truth
that was taught here revealed concerning them. They, they were
in the parable and also us. We are too. And the reason I
want to look at it now is in verse 42, we'll skip ahead here
because everything we see in this parable should be seen through
eyes that understand verse 42. Look at it with me. 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. Don't you know
who the chief is? Don't you know who the Lord is?
Don't you know who's in charge? Have you never read concerning
him? And this is the Lord's doing. This is what I want us to keep
in mind all along. Now, this is the Lord's doing,
all of this. He's the one that let out the
vineyard to the wicked husbandman. That's the Lord's doing. He's the one that sent his servants. He's the one that sent his son.
This is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's doing. This
world, this everything is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. That's grace. It's marvelous,
whether it's marvelous in my eyes or not, but that it's marvelous
in my eyes, that's mercy. In this one prophetic verse of
scripture, we see the householder, we see the chief cornerstone
of the whole kingdom of God. Everything is built on Him. Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid in Jesus Christ
the Lord. We see Him rejected. The builders rejected Him. We
see Him despised and rejected of men. We see Him coming unto
His own and His own receiving Him not. We see Him a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, the Son of God, the chief cornerstone. the one upon whom God's entire
kingdom is built, rejected and despised and slain. We see our Lord crucified, bearing
the sins of His people, the sins of His elect. You see, the only
way the Son of God can be crucified, the only way He can die, is if
He bears my sin. He can't die any other way. He's
got to bear sin. Why are you going to die? Because
you're a sinner. How does the prince of life die?
What's he going to die from? Why? He's going to bear my sins. And God the Father is going to
kill him for it. And we see him exalted here in this one verse. He has become the head of the
corner. We see him given a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God his Father. And we see that all of this,
in every detail, in every circumstance, in purpose, in implementation,
in perpetuation, in completion, is of the Lord. It's His doing. And we see something
else. By His almighty grace, we see
that it's marvelous. He has done all things. It's the Lord's doing. He's the
one that planted the vineyard. We saw that in another parable,
didn't we? He said in that one that Satan sowed tares among
that good seed, among the wheat. And there are weeds in the vineyard,
too. There are evil husbandmen there in this parable. But the ones which the Lord planted
in that field, in that other parable of the The husbandman who sowed good
seed, those are the ones that the Lord planted. He planted
his vines. And just because Satan planted
some weeds among that good seed doesn't make it Satan's field.
It's God's field. It's his world. It's his crop. It's his fruit. God still loves
his world because it's his. his vines are in it, his wheat,
his elect, and he'll deal with the weeds in his own time. Told
us not to deal with them. We don't have the wisdom to do
that. He'll deal with them because
it's his vineyard. And in that similar parable in
Matthew 13, he said, this is what the kingdom of God is like. It's like unto a man who sowed
good seed. And you notice the first thing
he said, primary, he didn't say the kingdom of God is like unto
a great field in which a man went. It's like unto a man. And
here, what's the first thing? There was a certain householder.
The kingdom of God is a person, the king. And that's what he's
saying here too. But he sowed the good seed. The
one who sowed the good seed, he said, is the son of man, and
he here is the one who planted a vineyard. The field is his
world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom,
and here his vines are his children, his elect, and they produce grapes
to his glory. He loves, of course he loves
his kingdom. Of course he loves his children.
Doesn't mean he loves the weeds. Doesn't mean he loves these evil
house husbandmen. He loves his world. He loves
his garden. He loves his vineyard. He loves
his own. Having loved his own, he loved
him to the end. He said, I've loved him with
an everlasting love, and therefore I've drawn you with loving kindness. I've drawn you to myself. And
it says in the text there, he put a hedge around it. Did you
notice that? Thank him every day for the hedge. There's a
hedge around all of his people, as a people and individually.
Satan said to God, when the Lord said to Satan, have you considered
my servant Job? There's none like him in this
earth. He's a perfect and an upright man. He fears me and
he hates what I hate, evil. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, does Job fear God for naught? Has not thou made an hedge about
him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side?
on every side, on every side. Thou hast blessed the work of
His hands and His substance has increased in the land. That's
true. That's true. Spiritually, we're
beautiful for situation only. Would you be anywhere else? Except
situated in Him, protected and blessed and prosperous in Christ.
And we see here in our text that there's a hedge around His entire
kingdom, all of His people. What is this hedge? Well, we
know that our security, our rock, our refuge is Christ himself.
He said, no man can pluck us out of his hand. There's the
hedge right there. Christ and his power, his love
for us. It can't be penetrated. We can't
be harmed. Not a dog will wag its tongue
at us. He said of all that the father gave me I'll lose nothing,
but we'll raise them up again at the last day We have the hedge
of his sovereign protection under the blood of Jesus safe safe
Christ in his sheer blood is the hedge And he built a winepress
I Think about this the wine press. This is where I Everything that
happens in that vineyard, the whole point of planting grapevines
is what? To produce wine. And where does
that happen? In the wine press. There is a place in the vineyard
where the whole purpose of the vineyard comes to fruition. Do
you know where this is? It's pictured by the wine press
itself. The reason a vineyard is planted
is so there'll be wine, and wine is made, it begins at that wine
press. Do you know what this is? It's the same thing as the hedge.
The same one. Do we understand that? He who
is our protector, our defender, our refuge, is also the one in
whom all of the kingdom of God and all of its purposes come
to fruition. He fulfills all of the purpose
of God in having a universe, in having a world, in having
a vineyard, in planting vines in it. All of his purposes in
all of that, in all of this are fulfilled in Christ and more
specifically in the wine press in the wine press. Listen to
what Christ said in Isaiah 63. The question is asked, who is
he that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This
that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of
his strength. I that speak in righteousness.
Here's the answer. I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Mighty to save. Thou shalt call
his name, what? Jesus. Who is this? Jesus. Why? For he shall save. He shall
save. He's mighty to save. God has
laid help upon one who is mighty. And then another question is
asked, why are you red in your apparel? Why are your garments
stained red? And thy garments like him that
treadeth in the wine vat. Why do you look like you've been
in the wine press, fulfilling the whole purpose of the vineyard?
And here's the answer. I have trodden the wine press
alone. And of the people, there was
none with me. There's only one that can open
the book. There's only one in whom all
of God's promises are yes, and so be it. It's the one who alone
could tread this winepress. The whole, all of God's purpose.
You know what's in that book that he only can open? All of
God's purposes of grace. His entire providence. Everything
that's ever happened in this world that he has decreed and
shall come to pass is in that book. Nobody can open it but
him. And that's what happens at the
winepress at Calvary. at the cross. That's why Paul
said, God forbid that I glory in anything else or anybody else,
saving Christ crucified, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is my protection, my security? Christ. Christ crucified. Where does all of the purpose
of God's kingdom come to fulfillment and fruition? Christ crucified. And he built a tower. And I have
no doubt that this fortified structure, that's what this tower
is, it's God's temple. That's what the commentators
say. I agree with that. But who's that? God's always
had a tabernacle or a temple among his people. A structure. A fortified structure. It's not a building. It's not
wood and ram skins and brass fittings. It's a person, just
like the mercy seat that rested within the holy of holies within
that structure was a person. Just like that rock was Christ,
that mercy seat is Christ, that temple is Christ, that tabernacle,
the word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. That's Christ. And as we said, that wine press,
you know, the commentators say that's the altar. That's where
the grapes, the blood was shed. But what is, who is our altar?
We don't have an altar down here at the front of this church.
We have a Lord Jesus Christ in whom God has fulfilled all of
his purposes of grace. and causing his precious blood
to be shed on Calvary. He is the sacrifice, he is the
altar, he is the high priest who offers the sacrifice. He
is all and in all. David said in Psalm 18 to The
Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength
and who I will trust My buckler and the horn of my salvation
and my high tower. There's a tower in the vineyard
and he is the Lord Jesus Christ and he let it out to husband
And this clearly, from his application to these high priests and scribes
and Pharisees, these chief priests, these clearly are the Jews that
he had let out his vineyard to, in a sense. He's talking about
the Jewish religious leaders who had authority in that temple
in an earthly sense. And these Pharisees of our Lord's
day, they represented all of the religious Jews of all ages
who were stiff-necked and rebellious. Ezekiel 34, let's read it. We see these ones identified even way
back. Verse 2, God said to his prophet,
son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy
and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds,
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should
not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe
you with the wool. Ye kill them that are fed, but
ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened?
Neither have ye healed that which was sick? Neither have ye bound
up that which was broken? Neither have you brought again
that which was driven away. Neither have you sought that
which was lost. This is what the Lord hired you for. This
is why He gave you some authority in His kingdom to do these things
and you haven't done them. Why did the householder let out
his vineyard to these husbandmen? So they could produce some wine
and they couldn't do it. They didn't have the will or
the ability to get it done. And that's what He's saying here.
With force and with cruelty have you ruled my sheep, he said.
And they were scattered because there is no shepherd. They became
meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every
high hill. Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of
the earth and none did search or seek after them. And then
the Lord pronounced his condemnation and judgment upon those evil
shepherds. They're represented here in this
parable. And then in Matthew 23, verse 29. Let's get back to the day of
our text. Matthew 23, 29. The Lord said
to them, the same ones that He was speaking to in our text,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, because you build
the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the
righteous. What did He say now in our parable? He sent his servants and these
evil husbandmen, killed them. Look at what he said here. He
said, you make, you build the tombs of the prophets all fancy
and beautiful and garnish their sepulchers of those righteous
prophets and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we
would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the
prophets. I've heard a so-called preacher
say, if I'd have been there that day, the Lord was crucified,
I would have stopped it. That's what they say. Wherefore
the Lord said, you be witnesses against yourselves. You're revealing
that you're a bunch of lying hypocrites and God murdering
rebels by the very words that you say. That ye are the children
of them which kill the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of
your fathers, you serpents, you generation of vipers. How can
you escape the damnation of hell? Can you imagine the Son of God
saying that to you? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets
and wise men and scribes, and some of them you shall kill and
crucify, and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues
and persecute them from city to city, that upon you may come
all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood
of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barakas,
whom you slew between the temple and the altar, Verily I say unto
you, all these things shall come upon this generation, this generation. He looked them in the eye and
said, you're guilty of their blood. And that's what our parables
teach us. They are the wicked husbandmen. And he tells them right to their
face they are. And he says, I'm gonna take the
kingdom away from you. Now the servants our Lord sent
to receive the wine, to deliver the wine are clearly his true
prophets, his preachers, his apostles, those who preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4, 11, he gave some,
he gave some. They're his servants and he sent
them, he gave them. Apostles and some prophets, some
evangelists and some pastors and teachers. for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Since the beginning, even until
now, God's fulfilling his purpose in having a vineyard and planting
vines in it. by sending servants to do his
will. Paul said, oh, how blessed to
be counted worthy to be put into the ministry. They're involved
in the work of God. They're sent into his vineyard
to cause the Lord to receive what's due to him as the householder. Paul said, we plant and we water
but God gives the increase. Neither is he that planteth anything,
not worth talking about, not worth bragging on. Neither he that watereth, but
God that giveth the increase. It's his vineyard, we're his
servants, they're his grapes, it's his glory in every aspect. He's the husbandman and all of
the glory is due unto Him. And our Lord said, Herein is
my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, that you bear
fruit. He sent the servants to get the
wine and to bring it to Him. The fruit is God receiving glory. That's why God has done all of
this. The purpose of this whole shooting match is that God be
glorified. And the person of His Son, in
all of His persons, He's the chief cornerstone. Why? Why did
God highly exalt him? That every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. Why? You remember the rest of
it? To the glory of the householder. To the glory of God the Father.
He had mercy on the vessels of mercy. Why? To display the riches
of His glory, that every creature shall glorify Him. Why did He
send? Why does He have a vineyard at
all? Why did He send servants? Why did He send us? Why did He
say, go and preach? Why in the world did He send
His Son into this place? Why did he send his son? We know
the answer to that. The son said this in his high
priestly prayer in John 17, Father, the hour has come. All of the
purposes of God in electing mercy toward his sheep are going to
be fulfilled right now. The hour has come. And you remember
what he said right after that? glorify thy son, that thy son
may also glorify thee. That's why he has a vineyard.
He's going to get glory, eternal glory. He's going to get it from us.
We're going to be involved in that. Even the letting out of
this vineyard to unfaithful husbandmen, wicked men they're called. They
called themselves that, didn't they? They said he'll miserably
destroy those wicked men. That's what they are. That's
what we are by nature. But even the letting out of this
vineyard to these wicked men is the Lord's doing. It's the
Lord's doing. He did that. And as we see his
purpose of love and grace toward his elect in all of this, it's
marvelous in our eyes. When you read that verse of scripture
that says all of the those in authority in the Earth rose up,
Jew and Gentile, rose up against thy holy child, Jesus, for to
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done. Is that marvelous to you? That
his purpose of grace toward his elect in redeeming them and making
them like His Son, all of His purposes which are yes and amen
in Christ Jesus, shall come to pass in spite of us, by the use
of us, and He'll use Satan and all of his demons and everybody
and everything in this universe to bring that purpose of mercy
toward His people to pass. That's marvelous in our eyes. He sent his servants into his
vineyard, and these evil men persecuted them, beat them, stoned
them, killed them. And then he said, I will send
unto them, my son, they will reverence my son. And you know something? They
will. They will. They didn't reverence
him when he came. But they will reverence his son.
You will. I will. Everybody who's ever
walked this earth. Everybody who was ever born into
this world. Every creature of God will reference the son. But they didn't reverence him
to begin with. They killed him. They murdered him. When I say
they, I mean we. This is our condemnation. there's
ours, yours, mine. And that we love ourselves and
hate the light, the Son of God. Now notice why they killed him. And learn something about me
and about you that we've said so many times. Why'd they kill
him? They said all of this will be
ours if we can just kill him. We'll be the householder. We'll be in charge. This will
be ours. We just have to kill him to get
it done. And what we do, we killed him. You shall be as God's determining
good and evil. You know what happened in the
Garden of Eden? We murdered God in our hearts. That's what happened.
We killed the son of God before he ever stepped foot on this
earth. And we've been killing him ever since. That which belongs
unto God and is for His glory will be ours and for our glory. And that's what the issue is
and always has been. Who gets the glory? Who's going
to be God? You or the true God? Who's going
to be right? Who's going to tell the truth? Is it your opinion or His? His
thoughts are not your thoughts. Who's right? Who's true? Paul
said, let God be true and every one of you and me and everybody
else a liar. It's you or God and always has
been. Always has been. They didn't
see him as the all glorious son of God. They didn't see him the
way John saw him when he said, look, there's God's lamb. Behold
the lamb of God that takes the way the sin of the world. They
didn't see him like that. You know how they saw him? The
same way we see him by nature as a rival. A rival. If we can get rid of him, it'll
benefit us. They knew who he was. They knew
who he was. They didn't crucify the Son of
God in ignorance. They knew who he was. They said,
this is the heir. Sure enough, he is. He was and he is. They killed the prince of life. And so they are without excuse.
We are without excuse. They wanted the glory. That's
exactly what happened in the garden. God put Adam in his garden
and said, dress it and keep it. That's what he said to these
husbandmen. You dress and keep my vineyard to my glory. So I'll
reap what's mine. But what did Adam do? He said,
we shall be his gods. He heard the voice of Satan and
said, that sounds good. And that's still happening right
now. That's always been the issue. Why do those who call themselves
God's husbandmen now do what they do? Down the street here,
in town up here, and all around us, those who call themselves
the husbandmen of God, who presume to speak in his name in this
earth, Why do they do what they do? Who gets the glory in modern
religion? You tell me that. We'll take
his word, his gospel, his kingdom, and we'll use it for our own
glory. That's what they've done. They've
taken this holy book and they use it for the glory of man.
That's what these husbandmen do, did and do. And our Lord
is telling these religious leaders what they are about to do to
him. And why? They're going to kill him. And
that's why, because they wanted the glory. And in the very text,
in the very text where he tells them what they're going to do,
they set about to do it. You notice that? In verses 45
and 46, they were looking for a way to kill him before that
scene was over with. They were looking for a way to
kill him. And he sat there and told them what was happening.
How blind, how blind we are. When our Lord asked this question
in verse 40, they answered him in verse 41 and condemned themselves
with their own answer. They didn't realize until after
that that he was talking about them, but even when they did
realize what he was talking about exactly, it didn't stop them
from trying to kill him. And notice what they said should
happen to them and what our Lord said was going to happen to them.
Now think about this. Because the answer that came
out of their mouths wasn't by accident. The Lord's in control.
This is the Lord's doing all of it. Sin is ours. But nothing was by accident that
happened here. Not a word, not a movement. They
said. He will take the three. He will miserably destroy those
wicked men. And He'll give His vineyard to
somebody else. Okay, now what did He say was
going to happen? The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from
you. That amounts to the same thing.
Doesn't it? If the Kingdom of God, if you
have no part in God's Kingdom, what is that but destruction?
Utter annihilation. Eternal damnation and condemnation. It's the same thing. You remember
the fig tree? No fruit, cursed. Rather than
producing what the vineyard was planted in order to produce and
rendering that into God, they would keep it unto themselves
and murder God's Son in order to do it. No fruit, nothing for
God. What's the result of that curse? Death. Eternal death. He said, there's not ever going
to be any fruit on you. Never. That's destruction. God will be glorified. He's going
to get his wine. Every drop of it. The only reason
God let out his vineyard to the Jews for a time was because he
had a remnant among the Jews. We're going to see that in our
next Romans lesson. He did what he did. He dealt
with the nation of Israel and gave them over to unbelief to
bring in the Gentiles because he had elect among the Gentiles.
But he let out his vineyard to the Jews to begin with because,
as he told Elijah, he had a remnant among the Jews. He's done all
that he's done. Paul said in Romans there, where
we're going to study next week, Lord willing, that he might have
mercy on his people, that he might have mercy. He let out
the vineyard to the Jews because he had a remnant among them.
And as Paul said in Romans 11, 5, even so at this present time
also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Why
is he gonna give the kingdom to the Gentiles? Because he's
got people among them too. There's a remnant among them
according to the election of grace. Everything that God has
purposed in the planting of his vineyard will come to pass exactly
as he purposed it. And the result of it all will
be the salvation of His elect. That's why Christ came. That's
why He sends His servants. Because it's by the preaching
of the Gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And by grace through faith are
you saved. And this Gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. These are written that you might
believe. And that believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of the living God, you might have life through His name. He's
saving his people, that's what he's doing. And it's all for
his glory, that's how he's glorified. Show me your glory, I'll have
mercy. In the saving of his elect and in the damnation of his enemies,
with you or without you, or me, the fruits will be brought forth.
He gave the kingdom to other husbandmen to plant and water,
to dress and to keep, Acts 13, 46, we see this fulfilled, beginning
to be fulfilled then. And it was thereafter. Then Paul
and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you Jews. But seeing
you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life. Isn't that what these ones in
our text did? They judged themselves unworthy
of everlasting life. The Lord said, what do you think
the Lord of the vineyard is going to do to thee? Oh, he'll miserably
destroy them. You just condemned yourself.
And seeing that you do that, Paul said, lo, we turn unto the
Gentiles. That was God's purpose all along.
And he did all of it. He let out the vineyard to begin
with to those evil husbandmen, and he took it away from them
and gave it to somebody else. Why? Save his people because
of his covenant, his everlasting covenant of love and grace. May
God give us grace to bring forth fruit unto him. You know what he's done now?
Do you realize what this text is saying? Paul said in Hebrews
13, 15, by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise
to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name, giving glory to him. He sent his son
knowing exactly what was going to happen. He said, I will send
them my son and they will reverence my son. But he knew what would
happen before that. Romans 8, 32, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Can we glorify
him who spared not his own son for us? If not, we ought to go to hell.
You agree with that? He ought to come and destroy
those wicked ones who will not reverence his son. Shouldn't
he? That's what Paul said, if any
man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed when the
Lord comes. But by his grace, may we labor
in his fields. He's entrusted the vineyard. He's let it out to us. May we go about the labor in
his fields for his glory, reverencing his son. What is the work? What did he tell us to do? Go
and preach, herald the glories of my Son. Paul said, we preach
Christ and Him crucified. We preach what Peter preached
in Acts 4.10, be it known unto you all and to all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him, Let
this man stand before you whole. I can tell you that this morning.
You know why this man stands before you whole healed of my
sin cleansed from my leprosy of sin this man. Neither is there salvation. I'll
listen to verse 11 because this is right from our text. He said
this This Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you nailed to the cross,
this is the stone which was set at naught of you builders. You
see how he applied it to them? The prophecy said this is the
stone which the builders rejected. He said, this is that stone.
This Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth that you nailed to the cross,
he is that stone and you are the ones who rejected him. and
he's become the head of the corner. God has highly exalted him. And
neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved. Give me grace to preach that gospel, to reverence
his son, and as we do, Whoever falls upon this stone, that one
that Peter was just preaching, this stone, the chief cornerstone,
the one refused of you builders, but the chief head of the corner,
whoever falls on this stone, that is, and listen to what he
said, whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but upon whomsoever
it shall fall, they shall, it will ground him to powder, they'll
be destroyed. Now does that Does that mean
in both cases when he says, who shall ever shall fall on this
stone? Is he talking about stumbling on the stone? Like, like he said
that, that the Jews did a stumbling block to the Jew. I don't think
so. And here's why that's not the
word he used when he talks about the stumbling stone and them
stumbling at upon Christ as the stumbling stone, he uses a different
word. You know what this word fall
here means here, who shall ever shall fall upon him. It means
to descend from a high place to a low place. And whoever does
that will be broken. I believe that's a good thing.
Whosoever falls upon him, descending from your high place, to the
low place, in the dust before his feet, crying for mercy will
be broken. And you know what God says about
being broken? Psalm 51, 17, the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God,
thou will not despise. How's that going to happen to
a proud sinner like me? Fall on him, but on whomsoever
he shall fall. He will grind him to powder.
Paul said to some, we're the saver of life unto life, and
to others, the saver of death unto death. But God always causes
us to triumph in Christ. Whenever we preach the gospel,
it's a victory either way. And then he said this, who is
sufficient for these things? Oh, he's let the vineyard out
to us. Who's sufficient? We have been entrusted with his
gospel. Can you get up? Can you get your
mind around that? Paul said to Timothy, according
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed
to my trust about you. He said, I think Christ Jesus,
our Lord, who has enabled me for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry." Committed to our trust? Well,
I like that other part that he said, who hath enabled me? Our
sufficiency is of God. We're nothing. Without Him, we
can do nothing. But what an honor, what an honor
we have. What a responsibility we have.
And may his free, electing, distinguishing, sovereign love constrain us,
you and me, to be faithful unto him and to bear much fruit. If we do, if we are faithful,
if we are privileged to honor and reverence his son and thereby
honor the father, and faithfully do what he's given us to do.
If we're enabled to do that by him, do you know what we'll say?
This is the Lord's doing. That's what we'll say. He's not
going to enable somebody and then have them say anything but
that. This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Let's pray together.