1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:07,400 Our sermon title this morning is Do you Respect Jesus? 2 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,400 We've all heard that we're supposed to love God. 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:13,720 We're supposed to love Jesus, We're supposed to love one 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,040 another. What is the definition of 5 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,680 respect? Respect simply means to hold in 6 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,240 high regard, to pay attention to, and to add value and to 7 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:28,200 reverence. When we respect a person, we're 8 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:33,240 careful how we treat that person, how we talk to them, how 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,000 we relate to them. We do our best not to bring 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,560 shame or pain into their lives. We cannot say that we respect 11 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,320 someone when we disregard them, push them aside, avoid them, or 12 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:49,760 worse, try to harm them and even cause them pain. 13 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,920 The Bible talks a lot about the principle of respect. 14 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,520 And again and again in Scripture, there were instances 15 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:00,160 when God's people no longer respected God. 16 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,280 They engaged in idol worship. They said they loved God, but 17 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:09,040 they were not really loving God. Before we go into our text this 18 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:14,280 morning, out of Mark chapter 12, the 1st 12 verses, I want to set 19 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,200 the tone a bit for our sermon this morning. 20 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,080 And Isaiah chapter 29, verse 13, the prophet writes the words of 21 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:22,880 God. He says. 22 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:27,120 Therefore the Lord said, in as much as these people draw near 23 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,440 me, draw near with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, 24 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,680 but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear 25 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,720 toward me is taught by the commandment of men. 26 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,680 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this 27 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,840 people, a marvelous work, and a wonder. 28 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,080 For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the 29 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,520 understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. 30 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,960 What things look like on the outside in Isaiah's day, in the 31 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,760 nation of Israel or the nation of Judah? 32 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:03,600 These people had no respect for God. 33 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:05,280 They said they did, but they didn't. 34 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,360 There was the spiritual decline in their time. 35 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:09,919 The outward appearances look good. 36 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:12,600 The temple worship was still happening in many ways. 37 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,040 You wouldn't tell by just looking at the temple itself 38 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,960 maybe, or the sacrifices, but all the rest of it was going on 39 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:25,800 was they couldn't be both and they fell into idol worship. 40 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:30,800 They disregarded God and as time went on one by one, after the 41 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,040 king after king, they just went further and further. 42 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,560 The prophets came and they prophesied. 43 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,760 They warned, told them to repent, and nothing worked. 44 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:42,920 And then, in time, the Babylonians came. 45 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,600 They conquered the land, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, 46 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,920 the glorious temple of Solomon was destroyed, and they went to 47 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:54,640 exile. After 70 years of exile, some of 48 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:56,560 the people were given freedom to return. 49 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,040 Those who wanted to were allowed to, and they came back to 50 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,960 Jerusalem, rebuilt the city, rebuilt the wall, and again had 51 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,240 worship. But it was not the way it had 52 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,760 previously been under the rule of King David and Solomon. 53 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,960 While Fast forward to Jesus time. 54 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,440 The people of Israel were in their land, but it was not their 55 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:20,320 land so to speak. They were under the Roman 56 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,280 occupation, paying taxes to Rome, obeying the laws of Rome, 57 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,320 but had freedom to worship as the law dictated. 58 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:29,600 And they did. And they believed they were 59 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:31,840 doing a good thing. At least the the leaders 60 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,000 especially believed that they had the temple, they had the 61 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,560 worship services, the sacrificial services, but it was 62 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,160 spiritually dead, it was cold, it was not genuine. 63 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:48,080 Jesus was deeply disturbed by what he found and he writes in 64 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,800 and Matthew, the Gospel writer writes the following. 65 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:58,720 He says Jesus saying to them, hypocrites welded Isaiah, the 66 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:03,520 prophecy, prophecy about you saying these people draw near me 67 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,120 with their mouth and honor me, honor me with their lips, but 68 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,560 their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me, 69 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:10,840 teaching his doctrines, the commandments I've met. 70 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,000 I just noticed. Oh yes, it is on there. 71 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:14,800 I thought it was not, but it sounds not on my slide. 72 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:15,560 It's on there. That's good. 73 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:20,000 So teaching as doctrines, the commandments of men, that was 74 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,880 the problem that Jesus had with these people. 75 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,720 Well, that's kind of the backdrop a little bit to our 76 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,280 sermon this morning. We're continuing our sermon 77 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:32,000 series to the Gospel of Mark and up to this point we have 78 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:36,760 finished Chapter 11. We've not found one time in all 79 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:41,160 of Mark 1st 11 chapters where the religious leaders actually 80 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,680 took the time to pause and ask themselves, wait a minute, are 81 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,640 we missing something? Is there something we need to 82 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,800 learn and open up to Jesus? Maybe we were wrong. 83 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:53,880 That didn't happen one single time. 84 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,960 They just knew they were right. The crowds were wrong. 85 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,080 The crowds loved Jesus. They followed him. 86 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:02,800 But the Pharisees and the leaders, the Sadducees and the 87 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,960 scribes, the the, the legal teams they had no use from, they 88 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:07,720 despised him. They wanted to get rid of him in 89 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:14,400 the worst way. There was no respect or they 90 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,640 were all about keeping the law, no doubt about that. 91 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:22,760 But in reality, there was no one in the whole nation who was 92 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,640 farther away from God than these people. 93 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,200 The religious leaders, they had knowledge, but they had no 94 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,400 respect for Jesus. They had no relationship with 95 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,200 God. They thought they were the ones 96 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,320 who were favored by God who were right, but they were wrong. 97 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:46,080 And again it of Matthew, Jesus says woe to you scribes and 98 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,200 Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the Kingdom of heaven 99 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:55,560 against men for you neither go in yourselves and nor do you 100 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,120 allow those who are entering to go in. 101 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,720 We're coming to the end of the Gospel of Mark, and this is out 102 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,760 of Matthew, but in the final days of Jesus life on earth 103 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,160 before his crucifixion, Jesus had some very tough speeches, 104 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,400 some very tough lectures, we could call it, or rebukes to the 105 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:18,400 leaders of his day. We want to finish the Gospel of 106 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,320 Mark by the end of August. So we won't be going through 107 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:25,080 every parable or every story that Jesus tells. 108 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:30,080 And I would like you to read the whole Gospel and finish reading 109 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:34,000 what we don't cover. So in today's passage, we'll be 110 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,120 looking at the story of the the vine dressers. 111 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,200 Chapter 12 is a long chapter. It's very densely packed, and we 112 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,360 cannot possibly do justice to all of it in one sermon on a 113 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,560 Sunday morning. So this morning, we're not going 114 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,800 to go through all of chapter 12. We'll only go through chapter 115 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:55,240 12, verse 1 to 12. It's the story of the vine 116 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:59,880 dressers, the guys who took care of the master's vineyard before 117 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,440 we read this passage. It's an it's, it's good for us 118 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:07,160 to just tie this together with what we had last Sunday out of 119 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:09,600 Chapter 11. Last Sunday in Chapter 11, we 120 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,080 have the story where the end of the chapter where the Pharisees 121 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,240 challenged he saying by what authority or who give you the 122 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:19,320 authority to do these things? And Jesus simply said, I'm going 123 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:21,400 to ask you a question. If you answer that, I'll answer 124 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,080 your question. He said the baptism of John, 125 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:26,800 John the Baptist, was it from heaven? 126 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,760 Was it from men? And they think, OK, if we say 127 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,800 from men, the crowd will stone us because they think it was 128 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,920 from God. If we say from God, Jesus will 129 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:42,480 say, why didn't you believe him? So they said we don't know and 130 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,800 they were trapped and truly they knew, but they just didn't want 131 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,680 it to be. So they knew John was right by 132 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,280 condemning what they did. They just say we cannot tell. 133 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:54,080 And Jesus says, I will not tell you either. 134 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:55,880 But what authority I do these things? 135 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:59,560 Well, at that point in time, Jesus could have just walked 136 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,800 away and said, you know what? I'm done with these guys. 137 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,400 They don't understand. They're closed, they're cold, 138 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:09,320 which they were, and Jesus could have left them. 139 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,400 But Jesus did not do that. What happened next is very 140 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,640 interesting. Jesus stayed with them. 141 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:16,520 He did not leave. Not this time. 142 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,640 It is safe to say, the way I see it, he went on the offensive 143 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:26,360 here for lack of better wording. He attacked them. 144 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:29,720 Maybe that's too harsh, but at least he confronted them. 145 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,559 Often times Jesus, Jesus did not seem to bother to engage people 146 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,960 in their arguments. But on this occasion he did not 147 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,360 leave it alone. He went after them. 148 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:42,880 He went after the Pharisees and they got it. 149 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:44,320 We'll, we'll read that in a minute. 150 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:46,920 Not physically, but in a verbal way. 151 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:51,480 He wanted to communicate to them in a way that left no doubt who 152 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,720 they, the Pharisees, were and who Jesus was and what was 153 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:56,760 happening and would eventually come to happen. 154 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:01,320 So with that, turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 12, verse 1 to 155 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:06,080 12. Then he began to speak to them 156 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,400 in parables. A man planted a vineyard and set 157 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,480 a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine VAT and built a 158 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,520 tower, and he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far 159 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:20,520 country. Now at vintage time he sent a 160 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,920 servant to the vine dressers that he might receive some of 161 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:27,720 the fruit of the vineyard from the vine dressers, and they took 162 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,560 him and beat him and sent him away empty handed. 163 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,200 Again he sent another servant, and at him they threw stones, 164 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,400 wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully 165 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,840 treated. And again he sent another, and 166 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,360 him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing 167 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,520 others. Therefore still having one son, 168 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,360 his beloved, he also sent him to them at last, saying, They will 169 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,520 respect my son. There it is. 170 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,320 But those vine dresses said among themselves, This is the 171 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:02,000 air. Come, let's kill him, and the 172 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,560 inheritance will be ours. So they took him and killed him 173 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:07,120 and cast him out of the vineyard. 174 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,000 Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? 175 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,880 He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the 176 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,080 vineyard to others. Have you not even read the 177 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,000 scripture? The stone which the builders 178 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,360 rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 179 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,480 This was the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. 180 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:30,080 And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, 181 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:34,800 for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. 182 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:41,480 So they left him and went away. It was the religious leaders who 183 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,560 turned and walked. Jesus had confronted them in 184 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:49,400 public and they knew it. This is one of those stories. 185 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:54,080 When you read it, it's like taking, you know, you buy these 186 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,440 mattresses in a box with a sponge mattress. 187 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:58,920 Once you take it out, you can never put it back. 188 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,400 It expands and fills this whole bed. 189 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:04,200 Kind of. That's what happened here. 190 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,920 You can never undo what he just did. 191 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:11,760 He exposed them. It is a parable. 192 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,800 One if, if, if, if it had weight mass, it's so heavy you couldn't 193 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:19,080 lift it, or if it had volume, nothing could contain it. 194 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,760 This parable illustrates the relationship that God wants with 195 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,400 the people He has entrusted the responsibility to, of taking 196 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,600 care of what He's blessed humanity with. 197 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:36,280 This parable also illustrates that God entrusted himself to 198 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:40,080 humanity through his son, and it illustrates what humanity did 199 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,960 with his son, and it also illustrates what God would do 200 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,960 and with his son by making him the chief cornerstone. 201 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:51,480 So in summary, this parable illustrates to us today that 202 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,680 it's never right for us to take at God's expense for self 203 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:58,480 gratification, what is not ours to take. 204 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:05,640 We're called to worship God. We're to do it with our lives, 205 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,600 with our whole being. So Jesus told this parable to 206 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:13,160 the religious leaders of his day because they had taken for 207 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:16,640 themselves, at God's expense, for self gratification, what was 208 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:23,360 never theirs to take. Since early times, godly people 209 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,600 have respected God. But those religious leaders in 210 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:29,440 Jerusalem, they did not respect God nor Jesus at all. 211 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:34,800 In fact, this group of people had reinvented God after their 212 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,880 own comforts, what they interpreted the Old Testament to 213 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:40,480 believe and what worked for them. 214 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,280 And as far as Jesus was concerned, they wanted him dead 215 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,960 and gone. What we want to see first is 216 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,880 that we are stewards of what belongs to God. 217 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:54,040 Let me read verse one to four again. 218 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:56,200 Then he began to speak to them in parables. 219 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:59,880 A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place 220 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:02,640 for the wine VAT and built a tower, and he leased it to vine 221 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:04,280 dressers and went into far country. 222 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,640 Now at vintage time, he sent a servant to the vine dressers 223 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,640 that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from 224 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,880 the vine dressers, and they took him and beat him and sent him 225 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,880 away empty handed. He sent them another servant and 226 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,800 him, they threw stones, wounded him in the head and sent him 227 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,240 away shamefully treated. Verse 5. 228 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,240 And again he sent another, and him they killed, and many 229 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:26,840 others, beating some and killing some. 230 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,880 You see, it begins with God. God is the planter. 231 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,680 He's the builder and He's the owner of the vineyard. 232 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:42,240 Our roles, my role, your role. We we're not owners, we are 233 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,000 stewards. We are managers. 234 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,680 We are stewards of what belongs to God. 235 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:51,680 God expects his people to be loyal. 236 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,440 From the early stories of history down through the 237 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,320 centuries, God has always looked for people who are trustworthy, 238 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,720 honest people of character, whom he could entrust with 239 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:05,560 responsibility to serve him, to work for him, to be people who 240 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:07,800 would glorify God in their life on earth. 241 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:13,520 God's plan has always been to work through people, for people 242 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,280 to live by example, living out their faith in God in tangible 243 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:19,320 ways that would communicate to the world around them a life of 244 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,080 loyalty and trust towards God. It started with Adam and Eve, 245 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,880 and we know what they did. And then Noah was found. 246 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,960 Faith from the eyes of the Lord. There's some very significant 247 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,760 character characters in Scripture that we can look to. 248 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,560 For instance, Abraham. Genesis chapter 12 tells us the 249 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:39,120 story of Abraham. He was 75 years old when God 250 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,680 called him out of the land of the Chaldeans and said, go to a 251 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:44,960 land I will show you and I'll bless you and make you a 252 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:46,840 blessing and treat all nations. We'll be blessed. 253 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,760 He was 75 years old. Abraham began the journey. 254 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:54,960 And if you read the story of Abraham from start to finish, he 255 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,680 was 75 years old when God began the journey. 256 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:04,440 He was 175 when he died. 100 year journey of faithfully, 257 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,960 obediently walking with God. Yes, he had some mishaps. 258 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,800 He lied a few times. He sometimes listened when he 259 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,560 shouldn't, and he didn't listen when he should. 260 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:16,680 But he was a man faithful after to God. 261 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,920 He respected God. He never received the promised 262 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:26,200 land, but his descendants would. And Abram's respect for God 263 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,840 resulted in many future generations being beneficiaries 264 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:30,760 of his obedience. And today we still benefit from 265 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:32,840 that. Another character in the Old 266 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,920 Testament is Joseph, chosen by God to be the one who would save 267 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,080 his family from starvation in a great famine. 268 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,800 He was an example of godliness, trust in God in an idolatrous 269 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:48,960 and ungodly culture. Because of his respect for God, 270 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,120 he was able to practice self-discipline when many a 271 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,680 young man would have fallen for temptation, and even when it 272 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:57,480 seemed everybody had forgotten him. 273 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,600 Joseph retained his respect for God, for God's code of conduct. 274 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:06,240 His loyalty to God resulted in saving his family, not just his 275 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:07,720 family, but the whole nation of Egypt. 276 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,920 Another man later ONS Moses, a leader whom got appointed to 277 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,200 lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. 278 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,840 Moses had a rough start, but he learned to respect God. 279 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,440 And against all odds, Moses followed God's command, 280 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,800 delivered God's people out of the land of slavery, the land of 281 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:32,440 Egypt, another man, King David, a man whom God took from 282 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:34,680 shepherding the sheep in the field to lead his people, the 283 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,000 nation of Israel. He was a young shepherd, but his 284 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,440 heart was right with God, and God used him to lead his people, 285 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,040 the nation of Israel. Yes, he committed sin a number 286 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,480 of times, but he repented each time, changed his ways. 287 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:49,400 He respected God. More kings came and went, some 288 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:54,640 godly kings and some not godly, some ungodly, but overall the 289 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:58,840 nation started to crumble and to just drift into idolatry and to 290 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,760 disrespect for God. The prophets came warning God's 291 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:06,280 people to to repent, to turn to God and change their ways, but 292 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:07,960 for the most part it wasn't vain. 293 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,560 Here and there was a good king, but mostly it wasn't vain. 294 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,960 God and His grace kept on sending the prophets, but to no 295 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,920 avail. Then we come to the stories of 296 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,400 Isaiah and Jeremiah, how God spoke through them, repeatedly 297 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,119 warning his people, but the messages went unheeded. 298 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:25,680 Eventually they had drifted so far that God withdrew his 299 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,840 protection. Babylonians came and overpowered 300 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:33,160 them, took them to exile from their homeland. 301 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,600 They had lost respect for God, His laws, His prophets, His 302 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:44,920 prophets, His ways, the worship and respect that was due God was 303 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,440 being channelled into all kinds of other things. 304 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:52,760 Here Jesus comes along and toward the very end of his 305 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:56,360 ministry on earth, he's confronting the Pharisees, what 306 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:59,080 they're doing, and he's telling them a story. 307 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:03,280 A vineyard like that, commentators say it would have 308 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:05,520 taken about four years from the time they would plant the 309 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,200 vineyard to the time it would bear fruit. 310 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:10,160 They understood the message. They understood the story. 311 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:11,840 They knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. 312 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,200 Vineyards were everywhere in that country at the time. 313 00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:18,560 And it would have been, it would have been very common for a man 314 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,800 to own a vineyard and to lease it out or rent it out to 315 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,200 tenants. Everybody would have gotten that 316 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,920 story. But here Jesus puts a strange 317 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:32,760 twist to the story. The land owners of the vineyard, 318 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,480 the vineyard managers, they have not been lazy. 319 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,000 They've been working hard and it's producing fruit. 320 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:43,200 But their motive, they were doing the right things, but the 321 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:45,120 motive for doing the right things was wrong. 322 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,960 Doing the right things doesn't mean it's right. 323 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:54,640 They were taking care of the vineyard. 324 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:59,360 It was a fruitful place, but the reason why they were taking care 325 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:01,280 of that vineyard that was productive was wrong. 326 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:03,680 The reason was wrong. We're not respect for the 327 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:05,560 landowner. It was we're going to get this 328 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,800 for ourselves. They're taking ownership. 329 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:11,720 It was not theirs to take ownership of. 330 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,360 So Jesus telling these religious leaders, look, guys, what you've 331 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:18,320 done is wrong and they knew it. They understood. 332 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:21,240 OK, that's a nice parable, right? 333 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,920 So what about us? Does this even relate to us? 334 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:30,880 Does what happened in this parable happened to us? 335 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,680 Let's let's look. Do we view what God has 336 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,960 entrusted to us? Do we view it as ours to take an 337 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,440 own when actually we're just stewards. 338 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,800 We've been entrusted with the masters wealth for a season. 339 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:49,280 We may say, oh, we'd never respect God the way these vine 340 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:51,680 dressers did. Like you know, they shamefully 341 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,920 treated as prophets Jesus using these servants as prophets. 342 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,320 They're that's the same thing. So the owner sent a servant to 343 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,000 the divine dressers to take some of the fruit back to the owner, 344 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,640 but they responded very badly, aggressively send them away. 345 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,680 Shamefully, it says, oh, we would never do that, would we? 346 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,640 How do we conduct ourselves when we're faced with the truth that 347 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,720 we need to amend our ways, that we need to turn to God? 348 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,320 Maybe we're encouraged to give ourselves. 349 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,280 To turn to Christ. How do we treat such a 10? 350 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,640 We already are doing the right things in some way. 351 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:36,480 We are all vine dressers, we're all managers. 352 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,920 We've all been entrusted with some form of a vineyard that 353 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:43,200 we're to take care of. For some people, that's a 354 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,640 ministry in the church. For some, it's a job that they 355 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,720 go to Monday to Friday. For some, it's a business they 356 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,920 run. What is your vineyard? 357 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:04,960 What we do with a gift we've been given is an indicator of 358 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,160 our respect or disrespect for the giver of the gift. 359 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,960 In this story, the first servant comes, gets beaten shamefully 360 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,080 treated and sent him away empty. This is our vineyard. 361 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:16,720 We're taking this frost. You get lost. 362 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,000 We don't want you here. The second servant comes, he 363 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:21,760 gets treated worse. He gets injured in the head, it 364 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,440 says. The third servant comes. 365 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:31,560 He pays for it with his life. Many others were beaten and some 366 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,080 were killed. Well, we'd never kill anybody, 367 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,560 right? But do we shamefully treat those 368 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,360 who are different than we do? We shamefully respond to those 369 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:43,320 who remind us of our responsibilities? 370 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,040 Or maybe we don't kill physically, But do we push away 371 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:49,840 and push aside people who want to be part of our lives and 372 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,280 share in our lives? When we treat others as less 373 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:59,480 than and mistreat them, I dare say we disrespect Jesus. 374 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:03,960 When people who call themselves followers of Jesus mistreat 375 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,400 others, especially for the purpose of selfish gain, that 376 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,400 behavior falls into the category of what the vine dressers were 377 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:13,680 doing with the servants of the vineyard owner. 378 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,200 How should the vineyard owner deal with the situation? 379 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,960 What should he do? The vineyard owner in the story 380 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,320 does not give up hope. He has one more plan to see if 381 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:28,120 the vine dressers will do the right thing. 382 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:32,440 He decides to send his son. He says they will respect my 383 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,160 son. Therefore still having one son, 384 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,600 his beloved. He sent him to them at last, 385 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:42,400 last saying they will respect my son. 386 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,760 Why would he say that? He wanted to believe he was 387 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,240 gracious. He wanted to believe there was 388 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:54,360 some good in these tenants. He wanted them to make the final 389 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:57,480 choice, the good choice. He loved his son dearly. 390 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:00,280 He wanted to believe that because his son was part of him, 391 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,400 his own flesh and blood, they will take my son as they take me 392 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:05,880 because if he would come, they would have to give it back. 393 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:10,480 Well, they see the sun coming, and they take this as the 394 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,800 ultimate opportunity. The evil in their hearts showed 395 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,960 itself on full display. Notice verse 7. 396 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,520 But those vine dressers said among themselves, this is the 397 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,000 heir, Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. 398 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,240 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the 399 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,240 vineyard. They would stop at nothing to 400 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,680 take full ownership. What did not belong to them, 401 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,800 What the vineyard owner had hoped would happen, what he 402 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:45,200 wanted, what would happen, what he counted on, did not happen. 403 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:47,560 Not only did it not happen, it happened. 404 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,880 It was worse. These tenants knew this is the 405 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,080 sun. They were aware, and the true 406 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,640 evil nature of these men showed itself in full display. 407 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,120 This was more than just not respecting the sun. 408 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,000 This was deliberate, intentional evil. 409 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,120 They wanted the one who had entrusted them with vineyard. 410 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:11,560 They wanted him out, and killing the sun was going to help in 411 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,520 that direction. They did not respect the sun. 412 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,320 They killed him. Imagine the scene, if you will, 413 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,040 from the time of planting the vineyard to the first harvest 414 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:25,320 would be about maybe four years. Time had passed. 415 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,520 The vineyard was producing. We can imagine how these 416 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:31,720 tenants, these managers would have said among themselves, you 417 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,120 know what, it's going to be a good year this year. 418 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:36,560 How much do we owe the boss? Nothing. 419 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,080 We've done all the work here. We've taken care of this place. 420 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:46,720 Imagine their conversations and them saying things like, you 421 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,680 know what, let's just take it. Let's just take hold of it. 422 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:55,240 Let we'll just we'll just take it for ourselves again. 423 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:57,440 It was not that they were lazy. They had worked hard. 424 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,000 Now crop was ready. But they took it for themselves 425 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,840 that no intention of giving anything to the vineyard owner. 426 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,680 They went all out the pick. The workers are picking the 427 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,840 grapes, processing them in the wine press. 428 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,560 Juice is being stored for fermentation to become wine. 429 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,360 Harvest is in progress. Until one day a servant comes. 430 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:19,680 He's got to go. No use for him. 431 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,880 The next guy comes, we sent the last one away. 432 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:23,200 We were sending away and they hurt him. 433 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:24,560 The third one, OK, You, you're it. 434 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:25,880 We're going to kill you. And they did. 435 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,840 No intention of fulfilling their obligation to the owner. 436 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,000 Everything was for them. They mistreated the master 437 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,120 servant and said, boy, shamefully, they injured the 438 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:39,560 second one, killed the third one. 439 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:46,320 And finally, it's time for the sun thinking that they can do 440 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,960 this. We may think, well that makes no 441 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,160 sense and it's truth does not make sense, but that's how 442 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:58,080 selfishness works. Selfishness does not operate on 443 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:02,320 the making sense principle. Selfishness operates on the what 444 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,920 can I get for myself? I don't care what it does to the 445 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,040 other person. That's how selfishness works. 446 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,640 Once a person knowingly embraces what they know is wrong, they've 447 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,360 set themselves on a trajectory of self destruction that leads 448 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:18,840 to death. What happened next in the story 449 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:24,000 is unavoidable. There was no going back from 450 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:25,600 what happened when they killed the son. 451 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:33,760 It's been said choices are optional, but consequences are 452 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,920 standard. When you make a choice with that 453 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,120 choice, you also then include all the consequences of that 454 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:42,520 choice. Like you decide you're going to 455 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:43,680 rob a bank. That's a choice. 456 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,360 With a choice, you can also embrace the idea. 457 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:48,320 OK, I'll probably get arrested and thrown in jail. 458 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:54,400 You can't avoid that. Choices are optional. 459 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:56,800 Consequences are standard. They're not optional. 460 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,080 Verse 9. Therefore, what will the owner 461 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,240 of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the 462 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,360 vine dressers and give the vineyard to others. 463 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,440 When Jesus was telling this story, he was alluding to what 464 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,600 was going to happen to the Jewish religious system and its 465 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,760 leaders. They, the leaders, would in the 466 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,280 very near future no longer be leaders in the temple. 467 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,280 In fact, there would no longer be any temple. 468 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:25,080 In less than 40 years, 30 some years or so, the owner of the 469 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:26,640 vineyard would come. He would show up. 470 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:28,960 His absence now did not mean he was not going to come. 471 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,560 Jesus said he will destroy the vine dresses. 472 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,120 They will be eliminated. In other words, they would be 473 00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:39,800 killed and many, many were. The vineyard would be given to 474 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:41,920 others. The ministry of the Kingdom 475 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,120 would no longer be theirs. There would still be a vineyard, 476 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,200 but in a different way, in a different form. 477 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:49,640 Under no longer under these tenants. 478 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,200 There's no uncertainty about any of this. 479 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,360 This was going to happen from history we know it did. 480 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,560 The consequences for disrespecting the sun. 481 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,640 Commentators mentioned that in 30 plus years after Jesus said 482 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,160 these words, the city of Jerusalem with this temple and 483 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:09,200 all it stood for was destroyed, was demolished in Matthew 24, in 484 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:13,240 the final week of Jesus life. Jesus says these words in 485 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,760 Matthew. Then Jesus went out and departed 486 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,280 from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him 487 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,480 the buildings of the temple, and Jesus said to them, Do you not 488 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,880 see all these things assuredly say to you, not one stone shall 489 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,360 be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down? 490 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:31,040 It did happen. Not one stone was left on 491 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,920 another. The temple has to this day never 492 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:37,480 been rebuilt. The Jewish religion system has 493 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,240 continued in different forms, but that system, the temple 494 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:43,080 worship system, the sacrificial system was gone. 495 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,720 Just as a side note here this morning, there have been many 496 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,480 modern day would be teachers and prophets who've predicted 497 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:51,840 rebuilding of the temple and this year and that year and 498 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:56,400 different things and on and on. I have seen and heard so many of 499 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,920 these things. I would just caution people 500 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,800 don't put stock and dates and places and times. 501 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,160 We know the system of the the Jewish religious system was 502 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,480 done. It would no longer be the 503 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:10,880 channel through which God was going to show His grace to the 504 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:12,840 world. The church was born shortly 505 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,000 after that. Jesus died, rose from the dead, 506 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,600 went to heaven, Pentecost, the Spirit came down and the 507 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:23,040 transition was done. The birth of the church was that 508 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,040 the vineyard is still going on today. 509 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,400 The ministry continues, but early on, right after this 510 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,320 transition, before the destruction of Jerusalem, the 511 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:36,120 Jewish leaders, they did everything in their power to, to 512 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,280 subdue, to squash this new movement. 513 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,160 They did not want this change to happen. 514 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,120 They resisted the forming of the church. 515 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,120 There was nothing they could do. And then some 30 years later, 516 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,680 the Romans came and Jerusalem was destroyed in the temple with 517 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,880 it. Jesus says in verse 10 of Mark 518 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,240 chapter 12, Do you, have you not even read the Scripture? 519 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,560 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief 520 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,720 cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing in its 521 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,240 marvelous in our eyes. And they sought to lay hands on 522 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,640 him, but feared the multitude, for they knew he had spoken the 523 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,040 parable against them. So they left him and went away. 524 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,600 What should they have done? They should have paused and 525 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:15,680 thought, you know what, let's pause, let's think. 526 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:20,880 Maybe we need to repent. We're not rightfully doing this. 527 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,480 We're we are vine dressers who are taking ownership of what's 528 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,920 not ours. For all the spiritual blindness 529 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,400 of the religious leaders, they knew this was against them. 530 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,200 They had no response. They knew the crowd was hanging 531 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,880 on to Jesus teachings, so they turned and walked away. 532 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:43,160 But in the end, Jesus does become Jesus. 533 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,600 The disrespected Son is the ruler. 534 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,840 They knew it was against them. They left and walked away. 535 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,560 And that's that. What about you and I? 536 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,080 They went away to come back again, which they did, and they 537 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,240 attacked again. You read the story, read chapter 538 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,120 12, read the story, read the rest of it. 539 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,200 Jesus was the rejected stone. The cornerstone in a building 540 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,560 structure was the was the main stone out of which everything 541 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,240 else was bit, from which everything else was referenced 542 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,920 or or measured and so on. And Jesus is the cornerstone. 543 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,240 They didn't want Jesus to be the cornerstone. 544 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:25,040 They didn't want him to be any stone, but not now. 545 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:26,680 Is he a stone? He's the cornerstone. 546 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,960 He's the king. You see the application here is 547 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:32,600 the question is not will Jesus get what's his? 548 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,880 That's not the question. The question is, will we 549 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,640 surrender our hearts to him and give to Jesus what is his? 550 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:44,600 Will we do that or will we destroy ourselves trying to 551 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:48,320 withhold it from him? And Isaiah reading Isaiah again 552 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:52,800 verse chapter 45 verse 22 look to me and be saved. 553 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,440 The prophet writes, all you ends for the of the earth, for I am 554 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,960 God. There is no other I've sworn by 555 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,760 myself the words gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall 556 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:05,120 not return that to me. Every knee shall bow, every 557 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,680 tongue shall take an oath. He shall say surely in the Lord 558 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:11,760 of righteousness and strength to him men shall come, and all 559 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,080 shall be ashamed who are incensed against him. 560 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,560 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified and 561 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:23,520 shall glory. When the church began and the 562 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,320 gospel spread, it was under the preaching, the apostles, and the 563 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,760 conviction of the Holy Spirit that many people repented. 564 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,680 Not just the common people, even priests, even some of these guys 565 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:36,320 who would have maybe been there with Jesus and walked away. 566 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:40,000 Some of them became obedient to the faith, the message at home. 567 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,960 Jesus told this parable to the leaders of his time to 568 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,480 communicate to them the importance of holding themselves 569 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:51,000 in relation to God and His plan for His Kingdom on earth. 570 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,360 Those leaders got it very wrong. They used religion for selfish 571 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,080 gain, making it look as though they were doing God's work, but 572 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:02,400 in reality we're only following man made traditions and rules. 573 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,040 God was not part of it, it only looked like He was. 574 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:08,400 So what's the application for us? 575 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:12,320 This story of Jesus suffering and death is now over 2000 years 576 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,920 ago, but the truth of the story echoes down to us through the 577 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,520 halls of time just as if he said it today. 578 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:32,160 So do we respect Jesus? Do you respect Jesus? 579 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,880 Maybe you want to but need to know how. 580 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,960 You start by surrendering, by repenting. 581 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,480 Jesus gave his life. The sins are paid for and in 582 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:43,960 grace He saves us. By faith in Him as grace saves 583 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:45,840 us. We can't come to Him on our own. 584 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,560 We need Him. Then comes the working out of 585 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,520 that commitment. So if we're going to respect 586 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,480 Jesus, then we need to treat people like Jesus would treat 587 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:58,920 people. We can't have contempt for a 588 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,080 person and then respect Jesus. At the same time we can't 589 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,760 marginalized people in the same time respect Jesus. 590 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,360 We can't mistreat people in the same time respect Jesus. 591 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,960 We can't consider ourselves higher than others and at the 592 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,840 same time respect Jesus. If we exalt ourselves, we're not 593 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,120 respecting Him. We need to ask, where are we 594 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,360 holding on to, what we need to let go? 595 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,760 Put it this way, are there areas of life where we put ourselves 596 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,920 before Jesus? If we do, we're disrespecting 597 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,080 Him. He's made it very clear in 598 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:36,080 Matthew 25 that how we treat each other is how we treat Him. 599 00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:42,600 So how do I view people as someone to get benefit from or 600 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:47,120 someone to add value to? If I fail to treat my fellow 601 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,800 human beings with respect, with dignity, with honesty and 602 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:53,360 integrity, then I'm disrespecting Jesus. 603 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,360 Respecting people does not mean I'll never speak hard truth, 604 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,160 does not mean there'll never be difficult conversations, but 605 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,760 always redemptively hoping it will lead towards Christ 606 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,600 likeness. That's my prayer for us as a 607 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:09,440 church, for us as families, as individuals. 608 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:15,640 We will be people who respect Jesus by living out the 609 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,680 principle of His kingdoms here on earth respectfully with each 610 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:24,320 other, and that we will be faithful vineyard workers in the 611 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:31,040 work that He's given us to do. Let us pray, Lord, when you walk 612 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:34,480 this earth from the people whom you should have received the 613 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:39,280 utmost respect, you did not only get any respect, you were pushed 614 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,600 aside and arrested and tortured and killed. 615 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,800 In the end, on the people's part, it was to get rid of you. 616 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:49,400 But as you told them, you would become the cornerstone, and you 617 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,640 did. There's no one greater than you, 618 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:55,440 Lord Jesus. For over 2000 years now in human 619 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,840 time, you've been Lord and King and you will never die. 620 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:01,680 You will reign in eternity. Your desire is to reign in the 621 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,440 hearts of your image bearers, us, your people. 622 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:08,000 Your aim is to set us free, free to have a relationship with you, 623 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,880 a respect to trust and love that will live in eternity. 624 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:14,040 Lord, help us not to just know that. 625 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,200 Help us to practice it. Help us to live with respect 626 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:18,800 towards each other as you taught us. 627 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,160 Our world needs that, our nation needs it and our churches do 628 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:24,240 too. The marriages in our community 629 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:28,280 need it and we all need it and we need it amongst ourselves. 630 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,080 Thank you Lord for your word to us. 631 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,400 Teach us how to walk in humility and respect to you, thank you 632 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:35,400 Jesus. Amen.