1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:06,480 Rejection hurts, and the more you think the rejection says 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:12,640 about you, the more it hurts. You apply for a job, get an 3 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,240 interview, get a second interview. 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:20,000 But then they go with someone else, or the company's plans 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,080 change and they're no longer going to hire someone into the 6 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:27,360 role you were applying for. So they say you apply for 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,440 college and your top choice rejects you. 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,360 You apply for medical school and your top choice wait lists you. 9 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,680 Is that a rejection? If you don't get off the wait 10 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,640 list, it is. You ask someone if they're 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,640 willing to go out on a date and they decline. 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,680 That is definitely a rejection. There's no getting around it, 13 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,360 and there's no way not to take it personally. 14 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,560 When you try to publish a book, you typically have to write a 15 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,600 few sample chapters and then a proposal summarizing what you're 16 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,080 trying to do in the book. You send it around to publishers 17 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,880 to see if they're interested. I've done this a few times. 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:16,080 I once had a book rejected by all three divisions of the same 19 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,080 publisher. There is no division of that 20 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,760 publisher that did not consider my book and then reject it. 21 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,840 There was total unanimity. They ran the board. 22 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:28,920 They were as thorough as possible. 23 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,120 Every division considered, every division rejected. 24 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,680 I even began to wonder if they would open up a fourth division 25 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,240 of the publisher just so they could consider the proposal 26 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:43,120 again and then reject it again. The book is about Ecclesiastes. 27 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:45,880 Some of you might know it. I'm very thankful for the 28 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,720 publisher that it did, in fact, give it a home. 29 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:56,000 Why does rejection hurt? Because it's hard not to take it 30 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,280 personally. It's hard not to conclude from a 31 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:04,800 rejection that, OK, I'm not enough, I'm not smart enough, 32 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,600 I'm not skilled enough, I'm not attractive enough. 33 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:18,600 But there is a kind of rejection that says nothing about the one 34 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,600 being rejected and everything about the one doing the 35 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,800 rejecting. For instance, someone who has a 36 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:31,560 great deal of power in a company or in the government might be in 37 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,440 a position to fire someone just so they can replace that person 38 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,280 with a personal friend, or just so they can replace that person 39 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:44,760 with someone more loyal to them. If that's the case, the firing 40 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,480 says nothing whatsoever about the person being fired. 41 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,280 And yet, if you're the person getting fired, it's hard not to 42 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,560 take it personally. It's hard not to ask what's 43 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:58,440 wrong with me. When's the last time you were 44 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:03,120 rejected? How did it feel? 45 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:16,080 When we reject God, what does that say about Him and what does 46 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:21,080 it say about us? Our passage for this morning is 47 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,880 Mark 12, verses 1 to 12. If you don't have a Bible, you 48 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:25,280 can raise your hand and someone will bring you one. 49 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,320 And if you don't have a Bible because like you don't have one 50 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,560 at home, feel free to take this one, keep it, read it, and come 51 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:35,600 back to us and talk about it. In our passage, Jesus tells a 52 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:40,440 parable about rejection. Specifically, it's about the 53 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:46,400 long history of God's chosen people rejecting him, and he's 54 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,360 previewing how that rejection is about to come to a stunning 55 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,920 climax. But our rejection of God doesn't 56 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:59,080 get the last word. It's how Jesus parable ends, but 57 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,120 it's not how the passage ends. Please follow along as I read 58 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:12,040 Mark 12/1 to 12 and he began to speak to them in parables. 59 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,600 A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit 60 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,880 for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants 61 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:27,440 and went into another country. When the season came he sent a 62 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,240 servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of 63 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:36,120 the vineyard and they took him and beat him and sent him away 64 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,560 empty handed. Again he sent to them another 65 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,440 servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him 66 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:49,720 shamefully, and he sent another, and him they killed. 67 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:56,880 And so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. 68 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:03,200 He had still one other a beloved son. 69 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,520 Finally he sent him to them saying they will respect my son. 70 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:15,120 But those tenants said to one another, this is the air, come, 71 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,920 let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. 72 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,400 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the 73 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,800 vineyard. What will the owner of the 74 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,920 vineyard do? He will come and destroy the 75 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,760 tenants and give the vineyard to others. 76 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,560 Have you not read this scripture? 77 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,280 The stone that the builders rejected has become the 78 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:44,400 cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and 79 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:49,440 it is marvelous in our eyes, as they were seeking to arrest him, 80 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:51,200 but feared the people. Excuse me? 81 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,520 And And they were seeking to arrest him, but feared the 82 00:05:54,520 --> 00:06:00,080 people, for they perceived that He had told the parable against 83 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:04,800 them. So they left him and went away. 84 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,240 Here's the main question our passage confronts us with. 85 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:17,480 What does God do about our rejection of him? 86 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:24,520 What does God do about our rejection of him? 87 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,600 We'll see the answer unfold in three points. 88 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,600 The 1st 2:00 will be on Jesus parable and the third will be on 89 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:36,720 his commentary on the parable at the end of the passage point #1 90 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:42,680 a long history of rejection. We see this in the first part of 91 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:47,080 Jesus parable verses one to five, a long history of 92 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,640 rejection looking at at verse one. 93 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,960 And he began to speak to them in parables. 94 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,760 Here Jesus is in the same place talking with the same people as 95 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:02,160 we saw last week at the end of Chapter 11. 96 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:05,760 He's in the temple. He's addressing the Sanhedrin. 97 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:08,760 That's the whole body of Israel's official religious 98 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,600 leadership made-up of the chief priests, the scribes and the 99 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,960 elders. Last week we saw how they 100 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,200 challenged Jesus authority, and Jesus flipped the question back 101 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,840 onto them. Now here Jesus goes on the 102 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,960 offensive against them. He tells them a story, and the 103 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:33,200 story holds up a mirror in which he means for them to see 104 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,280 themselves. The story begins in verse one. 105 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,880 A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit 106 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:44,760 for the wine press, and built a tower and leased it to tenants 107 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:49,520 and went into another country. Now the beginning of the story 108 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,120 immediately calls to mind Isaiah 5 verses one to seven, which 109 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:54,920 Jenny read to us just a few minutes ago. 110 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:59,200 There the Lord is the owner, and Israel is his vineyard. 111 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:05,120 Both there and here, the owner of the vineyard does everything 112 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,640 necessary in order for that vineyard to bear good fruit. 113 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:15,040 Both there and here, the owner does not receive the fruit he's 114 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,800 looking for. But there's one crucial 115 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:24,000 difference between Isaiah 5's parable of the vineyard and 116 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,440 Jesus is parable of the vineyard. 117 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,360 So, so he's using the Isaiah passage as a background. 118 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,520 You all are familiar with this. You know this passage from 119 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:32,240 Isaiah. There's one crucial difference 120 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:38,880 he's making in Isaiah 5, the dispute is only between the Lord 121 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,919 and the people as a whole. The Lord plants the vineyard. 122 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:44,080 He goes looking for fruit. He finds no fruit. 123 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,240 He holds them accountable. But here in Jesus parable, the 124 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,360 key difference is the master of the vineyard leased it to 125 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:53,720 tenants. He hired people to run the 126 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:55,720 vineyard. They're supposed to care for it 127 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,240 under his authority. They're supposed to return a 128 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,920 portion of the profits of the proceeds to him. 129 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,640 It's a very common arrangement both back then and now. 130 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,320 Somebody owns this property, somebody's going to manage the 131 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,280 property, and there's certain things they owe to the owner. 132 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:16,880 So how did those tenants do versus 2 to 5? 133 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,840 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get 134 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,080 from them some of the fruit of the vineyard, and they took him 135 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,480 and beat him and sent him away empty handed. 136 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,280 Again, he sent to them another servant and they struck him on 137 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:34,080 the head and treated him shamefully, and he sent another 138 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:38,800 and him they killed. And so with many others someday 139 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:47,080 beat and some they killed. Now verse 2 begins with details 140 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,600 that fit the circumstances of Jesus day exactly. 141 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,280 There would have been a few year period in which the vineyards 142 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:55,720 come in a maturity. You don't expect any fruit and 143 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,480 after a certain time when it's ready, the the owner will 144 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,680 collect on part of the harvest. That's all perfectly normal. 145 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,240 It would have been agreed upon in advance what portion of the 146 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:09,520 proceeds they owe to him, but that the details begin to 147 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:14,120 stretch away from any kind of normal or plausible economic 148 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,440 behavior. Of course, in the ancient Middle 149 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,960 East, and dare I say it, today in our own society, there are 150 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:25,120 all sorts of disputes between absentee landlords and tenant 151 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,360 farmers or property managers or whatever it might be. 152 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,320 But the actions that these tenants take are extreme. 153 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,760 They're irrational, they're jarring, isn't going to come out 154 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,360 of nowhere. So. 155 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:46,680 So the owner sends a servant and you beat him up and you send 156 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:49,440 them back empty handed. OK, let me let me just make sure 157 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,760 I understand. You assault and humiliate the 158 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,640 next one. Oh, and oh, and then you kill 159 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:57,640 the one after that. OK. 160 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:02,560 Oh, and then you kill several more after. 161 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:07,600 Ah, I I see what is going on here. 162 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:13,120 This is you cannot explain this even in terms of the most, you 163 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:15,760 know, self interested, grasping whatever. 164 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,640 This just doesn't make sense and that's the point. 165 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:26,120 The characters in Jesus story act in ways that are irrational 166 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:32,440 and incomprehensible. That's because they are a mirror 167 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:37,600 for how Israel's leaders all throughout its history have 168 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:42,800 acted in ways that are irrational and incomprehensible. 169 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:48,680 For hundreds of years, the people of Israel went astray 170 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:52,760 into idolatry and injustice. And for hundreds of years, the 171 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,160 Lord sent prophet after prophet after prophet to call them back. 172 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:00,280 Here's how the Lord Himself summarizes that history in 173 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,920 Jeremiah Chapter 7, verses 25 and 26. 174 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,280 From the day that your father's came out of the land of Egypt to 175 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:11,480 this day, I have persistently sent all My servants, the 176 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,720 prophets to them day after day. Yet they did not listen to Me or 177 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,400 incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. 178 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,600 They did worse than their fathers. 179 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,160 The way that Jesus is here summarizing the history of the 180 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,280 Lord's dealings with His people and their irrational, persistent 181 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:33,040 rejection of Him, is utterly in keeping with the way the Lord 182 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,440 himself said it through Jeremiah 600 years earlier. 183 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:41,280 It's the same sad story. There's 600 years more evidence, 184 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,840 sure, by Jesus time. But Jesus is indicting the 185 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,720 people for their rejection of God, His ways, His prophets, His 186 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,480 covenant, just like God himself did when He sent all those 187 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,520 prophets. What did Israel do to the 188 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,720 prophets themselves? They persecuted them. 189 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,640 They refused to listen to them. They killed some of them. 190 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,680 Jezebel tried to kill Elijah and hounded him within an inch of 191 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:10,600 his life. Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, was 192 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,440 stoned to death in the court of the temple. 193 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:16,400 Jeremiah himself was thrown into a pit. 194 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,920 The people's opposition to the Lord focused and zeroed in on 195 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:24,520 the messengers of the covenant, whom he sent to call them back 196 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,760 to repentance. So the story Jesus is telling is 197 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,880 a long history of rejection. It's Israel's leaders rejecting 198 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,000 God over centuries, refusing to listen to his messengers, not 199 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,480 only failing to bear fruit for God, but rejecting and 200 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,760 persecuting the messengers God sent to exhort them to return to 201 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:46,880 him and bear fruit. On a strictly human level, 202 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:55,000 neither the tenants behavior nor even the owner's behavior makes 203 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,600 sense. That's the point. 204 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:09,000 Jesus's story shows us both the Lord's inconceivable patience 205 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,920 and his people's inexcusable rebellion. 206 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,240 How does God respond to our rejection of Him? 207 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:26,560 With unspeakable patience, for centuries, God kept calling his 208 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:30,280 people to repent through prophet after prophet after prophet. 209 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,640 They kept breaking God's covenant, and God kept keeping 210 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,040 it. They kept turning their backs on 211 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:37,920 him, and God kept calling out to them. 212 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:44,240 They kept running from him, and God kept chasing them. 213 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:51,720 Every prophetic confrontation was a divine invitation to 214 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,000 reconcile. It was a divine invitation to 215 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,160 return and be restored to friendship with the God of the 216 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,560 universe. That is what God's calling out 217 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:08,560 to us to repent aims at, to come into friendship with the 218 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:11,800 Creator, the Lord, the Ruler, the Master of all that is. 219 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:13,960 That's what he's inviting us into. 220 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,400 But in our irrational, incomprehensible rejection of 221 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:20,840 Him, we harden our hearts against him. 222 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:25,680 We turn a blind eye. We silence his voice even when 223 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:27,640 God is, as it were, running after us. 224 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:31,200 We run away from Him all the faster. 225 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,400 God keeps calling out. God keeps sending messengers. 226 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:40,600 He did it throughout all of Israel's history and ever since 227 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:41,840 the death and resurrection of Christ. 228 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,320 For 2000 years, God has called people to repent by sending 229 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:49,600 missionary after missionary, evangelist after evangelist, 230 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:54,400 preacher after preacher to call people to repent and be saved. 231 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,960 This is exactly what Peter writes in Second Peter 39. 232 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,800 The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count 233 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:09,160 slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should 234 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:14,520 perish, but that all should reach repentance. 235 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:21,840 The same God has now sent His servants, missionaries, pastors, 236 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:28,080 evangelists, and all of you who trust in Him out to call people 237 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:33,360 to repent and be restored. That's His goal for hardened, 238 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,600 irrational, inexplicable sinners. 239 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,440 That's what he wants for us all. God's patience is marvelous. 240 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,400 It's majestic. Human logic can't account for 241 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,320 it. Human values can't explain it. 242 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:54,080 God's patience is God's love long pursuing those who deserve 243 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:57,200 the opposites. God's patience is an expression 244 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,760 of his grace, his covenant commitment, His steadfast love. 245 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:07,640 God's patience aims at our it aims at your repentance. 246 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,079 Consider what Paul says in Romans 2. 247 00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:12,480 Four. Or do you presume on the riches 248 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:17,520 of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that 249 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:22,560 the kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance? 250 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:29,360 Why is God patient with you? Because He wants you to give Him 251 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:34,000 your whole self. He wants your whole heart. 252 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,160 That's what His patience aims at. 253 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:39,360 Whether you're a Christian, excuse me, whether you're not a 254 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:44,440 Christian, whether you need to undergo the life transforming 255 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,160 act of repenting and trusting in Christ, turning your whole life 256 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:50,640 to Him and entrusting your whole self to Him. 257 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:52,280 That's what He wants. For you. 258 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,760 To give your whole self to Him and find your whole self giving 259 00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:00,400 back, made new in Jesus. Well, if you are a Christian and 260 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,680 there's some sin that you're sitting on, some sin that you're 261 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,280 trying to hide and kind of put behind your back, they're trying 262 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:11,680 to keep from divine scrutiny. He wants your whole heart. 263 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,240 He wants your whole life. That's why he keeps on calling 264 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:20,960 out to you to repent. Is there anything in your life 265 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,640 where you've been tuning out repeated warnings from God? 266 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,600 Is there any way you're trying to silence God's voice to keep 267 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:32,040 him from getting through to this cherished sin? 268 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,760 Consider the warning of Proverbs 29. 269 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:44,680 One he who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly 270 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:50,200 be broken beyond healing. If you're not a believer in 271 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,520 Jesus, say for the sake of argument that there is a God. 272 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,160 Maybe you already believe in God and you're open to thinking, 273 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:57,760 well, Gee, is it really the God of the Bible? 274 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:04,920 Could this whole thing be true? In what ways has God already 275 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:11,520 been reaching out to you? In what ways has God already 276 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:13,440 been trying to get through to you? 277 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:21,720 What evidence has He given you of His existence, His goodness, 278 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:28,400 and His love for you? What does God do about our 279 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,880 rejection of Him? He responds with unspeakable, 280 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:38,520 incomprehensible patience. He pursues us. 281 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,600 He calls us to repentance. He sends servant after servant, 282 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,680 prophet after prophet, messenger after messenger to call us back 283 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,680 to Him. Is He doing that to you right 284 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:57,680 now? Jesus's story comes to its 285 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:03,080 climax in one more rejection, and this rejection is different 286 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:08,080 in kind from all the others. Point #2 the climax of 287 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:12,480 rejection. The climax of rejection. 288 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,320 We see this in the second-half of Jesus parable in verses 6 to 289 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,040 9. Consider verse 6, after all this 290 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:25,400 rejection, killing all these servants, how does he respond? 291 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:30,640 Verse 6, he had a still one other, a beloved son. 292 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:36,120 Finally he sent him to them saying they will respect my son. 293 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,680 Now we have to consider this statement on 2 levels. 294 00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:42,640 There's the sort of human level of the character within the 295 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:48,120 story, and there's the way it represents God the Father on the 296 00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:51,920 human level. The owner is taking a massive 297 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,200 risk. This is one last roll of the 298 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,440 dice. It is all riding on this now, 299 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,200 the the father's son would have been authorized to act on his 300 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,840 behalf. He did have a unique authority. 301 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:06,640 He had a unique role. He could come in and claim the 302 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:11,880 property, but still, was it really reasonable for this 303 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,520 father? After having every single 304 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:18,920 servant beaten or rejected or killed, it's a really a good 305 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:24,840 idea to send his son? Of course not. 306 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:30,320 What father in his right mind would do that? 307 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,040 That's just the question, of course. 308 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:39,320 On the divine level, God the Father himself knew what would 309 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:40,680 happen in sending his Son to earth. 310 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,600 Nothing in Jesus whole life took God by surprise. 311 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,200 He not only foresaw all of it, he ordained all of it. 312 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:57,560 Still, there's a reason Jesus portrays God the Father in this 313 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,760 way. It's precisely that the decision 314 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:07,080 to send the Son doesn't make sense. 315 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,240 This is not how you treat your enemies. 316 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,720 This is not how you treat people who have hated you and rejected 317 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,680 you. This is not how you treat 318 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,720 hardened killers. This is not sound, sober, 319 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,840 sensible, reasonable. It's none of that. 320 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,040 You know what it is. Instead, it's grace. 321 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,200 It's grace that scrambles all of our categories. 322 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,200 It's grace that refuses to be turned away by rejection after 323 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,040 rejection. It's grace that will not be 324 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:45,560 stopped by human hatred. It's grace that returns the 325 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,120 greatest good for the greatest evil. 326 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:54,400 Grace that will somehow even overcome human rejection. 327 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,280 In the parable, what was that Father thinking? 328 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:05,760 That's the question because it makes us ask, what was the 329 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:11,240 Father thinking? Scripture tells us what the 330 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:19,400 Father was thinking. For God so loved the world that 331 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:24,160 he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him 332 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:28,320 might not perish. But I've everlasting life, as we 333 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:33,000 even heard earlier in the service, He who did not spare 334 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:39,240 his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will He not also 335 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:44,480 with him graciously give us all things? 336 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,400 That's what the Father was thinking. 337 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,800 So the Father was showing. That's what the Father was 338 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:56,400 doing. He was opening up His heart to 339 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:02,280 show us the infinite depths of grace, that when you analyze it 340 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:06,960 in human terms of deserving and response, of cause and effect, 341 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,960 of what you do to preserve any kind of self-interest, it makes 342 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,480 no sense. It only makes sense if God is 343 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:18,920 infinitely loving, infinitely gracious, infinitely merciful, 344 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,800 and if He has resolved not to treat us according to anything 345 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:28,280 we have done or deserved, but only according to His infinite 346 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,400 mercy. Notice it in verse 6. 347 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,800 Jesus describes the Son as beloved. 348 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,480 We've heard that twice in Mark chapter one, verse 11, Chapter 349 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:44,360 9, verse 7, at Jesus baptism and at the transfiguration. 350 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,040 At Jesus baptism, the Father declared to him, You are my 351 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,960 beloved Son. At the transfiguration, he 352 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:56,080 declared to the disciples with him, This is my beloved son. 353 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,760 The son in the parable is God's unique son. 354 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:02,760 He's his one son. He's his beloved son. 355 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,760 All this points to Jesus is eternal, divine sonship. 356 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,680 He is God's unique, beloved, only begotten son. 357 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:17,040 Notice it says in verse 6. Finally, finally he sent him to 358 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,160 them. The Greek word is eschaton, 359 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:25,240 meaning last this son comes, last this son comes, finally 360 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,200 this son comes to bring in God's Kingdom. 361 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:32,600 This son comes with his father's authority to his father's 362 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:37,200 property to claim his father's rightful due. 363 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,840 So how did the tenants respond? Verses 7 and 8. 364 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,560 But those tenants said to one another, this is the heir, come, 365 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,280 let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. 366 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:53,720 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the 367 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,880 vineyard. That's important to recognize 368 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,920 that the tenants did not think this would somehow give them a 369 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,480 legal right to the vineyard. They're not abiding by the law 370 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,360 here. They're just trying to seize a 371 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,000 selfish opportunity. If we get the air out of the 372 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:13,320 way, we can seize the property. That's what they're thinking and 373 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,680 of course Jesus parable previews how the official religious 374 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,640 leadership of Israel will treat him. 375 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,960 He's already predicted 3 times they'll deliver him over to 376 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,280 death. We've seen in Chapter 11 verse 377 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,440 18 they're already scheming to destroy him. 378 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,040 So the official religious leaders of Jesus day are acting 379 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,320 like these tenants. They're acting like the vineyard 380 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:41,080 is bears, not gods. They care more about staying in 381 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,000 power than about submitting to God's authority. 382 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:46,480 They are stewards acting like owners. 383 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,200 And now the true king has returned. 384 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:51,760 They're trying to steal from God and keep what they can get for 385 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,240 themselves. Ultimately, the religious 386 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,640 leaders actions showed that they loved what they could get from 387 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,560 God more than they loved God himself. 388 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,000 If they truly loved God, they would have loved His beloved 389 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,920 Son. If they truly loved God, they 390 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:08,920 would have received Him and worshipped Him. 391 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,600 When He showed up in the flesh. That was the test, and they 392 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,160 failed it. Instead of receiving Him, they 393 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,480 killed him. They reason if we kill the air, 394 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,760 we take the place of the air. Here's the essence of sin. 395 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,440 Here's the essence of humanity's opposition to God. 396 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:37,640 If we can dispense with God, if we can even kill God, then we 397 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:43,520 get to become our own God. That is the essence of sin. 398 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:47,800 A fallen, sinful human thinks that a dead God is more 399 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,840 convenient than the living God. Why? 400 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,760 Because a dead God cannot tell you what to do. 401 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,480 A dead God cannot issue commands. 402 00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:59,280 A dead God cannot enforce those commands. 403 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,840 A dead God cannot send you warnings that, if you pay any 404 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,720 kind of attention to them, should make you tremble and 405 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,720 quake and lose sleep at night if you are not in the right with 406 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,280 him. The living God, oh, he does all 407 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,880 that and more. Dead God, nothing. 408 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:22,080 A dead God lets you be your own God. 409 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:27,160 Do you really want a dead God? Do you really want to be 410 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:31,920 responsible for killing God? Frederick Nietzsche, no 411 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:36,520 Christian and no friend of Christianity, still said some 412 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,320 true stuff sometimes. Late 19th century. 413 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:47,520 He said this God is dead, God remains dead and we have killed 414 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,080 him. How shall we comfort ourselves, 415 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,960 the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest 416 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,320 of all that the world has yet owned, has bled to death under 417 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:03,000 our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? 418 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:05,760 What water is there for us to clean ourselves? 419 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,160 What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have 420 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:16,120 to invent? In Jesus story, the long history 421 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:19,480 of rejection comes to its climax in the rejection of the beloved 422 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:23,960 Son. But that still leaves the owner 423 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,560 and the tenants and the vineyard. 424 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,560 So what's he's going? What's the owner going to do? 425 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,920 That's what Jesus asks and answers in verse 9. 426 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,840 What will the owner of the vineyard do? 427 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:44,640 He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to 428 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,600 others. The owner of the vineyard is, of 429 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,560 course, the the Lord, the Master, the God of Israel. 430 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:55,480 He is unfathomably patient, but there is a limit to his 431 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:59,680 patience. He is fantastically gracious. 432 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,440 He is also at the same time, unswervingly just so. 433 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,040 What will he do? He'll judge the tenants. 434 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:11,080 He will execute his justice and vengeance against them. 435 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,800 He will do that against Israel's official leadership. 436 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,800 And he will set over his vineyard other leaders, leaders 437 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:26,920 who will submit to him and bear fruit for him, just like in 438 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:31,400 Jesus's demonstration in the temple back in Chapter 11 here 439 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,280 at the conclusion of this parable, Jesus's warning 440 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,400 implicitly about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. 441 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:42,160 That's going to come in 70 AD as an expression of God's 442 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,760 judgement. The official stewardship of this 443 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,280 whole class of leaders will come to an end. 444 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,400 They will suffer God's judgment, and they will be removed from 445 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:59,240 office. Do you understand and embrace 446 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:01,880 the rightness of God's judgments? 447 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:10,280 Do you see it as good that God will fully and finally hold evil 448 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:14,960 to account? Know what this verse doesn't 449 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,280 mean. It's easy, I think, to draw some 450 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,320 exaggerated conclusions from this verse. 451 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:24,080 Jesus doesn't teach that the owner rejects or destroys his 452 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,960 vineyard. That is, God doesn't destroy or 453 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,720 reject Israel. Of course, the people of Israel 454 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,400 were LED astray by their leaders. 455 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,160 Their leaders bear responsibility for that, and and 456 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,760 so do the people. But Jesus parable does not teach 457 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:41,320 that God rejects Israel and delivers his Kingdom over to 458 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,800 Gentile Christians. Instead he teaches here that God 459 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,240 rejects Israel's leaders and transfers authority over his 460 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:51,920 people to others. So you have to ask, who are the 461 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:53,720 others? The parable doesn't say 462 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,360 explicitly, but I think in the context with Jesus squaring off 463 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:00,720 against the official leaders, Jesus leading his disciples, 464 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:02,800 equipping them, commissioning them, preparing them for their 465 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,120 role, I think the clearest answer is Jesus and the 12 466 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:12,560 apostles are the new tenants. Jesus is not saying that God is 467 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,080 rejecting Israel and replacing it with the church. 468 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,040 He's saying that God is taking authority away from unfaithful 469 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:23,840 leaders and giving it to faithful leaders as the climax 470 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,840 of a long history of rejection. Israel's leaders reject God's 471 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,200 beloved son, and so God rejects them. 472 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:35,880 That's the end of the parable. Jesus himself immediately goes 473 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:40,200 on to teach that while this is the end of the parable, it is 474 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,440 not the end of the story. It's not the end of the story 475 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:48,920 for him, and it's not the end of the story for you and me .3 476 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:58,320 Rejection ordained and reversed. Rejection ordained and reversed. 477 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,280 We see this in verses 11:50, especially in Jesus citation of 478 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:09,840 scripture. In verses 10 and 11, right after 479 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:14,880 Jesus finishes the parable, he adds his own biblical commentary 480 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:17,400 to it. He brings a pastor of scripture 481 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,160 in to interpret it. So in verse 10 he introduces 482 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,800 that passage with a question, Have you not read this 483 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,120 scripture? Now that's a rhetorical 484 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,040 question. Of course they've read this 485 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:29,920 scripture. They're thoroughly trained 486 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:31,960 religious professionals. They probably memorized the 487 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,240 passage before they were 13. They probably recited it 488 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,360 thousands of times. Of course they've read it. 489 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,160 But Jesus question is charging them with missing the point of 490 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:44,560 it completely. The passage of Psalm 118, verses 491 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:50,600 22 and 23, which Jesus cites in full in verses 10 and 11, the 492 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,960 stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 493 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,040 This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. 494 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:03,920 So how does Jesus parable end? It ends with the sun rejected by 495 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:08,840 the leaders. That's the link with Psalm 118, 496 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:13,199 verse 22. The leaders are the builders. 497 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:18,600 They're in charge of God's people, and Jesus is the stone 498 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:22,520 they reject. So Jesus's scriptural commentary 499 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,159 begins right where the story ends. 500 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,600 It starts from their rejection of him, and it proclaims what's 501 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:34,440 going to happen next. What happens to the rejected 502 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:38,440 stone? He becomes the cornerstone. 503 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:41,480 Think about a building project. They're assembling materials. 504 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,600 It probably refers to the even the building of the temple is 505 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,199 kind of the background builders have to inspect is this stone 506 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:50,159 the right shape, size, density, all those kind of things. 507 00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:52,280 You have to inspect the materials before you use them. 508 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,600 So this is a builders, those in charge setting this particular 509 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,040 stone aside as unfit for purpose. 510 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:06,360 But that stone turns out to be the most important stone in the 511 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,640 whole building. It could mean it's the 512 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,600 cornerstone in the sense that everything's built around it. 513 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,480 It could be more of an arch stone or a capstone that holds 514 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:14,680 up the weight of the whole building. 515 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:20,360 Either way, this one stone is crucial to how the whole 516 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:25,520 building hangs together as a unit, as a body, it is the most 517 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:31,360 important stone. So somehow in this Psalm, the 518 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:36,440 stone goes from being rejected to being exalted, from being set 519 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:40,920 aside to being supreme. How does that happen? 520 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,960 The next bit of the Psalm tells us, at least implicitly, this 521 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:52,960 was the Lord's doing. They rejected the stone, and God 522 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:56,120 reversed their rejection. God overturned their rejection. 523 00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:01,240 God rejected their rejection. God exalted the one that they 524 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:07,760 killed and set aside. God reversed their verdict that 525 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:11,680 this son was worthless and to be despised. 526 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,560 How? By raising him from the dead and 527 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,880 installing him in glory at his right hand. 528 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,600 This son wasn't worthless, but priceless. 529 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:26,280 As first Peter says, this son isn't to be despised but 530 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:29,240 worshipped. So the rulers of the temple 531 00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:33,160 rejected and destroyed Jesus, but Jesus is now the cornerstone 532 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:36,320 of a new temple. All those who are united to Him 533 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:40,760 by faith are God's end time temple, indwelt by His Spirit. 534 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,920 That gives us an image, a picture of what God has been 535 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,920 after all along. He created this universe as a 536 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,160 showcase of His glory. He created humanity to live in 537 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,160 fellowship with Him and find fulfillment in Him, to dwell 538 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,000 with Him face to face and be satisfied in Him. 539 00:36:56,400 --> 00:37:00,680 But ever since Adam and Eve, we've rejected him consistently, 540 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,280 every single one of us, in the depths of our hearts. 541 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:07,080 Nobody starts off, nobody enters this life rightly relating to 542 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,080 God. Nobody starts off this life. 543 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:12,560 Nobody enters into this world worshipping God as He deserves. 544 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:17,280 We are all have rejected and turned away from God. 545 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:22,000 What we deserve is what the owner of the vineyard did to 546 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,040 those tenants. What God's done instead is send 547 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:30,720 His Son to be rejected, to pay the price for our sins, to be 548 00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:35,040 raised from the dead, and to now invite and call and summon 549 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,320 everyone to repent and trust in Him. 550 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:42,280 That is the only way to be right with God, and it is a way to be 551 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,600 right with God that depends on nothing you have done, nothing 552 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:47,960 you're doing right now, nothing you will do. 553 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,560 All you need to do is turn from sin and receive this gift of 554 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,280 salvation by faith. The stone the builders rejected 555 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:59,520 has become the cornerstone. God reversed humanity's 556 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:01,720 rejection of Jesus by raising Him from the dead. 557 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:06,640 God ordained this whole saga of rejection and reversal to bring 558 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:11,800 about our salvation. This is why the Psalm says this 559 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:16,760 was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 560 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:20,680 That could be a one sentence summary of the whole of Mark's 561 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,800 gospel. Mark is a gospel of paradox. 562 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:28,200 It's a gospel of reversal. It's a gospel of human amazement 563 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,480 at the staggering, unpredictable work of God. 564 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,880 God delights to reverse situations that look utterly 565 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,280 helpless. God delights to show his power 566 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:41,960 by doing what is humanly impossible. 567 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:47,200 You might not see a way out, but perhaps God has already 568 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:52,120 eternally ordained a way out. God can create a way out from 569 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:55,840 rejection, a way out from resistance, a way out from 570 00:38:55,840 --> 00:39:00,680 hardened opposition. God can create a way out from 571 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,880 death. The grave does not tie God's 572 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,680 hands or lessen his power. Even from death. 573 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:12,240 God has a way out that only he can accomplish and for which 574 00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:16,840 only he will be praised. The God who can deliver from 575 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,880 death, the God who can raise himself from death, the God who 576 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:25,960 can raise you from death, works marvels and deserves your trust, 577 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,360 deserves your confidence, deserves your praise. 578 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,320 This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 579 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:39,720 The whole shape of the Christian life is marveling at God's 580 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:45,000 gracious reversal of our rejection of Him. 581 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:48,200 I once was lost, but now I am found. 582 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:53,920 Was blind, but now I see. That's why grace is amazing. 583 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:55,920 It's marvelous. It's astonishing. 584 00:39:56,240 --> 00:40:01,440 God refuses to let our rejection have the last word. 585 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:09,880 God makes actual what is humanly impossible if you're a believer 586 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:14,880 in the Lord Jesus Christ. One regular spiritual habit you 587 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:19,480 should practice is marveling and who God is and what He's done 588 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,040 for you in Christ. Do this in private and in 589 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:25,000 public. Do this in personal devotions, 590 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,280 family devotions, and in corporate worship. 591 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:33,680 What is there to marvel at in the Christian life? 592 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,800 God's own infinitely perfect being and character. 593 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:45,960 Any true thought you think about the God of the universe is cause 594 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:49,800 for marveling. Does God's providential rule 595 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:54,240 over history that he sovereignly ordains all that comes to pass 596 00:40:54,600 --> 00:41:00,320 and knows how to bring good out of evil, more grounds for 597 00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:03,240 marveling? There's God's plan of salvation 598 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:06,400 culminating in the cross and resurrection, how God used the 599 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:09,560 greatest act of human rejection of God ever to bring about the 600 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:12,600 salvation of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. 601 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,680 There's the mystery and marvel of the Trinity, of Christ's 602 00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:23,080 incarnation, of the depth of what he accomplished for us all 603 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:29,000 in his death and resurrection. There's Christ's return, as Paul 604 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,200 proclaims in 2nd Thessalonians 110, when he comes on that day 605 00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:38,440 to be glorified in his Saints and to be marvelled at among 606 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:43,240 those who believe. There's God's preserving and 607 00:41:43,240 --> 00:41:47,040 sanctifying work in your own life, considering how He's 608 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:51,760 remade you, changed you, transformed you in ways that are 609 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:57,680 far beyond your own power. One more ground for marveling 610 00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:06,280 would be the way he so lovingly, so tenderly, turns frowning 611 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:13,720 providences into causes for rejoicing, whether in retrospect 612 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:21,800 or sometimes even in the moment. What do we do together in our 613 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:26,200 corporate worship? We marvel this was the Lord's 614 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,560 doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 615 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:33,240 We marvel at who God is. We marvel at His dramatic works 616 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:36,200 of reversing human rejection. We marvel at the depth of His 617 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,200 love displayed and sending His Son for us. 618 00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:41,960 We marvel at His promise to return and His power to set the 619 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:48,440 universe right. God ordained His people's 620 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:51,320 rejection of His Son, and He reversed that in the 621 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,680 resurrection. That's what Jesus is saying. 622 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:58,200 Psalm 118 prophecies. The Psalm itself is a prophecy 623 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,600 of what would happen to Him. Now this is part of the story 624 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:07,680 that in Mark hasn't happened yet, but it will, Brothers and 625 00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:11,080 sisters, it has. The leaders of Israel said no to 626 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:16,000 Jesus, but God said yes by raising him from the dead. 627 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:21,400 Humanity said no by killing him. God said yes by raising him. 628 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:28,440 Whose word was stronger, humanities or gods. 629 00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:36,600 If you've never said yes to Jesus, turn your no into a yes 630 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:40,600 today. There's one more part of the 631 00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:44,320 passage we need to consider briefly, the very end, verse 12. 632 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,400 And they were seeking to arrest him, but feared the people, for 633 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:52,400 they perceived that he had told the parable against them. 634 00:43:54,560 --> 00:44:00,360 So they left him and went away. The plot continues with their 635 00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:06,120 plotting against Jesus. They know Jesus is indicting 636 00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:09,680 them, calling them out, and they don't like it. 637 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:13,880 But they also know that Jesus has a lot of popular support, so 638 00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:17,200 they can't just go, you know, get them convicted and killed. 639 00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:19,520 They need some kind of scheme. They need some kind of pretext. 640 00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:20,960 They need a clever way to do this. 641 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:24,280 They're stuck. Eventually they will find a way, 642 00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:31,960 but ultimately, and seeking to destroy Jesus, they will destroy 643 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,320 only themselves. They think they're calling the 644 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:40,760 shots, but they are reading lines from a script God has 645 00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:47,320 written. This was the Lord's doing, and 646 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:51,840 it is marvelous. In our eyes, rejection hurts. 647 00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:56,800 But when it comes to our rejection of God, that rejection 648 00:44:56,800 --> 00:45:00,920 says nothing about God and everything about us. 649 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:06,880 Our rejection of God hurts God not at all, but it hurts us 650 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:12,400 infinitely. What do you want to have the 651 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:18,120 last word in your life? You're no or God's yes. 652 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:22,200 Here's what God wants most for you. 653 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:29,080 Receive his Son, Receive the Savior who was rejected by men 654 00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:37,280 and raised up by God, Man of Sorrows, Lamb of God by his own 655 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:40,720 betrayed. Let's pray. 656 00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:53,840 Heavenly Father, this was your doing, and it is marvellous in 657 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:58,720 our eyes. May we continue by faith to 658 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:00,920 embrace the stone the builders rejected. 659 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,880 May we be enabled to endure whatever rejection You ordained 660 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:09,600 for us in union with Him. May You grant us to help each 661 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:16,880 other persevere in the hope of seeing every human rejection of 662 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:19,880 You either overturned or held to account. 663 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:23,640 Father, may we put our confidence in Christ and so not 664 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:29,120 be put to shame in Jesus name, Amen.