Rejecting the King, Part 1

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Lance Sparks

Rejecting the King, Part 1
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Scripture: Luke 20:9-18

Transcript

Let's pray together father. We're grateful for today a chance to study your word What a blessed people we are to be able to examine The truth of your word and to understand the condition of our own souls and understand what it is You want to do to remedy? The sin issue in our lives that we might follow you with a clean and pure heart. We're grateful for your life We're grateful for your death and resurrection We're grateful Lord that we can spend time studying who you are and what you've done bless our time together this morning We pray in Jesus name.

Amen If you got your Bible turn to Luke chapter 20 Luke chapter 20, we're gonna look at a a prophetic parable You know, the parables of our Lord are are so unique because they truly are windows to your soul the Lord when he spoke parables spoke In in terms that everybody who was listening would understand because they were common stories earthly stories that had a heavenly meaning and that meaning would would deal with the issue of the soul of an individual who was listening and so our Lord had a very unique way of Explaining things to people and so we're gonna look at one of those parables today They're they're rather unique and as we do we're gonna come to understand a lot about the Jewish nation In fact, we're gonna find out something today that probably none of you in this room had ever seen before Now I could be wrong there but I'm pretty sure that you haven't seen this before and we're gonna explain it to you today because it's gonna open your eyes as To what it is the Jewish people really knew about Jesus Christ At the same time we're gonna help you understand that our Lord as he goes to these last days of his life these last Few days.

This is Wednesday of Passover week and we talked about this last week We told you that MacArthur was gonna change his commentary. He's already changed his commentary So if you have a new edition, he will tell you that when you come to Luke chapter 20 verse number one It's probably Wednesday not Tuesday of that week.

I don't know why people get that all messed up all the time It was Paul Monday not Palm Sunday that Jesus came into Jerusalem, but I'm afraid that so many times we've messed up the whole order of the week People mess up the whole order of the crucifixion to something he died on on Thursday and not Friday And if it's Friday, why does the Lord have the Passover with his men on Thursday a lot of confusion there? But you stay with this We'll open it up to you help you understand exactly what's going on throughout the entire week throughout the entire Conversations that Christ has so that you can understand every interaction every communication Everything that's happening in the life of our Lord So you get the last week of his life down pat and everything he wants you to learn Because these are his last sermons to the public to the leaders So they understand the truth of the kingdom of God So it's Wednesday on on Passion Week.

He's already cleansed the temple. He did that on on Tuesday He purified the temple on Tuesday. We've taken you through that he entered into Jerusalem on Monday We took you through that as well You're able to see exactly what took place when he was able to see in The temple area all the corruption and all the perversion he comes back on Tuesday. He cleanses the temple He heals the lame. He heals the blind He even does some teaching on that day and all that he does we don't know because it's not recorded for us But he's teaching daily in the temple the Bible tells us the Luke 20 verse number 1 and it came about on one of the days while he was teaching the people In the temple and preaching the gospel.

That's what Jesus did. He taught the people he preached the gospel So we know that while he is walking around in that temple area. He is talking to people preaching the gospel to them This is a massive crowd of people. This is not a couple of a hundred people Remember, there's of upwards of two million Jews in Jerusalem during Passover There are thousands of people hanging around him hanging on every word as a text says in Luke 19 verse number 48 It says for all the people were hanging upon his words literally hanging upon His lips because they they lived in anticipation as to what it is This King was going to do remember when he came into Jerusalem, they hailed him the son of David They hailed him the King the Messiah of Israel.

That's how they saw Jesus Now the question is did they really see him that way? That's a good question We'll answer that for you this morning. Help you come to grips with what they were saying. What did they believe about? Jesus the Messiah of Israel And so he cleansed the temple on that Tuesday and and as he did There were some twelve-year-old boys hanging around as Matthew tells us and they were they were singing Hosanna to the son of David They were praising his name they were ecstatic about this son of David and it got the leaders irate indignant and They were upset with Jesus.

Well, this isn't the first time they've been upset with Jesus They have been furious with him for a long time It began really at the onset of his ministry But what really turned the tide was that the pool of Bethesda not too far from the Temple Mount We go there when we go to the land of Israel We take you to the pool of Bethesda to help you understand John chapter 5.

Remember there was a man that was paralyzed for 38 years and Jesus walks up to him and says do you want to be healed? Let me made?

Well, the guy says well, yeah, of course I do But there's nobody to throw me into the water Thinking that if someone threw him into the water first The first one is first went into the water would be healed.

That was the the mysticism of the day That's what they believed It wasn't true But that's what they thought would happen the first one into the pool when it began to to to ripple Then that person would be healed.

Well, there's nobody throw me in and Jesus says take up your bed and walk So he does He walks and you know the miracles of Jesus if they weren't so sad They'd be absolutely hilarious Because of how people responded to Jesus.

I Mean, I mean you can write Almost a comedy stream on how people responded to Jesus and those who were healed This man paralyzed for 38 years sitting by the pool of Bethesda wanting to be healed and finally was healed by Jesus says Therefore the Jews this is John chapter 5 verse number 10 the Jews in John's gospel are the religious leaders What if refers to the Jews?

The Jews were saying to him who was cured it is a Sabbath It is not permissible for you to carry your pallet. Here's a guy been married for 30 I've been paralyzed for 38 years and they see him and they say hey, you can't be carrying your pallet around I know you've been paralyzed. I know it's the first time you walked in a long time But you can't be carrying your pallet around on the Sabbath so But he answered them He who made me Well was the one who said to me take up your pallet and walk and they asked him who was the man?

Who said to you take up your pallet and walk? But he said who healed him. He did not know who it was For Jesus has slipped away while there was a crowd in that place And afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him behold you have become well Do not sin anymore said nothing worse may befall you The man went away and told the Jews That it was Jesus Who made him well and for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath But Jesus answered them.

My father is working until now and I myself am working This is crucial. Why? For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he not only was breaking the Sabbath But also was calling God his own father making himself equal with God Now, how did Jesus do that? He said my father's working and so am I he never said I'm God. I'm equal with God He said my father was working and so am I Okay making him out to be the son of God and The Greek word we us always deals with position and equality.

It never deals with origin never So they knew by what he said he was making himself out to be God. That's why they wanted to stone him That's why in John 10 31 the same thing occurred They wanted to stone him because he made himself out to be God or equal with God And so the tide turned in John 5 at the pool of Bethesda They were looking for ways that they might kill Jesus by the time you come to Luke 19 at the second cleansing of the temple They are so irate.

They are so angry with Jesus. They can't wait to kill him Oh, by the way, why do you think that Jesus escaped to get 70 every night? You ever ask yourself that question? How can we didn't go back to Bethany? With Mary Martha and Lazarus. Why did Jesus always go to get 70 at night? Good question I'll answer that Later down later on down the road You're gonna want to know that why did he go to get 70 at every night? Let me tell you It's pitch black in the garden of Gethsemane They wanted to kill Jesus if they could find Jesus Did he killed him?

But they couldn't find him Remember he's not a divine timetable when it comes to his death The garden of Gethsemane was pitch black in the middle of the night. That's why when they came in John 18 What did he come with to find him? torches and lanterns Why because they thought they were gonna have to search for him in the garden They knew where he was because Judas betrayed him But they would come with torches and lanterns because they knew that they couldn't find him unless they could see him. See that So he would escape to Gethsemane where it was pitch black in the middle of the night and no one would know where he was Because no one would take his life from him He would lay it down on his own initiative only at the right time on the right day and that would be on Friday when the Passover lambs would be slain and Therefore everything was on a divine timetable with the Living God.

This is a Remarkable week when it comes to understanding God's Sovereign control of everything his sovereign control of Judas his sovereign control of the religious leaders his sovereign control of Satan He was the complete control of Satan as well. He controlled everything It's a remarkable week and as it unfolds before us, we'll see exactly what the Lord God is doing But back to Luke chapter 19, they wanted him dead. They could not stand him, but the people were listening The text says that people were listening to every word they were hanging on every word because they thought that this son of David this this This Messiah this this this King was going to set up his kingdom They were looking and waiting in anticipation for all that to happen You have to realize that the fever pitch of the crowd was way off the charge.

It was ecstatic They were anticipating that this man son of David Hosanna to the God in the highest would be king of Israel They were anticipating what he's going to what he was going to do next And so they hung on every word that he said At the same time the religious leaders listened because they were looking for ways to entrap him and to catch him that they might somehow destroy him and So Matthew in Matthew's gospel, he gives us three parables that deal with the leaders Luke only gives us one he gives us number two of the three parables that Matthew gives us So we know that there was more than just what Luke tells us Based on what Matthew says and what Mark says so we know that there were three parables at this time Designed for the leaders of Israel Luke just gives us one Okay, and that's the only one we're going to cover in our study because we're in Luke's gospel not Matthew's gospel But we will refer to Matthew's gospel because Matthew opens up and sheds light on terms of what Luke is saying in Luke Chapter 19.

Let me read it for you Luke 19 verse number. I'm at Luke 20. I'm sorry verse number 9 and he began to tell the people this parable a Man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey for a long time And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine growers in order that they might give him some of The produce of the vineyard But the vine growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed and he proceeded to send another slave and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and Sent him away empty-handed and he proceeded to send a third and this one also they wounded and cast out and The owner of the vineyard said what shall I do?

I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him But when the vine growers saw him they reasoned with one another saying this is the heir Let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours and they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him What therefore will the owner of the vine of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy these vine growers and will give the vineyard to others Now There are four things you're gonna want to see One is the parable number two was the point of the parable number three is the punishment Associated with the point in the parable and number four is a promise Associated with the punishment and the point in the parable got that that's where we're gonna go But we're first of all gonna talk about the parable need to understand it Remember in Israel's day all the hillsides they were filled with with with the growing of vines But the flatlands were filled with the growing of grain So what Jesus gives is a very familiar common element of their culture They all know this They get this they know about vine growers In fact in Matthew's account says that they built a tower there on the hillside and They built a wine press there as well.

So this was a major major business and this vine grower would rent out to these contract farmers these tenant vine growers the Opportunity to take care of his crop and that's exactly what he did Again, this was very common in the days of Jesus In fact is even common today that Jews would own land in the land of Israel But they would live someplace else and there'd be tenant farmers who would take care of their land So everybody is listening to this on this Wednesday during passion week understands exactly what Jesus is saying Says in verse number nine that a man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine growers went on a journey for a long Time this is very common in those days And so he would rent it out to these tenant farmers and these these guys had had a great opportunity a great privilege to take care of this owner's land and At the due time the owner would come back or send a representative back and they would pay what was Contracted in their original agreement and keep the rest of it for themselves This worked out very well for people who wanted not to own land But to be tenants in the land That's exactly what was going on so when you come to verse number 10 It says and at the harvest time the word harvest is an italics So at the time Assumingly, it's a harvest time He sent a slave to the vine growers in order that they might give him some of the produce of the vineyard Now that's very normal very common.

Okay, so at harvest time the owner would send one of his slaves back He would he would gain the proceeds he would gain what was in the contract agreement from the very beginning He would get that and they would keep the rest for themselves That was very normal very common very natural But what was uncommon? What was unnatural is what takes place next look what it says? says but the vine growers beat him and Sent him away Empty-handed What? Why would they do that? Why would they beat him and send him away?

Empty-handed this is this is cruel This is criminal This is vicious This is shocking Why would they do that? They are renting from the owner the land they are taking care of the owners land They have a contract agreement with the owner to pay him what he is due But when he sends his representative back They beat him up and Send him away That's unacceptable That's shameful. That's outrageous but he sends another verse 11 and He proceeded to set another slave and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away Empty-handed same thing now Matthew's account says in Matthew chapter 21 it says these words it says and the vine grower took the slaves and beat one and killed another and stoned a third So Matthew gives us a little clearer account not only were they beaten they were stoned and they were killed This is what they did to these slaves who came back under the direction of their owner to receive the proceeds from the land shocking outrageous Ridiculous criminal so Amazingly the owner sends another one back Why would he do that?

He has every right to enact justice He has every right to go to the legal authorities and get what is legally his there's been a criminal act that's taken place So he has every right to do that but instead He asked the question. What shall I do? After he sends the third one back.

What shall I do? Well, everybody in the audience knows what he should do Everybody knows exactly what should take place. He should deal with the people who killed his slaves. He should deal with him That's exactly what he should do But that's not what he does Instead he sends his son Instead he sends his son. What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will Respect him. Maybe they don't like slaves. And so I'll send my son. Maybe they'll respect him. Maybe they'll like my son But maybe they thought if the Sun is coming The owner's dead if the owner's dead Then we can deal with the Sun Because if you read on it says but when the vine growers saw him they reasoned with one another saying this is the heir Let us kill him and the inheritance may be ours.

So maybe they believe that the that the owner was dead and Therefore if they took care of the Sun the rightful heir to his father's inheritance Then the inheritance will be theirs that's what they thought and so There was a plot The plot was pre meditated murder They threw him out of the vineyard and they killed him Wow They threw him out and they killed him Are you serious? It's exactly what happens so It says What therefore will the vine owner of the vineyard do to them verse number 15? Now to understand this you have to go back to Matthew's account so go back to we've been to Matthew 21 for a moment Because Jesus asked a question in Luke's account He answers his question, but in Matthew's account the crowd responds to the question This is very important to understand this what happens in Matthew 21 the questions ask Therefore when the owner the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine growers?

Here's the question that Jesus asked Here's the answer verse 41 Matthew 21 They said to him he will bring those wretches to a wretched end and he and will rent out the vineyard to other Vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons, of course he will That's exactly what he's going to do the crowd answers Christ says, okay What is the owner of the vineyard going to do?

He waits for a response crowd says He is gonna get rid of these wretched individuals He is going to give his vineyard to another owner He has to get rid of them He can no longer keep them. They must go That's the answer of the crowd Okay. Now go back to Luke 16. I'm sorry Luke 20 in Luke 20 verse number 16 Christ says he will come and Destroy these vine growers and will give the vineyard to others.

So what Jesus says is Affirming what the crowd has already said you with me so far so the crowd responds to Jesus and Jesus now in Luke's gospel is Affirming what the crowds have already said He will he will return he will destroy them He will give the vineyard to other owners, that's exactly what's going to happen So Christ gives us parable It's one of the things he teaches on this day About the hypocrisy of the leadership of Israel.

He's speaking to the crowd About the people who lead them. They don't understand it just yet But it begins this parable very simple parable about a vineyard About a vine owner and those tenant farmers who come in and Through a contract deal with the land and when the owner sends the slaves back They beat them. They stoned them. They kill them He has every right to step in to bring in the legal authorities To claim his land back and deal with them as he sees fit, but instead he sends his son He sends his very own son thinking that they will respect him.

They will honor him, but they don't They see him coming They know It's the Sun they know and Because they know it's the Sun They premeditate how it is. They're going to get rid of the Sun so they Kill him throw him out of the city and Christ says to the crowd What should the vine owner do and they said deal?

with those wretches Destroy them get rid of them. Give the vineyard into the hands of another owner and Jesus then affirms You with me so far as soon as Jesus affirms that listen carefully. There is an epiphany the light goes on the light goes on and listen to what the crowd says and When they heard it, they said May it never be No, no, no, no, no, no This can't happen May it never happen this way it can't happen May it never be May what never be When they heard it the word there is a kuo which means to comprehend to grasp to understand same word used in Revelation 2 verses Chapter 2 and chapter 3 but the seven letters to the seven churches he who has ears to hear let him hear let him grasp Let him retain what the Spirit says to the churches When they heard it when they heard what when they heard the parable when they responded to what The Lord asked about the parable and then the Lord affirms what they said they understood exactly What he was saying?

Listen to this every Jew knew Jesus was the Son of God every Jew knew Without exception That's what he said. Oh, no. No, no, this can't happen because they knew exactly what he was talking about They knew who he was Don't think for one moment those Jews those religious leaders did not know who Jesus was they knew because Jesus says They knew How did he say it?

He says that in the parable when they saw the Son coming they knew he was what? He was the heir They knew exactly who he was There was no question about who the son was they knew it was him before he said anything Before he showed up. They knew exactly who it was and They began to premeditate how it is. They would kill him before he even showed up on the scene Don't think for one moment the Jews had no idea what they were doing. Believe me They did everything in full evidence of what they were doing They knew Jesus.

That's why they hailed him Son of David, that's why they hailed him the king on Monday when he arrived because everybody knew who he was There's no question All of those Messianic credentials proved Exactly who he was So Jesus gives a parable that's why their response is the way it is Oh, no, it can't happen this way because they knew Because they knew That the son Would destroy The tenant farmers Who's that? See the Jews knew the Jews knew that the man was God The the man who was the divine owner was God They also knew that the that the that the Son was the Son of God How do they know that they knew that the vineyard was Israel?

They knew in the parable that the vineyard was Israel How do they know that because the Old Testament is filled with it. Listen to Jeremiah chapter 5 Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard My well-beloved had a vineyard down a fertile hill and he dug it all around Removed its stones and planted it with the choices vine But he built and he built a tower in the middle of it and hewed out a wine vat in in it Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones That's the exact parable that Jesus is giving in Luke chapter 20 There was a vineyard.

There was a wine press around the vineyard There was a tower in the vineyard and Jesus is telling them about Jeremiah chapter 5 That's how the light went on that's how they knew remember these are Jews they're in a synagogue every day They're hearing Old Testament ad nauseum They hear it repeated over and over and over again They knew that Israel is that choice vineyard They knew that they knew that God was the owner of the vineyard They knew that too And so Jesus when he gives the parable Puts them in the parable and they didn't even know it to the very end And once it got to the end, it was too late because they already said yeah get rid of those wretched tenant farmers Give the vineyard into the hands of somebody else oops That means we're going to be under somebody else's authority May it never be May it never be See they got it They got it And in jeremiah chapter 5 the Lord God says what more was there to There to do for my vineyard That I have not done in it Why when I expected it to produce good grapes?

Did it produce worthless ones? I will remove its hedge And it will be consumed. I will break down its wall and it will be trampled Underground and I will lay it waste it will not be pruned or hoed But briars and thorns will come up verse 7 for the vineyard of the lord of hosts Is the house of israel? They knew this They knew this If you go back to uh, psalm 80 and jeremiah chapter 2, they knew about the vineyard They knew about god as the owner of the vineyard They knew what god had done to make them the choicest of all the people on the face of the earth They knew how god had protected them had preserved them had watched over them.

They knew all that None of this was new to them So jesus gives them a parable That would describe to them Who their vine growers were? Who's that? Who are the vine growers who are the tent farmers in the story that is the religious establishment in israel, that's who it is It's the rabbis. It's the priests. It's the religious establishment that ran israel That's who it was And so when jesus says what will I do with these vine growers?

They say get rid of them get rid of all those rabbis get rid of all those priests. Give me the ball of them Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute wait a minute if you do that we're in a heap of trouble here May it never be But they knew Because jesus wanted them to know The landowner goes on a journey That was representative of god And god had been on a journey for a long long time And god would send his his representatives To the vineyard He would send his prophets He would send his spokespeople And what did they do to those prophets they stoned them They killed them They beat them If you go back through history, you realize that jeremiah was was thrown into a pit and stoned to death same in for Ezekiel isaiah Was sawn in half by a wooden saw He was 1137 says he was the one sawn a thunder A thunder not a thunder a thunder, excuse me Uh, there's elijah and amos who fled for their lives or zachariah who was rejected in stone And there was micah who was smashed in the face because of what he preached The prophets would come verse 10 at that time what time?

At that time he would send back his slaves God would send his prophets He would send his spokespeople and they would speak and what would they say? They would call the people back to repentance because every good prophet is going to expose the sin of the people call them back To repentance call them back to obedience to the law of god call them to submit to the authority of god That's what they did. But the vine owner the vine growers didn't like them Didn't like what they heard He didn't like them talking to them about their sin and their disobedience so they stoned them so they killed them So they punched him in the face.

So they ran them out They got rid of them. He would keep sending back more and more and more from the time of abraham to the time of john the baptist remember at at the end of of of uh, the old testament had been 400 years Since god had sent a prophet they've been silent quiet And then when angel the angel showed up in the temple to speak to zacharias about his son being that next prophet He would be the forerunner to the messiah And then jesus would show up He was the son that the father would send And yet israel continued to rebel against all god's spokespersons all god's prophets Listen to what jeremiah chapter 7 says Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 23 God says this is what I commanded them saying obey my voice And I will be your god and you will be my people and you will walk in all the way Which I command you and it may be well with you yet They did not obey or incline their ear But walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart and went backward not forward Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of egypt until this day I have sent you all my servants the prophets daily rising early and sending them Yet, they did not listen to me or incline their ear but stiffened their neck and did evil more than Their fathers wow, that's the history of israel god would send his prophets God would call them to obedience.

They would not obey He would send his prophets to call them back to obedience and they would not listen to them They had turned a stiff ear. They had stiffened their necks. They had refused to respond to god's prophets So god would send them over and over again in jeremiah 24, excuse me, jeremiah 25. It says this and the lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets Again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear Saying turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds and dwell on the land Which the lord has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever and do not go after other gods To serve them and to worship them and do not provoke me to anger With the work of your hands and I will do you no harm Yet they have not listened to me declares the lord In order that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm Verse nine, I will send them into captivity under nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon Is that what god did?

Kept sending his servants his prophets to call them back And back and back and they would not respond And so now jesus gives them a parable He sucks them into the parable He helps them to understand through a very common illustration of what takes place every day in the land of israel Knowing that israel knows that they are the vineyard They know that because they know the old testament And they know that the owner of the vineyard is god listen The vine growers were not the owners. They were stewards The rabbis the priest the religious establishment did not own israel They were the spiritual stewards of israel.

They were to lead israel in the right direction not the wrong direction And they kept leading in the wrong way In spite of all the death of the prophets god says in all of his patience and all of his mercy i'll send my son Maybe they'll respect him when they saw him coming Before he even spoke a word they knew exactly who he was Exactly And they killed him that's what's going to happen on friday of this week And christ says You are no different Than your fathers Everything is still the same You remember we talked about this earlier in luke where where the pharisees would adorn the tombs in israel Remember in matthew 21 or excuse me, matthew chapter 23 Christ says this woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous And say if we had been living in the days of our fathers We would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets That's why they would take all the tombs and they would adorn them with all kinds of decorations and say you know What if we were living back then we wouldn't do that what they did We know they killed the prophets, but we would never do that We're not like our forefathers And christ says to them in matthew chapter 23 Consequently you bear witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murder the prophets Fill up then the measure of your guilt of your fathers you serpents you brood of vipers How shall you escape the sentence of hell?

Therefore behold i am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes some of them You will kill and crucify and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to City, he is giving them a prophecy of what they're going to do to the next group that comes in after his death You're going to do the exact same things your fathers did Because you're no different than they are so the question comes If they knew who jesus was If the religious establishment knew that jesus was a son of god I I know that they they accused him of blasphemy They attributed his works to satan that that was just all a smokescreen to get the crowd turned against jesus Why didn't they believe in him if he was a son of god?

Why did they not commit their life to him if they knew that jesus was sent from god? If they knew that why did they not believe that answer? John 12 verse number 42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in jesus But because of the pharisees They were not confessing him lest they should be put out of the synagogue for they loved the approval of men Rather than the approval of god That's why They could not They could not accept the fact that those around them no longer approved of them No longer liked them no longer wanted to be with them.

The exact same thing is true today Why is it when you present the gospel to somebody explain to them who the son of god is what he has done? What he's going to do that. They do not believe it's because they love their way of life More than they love the way of the life That's why They love their own lives They love the approval of men. They love the world. They love what the world offers them. They love the things of the world That's why christ says wishing a prophet of man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul They knew who jesus was They knew he was the son of god they never denied one miracle he ever ever Proclaimed and never ever portrayed Why they couldn't?

Can't deny a resurrected man resurrected You couldn't deny that that's why they want to put lazarus to death in john 12 They had to put him to death why because he was a living testimony to the resurrection power of the son of david And that's why when jesus died The tombs opened up and jerusalem was filled with now resurrected dead people It was a testimony to the resurrection and life that god himself gives It's a powerful story the whole point of the parable is You know exactly what you're doing And you know exactly what you're going to do in two days from now You can say it that way, but when it happens They will know They will know And jesus the master storyteller sucks them into the the parable so they give the answer That he himself affirms because that's exactly what he's going to do Because in 70 a.d.

When the roman soldiers came in and destroyed jerusalem and tore down that temple It has never been rebuilt in 2 000 years and there has never been a priesthood in israel for 2 000 years because jesus said i'm going to tear it down And i'm going to give my vineyard into the hands of other owners And the question is who are the other owners That's next week As we explain to you in the full to the rest of what christ has to say. Let me pray with you father We thank you for today We thank you for the truth of your word Lord there is nobody here today Who is without excuse?

And we pray father that you would use your word in their lives To help them understand that they need to give their life to jesus christ the king of israel We thank you lord for what jesus says on this day in jerusalem Because he portrays to us everything that has happened in the past and what will happen in the future And father we need to understand that what jesus said was exactly spot on Because he was the true prophet of god So we pray on this day lord that there would be no one here among us who does not know.

Jesus christ as lord and savior They would give their life to the creator the master of the universe And follow him in obedience We pray in jesus name. Amen