.
And so this is why, this is why Jesus even spoke to them in parables in the first place.
So when we're in Mark chapter number 12 and we're reading the parable of the vineyard,
why didn't Jesus just speak to them plainly? Because they weren't sincere. That's why
he gave them the parable to begin with. Now turn to Matthew chapter 13. Keep your place
in Mark 12 throughout the sermon this evening. But look at Matthew chapter number 13, verse
13. Matthew 13, verse 13. Jesus said this.
Notice, why is it that Jesus spoke to these people in parables? Because he did not want
them to know the truth. Because they had already rejected him. They had already decided to
close their ears, close their eyes, close their heart. They were not sincere. And he
says, you know what? I'm going to go ahead and speak to these people in parables then
so that seeing they won't see. So that hearing they won't hear. Less at any time.
They should believe and be converted. So then the question is, if Jesus gave this parable
to hide the truth from these people, then why do we have it in the Bible? It's for
our benefit. It's for our benefit. So when we go through this parable, realize the reason
God gave us this is to teach us something. To give us spiritual edification and blessing.
So this evening, I want to go through this parable in Mark chapter number 12, and I
want to give you six different aspects of this parable, and then we'll make application
at the end of the sermon.
Go to Mark chapter number 12, and first I want to point out in this parable, number
one, God's business. God's business. Mark chapter number 12, verse 1. Notice this. It
says, and he began to speak unto them. Who's the them? The Jews. That's why we found
context there. So he's speaking to the Jews. And he began to speak unto them by parables.
A certain man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a place for the
wine-fat, and built a tower, and led it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
So in this parable, we see that God is represented by this certain man. And this certain man,
what does he do? He goes and he plants a vineyard, and he provides everything necessary
for this vineyard to be profitable and successful. I mean, look at all the things that this man
did. He sets a hedge about it. He digged a place for the wine-fat. He built a tower for
protection, most likely. And then when he provided all of those things, what did he
do? He led it out to husbandmen. What is that? That's like renting his property out to farmers.
And so what is this vineyard here? It's a business. And you know, the work of God is
a business. A lot of people don't like that word. A lot of communists think that business
is a bad word. But you know what? God's business is the greatest business on earth. It's the
greatest business in the world. And this shouldn't be a surprise to you. Go ahead and turn to
Romans chapter number 9, but I'll read for you Luke 2 49. Jesus said, and he said unto
them, How is it that you sought me? Whist ye not that I must be about my father's business?
And so here in this parable, we see that the work of God, that the kingdom of God, is represented
by a business. Now, who had this blessing? Who had this stewardship? Well, the Bible
says that this man, he led it out, or he rented it out, to husbandmen. So was this owner,
was he the one working in the vineyard? Was he the one keeping the vineyard, planting
things, watering things? No, he was giving that for other people to do. And whose job
was that in the Old Testament? It was Israel. It was Israel's job to take care of the kingdom
of God in the Old Testament. I'm going to read for you. Deuteronomy 14 2 says, For thou
art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar
people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth. And of course, you
know, we know in the New Testament, especially in the new IFB, we know that God has replaced
the nation of Israel, the physical nation of Israel, with the spiritual nation of believers.
But let us not forget that in the Old Testament, Israel was special. It was. It was God's chosen
nation. The Bible says that he chose them above all nations of the earth. By the way,
that shows that God can exalt nations. God can abase nations. The Bible says that righteousness
exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. So notice, is it the system of
government that exalts a nation? No, it's righteousness that exalts a nation, and the
nation of Israel was exalted. Why? Because it had the word of God, because it had the
commandments of God, because it had the service of God, because it had God's vineyard, because
it had God's business. In Romans chapter 9, look at verse 1, Paul said this, I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Who are
we talking about? Look at verse 4, who are Israelites? Notice, to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service
of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ
came, who is overall God blessed forever. Amen. Here, Paul clearly teaches who was given
the work of God, the Israelites were. They were given God's vineyard to work in. So we
see number 1, God's business. Go back to Mark chapter number 12, we saw God's business,
I want to show you number 2, God's expectations. God's expectations, look at Mark 12 too.
And at the season he sent to the husband men a servant, notice, that he might receive from
the husband men of the fruit of the vineyard. So this man in the parable, the reason he's
starting a business is to make a profit. I don't know if you know this, but businesses
are started to make money. Businesses are not trying to lose money, this is not some
sort of communist idea, no. People have businesses so that they can make money. Well, God's not
interested in making money, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but you know what, he
is interested in a prophet, in a spiritual prophet. How so? By people getting saved,
by people teaching others the word of God. God has an expectation for his business, God
has an expectation for his workers to be profitable. And notice this man, he comes to these husband
men to do what? To receive of the fruit of the vineyard. Now go to Hosea chapter number
10, Hosea chapter number 10. Now my question for you is, did Israel, did the physical nation
of Israel produce fruit for God? The answer is no. The answer is no. Look at Hosea chapter
number 10. Israel is an empty vine. Well that sucks if you're a vineyard owner. The vine's
empty? What? I mean God made the tower and he built a hedge and he dug, dig the place
for the wine fat, and he gave these guys access to his property to work and to make
a profit, and it says Israel is an empty vine. But not only that, it's worse. He bringeth
forth fruit unto himself. According to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increased
the altars. According to the goodness of his land, they have made goodly images. Now this
may surprise you, but this is very typical of Jews. What do they do? They're not profitable
and they bring fruit to themselves. Why? Because they love money. This is how Israel,
the Old Testament nation was. This is how Jews are today. They love money. Money is
their God, just bringing forth fruit unto themselves. They weren't interested in being
good stewards of the vineyard. They weren't interested in bringing a profit for the Lord.
Rather, they were interested in bringing forth fruit unto themselves. Now here's a proof
of that. Go to Matthew chapter 15, Matthew chapter number 15, and we see this story.
And you have to realize that before the death of Jesus Christ, it's still considered the
Old Testament. The New Testament begins with the death of Jesus Christ, so when we're reading
this story in Matthew 15, this is technically still in the Old Covenant. Look at Matthew
15 one, then came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees, these are the Jews, which were of Jerusalem
saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not
their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress
the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father
and mother, and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. That commandment,
honor thy father and mother, is talking about taking care of your parents financially. It
has to do with money. But notice, what was the Jews attitude? Verse 5, But ye say, Whosoever
shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited
by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment
of God of none effect by your tradition. So what was happening? Mom and dad needs to be
taken care of, and little Jew boy says, No, sorry, this money is dedicated to God. What
is that? That's him loving money. Because you really think that he was giving that money
to God anyways? He's probably lying about it. He probably was doing like Hosea said,
and bringing forth fruit unto himself. Rather than taking care of his parents, he probably
was just loving money and keeping the money to himself. Why? Because that's how Jews were
in the Old Testament, and that's how they are here in Matthew chapter number 15. Verse
7, Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto
me with their mouth, and on earth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
And this is a common thing you see of the nation of Israel, saying, Oh yeah, we love
God, we're the people of God, we have the service of God, we have the tabernacle of
God, but their heart was far from God. How do you know that their heart was far from
God? Because they weren't bringing forth fruit, that's how we know. Because if they
actually cared about the certain man that owned the vineyard, they would have brought
forth fruit to that man. But instead, what did they do? They were an empty vine, and
they brought forth fruit to themselves. Go back to Mark 12. We saw God's business, we
saw God's expectation. Notice number 3, God's long suffering. Mark chapter 12, verse 2.
And at that season, he sent to the husband men a servant that he might receive from the
husband men of the fruit of the vineyard. That's his expectation. Look at verse 3. And
they caught him and beat him and sent him away empty. Think about this, really think
about this as if this were in modern day times. Imagine you're a landlord, you're a property
owner, and you want to go collect on the rent of your tenants, and you send an employee
to do that. And you say, hey, go get the rent from these people, and your employee shows
up, knocks on the door, hey, you need to pay your rent, and they just get beat up and treated
like garbage by the tenants. That would make me really mad. Wouldn't that make you mad?
I mean, that's just ridiculous to treat someone like that. You know, you made an agreement
to pay the rent, you're using this guy's property to bring forth fruit, you're not doing it,
you're not doing what the landlord expected. And notice verse number 4. I love this phrase,
and again. What are we talking about? God's long suffering. He sent unto them another
servant, and at him they cast stones and wounded him in the head and sent him away shamefully
handled. So the landlord, he sends another employee, hey, you give it a shot, you go
try to collect the rent, and he gets stones thrown at his head and gets treated like garbage.
But notice verse 5. And again, what is this talking about? God's long suffering. And again,
he sent another, and him they killed, and many others, beating some and killing some.
I mean, when you really think about this parable and you try to put it in a modern day perspective,
how crazy would this be? I mean, this landlord is just sending person after person after
person to collect. They get beat up, next guy gets stones thrown at his head, next guy
killed, and many others, next guy killed, next guy killed, next guy killed. And the
landlord keeps giving these people chance after chance after chance. I mean, this landlord
is a lot more long suffering than you and I. I mean, if we were sending our friends,
if we were sending our employees to go collect, and they're just getting killed, we'd probably
go kill these people. I mean, it'd be on. There'd be some serious bloodshed happening.
I mean, this is crazy. But you know what? This is how long suffering that God is, when
you think about it. This is how long suffering that God was to the nation of Israel. And
that is why he's justified in every judgment that he ever makes. He's so long suffering.
More long suffering than us as human beings. God is better than us. God has more love than
we have. God is more long suffering than we have. Let's go to Jeremiah. Keep your place
in Jeremiah and Romans chapter 10. Jeremiah, Romans chapter 10. I want to run through several
verses in Jeremiah. Let's start in chapter 7. Jeremiah chapter number 7. And let's just
think about how long suffering that God was to these people. Jeremiah 7 verse 25. Jeremiah
5. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I
have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets daily, rising up early and sending
them. So every day, God is just giving these people profit after profit after profit, chance
after chance after chance. Why? Because that's how long suffering that God is. But notice
verse 26. Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck,
they did worse than their fathers. That's just like the husband men in Mark chapter
number 12. A new messenger gets sent to collect from them the fruits of the vineyard. What
do they do? They kill them. They treat them like garbage. And again, God sends another
one. And again, God sends another one. And again, God sends another one. Go to Jeremiah
26. Jeremiah 26. Flip over a few pages. Jeremiah 26. Look at verse number 4. And thou shalt
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, If ye will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which
I have said before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets whom I sent
unto you, both rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened, then I will
make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the
earth. Look at Jeremiah 29, verse 18. Jeremiah 29, 18. And I will persecute them with the
sword, with the famine, with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all
the kingdoms of the earth to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach
among all the nations whither I have driven them, because they have not hearkened to my
words, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets rising up early
and sending them, but ye would not hear, saith the Lord. There's more places in Jeremiah
where he uses this phrase, sending the prophets, rising up early and sending them, sending
the prophets, over and over and over. How is it that God showed his long suffering to
the nation of Israel? Well, it's called the Old Testament. Have you seen the names of
some of these books? I mean, in your Bible, you might have like a table of contents section.
If you do, let's just look there real quick. Try to find the table of contents in your
Bible. Okay, let's look at the Old Testament. Obviously, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, we
have Moses, we have Abraham, we have Joseph. Look at this name, Joshua. How about this
guy? Samuel. How about the kings? David, Josiah, Hezekiah, Asa, right? Ezra, Nehemiah,
Psalms written by David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. These are all men.
You know what this is? This is God rising up early and sending you a prophet, rejecting
him, rising up early, sending you a prophet, rejecting him, over and over and over and
over. What is that? That's long suffering. I mean, couldn't God have just sent Moses
and called it good? Right? I mean, Moses was a great guy, but you know what? He sent another
man, and another man that was rejected, and another man that was rejected and spitefully
treated. And all this time, you know, the Bible says to him, give all the prophets witness.
All of the Old Testament prophets are preaching about Jesus Christ. They're giving, they're
pointing these people to the Lord, telling them how to get saved, and they just reject
over and over and over. Go to Romans chapter 10. I told you to keep your place there in
Romans chapter 10. This is a theme, how Israel has rejected God and how they were not appreciative
of how long suffering he was. Look at Romans chapter 10 verse 17.
I was made manifest unto them that asked, not after me. But to Israel he saith, all
day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. Notice,
the writer of Romans here is saying, hey, didn't Israel know? I mean, were they ignorant
of God's word? Were they ignorant of Jesus Christ? No, the words of the prophets went
out into all the world. Not only was Israel not ignorant, no one was ignorant. The words
of God went out into the whole world. Well, have they heard? Did they know? No, all day
long God's people were stretching forth their hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Why were they doing that? Because God is long suffering, that's why. And think about how
long suffering God is today. Think about how wicked our nation is. Think about how wicked
the nation of Israel is. Think about how wicked many nations of this world is, Ukraine.
But you know what God's people are still stretching forth their hands to a disobedient and gainsaying
people today? I mean, how long suffering is it for God? Let's just apply this to our country
for a minute. How long suffering is God to the United States of America, the wicked nation
that's murdered millions and millions of babies, the government that sponsored terrorism in
the Middle East and killed millions of innocent civilians based on lies, the nation that promotes
sodomy and adultery and alcohol. And yet despite that, still in our nation we still have more
preachers than any other nation in the world. We still have more soul winners than any other
nation in the world. We still have more churches than any other nation in the world. Why? Because
America's so great? No, because God is so great. That's why. Because God is so long
suffering to us, and how much more long suffering was He to the nation of Israel? Thousands
and thousands of years of sending prophets. Our nation's been around for a couple hundred
years, and we've had a legacy of preachers of God in this nation from the start up until
today. And He did the same thing with the nation of Israel for way longer of a time
period. I mean, He was so long suffering to these people. He gave these people everything
they could have needed. Go back to Mark chapter number 12. We saw God's business, God's expectation,
and God's long suffering. Notice God's sacrifice. Mark chapter 12 verse 6.
Having yet, therefore, one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They
will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir, come,
let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. Notice, the money shall be ours.
That's what they love, money. And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the
vineyard. Think about this again. Let's think about the parable. Let's think about the land
owner, the property owner, the landlord, who gives these people everything. He sends servant
after servant after servant after servant. They keep getting killed. They keep getting
treated like garbage. And he's so long suffering, he continues to send more. And on top of that,
he's so long suffering that he says, Hey, I'm going to take my well-beloved son. Notice
in the parable, it says his well-beloved son. He's not just trying to sacrifice some son
that he hates or some garbage son. He's like, Well, you know, this son is garbage anyways.
I'm just going to give him to these people. And, you know, this guy's probably going to
get killed just like the rest of the servants. No, this is his well-beloved son. And he says,
You know what? They'll reverence my son. What is this? God's sacrifice. God's sacrifice.
And obviously, this is representing the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. That is God's sacrifice. That not only did he give
these people thousands of years of godly men preaching the Word of God, but he actually
gave his one only begotten son, his well-beloved son, to come to this earth, to be born in
a human's body, to live a perfect life, and to die for the very people that would kill him.
That's a lot of love. That is a huge, huge sacrifice. Go to Matthew, chapter number 27,
and let me read for you again. Mark 12, 7 says, But those husbandmen said among themselves,
This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took
him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Notice they're conspiring during
this time. And what is this a picture of? Well, it's this story in Matthew 27, verse
20. But the chief priests and elders, who's that? The Jews persuaded the multitude that
they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. They wanted Barabbas to be freed rather than
Jesus, who was innocent. Verse 21, The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the
twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What
shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be
crucified. And the governor said, Why? What evil hath he done? But they cried out the
more, saying, Let him be crucified. Verse 24, When Pilate saw that he could prevail
nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before
the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. Then
answered all the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. Then released
he Barabbas unto them. When he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Some
of the most chilling words that have ever been spoken. Let his blood be on us and on
our children. I can't think of anything more blasphemous. I can't think of anything more
disgusting than to put the curse of killing the Lord Jesus Christ upon your children.
But let me tell you, the descendants spiritually of these scribes and elders that killed the
Lord Jesus Christ are cursed. They are cursed. They hate God. They did not esteem the great
sacrifice of Jesus Christ for what it was. I mean, it's just it's unfathomable to us
what a sacrifice this is, because when I relate this story to you into modern times and I
give you the example of the landlord that sends servant after servant, it doesn't make
any sense. Who would do that? Who would just keep sending person after person after person
that's getting killed? No one. No human would do that. And then after all that, to say,
let me send my well-beloved son, who of us would do that? None of us. And you know what?
People want to mock God, mock the fact that he gave his son Jesus Christ to die on the
cross. You know what? Just go to hell if you're going to blaspheme God like that. It's disgusting.
It's the most beautiful sacrifice that we can conceive of. I mean, what a loving God
to sacrifice his son for us like that. I mean, this parable, and think about this, Jesus
is preaching this parable, looking into the eyes of the very people that will conspire
to kill him. That's pretty incredible to think about. I mean, he's looking at these people
in the face and he's telling him about this story, how the guy that buys the vineyard
is going to send his well-beloved son and they're going to take him and seize on the
inheritance, want to seize on the inheritance and kill him. He's saying that to the very
people that are going to kill him. These people are going to have a rough time in hell. These
people are going to burn in the lowest hell. Just unbelievable. Go to Mark chapter number
12. We talked about God's business, God's expectation, God's long suffering. Notice
this, God's sacrifice. And notice number five, God's anger. God's anger. What's the
normal response when you read this parable? Anger. I mean, what is wrong with these sick,
disgusting people to just treat all of his servants like this and to kill this guy's
son? I mean, this is ridiculous. And that's God's attitude too. Look at verse number nine.
What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen
and will give the vineyard unto others. Let me tell you this, God is enraged at Jews today.
He's been enraged at them for a long time. And it's unbelievable to me how Baptists who
claim to believe the word of God take the biggest enemies in the New Testament, the
biggest group of haters of God that exist, the very people that killed our Savior and
say that they're special and say that God loves them more than He loves us, more than
He loves the world. God is angry at these people. Go to John chapter number three. Let
me read for you 1 Thessalonians 2.15. Referring to Jews, the Bible says, who both killed the
Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us and they please not God and
are contrary to all men. It doesn't sound like God's pleased with these people. I mean,
He's condemning these people in the strongest terms possible. I mean, how can you even condemn
Jews harder than the way the New Testament does? That's why actually many Jewish groups
are constantly trying to get the New Testament to be labeled as hate speech. Because it is!
Because God is angry at the Jews. Because they are contrary to all men. Because they
don't please God. Because they killed the Lord Jesus Christ and the prophets and have
persecuted us. Yeah, that's hateful. Well, it's the truth. John 3, look at verse 36.
He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the sun shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Let me tell you something. The wrath
of God is abiding on the unbelieving Jew today. And when the unbelieving Jew dies and breathes
his last breath that was given to him by Jesus Christ and closes his eyelids that were formed
and made by Jesus Christ, God is going to burn them in hell for all of eternity. Why?
Because he's mad at them. That's why. Why? Because he gave them profit after profit after
profit. And then he sacrificed his own son for them. And you know what they did? They
killed him. And so don't tell me God's not a loving God when he gave them everything
that they could have ever had. He gave them the advantage of the word of God. He built
the vineyard. He built the hedge. He built the tower. He gave them everything. And they
still rejected him. He's justified in burning these people in hell. Don't tell me that hell
is hateful. These people asked for it. God could not have done anything more for these
people. There's literally nothing else he could have done. And salvation is so easy.
He that believeth on the Son hath life, hath everlasting life. How hard is that? It's not.
But these Jews want to think that they're going to heaven because of their race? Because
of being a Jew? No. God is angry at these people. Revelation chapter number one, you
can go to John 12. Or I'm sorry, go to Mark chapter number 12. Sorry, Mark chapter number
12. And I'll read for you Revelation 1, 7 says, Behold, he cometh with clouds when Jesus
comes back, and every eye shall see him. And notice, and they also which pierced him, which
I think is referring to the Jews, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him. Even so, amen. You know, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to this earth
to pour out his wrath, the Bible says that these people are going to be wailing when
he comes back. Why? Because God's mad, that's why. And he's coming to pour out his wrath
on this earth, and every single unbelieving Jew will experience that wrath. Wrath doesn't
mean that God's pleased with him, folks. It means he's angry with him. And we've been
going through the book of Revelation. We've been seeing the horrible plagues. We've been
seeing the woes of Revelation. Why would God do that? I mean, it seems like it's so extreme.
Why would he do it? Because they rejected his son, that's why. Because they killed
his son, that's why. And God's completely justified in doing so. Mark chapter number
12, we've seen God's business, God's expectation, God's long suffering, and God's anger. But
notice this, God's replacement. God's replacement. Look at verse number 9.
What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen,
that's his anger, and notice this, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have you
not read this scripture, the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the
corner? This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in their eyes. And they sought
to lay hold on him, but feared the people, for they knew that he had spoken the parable
against them. And they left him and went their way. That's a true saying. The Jews realized,
oh crap, Jesus is preaching against me right now. Yeah, because guess what? Any normal
landlord who gets all of his servants killed and his son killed is going to come and kill
you and replace you. And what does this teach us? God has replaced Israel today. Why do
Christians not understand this? Thank God we're doing the New Testament challenge in
our church, because you're going to actually read the New Testament is full of replacement
theology. What does this parable mean to a Zionist? What's being replaced? It doesn't
make sense. They've been replaced. Let me read for you Matthew 21 43. Therefore I say
unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you. The kingdom of God shall be taken
from you. Let me say that again. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to
a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Let me tell you this. God is done with the
nation of Israel today. The nation over there that exists in the Middle East that all the
Christians are waving the flags of and getting upset about the war that's going on over there
and sending all their money to those God hating reprobates. God's not pleased with that. God's
replaced that nation. Who's that nation now? We are. God's people are. We're Israel. Why?
We don't reject the prophets. We believe the prophets. We don't reject Jesus. We love Jesus
Christ. He's our Savior. He's our God. We didn't reject him like they did. Jesus told
these people that they're literally the children of the devil. And God's people want to say,
oh, they're God's chosen people. Go to John chapter number 12. John chapter number 12.
Now, let me say this. I said that there are reprobates over there. Obviously, there are
people that call themselves Jews that are not reprobates. But let me tell you what.
The religion on this earth that probably has the most reprobates of any other religion
is Judaism. It's Judaism. Because their entire religion is based on hating Christ. Of course
it's a reprobate factory. Notice what Jesus said to these Jews in verse 36. While you
have light. While you have light. You know, this indicates that there's a time when you
won't have light. You need to do something while you have light. It says, while you have
light, believe in the light that you may be the children of the light. These things spake
Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles
before them, yet they believed not on him. Notice, Jesus commands them to believe and
he hides himself from them. What is this? Well, it's prophecy being fulfilled. Look
at verse 38. That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,
Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Verse 39. Therefore, they could not believe. Underline that in your Bible. Therefore, they
could not believe. What does it take to get saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. What can these people do? They can't believe. Verse 40. He hath
blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor
understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. You say, well, that's
mean. Why would God blind their eyes? Why would God darken their hearts? Well, maybe
you should read the parable of the vineyard to understand why. Maybe you should realize
that God had loved these people and had given them chance after chance after chance after
chance and had sacrificed his son for them and they still rejected him. And so he says,
you know what? You're done. I'm binding your eyes. I'm just going to close your ears.
I'm going to darken your heart so that you can never believe. Why? So that he can miserably
destroy those wicked men in hell. That's what the owner of the property did. He wanted
to destroy those men. Well, hey, God's going to destroy both body and soul in hell. And
that's exactly what he's going to do to the Jews. 1 Peter chapter number two. Flip
to 1 Peter chapter number two. 1 Peter chapter number two. Look at verse nine. It says,
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye
should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Notice, in the Old Testament, who were the
people of God? The physical nation of Israel. Were we a people? No, we weren't. But now
we are the people of God. Now we are a peculiar people. We are a chosen nation. And just please
cement this into your soul that God does not think that Jews are special. God does
not elevate them above other people. They are not important today. That's not God's
chosen people. We are God's chosen people. We are God's chosen people. And what's some
application that we can make from this? We've taught the parable of the vineyard, what it
says, what it means. How can we apply this to our lives, okay? I just got done saying
that we're God's people. We're God's chosen people. He's replaced them with us. What does
that mean? It means that we are now the stewards of God's business. We are now the stewards
of the vineyard. So how can we apply this to our lives? We need to not squander the
blessings of God. We need to not squander the opportunities and make light of the blessings
that God has given us in our life. And think about this first with the new IFB. You know,
the new IFB has been given a lot of blessings by God. And you know, we have a big vineyard.
I mean, we've got a vineyard in Texas. We've got a vineyard in Boise, Idaho. We've got
a vineyard in Vancouver and in Sacramento and in Fresno and in L.A. and all over this
nation and all over this world, we have a vineyard. You know what we need to do? We
need to be good stewards of that vineyard. We need to love God's Word, love God's prophets
and obey what the Bible says to do. You know, what do you think would happen to this church
if we just got watered down and got away from the King James Bible, we stopped preaching
hard on sin, we stopped being King James only, we stopped preaching the gospel to the lost
and we became like a lot of these churches that are just a social club with the smokes
and the purple lights on the stage and try to have the girls up here in the miniskirts
and it just becomes an entertainment show rather than a church. You know what God would
do? He would replace us. And you have to realize that everything is replaceable. The new IFB
is replaceable. We can be replaced if we decide to just squander the blessings of God, if
we decide to just not take seriously the mission that God has given us, God can replace us.
You know what that motivates me to do? It motivates me to stick close to this and say,
you know what, we're going to stay with the King James Bible, we're going to stay with
preaching hard, we're going to stay with soul winning, we're going to stay with being
an independent, fundamental Baptist. The old paths. That's what we're sticking with.
Why? I don't want to squander God's blessing. He's given us this vineyard, let's take care
of it. Let's not change it. How about this? Maybe God has given you a position at church.
Look, that's a great blessing. Don't minimize or take for granted serving in the house of
God. That is a great honor and a great responsibility and you better not take it lightly. You know
why? Because you could be replaced. You could be replaced. You know, you should apply a
lot of the things that were preached this morning and realize, hey, if I'm an usher,
for example, I'm not coming to church late. I mean, how can you be an usher and come to
church late? How can you sit here and play a musical instrument for the church and not
even show up on time to practice? How are you being a good steward of the vineyard God's
given you? You're not. And you've got to realize that you can be replaced. It's happened in
every church I've been in. People got complacent. People didn't take their job seriously and
they were replaced. And hey, I'm preaching to myself too. I can be replaced. If I decided
to just get backslidden and get wicked and just live for myself and not care about the
Word of God, I know that I can be replaced too. All of us can be replaced. And so realize,
hey, don't squander the blessings that God has given you. How about this? How about our
nation? How about the fact that, hey, travel the world and you realize that we are blessed
to live in the United States of America. We have so much more freedom here compared to
the rest of the world. We have such a huge opportunity to preach the gospel and to preach
God's Word. But what if we just used the freedom that we have in America just to make a bunch
of money and live for ourselves? You know what God would do? He'd replace you. He would
probably destroy your life as a Christian and He'd probably just replace you. You think
you could serve God and mammon? No, you can't serve two masters. Either you'll hold to the
one and hate the other, the Bible says. You can't serve both. And so look, we have a great
opportunity in America. I mean, in America, we could preach that fags should be put to
death by the government and it's not even illegal like it is in Canada. And guess what?
I could do it while armed, too. Can't do that in England. Hey, the police can't even carry
guns in England. Wow! It's a joke. And so, hey, maybe instead of just only focusing on
the negative of America, which needs to be preached against, and I will preach against
it, why don't you also be thankful to God and not be a sniveling, complaining brat that
God gave you freedom and that you were born in the United States of America and look at
the United States of America as your vineyard. For God. Not for yourself. It's our vineyard.
Let's take care of it. Let's preserve it. Let's preach the Bible in it. Not live for
ourselves in it. I understand why a lot of people are upset with America. I'm upset with
America. America's wicked. But you know what? We're the only hope for this nation. We're
the only hope. It's not in Donald Trump. It's not in the Republican Party. It's in us.
We must take care of it. We must be good stewards of it. How about this? Maybe God
has given you a really good job. And maybe God has blessed you with a lot of finances.
But you want to know why He probably blessed you with a lot of finances? It's probably
so you can take care of your family really well so that you can serve God. It's probably
not so that you can just waste all your money on alcohol and on video games and on just
living for the flesh and living for yourself. God didn't give you that so that you could
just squander it on yourself. You know what's going to happen? If you do that, He's going
to replace you. That's what He's going to do. He's going to replace you at work. And
maybe He'll give that blessing to a young man who wants to use it to take care of his
family and to serve God. Think about this. God's given many of us great spouses. And
look, if your wife or husband is in church tonight, your spouse is already better than
99% of the world. And we all are sinners, but you've got to realize that if your spouse
is in church, you are a blessed person. God has given you a great vineyard, and you ought
to take care of that. You ought not to just treat your spouse like garbage and take them
for granted. No, realize that, hey, God's blessed you with this, and you should take
care of it. Because you know what can happen? You can be replaced. Think about Nabal. God
killed Nabal and gave his wife to David. You don't think God could do that today? You don't
think that if some man had a really godly woman that wanted to serve him, but the guy
is just a piece of crap that won't let his wife go to church, that won't let his wife
go soloing, won't let his wife read the Bible, that God couldn't just kill you and replace
you with a better man? He absolutely could. He absolutely could. You better take it seriously
if you're married to take care of your spouse and not take it for granted, because He could
take it away from you. And you know what? Sometimes marriage can be hard. I understand
people have marriage issues, but whatever problem you have now is nothing compared to
God killing you and giving her to another man. I can promise you that. That stings,
doesn't it? How about this? How about your children? Your children, many of us, hey,
praise God, this church is full of kids. God is blessing this church with children.
Realize, hey, God has given you that vineyard to take care of, not to squander, not to raise
them to be some sort of athletic superstar, not to raise them to be some just amazing
musician that just plays for the world rather than in church. No, rather God wants us to
raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And you know that you could be replaced
as a parent too. You know that? Let me give you an example. My wife. My wife is a good
example of this. You know, many of you may not know this, and I've asked her if I could
share this, but my wife was born into a really wicked family. Her father is a pedophile,
and her mom is a drug addict. Now, thank God she got out of this family at a very young
age, so she really escaped a lot of the hell that she could have gone through. But you
know what happened? Pastor Thompson and Miss Sherry adopted her because God probably saw
that my wife wanted to serve God, that she had a heart that would someday turn to the
Lord and get saved and serve Him. And so you know what? God said, hey, I'm replacing these
parents. You don't think that could happen? You don't think that God could kill you and
your wife and give your kids to someone else? He sure can. I mean, God holds our breath
in His hand. He can take away anything from us at any time. I mean, God took away the
whole nation from Israel. And so you know what? There's a lot of great lessons in this
parable that we can see what happened to Israel. But you know what? There's a lot of
application we can make to ourselves too, right? We need to take our lives seriously.
Hey, let us be good stewards of all the blessings that God has given us in our life. Let us
take it seriously. Let us not squander the blessings of God. Let us wake up every day
and thank Him for the vineyards in our life and strive to take care of them well. Otherwise
God can replace you and God can replace me. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you
for this parable. Lord, thank you for the Word of God and how deep and wonderful it
is, how many truths we can learn from it. I pray that every single person in here would
take these things to heart, that we would all examine the many blessings that you've
given us in our lives. And instead of complaining about them or murmuring or always wanting
more, that we would just be thankful for what we have and that we would take care of it
well, that we wouldn't take it for granted the blessings you've given to us and that
we would serve you with all of our heart. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, for our last song we're going to be doing song number 402, Our Best. It's a
very fitting song to close us off with. Song 402, Our Best.
402, Our Best.
And first.
And the best you can, not for reward, not for the praise of men, but for the Lord.
Every word for Jesus will be blessed,
bloodiest from every one his best.
Our talents may be few, these may be small,
but unto him do our best our own.
May not for men too love, he not their spite,
winning the smile of God brings his delight.
Hating the good and true, there goes our best,
all that we plead for to be in the best.
Every word for Jesus will be blessed,
bloodiest from every one his best.
Our talents may be few, these may be small,
but unto him do our best our own.
Great singing everybody. You are all dismissed.
Thank you.