We'll be right back.
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But you know what? If you're going through something tough, the best thing to do is get your mind off of that.
And if all you do is focus on it, you're just gonna be more depressed.
Okay? So if you actually learn to care about other people, you know what? You start seeing, man, you know what?
I'm not the only one who's going through troubles and trials in my life, and you're gonna start to feel better.
So point number one is just having to care about other people. Point number two, we see the rejoicing of the Gentiles.
The rejoicing of the Gentiles.
Verse eight.
Now what does it mean by the circumcision?
Well, he's referring to the Jews.
Okay? He's referring to the twelve tribes, whatever you want to call them, right?
He's referring to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Jesus was a minister of the circumcision.
The primary ministry of Jesus Christ was not to the Gentiles.
It was actually to people of Jewish ethnicity who were believing in Judaism, that religion, okay?
To confirm the promises made unto the fathers.
So the reason why Jesus Christ focused on the Jews is to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.
What does that mean? Okay? We'll go to Matthew 10.
Matthew 10. Matthew 10.
You say, brother Stuckey, amen, you're always bashing the Jews, and now you're saying Jesus mainly focused on the Jews?
That's why I focused on the Jews, right?
Well, hold on a second.
What does it mean by to confirm the promises made unto the fathers?
And I want you to realize in this chapter, Paul is talking about how his main ministry was to the Gentiles.
Okay?
Jesus' main ministry was to the Jews, and there's a reason for it.
It's actually prophesied and talked about before He was crucified.
But then, once He was crucified, that was kind of the end of that, okay?
Now it's like start focusing on all the world and not just the Jews, okay?
Matthew 10 is the sole winning chapter.
And I want you to notice first off that Jesus' main ministry was to the Jews.
Matthew 10, verse 5.
That's Matthew 10, verse 5.
Matthew 10, verse 6.
Now why is it that Jesus says don't preach the gospel to the Gentiles?
Is it because Gentiles couldn't get saved in the Old Testament?
Well, Rahab got saved.
I mean, yes, Gentiles got saved in the Old Testament.
There's no question about that, okay?
But Jesus Christ said, I want you mainly preaching to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
What's the purpose? We'll go to Matthew 21.
Matthew 21.
Matthew chapter 21.
And it said to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, okay?
Jesus Christ was basically the last chance for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And you know what? They screwed it up.
Right? That's a test you take.
I remember I mentioned this I think before in a sermon.
I knew somebody in high school.
There's a class where, you know, if you didn't put your name, you got like minus 5 points or something like that.
He missed every question, didn't put his name, so he got a minus 5 or a minus 10.
He would have had a higher score on the test if he didn't show up to class that day.
That's kind of like the Jews with Jesus Christ.
It's like you couldn't have done worse, right, with how you handled Jesus Christ when he came.
Matthew 21, verse 18.
So the fig tree is not producing fruit, and Jesus basically curses the fig tree, and then it just withers or dies out.
Verse 20.
You say, why did Jesus curse the fig tree? What's the purpose?
Well, if we keep reading in the chapter, we can understand the application he's making.
Look at verse 33. Verse 33.
He's basically talking about how the Jews did not produce fruit and basically says, I'm done with you.
Okay. Verse 33.
Hear another parable.
There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about,
and digged a winepress in it and built a tower and led it out to husbandmen and went into a far country.
Now, in this parable, the householder represents God the Father in the parable that Jesus Christ is saying.
The husbandmen represent the Jews.
And then there's going to be people that are going to be coming to basically get the fruit from the husbandmen,
which are representing basically the prophets of God that preach the Word of God.
Verse 34.
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it.
So basically, in this parable, you've got these husbandmen,
and their full-time job is to produce the fruit and to get the fruit and just hand it off to the servants when the servants come.
So the householder sends servants and says, hey, I've had people working for a couple months.
They should have a lot of fruit to give you.
And so the servants go to get the fruit, and what happens in verse 35?
The husbandmen took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another.
So the servants come to just pick up the fruit, and then they get killed.
They get stoned. They get beaten.
And then the servants just want, or the husbandmen just want all the fruit to themselves.
Verse 36.
Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did unto them likewise.
The servants keep coming to the husbandmen, and the husbandmen are just beating them and killing them and stoning them,
and just destroying them, just not heeding to the servants, not giving them the fruit.
Verse 37. You say, how do you know this is about the Jews?
Verse 37.
But last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son.
Now look, if you don't believe that this is about the Jews, if you don't believe Jesus is talking about himself,
who is he talking about in this parable?
When he says, they will reverence my son, the last chance is my son I'm going to send.
They didn't listen to any of the servants, but surely if I send my own son, they will reverence my son.
And look, throughout the Old Testament, prophet after prophet after prophet,
and the house of Israel did not take heed, and last was sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, the Son of God the Father.
Verse 38. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir,
come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
So in the parable, the husbandmen kill the son.
They stoned the servants, they persecuted the servants.
Now the son comes, and you know what? They kill the son.
They say, he's the heir, we're going to kill him because we want this field.
Verse 40. When the Lord therefore the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
So think about this. Let's say you're a successful person financially,
and you've got a big farm, and you've got a lot of workers on your farm.
And let's say for example, you've got a lot of employees that are just there to produce the fruit,
and then you send people there to pick up the fruit, and then they kill them.
And then last of all, if you have a child, think about sending your child.
You're a business owner, you've got a lot of workers, and you send your child,
and then your workers kill your son, or your workers kill your daughter.
What would you do is what Jesus is asking.
Well, you'd definitely fire those people, right?
I mean if I sent my son, if I had a big field, and I had all these workers,
and then they murdered my son, well they're definitely getting fired.
I'm definitely not going to keep paying them.
I'm definitely going to be calling the cops and getting any evidence I need
to try to get thrown in jail or whatever, right?
I mean if you're an owner, and then they kill and murder your son or your daughter,
what are you going to do as a parent?
That's what He's asking.
I mean if they murdered your son, what would you do?
Well, you'd get rid of them, right?
Get somebody else to take care of the field at the very least.
You're not going to keep those people as employees.
It's common sense.
And it's funny because when Jesus speaks in parables, things make perfect sense,
and then when you try to make the applications, oh, I don't agree with that.
No, it's pretty obvious.
If they murder your son, you're going to get rid of those employees, okay?
Verse 41, they say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men,
and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen,
which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Basically, He's going to destroy those wicked people.
He's going to fire them and get new employees.
Doesn't that just make common sense?
This is exactly what the Jews did with Jesus Christ.
They didn't listen to any of the servants that came there to get the fruit,
and then last, God the Son came, and then they murdered God the Son.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't think that was the Jews.
That was the Romans.
Well, the Jews during that time period said,
Let His blood be upon us and upon our children.
They say, we don't want to just curse our generation.
Let's curse the generation of our kids to come.
Let it be upon us and upon our children.
The Jews took responsibility for it.
They were proud of it.
It's like, yeah, we're the ones that are responsible.
They wanted the credit for it.
In the Scriptures, it says that.
Verse 42, Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures,
the stone which the builders rejected,
the same as become the head of the corner?
This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Therefore say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you,
and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.
What's He saying?
Well, the kingdom of God is taken from the Jews
and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits.
Basically, it was the job of the Jews that had the oracles of God
that had the prophets and the Word of God poured out to them
to produce fruit throughout the entire world.
They were supposed to get people saved
because they had the Word of God.
They didn't do their job.
So what did God do?
Well, He replaced them.
Doesn't that just make common sense?
One thing we can see from this parable as well,
the servants aren't really doing all the work.
They're just kind of there to gather the fruit
and bring it to the head lord of the vineyard.
It's the same sort of way actually in a church
because we have a lot of salvations,
but most of the salvations we get are not me.
Obviously, I go soul winning with the church,
but it's a team effort to produce the fruits.
It's the same way in the parable.
It's like the husband men are doing the work,
and perhaps the servant gets the credit for it,
but it's a team effort.
Same thing with the church.
Here's the thing.
If we were a church that never produced any fruit, though,
what is the character of God?
What would He do?
He'd basically say,
My blessing is no longer upon Verity Baptist Church
because our job is to produce fruit.
That's why we're here.
If we're not doing it, we're going to be replaced.
Our candlestick is going to be removed.
Whether that actually means physically we're gone
or just the fact God's blessing is no longer upon us,
either way, God's basically done with us
until we get back to the work.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm not convinced.
I see the sun, but I'm not for sure that's what it's talking about.
It's a parable.
How do you know the nation's referring to the Jews there?
Maybe it's referring to Assyria.
I think it's pretty obvious what this is referring to,
but here's the thing.
If you don't agree with me,
all you have to do is keep reading
because the Jews of that day agreed with me.
Keep reading.
Verse 44.
And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken,
but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Verse 45.
And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables,
they perceived that he spake of them.
They figured it out.
You know why?
Because they're not dumb.
It was obvious he's referring to them.
They could tell from the words.
It's not just the fact what was being said.
I'm sure it's also the way Jesus said it
because you could read a transcript of my sermon,
but if you actually see the tone as I preach through various things,
you can really understand what I'm feeling on the inside.
Kind of like going soul-willing.
People give you answers,
but sometimes the exact words they say
don't really tell you what's in their heart.
It's like you ask them a question.
Somi, do you still think you can lose your salvation?
No.
They still think they can lose their salvation, right?
Sometimes it's in the way it's said,
and I'm sure when Jesus Christ is saying this,
I'm sure it's pretty obvious to them.
And they realize,
man, he seems really angry with us.
It seems like he's preaching against us.
And now you have Baptists here today.
Well, this is not talking about the Jews.
Who is it talking about?
I mean, literally, how could you possibly explain this
any other way than what I just explained?
It's obvious he's referring to the Jews,
and they understood that he spake of them.
And here's what's funny about it.
He speaks a parable and says,
You are going to murder me.
You are going to kill me,
and that's your last chance,
and then God the Father is done with you.
And what's their reaction?
They get so mad they try to kill him right here.
Verse 46.
But when they sought to lay hands on him,
they feared the multitude
because they took him for a profit.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
when it says they wanted to lay hands,
I think they wanted to shake his hand.
They want to kill him.
They get so mad at what he says,
they want to kill him.
But I thought Jesus always preached love, love, love.
Peace, peace, peace.
He never said anything negative.
Well, they wanted to kill him for something he said.
They're laying hands on him to arrest him
or to stone him or to kill him or whatever.
The only reason why they don't
is because there's a multitude of people
that would have been against them,
and they're worried for their own safety.
That's the only reason why they don't kill him.
They understand,
but it's like they don't quite grasp it
because you're going to actually fulfill
what he just said if you go and kill him.
And then they eventually do kill him.
You say, I'm not convinced.
Go to Matthew 23.
Matthew 23.
Christ gave them every opportunity.
And I want you to realize
this is the way that God would have it,
to give them every opportunity
because God is merciful.
He has compassion.
He wanted to give them a chance.
And basically, they had every chance in the world
with prophet after prophet.
And you know what?
When you're reading the Old Testament,
there's prophet after prophet,
and they don't listen,
but God still gives them chance after chance
after chance after chance.
But eventually, that runs out.
It's not just forever.
And their last chance, according to the parable,
was Jesus Christ.
What did they do with the son?
They murdered him.
They killed him.
And they took credit for it.
It's really not that confusing.
I heard this week from a famous preacher.
I can't even remember who it was.
But he said,
you know, if you hate Jews,
then you hate Jesus
because Jesus was a Jew.
Now look, that sounds very cute.
But first off,
when I'm preaching against Judaism,
that's not anti-Semitism.
I'm not saying I hate people
because of their ethnicity.
I'm saying I hate the religion.
I mean, people always try to blur the lines,
especially with Judaism,
because if you say somebody's a Jew,
that usually means both spiritually and their ethnicity,
which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.
If I preach against Islam,
I'm not saying I hate Arabic people.
I'm saying I hate the religion of Islam.
If I preach against Hinduism,
that doesn't mean that I hate people that are Indian.
It means I hate the religion.
If I preach against Taoism,
I don't hate the people of China.
I hate the religion and the philosophy.
And when we're preaching against Judaism,
that doesn't mean that we hate individual Jews
because we still try to give them the Gospel.
And it certainly doesn't mean that we hate Jesus Christ
because, look, Jesus Christ preached against that religion.
It's throughout the Bible.
He said, Believe in me.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
So look, if somebody was Jewish
and they did not believe on Jesus Christ,
look, that's not our brethren according to the flat.
I mean, spiritually speaking.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I mean, if somebody is saved in a Muslim country,
countries that are 99% Muslim, praise the Lord.
They're my brother in Christ.
I don't care what their ethnicity is.
I don't care what your ethnicity is.
If we have new people that join our church
that are saved with a different ethnicity,
praise the Lord for that.
It doesn't matter what your ethnicity is.
And don't just be so obstetno-centric
where basically it's just like our people are better.
No, your number one family is your brothers and sisters in Christ.
It doesn't matter what their ethnicity is.
It doesn't matter what their background is.
And you want to make it seem like Jesus is not really mad.
And you got these Jesus movies
and Jesus has this long, flowing hair, right?
And then it's like, ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers.
It's like, I'm pretty sure he was yelling when he was saying this.
Right?
Wherefore, behold, I send on you prophets and wise men and scribes,
and some of them ye shall kill and crucify,
and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues,
and persecute them from city to city,
that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth.
He's referring, he's talking to the Jews.
From the blood of righteous Abel
unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias,
whom he slew between the temple and the altar.
He said, Brother Stuckey,
why does it say the blood of righteous Abel?
Because Abel was killed by Cain.
And that was before Jacob.
And Jacob was renamed Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel.
Right?
Obviously being Jewish, that name comes from the tribe of Judah,
the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob.
But here's the thing.
Once again, it's not about the ethnicity.
It's about the religious beliefs.
And Cain hated a righteous person and murdered him,
and that's the same thing that he's saying about the Jews.
You have that same false religious system of working your way to heaven,
you hate the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and then you hate people that stand for the truth.
It's the same thing.
So he's saying, you know what, the blood of righteous Abel
all the way to Zacharias, it's all upon you,
because it's the same false religious system.
Verse 36,
Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.
Brother Stuckey, how do you know he's referring to the Jews?
You know, I'm not convinced.
O Jerusalem!
Jerusalem!
What's that referring to?
Right?
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sin unto thee,
how often, how often would I have gathered thy children together
even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.
What's he saying?
He's like, I gave you chance after chance.
I wanted to gather you.
I gave you another chance.
I would have given you chance after chance after chance.
How often would I have?
But he's saying, no longer.
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
He said, I would have gathered you past tense,
and present tense, your house is left unto you desolate.
You're done.
And the culmination was when they killed the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it's like, you're done.
Okay?
This does not mean that somebody of Jewish ethnicity cannot get saved today.
Of course they could.
But quite frankly, nobody knows if they have Jewish ethnicity today.
I mean, 2,000 years have passed,
and nobody has a genealogy going all the way back to the time of Jesus Christ.
You say, well, how do you know that?
Well, run into a Jew and ask them this question.
Which of the 12 tribes are you?
They don't know.
Now, they should say Judah, if they're calling themselves a Jew,
but they don't understand that.
Okay?
Which of the 12 tribes of Israel are you?
They have no idea.
You say, why?
Well, they don't have a genealogy that goes all the way back.
And look, there is a lot of debate historically about
who are actually ethnically the Jews that were from thousands of years ago,
and you know what's happening in the world?
We're becoming a giant melting pot.
We're just basically combining cultures and everything.
So look, all of us probably have a little bit of Jewish blood.
For all I know, I could be like, you know, mostly ethnically a Jew.
I have no idea, right?
Nobody knows today, though.
And it doesn't matter.
Who cares who your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was?
It doesn't matter.
I hope they were a believer in Jesus Christ,
but if my great, great, great, great grandfather was a hardcore atheist,
how does that affect me?
I've said before in sermons, you know, one of my granddads was an atheist.
He didn't believe in God.
It doesn't affect me.
I tried to give him the gospel when he was on his deathbed.
Well, does that mean that I should be looked down on because my granddad didn't believe in God?
It doesn't affect me.
And my brothers and sisters in Christ are the people that believe on Jesus Christ, okay?
That is what matters.
Verse 39,
He shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Go back to Romans 15.
Romans 15.
Romans chapter 15.
So see, what I'm showing you is that Jesus Christ, his main ministry was to the Jews,
and it was kind of like their last opportunity.
And of course, he knew what was going to happen.
And obviously, God's ways are above our ways,
so he knew exactly what was going to take place, and everything was organized,
and Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
We understand that, okay?
But he was giving them every opportunity.
So look, nobody could say, well, it's not fair.
It's like you had the Word of God priest you for a very long time.
You had every opportunity.
It is fair.
And then you killed the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
So what ends up taking place?
Well, the Jews aren't producing the fruit, so what does Jesus do?
Well, the Word of God got poured out to the Gentiles.
That's what we're seeing in Romans 15.
Romans 15, verse 8.
And so the Gentiles are glorifying God because now the Word of God is being poured out to us.
And you know, what you see is after the death of Jesus Christ,
the Gentiles were really accepting the Word of God.
I mean, they were the ones that were really getting saved.
This is why Paul the Apostle is more famous than anybody else
because he was really preaching to the Gentiles.
That was his main ministry.
Verse 10.
Basically, you know what?
United, okay?
Because God's people are those that believe on Jesus Christ.
It doesn't matter what your ethnicity is.
And look, in the Old Testament, if you believed on Jesus Christ,
then you were a child of God.
You believed in the coming Messiah.
You put your faith in that.
You were a child of God.
But the Word of God was mainly being poured out to the area of the Jews,
and you know what?
They had the oracles of God.
They had the priests.
They had everything set up.
So if you really wanted to serve God,
you really needed to be a part of that culture.
But you could still get saved without being there,
and we see that many times in the Bible.
Verse 11.
Again, praise the Lord to all you Gentiles and a lot of all you people.
And again Isaiah says,
There shall be a root of Jesse, referring to Jesus Christ,
and he that shall...
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