starting this evening for nine.
He's gonna sing real loud.
His pastor's gonna have to
re-preach that sermon again for four and nine.
Father, Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for the souls that were won.
Please bless Pastor Shelley when he's on his trip.
Also, please be with the family of Brother Bannock,
Angelus Bannock.
I'm gonna have a safe trip.
And to come back home safely,
please bless the rest of the service
for your honor and glory, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray.
Second song tonight's gonna be song number 46.
Savior first of all, Savior first of all.
- I'm gonna go, if you need one,
you can raise your hand and Usher can bring you one.
Keep those hands up and they'll bring those to you.
There at the front, we have our memory passage
verse of the week, Proverbs 31, verse 16.
About halfway through this, there's still plenty of time
to memorize this, but highly encourage you
to work on that with your kiddos.
On the left side, we have our service time,
Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m.,
our Spanish service every Sunday at 4.30.
And of course tonight, our service at 5.30,
also Wednesday evenings.
Our church has been going through the book of Revelation
on Wednesdays, that's been a really great series.
So make sure to be here at 7.00 p.m. on Wednesdays for that.
We have our church-wide soul winning times listed there.
All those meet at the building.
And our regional soul winning times
meet at various areas in DFW.
If you have any questions about that,
you can ask me or Pastor Shelley,
or one of those respective leaders there for that.
Make sure to be turning in your soul winning maps
to the bin, and also make sure to be reporting
your salvation numbers to your captains.
Last year, praise the Lord,
our church did really great with soul winning.
I think we had over 2,700 salvations.
And our previous record was 2,111 salvations in 2021.
So we smashed our record.
Praise the Lord for that.
Let's make sure in 2024, you know, we stay consistent.
We remain steadfast and just keep going out soul winning
and doing the Lord's work.
It's really encouraging to see those numbers.
On the right, we have our list of expecting ladies.
Make sure to keep these ladies in your prayer,
as well as our weekly prayer list there.
And just make sure if you have a prayer
that you would like the church to be publicly praying for,
to email that to the church email address
and indicate that it's public.
If it's something you want continued to be on the list,
let us know as well.
Otherwise we take stuff off the list weekly,
we add stuff weekly.
So let us know if you want us
to keep your prayer request on there.
And then also the best part of the bulletin,
the Freedom family had the birth of,
I don't know if I'm saying this right, Mavi.
Is it Mavi or Mavi?
Does anyone know?
Mavi, okay.
Mavi Ruby Freedom.
She was born on January 6th at 8.31 a.m.
Weighing six pounds, 15 ounces and measuring 21 inches long.
So, praise the Lord for that.
Congratulations to them.
Great to see the multiplication just continuing in our church
and seeing the Lord blessing us.
So, that's great.
Upcoming events, January 20th,
our church is starting a 10 week long preaching class.
Highly encourage you, if you're a man,
to show up to this if you can.
I've been through Pastor Shelley's preaching class
and I went through Pastor Thompson's preaching class
and before Sure Foundation was Sure Foundation,
it was Verity Vancouver.
It was Pastor Jimenez's preaching class.
So I know I've really benefited from these classes before.
It's been a great blessing to me and it's taught me a lot.
So hopefully you can come and learn as well
and hopefully it'll be a blessing to you.
Also February 3rd, there's gonna be a baby shower
for Ms. Catherine Croker and her baby girl on Saturday,
February 3rd from 1230 to 230 at the church.
Nurslings only preferred.
And please RSVP to Mrs. Lauren Milstead.
And please bring a side dish or a dessert
to share for that event.
So that's it for announcements this evening.
Go ahead and get your hand out if you still have one,
Where the Spirit Blows, our special song of the week.
If we have any extra, the ushers will bring you some.
I'm not sure if we do, but you can share with a neighbor.
Let's go ahead and sing that, Where the Spirit Blows.
- Where the Spirit Blows.
♪ First, those told me, see ♪
- The offering plates are being passed around.
You can turn your Bibles to Mark chapter number 12.
- Chapter 12, the Bible.
- And he began to speak unto them by parables.
A certain man planted a vineyard,
set an hedge about it,
digged a place for the wine fad and built a tower,
let it out to husband men and into a far country.
And at the season, he sent to the husband men a servant
that he might receive from the husband men
of the fruit of the vineyard.
And they caught him and beat him and sent him away empty.
And again, he sent unto them another servant
and at him they cast stones and wounded him in the head
and sent him away shamefully handled.
And again, he sent another and him they killed,
many others, beating some and killing some.
Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved,
he sent him also last unto them, saying,
they will reverence my son.
But those husband men 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.
What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do?
He will come and destroy the husbandmen
and will give the vineyard unto others.
And have ye 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 our eyes.
They sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people,
for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them.
They left him and went their way.
And they sent unto him certain of the Pharisees
and of the Herodians to catch him in his words.
And when they were come, they say unto him,
Master, we know that thou art true and carest for no man.
For thou regardest not the person of men,
but teachest the way of God in truth.
Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?
Shall we give or shall we not give?
But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them,
why tempt ye me?
Bring me a penny that I may see it.
And they brought it.
And he saith unto them, whose is this image and superscription?
And they said unto him, Caesar's.
And Jesus answering said unto them,
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
and to God the things that are God's.
And they marveled at him.
Then come unto him the Sadducees,
which say there is no resurrection.
And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us,
if a man's brother die and leave his wife behind him
and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife
and raise up seed unto his brother.
Now there were seven brethren, and the first took a wife,
and dying left no seed.
And the second took her and died.
And neither left he any seed, and the third likewise.
And the seventh had her and left no seed.
Last of all the woman died also.
In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise,
whose wife shall she be of them?
For the seventh had her to wife.
And Jesus answering said unto them,
Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures,
neither the power of God?
For when they shall rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels which are in heaven,
and as touching the dead that they rise.
Have ye not read in the book of Moses,
how in the bush God spake unto him, saying,
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.
Ye therefore do greatly err.
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning
together, and perceiving that he had answered them well,
asked him, which is the first commandment of all?
And Jesus answered him, the first of all,
the commandment says, here, O Israel, the Lord our God
is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
This is the first commandment.
And the second is like namely this,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
And the scribe sent it to him, well,
master, thou hast said the truth, for there is one God,
and there is none other but he.
And to love him with all the heart
and with all the understanding and with all the soul
and with all the strength and to love his neighbor as himself
is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly,
he said unto him, thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
And no man after that durst ask him any question.
And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple,
how say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?
For David himself said by the Holy Ghost,
the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand,
till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
David therefore himself calleth him Lord.
And whence does he then his son?
And the common people heard him gladly.
And he said unto them in his doctrine,
beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing
and love salutations in the market places.
And the chiefs seethes in the synagogues
in the uppermost rooms at feasts,
which devour widows' houses and, for a pretense,
make long prayers.
These shall receive greater damnation.
And Jesus sat over against the treasury
and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury,
and many that were rich cast in much.
And there came a certain poor widow,
and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called unto him his disciples
and saith unto them, verily I say unto you
that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which
have cast into the treasury.
For all they did cast in of their abundance,
but she of her want did cast in all that she had,
even all her living.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, we ask, Lord, that you
would bless tonight's sermon and that you would guide
Brother Dylan Oz through it.
Just give him clarity of mind as he
preaches this message to us.
And Lord, I also pray that you would enable
us to just listen, pay attention,
minimize distractions in the room,
and listen closely to what you've laid
on Brother Oz's heart.
We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
- Amen, well first of all thank you Pastor Shelley
for the privilege of being able to fill in
and preach here at Steadfast.
It's a great honor and blessing to do that.
And we're here in Mark chapter number 12.
Who read this yesterday in our New Testament challenge?
Probably a lot of us read this yesterday.
Pretty fresh on our minds.
And the title of my sermon this evening
is The Parable of the Vineyard.
The Parable of the Vineyard.
Now, before we get into this parable,
let's get some context of where we are in the book of Mark.
Let's look back at chapter 11 and look at verse number 27.
The Bible says, "And they come again to Jerusalem.
And as he was walking in the temple,
there come to him," notice, "chief priests,
and the scribes, and the elders."
Who's this talking about?
This is talking about Jews.
And basically, that's the audience
of the parable of the vineyard when Jesus gives this parable.
Look at verse 28, "And say unto him, by what authority
doest thou these things?
And who gave thee this authority to do these things?
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
I will also ask of you one question, and answer me,
and I will tell you by what authority I do these things."
So notice the Jews come up and kind of want
to demand an answer of Jesus Christ.
But they're talking to the Lord God here.
He doesn't just answer their question.
He asks them a question instead.
And look at verse number 30.
He says, the baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men?
Answer me.
I love his authority.
Look at verse 31.
And they reasoned with themselves,
saying, if we shall say, from heaven, he will say,
why then did you not believe him?
But if we shall say, of men, they feared the people.
For all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.
So notice these Jews, they're not
sincere in asking this question.
They are like politicians.
When Jesus asked them this question,
the Bible gives us an insight into their heart
and into their thoughts and what are they doing.
They're reasoning in themselves, well,
if we give them this answer, then this will happen.
If we give them this answer, then this will happen.
They're not sincere.
They're not asking Jesus Christ a sincere question.
Rather, they're trying to trip him up.
But notice verse 33, and they answered and said unto Jesus,
we cannot tell.
And Jesus answering saith unto them,
neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
And so notice, Jesus, he knows that they're not sincere.
And so you know what?
He doesn't give them the answer that they asked for.
And this is sometimes a good idea out-soul winning.
When someone is not sincere, when someone
has closed their ears, when someone has closed their heart,
don't sit there and argue with that person.
Don't sit there and cast your pearls before swine.
Sometimes you just got to bounce.
You know, we ran into a black Hebrew Israelite today,
and he starts saying, "You know who the real Israel is?"
I said, "Bye."
I didn't sit here and be like,
"Well, yeah, let me prove it to you from the Bible."
No, this person's not sincere.
Bye, see you later.
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,
and 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, "Therefore, speak I to them in parables,
"because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not.
"Neither do they understand,
"and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah's,
"which saith, by hearing ye shall hear,
"and shall not understand,
"and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive.
"For this people's heart is waxed gross,
"and their ears are dull of hearing,
"and their eyes have they closed,
"lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
"and hear with their ears,
"and should understand with their heart,
"and should be converted, and I should heal them."
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 gonna 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.
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.
Mark chapter number 12, verse 1.
Notice this says, "And he began to speak unto them."
Who is the them?
The Jews.
That's why we found the 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 let 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 let it out to husband men.
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.
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 nine,
but I'll read for you Luke 2, 49.
Jesus said, and he said unto them,
"How is it that ye sought me?
"Wisst 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 let it out or he rented it out to husband men.
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 gonna read for you.
Deuteronomy 14 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, 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 a 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 exalted the 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,
'cause it had God's business.
In Romans chapter nine, look at verse one,
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 four, "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 over all, God bless forever, amen."
Here, Paul clearly teaches,
who was given the work of God, Israelites were.
They were given God's vineyard to work in.
So we see, number one, God's business.
Go back to Mark chapter number 12.
We saw God's business.
I wanna show you number two, God's expectations.
God's expectations.
Look at Mark 12, too.
And at the season, he sent to the husbandmen a servant,
notice, that he might receive from the husbandmen
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 even, I don't know if you know this,
but businesses are started to make money, okay?
We're not trying to,
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's on a thousand hills,
but you know what?
He is interested in a profit, in a spiritual profit.
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.
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 the place for the wine fat
and he gave these guys access to his property
to work and to make a profit.
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 is still considered the Old Testament, OK?
The New Testament begins with the death of Jesus Christ.
So when we're reading the story in Matthew 15,
this is technically still in the Old Covenant, OK?
Look at Matthew 15, 1.
"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.
Has to do with money.
But notice, what was the Jew's attitude, verse five,
"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's dedicated to God.
What is that?
That's him loving money.
Because you really think that he was giving
that money to God anyway,
so 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 seven, "Ye hypocrites,
well did Isaiah's prophesy of you,
saying, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,
and honoreth 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 three, God's long-suffering.
Mark chapter 12, verse two.
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 three.
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 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 four.
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 five, 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.
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 has 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, "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.
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 set 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, songs written by David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea,
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 number 10 verse 17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God.
But I say, have they not heard?
Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the
world.
But I say, did not Israel know?
First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish
nation will I anger you.
But Isaiah is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not, 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 gain saying 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, didn't have they heard?
Did they know?
No.
All day long, God's people were stretching forth their hands to a disobedient and gain-saying
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 husband men 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 landowner,
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, like, 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. It says, "But those husband men 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 them 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 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 husband men 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 exists,
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 3, 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 Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life," notice, "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 prophet after prophet after prophet,
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 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 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 them, folks. It means He's angry with them. 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 longsuffering, 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 realize, "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,
you'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 ye have light, while ye
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 ye have light, believe in
the light, that ye 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
shall be saved. What cannot 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 blinding 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 2, flip to 1
Peter chapter number 2. 1 Peter chapter number 2, look at verse 9. It says, "But ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should
show 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 the 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 LA. 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, "No, 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.
I 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 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, 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 could 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.
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's just a piece of crap that won't let his wife go to church, that won't let
his wife go soloing, that 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.
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.
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.
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?
And just 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 hearts, 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.