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1:28And then you have Herod. When hearing of a king born in his realm, immediately began plotting to kill him. One of the saddest verses, I think, in the Bible is John 1:11. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. The majesty, the marvel of the Christmas story, the contrast, the holy and the lowly, kings and shepherds, one accepts, another rejects, and we rightly marvel at the sovereignty of God throughout human history. But now let's turn from the birth of Christ to the final week of his life in his earthly ministry on earth. So turning your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21.

2:21If you look at the beginning of Matthew chapter 21, we're at the final week of Christ's earthly ministry, and the people have greeted him during his triumphal entry to Jerusalem. He came in riding on a donkey. They cast down palm branches in his path, and they were shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus immediately creates a stir when he goes into the temple and runs out the money changers. Jesus teaches in the temple right in the face of the religious leaders, the high priests, the Sanhedrin, the Herodians, challenging their authority.

3:01And they cannot allow his presence to go unchallenged. They confront him by asking him, by what authority do you do these things? Jesus' response to them is to ask them a question, which they refuse to answer. So Jesus answers them with a series of three parables. Two months ago, I preached the first of these parables, which is known as the parable of the two sons in verses 28 through 32. If you recall, the first son initially refused to obey his father, then later obeyed, while the second son told his father he would obey, but then did not. And Jesus teaches the religious leaders plainly that to believe is to obey, and to disobey is to not believe. Disobedience equals unbelief. In this second parable, Jesus presses the religious leaders further in the condemnation of their unbelief.

4:08This parable is about a man who plants a vineyard and then leases it to some farmers to produce some fruit. So let's read in our passage today in Matthew chapter 21, starting in verse 33, and we'll go to the end of the chapter. Another parable. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it. He dug a wine press in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country. Now, when vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive its fruit. And the vine dressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then, last of all, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when the vine dressers saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.

5:22So they took him, they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Verse 40: Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine dressers? They said to him, He will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him fruits in their season. Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God is not. Will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Now, when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived he was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes because they took him for a prophet.

6:29Well, we'll see in this parable how God demonstrates his gracious provision for mankind. He demonstrates his patience with our unbelief and our rejection. He demonstrates his love in sending his only son for our redemption. And we'll also see how God's righteous judgment awaits those when his divine patience has run its course. But the main point, and don't overlook this, is that Jesus tells the religious leaders that because of their rejection of Christ himself, they will be left out of the kingdom of heaven.

7:11And also that judgment is coming on all those who reject him. Let me say it again. Jesus tells the religious leaders that because of their rejection of Christ, that they will be left out of the kingdom of heaven. And that judgment is coming upon all those who reject him. My outline today is four points which have no real alliteration. Sorry, there's some eyes in there. First, we're going to talk about the dramatic illustration that Jesus gives to these religious leaders. Secondly, we're going to look at their indignant response.

7:52Thirdly, we'll look at the indictment that Jesus pronounces upon them. And then, lastly, the judgment as Jesus condemns their unbelief. So, first, let's look at the dramatic illustration. This is the parable itself. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, set a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower. He leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country. Now, when vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive its fruit. And the vine dressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then, last of all, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when the vine dressers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us seize his inheritance. Let us kill him and seize in his inheritance. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. I wanted to read this again because sometimes our familiar With the Bible and with certain passages might cause us to overlook the outrageous events that unfold here. Now, this is a parable, it's a made-up story told by our Lord to impart some spiritual truth. Our Lord uses very dramatic and unusually unsettling actions in this story, not only to hold his listeners' attention, but to illustrate what has actually been happening between God and Israel for centuries. The setting here is a vineyard. But before we look at the layout of the vineyard, let's catalog the main characters in the story. We have a certain landowner, or some translations relate him as the master of a house. So he's the owner. He's the one who owns the vineyard. Secondly, we have the vine dressers. These are vine growers. They're vineyard workers, tenant farmers. They're the ones who will do the work for the landowner. Thirdly, you have the landowner's servants. And then fourthly, you have another group of his servants, even more of them. And then lastly, you've got the son of the landowner.

10:23Well, now let's look at the vineyard. Grapes grow well in the Climate of Israel, so Jesus chooses a very familiar setting for the framework of his illustration. And the people were very familiar with vineyards, typically on a hillside. I've got a hillside on my slide there, planted with rows and rows of grape vines supported by wooden trellises to allow the vines to grow up and outward so that tending the vines would be more manageable. And harvesting the clusters of grapes would be a matter of moving along the rows of the vines, cutting off the grape clusters that would eventually grow. Of course, it would be several years after a vineyard was planted before the first grapes would be produced. So this was an investment by the landowner, not only of money and effort, but also time. Time for the vineyard to be productive. So that's the vineyard. Now let's look at the landowner himself. He's the one who planted the vineyard. He didn't just find a vineyard out there on his property somewhere. He actually planted these grapevines. He purchased the land. He labored at planting rows and rows of grapevines, the wooden trellises that they would grow up in, so that they would eventually produce the grapes that would be processed into wine.

11:50But that's not all that he built. He built some other things too. He built a hedge around the vineyard for protection. He wanted to. Be protected from enemies who might come in and steal the grapes. He built a tower, either a watchtower to watch for approaching enemies or a large structure where the workers could work out of and keep their equipment. And he also built a wine press. This is the processing system for pressing the harvested grapes into wine. So it's a large enterprise, and he's put a lot of time and effort into this, into his vineyard.

12:33What's his operation? Well, after spending considerable time and effort establishing a thriving vineyard, he leased it to some other men, to some vine dressers. This is their profession. They are vine growers, and he's got an arrangement where they're going to work it for him while he goes to a far country. So he's entrusting his vineyard to these tenant farmers. He's got it all ready. He's got it hedged about. He's got a tower. He's got a vine press. Everything's planted. He's hired it out to these guys. And now that everything's under control, he expects them to be good stewards, he goes on a trip. He goes to a far country. Now, this is a common theme in Jesus' parables. Many of his parables have the central character, entrusting his belongings to stewards while he goes away for some extended period of time. And he expects. Them to be good stewards of the things that he has entrusted to them.

13:36There's the parable of the talents, the parable of the unfaithful steward, several others, some I've preached on some time ago. So this is a familiar theme to the people listening, but the story takes a surprising and unexpected turn because in verses 34 through 36, The landowner, when he sends his servants to collect his portion of the harvest, it describes in shocking terms how they were cruelly rejected by these tenant farmers, the vine dressers. Some of his servants were beaten, some were stoned, and some even killed.

14:19And then we read that he sends even more servants a second time, and the wicked vine dressers give them the same treatment. They beat, stone, and kill his servants. Now, this is shocking to the people listening. It should be shocking to us, except we've probably read this all our lives, right? But it's unexpected because it's unusually ungrateful. The people listening had never heard a story about this. They could have never imagined anyone acting like this. But the vine dressers had it good. They'd been given a marvelous opportunity to make a good living. Here, this landowner has already cultivated. The vineyard. He set everything up. Here's all your equipment. I just need you to run it for me. And once a year, I'll collect my share of it. Okay? That's the lease agreement.

15:11They'd been leased an excellent vineyard to cultivate, and they were given complete trust by the absentee owner to operate it. So a typical lease agreement would allow the tenant farmers to keep a portion of the fruit of their labors while the landowner would receive a portion that they agreed upon since he is the owner of the enterprise. And this sort of arrangement still goes on today. Not just in vineyards, but in other enterprises as well. But these vine dressers were not content with just making a good living, they wanted the whole harvest for themselves, and they were merciless in pursuing that end.

15:57And in an even more astonishing turn of events, the landowner in verse 37 sends his son to collect, believing that they will surely respect my son. Now, already they haven't respected his servants. Twice they have killed and beaten his servants. Now he's going to send his son, hoping, trusting that they will respect him. The Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 12, also had this parable, and it includes the detail that the This is the landowner's only son, so keep that in mind. Now, confronted by the only son, the only heir to the landowner's property, the wicked vine dressers now see an even greater opportunity. Instead of keeping not only all the harvest for themselves, they want the entire vineyard too.

16:53In a truly wicked act of avarice, they plot to kill the son and keep the entire vineyard for themselves, since the landowner had no other heirs. They planned to seize his inheritance since they were in possession of it. So in verse 39, they cast him out of the vineyard and kill the son, the landowner's son. Well, this is a startling and dramatic, tragic story for us to read today, and it must have surely gotten the attention of the religious leaders and everyone listening. The contrasts are good storytelling. The patience of the landowner contrasted with the wickedness of the vine dressers, and then the tragic premeditated murder of the landowner's son. Such cruelty could hardly be imagined, yet Jesus includes this in the story to get their full attention. I hope I've got your full attention now, because there's still one more dramatic turn of the story. The owner of the vineyard is coming.

18:01A master storyteller, Jesus reveals this to them by asking a question, which allows them to write the ending of the story themselves. He asked this question in verse 40, and this is where we have the indignant response of the religious leaders. Jesus asks, Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine dressers? That's a pretty heavy question. And without giving the answer himself, Jesus allows the leaders to express their own self-righteousness as they finish the story, telling what they would do, telling what they think would be just do to those wicked vine dressers. They said to him, verse 41, he will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render him the fruits in their seasons. Other translations I've read render verse 41 like this. He will bring those wretches to a wretched end.

19:10They correctly assessed the proper ending of the parable. That would be the right thing to do, the just thing to do. This very merciful landowner has reached the end of his patience. After having his servants beaten and killed twice, and now his son, he Will rightly exact justice on those wretchedly wicked vine dressers. Then he will find others to tend the vineyard who will render the fruit of their vineyard for the owner. In that answer, the religious leaders, the priests, declare their own fate and condemnation by their own mouths for their disobedience and rejection of Christ himself. Well, let's point out some more spiritual connections in this parable. The vineyard and its owner, this highlights God's gracious and generous provision for his people.

20:08It shows how God gave Israel a land already filled with abundance. In Joshua chapter 24, verse 13, Joshua tells the Israelites, God has given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them. And you eat of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. So the vineyard is a picture of Israel, the promised land itself, that God has graciously prepared for his people and brought them to it.

20:41The wicked vine dressers represent the people of Israel and their self-righteous leaders who thought that their status as physical descendants of Abraham and their lawkeeping assured them their place in the kingdom of God. They were given stewardship of God's law. His land, and that nation would produce the coming deliverer, which would be one of their own kinsmen. But like the wicked vine dressers, these religious leaders did not want to share the kingdom. They wanted it all for themselves. They wanted to control it themselves, the temple and everything.

21:22The servants whom the landover sent, this landowner sent to the vine dressers, they are a picture of the many prophets whom God lovingly and patiently sent throughout the centuries to call Israel to repentance for their idolatry and disobedience. But instead of obeying them, Israel had rejected and mocked the prophets. They'd beat and imprisoned them. They'd threatened them and betrayed them and even killed them. God's patience in dealing with the wickedness of his people is highlighted by the patience of the landowner. Israel persecuted her prophets, killed some of them. God, in his mercy, would do what? He would send his son. Surely they will respect him. The only son of the vineyard owner is a picture of God's love for his people. And since the vineyard owner represents God, it should be no surprise then that the son, the only son, represents Christ himself. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Perish, but have everlasting life.

22:35So, like the long-suffering vineyard owner, instead of destroying his people after they refused his prophets, God demonstrated his love by sending his only son to call them to repentance and belief in him. The cruel murder of his son in this parable is Jesus prophetically foretelling his own murder at the hands of the religious leaders in a few short days to come. And the response of the self-righteous leaders demonstrates that even the wicked know that God's justice demands that his judgment is due to be poured out one day on the unrighteous.

23:16And now, as we continue in our passage, Jesus seems to change gears as he switches to a different illustration. Like the son who was rejected and killed by the wicked vine dressers, Jesus now tells about a stone rejected by some builders. So as we move from the rejection of the son to the indictment or the rejection of the stone. Verse 42, Jesus says to them, Have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. He's asking them, have they never read? Read that? He asked the religious leaders this pointed question. Have you never read Psalm 118?

24:08We read this earlier this morning, Psalm 118. It's the most quoted psalm in the New Testament because of its messianic significance. Psalm 118 is also the final psalm in a series of psalms 113 through 118 that have been sung for centuries by the Jewish people at Passover. This group of songs is known as the Egyptian Hillel, and they focus on praising God for his deliverance of his people from their bondage in Egypt. Now, the authorship of Psalm 118 isn't given, but many scholars think it could very likely be Moses, since he experienced repeated rejection by the people he delivered. Moses was a stone that the builders, the people, rejected, who went on to become the chief cornerstone. He led the people out of Egypt. He delivered his people. This passage that Christ quotes in Psalm 118, verses 22 and 23, it's from the same section as the multitude's messianic acclamation just a few days earlier during Jesus' triumphal entry. Hosanna! God saves, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So he is likening himself to this stone, this messianic psalm that we have here.

25:44Let's look more closely at the stone. Well, first, let's look at just the physical imagery itself. The image here is a construction site in ancient times, whereas stones would be quarried in some distant quarry. And they would actually be cut and measured according to the plans that the construction workers had made at the building site. They know what size stones they need, and they would be sized and measured and cut at the quarry. They'd be hewn from massive walls of rock. They were carefully cut to fit their planned location in the building. Then they were transported to the construction site and laid out where the builders would use them to assemble the building according to plan. The stones had to have the correct angles and size and quality to hold up the weight of the rest of the building.

26:46And if they were determined to have a defect or the measurements were off or the angles were off, the builders would discard it and order another one to be cut in its place. Now, the cornerstone of the building was a Building was the most essential part of the building. This set the angles for the walls, and it had to be perfect, or the adjoining stones would not fit snugly to it, and they'd be out of alignment, and the whole building would be unstable. So, in this imagery, the stone that had already been a stone that had already been prepared and selected for the foundation was looked over by the builders, and they said, No, this won't do. But later, it's actually chosen to be the cornerstone itself. So, initially, the stone was rejected, but it was used to be the most important part of the building. So, that's this image of a stone that becomes a cornerstone, even after it had been rejected.

27:49The stone is likened to the sun in the parable. We have this image following the parable where the son and the heir of the landowner is killed. He's cast out of the vineyard. He's rejected by the stewards of the vineyard. And while the parable may end when the owner brings the wretches to a wretched end, it gives the vineyard to others. But that's not the end of the story. Where I'm at on my slides here. There we go.

28:22That may be the end of the parable, but it's not the end of the lesson. It may seem like the end for the rejected son, but the rejected stone has a future. And the true rejected son of God has a life beyond the grave. Like the stone that the builders rejected becoming the chief cornerstone, the son of God would rise again to reign over his kingdom. And in this way, the stone is likened to Christ himself. Jesus alludes here not only to his coming betrayal and crucifixion, but also his imminent resurrection and lordship.

29:04So the stone that the builders rejected, while in the parable that son is rejected and killed, that's the end of his story, but that's not the end of Jesus' story. He goes on to become the chief cornerstone. Now, the apostles confirm this. Peter, as early as Acts chapter 4, when explaining all the power behind his healing of a lame man, declared this in verse 10, Acts 4.10, he says, Let it be known to you and all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man here stands before you whole. And in verse 11, he says this, This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.

29:57Paul also affirms this in Ephesians chapter 11. 2, verses 19 through 20, Paul says this to the Ephesian church. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So the church is likened to a building with the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, but that most essential stone, the cornerstone, is Jesus Christ Himself.

30:49Christ, rejected and crucified by the ones he came to save, is the chief cornerstone, the one whom the kingdom will be built upon. Well, verse 42 continues with this. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. That's a remarkable statement. It was in the Psalm. Jesus includes it here. He is highlighting God's providence and sovereign control over the events of his kingdom. Like a stone that was initially cast aside by construction workers. It ends up becoming the perfect stone to be the cornerstone for the entire building. God has orchestrated events time and again through human history where the rejected would return to prominence. Think about some of these: Jacob and Esau. Jacob, being the second son, eventually received the birthright and led his family. Joseph, one of 12, one of the youngest of 12, went on to become the leader of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. Moses, we've already talked about, was rejected by the Israelites. Time and again, they pushed back against his leadership, but he would go on to become the deliverer. Gideon, Samson, David. I love the story of David. Is David the oldest son? No, he's the youngest of seven of Jesse's sons, right? But he goes on to become king of Israel. And then you have finally Jesus himself, born in the most humble circumstances. Here is God walking the earth in humility, rejected by his own people, crucified, but resurrected to come again to rule in power and majesty. This is marvelous in our eyes. It is marvelous to behold the true testimony of God's omniscience, his omnipotence. God specializes in accomplishing the impossible. With the unlikely. And we should marvel when he does it, when we read about it in Scripture and we see it in our own lives.

33:12Well, demonstrating to the religious leaders the folly of their unbelief and the rejection of their promised one, Christ announces their consequences, the judgment. He goes on in verse 43 to say, Therefore, since you've rejected this stone and it's going to become the chief cornerstone, therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived he was speaking of them. Well, what does it mean that God rejects his people? That doesn't sound good. Our faithful God made all these promises to Israel, and now it says, kingdom of God will be taken from you.

34:10Well, I'm not the only one to ask that question. Paul also asked that question in Romans chapter 11, verse 1. He says, I ask then, did God reject his people? His answer is, by no means. By no means. Exclamation point. Wasn't in the Greek, but the translators put it in there. By no means. He goes on to say, I'm an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? Lord, they've killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I'm the only one left, and they're trying to kill me. And what was God's answer to him? I have reserved for myself 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. So after relating that story about Elijah, Paul in Romans 11, verse 5 comes back to the present and says, So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace.

35:25Does God reject his people? By no means. Just like he preserved a remnant during the time of Elijah, so too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. Like the wicked vine dressers who were removed from their stewardship of the vineyard, God will remove Israel for a time from their stewardship of the kingdom. Why? Because they did not bear the fruit of the kingdom. They rejected their king. And others who did bear fruit would be. Stewards of the kingdom. God in his mercy would use the blindness of the Jewish leaders to open the kingdom of God to the rest of the world, to the Gentiles, during the time of the church. And we see this fulfilled in the book of Acts over and over again as believing Gentiles are added to the church. John the Baptist prophesied this in Matthew chapter 3, verses 8 through 10. Let me read what John the Baptist said to the Pharisees. He said, But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance. And do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones. And even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. John foretold that the kingdom would be taken from Israel for a time because they did not bear those fruits. And just as the vineyard was given to other tenants who would produce the fruit of the vineyard for the master, the stewardship of the kingdom would be given to others during this time, namely the church, which includes Jews and Gentiles.

37:31Peter, writing to the church, says in 1 Peter 2, verses 9 through 10, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. The nation that the kingdom would be given to, that bears fruits, is this holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were once not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. God in his mercy would use the disobedience and the rejection of the religious leaders of Israel to expand his kingdom.

38:13The Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Rome in Romans 9:25, he says this, as he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people who were not my people and her beloved who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God. So the apostles confirm this temporary replacement of Israel as God would expand the kingdom to include Gentiles during the time of the church. This passage continues with a promise. This passage, Romans chapter 9 here, continues with a promise that the removal of Israel would only be temporary.

39:01God promises the future salvation of the remnant of Israel. In Romans 9, 27, Paul says this. Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel. Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. So you see, Israel is not permanently replaced. The consequence of Israel's rejection of Christ resulted in God graciously expanding the kingdom to include all who would place their faith in Christ as Savior. So God sovereignly uses the tragedy of Israel's rejection of him to extend his kingdom to the Gentiles, to the whole world. God removes the nation of Israel temporarily from stewardship of the kingdom and temporarily gives that stewardship to his church. But God will accomplish the salvation of believing Israel when they will one day look upon him whom they have pierced. Paul confirms this in Romans 11 again, this time in verse 25. He says, Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, verse 26, all Israel will be saved.

40:17Well, let's finish up by going back to the stone in verse 44. Verse 44, whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. So far, the stone has been for building a foundation, and it's been likened to the son of the vineyard owner, likened to Christ himself. But there's one more thing we need to know about a stone. A stone can be used to build something beautiful, such as his church, or it can be used to crush and destroy. And that's what we're talking about here. The stone in verse 44 is also Jesus.

41:03Jesus the judge. Jesus makes it clear that the Jewish leaders who rejected him were without excuse. They had seen his miracles. They'd walked with him for three years. They'd seen his teaching, heard his teaching. They'd seen his disciples and their works. They were without excuse. And like the wicked vine dressers, they knew he was God's son, but they refused to accept him and honor him as such. They did not want to serve him or rule with him. They wanted to control the temple and the entire Jewish religious system. And rejecting Christ has consequences. There are consequences for falling over a rock or having a rock fall on you. I can't think of one good consequence of encountering a stone.

41:57If you trip over the edge of a rock and you fall on it, you may break. Break some bones. If a large rock falls on top of you, you'll probably be killed. Jesus presents two outcomes here, both of them bad. Jesus uses these truths to deliver a warning to the Jewish leaders. Those who fail to repent and trust Christ in faith are broken, crushed, and destroyed. Peter describes this action of the stone in 1 Peter 2, verse 7. He says, Therefore, I'll start in verse 6. Now I'll start in verse 7. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were also appointed. So to persistently reject the Savior is to court judgment so severe that the only thing left of you will be dust.

43:07You'll be crushed. The prophet Daniel gives a picture of this when he interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Daniel chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. Daniel's going to interpret it. Daniel 2:31. He says, You, O king, were watching, and behold, a great image. This great image, whose splendor Was excellent, stood before you, and its form was awesome. The image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Verse 34, you watched while a stone was cut without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them into pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel prophesies about this stone that would come and crush the world system, pulverizing it to dust, carried away by the wind. Jesus is a stone of redemption, yes, but he's also a stone of judgment that will destroy and crush those who reject him.

44:32You know, this verse, Matthew 21, 44, is really a call to faith. It's an appeal to open your eyes and see that Jesus is indeed the Son of God sent into the world. It's also a strict warning against rejecting Christ. He is the sure rock of salvation for those who believe, but he's also an immovable stone, a stumbling stone, a crushing stone for those who do not believe. Unlike his earlier parables from Matthew 13, Jesus is no longer hiding the meanings from unbelievers. In verse 45, we see that the religious leaders realized that Jesus was telling this parable about them. Instead of heeding his warning, one last admonition to repent of their self-righteousness, they took the course of their forefathers and rejected this one last call from the Son of God.

45:35And what was their response? They wanted to lay hands on him, but they feared the people. Jesus' crucifixion would come through a false accusation and mock trial only a few days later. So we've seen in this parable how God demonstrates his gracious provision for mankind, how God demonstrates his patience with our unbelief and rejection, how God demonstrates his love in sending his only son for our redemption. But we also see how it displays his righteous judgment, his justice that awaits when his divine patience has run its course.

46:22Now, we can apply this parable to our lives by asking two questions. First, have you ever seen us? Have you come to know Christ as your Savior, your Lord, or have you rejected Him like the Jewish leadership did? Like the landowner in the parable, God's patience is immeasurable. He waits patiently for you to respond to Him. But also, like the parable, His patience will one day give way to His judgment. You need to recognize your sins, trust in Christ as the only one who can save you from the penalty of your sins. Secondly, if you are among those who do profess faith in Christ, do you produce the fruits of the kingdom that the king expects? Or are you like the bad tenants living within the kingdom without being a part of it? If you are, you should study God's word and pray, seeking His will for your life and living out that will as best you can, moment by moment and day by day. And this new year is a good time for that reflection.

47:34Now, in this parable, Jesus declares that God's doing is marvelous in our eyes. We should marvel at God's amazing work at taking the least and making it the greatest, at taking a stone that was rejected and making it the chief cornerstone. Jesus, who came to his own people, was rejected and despised and sent to the cross by the very people he came to deliver from their sins. In his wisdom, his love, and mercy, used that tragedy to extend his kingdom and his salvation to the rest of the world. Indeed, what a marvelous God we serve. Let's pray.

48:18Oh, the depths and the riches and the wisdom of you, O God. How unsearchable are your judgments and your paths beyond tracing out. Who has known your mind, O God? Or who has been your counselor? Who has ever given to you that you should repay them? From you and through you and for you are all things. To you, O great God, be the glory forever. Amen.