[0:00] Mark 11, verse 27, this is the word of the Lord. John's baptism.
[0:34] Was it from heaven or from men? Tell me. They discussed it among themselves and said, If we say from heaven, he will ask, Then why didn't you believe him?
[0:45] But if we say from men, they feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, We don't know. Jesus said, Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
[1:01] He then began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
[1:13] At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them.
[1:25] They struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others. Some of them they beat, others they killed.
[1:38] He had left one to send a son whom he loved. He sent him, last of all, saying, They will respect my son. But the tenants said to one another, This is the heir.
[1:50] Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. So they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
[2:02] He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven't you read this scripture? The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.
[2:13] The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Then they looked for a way to arrest him, because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
[2:31] Well, as Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last week of his life before the crucifixion, the thunder is getting louder and louder, signaling the stormy outbreak between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders.
[2:48] They will soon put Jesus on a cross and end his life there. So today we have three points from our text.
[3:00] Jesus' authority rejected, and we'll spend most of our time with that. Then briefly, Jesus' authority vindicated. And then your response to the authority of King Jesus.
[3:12] So we begin with Jesus' authority rejected. Now, on Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem among the cheers and the welcome of him as the King of Israel.
[3:27] On Monday, Jesus goes into Jerusalem and clears the temple of all these selling things and exchanging money. Now it's Tuesday morning, and Jesus comes once again into Jerusalem.
[3:41] Verse 27 picks up what happens next. They arrived again in Jerusalem, having slept out in Bethany a couple miles away. And while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders came to him.
[4:00] Now these three groups make up the Sanhedrin, the high court of Israel that was in charge of the political and religious life of the Jews.
[4:11] And these three power groups could not agree with each other on anything hardly except their hatred of Jesus. And so they are together now, and they're coming to our Lord.
[4:22] They're not happy at all with the mess that Jesus made of the temple the day before. The temple was under their authority to manage.
[4:35] They managed its worship, and they managed its teaching. And these money changers and animal vendors, they were all approved by them and brought them no small amount of income.
[4:49] Josephus writes that in the year 66 A.D., A quarter million lambs were sacrificed during Passover. So you can see the number of animals that no doubt were purchased in the temple.
[5:05] But none of these animal sacrifices had any value whatsoever except that they pointed to the one Lamb of God that the Father had sent to take away sins, and him they are now fixing to murder.
[5:22] So these religious leaders confront Jesus in the temple. In verse 28, they said, By what authority are you doing these things? Namely, cleansing the temple and teaching there in the temple, which he did each day.
[5:36] And who gave you authority to do this? Not us. So who is it? And Jesus answers their question with a question of his own. Jesus replies in verse 29 and 30, I will ask you one question.
[5:52] Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I'm doing these things. John's baptism, was it from heaven or from men? From man.
[6:03] Tell me. Now he's speaking of John the Baptist. And he says there's only two choices, fellas. Because either he was authorized from heaven, God, or from man.
[6:18] And their answer about John's authority would answer their question about Jesus' authority. Because they received authority from the same source, from God in heaven.
[6:30] They both preached the same message. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And John was sent as a forerunner to testify about Jesus.
[6:43] John 1, 6 to 8 says there was a man who was sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all men might believe.
[6:55] He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light. Malachi prophesied that this man, John, would be the forerunner of Messiah.
[7:08] Isaiah 40 called him a voice in the wilderness sent to prepare the way for the Lord. And when this wilderness man, John the Baptist, started preaching in the desert, the big shots in Jerusalem sent their spies to check him out.
[7:24] The priests, the Levites, came. And John told them, I'm not the Messiah. And they said, well then, who are you? Tell us so that we'll know what to say to those who sent us.
[7:35] And he answered, I am the voice of one calling in the desert. Prepare the way for the Lord. Clearly, I'm that man that Isaiah 40 wrote about that God would send to prepare the way.
[7:46] He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. And I'm not worthy to untie his sandals. I baptize with water, but he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
[8:02] And then one day, John the Baptist saw him walking by and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He testified of Jesus.
[8:14] And then he baptized Jesus. John's baptism. Was it from heaven or from man? And your answer about John will answer about me, Jesus is saying.
[8:30] As goes John's authority, so goes my authority. And though many people repented at the preaching of John the Baptist and were baptized, the Pharisees, reading from Luke 730, the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves because they had not been baptized by John.
[8:52] They did not believe John's message about Jesus. You see, neither John the Baptist nor Jesus had come up through Israel's approved seminaries, schools, and rabbis.
[9:06] They were both outsiders. And therefore, both were rejected by the religious establishment in Israel. So you want to know whose authority?
[9:19] By whose authority I'm doing these things? I'll ask you one question. You tell me and then I'll tell you. John's baptism. From heaven or from man. Now Jesus has them clearly on the horns of the dilemma.
[9:31] And so they call an unholy huddle. And they get together and they talk about this. In verse 31, they discuss it among themselves and said, Well, if we say from heaven, we know what he's going to say.
[9:46] He's going to say, then why didn't you believe him? Because they hadn't believed him. So we can't say that it was from heaven. But on the other hand, if we say from men, dot, dot, dot.
[9:57] And Mark explains for us, well, that too was out of the question. Because Mark says they feared the people. For everyone held that John really was a prophet sent by God.
[10:12] Luke records this as the leader saying, If we say from men, all the people will stone us. They were afraid of the people who had accepted John as a true prophet from God.
[10:25] So they're caught. Either way, they lose and would be humiliated before the crowd. So what do you do when you've been caught?
[10:41] Well, you lie. At least that's what they did. Verse 33, so they answer Jesus. We don't know. You know, that's a hard question to answer. We don't know. They pleaded ignorance to protect their image before the crowd.
[10:53] But their pretended ignorance was an outright lie. And Jesus knows it. And so he says, neither will I tell you.
[11:05] By what authority I am doing these things. They didn't deserve to be told. They weren't seeking the truth. They were not honest seekers.
[11:15] And here we see the deep-seated prejudice of man's fallen heart against Jesus. They had seen Jesus' divine authority in driving out demons with a word.
[11:28] Driving out diseases. Driving out death. Even Nicodemus, the Pharisee, had said, we know you're a man come from God because you couldn't do the works you were doing unless God were with him.
[11:44] But their stubborn hearts refused to admit the obvious authority of Jesus, even when it was staring them in the face. You see, they were not just questioning Jesus' authority as they put on.
[12:00] They were rejecting it, even before they questioned it. Jesus was here giving them an opportunity to face the truth and repent.
[12:10] Instead, they evade the truth and lie. Too proud to admit that they were wrong. Wrong about John and dead wrong about Jesus. The one to whom John testified.
[12:24] Too proud to admit that they had been blind guides and they had led the whole nation away from the only Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
[12:36] Heaven's authorized Savior and King. Heaven's authorized Savior and King. So you see, the storm is brewing between Jesus and the religious leaders. It's coming to a head.
[12:47] Thunder is rumbling as these confrontations in Jerusalem are building and building and will lead to his crucifixion in just three days' time.
[13:00] So Jesus pivots. Chapter 12, verse 1. He then began to speak to them, that is, to the Jewish leaders, in parables.
[13:13] And in this parable of the vineyard, Jesus will reveal his authority as God's son. And he will expose their wickedness in rejecting that authority and killing him.
[13:24] And so this parable covers 1,500 years of Israel's history. It clearly is drawing from the song of the vineyard back in Isaiah chapter 5.
[13:36] And here's the parable. Verse 1. A man planted a vineyard. Now the vineyard is clearly Israel is, again, Isaiah 5 makes very plain. Just like the fig tree in the enacted parable earlier was Israel.
[13:51] So the fig tree or the vineyard is Israel. The owner is God. And he put a wall around Israel and dug a pit for the wine press and put a watchtower there.
[14:03] That's all found in Isaiah 5 as well. It's showing all the privileges that God gave to Israel. He had done for them what he had done for no other people. And then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
[14:17] Now this was a common situation in the first century. And it's interesting. We still have forms of it today. Where the landowners rent out their land to some tenant farmers or some sharecroppers who will work the land for a percentage of the harvest that is to be determined in an agreed upon contract.
[14:41] And so these tenant farmers represent the religious leaders of Israel. These who are questioning Jesus' authority.
[14:52] Then verse 2 says, At harvest time, he, that is the owner, sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. Well, fruit from the harvest was God's, his right, since the vineyard belonged to him.
[15:08] And the contract, the covenant he made with Israel, stated the very fruit that was owed to him. Because you are my covenant people. You shall have no other gods before me.
[15:19] You shall have, you shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything. You shall not misuse my name or my day and honor father and mother and not kill and not commit adultery and steal and lie and covet.
[15:31] That's the fruit that God, the owner, was expecting from the vineyard Israel. To reverence him, to exclusively worship him, to love and trust and obey him with a holy life revealed in God's commandments.
[15:50] And so we notice how God is still expecting fruit from his vineyard. Just like in the enacted parable of the fig tree. Why did he curse it? Because it had only leaves and no fruit.
[16:03] And so this owner's servant is sent. He's the first of many. And the servants represent the Old Testament prophets that God sent to his people to call forth for the fruits of repentance and faith from his people and holiness of life as stipulated in the covenant.
[16:23] These prophets came and they confronted Israel with their duties and with their breaches of God's law and threatened them with judgment if they did not repent. And so the servant is sent to collect the fruit.
[16:38] Verse 3 says, but they, the tenants, seized him, beat him and sent him away empty handed. So the leaders of Israel refused to repent and give God what was owed him.
[16:54] Well, we say, well, maybe that was just an isolated event. We'll give them a break. Jesus goes on in verse 4. Then he sent another servant to them. And they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.
[17:10] It's clearly more than a mere isolated event. In Israel's history. This is the repeated history of Israel for some 1,500 years.
[17:22] Going astray from God. And God would send his prophets to them to call them back. And they mistreated them and sent them away empty and beaten.
[17:34] It's interesting when Jesus would encourage his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. How do you encourage people who are going through persecution? Well, he says, rejoice and be glad.
[17:45] For great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they treated the prophets who were before you. Yes, those servants that God sent.
[17:56] From time to time, sending servants. And they persecuted them. And so Israel's stubborn rebellion against God is seen in the way they treat his servants.
[18:13] Verse 5 says, he sent still another. And that one they killed. And he sent many others. Some of them they beat and others they killed. There's increasing levels of rejection and persecution.
[18:25] Indeed, church history says that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in two. They killed the prophets. Who had come to enforce God's covenant with Israel.
[18:40] And to collect the fruit that was owed to God. And all we can say is what long-suffering patience we find in God. Prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet.
[18:56] And Israel continues in their rebellion. Well could God complain in Isaiah 65. To all day long I have held out my hands.
[19:07] To a stiff-necked and obstinate people. Who walk in ways not good. Pursuing their own imaginations. But then God's patience and kindness.
[19:20] Goes off the charts. As in this parable. Jesus says he had one left to send. A son whom he loved.
[19:34] He sent him last of all. Saying they will respect my son. This is God sending his own beloved son.
[19:44] As the last prophet to call Israel back. Before judgment falls. Now not every point in a parable is to be pressed. And is to be applied.
[19:56] In other words we're not to think that. When God sent his son. He was expecting Israel would receive him. No. God knew they would kill him. That was part of God's plan.
[20:08] Before the creation of the world. So God is not saying. I'm expecting them to. No. It's just part of the parable. Part of the story. That we're not meant to press upon God.
[20:18] But surely what we can say from it. Is that God had every right to expect them. To respect his son. This is not just any servant.
[20:34] This is the servant son. Of the Lord. This is the son. Who is the heir. He. He is to be honored above all other servants.
[20:45] He's the last one. To be sent. And he's sent to receive what is due.
[21:01] To his father. And. Jesus is here giving the clearest public revelation. Of his identity as the son of God.
[21:12] You see that in the parable. Something of that has been veiled along the way. It's demonstrated in his miracles. And such. But here he's coming out. And just saying. I am God's son.
[21:25] The heir of all things. The heir of the kingdom. Well what did they do now with him? Verse 7. But the tenants said to one another. This is the heir. Come let's kill him. And the inheritance will be ours.
[21:35] They wanted the kingdom for themselves. Verse 8. So they took him. And they killed him. And they threw him out of the vineyard. So Jesus is here telling.
[21:48] His enemies. These Jewish leaders. Who he is. God's son. And he's telling them that he knows. What they're about to do. To him. And exposes their dirty rotten secret.
[22:00] Of murder. In his parable. And this revealed their true attitude. Toward God.
[22:11] Their attitude toward Jesus. The son. Revealed their attitude toward God the father. Because he sent his son. And that's exactly what Jesus had said earlier.
[22:22] In John chapter 5. He who does not honor the son. Does not honor the father. Who sent him. Him. And so when they could not get their hands on God.
[22:35] When God became man in Jesus Christ. They murdered him. That's what they think of God. And it's made plain. Here in his parable.
[22:47] What a wicked history. Is the history of Old Testament Israel. After killing the beloved son of God.
[22:59] These very leaders of Israel. Were confronted by Stephen. You remember. In the book of Acts. Chapter 7. And these same leaders. Stephen looks at them in the eye.
[23:11] And he says. Was there ever a prophet. Your fathers did not persecute. Now let that sink in. That's Israel's history. Was there ever. Can you name me one.
[23:21] A prophet. That. Your fathers did not persecute. And now you. Have betrayed. And they even killed those. Who predicted the coming.
[23:31] Of the righteous one. And now you have betrayed. And murdered him. Acts 7. 52. And for that. Stephen is stoned. And silenced.
[23:43] By these religious leaders. As they laid their coats. At the feet of one Saul of Tarsus. Who continued. The leaders. Persecution. To wipe out the name of Christ.
[23:55] In his church. So. They took him. And killed him. And threw him out of the vineyard. Jesus then asked. Verse 9. What then will the owner. Of the vineyard do?
[24:06] Well he'll come and kill. Those tenants. And give the vineyard. To others. Others. Now Matthew records.
[24:17] These words of Jesus. A little fuller. As making direct application. Of the parable. To the religious leaders. As if. The parable's over. Fellas.
[24:27] This is its application. And this is what. Jesus has. Jesus is saying. Verse. Matthew 21. 43. The kingdom of God. Will be taken. Away from you. And will be given.
[24:40] To a people. Who will produce. Its fruit. There's going to be a change. In who. Is the leadership. Of my kingdom.
[24:51] Who will the kingdom. Be given to. A people. Producing its fruit. That was the story. Of the fig tree. That's the story. Of. The vineyard. And so.
[25:02] Israel's murder. Of God's beloved son. Sealed the destruction. Of Israel. As a theocratic nation. It signaled the end. Of the political nation.
[25:13] Of Israel. As God's people. There will be a new people. A holy nation. Established. By a new covenant. And the principle. Of belonging. To God's covenant people.
[25:24] And God's holy nation. Will no longer be. That they have the blood. Of Abraham. In their veins. Will no longer be. That the men. Are circumcised. And keep the law. Of Moses. But rather.
[25:35] The principle. Of belonging. To God's covenant people. People will be. Those from all nations. Be they Jew. Or Gentile. Who repent. And believe. On Jesus alone.
[25:45] For their salvation. So Paul can write. In Galatians 3. 29. If you belong. To Jesus. You are Abraham's seed. And heirs. According to the promise.
[25:57] These are the people. Of the kingdom. A people. Who will produce. Its fruit of righteousness. Its fruit of repentance. And faith. And obedience. They're the Israel of God.
[26:09] Newly constituted. By the new covenant. Sealed in Jesus blood. With all the unbelieving Jews. Pruned out. And all the believing Gentiles.
[26:20] Crafted in. So the parable's over. And Jesus directly applies it. To these religious leaders. And experts in the law. Verse 10. He says.
[26:30] Haven't you read this scripture? Now he's quoting from Psalm 118. The stone the builders rejected. Has become the capstone. Or the cornerstone.
[26:42] The Lord has done this. And it is marvelous. In our eyes. Just two days earlier. The Passover crowd. That had gone out to welcome Jesus.
[26:53] Into Jerusalem. Chose their praises. From Psalm 118. When they cried. Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[27:05] That's Psalm 118. And the whole psalm. Of Psalm 118. Describes a situation. Where Israel's enemies. Seemed to have triumphed over them.
[27:16] But then God stepped in. And overturned the tables. Vindicating his people. That's Psalm 118. And perhaps it would have referred to several situations.
[27:27] In Israel's long history. When it appeared their enemies had totally defeated them. And then God showed up. And turned the tables. But the important thing is that.
[27:39] Jesus takes this psalm. And he applies it to himself. And what they are just about to do to him. He's quoting it.
[27:51] About himself. That the stone the builders rejected. Has become the capstone. In other words. These leaders of Israel. Now are in this new picture.
[28:04] They go from being the renters of the vineyard. To now being the builders of a new temple. And Jesus goes from being the rejected son of the owner of the vineyard.
[28:17] To being the rejected stone. Same message. But two different metaphors. Or parables. But the picture is clear.
[28:30] As the religious leaders are building this New Testament dwelling place. A temple for God. With stones. They come upon Jesus Christ.
[28:41] Christ. The precious and chosen cornerstone by his father. And they take him. And they inspect him. And they look him over.
[28:53] And they come to the decision. That he is not fit. To have any place in the temple of God's people.
[29:04] And they reject him. They discard him. They do what a mason might do with a bad brick. They throw it into the clinker pile. With all the other rejected bricks.
[29:15] This is God's son. And here he is despised. And rejected by men. A man of sorrows. Acquainted with grief. Betrayed.
[29:25] Falsely accused. Falsely condemned. Beaten. Mocked. Crucified. Dead and buried. And it sure looks like Jesus' enemies have triumphed over him. Never did a situation look more like defeat.
[29:39] Than this emaciated form of a man. Dead on a cross. Bloodstreak body. Pulled down. Thrown into a tomb.
[29:49] And buried. That's defeat if you've ever seen it. And so that's the first part of our text.
[30:04] The first point this morning. Jesus' authority rejected. And there it is. The stone the builders rejected. And now very briefly we come to the second point.
[30:15] Jesus' authority vindicated. And it's found in the last half of verse 10. And verse 11. The stone the builders rejected. Has become the capstone.
[30:27] Or cornerstone. The Lord has done this. It is marvelous in our eyes. So the Lord went over to that reject pile.
[30:40] And there was his precious cornerstone. Jesus' chosen cornerstone. Despised and rejected. And he raises him from the dead.
[30:52] And he exalts him to the highest place. And gives him a name above every name. He makes him to become the most important stone in the new temple.
[31:04] The cornerstone of the foundation on which the entire church is built. For no one can lay any other foundation than the one God has already laid.
[31:17] Which is Jesus Christ. And so Psalm 118 says. The Lord has done this. Yes indeed. Christ's authority was rejected by men. But the Father has vindicated his authority.
[31:32] By raising him from the dead. And exalting him to the highest place. Far above all rule and authority. Power, dominion. And every title that can be given. Not only in the present age.
[31:42] But in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet. And appointed him to be head over everything. For the church. That's the interpretation of the New Testament on Psalm 118.
[31:57] And it's interesting to see how it's quoted in other New Testament passages. When Peter talks about the church. The holy temple is what he calls it.
[32:07] Being built. He quotes this verse. And he says of all believers. Jews and Gentiles. That Jesus is the cornerstone. Upon whom you've built all your hopes of heaven on.
[32:19] Trusting in his perfect obedience. And his atoning blood. 1 Peter 2.4. As you come to him. The living stone. Rejected by men.
[32:30] But chosen by God. And precious to him. You also like living stones. Are being built into a spiritual house. For in scriptures it says. See I lay a stone in Zion. A chosen precious cornerstone.
[32:42] And the one who trusts in him. Will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe. The stone is precious. But to those who do not believe. The stone the builders rejected.
[32:52] Has become the capstone. There it is again. And a stone. That causes men to stumble. And a rock that makes them fall.
[33:03] They stumble because they disobey the message. That is the gospel. And so he's a stepping stone. To build one's life on.
[33:14] A cornerstone. For those who believe. And he's a stumbling stone. For those who refuse the gospel message. Which is also what they were destined for.
[33:25] But you. Are a chosen people. You. Are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation.
[33:36] A people belonging to God. That you may declare the praises of him. Who called you out of darkness. Into his wonderful life. Once you were not a people. Oh but now you.
[33:46] You are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy. But now you. Jews. Gentiles. All who trusted in Christ. You're now the people of God. Who've received mercy.
[33:57] And you're the ones bringing forth fruit. You're the ones bringing forth fruit. To whom the kingdom is given. Acts chapter 4. Peter and James.
[34:09] Healed a crippled man in Jesus name. And these. Same leaders. Draw them in before them. They're accusing them. And they're. They're. They're testing them. And judging them.
[34:20] And. They're all there for the trial. The big shots. And. They asked. By what power. By what name. Did you do this? Same question. By what authority. Are you doing these things?
[34:32] And then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. Said to them. Rulers and elders of the people. If we're being called to. Give an account today. For an act of kindness. Shown to a cripple. And are asked.
[34:42] How he was healed. Then know this. You and all the people of Israel. It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Whom you crucified. But whom God raised from the dead.
[34:55] That this man stands before you healed. He. Jesus of Nazareth. Is the stone you builders rejected. Which has become the capstone.
[35:06] Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men. By which we must be saved. You see how the New Testament interprets Psalm 118.
[35:17] Well back to Mark. Jesus has told the parable. He's explained the application. I'm talking about you fellas right here. You leaders.
[35:28] You've rejected me. God's chosen cornerstone. But God is going to raise me from the dead. Death will not have the final word with me.
[35:39] And notice the response of the leaders of Israel to Jesus' parable. Verse 12. Then they looked for a way to arrest him. Because they knew he had spoken the parable against them.
[35:50] But they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and went away. They got the message. He's talking about us. And he's saying the kingdom is going to be stripped from us.
[36:02] And given to a people bringing forth the fruit. That he is seeking for his father. But rather than repent. They sought all the more to kill him. They would have killed him on the spot.
[36:13] Had it not been that they feared the people. Who still at this point. Were rallied around the Lord Jesus. Well that was their response.
[36:23] They rejected. The authority of Jesus. What's your response? What's your response? These things aren't recorded just as a matter of historical interest about the past.
[36:37] These things are recorded for our salvation. So our third point is what is your response to the authority of King Jesus? Now that it's been clearly revealed. In all of his miracles and teachings.
[36:49] But especially vindicated by God. By his resurrection and exaltation. To the right hand of God. Indeed that was the one sign he said he would give.
[37:01] To prove his authority. To clear the temple. Destroy this temple. This temple. And in three days I will raise it again. By this he meant his body.
[37:12] So. We all started out responding the same way to Christ's authority. As Isaiah said. We all like sheep. Have gone astray. We have turned each one away from him. And gone our own way.
[37:24] So. We too rejected Christ as our Savior and King. We didn't like him. Or his laws. We said we will not have this man to rule over us. And God in mercy sent us.
[37:36] Prophets. And apostles. This is how he sent them to us. He sent us preachers and teachers. Perhaps even parents and loved ones and friends.
[37:49] Who came to you. And gave you the gospel. In which Jesus is inviting you to come to him. And to own him as your king and savior.
[38:01] To trust in him alone. To repent from going your way. And to come and to serve him as your king. How many times did he send people to you.
[38:14] Scriptures to you. And we said thanks but no thanks. I don't want him. And oh how patient and kind God has been. To not send us to hell.
[38:25] The fact that you're not in hell this morning. Is proof of God's long suffering patience. All of us should have been in hell. But he was kind. And sent another. And another.
[38:37] And then he himself came. And opened our eyes. To who Jesus is. And we repented. And we trusted in him. And surrendered to him as our king and lord.
[38:54] And now we can't say enough good about him. Can we? We love our king. There's no one like him. And we love his laws. They're not burdensome. They're holy just and good.
[39:05] You know I've never met. A Christian. Who said to me. Oh I wish I would have. I wish I would have enjoyed the world.
[39:15] And sin a bit longer. Before I came to Christ. I've. I've met a lot of them.
[39:26] Who say. Why did I wait so long. When he was so willing to forgive me. And. And have me as his own. And make me.
[39:38] An heir of all things together. With him. Well some of you are still rejecting him. Yeah. You say well I plan. I plan to receive him sometime.
[39:49] Do you realize that. If you are saying. I'm planning to do it later. You're rejecting him yet today. Today you're rejecting him. You're doing exactly what Israel's leaders did.
[40:01] And that's acting like you have. Tomorrow to decide. You don't have. The promise of tomorrow. Boast not about tomorrow. You don't know what a day will bring forth. And we saw in Jesus' parable. That God's long suffering patience.
[40:13] Does not go on forever. There's an end to it. There was a last. Opportunity. Beyond which. Jesus gave them over. To their choice. For all eternity. Someone has written.
[40:27] There is a line. By us unseen. That crosses every path. The hidden boundary. Between God's patience. And his wrath. Oh where is that.
[40:40] Mysterious line. That crosses every path. Beyond which God himself. Has sworn. That he who goes. Is lost.
[40:51] How far can one go on in sin. How long will mercy spare. Where does grace end. And where begin. The confines of despair. An answer from the sky is sent.
[41:05] You who from God depart. While it is called today. Repent. And harden. Not. Your heart. You have today. You have now. Receive him.
[41:18] And he will receive you. The stone. The builders rejected. Has become the capstone. The Lord has done this.
[41:29] And it's marvelous. In our eyes. You know what the next verse is. In Psalm 118. I know you know it. You just didn't know it was connected. To these verses. Perhaps.
[41:40] This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice. And be glad in it. Do you see the context. Of that verse. The rejected stone.
[41:54] That was despised. And rejected. And crucified. Has been. Raised. And exalted. And his authority. Acknowledged. By God.
[42:04] In heaven. It is marvelous. In our eyes. This. Resurrection. Day. Is. Is. Is. Is. Is. Is. Is.
[42:15] The day. Of salvation. And when was Jesus raised? On the first day of the week. When do we gather for worship? What is the Christian Sabbath? The Lord's day. It's the first day of the week.
[42:26] This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice. And be glad. And. Because it reminds us. Of what Jesus did. Rising. Vindicated by his father.
[42:38] The one rejected by man. Is now exalted in heaven. And he's coming again. And right now is the day of salvation. Get in while the door to the ark is open. Because he's coming again.
[42:50] And then he will punish all those who do not believe in him. Have not repented and trusted in him. And then he will create a new heavens and a new earth. A home of righteousness.
[43:01] And all the redeemed of the Lord will enter into Zion. And everlasting joy will crown their heads. And sorrow and sighing will flee away. And gladness and joy will overtake them.
[43:14] This is the day. Heaven will be that eternal day. In which we rejoice and say. The Lord has done this.
[43:25] And it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore. He is able. To save completely.
[43:36] All who come unto God through him. Because he always lives. To make intercession for them. Amen.