Parable of Wicked Vinedressers

Matthew 21:33-46

Judgement & Replacement

Mark 12-1-12 & Luke 20:9-19

Matthew 21:33-46, “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

42 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 marvellous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet. Jesus chose to answer them with three parables.

Matthew 21:28-32,"The Parable of Two Sons"

Matthew 21:22-46, "The Wicked Vinedressers"

Matthew 22:1-14, "The Wedding Feast" Understanding the parable

This is the last week of our Lord’s life. His time on earth is coming to an end. Wednesday He will die. This is Monday. Jesus is in the temple in the morning. He is there teaching about the kingdom and preaching the Gospel.

The day before, He cleansed the temple. The day before that, He rode into the city to the hosannas of the multitude. Many of them believe He may be the Messiah. He has come back on Monday to the cleansed temple, and the multitude is there again, and He is teaching. They were all listening.

The religious leaders, chief priests, scribes, elders, including the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. All of those who were responsible for the religious life of the nation and the temple itself were infuriated at His teaching because He taught contrary to everything they taught. Because He taught things that were internal, and their religion was all external.

Jesus unmasked their hypocrisy and their pretense. Jesus is moving freely through the temple, which He Himself cleansed, teaching whatever He will teach, they are threatened by that. They have a meeting together as to how they might stop Him from swaying the people any further.

V 23, Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

Where is Your authorization? Show us Your Sanhedrin ordination papers that give You the right to teach and preach in the temple? What authority You the permission to come in here and throw out all the businesses that are operating in this place?

They demanded His credentials. They wanted His authorization papers. They want to see His ordination certificate. The Lord replies to them with three parables. 2nd Parable today. 1. Story/Parable. V 33, “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.

A way of illustrating in very simple, common terms a great spiritual truth. The greatest teacher that ever walked on the face of the earth was Jesus Christ.

The greatest storyteller that ever told a story was Jesus Christ. Because there was so much truth in it and He committed to that truth. A depth, a profound, a drama in His teaching that captivated His audience beyond the ability of any other storyteller.

And so, we can imagine that as He told this story, He had that entire audience in the palm of His hand. V 33, “Hear another parable.” The Greek word Allos means another same kind is used. Jesus has just given them a parable about two sons.

Here is another parable in the same language and style. But more than that, the parable of the two sons was a parable about judgment. Another parable about judgment. A judgment parable. For they have manifested collectively a rejection of Jesus Christ. The parables He gives them are parables that bring upon them the judgment due to those who reject Him.

They have rejected Him. V 33, There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a

tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. A very common scene. The genius of a parable is that you took something that was well known to explain something that was unknown. Took something very objective, concrete, life oriented to explain something otherwise beyond the grasp of people.

Jesus talks about planting a vineyard. Israel is literally covered with such vineyards in the time of Christ. Most of their agricultural society was the cultivation of vineyards. This serves as a very good illustration for our Lord to use in spiritual areas, as it did for Isaiah chapter 5 when he used a very similar illustration to make a similar point about judgment.

The parallels are intriguing enough to compare Isaiah 5 with this parable. The vineyard is a very common thing in their life, and they would have understood exactly what was going on. First, we have a certain householder. This is a man who owns the estate. This is the master or the owner.

He decides to take a portion of his land, perhaps a slope on a hillside, which was the common place for vineyards, and he plants a vineyard. Then he hedged it round about. Vineyards were vulnerable to wild animals, to robbers. To protect vineyards, they were always hedged about. There could be a moat around them, on some occasions, water.

There could be a wall built around them. But on some occasions, there was a hedge of a thorn often even cactus was used. Even to this day we can see cactus used in Israel to keep out the animals and the robbers. The man took care in planting the vineyard.

He took care in protecting the vineyard. Then he dug a winepress in it. Winepress is the place where the grapes can be turned into juice. A winepress could be nothing more than a stone in the ground. The stone would be cut out as a shallow basin and very wide filled with grapes.

Then there would be a trough running to a lower basin carved in another piece of stone. As the grapes were crushed, the juice would flow down the trough into the lower basin and be collected there, from which it would be scooped and put into wineskins and pots and jars.

That was the way that they turned their grapes into grape juice and wine. Then the man built a tower.

The tower was for three purposes

• Security,
• Shelter, and
• Storage.

A tower would allow someone to watch and be sure no one was trying to invade. It would also be a place of shelter in the event of weather problems, and things necessary for the care of the vineyard. All this to demonstrate that the man took great care in doing it right. He did a good job putting his vineyard together. He was careful to supply the security that it needed.

The owner leased it out to tenant farmers and went into a far country. Literally went abroad or went away. This is also common practice. A man may have his own land, but he can’t cultivate it on his own, and so he leases it out. He works out an arrangement. A contract would be drawn with the people who are leasing it. They will give him a certain portion of the crop each year, the remainder of which belongs to them for their own livelihood.

They could have done well with this. It was a properly prepared vineyard it was properly protected. Their crop could have flourished, given the factors of weather and their careful cultivation work. The man had gone to all the extremes necessary, leased it out to these people, and went abroad, moved away.

This is a very common setting. The hearers of our Lord would have completely understood this. It was very common to lease land for such cultivating purposes. V 34, Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

When the season of fruits, harvest time, the time when they calculated the crop, they will give the portion belongs to the landowner. It was time for the landowner to collect his portion. So, he sent his servants to them to receive from them what was due to him.

They may have given it to him in currency, having sold what was produced. They may have given it to him in terms of grapes or in terms of wine, which could have been then transferred at the marketplace into cash.

Whatever, he came to collect what was rightly his. A common practice. The servants then came in his name, on his behalf of the owner to receive what was due to him. V 35, And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

Mark 12:3-5, identifies the sequence.

• First one came; they beat him.
• Next one came; they killed him.
• Next one came; they stoned him.

Matthew just puts them all into one verse. This good landlord, who had given them this piece of land to cultivate, by which they could have prospered, sends his servants merely to collect what is due to him by virtue of the arrangement.

They beat one. The word there means to scourge or flay or beat raw and bloody. They killed another to distinguish that from stoning, which also brought death. We could say they killed instantly. Maybe they murdered that person rather rapidly, perhaps with a knife or a spear or a sword.

They stoned another. Means to stone to death.

• They whipped one of them one of them bloody.
• They instantly murdered another.
• They progressively crushed the life by stoning him.

These tenant farmers, given such privilege, opportunity, and they had become independent.

• They had become resentful.
• They had become filled with hatred for the owner.
• They had become overly possessive.
• They wanted everything.
• They didn’t want to give it to whom it was due.

But the owner is so gracious. After sending the first person we would have taken some strong action. He sent one, he sent another, he sent another. V 36, Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

He sent other servants, more than the first group. They did the same to them. They killed them all. No matter who he sent, same reaction.

This does indicate to us the generous, gracious, merciful patience of this landowner. Because he continues to send these servants, and they continue to kill them. Some critics may say how this can be. Nobody would keep sending servants.

Right and neither would they keep killing them. This is where the parable becomes utterly uncommon. Our Lord is making the incredulity of it. It is the extreme uncommonness of it. That is the point He wishes to make. V 37, Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

That phrase “last of all” or “finally” is full of emotion which is sadness. He is a grieved man, and now he has only got his son left.

Mark 12:6, Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ No one left but the beloved son.

They will reverence my son.

Certainly, they will turn around from that behaviour because of the shame of it. They won’t surely do it to my son. They will stand in awe of my son. They will have respect and regard for my son. V 38, But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.

Now they killed the man’s son. They knew who he was, no mystery. They knew exactly who he was. They planned his murder. It was premeditated. Careful, wicked planning, with full knowledge of who he was. They premeditated his murder so they could control everything.

Unbelievable. Imagine that the people are grabbed in terms of interest. They know it’s a parable. They know he has a spiritual point in mind. But the story itself is so captivating, that even without the parabolic aspect or without the interpretation, we are

captivated by the evil of these men and by the sadness of the father who has lost all his servants and his son. V 39, So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 2. Conclusion. Jesus leads them down the path and makes them conclude the story themselves.

V 40, “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” Wd can assume from this that he has got forces and resources that the servants didn’t have. The servants couldn’t protect themselves, but he can.

When he gets there, what is he going to do? People would have been in a rage at the terrible wickedness and cruelty. Answer is obvious what he would do.

Those self-righteous religious leaders, with a smirk of self- congratulation and a pat on their own back are ready to give their moralistic answer and parade their righteousness. V 41, They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

They loved to hear themselves saying such moral things. They love to feel so irate at injustice and evil. This feeds their hypocrisy. Luke tells us that the people gathered around. Some of them cried, “God forbid. No.” They transferred their sorrow for those who would be so devastatingly punished. They were so caught up in the story, perhaps, that they were just unable to imagine what he would do to such wicked people.

The sympathy of their heart cried out even in behalf of the wicked. Or it may be that some of the people began already to see the true interpretation of the parable. They sensed a spiritual reality that created great fear in their hearts.

It could have been both to be honest. Two things are said in verse 41, right out of the mouths of these leaders, and they condemn themselves.

• He will miserably destroy those wicked men.
• He will lease his vineyard unto other farmers who shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

Miserably destroy the wicked men, leave his vineyard to other farmers who render him the fruits in their seasons. First is judgment. Second is replacement. They have said it with their own mouths they have concluded the illustration.

3. Explanation. Many people miss this powerful explanation by Jesus. V 42, 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 marvellous in our eyes’?

What does that have to do with the parable? How did we get the stone in here and builders?

Many commentators pass it off and say that Jesus is moving to another idea here, or Matthew sort of dropped this out of its local place where it belonged. Divine genius. Jesus quote out of Psalm 118:22-23. The same Psalm from which the hosannas had been offered to Christ two days before by the children in the temple.

Psalm 118 was familiar to them. Jesus uses this prophecy that the Lord uses to explain the parable. He begins by saying to them very sarcastic.

Have you never read the Scriptures? You who pride yourself on spending dawn till dusk reading Scripture, you who excel in the law, did you miss this one? Did you miss the one that said there was a stone rejected that became the head of the corner, and that the Lord would do that, and it would be marvelous when He did it?

The heart of what Psalm 118:22-23 is saying is very simple. When builders want to build a building, they need a cornerstone.

A cornerstone is the most important stone in the building in foundation. Of course, the support of the roof. But more than that, it sets the angles for the walls it draws the lines by which the uniformity of the building maintains itself.

If the cornerstone is off, then down the whole building is off. A cornerstone was the most carefully selected of all stones, that the building might be set as to its walls and its form in perfect order. Cornerstones were massive stones.

There is a cornerstone in the Herodian wall that rises to surround the temple mount in Jerusalem. The corner stone is 32 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet. Another foundation stone at the base of the Herodian wall was 12 meters long and weighed tons.

How they quarried it and how they moved it is still unknown. But a cornerstone of a great building was a key stone. In selecting the foundation stone, they wanted to be sure it was perfect. The psalmist says that there was a stone which the builders rejected. It’s not adequate, right, perfect and rejected it.

They threw it away. But it became, later, the head of the corner.

Who did it? It is the Lord’s doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes. God brings back a stone that men reject and puts it in the place of the most significance.

What is the psalm talking about?

What stone is this? Israel is in the psalm. Israel was a stone which the empire builders of the world rejected. This is the historic sense of the psalm. The empire builders of the world ignored Israel. They saw Israel as insignificant, unimportant, and they discarded Israel. They have no place for Israel in the building of their great empires.

But not so the Lord. For the stone Israel, which indeed is the cornerstone of the redemptive history of the world, which the world has despised and rejected. God sets back in the place of significance in the building of his redemptive plan.

The world may reject Israel and their place in history, but God knows they signify the key place in His redemptive plan. So, God miraculously keeps picking Israel up off the discarded stone pile and sticking it back into His plan as the key cornerstone.

Historic and a very important point to note. This small nation, which continues to exist, is the cornerstone in the divine plan of God for redemptive history. But there was something even more than that in that verse. Much of the Psalm gives us messianic perspectives.

Those messianic perspectives, there is a double fulfillment. This Psalm intended to go far beyond the nation Israel and to talk about one who comes out of the loins of that nation Israel. Peter is preaching in the city of Jerusalem, addressing the leaders of Israel, the Sanhedrin, the same group that Jesus is talking to in Matthew 21.

Acts 4:10-12, If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to 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 stands here before

you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Who is the stone then of Psalm 118? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The stone which the builders rejected, whom God raised from the dead, has now become the head of the corner.

• The rejected stone is the crucified Christ.
• The restored cornerstone is the resurrected Christ.

It couldn’t be more clearly said than that. Peter reiterates the same message again is his epistle.

1 Peter 2:6-8, Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 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,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. Christ is the cornerstone.

Ephesians 2:19-20, Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

The Lord by quoting Psalm 118:22-23 the men in the tenant farmer situation took the son out, and they slew the son. These leaders say that when the landowner comes back, he is going to miserably destroy those wicked sinners and take away the vineyard from them.

Jesus says to them, “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. Haven’t you read that?” The Lord is saying that the stone is Jesus Christ. The rejection constitutes the rejection of Israel.

The restoration constitutes His resurrection and His following glory. The stone is the Son. The builders are the farmers.

As the farmers rejected the Son, so the builders rejected the stone. If the stone is Christ, then the builders represent Israel and its religious leaders. The parallel between the parable is a

• stone and a son,
• builders and farmers.

Just as the builders rejected the stone who is Christ, so the farmers rejected the Son who is Christ. The parable is telling us that the son is Christ. Jesus uses the Word of God to explain the parable. The accusation is very powerful.

Once you know that the Son is the stone, Christ, then the farmers must be the religious leaders of Israel and their followers.

Who is the householder that sent the son? God.

What is the vineyard? The sphere of God’s blessing,

V 43, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. The kingdom of God. Who are the servants that were sent and murdered? The prophets and servants of God.

What a parable! Just like those farmers rejected that son and killed him, so you will reject the stone. But God will raise that stone again and put it back in the corner. A profound approach. God is the householder. God planted a vineyard, a place of blessing, a place of salvation, a place of promise, a place of covenant.

• You got in that place of blessing.
• You accumulated that.
• You misused that.
• You misappropriated that.
• You robbed from God what was due Him.
• You never gave Him the glory to His name.
• You never demonstrated the fruit of repentance.
• You never showed the fruit of righteousness.
• You gave God nothing.

When God sent His prophets to you, one after another of those prophets you killed. They took Isaiah, and with a wooden saw, they sawed Him in half.

Hebrews 11:37, They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—

They took Jeremiah and threw him into a pit, and ultimately, he was stoned. They rejected Ezekiel. Amos had to run for his life. Zechariah was rejected and stoned. Micah was smashed in the face. (1 Kings 22:24) This is how they treated the prophets, the kings, and the high priests, and the leaders of the people who were sent by God.

Matthew 23:31-35, “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape

the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

They were identified as the sons of them who killed the prophets. You are going to keep doing what your fathers have done. They did. Paul apostle did! They killed one of the prophets right in the temple. Identify the deity of our Lord ever gave.

Mark 12:6, Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ Christ distinguishes Himself as the Son of God, sent from God, as different than the prophets. Jesus is not a servant like they were, but He is the only Son.

It is a claim to deity. In the parable, this is the heir. To him belongs the inheritance is the implication.

This is the Son. Remarkable claim by Jesus to be the Son of God. A claim for which they wanted Him dead. Jesus claimed to be the only Son of God, not a prophet like other prophets, not even the best of the prophets. Nothing less will do than that He is the incarnate Son of God.

He is either that or He is a false prophet and a liar. V 38, But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. They knew who He was! They saw His miracles.

They heard His words. They knew who He was, but they wanted Him dead because they wanted to possess the kingdom on their own terms. What horrible blindness. What evil. They knew who He was. Even when Jesus rose from the dead, they bribed the soldiers to lie about His resurrection.

They knew the truth. They were unwilling to accept it like people today. There is no lack of evidence. There is no lack of credibility regarding Christ. They wanted Him dead because they were afraid to lose their position, power, and control.

Jesus is here telling them to their face that He knows they will kill Him. There is no surprise to Him. Jesus is not a victim.

John 10:18, No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” V 39, So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Christ was crucified outside the gate.

Hebrews 13:12, Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

The parable is so clear. Israel, the place of blessing. Israel, the place of salvation.

Israel, the place where God poured out the goodness of His mercy and grace. Israel when they drifted into sin and selfishness, God sent His prophets whom they hated, despised, and murdered. Finally, God sent His Son. They took Him outside and killed Him.

It hasn’t happened but Jesus tells them this is what you are going to do.

4. Application

V 43, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. V 41, They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

What are those fruits?

Matthew 3:8, Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,

The demonstration of righteousness that comes out of the life that is turned from sin. Jesus says to the leaders of Israel that they have lost the right to be in the place of blessing.

God turned from Israel. End of a great era. God turned away from Israel as the people of blessing and says, that I will give it to a nation.

What nation? The word means people.

What people?

1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;

The Church. The redeemed of this age. A kingdom of God shall be taken from you, given to someone else. Taken away. sad. Replacement. Israel today is unblessed. Israel has been removed for the time being from the place of blessing.

Will they ever come back?

Yes, they will. God will graft them in, it says in Romans. All Israel will be saved.

Romans 11:29, For the gifts and the calling of

God are irrevocable.

Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. Salvation will come to Israel. Some from every tribe will become evangelists to proclaim the Gospel around the world.

Their day will come again, because God has a promise He must fulfill. But for now, Israel set aside.

Romans 9:25-26, As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” 26 “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.”

Holy nation is not ethnically defined but defined by faith in Christ. We are that nation. We bring forth the fruit of repentance, righteousness by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the new channel through which God can bring the Gospel of salvation to a world that needs it so much.

V 44, And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Whoever tries to seize the Lord Jesus Christ to do harm to Him shall be broken into pieces. You do that to God’s Son, and that’s what God will do to you.

The Jews who responded to the parable that the landowner, God will miserably destroy those wicked men who seized His Son. You fall upon the Lord Jesus Christ, to do evil to Him, to do harm to Him, and you will be broken to bits.

In the final judgment, when He falls on you, you will be crushed to powder. Strong words.

1 Corinthians 16:22, If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come! Crushing is scattering into nothingness. You do harm to Christ, you seize Christ and kill Him, and you will be broken. When He comes to judgment, He will crush.

Daniel 2:34-35, You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 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. Illustration of the Parable: Jesus will judge in a pulverizing, eternal judgment those who have rejected Him.

Conclusion: Given by the religious leaders out of their own mouth. Explanation: From their own word’s rejecters ought to be judged and replaced.

5. Response

V 45, Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. They got the message.

How could they miss it? They knew He was talking about them. They understood it all. They had no question about it. They knew they were the ones who killed the prophets and tried to hoard the vineyard and would kill the Son. They knew that’s who they were. They knew He spoke of them.

Were they convicted?

Did they turn their hearts toward Christ? V 46, But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

What are they going to do now? They were going to seize Him anyway. They were going to seize Him to kill Him. But they were afraid of the crowd because they regarded Him as a prophet.

Herod Antipas was afraid to take John and kill Him because the people thought he was a prophet. They don’t want to touch Jesus because the people think He is a prophet. What held them back is only one thing, that is fear of the people.

The Sanhedrin wants Jesus dead, but they were afraid. They have just heard the truth about themselves, but they could care less. They know He’s the Son of God, but they don’t care about that either.

What unbelievable unbelief? But it is characteristic of all unbelievers who reject the truth. So sad. God sent His Son, and the world is filled with people like these people, who with all the information turn their back on Him and stand with those who would seize and do Him harm rather than those who would embrace and kiss the Son.

What do we learn about God?

• a) God’s Grace.

Giving them privileged blessing,

Giving them a hope of promise, Giving them potential great reward, Giving them a vineyard of blessing in which they can live and be blessed.

• b) God’s Patience.

We learn about His patience with men. How many times has God sent a messenger after messenger? Though they are rejected repeatedly God did sent the prophets.

• c) God’s love

We learn about His love for men, because He not only sent messengers finally God did send His Only Son. This shows us that how much God loves, because He sent His Son to die at the hands of those men.

• d) God’s Judgement.

We also learn about the judgment of God.

He will come in destruction against those who destroyed Christ. What did we learn about Christ in this parable? We learn about His claim to deity. He was the Son. He is the stone. We learn about His willingness to die. He came to die.

He knew it was ahead. He knew where they were taking Him. He knew they were going to murder Him. He told them to their face and never tried to avoid that. We learn about His resurrection. The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.

He is restored to the place of glory and majesty and supremacy. We learn that he is the determiner of destiny, because what you do with Jesus Christ determines your eternity.

What do we learn about men? We learn that men have great privilege. They have God’s revelation. They have the Scripture.

They have a world of providential blessing in which they live. They have the Gospel. We learn about not only men’s great privilege, but their great responsibility. The vineyard is ours. God has put us in a place where we can respond to Him, and we can see Him and hear Him and know Him.

What is our responsibility? Our accountability. The Lord is going to send His servants to check on how we are handling the things that have been given into our care. We learn about men’s stubborn and willful rejection of Christ.

Rejectors will be judged for such rejection.