Confronting Religion Pt 2: Illustrating Dead Religion

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21. Matthew, chapter 21. Today, we come to part two of our series, Confronting Religion. And we said ultimately this confronting of religion was really the confronting of dead religion. That's what Jesus is doing as he's come into Jerusalem in this week, leading up. To his death on the cross.

And so, last week, what we saw as he confronted religion is we saw the identification of dead religion. He did so, first of all, through the cursing of the fig tree, which was very symbolic of the nation of Israel, a nation who seemed to have all of the fruit that it should have because there were leaves on the tree, and yet lacked any sort of lasting fruit, just like the fig tree. And because the fig tree produced no fruit, Jesus cursed the fig tree, and in the same way, because the nation of Israel was produced. They would be set aside, and another would take their place, at least for a time.

And then, of course, there was the question about John the Baptist and authority, because the religious leaders asked Jesus, who gives you the authority to do the things that you're doing? And he said, well, I'll ask you a question. Who gave John the Baptist his authority? We said that that was a very important question for Jesus to ask, because John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the Messiah who had come directly from God.

Therefore, if God is the one that gave John the Baptist his authority, then who gives him his authority, then they should have listened to him and paid attention to the fact that Jesus is who he says he is. But if God did not give John the Baptist his authority, they, of course, feared the response of the people, because everybody loved John, and everybody regarded him in a very high way. And, of course, they said, we don't know. And Jesus said, I won't answer you either.

And in so doing, he revealed their hearts, that they cared nothing of the truth, they cared nothing about righteousness, and they cared nothing about producing the fruit of righteousness. They only cared about the truth. They only cared about the truth. They only cared about the truth. They only cared about their personal ideology and the opinions of others.

And he revealed the dead religion that was in their heart. Well, from that point on, Jesus was going to tell three different parables. Remember, we said parables are, for lack of better terms, this is what we all learned in Sunday school growing up, parables are an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And this is exactly what he's going to do. He's going to illustrate the deadness of their religion through three separate parables that

will span from chapter 21 on into chapter 22. And so we pick up with the first. We pick up with the first of these parables in chapter 21, verse 8, the parable of the two sons. Jesus, after saying, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things, he says this, but what do you think? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, go work today in the vineyard.

And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing. He answered, I will, sir. But he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They, meaning the religious leaders, said, well, the first. Jesus said to them, truly, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the

kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him. And you, seeing this. Did not even feel remorse afterwards, so as to believe him. Now, with each of these parables, there's a pattern that we'll see. We will see the parable itself, and then the lesson that's attached to the parable.

So first, let's look at what the parable says. It starts off like many of them do. This is a landowner, but in particular, it's a man that has two sons. And of course, his two sons work for him. And so his two sons work in this vineyard. And it shows up to son number one. He looks at son number one. He says, son. I need you to go out and work in the vineyard for me today.

Son number one sort of pops an attitude at first, right? He's the one that's maybe a little bit more rebellious by nature. And he says, no, I'm not going to go work in your stinking vineyard. I'm not going to be your errand boy anymore. I'm doing my own thing. But later, son number one kind of goes, that's a terrible way for me to act towards my dad. I didn't show him any respect.

And after all, I want to eat today. I think I'm going to go work in the vineyard. So he changes his course of action and goes and works in the vineyard. There's initial refusal, but then eventual obedience. And then he comes to son number two. And you know son number two was always the one who did what he was supposed to do, right? And he comes to him, or at least said he did what he was supposed to do.

Then he comes to son number two and says, son, I need you to go work in the vineyard. No problem, dad. You know I've always got you taken care of. But then son number two goes and does his own thing. He just goes off and lives however he wants to live. He doesn't go work in the vineyard. He went back in and turned on Netflix. Right? He's in his room chilling with Netflix turned way down so his dad couldn't hear what was going on.

He never actually obeyed. He gave the image that he was going to obey. He claimed obedience. And yet in his actions, he very much denied his claim. So Jesus looks at the religious leaders after presenting this story. And they're, of course, not thinking anything about how he's referring to them. He looks at him and he says, who do you think is the one? Who do you think is the one that actually obeyed their father?

And of course, they look at him and they're like, well, of course, the first one did. Because even though it took him a little bit of time, even though initially he said that wasn't what he was going to do, he actually ended up going and doing the will of his father and the second one did not. And the religious leaders had no idea what was about to be heaped upon them. Because now comes the lesson.

Because in the lesson, this is what Jesus says. He says, truly, I say to you, tax collection is not the only thing that you can do. You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. Tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.

This would have been the strongest dagger to the heart of a religious man in the nation of Israel at that point in time. Because he looks at them and says, the people that you despise the most, the people who you won't even walk by without holding your cloak a little bit closer to yourself so that the uncleanness of them will not rub off on you, those people are the ones that you despise. Are the ones that are actually going to enter the kingdom of heaven before you. Can you imagine the shock look on their face at that point in time of them going, what do you mean?

Right? Because what they don't realize is they're the second son. They're the one who said, we'll do what you want us to do. We'll go into the vineyard. We'll keep your covenant. But they never actually did. You see, they knew how to say all of the right things. They knew how to quote all of the right scripture. They knew how to have the correct phylactery sticking off of their head that had all of

the scripture in it. They knew how to wear the proper robes and they knew what it looked like to act like a religious man in public. The problem was it didn't produce any lasting fruit in their life because though they claimed it with their voice outwardly, their lives denied it daily. And so Jesus goes on to say, you see, John came to you. In the way of righteousness, and he declared to you what righteousness really looked like.

And you know what started happening? Tax collectors and prostitutes started getting convicted about the sin that they were living in, even though they started off saying, no, we're not going to go into the vineyard and work, even though they started off opposed to the things of God. Once they were enlightened, once their heart was quickened by the Holy Spirit, once they were convicted of their unrighteousness, they left behind their sinful ways. And they began to follow the truth.

They began to pursue God. He said, you, you heard the preaching of John the Baptist and you saw what happened with the tax collectors and prostitutes, and you never changed your mind and you never changed your actions. From this, there is a lesson that I think we should all draw into our lives and it should begin to permeate who we are and change the way that we think. He said, lip service without action makes God sick.

Lip service without action is what God hates the most. He said, you, you draw near to me with your lips, but your heart is so far from me. It's fascinating to go back and read some of the Old Testament prophets when God declared the very same thing about the people of Israel at that point in time. Do you know what God told them? He said, I want you to stop bringing me sacrifices.

In other words, I don't even want you to pretend to be righteous anymore. I'm just, I'm so tired of it. Your sacrifices make me sick. Your new moons irritate me. And all of the righteousness you do on the outside that has no heart behind it, I just don't want you to do it anymore because it's just lip service with no real action. It's just lip service with no real heart behind it.

And I think for all of us, living in the Western culture church today who can sometimes be really, really good at knowing the right things to say and putting on the right face in the right places. We need to be reminded that if there's no real heart behind it, God says, and just don't show up, just don't show up because I want it to be what your heart desires to do. I want it to be who you really are. And he says, that's not who you guys are right now.

You know how to say the right things. You have leaves on your tree, but you're producing no fruit. Well, he goes on from there sort of in rapid fire succession to tell them another parable. This is called the parable of the landowner. He said, listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and he put a wall around it and he dug a wine press in it.

And he built a tower and he rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. When harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine growers to receive his produce. The vine growers took his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Again, he sent another group of slaves, larger than the first, and they did the same thing to them. But afterward,

he sent his son to them saying, they will respect my ruler. son. But when the vine growers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him, seize his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine growers? They said, he will bring those wretches to a wretched end and will rent out the vineyard

to other vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at proper seasons. Jesus said to them, did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected? This became the chief cornerstone. This came out, came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in your eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people

producing the fruit of it. He who falls on this stone, will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them. And when they sought to seize him, they feared the people because they considered him to be a prophet. A second parable, a little bit similar to the first one, but a few characters

are a little bit different. This parable, once again, contains a landowner. The landowner, of course, is the Lord. Landowner plants a vineyard, puts a wall around it, digs a wine press in it, builds a tower, and then rinse it out to vine growers. You know, what's fascinating is if you go back to the book of Isaiah, if I remember correctly, it's Isaiah chapter five, verses one through seven. I might

be off on that. It's in that general area. Almost this exact same thing is mentioned by God through Isaiah to the people. How there was a man who owned a vineyard. In this vineyard, he did everything that he needed to. He planted it. He dug wine presses. He watered it. He tended it. He watered it. He did all the things that he needed to, expecting to come to it and find fruit. But when he came to it,

he found nothing but sour grapes. He found nothing but unedible fruit. In other words, it didn't produce anything that it was supposed to produce. And he said, so what am I going to do with that vineyard? Well, this time it's a vineyard, which we know is the nation of Israel. And he takes all of the care necessary to give it everything that it needs. He puts a wall around it for protection.

He puts a wall around it for protection. He puts a wall around it for protection. He puts a wall around it for protection. He puts a tower there for protection. He digs a wine press. He does all the things he needs to, to make it a productive vineyard. Only this time, different from Isaiah, it has less to do with the vineyard and more to do with the vineyard keepers. It says he rented it

out to those who would keep the vineyard. Of course, those who would keep the vineyard were anyone who was in a religious position within the nation of Israel. Kind of from the beginning of the nation of Israel, spanning all the way to where they are now with the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And he says, when harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine growers to receive his produce. In other words, he says, I expect fruit from this.

Only all of those who were in charge of the vineyard treated the slaves very badly. As a matter of fact, they mistreated them. They killed some and they stoned some. This happened twice. Now, we know that these that have been sent are none other than the prophets of old coming up to even John the Baptist. All of those who are truly seeking after the fruit that God would have for the nation to produce. And yet, unfortunately,

those in charge of the religion of the nation simply mistreated them instead of providing fruit that got expected from the nation. And so Jesus asks a very interesting question. Oh, no, no. It comes to one more thing. It says, so afterward, after they'd done all of that to the people, he says, I'll send my son. They'll respect him. How they didn't see this coming, I don't know. It's kind of fascinating the way that they respond.

We'll get to that in just a minute. How they didn't see it coming, I don't know, other than their eyes are so spiritually dark. And he says, I'll send my son. They'll respect him. Of course, as the son is coming, all of the vine growers look and they say, that's his son. Let's kill him in the vineyard. Will belong to us. So that's exactly what they did. They killed the son.

Now, I would think anybody listening to this story with half a brain would pick up on the fact that Jesus is the son and they all want to kill him. And it was said earlier in chapter 21 that they sought to kill him, but they knew that they couldn't because the people feared him or the people respected him so much. It's going to be stated again at the end of the chapter. And yet they don't pick up on him. And so Jesus looks at them because he wants to really drive

the point home in this parable. He looks at them and he says, so what should that landowner do to those vine growers? I love the way that they respond. First of all, because they use the word wretch twice. They said to him, he will bring those wretches to a wretched end. If I'm really mad at somebody, I'm going to call them a wretch. I'm going to tell them I'll bring

them to a wretched end. It just feels, there's just power in that. I'm going to call them a wretched end. I'm going to call them a wretched end. I'm going to tell them I'll bring them to a wretched end. saying that word twice, I feel like he'll bring those wretches to a wretched end and he will rent out the vineyard to other vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at proper, at the proper

seasons. Can I just make a quick aside here? Quick side point that I think begs to be made. Our sin always looks worse on somebody else. It's a whole lot easier for us to unleash righteous fury on our sin when we see it worn all over somebody else's clothes, because that's exactly what these guys are doing. For centuries, the religious community of Israel had treated the

prophets so badly and rejected the prophets and the teachers that God had sent to them. Stephen in the book of Acts, when he speaks out against the religion in the book of Acts, says the exact same thing. As a matter of fact, he recounts it in several different ways, how they'd always, rejected God's messengers. And now the sun is standing right in front of them and they want to kill the sun. But when they hear what happened to this vineyard, they say,

those wretches, they're going to reach a wretched end. Why? Because it looks so much worse on somebody else. Brothers and sisters, I would encourage you to think about something. If something really bothers you about somebody else, I want you to think about whether or not that's something you struggle with yourself. I know that's not a fun thing to think, because I know we all have somebody

in our lives that we think, dude, what are you doing? Why are you, why do you do that? That is such an ugly thing. That, that offends me. That's a great word, isn't it? That offends me so much that you do that. Maybe if it offends you that much, it's because you might struggle with it yourself. Because we can always have a tendency to lash out against sin in others, especially when

it's the same sin that we would do. And so, I want you to think about that. I want you to think about ourselves. These guys are correct. Those wretches do need to reach a wretched end, and it will be given to somebody else. And so, Jesus goes on to quote this scripture. Jesus said to them, did you never read in the scriptures? Can we just for a moment just take the glory of that statement

that he just made to them? Did they ever read in the scriptures? These guys made it their job to read the scriptures. They made it their job to memorize the scriptures. They made it their job to know the scriptures. They made it their job to know the scriptures. They made it their job to know the scriptures. Because they were the ones who held the keys to truth. And if anyone wanted

to know the truth, they were the ones that unlocked the door for everybody else. Have we ever read in scriptures? The incredulity all over their faces at this point in time had to have been palpable, right? They would have been like, have we ever read in the scriptures? It's like talking to a Sunday school teacher who's been teaching Sunday school for the past 35 years, and they're like,

have you ever heard the story of Jericho? And they're like, have I ever heard the story of Jericho? Have you ever heard the story of Jericho? Have you ever heard the story of Jericho? The stone, which the builders rejected, became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. He said, haven't you ever heard that before? By the way, this is

another quote from Psalm 118. Second time in chapter 21 that Psalm 118 is quoted. Do you know what the other time Psalm 118 was quoted? Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Psalm 118. the messianic psalm that's the psalm that they were singing when Jesus came riding into town when he came riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey the common people declaring him to be the

messiah but you know what else it was said about the messiah that there would be a rejection of the messiah because the stone which the builders rejected would become the chief cornerstone would become the one that everybody would look at and say that was the most important thing it turns out we rejected him he says don't you understand have you never read in the scriptures that the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone in other words you're doing right now and have been doing for the past three years of my ministry you're doing the very thing psalm 118 said you would do with the messiah you're rejecting him isn't it amazing how we can do things like that and not even pay attention to it you

and yet at this point in time I believe there's still an opportunity for them to repent but do they take it no you know why same reason that we talked about last week personal ideology popular opinion their personal ideology would not allow them to acknowledge their sin and repent the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone then he goes on in verse 43 to say therefore I say to you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it he says you're exactly right about what you said about the landowner because the vineyard does need to be taken away from those vine growers who treated the servants so spitefully and didn't produce any fruit for the landowner you're exactly

right about that and that's exactly what's going to happen to you is that it will be taken away from you and given to another. And as a matter of fact, as we continue on in scripture, that's exactly what you see. Because in the book of Acts, the religious community no longer held the keys to the kingdom. It was the apostles. And as the apostles held the keys to the kingdom and began

giving out the message to the people, the Jewish people rejected it. And so who did they go to? Paul tells us, he says, therefore I go to the Gentiles. And now it's going to be given to them. And now we have this beautiful thing that's taken place over the past couple thousand years known as the church where you have a blended together of mainly Gentiles with a handful remnant of Jews

who have the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah and the only way to salvation. And that will continue until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. And then God will once again deal with Jewish people again. But what they said was exactly true. It will be taken from you and given. To another. May I bring up another aside here that I think is important for us to pay attention to?

The rejection of Jesus carries consequences. Nationally, it carried consequences for Israel because as a nation, Israel was rejecting Jesus. And as they rejected Jesus, Jesus rejected them. And I think that there's a word here for us living in the United States of America today. Because while we're in the United States of America, we're in the United States of America.

While the nation was not founded perfectly, and while I don't consider myself a Christian nationalist who's hoping to make America great again, I do know that the one thing about this nation that ever gave it any greatness was that it was founded on the principles of God's word. Because it was founded on the principles of God's word, we saw God bless it. It was a place where the gospel could grow from which we could send messengers of the gospel throughout the rest of the world. But what's happening in America now is the exact same thing that happened in Israel then.

They rejected Jesus. And as they rejected Jesus, he set them aside. As a nation right now, we are rejecting Jesus. I would venture to say we've been hardcore rejecting Jesus since 2008, if you can do a little math and figure out what took place then. We've been hardcore rejecting Jesus since then. That was when we became. According to our Bible, we became. Our leader at that time, no longer a Christian nation.

His words, not mine.

And when that begins to take place, the heart of the nation begins to change. I realize a lot took place well before that. A lot took place well before that. That was the culmination of it. But what we've seen since then is the complete turning of the heart of the nation. And then what we've seen over the last two years was the unveiling of the heart of the

nation. That honestly is what's taken place since 2020. It was there. We just pulled the covers off of the heart. And we went, oh, that's what's in there. Now, we as a church, we as a church have a job to not be just like the rest of the nation and reject Jesus, but be a beacon on a hill. To be those who will stand for the truth. Those who will continue to hold up the light of the gospel to the world that is around us.

Even though as a nation, we're rejecting. It.

Jesus goes on from there to say, he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. But on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust. I think that there is both a theological point and a very practical point to be made out of this. The theological point I believe that needs to be made of this actually we're told about in the book of Daniel with the statue and Nebuchadnezzar's dream where you had the head of gold.

the, I may get my things here, the arms of silver, the body of bronze, the legs of iron, and the toes of iron and clay that represented the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, and then a mixed Roman Empire, a ten-nation confederation. Well, if you look at that prophecy that God actually gave to a Gentile king at that point in time, at the very end when it talks about those toes that are made of iron and clay, it says that a rock fell on them, and as the rock fell on them, it shattered them into a million pieces. I believe that the theological point that Jesus is making right now is that there will come a time when he will shatter the kingdoms of the world no matter what they are,

and that stone which the builders rejected will become the chief cornerstone, the one who ultimately rules and reigns in the earth. But I also think that there's a... There's a very practical point that needs to be made here. Because Jesus says, whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but whoever this stone falls on will be crushed into dust. Because there's one of two ways that you will handle the truth of the gospel.

The first way that you can handle the truth of the gospel and the truth of who Jesus is is that you can find yourself falling upon it. Now, when you fall upon the truth of the gospel, you're broken. You're broken. And as a matter of fact, I've always said that we then, at that point in time, for the rest of our lives, live beautifully broken. Yes, there's healing that takes place, but ultimately, every time I come to Jesus,

I'm well aware of the fact that in my flesh, there's always going to be a brokenness there. There's always going to be an aspect of brokenness as long as I live here because I will always live with my flesh. But that's a beautiful thing because if I come to him and I fall upon him as broken, then when I fall upon him as broken, then when I fall upon him as broken, then he is my healing. He is my wholeness.

He is my completion. He's my everything because I have fallen upon that rock, that rock that is higher than I, that rock that is the only thing that can ever restore the brokenness inside of me that I continually need restored on a daily basis. That's one way that I can handle the truth of the gospel. But you see, Jesus will be one of two things for us. He will either be our Savior,

or he will be our judge. Because the other way that we handle the truth of the gospel and the truth of God's word, if we're not willing to fall upon it, you can guarantee eventually it will fall upon you. And if it falls upon you, you will be crushed to a million pieces. We would call that eternal separation from God. It's God's desire that none should perish,

but that all should come to eternal life. But he's given all of us a choice to make. That's what he's presenting to these guys right now. I think even now, he is extending the hand of salvation to them, even in the process of them rejecting. Because even after he leaves, there's still going to be opportunity for people to come to know Jesus. There's still going to be opportunity for the Jewish people to come to know him.

As a matter of fact, one of the religious leaders, who who knows might have been standing here at this point in time, ends up becoming the biggest preacher of the gospel in the early church. And it's going to be a big thing. And it's going to be a big thing. His name was Paul. Paul eventually fell upon the rock, and while it broke him, it completed him. He began to understand that the stone which the builders had rejected

had become the chief cornerstone. Brothers and sisters, I know there's a very good chance most of you in here are saved. But that doesn't mean we don't need to be reminded to fall upon that rock. Because if I fall upon it, there's brokenness. But there's also the promise of healing in my Savior.

It goes on from there to say in verse 45, when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them. When they sought to seize him, they feared the people because they considered him to be a prophet. Okay, let's lighten the moment for a minute. I wonder at what point in time they were like, I think he meant us.

Right? I think he's talking about us in that. Son of a gun. And listen to us. Oh, these wretches. We're not wretches. Are we wretches? No. That is a wretched thing though. Right? At what point in time did that happen? They finally are starting to clue in on it. Well, Jesus isn't done yet. Because there's one more parable he's going to tell in chapter 22. It's called the parable of the marriage feast.

Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slave,

Sorry, I just looked at the clock, lost my place. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast and they were unwilling to come. Again, he sent out other slaves saying, Tell those who have been invited. Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.

But they paid no attention and went their way. One to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized. He seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. He said to his slaves, The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

Go therefore to the highways and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast. Those slaves went into the streets, gathered together all they found, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes. He said, Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?

The man was speechless. The king said to his servants, Bind him hand and foot. Throw him into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping. And gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few chosen. Another real interesting parable that again involves a father in a kingdom. He says this, The kingdom of heaven will be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

You can imagine the joy of it, right? Some of you have planned weddings before. I get to stand up in front of weddings a lot of times and they're always fun to be a part of. There's always guests and everything. He says he planned this wedding for his son. And as he plans this wedding for his son, all of the preparations are made. And when all of the preparations were made,

it says, He sent his slaves out the first time to gather all those who'd been invited. All their closest friends and family. The slaves go out and they say, It's time. It's time for the wedding feast. Come on out. Everything's ready. But once you notice how everybody reacted the first time. It says, He called all those who had been invited. Verse 3, To the wedding feast and they were unwilling to come.

They were like, No, we're not coming. Not going to do it. Kind of indifferent to it. I don't really care that the wedding's happening. I'm not coming to that thing. And so he's like, Huh. They must not have heard it right the first time. I bet I didn't communicate it very well. I'll send them out again. So again, he sent out other slaves. Way better communicators, much prettier.

Tell those who've been invited, Behold, I've prepared my dinner. Here's the menu. I have oxen. Fattened livestock. They're all butchered. Everything's ready. You don't have to do any work. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention. They went on their way. One went to his farm. Another to his business. But then check out how they treated some of the other ones.

It says, And the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. Can you imagine just beating up the mailman for bringing you a wedding invitation?

Of course, there's a little hyperbole that's used here because Jesus is emphasizing a point. They'd all been invited. But not only were some indifferent, not only did some reject, some were hostile to coming to this wedding feast. Sound kind of similar to the other parables we've talked about. There was a rejection. The rejection was indifferent or hostile.

And so what does he do? What's the king that wants to throw a wedding for his son do? He says, Fine. Let's invite somebody completely different. He says, Wait, I missed a verse. He does one other thing first. Did you take note of it? Verse seven, sort of a harsh verse. But the king was enraged and he sent his armies and he destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.

Many of the commentators that I read believe that this is a direct reference to what will take place in 8070 with the destruction of Jerusalem. Because as the. Religious leaders not only were indifferent to the call of Jesus, not only rejected the call of Jesus, but were hostile to his servants and hostile to Jesus himself. And so then he says, Go out. Verse nine,

go into the highways and as many as you invite there there have them attend the feast. So they went out into the streets and they found all both evil and good. And the wedding hall was filled with. He goes, I want you to go everywhere. Highways, byways, invite everybody. I don't care if they look like they belong. I don't care if we know him. I don't care if you think that they should be a part of the wedding feast.

Go invite them and bring them to the wedding feast. So that's exactly what they did. And the wedding hall is full of people. You can imagine dad now, right? He comes out and all it's full of all these people. I don't know any of them, but that's okay. The wedding hall is full of people. The wedding hall is full of people. He gets really excited. Then he goes on to see that there's one person there that just doesn't seem to fit.

Notice when it says verse 11, when the king came to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there that was not dressed in wedding clothes. He asked him, he said, how'd you get in here without wedding clothes? And the guy was speechless. He was like, a little bit of debate. He was like, a little bit of debate. He was like, a little bit of debate among commentators about this,

because they said there's really no Jewish tradition about having a specific wedding garment. There's a Greek tradition about it. The Greeks had to wear a specific garment into the wedding. But again, Jesus is driving home a point. Now, I go to a lot of weddings, get to do a good number of them, and I am always amazed, and this isn't a statement about anyone or anything,

but I'm always amazed at how some people show up to a wedding. Because I'm kind of like, I guess the formality is really not there. It's really not there anymore, you know? Some folks come in a full on suit, man, they look ready to go. Some dude's there in shorts and a t-shirt, and you're going, okay. So every time I see somebody like that, I'm like, I'm pretty sure Jesus

would have something to say to you right now. I want to be like, how'd you get in here without your wedding clothes, right? Got a suit in the back for you, man. Go put that thing on. Anyway, so he sees this guy, and he's like, what are you doing in here? How'd you get in here without any wedding clothes? Whether there was a tradition, among the Jews or not,

he's making a point. And of course the guy's just going.

So the king says, bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into outer darkness. Straight out the door. What an interesting scene there. Why? Because he closes up with this one line. Because many are called, but few are chosen. So what's the lesson here for us out of this parable? Well, the lesson here, of course, is that, first of all, we see that the king is the Lord,

and the wedding feast is the kingdom. And he's invited all of these people into the kingdom. Those who rejected at first are the Jewish people themselves. They rejected the message to the kingdom. All those servants that went out, some of which were highly mistreated, are just like the other servants we've talked about. Those who have been ministers of the word of God

from the time of the prophets in the Old Testament up through, I believe, even the apostles, and they get mistreated. And so, how does the king handle it? Fine, they don't get to come to the wedding feast. Some were indifferent to it. Some were hostile to it. Whatever it was, they said, you don't get to come to the wedding feast. Now go out and invite everybody.

Who's the everybody? Well, first of all, I think it's the non-religious Jews. The same ones we talked about in the very first parable. The tax collectors and the prostitutes. Those that society looked at as, oh, they're the Jews. Those that society looked down upon. And then he said, and go as far as you want to. That's us, the Gentiles. He says, invite everybody to this wedding feast

and bring them all in. The kingdom is now being given to others. The feast is now for anybody that's willing to come. But there's a stipulation. You can't come in your own way. You have to come in the king's way. Because in the same way, there was a man who was invited. I don't think this was an uninvited guest. He was willing to accept the invitation to be a part of the kingdom.

But he wanted to be a part of the feast. He wanted to be a part of the kingdom in the way that he wanted to be a part of the kingdom. He wanted to come, if you will, in his own righteousness. He said, don't all roads lead to the wedding feast. Don't all roads lead to God. Can't I just do it how I want to do it? Ah, you see. The invitation is for everybody. And I think that's an important thing for us

to pay attention to as believers in Jesus Christ. The invitation goes out to everybody. And I should be willing to welcome anybody into the kingdom of heaven. Whatever their background, whatever their story, whatever things they've done before, anybody's welcome into the church and anybody's welcome into the kingdom. But you have to come in God's way. And the way that you come into the kingdom

is by leaving all of the old stuff outside, putting on the robes of faith, putting on the robes of God's righteousness through salvation. Because while everyone is invited, the only ones that get to stay are the ones whose lives are changed, are the ones who are willing to leave behind the world to follow the Lord. It's a great lesson there for the church. Because as the church, it's our tendency to have the first word of the gospel be, Jesus loves you and he accepts you.

That's true. Jesus does love you. Jesus does accept you. But that's not actually the first word of the gospel. The first word of the gospel is repent. That was the word that John preached, John B. That was the first word he preached when he started preaching to people. Is he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then you come to the ministry of Jesus.

What's the very first word Jesus used? He said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then when you look at the message of the gospel that the disciples gave on the day of Pentecost, what was the first thing Peter said? Repent that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. In other words, if you wanna be a part of the feast, if you wanna be a part of the kingdom,

everyone's welcome, but there's one stipulation. You have to repent. You have to leave your old clothing at the door. And you have to put on the clothing of Jesus Christ. And you have to leave your old clothing at the door. And you have to put on the clothing of Jesus Christ. And you have to leave your old clothing at the door. And you have to put on the clothing of Jesus Christ.

You have to put on the righteousness of Christ. Three very different parables, similar messages in each one. The parable of the two sons, he doesn't want lip service. He wants a heart of action. He doesn't want you to say you're gonna do it. He wants follow through. The parable of the landowner, you can either fall on the stone and be broken, or the stone can fall on you and be crushed.

Jesus will either be your savior or your judge. The parable of the wedding feast, all are invited, anyone's accepted, but you have to come God's way, not your own way. Three very different parables, three very similar messages, all three of which revealed the religious deadness of the nation of Israel at the time. Because God, when he looks at our hearts, doesn't want to see a heart that's lacking fruit, he wants to see a heart that is alive in him.

And so, the challenge for us is the same as it was for the religious leaders of that time. What will you do with Jesus? Ryan, I got saved a really long time ago. That's not what I said. I said, what will you do with Jesus? Because what are you doing with Jesus today? Just because you accepted him 30 years ago doesn't mean that you're living a vibrant life in Christ today, does not mean,

doesn't mean that you're doing a new life in Christ today, doesn't mean that you're living a vibrant life in Christ today, does not mean, that you are walking in the newness of life today because accepting Jesus 30 years ago was a wonderful start for your life. But now every day you have to continue to fall on that same stone. Every day of our lives, it can't be lip service, it has to be heart action. Every day of our lives, we come to God in his way, not in my own way.

Every day of my life, my heart sits before him and I want it to be alive, not dead in my religion. Amen? As we gather here this morning, it's Communion Sunday. And as we gather for Communion Sunday, we are reminded of the newness of life that we have in Christ. But that newness of life came about because the son was rejected, because the son was crucified, and because the son took the punishment

of his sin. That rightly belongs to you and me. And we're told in scripture that every time that we do this, we should do so in a worthy manner. So as we sit here this morning, I want to make sure that our hearts do so in a worthy manner. We do so by making sure, first of all, that we understand exactly what we're doing. What we have sitting in these little trays

is a little bit of juice and a little bit of cracker. That in and of themselves are simply that. But they are symbolic of something. Something that is so much deeper. Because they are symbolic of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. His body that was broken for us and his blood that was shed for us. Listen, so that we would not have to have the stone fall on us,

but that he could heal the brokenness inside of us. He's given us that. So every time we partake in this, we proclaim to each other and really to the whole world, my one place of hope, is not in my religion. My one place of hope is not belonging to a church. It's not attending a church on a Sunday morning. My one place of hope can never be the words of my mouth.

My one place of hope is my faith and the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

It represents the unity that we have with him. Since it's called communion, that which is in common, it's our unity that we have with each other. Because when we gather on a Sunday morning, we're a whole lot more than a group of people sitting in a bunch of chairs. We're a body. We're a family of Christ. And the glue that bonds us all together is the body and the blood of Jesus.

Because we come from very different backgrounds. We come from very different pasts. We come from very different places. But there's one thing that holds us all together, and that's the hope, the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. It transcends all the differences that we have because in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. We're one in him.

So we celebrate that oneness. So to partake, we not only make sure that we do so in a worthy manner by understanding what we're doing and the seriousness of it, but by making sure that our hearts are right before the Lord. If you're here this morning and you've never come to a relationship with Jesus Christ, you've never fallen upon that rock, you've never made that decision of what you're gonna do with Jesus, then today's the day for you to do that. And while the guys lead us, just in a last song, simply bow your head, close your eyes, and give your heart to Jesus.

Confess that you're a sinner, accept that he's your savior, and ask him to come dwell inside of you. And that's exactly what he'll do. But if you're here this morning and you're the other kind of person I talked about, you've walked with the Lord for a long time, you need to make sure that you're continuing to keep that relationship with him alive. Therefore, sin must be confessed.

Repentance must take place. Clear out your heart with the Lord because I'm well aware that after a month or a week or a day, five minutes, we have the potential that we've somehow screwed up. We just want that heart to be totally clear before the Lord. So I'm gonna invite the worship team to come on up and they're gonna share with us one last song. And as they do, sing along

and do some business with the Lord in your heart. And I'm gonna ask the ushers to come down and begin to, distribute the elements. And as they do so, as you receive your elements, if you would stand and we'll all partake together. Great the chasm that lay between us How high the mountain I could not climb In desperation I turned to heaven And spoke your name in two And through the darkness Your loving kindness Tore through the shadows Of his filleting Jesus Christ My living Imagine So great a mercy What heart could fathom Such boundless grace Cross has spoken I am forgiven The King of kings calls me I'm yours forever Jesus Christ There's salvation in your name Jesus Christ My legs begin to breathe Out of the silence The roaring lion Lared the grave

Jesus yours Is the very best Jesus yours Is the very best There's salvation in your name Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you. Lord, I thank you so much. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the power of the cross in our lives, Lord. The power of God unto salvation. Lord, to those who are perishing, it's foolishness. But to those who are being saved,

the message of the cross is the very power of God. We praise you for it, Lord. Father, I ask that you would bless me. Lord, I ask that you would bless me. Lord, I ask that you would bless me. Keep us ever aware, Lord, of the sacrifice that you've made for us. We thank you for it, Lord. We thank you that this is our one place of living hope. And so, Lord, unite our hearts together as family

and continue to unite our heart together with you and our will and our desire. We thank you for your sacrifice, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. You may partake. Father, we thank you. Thank you for what we've learned in your word this morning. And I just ask that it would stick with us as we roll on from here. Lord, that only the things of you would be in our hearts and minds.

Lord, anything of me would just disappear. Lord, continue your work that you've begun in us. Father, we thank you and we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name, amen. Have a blessed week.