We've been looking at a short series of parables from Luke's Gospel, and we look at the final one from Luke 20 that we've just read together.
You can listen to the others back online on our church website. I encourage you to look at that and any feedback we always appreciate.
Well, let's pray.
Before we look at God's Word together, let's do that now.
Our Father God, we have been reminded, as we've gathered today, of how fragile our lives are.
And Father, we recognize too that one day we will come to an end on this earth.
And so we pray and we ask that you will not let these moments or days pass us by without us reflecting and thinking hard about our own lives today,
how we live for you, and what is to come.
And we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would take your Word,
and you would drive it deep into our hearts and into our lives,
so that not one of us will leave this building
without meeting the Lord Jesus Christ,
our King,
our Saviour,
our Father,
and our Lord.
So, Father, please,
do your work amongst us.
Rebuke us where we need to be rebuked.
Comfort us where we need that comfort.
And build us up in the faith, we pray.
We ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Not long after Barack Obama was elected president for the very first time,
I met a businessman from the US.
And to make conversation, I asked him,
what do you think of your new president?
He replied rather angrily,
he ain't my president.
He then proceeded to explain how he never wanted him
and never voted for him.
However, even though he doesn't like Obama,
he is still his president.
No amount of rejection can actually change that fact.
Now, in a universal sense,
Jesus has been appointed King
over all peoples and over all nations.
We might not like that he is King.
We might not have voted him in as King.
But he is our King.
This became crystal clear when Jesus arrived into Jerusalem
as he was riding on a colt.
That very act of riding towards Jerusalem on a colt
fulfilled God's promise of an appointed king that was to come.
We can read about the crowd's reaction in chapter 19 of Luke,
if you just flick back a page.
Luke chapter 19, verse 38.
Here's the crowd's reaction as Jesus came.
Luke 19, verse 38.
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest
as the crowds celebrated the arrival of King Jesus.
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus,
Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
Tell them to stop behaving like this.
I tell you, Jesus replied,
if they keep quiet,
then the stones will cry out.
In other words, he's being very pointed towards them.
He is saying,
you might not like the fact that I am King.
You might reject my kingship,
but there is nothing and there is no one
who can stop me being King.
Of course, this only intensified
Jesus' relationship with the religious leaders.
It brought them into great conflict.
In verse 47 of chapter 19,
we read that every day,
Jesus was teaching in the temple,
but the chief priests,
the teachers of the law,
and the leaders among the people
were trying to kill him.
So the big question that is being put to us
in these couple of chapters
is, are we as people going to accept
or are we going to reject Jesus as King?
Now Jesus confronts us with this head on.
He tells us a parable
in chapter 20, verse 9,
that we had read to us.
Have a look at verse 9 with me of chapter 20.
He went on to tell the people this parable.
A man planted a vineyard,
rented it to some farmers,
and went away for a long time.
Now this whole theme of vineyard
that we have through the parable
is not just a nice way of introducing a story.
It was intentionally confrontational
on Jesus' part.
Have a look back.
Keep your finger in Luke 20
and flick back to Isaiah chapter 5, verse 1,
where we see the significance
of what the vineyard actually means
and what it was all about.
and why Jesus chose
that particular symbol.
Isaiah chapter 5.
And we'll read at verse 1.
Verse 1 reads,
I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard.
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
And the question we need to ask,
well, who or what is this vineyard?
Well, the answer came, didn't it,
at the very end in verse 7.
The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the house of Israel.
And the men and women of Judah
are a garden of his delight.
And what did he want
from this vineyard,
from this people?
Well, he looked for justice,
but saw bloodshed.
He looked for righteousness,
but heard only cries of distress.
Back to Luke 20.
So as Jesus starts out
on this story,
this parable of the vineyard,
Jesus is talking specifically
to the religious leaders.
And they're listening very carefully.
And as Jesus is talking to them,
it's beginning to twig.
The penny is beginning to drop.
They're thinking,
well, we're Israel.
We're God's people.
We are the vineyard.
This story that Jesus is telling us
is a story about us.
And as the story progressed,
they did not like this story.
Verse 19.
The teachers of the law
and the chief priests
looked for a way to arrest him immediately
because they knew
he had spoken this parable against them.
Now, what Jesus was speaking pointedly
to the religious leaders,
he is now speaking directly to us.
You see, this story
is also our story too.
This is a story about our response
to King Jesus,
whether we accept him
or whether we reject him.
So there's three big things
that we're going to look at
as we look at this parable together.
First, we see the King's persistent grace
towards us.
Look at verse 10.
At harvest time,
he sent a servant to the tenants
so they would give him
some of the fruit of the vineyard.
But the tenants beat him
and sent him away empty-handed.
Now, if it was you or I
who were telling this story,
if it was us who had made it up,
we probably would have gone
straight into verse 15.
Have a look there in verse 15,
the middle part of verse 15.
What then will the owner do?
What then will the owner
of the vineyard do to them?
He will come and kill those tenants.
I think that would be our response.
We would show no mercy.
They had their chance.
They didn't do it.
They beat up the servant.
Well, now we'll take it out on them.
But I want us to notice
that that's not how God deals
with his people.
He is persistent.
He is never giving up.
He is longing
that people will change their lives
and turn to him.
So after he has sent the first servant,
what do we read in verse 11?
He sent another servant.
But that one also they beat
and treated shamefully
and sent away empty-handed.
But he persists.
He doesn't give up.
Verse 12.
He sent still a third.
And they wounded him
and threw him out.
You see, throughout history,
God has pursued his people
through his word.
That's in effect the big story of Israel
throughout the Old Testament.
We read time after time
that God kept on sending his servants.
He kept on sending his prophets
to teach them,
to warn them,
to call them to himself.
One after another they came.
Century after century,
calling the people,
come back to your king.
Come back to your true king.
But they refused to listen.
This persistent grace of God
is reflected in the very words of Jesus.
Have a look back in Luke chapter 13.
Jesus knew the significance
of the servants who kept coming
and the prophets who kept teaching.
Listen to what Jesus says in,
sorry, it's Luke chapter 12
and verse,
no, Luke 13, verse 34.
Sorry, Luke 13, verse 34.
As Jesus looks over Jerusalem,
the city and its people,
this is what he says,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets
and stone those sent to you,
how often I have longed
to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings.
But you are not willing.
And I think that's the pattern
of God with us.
He continues to pursue us.
He persists in grace
while we resist in rebellion.
Day after day,
year after year,
God in his faithfulness
has provided those
who will lovingly teach God's word.
For some of us,
that's from the very beginning
within our own homes,
through Sunday school,
within the church family,
God has intervened
time and time again,
persisting with his grace.
God in his grace
brings his word,
longing that we would
gather to him,
just like a little chick
finds its shelter
under its mother's wings.
But the depth of this pursuit
of God's grace
is seen in the sending
of his very own son.
Back in Luke 20,
he sent one servant,
then another servant,
then still a third servant,
and then in verse 13,
we read this,
then the owner
of the vineyard said,
what shall I do?
I will send my son,
whom I love.
Perhaps they will respect him.
But when the tenants saw him,
they talked the matter over.
This is the heir,
they said.
Let's kill him,
and the inheritance
will be ours.
So they threw him
out of the vineyard
and killed him.
Now it's not hard for us
to see what Jesus
is saying here,
is it?
God has not
withheld his love
from us.
He has given to us
the ultimate prophet,
the final word,
Jesus Christ himself,
the God-man
who came into this world,
the one,
the person in whom
we find forgiveness,
peace,
and joy
and eternal life.
He gives to us
his own son.
But those who listened
didn't want to hear
what Jesus had to say.
They didn't want
Jesus as king.
And the great tragedy
of this story is
that they began
to act out
this story
in real life.
the tenants
became real.
Within three days
of Jesus telling
this story,
the same people
who listened
had Jesus
hanging on a cross.
Now we need
to be so careful
that we don't
become like them.
You see,
to reject God's word,
to ignore what God
has to say to us
through his son
is to kill him.
Look what they say
in verse 14.
This is the heir.
Let's kill him
and the inheritance
will be ours.
We don't want
Jesus ruling us.
We want to be the boss.
And so we kill him.
We shut him out
of our lives.
We close over his word.
We neither look at it,
read it,
nor listen to it.
We crucify him
so that he has
no part
in our lives.
But what seemed
to be such
a tragic death
as Jesus died
on the cross
was actually
God's ultimate
and greatest
act of grace
towards us,
his people.
Through his death,
Jesus was taking
the blame
for all the times
we have rejected him
and ignored him.
This king came down
and he died for us
so that we could be forgiven
and know his good
and kind
and loving rule.
God has been persistent
in bringing his word
and giving to us
of his son.
So he is persistent
in his grace.
But there's a second thing.
There is the king's
irreversible judgment
upon us.
You see,
while God is persistent
with his grace,
it will not be available
forever.
Eventually,
a time will come
when rather than
us experiencing
his grace,
we will experience
his judgment.
Look at verse 15.
So they threw him
out of the vineyard
and killed him.
What then will the owner
of the vineyard
do to them?
He will come
and kill
those tenants.
You see,
God is patient.
God is long-suffering.
But the day will come
when his patience
has run out.
He will bring
his judgment
on all those
who have refused
to bow the knee
and acknowledge him
as king.
Now let's remember,
God is not some
mean and capricious,
violent God
who wakes up
having a bad day
and decides to
take it out
on his people
and go,
oh, I'll just strike
that one down
or I'll strike
that one down.
No,
God's judgment
comes
at the very end
it is a culmination
of a long,
long process
of pursuing grace
down through the years.
It is his very
last act
of work.
You see,
God's judgment
is God giving to us
what we have asked for.
If we persist
in rejecting him,
he will eventually
reject us.
If we tell him
often enough,
I don't want you,
he will separate us
from him
for all eternity.
C.S. Lewis
put it like this,
there are only
two kinds of people,
those who say,
thy will be done
to God,
or those to whom
God in the end
says,
thy will will be done.
God in the end
in other words,
all that are in hell
choose it
because they have
rejected Jesus
as king.
Our judgment,
if it were to come,
is ultimately deserved.
We only have
ourselves
to blame.
And part of that
judgment
will also mean
the removal
of God's grace.
Look at these
searching words
again in verse 15.
What then will
the owner of the
vineyard do to them?
He will come
and kill those tenants,
there will be punishment,
and give the vineyard
to others.
Now let's remember
who Jesus is speaking to.
He was talking
to the people
of Israel
and to her leaders.
They were a rich
and privileged people.
God had chosen
these people
out of all the nations
of the earth.
He had set
his love
upon them.
He had rescued them.
He had provided
for them.
He had given them
blessing
after blessing.
But they had
stubbornly
refused
his grace.
You see,
to refuse
his grace
means
he will remove
his grace
from us
and give it
to others.
And if God
did that
with Israel
and opened
the doorway
to the Gentiles,
to people like
you and me,
do you not think
that God can do
the same again
with his church,
with his people?
You see,
just as God
looked for fruit
from the leaders
of Israel,
he looked
for righteousness,
but he heard
cries of distress.
He looked for justice,
but he saw bloodshed.
He looked for those
who would produce fruit,
a life in keeping
with a follower
and a disciple
of Jesus.
He looks for it.
Verse 10,
at harvest time
he sent a servant
to the tenants
so they would
give him
some of the fruit
of the vineyard.
He has entrusted
to us the church
with the blessing
of his grace.
If you are a believer
today,
if you are part
of God's family,
God has given you
and entrusted
his grace
into your life
to work it
in your own life,
to share it
to the world.
And if we fail
to use that grace,
if we fail
to put that grace
to work
in our own lives,
he will take it
and he will give it
to another.
God does not owe us.
We have no special
claim on God.
The great tragedy
is that those
who have had a taste
of God's grace
grace,
but do not
produce fruit.
He will remove
that grace from us
and give it to one
who will produce fruit.
Are you
ignoring
God's grace
in your life?
Are you
persisting
in sin
and disobedience
and walking
your own way?
God's grace
will be
be very,
very careful
that you do not
misuse
or abuse
his grace.
So God
is persistent.
The king
will come
to judge.
And third,
the king's
eternal rule
over us.
Those who
listen to Jesus
may have
rejected his rule.
they may
have killed
him and hung
him on a cross.
But he still
rules
over us.
He rules
by
his resurrection.
Look at
verse 16.
We'll read
the middle
of verse 16.
When the people
heard this,
they said,
may this
never be.
In other words,
they couldn't
contemplate that
God would
ever,
ever remove
his favour
or his grace
from them.
God's not
going to have
the last say.
We'll have
the last say.
We'll kill
him.
Verse 17,
Jesus looked
directly at
them and
asked,
then what
is the
meaning of
that which
is written?
The stone
the builders
rejected
has become
the capstone.
The imagery
is so striking.
The one
stone that
the builders
throw into
the waste
pile and
see no use
of has
become the
most important
stone in
the whole
building.
The capstone
was that last
and final
stone that
went on the
top and
held everything
together.
And Jesus
is saying,
I am that
stone.
You found
no use for
me.
You didn't
want me.
You rejected
me through
your life,
but I am
the capstone.
I am the
one who
rules and
who reigns
over you.
And I
think Jesus
is pointing
very clearly
to his
resurrection.
In three
days of
Jesus telling
this story,
Jesus was
rejected.
He was
tossed to
one side,
rejected,
killed,
and hung
on a cross
by the
people.
But three
days after
that event,
Jesus rose
victoriously
from the
grave over
his enemies,
defeating
death,
triumphing
over the
grave.
By his
resurrection,
Jesus has
become the
capstone.
He rules
over all.
But it is
not just
his resurrection.
He rules
on his
return.
You see,
not everybody
sees it this
way.
not everyone
except that
Jesus rose
and that
he is
king.
They still
go on
rejecting
and refusing
his kingship.
But the
risen king
will come
again.
And all
who have
resisted
him
will see
and will
know
that he
is king.
Verse
18.
Everyone
who falls
on that
stone will
be broken
to pieces.
But he
on whom
it falls
will be
crushed.
You see
what it's
saying?
If we
persist in
our rejection,
if we
continually
push
against
his
gentle
spirit,
it will
be like
walking
into a
large
stone
or rock.
It will
break us
and destroy
us.
Verse
18.
Everyone
who falls
on that
stone will
be broken
to pieces.
In fact,
if we
continue in
our rejection
of him,
if we
insist on
ignoring his
grace and
favour towards
us,
then we
will not
only be
broken,
we will
be crushed.
Look at
the end
of verse
18.
But he
on whom
it falls
will be
crushed.
One day
the risen
Lord Jesus
will come
again and
establish his
eternal
kingdom and
he will
bring all
his people
who love
him and
know him
and they
will be
part of
that for
all eternity.
But those
who have
stood opposed
to him,
those who
have fought
against him,
who have
resisted his
spirit and
his grace,
all who
have used
and abused
his grace,
will be
crushed
beneath his
power.
This week,
as I had
time with
Mrs.
Daunt and
as I've
been talking
with Jean,
it's been a
privilege.
For somebody
like Mrs.
Daunt,
she's now
with her
king because
she trusted
in her
king.
A simple
faith and
that is
where she
is with
the Lord
today.
Last night
some of us
were with
Jean and
in her
confused mind
she still
was able to
utter the
words,
I know
where I'm
going.
Isn't that
great?
She trusts
her king.
She has
accepted her
king.
she knows
grace in
her life.
The question
is,
do we all
know that
grace?
Have we
taken it
in and
accept Jesus'
rule over
every aspect
of our
life,
letting him
rule as
we submit
to him?
Don't let
these days
pass without
God doing
that work
in your
life.
let's
pray.
Lord Jesus,
we bow
before you
in humility
for you
are king.
You are
our lord
and you
are our
savior.
We thank
you so
much for
your
persistent
and amazing
grace,
continually
chasing
after us,
longing that
we would
gather to
you,
just like
the chick
gathers under
the wings
of its
mother.
We thank
you that
we can
find safety
and security,
joy and
peace within
you.
And
father,
we pray
that if we
have not yet
trusted or
if we have
been resisting,
that you
would break
our spirit,
that we
would bow
and accept
you and
love you
and adore
you.
And we
pray that we
ourselves would
have opportunity
that we may
share of this
grace with
all those that
we meet this
coming week,
opportunity to
share of the
hope that we
have in Christ
and the joy
that it
brings.
Please help
us,
father.
We ask
this in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.
We're going
to sing
together
a hymn
about the
kingship of
the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Behold our
God,
seated on
his throne.
Come,
let us
adore him.
If Jesus
is your
king and
you know
his grace,
then sing
it out
loud to
encourage one
another as
we give our
praise to
the Lord.
Let's stand
together as
we sing.