Thank you for reading the Weekend Sermon this week. I hope that everyone is having a very good week.
After having a long period of sickness, I am now feeling much better. I've been able to go to work again, and I am slowly rebuilding my strength. Thank you all for your prayers while I was ill.
As you go to prayer this week, please remember to pray for those who were affected by the bad storms and tornadoes in the Midwest. I know that there was a significant amount of damage to property, and there were fatalities. Pray that people will be able to get there lives back together, and pray for comfort for those who mourn.
Please pray for those in Haiti who are still trying to recover from the hurricane. The church where I have been attending does a lot of missions work in Haiti, and those over there have said that there are still many people in need in that nation.
Continue to pray for peace in this troubled world. I especially think of Syria as that nation is really struggling. Also remember to pray for peace in Iraq and anywhere else where there is conflict.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let's pray for the people of Guinea-Bissau in Africa and for Turkey. Pray that people in these two countries will here and respond to the message of the love of Jesus.
As you are aware, we have been studying the parables of Jesus since the beginning of the year. In today's message, I want to study the parable of the tenants found in Matthew 21:33-46. I believe that there is a lot that we can learn from this parable.
The basic story of the parable is this. A man built up a vineyard by planting the vines and building a hedge around it and a tower for protection. This man then rented out his vineyard to some tenants whose responsibility it was to tend and care for the vineyard and provide the owner his share of the produce at the appropriate time.
The time came for the owner of the vineyard to collect his share, so he sent a servant to collect it from the tenants. Instead of giving the servant what was due to the owner, the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty handed. The owner then sent some other servants, and each time the tenants beat or killed the servants.
Finally, the owner decided to send his son. He thought that they would surely respect his son. However, the tenants figured that if they killed the son and heir, the vineyard would be theirs. They killed the owner's son.
What would the owner do. The Pharisees said it themselves. The owner would punish and remove the wicked tenants and give the vineyard to others.
What is the meaning of this parable, and what message does it have for us today?
God was the one who was the founder of the nation of Israel. He called Abraham our of Ur and said that He would make of Abraham and his descendants a great nation. When the children of Israel were in bondage in the land of Egypt, God brought them out of captivity into their own land.
God did have some requirements and things that expected from His people. He expected that His chosen people would worship and honor Him. He expected them to follow His law and commandments. God wanted His people to be a light to the nations so that others would be drawn to the love and mercy of the Lord.
Unfortunately, this is not what happened. If you read and study the history books of the Old Testament, you will see that the people often turned from the True and Living God and worshiped idols and false gods. They turned their back on the Lord, and they would not be obedient to His commandments.
In spite of this, God wanted to bring His people to repentance. He wanted them to turn to Him and serve Him in faithfulness. With this in mind, God sent the prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah to warn the people that judgment would come if the people would not repent.
Sometimes, the people would heed the word of the prophets and turn to the Lord for awhile. However, there came a time when the people would not listen to anything that the prophets said. The prophets like Jeremiah were beaten and mistreated. Other prophets such as Isaiah and Zechariah were killed.
Finally, when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son the Lord Jesus Christ into this world to be the full and final revelation. If people would not listen to the Lord Jesus, they would listen to no one.
The religious leaders and the majority of people in Jesus' day did not listen to Him. They refused to acknowledge Him as the Messiah. Jesus was despised, rejected and crucified. But, the Father vindicated all that Jesus did and said when Jesus rose in triumph from the grave.
The people did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Because of this Jesus has now provided a way for all to come to salvation through Him. Whoever comes to Jesus in repentance and faith whatever their ethnic background or race will be saved and be part of the Kingdom of God. Jesus invites all people everywhere to come to Him, and whoever will come to Him, He will not cast out. It doesn't matter what your age is or what your socio-economic class is, Jesus invites you to come to Him. Whosoever will may come.
This parable doesn't have the same dramatic pinpoint focus for us today as did when Jesus first told it. The Pharisees and the religious leaders knew that Jesus was speaking this parable about them, and it made them so angry that they killed Him because of it. However, there are some lessons we can draw from this parable.
One lesson that I draw from this parable is that we have been given great blessings by the Lord Jesus, but He does have expectations of us. We have received the great gift of salvation from the Lord. Now the Lord asks us to be those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. He expects us to obey his commandments and live a life of holiness. He calls on us to share the message of His love and grace with others.
There are times when we as believers do not do those things that the Lord expects of us. At those times, the Lord sends to us those who will give us a word calling us to repentance and amendment of life. We have the choice to listen and be restored to fellowship with the Lord, or we can fail to heed the warning and continue in disobedience. All those who are in Christ have the Holy Spirit dwelling within. One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin. When we hear the inner voice of the Spirit, we have the choice to heed that voice or to continue in doing wrong. If we heed the voice of the Spirit, we will have true fellowship with Jesus. If we fail to heed, we will find ourselves separated from the Lord.
I think that the most important lesson that we can learn from this parable is that God loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son to die on the cross to save us from our sins. Jesus by His death and resurrection has made salvation and hope available to all people everywhere. All people everywhere are invited by Jesus to come to Him and experience His love and forgiveness.
All those who turn to Jesus will be with Him for all of eternity. He has gone to prepare a place for those who love Him so that where He is, we can be there too.
If you have never turned your life over to Jesus Christ, I hope that you will decide to do that today. The Bible says that if we turn to Jesus and confess our sins, He will forgive us. If you ask Him, Jesus will be the Lord of your life.
Next week, I am going to step away from the parables of Jesus and post a message about the holiness of God and how that relates to us. This is a message that I feel the Lord has placed on my heart. On Monday, I will post the verses, and there will be a review on Wednesday. In a couple of weeks, I will start posting chapters of my book online. May God bless you all. Amen.
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