The Gospel of Luke (#88) The Lord Silences His Critics (2) January 26, 2025

First Baptist Church Leominster

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us love and pray for sinners till our

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God makes all things new then he'll call us home to heaven at his table we'll sit down Christ will gird himself and serve us with sweet manna sweet the sound please be seated and we'll come now and read for us

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Ephesians 2 Paul continues his address to this church at Ephesus principally a

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Gentile church and in this chapter he speaks about the grace of God that came to us and saved us even when we were sin he caused us to be made alive we are who are

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Christians and then he speaks about the Gentiles how at one time before the coming of Christ they were alienated from God they were without Christ they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel but in Christ they're no longer aliens from the commonwealth of Israel Gentile believers in Christ are now members citizens of the

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Israel of God and we'll be addressing that in our sermon in a few minutes here and so we who were at one time distant from God different distant from the people of God had been brought near by the blood of Christ and so now all jewish and gentile believers in Christ are of one glorious body of Christ Ephesians chapter 2

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Ephesians 2 and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which

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God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them therefore remember that at one time you gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility and he came and preached peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have access in one spirit to the father so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles

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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the

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Lord in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit let's pray heavenly father this text is a a perfect example of salvation who we were prior to the cross we were the children of wrath we were dead in our trespasses but God being rich in mercy because of his great grace saved us in Christ Jesus and now we were no longer aliens and strangers we're no longer without hope and without God but we have hope for we are in Christ Jesus Lord we thank you for the encouragement of this text and we pray

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Lord that we would remember who we are in Christ Jesus we belong to you

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Lord God help us now as we continue our worship service as we proclaim your word we pray that we would hear what the word says that we would internalize it that your spirit would teach it to us and that we would live it out in our day -to -day lives thank you

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Lord in Jesus name amen well today we return to Luke chapter 20 it records events in the last week of our

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Lord which culminated of course in his crucifixion burial resurrection ascension and enthronement in heaven last week we introduced the contents of Luke 20 it records much of the substance of Jesus's teaching which he gave in the temple of Jerusalem in the days immediately preceding his arrest and crucifixion there are a number of sections we can say are divisions within this chapter and we identify them last

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Lord's Day as follows we mentioned six there are more but the six that we're giving attention to right now the question about Christ's authority we dealt with that last

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Lord's Day the parable of the vineyard owner sometimes called the parable of the wicked tenants third the rejected stone becomes the kept stone four paying taxes to Caesar five teaching regarding the resurrection and six

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Christ questions the scribes now in our effort to make the section more manageable we pointed out that these first six episodes of Luke 20 through verse 1 through 47 set forth our

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Lord's answers to a series of challenges that were leveled against him and actually in this passage

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Luke identified at least three groups that attempted to challenge and discredit Jesus in this portion of God's word so first we saw last week in verse one that there were chief priests and teachers of the law together with the elders who came to Jesus to challenge his authority and of course he responded to them by challenging their authority and then in Luke 20 verse 20 we read that spies who pretended to be righteous were sent to him they were looking for grounds to charge him before the power and authority of the governor the

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Roman governor well the Lord dealt with them in a manner that frustrated their evil designs and so we read in verse 26 but they could not catch him in his words in the presence of the people and they marveled at his answer and kept silence he silenced them and then in verse 27 we read that some of the

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Sadducees came to Jesus and attempted to discredit him before the people he discredited the basic tenet and conviction of the entire

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Sadducee movement when he proved from the scriptures that God raises the dead to life

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Sadducees didn't believe in life after death even though they were largely the priestly party in Jerusalem the

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Jewish priests and as a result of our Lord discrediting them our

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Lord really discredited their movement in its entirety and to such a degree that no one dared to ask him any more questions and so as we consider this passage we see the

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Lord Jesus refuting his critics and challengers and hence our title for these sermons the

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Lord silences his critics last week we dealt with the first section of this subject and today we deal with the second and actually today we want to consider the second and third episodes of this section contained in Luke 20 verses 9 through 19 here we read of a parable that our

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Lord gave that addressed the corrupt and unrighteous Jewish leadership of Israel and of God's judgment that was to come upon them as verses 9 through 16 but then we also read of the resistance and rejection of Jesus by the

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Jewish leaders and people but their efforts failed to prevent Jesus from achieving his purpose and role as the enthroned messiah the king of Israel and we'll consider that in verses 17 through 19 and so we want to read the passage now

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Luke 20 verses 9 through 19 and he Jesus began to tell the people this parable a certain man planted a vineyard leased it to vine dressers went into a far country for a long time now at vintage time he sent a servant to the vine dressers that they might receive him or might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard but the vine dressers beat him and sent him away empty -handed again he sent another servant and they beat him also treated him shamefully and sent him away empty -handed and again he sent a third and they wounded him also and cast him out and then the owner of the vineyard said what shall

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I do I will send my beloved son probably they will respect him when they see him but when the vine dressers saw him they reasoned among themselves saying this is the heir come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours and so they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them he will come and destroy those vine dressers and give the vineyard to others and when they heard it they said certainly not or God forbid and then he

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Jesus looked at them and said what then is this that is written the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone whoever falls on that stone will be broken but on whomever it falls it will grind him to powder and the chief priest and the scribes at very hour sought to lay hands on him but they feared the people for they knew he had spoken this parable against them this portion of Luke's gospel may be considered in two parts first there is the parable of the vineyard and then second we read of the rejected stone that becomes the capstone and so we'll examine each of these portions of Scripture first the parable of the vineyard verses 9 through 16 we can address this passage by first considering the details of the parable itself and then secondly we'll apply the parable as the

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Lord had intimated to the Jewish leadership and people of Israel and then third we'll consider the implications of this parable the views of the end times in other words the doctrine of eschatology the

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Bible's teaching about the end times the last things because this clearly has implications for how we understand the end times so let's consider first the details of the parable itself notice first to whom it was said that Jesus had direct given this parable verse 9a says then he began to tell the people this parable this is interesting

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Jesus did not speak this parable directly to the Jewish leaders although we read that they knew he had spoken this parable against them they were standing in the crowd and they were hearing him in the passage we addressed last

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Lord's Day Luke 21 through 8 Christ had addressed the Jewish leaders directly but he doesn't hear he addresses them indirectly he gives the parable to the people as one said

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John Gill a Reformed Baptist pastor in London who pastored the same church as Spurgeon but a hundred years before him wrote

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Christ having silenced the Sanhedrin that's verses 1 through 8 turned himself to the people and delivered the parable of the vineyard to them though his principal view was to the priests and so in Jesus giving this parable he was speaking directly to the people regarding the

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Jewish leaders but again in the hearing of the Jewish leaders also our

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Lord's intention and effort was known to all present that he was driving a wedge between the people and the

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Jewish leadership in Jerusalem clearly Jesus was making known to the people the wretchedness of the

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Jewish leaders and authority over them and of God's purpose to depose and replace them and our

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Lord's efforts must have been effective for again the result of our Lord's teaching was that the Jewish leaders feared the people so that they could not achieve their desire to lay hands on him

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John Calvin gave forth comments on the parallel passage in Matthew's gospel there are a few different details there he wrote of our

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Lord accomplishing two purposes through telling this parable the substance of this parable is that it's no new thing if the priests and the other rulers of the church wickedly endeavored to defraud

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God of his right for long ago they practiced the same kind of robbery toward the prophets and now they are ready to slay his son but they will not go unpunished for God will arise to defend his right the object is twofold first to reproach the priest with base and wicked ingratitude and secondly to remove the offense which would be occasioned by his approaching death for my means of a false title they had gained such influence over simple persons in the ignorant multitude that the religion of the

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Jews depended on their will and decision Christ therefore for warns the weak and shows that as many that as so many prophets one after another had formally been slain by the priest no one ought to be distressed if a similar instance were exhibited in his own person their rejection of Christ is no different than the leaders of Israel rejected the prophets throughout the

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Old Testament record the parable reflects a common practice in the ancient world of a landowner leasing out his property in this case of vineyard with the condition and expectation that a profitable return be given to him by the tenants everyone who heard this parable would have understood that this was just it was just for the owner to receive from these tenants what was rightly his they would have known and concurred that the tenants were unjust and unfit to continue as ones who oversaw what belonged to another and the fact that the tenants refused and rejected the owners emissary sent to them over time aggravated their guilt their last and final act of killing the son of the owner in order that they might confiscate what was rightly the owners aggravated their culpability they deserve justice and their unjust actions warranted their replacement so what then was our

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Lord intimating in this parable well the Lord clearly exposed before the people the guilt of the

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Jewish leadership and the consequences for their unfaithfulness and wickedness now just a word of caution whenever we come to a parable in Scripture we should always be cautious of allegorizing the details that is assigning spiritual meanings to words and details which are not obvious in the passage or not suggested by the context but there are some parables that contain terms that should be understood allegorically and we have such a passage before us clearly the

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Lord spoke this parable against the Jewish leaders of Israel it stated as such in verse 19 they knew it and so through this parable our

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Lord conveyed according to this commentator R .C.

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Sproul that the landowner is God the vineyard is the kingdom of God the servants are the

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Old Testament prophets the son is Jesus of course the tenants are the Jews who oppose

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Jesus and the killing of the son is the crucifixion and the removal of the tenants is a transfer the kingdom to a new people of God that includes

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Gentiles people led by the Apostles who are vine dressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons and so our

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Lord was announcing that he was deposing the Jewish leadership and would replace them with his

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Apostles that's what is suggested in this parable however there are other details of the parable that should not be allegorized in Matthew's account the parable recounts the

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Lord setting a hedge around the field that's not in Luke's gospel but it is in Matthew and that he dug a wine press and built a watchtower to to guard the field these details only deserve to show the care of the owner for his field or of God for Israel and how

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God had provided everything necessary for the vineyard to produce good grapes but these details are not to be interpreted allegorically that is assigning meaning to them they only serve to to aggravate the guilt of the

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Jews that failed to believe and obey God and so caution must be kept in mind when you come to a parable and begin to interpret it 30 years ago

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I did a series on the parables in the Gospels and I had about a dozen books in my library and I was quite amazed to find no two of them agreed with one another

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I mean parable interpretation of parables is just incredible how people go far afield and usually it's because they're allegorizing details within the parable and we should avoid doing that unless the context itself the passage itself indicates we should and that's what we have here our

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Lord gave this parable to teach the people to confront and warn the Jewish leaders and to inform his disciples and through this parable he revealed the repeated centuries -long failure of Israel's leaders to guide his people rightly on his behalf he intimates that the

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Jewish leaders through history to have been insensitive and hardened against God refusing to care for and lead his people on his behalf rather they exploited his people for their own interests and benefit this is the history of Israel the history of the

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Old Testament he speaks of their refusal to hear his prophets whom

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God had sent repeatedly to warn them and confront them in their sin the

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Jewish leadership by rejecting the prophets God sent to them warranted his judgment on them and this was true in the

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Old Testament record as here in Luke 20 the destruction of Jerusalem in the temple in the exile of the

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Jewish people to Babylon which occurred in 586 BC was God's judgment due to the crime of these

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Jewish leaders of Jerusalem and so at the end of 2nd Chronicles we can read this explanation for the

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Babylonian captivity again in 586 BC that lasted for a period of 70 years this is a summary at the end of 2nd

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Chronicles and the Lord God of their father sent warnings to them by his messengers those were the prophets rising up early and sending them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place but they mocked the messengers of God despised his word scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the

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Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy and therefore he

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God brought against them the king of the Chaldeans another word for the Babylonians who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary the had no compassion on young men or virgin on the aged or the weak he gave them all into his hand that would have been

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Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and so the Lord was declaring in this parable to the people that the same ground for God's judgment that resulted in their destruction and exile in 586

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BC would again take place for the same unfaithfulness same wickedness of the

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Jewish leaders of their day Jesus was speaking of the certain outpouring of God's wrath that took place when he sent forth his armies the

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Roman armies in AD 70 to pour out his wrath upon them of course the

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Romans destroyed Jerusalem and completely raised are a

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ZED and others destroyed the temple in AD 70 but what was the final act of wickedness that would bring about their destruction and overthrow well our

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Lord spoke of their treatment of him one of the most amazing assertions of Jesus in this parable was his intimation that he was the

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Son of God in fact actually this is one of the clearest assertions of our

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Lord that he is the Son of God the Lord had sent his prophets and the last he sent his son the son of the vineyard it would have been unveiled terms that Jesus expressed this to all who heard him on this occasion except the

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Apostles they probably they had insight as to what was happening they knew he was the Son of God God the

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Father revealed it to Peter you recall thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God they would have understood the

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Lord Jesus the Son of God had come to assume rightful authority over his father's house and people he cleaned the temple we considered last week or a couple weeks ago as the tenants would not yield but put the son of the landowner to death the

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Lord Jesus in this parable speaks of their rejection of him and his crucifixion but further

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Jesus teaches of their certain overthrow and replacement of them by others our

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Lord's use of the vineyard as a metaphor of Israel and its responsibility to God was not new it was set forth in the

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Old Testament again the Lord has drawn a parallel between what God had done in the past what are you doing now what he will do now when our

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Lord gave this parable it was to a people who would have been familiar with the theme of the Israel as Israel as God's vineyard the metaphor is used in Isaiah 5 1 through 7 which reads let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard my beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill he dug it and cleared it of stones planted it with choice vines he built a watchtower in the midst of it hewed out a wine vat in it he looked for it to yield grapes but it yielded wild grapes and now

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Oh inhabitants of Jerusalem men of Judah judge between me and my vineyard what more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it when

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I looked for it to yield grapes why did it yield wild grapes and now

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I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will remove its hedge and it shall be devoured

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I will break down its wall and it shall be trampled down I will make it a waste it shall not be pruned or hoed and briars and thorns shall grow up I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it for the vineyard of the

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Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting and he looked for justice but behold bloodshed for righteousness but behold an outcry and so here in Isaiah 5 recorded in the 8th century

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BC 700 years before Christ God declared his judgment upon Israel for its failure to live before him he was

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Israel's owner the master of his vineyard he had every right to expect his people to live according to his laws according to his will their refusal to do so was met with his promise of judgment and the judgment came in history when

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God first sent the Assyrians and later the armies of Babylon into the land to conquer and vanquish his people what happened then

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Jesus is saying is going to happen again and it happened in AD 70 and we're going to see this in great detail come

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Luke chapter 21 by the way just a matter of interest

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I found it interesting there's a play of words in the original Hebrew text of Isaiah 5 verse 7 it's not in our

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English text but it is in the Hebrew original Hebrew he looked for justice but behold bloodshed for righteousness but beheld an outcry there are four words there

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God looked for and the Hebrew word is lemish pot justice but instead of seeing justice he saw mesh pop notice the similarity of words bloodshed so there is poetic here and it was given by the

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Holy Spirit you know to Isaiah for emphasis it gave emphasis to the

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Lord's Word and then the second pair of words also sound similar to one another you have leech daca righteousness and behold see ah ka again you hear the similarity of sounds and so though you may not know

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Hebrew even if you look at the Hebrew words here the symbols you'll see there is a similarity a repetition of letters and so the similarity and repetition of sounds and these two pairs of words would have served to emphasize the message and perhaps the message in the minds of the people now when our

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Lord gave this parable in the temple before the Jewish people not only was he reciting the common way in which

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God dealt with his people in the past but he was showing that the Jewish leaders rejection of him was the full realization of Isaiah chapter 5

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God had been good to Israel he had formed it he owned it as a man owns a vineyard he could rightly expect those whom he entrusted to manage his vineyard and to regard their position of responsibility and accountability to him they deserved his rejection and punishment

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God was right to entrust his vineyard to others who would care for on his behalf and so clearly we see an

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Old Testament foreshadowing parallel even foretelling the event of AD 70 now there are other places in the

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Old Testament that speak of God replacing Israel's corrupt leaders with faithful men we read in Jeremiah 23 that the

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Lord promised to replace the leaders of Israel in that passage the metaphor that he used is that of Israel as his flock and the leaders of Israel are the shepherds of his flock and shepherds here are the political leaders of Israel he looked forward to bringing a remnant of his people back to the land of Israel after their extended exile in Babylon and it would be to a remnant he would send the promised son of David that being the

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Lord Jesus and God promised that he would replace those leaders who had failed to lead his people rightly and so again the parable in Luke 20 is a realization of what

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God had prophesied in Jeremiah chapter 23 and here it is woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture declares the

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Lord and therefore thus says the Lord the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who care for my people you've scattered my flock you've driven them away you've not attended to them behold

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I will attend to you for your evil deeds declares the Lord and then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I've driven them and I will bring them back to their fold and they shall be fruitful and multiply and that's what

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God's been doing for these last 2 ,000 years he's been calling us out of the world and making that pilgrimage to our heavenly

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Zion and notice the promise I will set shepherds over them who will care for them and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed neither shall any be missing declares the

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Lord behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch

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New King James Version capitalizes branch because that's a reference to the Messiah and he shall reign as king and deal wisely shall execute justice and righteousness in the land and in his day

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Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is the name by which he will be called the

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Lord is our righteousness we stand in the righteousness of Christ well here's a good summary of the meaning therefore in the implications of the parable of Jesus in Luke 20 the vineyard indicates the theocratic people that is the nation of Israel the husband men the men who exercise government among them the

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Jewish leaders and the naturally expected fruit was the loyalty and spiritual service which prophets called for but seldom secured for their master in heaven instead of rendering the fruits the rulers of the

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Jewish people subjected the line of prophets to increasing indignities and last of all the only son is sent but instead of reverencing him and yielding to divine demands they cast him out of the

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Jewish Church and killed him how clearly does Jesus thus claim sonship to God and indicate his approaching doom he was foretelling that crucifixion they were going to reject him and by the way cast him out of the vineyard probably intimates that he would be crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem I didn't have time to put that in and the result of this murder of God's son is to be the transference of the theocracy from the

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Jews to other husband men the chief priests and scribes are to be supplanted by the

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Apostles and Judaism to give place to Christianity saying that the parable was spoken against them they cried

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God forbid but Jesus clinches his argument by quotation from their own scriptures he asked is not the same stone rejected of the builders to become the head of the corner and will not all who collide with it either be broken or ground to powder in this way he

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Jesus claims to be the test of men and his rejection to be full and final now this passage in Luke 20 has incredible implications for our understanding of the end times and so we want to address that now and I I recognize that for a number of people this would be way over your head and I just would encourage you not to be discouraged or by reading or hearing these things but for some of us we'll find a great this makes a great deal of sense regarding our understanding of the end times and it repudiated what is so commonly believed and taught among well -intentioned

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Bible believers throughout the history of the present age all Christians churches

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Christian denominations have understood and taught that the Church of the New Testament is the realization of the promises and prophecies of Israel of the

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Old Testament the Church is the Israel of God that was held and advocated for 1900 years in church history they have affirmed the scriptures that declare yes all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow after as many as have been spoken the entire

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Old Testament have also foretold these days and Peter was speaking about the days of the early church everything in the

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Old Testament pointed to this age is what Peter declared the

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New Testament Church of God is the Israel of God the realization the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham Isaac and Jacob the

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New Testament teaches that Christians are the true Jewish people to whom God's promises in Christ are realized the

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Word of God teaches that true Jews that is the true chosen people of God are ones who have had their hearts spiritually circumcised the

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Holy Spirit through Paul taught that physical circumcision brings no one into a saving relationship with God Paul wrote these words in Romans it couldn't be clearer for he is not a

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Jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh the circumcision that counts for anything before God but he is a

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Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not from men but of God circumcision of the heart for those of you would understand speaks about being born again being regenerated being given new life in Christ so the

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Apostle Paul declared to the principally Gentile Church at Philippi for we he includes himself with the

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Gentile Christians we are the circumcision who worship

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God and the Spirit rejoicing in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh no confidence in physical circumcision it's not

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Jewish ethnicity that makes you right with God it's because you have a circumcised heart to which physical circumcision was a type and pointed to the change of heart the new heart that God gives his people and so Paul wrote that those who are saved through faith in Christ are the true sons of Abraham to whom all the promises belong that were given by God and so Romans 4

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Paul declared for the promise that he Abraham would be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed that is a descendants through the law in other words not because of the ethnicity and not because they were in the

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Mosaic Covenant but through the righteousness of faith and only promise to those who have faith like Abraham had faith for if those who are of the law are heirs in other words if the promises of God belonging to belong to people because they're

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Jewish in ethnicity faith is made void and the promise have made no effect because the law brings about wrath for where there is no law there is no transgression therefore it's a faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the sea not only to those who are of the law in other words to Jewish but also to those who are the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it's written

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I've made you a father of many nations God's promised Abraham that he would be the father of Gentiles too that is

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Gentiles who have the same kind of faith that Abraham had the

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Apostle Paul declared that true Christians are the promised children of Abraham and therefore those who are in Christ are the inheritors of all of God's promises to Abraham therefore that no that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham God told the

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Jewish Pharisees I know you're the descendants of Abraham but if you were Abraham's children you'd believe on me they were physical descendants of Abraham but they were not children of Abraham because they didn't have the faith of Abraham you of your father the devil and the works you that he does you'll do to the true children of Abraham who have the promises of God given to them are people who have the same faith as Abraham a faith in Christ and the result is they're righteous through Christ their sins are forgiven and the righteousness of Christ is credited to them as Abraham believed

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God and it was credited to him for righteousness so you and I do also when we believe the gospel if you're a

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Christian you're a child of Abraham and all of God's promises to Abraham are your promises you are the heir of Abraham Abraham is our father again it's

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Galatians 3 7 through 9 said therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham if you're not of faith in Christ you're not a child of Abraham it doesn't matter whether you're

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Jewish you have to believe the gospel and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the

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Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying in you all the nations shall be blessed so then

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Paul concludes those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham and then farther down in this chapter of Galatians Paul wrote for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and therefore and there is neither

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Jew nor Greek there's neither slave nor free there's neither male or female for you're all one in Christ Jesus and if you're

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Christ then you are Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise

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Abraham is our father and everything that was promised by God to Abraham we are inheritors of as believers in Jesus Christ and so the

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Apostle taught that all of the eternal promises of God to Abraham were to him and his seed who is

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Christ alone Galatians 316 now to Abraham and his seed notice seed is capitalized in the

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New King James version Abraham and his seed where the promise is made he does not say and to seeds in other words physical descendants as of many but as of one and to your seed who is

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Christ Paul said that's to who that's the seed to which Abraham's promises were fully given the

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Word of God teaches that the spiritual life that God bestows comes through Jesus Christ alone not because of the

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Jewish blood that courses through an ethnic people now they're greatly privileged we can spend time and speaking about greatly blessed of God but they're sinners like to like Gentiles as Romans 1 through 3 declares they need to come to Christ like you and I need to come to Christ there's no salvation outside of Jesus Christ for all the promises of God are in Christ yes and in him amen to the glory of God through us

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Paul is essentially declaring that God imparts new life through grace not due to race and so again throughout the history of the present age all

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Christians churches and Christian denominations have understood and taught that the Church of the

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New Testament is a realization of the promises and prophecies of Israel in the Old Testament but this changed beginning in the 19th century with the teaching that came to be known as dispensationalism term you hear a lot but few people really understand it which is believed by well over 50 % of evangelical

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Christians in America today this is all they ever hear this is all they're ever taught and this is what you hear mostly on TV certainly on radio except for review voices here and there including

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Alistair Bigg and R .C. Sproul and Bode Bauckham all right many

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Bible believers today have only heard and been taught the view of end times espoused by dispensationalists but in the latter 19th century and popularized in the early 20th century for the first time in history people began to teach that God has two separate and distinct people in which

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God has been working through history and so there is Israel which is understood by them to comprise only ethnic

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Jewish people and the nation state of Israel and then there is the church which is said to be the collective people of God in this present age of grace that began on the day of Pentecost and will conclude at the time of the future secret rapture that they teach when the

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Lord takes his church out of the world two peoples not one people of God not one extended family of Abraham but two people there's

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Israel in the church two different people two different kingdoms two sets of promises two different purposes of God in history and this popular understanding of the

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Word of God teaches that God's primary will and purpose in history is with his gracious dealings with the

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Jewish people ethnicity the physical descendants of Abraham and the patriarchs and so dispensationalists teach that God had promised this ethnic people the nation of Israel that it would be the dominating people over the

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Gentile nations in a future thousand -year Jewish millennium on earth it was because Israel had rejected and crucify its

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King Jesus Christ that God withdrew his offer of an earthly kingdom and interposed or interjected this church age as a parenthesis this age of grace is but a secondary and temporary purpose in the plan of God because God's primary purpose is with the

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Jewish people Israel is taught that the Jewish people in the political kingdom of David centered in earthly Jerusalem will take place in the future and this earthly Jewish kingdom would last for a thousand years and so perhaps the principal truth that distinguishes dispensationalism from all others including those who are reformed is it

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Israel and the church must be viewed in distinction from one another Israel's Israel the church the church and the two shall never be mixed or else you're in error and so you know there's places where I'd have

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Bible stone at me because of what I've said today that we are the Israel of God who are circumcised in the heart who put no confidence in the flesh but in Christ Jesus alone and it's through our union with Christ that we become the of Abraham through faith in him and the promises of God to belong to us dispensationalism strongly advocates that there are no promises of the

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Old Testament scriptures that were given to Israel that are fulfilled in the church nothing in the

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Old Testament is for you and me directly this colors the manner in which they interpret all scripture this is what's called a hermeneutic principle this is how they interpret the

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Bible for example one of the recent major proponents of dispensationalism is with the

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Lord now Charles Ryrie professor of systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary and John Wolvard was the president but he wrote in his book that was that was published and widely used and read the basis of the pre -millennial faith and these words regarding those who espouse dispensationalism this is his defense of his position holding to a literal interpretation of the scriptures which they don't they claim they do but they don't they take the

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Old Testament literally but they don't take the New Testament literally they believe that the promises made to Abraham and David are unconditional and have had or will have a literal fulfillment in no sense now look at this sentence in no sense have these promises made to Israel been abrogated or fulfilled by the church none of them which is a distinct body in this age have having promises and destiny different from Israel he asserted in all this pre -millennialism has been confirmed now he generalizes and speaks of all pre -millennialism is that as though as dispensationalism but no there's always been historic pre -millennialists down through church history but they were only dispensational pre -millennialists with the onset of the 20th century primarily through C .I.

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Schofield and his study Bible the hermeneutical principle that is the sharp distinction between Israel and the church is a belief they use to interpret scripture it is the lens through which the entire

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Bible is interpreted and the result is often bizarre and strange interpretations for example classical dispensationalists teach that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are two different kingdoms in the

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Gospels the first kingdom of heaven referred to a future earthly Jewish political kingdom the second referring to the spiritual kingdom of which

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Jesus is Lord two different kingdoms the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of God I had a good friend years ago

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God bless him he's with the Lord now too so he's right on this now and he was trying to argue with me he was so frustrated because I would not separate the kingdom of heaven from the kingdom of God so I finally took him to the passage when the

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Lord Jesus that it was difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven and for a camel to go through the eye of needle you know very barely barely

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I say you know for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God and so Jesus used kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God in the same verse clearly equating the two of course he had no comeback with that but he was had such strong convictions about this as a good friend he says

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I have to leave your church because I didn't accept this is how strongly believe you know this is entrenched in people good people but have wrongly been taught and believe these things the second coming of Christ is commonly understood to be in two stages of course this has been around since the middle 1800s but only popular in the 20th century first the rapture of the church the first second coming seven years later the second second coming is how

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I like to call it because it's so nonsensical when Christ returns all the way to the earth to establish his earthly Jewish kingdom this was never taught in all of church history until dispensational and became popular principally at the onset of the 20th century

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Schofield studied Bible published by Oxford Press in 1909 then 1917 was the revised edition that really became popular and not only are there two separate and distinct people of God Israel and the church but again nothing in the

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Old Testament is also understood to be fulfilled in the church in the New Testament all of the prophecies in the

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Old Testament of the New Covenant for example you read about the New Covenant in the Old Testament they argue none of those are seen in the church the

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New Covenant belongs to the nation of Israel incredible the

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New Covenant is promised to Israel not the church and so here we have for example

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Ryrie the teaching of the Old Testament is that the New Covenant therein given is for the

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Jewish people according to the New Testament the New Covenant is yet future

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New Covenant hasn't yet been inaugurated as taught in the Old Testament the period of the

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New Covenant is vital link with the restoration of Israel to the land not until Israel becomes a nation again now in the future the

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New Covenant can be established and finally it can be shown that the period of the New Covenant is millennial it won't take place until a future thousand -year earthly political kingdom and so it's argued therefore that the

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New Covenant that our Lord instituted with his disciples on that night when he declared this cup is the

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New Covenant in my blood this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me was not the

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New Covenant foretold in the Old Testament and I didn't have time to put in but Ryrie says the New Testament teaches that there are two

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New Covenants one for Israel that has not yet been realized and one for the church now why do we address this matter today because in consideration of what our

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Lord Jesus taught in this parable he declared that God will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the

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Israel to others this is a declaration that the Israel of God would be under new leadership that of the twelve apostles dispensation to teach that God purposed only a temporary deposing of these

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Jewish leaders of Israel for some time in the future he's going to return and give

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Israel back to the Jewish leaders incredible when you think about the implications of what they're teaching

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God will once again entrust his vineyard to Jewish leadership but only after he first takes it away from his apostles who are presently the servants of God the

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New Testament declares that with the death burial resurrection ascension and thronement of Christ the Son of David the

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Son of God the everlasting kingdom that God promised throughout the Old Testament has been spiritually realized and one day will be fully manifested at Christ's second coming the

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New Testament teaches that the church which is comprised of Jewish and Gentile believers it was providential we've read

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Ephesians 2 Jason read Ephesians 2 earlier there's no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile dispensational say well yeah that's only during this church age but in the future there will again be a distinction between Jews and Gentiles and the

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Jews are going to be favored and the Gentiles are once again I'm going to be on the outside ruled over by Jews in a future thousand -year earthly Jerusalem it's ridiculous if you start thinking through the implications of it the kingdom which now is

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Jesus is Lord is an eternal kingdom that began with the crucifixion resurrection thronement of Jesus Christ in heaven as Lord this church age is not a parenthesis not a temporary sidestep of God until such time as God returns to his original plan the

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New Testament Church is spiritual Israel of God in which all the promises of God are or will be realized through Jesus Christ we're living in the age of fulfillment oh yes it'll be more fully realized at the second coming but we are currently citizens of the kingdom of God Jesus Christ is currently enthroned on the throne of David in heaven ruling over Israel spiritual

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Israel but dispensationalist declare that nowhere in the

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Old Testament are the promises given to Israel fulfilled in the church nowhere now please don't misunderstand there are good men who believe and advocate this teaching

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I believe that they're they're not heretics but they're in error regarding their understanding of the end times and one as good and great as John MacArthur God bless him

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I don't in any way denigrate him or his name but he espouses this dispensational teaching of Israel in the church he declared in his study

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Bible in a footnote for Zechariah 9 9 and 10 Old Testament prophets didn't see the great time period between the two comings this entire church age they didn't see it the church age was a mystery to them he misunderstands what mystery is in Ephesians yes this church is a mystery not that it would take place because Peter says all the

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Old Testament prophets spoke of these days the mystery is that Gentiles and Jews would be one and the same with each other that was the mystery they didn't proceed but Paul revealed or God through Paul and in his introduction to his notes on the book of Isaiah MacArthur wrote the kingdom promised to David belongs to Israel not the church but the

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Peter declared in Jerusalem regarding this church age yes all of the prophets from Samuel and those who follow as many as have spoken have also foretold these days the days of the

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New Testament Christians the church you are the sons of the prophets of the covenant which

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God made with our father saint Abraham and in your seat all the families of theirs shall be blessed to you first Jews God having raised up his servant

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Jesus sent him to bless you and turning away every one of you from your iniquities all of the

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Old Testament foretold this church age dispensation let's say none of the

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Old Testament foretold this church age this is a problem now everything we said about God rejecting the leadership of Israel and taking the leadership of Israel away from them and entrusting it to others in other words his

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Apostles is confirmed in verses 17 through 19 after Jesus had given his parable declared that God would bring a judgment upon the corrupt

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Jewish leaders of Israel their response was recorded in verse 18 when they heard it that is of their judgment they said certainly not

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God forbid and then we read in verses 17 and 18 the following words of Jesus he looked at them and said what then is is this where it is written the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone whoever falls on that stone will be broken but on whomever it falls it will grind him to powder when

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Jesus declared these words the people hearing him would have been reminded of a well -known incident that occurred in the rebuilding of Herod's temple the temple of Jerusalem was built of stone which had been quarried at some distance from Jerusalem stones cut to size so the stones were cut and transported to the temple site at which time the builder would assemble them one day a stone arrived which was an anomaly it didn't seem to fit anywhere it was cast aside by the builders and when the building was all but completed they realized the one stone was missing the last stone of unusual shape which would be placed on a top corner which would tie everything together completing the structure they realized that they had earlier discarded this stone but finding and placing at the temple was then completed the

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Lord Jesus identified himself as this stone which had been planned and prepared by God to be the chief cornerstone he would be the king the reigning leader of all

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Israel but he was not recognized and therefore rejected they crucified him but God would see to it that he would be exalted to the place of prominence and so by speaking in these terms

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Jesus will foretell was foretelling his rejection his crucifixion but also of his vindication in his resurrection when he would be exalted to rule over God's throne at God's right hand

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Jesus is enthroned Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings Jesus declared that everyone who rejects this stone will be destroyed and this stone will be the destroyer of those rejecters

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Jesus Christ is Lord and that came to pass in AD 70 when the

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Lord as we'll see in Luke 21 sent the armies the Roman armies and destroyed the city and the temple we have to close but let me just draw

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I'm just gonna run through these quickly a few lessons first there are a few doctrinal matters this has far -reaching implications first God brought an end to his dealings with ethnic

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Israel and instead now shows his favor toward people who receive and embrace Jesus as Lord we preach the gospel to all the world to Jewish and Gentile sinners who need

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Christ there's only salvation in Christ second there is continuity between God's dealings with Israel through the history of the

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Old Testament and his Church of the New Testament yes there's distinction political earthly Israel and of course spiritual church the spiritual

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Israel of God there is a distinction there's discontinuity between the old and new but there's continuity as well there's one people of God and Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Gentiles the

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Gentile centurion Jesus said will sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God and we are to third

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God holds his people those who profess to believe and follow him responsible to live before him in faith and obedience and these

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Jewish leaders failed to do so but we're called upon to do so to bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance and fourth

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God bridges judgment brings judgment upon them that refused to render honor and obedience to his son

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Jesus is Lord and if you believe it that's good but you better also order your life accordingly or that's not good

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Jesus is Lord and there's salvation in him the fact is there is only room for one

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God one King in God's creation God's universe and it's not you it's not me it's

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Jesus and you can only have salvation if you come to believe that and submit to it and this is the life of blessing and life and fulfillment coming to know

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God through Jesus Christ and then they're just a few practical matters I'm just going to list these and we'll close the principle of God's ownership and rule he owns you and me any purpose is to rule over us the principle of hearing and heeding the word

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Jesus appealed to them do you consider what's written it's the Word of God that teaches these things third the presence and prevalence of rebellion among sinners ever since the

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Garden of Eden when the devil told Eve you eat of this tree you will be as God you will be able to determine for yourself what you want to do what's true and false was right and wrong good and evil and everyone born into this world now has that same desire

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I want to be the determiner of my own life my own destiny and the

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Bible said no you're not God is you need to come to Christ and then fourthly certainly the victory that there is in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is

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Lord all of our religiosity will be less than nothing if we persist in a life of opposition to his authority over our lives we can be members of churches and even teachers of the word but if we reject the authority of the

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Lord Jesus over our lives our fate is certain and dismal we must in faith embrace him as a son of God who is the inheritor and ruler of all things may he give us the grace and ability to believe on him and submit to him well how did the

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Jewish leaders react verse 19 the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on him but they feared the people for they knew he had spoken this parable against them our

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Lord courageously declared the truth to them and of them and their response was anchor and a resolve to destroy him his teaching it withstood and denounced his critics but it enraged them further and they would do all they could to have him condemned and sentenced to death and that death that crucifixion would occur in just a few days after this event of Luke 20 let's pray thank you our

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God for your word and we pray our God that you would give us understanding of what your word teaches about these matters and help us our

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God as we listen to so much that is taught and proclaimed that we would truly use your word to filter everything we hear and everything we read may you help us our

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God to rejoice in the fact that you have called us and and made us citizens of that everlasting kingdom that was proclaimed and foretold in the

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Old Testament that we currently enjoyed now and our God help us to live with Jesus Christ as our

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Lord and Savior anticipating the day when when your kingdom through Jesus Christ will be seen by everybody when every

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I will see every knee bow and confess that Jesus is Lord to your glory our