Rejection of Jesus
Book of Luke Chapter 20
I believe this is the saddest title of any lesson.
Who has the highest authority over us? Is it the world? Is it the Word of God?
God is Himself the highest authority in Heaven and on Earth, but He has also given unto His Son authority on earth to forgive sins.
Mat 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
To execute Judgment: Joh 5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Jesus confirmed these things: Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
We can only be complete if we are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
When we reject the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no right to the riches of Heaven!
If we reject any part of the Word of God, then we have rejected His Son, Jesus!
What is unbelief?
One man wrote: “For it denies the sovereignty of divine mercy: it sets at nought the infinite merit and value of Christ’s blood and righteousness”.
Unbelief cannot be forgiven! Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
That word damned means, sentenced to everlasting punishment in a future state of existence in Hell and without God.
Attacking the Lord Jesus Christ will only lead to your own damnation.
The so-called authority of Israel at that time had no interest in the truth!
*Luk 20:9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.
This parable was directed toward Israel, but the intent is aimed at false religion and liberal theology everywhere.
The Lord Jesus directed this parable at the people of Israel, but Jesus knew that all the leaders, both politically and spiritually, were standing within earshot of His words.
The Lord Jesus was speaking a message of repentance, but those who refuse to repent only get angry, and it is the same today, probably worse.
They get angry at anyone who even thinks they need to change the way they live.
This one thing is destroying many churches today!
To be clear, it was God who created this world, and there is enough evidence to prove this is true, but it is also rejected.
We, the people of this world, have allowed charlatans and corrupt leaders to lead the people in a false history of our world.
Every time you hear the words millions of years you are about to hear a lie!
Our world is so full of the lies of evolution that it cannot survive much longer.
We simply cannot base life upon lies and continue to exist as informed people!
We may not know what a “longtime” really means, but we do know that about the year 2033, it will have been about two thousand years since the Lord Jesus went back to Heaven and is prepared at any time to return, to first take His Church out of this world, and then bring judgment on all unbelievers.
That vineyard is the nation of Israel, but it could also mean this entire world.
Isa 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
God leased this vineyard to the world, but also to Israel.
Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
The husbandmen are to be the responsible leaders of this world, but also the spiritual leaders of Israel.
The owner is God, and it has always been God!
God owns all His creations!
Mal 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
God wants all His people to serve Him with joy!
*Luk 20:10 And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.
What are the seasons? Gen 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
The season in this Scripture would be harvest time.
There is a great harvest time coming, and it is not far off: Jas 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Jas 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
There is a day of accounting coming to everyone who lives upon this earth.
God will send His servants to collect. Fruit is expected. It is a time for payment of those sins that are not under Grace.
Each one of us will have to pay our dues!
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
We all owe a debt that we cannot pay, but there have been many mighty works done on Israel’s behalf, yet they still reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even though the Church is experiencing the great falling away, it does not bode well for this world in the coming judgment.
2Th_2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Every church should ask itself, “Are we part of that great falling away from the Word of God?”!
God sent many prophets to Israel, and most of them were mistreated and most of them were murdered.
This world will never be able to shut the mouth of God!
There are just too many leaders upon this earth who want to rule this world, and God will allow that to happen very soon when He allows the Antichrist to claim this world as His own.
Most of this world deliberately rebels against God!
Even the Antichrist will see that this world just does not want a supreme leader.
People just want to live as they wish and be free to do as they please.
The only thing that can change this attitude is the truth of our Creator.
God has shown much patience to this world, but for God to be God, He cannot allow rebellion to continue forever!
God is the God of the second chance and even the third, as I well know personally, but this will not continue indefinitely.
Notice the number three, which is common in periods.
King David was offered a choice between three days of pestilence, three months of defeat, or three years of famine.
Jesus Christ was three days and three nights in that tomb.
Families are in groups of three: father, mother, and children.
Gideon’s army was divided into three groups.
The third angel of Revelation, with a third part of the world destroyed,
There are other places in the Scriptures.
Notice, after the third servant, the Lord of the vineyard sent His Son.
If we say this parable is about Israel, then the truth is that Israel had lost sight of their calling from God.
Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Israel began living a life for itself and against all other nations.
The Lord Jesus, the Messiah, came to remind them of the truth of God, and He was rejected and murdered.
God’s patience ran out for Israel at that time, and He promised another chance after the tribulation period.
Jer_30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
God had said: Isa 48:9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
*Luk 20:13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
Luk 20:14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
Luk 20:15 So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?
The Lord Jesus was asked a question as we began this chapter: Luk 20:2 And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?
Here we see that the Lord Jesus is giving His answer.
We know that this parable was another teaching lesson for the Pharisees because God never has to use a backup plan. God is omniscient and knows what we are going to do before we do it.
If we accept that the Lord Jesus Christ is the “beloved” of God the Father, then we need to accept that God the Father also loves each Christian in the same manner.
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
We should understand that many of these religious men of Judah knew well that the Lord Jesus had certainly fulfilled many of the prophecies of the Messiah but sin, greed for position, esteem, power, and security kept them from acknowledging that Jesus was truly the Messiah.
The Lord Jesus Christ made this claim that He truly was the Son of God and many of them knew that it could be true.
They were so lost in themselves that they thought they could kill God’s Son without repercussions.
What were some of those pieces of evidence?
1) The Old Testament prophecies.
2) The testimony of John the Baptist.
3) The claims of Jesus Himself.
4) The miracles that they had witnessed.
5) The signs of the times.
It is these same reasons, these same proofs, that we know we are in the end times now.
Why did God punish these Jews in 70 AD? God knew these things were true!
So, they plotted His death.
The parable says they reasoned among themselves.
They thought they could seize the inheritance of God’s Son.
We know that this is the same thoughts of Satan, the Devil.
Mat 12:14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
Joh 11:53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.
What was Israel’s sin? In rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, they were rejecting God’s sovereignty over Israel.
What is the world’s sin today? The world is rejecting our Creator and our God.
The world is trying to shut God out of His own vineyard!
To murder God’s Son was the worst crime of human history.
1) The Lord Jesus was predicting His own death.
2) The Lord Jesus Christ volunteered to die.
Jesus knew what lay in His future, and He could have escaped His death if He chose to do so.
We forget sometimes that the Lord Jesus was 100% God, but He was also 100% man.
The man’s side of this union could have run off and hid himself, but He had given himself to the Lord.
Act 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Act 2:24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
What would God the Father do?
What did God the Father do?
*Luk 20:16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.
The vineyard (world) will be destroyed.
The vineyard (world) will be given to others.
God’s vineyard will not be left uncultivated; it will not be left untended to bear no fruit.
What did God tell Adam before his sin? Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
For these Jews, it was in their mind that there was no chance that they would be rejected by God, they were God’s people, but they were wrong.
The judgment for rejecting the Son of God will be the most tragic and extreme judgment in all the universe.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Then the Lord Jesus said to them, you need to read your Bible.
*Luk 20:17 And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
Luk 20:18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
What is the surest proof that judgment is coming? Scripture.
Mat_21:42; Mrk_12:10-11; Luk_20:17; Act_4:11; Eph_2:20-22; 1Pe_2:4-8
The prophet Daniel wrote: Dan 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
What did the prophet Isaiah write? Isa 8:13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
Isa 8:14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Isa 8:15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
What was once a vineyard will now become a building: 1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
These rulers of religion at the time of Jesus are the same rulers of religion today, and rejected the fact that God is building the Church and this Church is established on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the way, is God the Son, the beloved of God the Father, with the full power of God the Holy Spirit.
God’s people have become a Temple rather than a vineyard.
It is the foundation stone of the Church, Jesus Christ, on which we are to build our lives!
The Pharisees of today and all those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ reject the destructive power of the Stone against flesh and blood, but they will be crushed by the power of God.
Those whom the Stone of God, Jesus Christ rolls over will be utterly destroyed, permanently!
This is what God says and not what I say.
Pro 11:4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Pro 11:5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
Pro 11:6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.
Pro 11:7 When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.
There was no way that these wicked men were going to accept what the Lord Jesus had just told them.
The whole world wants to destroy Jesus Christ, which is impossible!
*Luk 20:19 And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
Luk 20:20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
How do we know we are in the last days? Just as Luke writes in this Scripture, the world is seeking to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ.
Right now, they can go no further because there are just too many people who would stop it.
The chief priests and the scribes knew exactly that this parable was intended for them.
The Lord Jesus is that Stone that is rejected by these leaders.
God the Father has made the Lord Jesus the chief cornerstone of the Church!
He who falls or stumbles on the Lord Jesus Christ and rejects Him will perish.
The key to Heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ!
Rom 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Rom 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
The religious leaders of Judah had been silenced by the truth of God and His Son.
They could not destroy Jesus on that day, but they made plans to do so as soon as possible.
What does the Devil do? He sends forth spies who claim to be justified.
They are in every working church today, and they have caused many local churches to close their doors.
Why does the government hate Jesus so much? The Lord Jesus does not allow power or position to influence Him and the ways of Scripture, and he expects this to be the same in every church.
The intent of the Separation of Church and State in our own Constitution was to keep the government out of the Church, not the reverse of it used today.
It was never intended to keep the Church out of the government.
Liberals are trying to make our Constitution useless, and we cannot allow that to happen.
The Church must vote for the truth of God and stay out of politics.
The liberal world will try anything to accuse God of not keeping His own Word.
We should understand that hypocrites are good at using flattery about the preaching of God’s Word.
They give false testimony while they reject everything about God’s Messiah.
The liberals believe they can trip the Lord up by using trick questions.
We see this same thing in our own government whenever they question a righteous man or a righteous woman.
Solomon said there is nothing new under the Sun, and it is true.
Ecc_1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
These same liberal Pharisees set out to destroy the Lord Jesus and our Creator, but they failed.
The Pharisees of today are determined to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ, but they will also fail.
Just as they try to destroy the way of life of the Christian, they will fail.
God simply will not allow it!
Amen