Pastor Babij exposits the parable of the vineyard and defiant vinedressers in the Gospel of Mark as he identifies four characters in the parable: the vineyard owner is the Father, the vineyard is Israel, the vinedressers are the leaders of Israel, and the son is Jesus Christ. Pastor Babij also discusses three characteristics of God displayed in this parable: God’s longsuffering towards sin, God’s boundless mercy, and God’s severe judgment against sin.
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let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Mark 12 Mark chapter 12 and we’re looking this morning at the first 12 verses of this passage have a word prayer let’s pray father this morning I do thank you for the opportunity to come uh and worship you to listen to your word I pray that you would uh bless us with hearing uh that we may understand the word of God and that we may again U apply it to ourselves and practice it every single day of our lives and I just I pray pray this this morning in Christ’s name amen all right so chapter 12 we’ll be looking at now last time in the gospel of Mark Jesus exposed unbelief in a very powerful way and he did it to the high ruling political religious body of Israel and we learned that uh in a very practical way that a person who remains in unbelief will not submit to jesus’ Authority a person who remains in unbelief will uh not be honest with the facts also a person who remains in unbelief exists in the realm of uncertainty and uh also in the the fear instead of of God of people uh and of course belief uh leads to as its own solution uh a getting rid of God a uh killing of God I don’t know why that’s happening um but uh nonetheless uh it is something that always place when um that use this one all right so um in saying all that in Mark chapter 12 and verse 12 which we will where I will conclude this morning it says simply this and they were seeking to seize him and yet they feared the people for they understood that he spoke the parable against them and so they left him and went away so the solution really for unbelief is just to rid the universe of God and that’s what a sinful heart does that’s what unbelief does now in the beginning of Mark uh the gospel of Mark we we were introduced to different groups groups of people such as The Insider group and the outsider group uh the scribes uh that’s those were the teachers of the law they were already documented in the uh Gospel of Mark as official opponents to Jesus in other words they were critics of about everything Jesus ever said and did and and at the end of jesus’ ministry remember on the last seven days were it’s still Tuesday day of the passion week in this portion of scripture and um so the at the end of jesus’ ministry the chief priests the scribes the elders also the whole ruling body of Israel are still Outsiders they have not believed they are actually digging themselves against Jesus and then we met The Insider group and The Insider group were those characterized by people people who sit at the feet of Jesus and learn what the word of God says right in Mark chapter three it says a crowd was sitting around they said to him behold and your brother looking said who are my mothers about those who were soers and then he concluded it said for whoever does the will of God he is my brother and sister and mother now of course anyone who does the word of God obeys God obeys the message that God brings especially that message of Salvation one Theologian rightly concluded that these words were not a repudiation by Jesus of his mother and brothers instead they are a profound teaching about Union with Christ that Jesus declared that those who believe in him and do God’s will will have a relationship with him that is closer than blood relationships between parents and children’s and of course uh and siblings so in The Insider group responds to Jesus and his ministry and is shown to sit at jesus’ feet as his disciples they were doing the will of God and they were treated favor ably as Jesus true family so here’s the point in saying that that if you want to be considered an Insider you have to be spiritually related to Jesus and that entrance into the kingdom of God is gained by doing the will of God now how does such of obedience begin well it’s already been established in the gospel of Mark that Jesus said listen the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe the gospel so those two things are what brings someone into a relationship with God in which they can enter the kingdom of God they repent from their sin especially the sin of unbelief and they turn to someone and of course the someone they turn to is God’s only solution for our sin problem and that is Jesus Christ himself so that means that believing the gospel means to obey the message concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that he is God the Son of God that he is God’s Own Way of Salvation that God sent Jesus to the cross that God put all our sin on him and punish them in him see that’s what we’re to believe and the question should always be have you believed that have you trusted in what God Said to make yourself right with him have you trusted in the gospel repented and believe so that means that the In Crowd cannot waffle on these imperatives of entry into the kingdom of God once you enter you will always be the group that is sitting around Jesus learning from him worshiping him growing in love for God and others that will take place the rest of your Christian life so now with that said we come to chapter 12 and I want you to notice it says in chapter 12 verse number one and he began to speak to them in Parables now up until this point in the beginning of Mark there was a par Parable and now towards the end of Mark we have another Parable and so this means that Jesus once again calls his critics out and exposes them for their hard-heartedness and for their unbelief now after such a display of unbelief that we saw last week and their hard-heartedness toward Jesus once again Jesus changes his teaching method and begins to speak to them in Parables now if you forgot this let me remind you that Parables mean it means a comparison or an analogy a couple of other things about Parables first they are connected with this Central message that God has begun to assert his kingly power against evil and the promise time of Salvation has come to the world because Jesus came into the world a second thing about Parables is that they are not meant to be fully obvious or transparent they are actually hiding something they’re hiding something from from for those people who don’t believe who don’t want to believe and so Jesus begins to use this particular method and of course course it requires a parable requires the hearer or the reader to use some effort to get the point and then it provokes the hearer or the reader to respond to the message either in Repentance or in rejection there’s no middle ground you either have to be on one side or the other either you repent and believe or you reject outright that’s why Parables were were spoken by Jesus so people would really not get the point unless they really want to get the point so they are not simply stories illustrating General moral truths like many people say about Parables they are not so Jesus speaks in Parables to those outside so a parable actually becomes a severe warning don’t forget Jesus has been uh up for three years preaching and doing Ministry and doing Miracles and showing who he was and preaching the gospel so they had plenty of information they had plenty of time to repent and believe so Jesus is warning The Outsiders but Jesus is also warning his disciples those who are inside of the kind of hard-heartedness that shuts out the flow of plain truth to the heart see what distinguishes the disciple from The Outsider is that they remain under the influence of Jesus to change their hearts so for the rest of your life and my life as Believers is that we are under the influence of Jesus to change our hearts to make us more like Christ to make us holy that’s going to take place till God takes us out of here and we’re going to want that to happen we’re not going to be kicking against it we’re going to want it to happen so the story we’re going to look at this morning in scripture is about a man who planted a Vineyard this Parable was a match actually to a parable found in Isaiah 5 verse 1-7 I’d like you to turn there real quick because really this would all this Parable would be in the mind of the people especially of the leadership now if you notice in chapter 5 of Isaiah in verse number one I’m not going to read the whole uh section but in Isaiah 5 ver1 it says let me sing now for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved concerning his Vineyard my wellbeloved had a Vineyard on a fertile Hill all right in other words that God is referring to the nation of Israel as his Vineyard all right and it describes in there that God planted the vineyard he set the vineyard up and of course if you plant vines and you want them to produce they say that uh grape Vines don’t produce any fruit for five years all right but after five years if you get no fruit then you realize something’s wrong so the Lord says I planted my Vineyard which is the nation of Israel I I gave them everything they needed and then if if you notice in Isaiah 5:7 it says for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his delightful plant thus he looked for justice in other words he looked for fruit but behold Bloodshed he looked for righteousness but Behold a cry of distress so in other words that Israel was not producing fruit and he called the prophet Isaiah to show them that so now this is is the match to the the parable that we’re going to see in the gospel of Mark so found embedded let’s turn back to Mark found embedded in this Parable in the gospel of Mark is the a inspiring aspects of the Divine character of God such as the love loving kindness of God the longsuffering of God the patience of God the grace of God and then also the Judgment of God all found in this section of scripture also there for us to learn who God is and how God responds to his people and also to those who lead his people and so in thinking of that it’s very beneficial for us this morning to learn the characteristics of God and how he does deal with his people and with those who lead and so there’s really three characteristics of God that come to the surface In this passage of scripture and the first one is this it’s God of course dealing with his Vineyard but also dealing with those who are are the leaders or the teachers in that Vineyard so if the vineyard is the nation of Israel then the teachers are the leadership right the scribes the chief priests and the and the Pharisees will be the ones who he’s addressing but he’s also addressing remember those who are of all also his children because he’s teaching them about who he is all right so here’s the first thing that we see about the character of God that’s the first one is this that God’s love God’s longsuffering kindness I’m calling it toward resistant Sinners all right so now let’s look at verse number 1-5 and I just want to say this before we we look at that that God’s longsuffering is really a restraint placed on his own will God is holding himself back for something he’s keeping himself at Bay until something takes place the Hebrew word actually for divine long suffering is rendered in scripture slow to anger it says like this in Psalm 103 the Lord is compassionate and gracious slow to anger abounding in loving kindness he is he will not always strive with us nor will he keep his anger forever all right so that means that there’s going to come a time where God’s longsuffering his slow anger is going to stop in other words God’s longsuffering for things to take place happen now that means that his longsuffering is his power to restrain himself and thank the Lord that he Bears long with us right and we are not like the Lord when it comes to bearing long with people especially when people are hard-hearted and stubborn and will not listen because that’s who he’s addressing it’s a good reminder that we shouldn’t be that way we should have a very moldable shapable heart so God can speak to us our ears should always be open to what the Lord has to say all right now let’s look at the parable all right we’re going to see this the parable described in verse number one all right and it says and he began to speak to them well it says that and he began to speak to them in a parable and this is was was the parable and he uh a man planted a Vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a vet under the wine press and built a tower all right so now I going to identify the characters in this Parable the the charact the man is God the father that’s the first character right now in verse number one you see everything that is needed to complete a Vineyard so you can bear a crop bear fruit is supplied the vine plants are supplied the vine plants represent the nation of Israel all right they are planted in order to yield fruit the fruit of righteousness the fruit that God wants to produce in them so they can be a testimony to the Nations and then it says the Lord provided fences all right that means he built around the vineyard of fence of course separating Israel from the other nations all right he what did he give Israel that he didn’t give the other nations he gave them the law he gave them the Psalms he gave them the prophets he gave them the priesthood he gave them the Tabernacle he gave them the sacrificial system they were unlike all the other nations of the world they were different and what fenced them off from the other nations was all those things right and because they were different they were different for one reason so they can display the difference of who God was to compare to their gods that’s what they were supposed to do of course there was a wine press there and of course a wine press was to produce fruit right so God expected the fruits of repentance he expected the fruit of increased Faith he expected the fruit of obedience and then it says in verse one to1 he built they built the tower now a tower was used for two things to store the wine and then also to be a wat Tower so you can protect the field and the Watchmen were put in place so the crop could be always protected so in other words God supplied everything for the leaders and the people of God to to grow and to bear fruit now verse number one it also tell teaches us this it says at the end of the verse and rented it out to the vine Growers and went on a journey so that means God the Father supplied everything right and what he did is when the owner had made every conceivable provision for the safety and the the prosperity of the vineyard he leased it to some Vine Growers while he was absent see one once things were in place God is described as as going away or going abroad while he was gone he entrusted his Vineyard that is his people right entirely to the care of the leaders of Israel that’s what he did all right so the identity of the second group in our Parable is the cultivators of the vineyard are the rulers of Israel so we have God the Father we have the rulers of Israel so that means that God brought Israel from Egypt to Canaan planted it fenced it equipped it right there and placed it under spiritual rulers whose office or offices were to be continuous they were to continually teach the word of God and show who God was and then we see that there’s the vine Growers agreement verse number two of our text it says at Harvest time he sent a slave to the vine growers in order to re receive some of the produce produce of the vineyard from the vine growers in other words a Vine grow grower a Vineyard is planted uh for the purpose of yielding fruit and the agreement was between the owner God the father and the vine Growers the rulers of Israel was that they should the father should receive a certain portion of the crowd right he’s going to allow the leaders to have a portion but because he’s the owner that the owner sent a servant to collect what was his due that was a common practice all right that was it’s reasonable right you have somebody working your property your ground you expect some of the fruit and so he sends his servant right now here’s the first servant he sends so that means the vine Growers which is the nation of Israel the the leaders of the nation of Israel what do they do with the servant what do they do how do they act towards the father’s servant that he sent to them well if you look in verse number two it says at Harvest time he sent a slave to the vine Growers now let me just say this group number three would be who are the servants the servants sent by the father to the leadership or the rulers of Israel are the prophets so the servants are the prophets all right and so matter of fact Amos tells us surely the Lord does nothing unless he Reveals His secret counsel to the servants to his servants the prophets so right in scripture we see that it’s very clear that God sent these servants to collect on his uh the fruit of the vineyard and his servants were the prophets now if you think back for a moment Israel’s actions towards uh the prophets has been very despicable in scripture if you have been reading through the Bible you’ll find out that it has been horribly despicable in fact it look look at chapter 12 of Mark in verse number three they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed so this is how the rulers of the nation the people who are supposed to cultivate The Vineyard this is how they’re treating God the father’s prophets now just to bring you up to speed I’m just going to take maybe one Prophet as an example and one of them is Jeremiah Jeremiah if you read through Jeremiah Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet he was not always weeping because of their treatment he was weeping because the people didn’t believe they were in unbelief and why don’t you take take your Bibles real quick and just look at a few passages of scriptures in Jeremiah that relate to how the nation of Israel or how the leadership of Israel treated God’s servants look at Jeremiah chapter 7 and I’ll just go I’ll just read three passages from three different sections of Jeremiah it says in chapter 7 verse number 25 it says since the day J iiia 7:25 since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day I have sent you all my servants the prophets daily Rising early and sending them verse 26 it says and they did not listen to me or inclin their ear but stiffen their neck they did more evil than their fathers now turn over to Jeremiah chapter 20 verse 1 and two Jeremiah 20 verse 1 and 2 it says when verse one when pure the priest the son of Amir who was chief officer of the house of the Lord heard Jeremiah prophesying these things has sure had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks all right and so on and so forth and then down to verse number 37 I SC chapter 37 verse number 15 it says then the officials were angry at Jeremiah verse 15 of Jeremiah 37 and beat him and they put him in jail in the house of Jonathan The Scribe which they had made into the prison verse 16 for Jeremiah had come into the dungeon that is the Vault cell and Jeremiah stayed there many days and then of course in Jeremiah chapter 38 what did they do they throw Jeremiah down a sstn a well and there was no water the Bible says in the sistern and he sunk down in the mud see this is how the nation of Israel treated the prophets now you would you would think at that point well what do you think the the father is going to do maybe we should end it there and take care of these people right off the bat right well if you turn back to Mark I want you to notice what happens here and which stresses the point of the longsuffering of God towards resistant Sinners all right the second servant in verse number four it says this again he sent them another another slave and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully so from a beating actually the word for beat here means to fet so in other words he was beat down it beat so badly that it almost like his skin was coming off so this is very extreme wickedness and the wickedness is escalating for each one that was sent now here’s a third servant in verse number five and he sent another Mark 12:5 and that one they killed so you went from a beating to a beating so badly that his skin was falling off to now let’s just murder the guy and forget the whole thing it’s too difficult to beat the person let just killed him so it escalated to this point and you would think maybe all right God would be filled up he would stop it he would say okay that’s enough I don’t want my props getting beaten anymore that’s not what he does if you notice in verse number five second part of the verse it says so with many others beating some killing others Elijah was driven into the Wilderness by the monarchy Isaiah the prophet according to tradition was sa and two Zachariah was stoned to death near the altar John the baptizer the last Old Testament prophets was beheaded that’s why when you read Hebrews you come to chapter 11 when you read about the the prophets and the saints that were faithful to God you read this they were stoned they were swn in Two they were tempted they were put to death with the sword they went about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute Afflicted ill-treated men whom this world was not worthy wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground and what does God do he keeps sending his evangelists he keeps sending his pastors he keeps sending his teachers he keeps sending faithful parents and relatives and friends to be able to speak the truths of the Gospel to those who have not yet heard he continues to do that to me that is just amazing about the longsuffering of God but that brings me to my the second characteristic of God dealing with his people and the leadership of Israel and it’s this God’s mercifulness and graciousness is depicted in his final solution look what it says in verse 6 of chapter 12 now I want to mention this that remember longsuffering and the patience of God towards Israel’s religious rulers is put on display by God’s mercy and what’s God’s mercy again God’s Mercy is not giving us what we deserve it’s withholding back what we actually deserve if they were brought into court at this point if any was anyone was brought into point and found guilty they would be judged so what does God do he sends one Prophet after another even though the treatment of His prophets that they received was nothing but bloody beatings and sometimes actual killings the gospel of Matthew says this Jerusalem Jerusalem who kills the prophets and Stones those who are sent to her so this is the characteristic of the nation and you would think again God would say that’s enough I’m not sending anyone else to you but God’s patience and his incomprehensible love and his unfathomable Grace exceed all understandable boundaries so this is what the father does this is what the owner of the vineyard does the owner of the vineyard has one son and he says I’ll send him and notice what it says says in verse number six he had one more to send a beloved Son he sent them last of all to them saying they will respect my son see the son not only represented the father’s legal claim on the vineyard but also his loving kindness and his compassion and his Mercy to those who are tending The Vineyard you can never say that God doesn’t give people chances God gives people chances one after another after another after another after another after another after another because that’s who he is in other words you would think the vine grower should have enough s respect not to treat his son as a slave but to treat his son with certain level of restraint but I want to remind you that unbelief leads to as its solution getting rid of the competition whatever the means possible that the rulers are steep in unbelief hard-heartedness blindedness unfruitfulness and they’re dead at the roots is it’s one of those the Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and arance so how do they respond to the Sun how do they respond to the sun with respect well look at verse number seven and eight how do they respond to the air it says but those Vine Growers said to one another this is the heir come let us kill him and the inherit will be ours and they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard they threw him out course uh we know remember that Jesus was killed outside the gate right he was taken outside of Jerusalem to the outside to be suffer outside the camp and oh by the way you probably guessed it that the identity of this fourth character in the parable is the only the only son of the owner of the vineyard is Jesus Christ he’s the only son see they killed Jesus because they feared the loss of their position as Leaders The Vine Growers killed the owner’s son The Heir and threw him outside the vineer now did they think the owner was too far away to do anything anything I believe that people do think that God is so Transcendent that is that he’s so far away and uninvolved that they can do acts against God and get away with it people every day live with that thought on their mind because they have a truly a wrong view of God and what he has done but that is the thought that God’s not really active in the world he’s not really doing things in the world I don’t see him anywhere and so therefore I’m going to live the way I want and I’m going to hope at the end things go favorably for me but see if Humanity can dispense with God or even kill God then Humanity becomes God and see this is the the the mission of Satan behind the scenes to rid the world of Truth to rid the world of God a true understanding of God now of course if somebody thinks they can rid the world of God they need to think again how wrong they are and and why would they be wrong well because of what comes next because of God’s third characteristic in dealing with sinful unrepentant unbelieving people and it’s this God’s severity is seen in the certainty of judgment now I want you to notice in verse number nine of chapter 12 it says now there’s a question that’s posed and then there’s an answer that’s given and notice what it says in the parable it says this in verse number nine what will the owner of the vineyard do now of course remember the leadership of Israel’s listening his inside proof group is listening the crowd is All Around Jesus uh and who responds to the question is very interesting well the nation of Israel doesn’t respond to the question the Jewish leadership doesn’t respond to the question the crowd responds to the question all right and of course the question is what will the owner of the vineard do right well the answer is actually supplied by the people verse number nine it says and he will come and destroy the vine Growers and will give the vine The Vineyard to others all right so that’s what the Lord will do in other words his his judgment will be certain at the time he decides to lower the boom that God May bear long with disobedience and rebellion and Injustice but in the end God will act he will vindicate his name and when he does ACT no one can resist when God comes in judgment no one could stand up against his judgment that the wrath of God is really the Eternal detestation of all unrighteousness it is it is moving it’s the moving cause of of the just sentence of God that is passed upon unbelievers or evildoers and so we see that In this passage of scripture there are certain things that this judgment will bring that we need to avoid and we need to avoid at least at least three things and the first thing we need to avoid is to avoid all unbelief as God’s people but the second thing you need need to avoid is ignorance because the judgment is going to be upon unbelief the judgment is going to be upon ignorance if you notice in verse number 10 it says this it says have you not even read this scripture Jesus presses upon the Jewish leadership their ignorance of scripture by quoting to them Psalm 18 verse 22 and 23 right the problem has always been that they have not been reading the scripture and listening to God’s Spokan spokesman the prophets they have been erecting fences around the truth of God’s word making it difficult to get to what God is actually saying see he begins to quote this Psalm and notice what it says in verse number 10 the stone which the builders rejected this became the Chief Cornerstone this came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes see in other words historically this Psalm was composed to express the joy of the PE of the people after the Babylonian captivity either on the occasion of laying the corn Cornerstone of the new Temple or on the occasion of the dedication of the complete structure so see the sin to avoid for his Insider group is avoid the sin of being ignorant of God’s word do not be caught in the Trap where you are ignorant about what God requires of you but then there is the ultimate thing that we need to avoid and all need to avoid vo and that’s the Judgment upon the rejection of the Cornerstone which is Jesus Christ and so if you notice in verse 10 and in verse number 11 it says this that In this passage of scripture that Jesus was the son sent by the owner of the vineyard the father and rejected by the vine Growers the rulers of Israel so again the identity of the characters of the Parable the owner of the vineyard is God the Father the cultivators of the vineyard the rulers of Israel the servants sent by the father are the prophets and the only son of the owner of the vineyard is Jesus Christ and the only way that you avoid rejection is by repentance and faith in Christ alone they rejected it says the stone which the builders rejected now the builders would be those who would uh be the leaders of Israel who were given the task to build the nation so the nation would produce fruit but the very word rejected here is the word that means to actually reject after scrutiny or to reject after full examination so in other words they looked at Jesus for three years and they scrutinized him his teaching his Miracles his interaction with people everything they could and they gave him a full examination and they declared him Jesus useless and unfit for the building see that is Ultimate rejection that is the rejection that is is the greatest sin anybody can commit in this world is to outright reject Jesus Christ and say he won’t be my savior he hasn’t proved to me anything see Jesus himself is the rejected Stone here he now has become in God’s good purposes the Chief Cornerstone of the building of this new Temple in other words the Chief Cornerstone the the Cornerstone was a a a stone that was actually at the corner of the building that governed every angle of the foundation in the building itself that if the Cornerstone was bad if it was not correct the whole Foundation is compromised and the whole building is compromised and it all comes tumbling down and so they rejected Christ after a complete and full valuation but if you notice the passage of scripture says something else it says by way of a question this came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes it wasn’t marvelous in their eyes but all those who believe in Jesus Christ it will be marvelous in their eyes it will be the Wonder of their whole life that all All The Godly who see this strange way God works can only bow their heads in awe and reverence to the great plan of God because don’t forget the rejection of the Jewish leadership was the fruitfulness of the Gentiles that the gospel went from Israel to the Gentiles right and we could not be saved if this didn’t happen you got that right we would not be sitting here if this didn’t happen there would be no church if this didn’t happen and so it happened and so we we see at the end if someone is unmoved by the truth by the gospel then the only thing in the character of God that can be done is judgment will be inevitable someone cannot be rescued if they out right reject Jesus Christ as their lord and savior this is all established with in the character of God and so this brings me to verse number 12 which I started with and end with it says this and they were seeking to seize him to lay their hands on him in other words and yet they feared the people and they understood that he spoke the parable against them them they were getting it this guy’s talking about us we’re the ones who are guilty but did that change them did that move them did that bring them to repentance and Faith no it says there at the end so they left him and they went away what do they leave him to do actually the word one of the Greek words means they were conniving they were conniving they were planning they’re just gathering information to kill him that’s where it all leads so see the prophets were beaten and killed and the last messenger remember Jesus is the last messenger there’s no other Messengers Hebrews chapter 1 verse one two tell us that this this is the final revelation of God Jesus Christ if you reject the last servant that God the Father sends into the world for the Salvation of humanity for your salvation if you reject him there is no other servant there is no other message the only thing is left is God’s Wrath and judgment that’s it that’s why hell is really a place where the character of God’s Wrath and judgment is and that is it there’s no mercy there is no Grace there’s no compassion there’s no longsuffering there’s nothing there except God’s Wrath so Jesus had just called out the Jewish hierarchy pointing out their sin in rejecting one after another of the prophets culminating in the murder of the Messiah himself therefore predicting their fate the nation was to share the fate of the rulers however In this passage of scripture it is Jesus and the people against the ruling body of Israel that God’s rejection of the ruling body of Israel was the fruitfulness of the Gentiles and of course there is Yet to Come A glad gathering in of Israel in the end time but right now there is not they’re in the land they are dead in the land spiritually they are secular uh but they’re there but someday God’s going to send his Spirit they’re going to come alive and they’re going to be saved so listen when God sends his Messengers to tell us what he requires what to do and how to be rescued we have to listen right when God sends Jesus to rescue us from sin’s condemnation and judgment we have to believe and Obey that so are you an inside wrer today who continually sits at the feet of Jesus and learns from him because you repented and trusted him for salvation and God has been longsuffering with you and I he’s granted us mercy and graciousness have we thanked him for it do we live our life every day with that on our mind I just want to with this and and I don’t think anything of of a of a story or a Earthly Parable can compare to what scripture tells us but you know and you probably you may even heard this before but I I thought it was it was kind of like funny that I was thinking about it was about a very religious man who was once caught in the rising flood waters he climbed onto the roof of his house and trusted got to rescue him a neighbor came by in a canoe and said hey the waters will soon be above the house hope uh hop in and and we will paddle the safety and he said no thanks uh I I pray to God and I’m sure he’ll sa a short time later uh the police came in a boat Waters will soon be a above your house hop in and we’ll take you to safety no thanks the man replied uh I pray to God and I’m sure that’ll save you a little time later a rescue service helicopter hovered overhead let down a rope ladder and said the waters will soon be above your house climb the ladder and we’ll fly to safety no thanks the man replied I prayed to God and I’m sure that he’ll save you all this time the flood waters continue to rise until soon it reached the above the roof of the house and the this particular man was drowned when he arrived in heaven he demanded an audience with God ushered into God’s throne room he says Lord why am I here in heaven I pray to you to save me I trust you to save me from that flood yes Jesus replied the lordly I sent you a canoe a boat and a helicopter and you never got in see God sent us the prophets the word of God Jesus Christ and if people don’t get in that boat they’re doomed for judgment and anyway most likely this man never made it to Heaven because he refused God’s means of rescue but I think that that kind of thinking is very prep people think they’re safe for their own reasons and they’re not safe amen let’s pray Lord thank you this morning again Lord for the truth of scripture for the incredible Clarity of what you are doing but I thank you Lord most of all this morning about your character about your loving kindness toward us and your longsuffering especially Lord when we were resisant Sinners and we didn’t want to believe for whatever reason but Lord you didn’t listen to that you kept sending the message you kept drawing us to the truth of scripture and finally one day Lord you showed us the truth and you granted us faith and repentance and we believed and Lord so that means your mercy and your grace led us to the truth led us to the one solution for our sin the Lord Jesus Christ and Lord even today all those who believe in you are rescued from your judgment but Lord still judgment causes fear because Lord what you say will come to pass because of your character you cannot let sin go unpunished even though you are the god of compassion and mercy and longsuffering someday Lord those are going to run out and you’re going to come back again and you’re going to Institute the rest of your plan and the Earth but you’re going to take your church from here in that time lord we know the mystery of iniquity will explode upon the world that the Antichrist will take power and deceive the whole world to believe that he’s the Christ and even Israel will believe that but Lord someday we thank you Lord that Israel’s reject rejection is our benefit but someday you’ll graft them and again and they’ll be saved in their land and I pray Lord for that time and I pray for us Lord that we would continue to grow in a very with a very thankful heart about because Lord you have rescued us from your judgment and I I pray Lord that because of that we would live for you with a with a life that we can offer to you that’s filled with the fruit of the spirit that’s filled with things that give you Joy and Lord I pray that wherever we may go that we may be the mouthpiece to tell other people about how they may be right with God Holy Spirit I pray if we have quenched you or grieved you in any way that you’d forgive us but make us people who could to be usable vessels in your hand during these days and I pray this in Christ’s name amen amen