A Kingdom of Righteousness

1 John 2:25-29 “This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!

“Endless Love”

Words and Music by Cory Ashbury

PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS

Lord, we thank you that because of Your love You have sent Your Son so that we have His righteousness and be made right with You. We thank You that You did not cast us off because of our sinfulness, but while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Amen

“Resurrection Power”

Words and Music by Christ Tomlin

“Goodness of God”

Words and Music by Bethel Music

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS

Lord, we ask at this time that You would open our hearts and minds to understand this important parable. I pray that every word I speak would be true and would edify the congregation as well as convict of of sin. Amen

SERMON

Introduction

We are again today talking about what God requires for His followers.

Last week we studied the parable of the two sons. Only one of these sons carried out the will of His Father in which determined His place in the Kingdom of God. Only those who do the will of God, are truly children of God.

Today we will study the parable of the Landowner. This parable follows the parable last week and is taught in the same setting addressing the Pharisees and demonstrating again what God requires of those who follow Him.

The sermon is titled “A Kingdom of Righteousness” because all who follow Jesus must be characterized by righteous living. The Kingdom of God is not just a future reality, but a present reality in which all those who are inside the Kingdom of God are characterized by.

Matthew 21:33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.”

Explanation

This parable, like the parable last week, is also talking about a vineyard and the owner of a vineyard

Its very important we understand where this vineyard metaphor comes from

Isaiah 5:1-4 “My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and 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? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?”

The vineyard in Isaiah is referring to Israel. They were God’s chosen people. He brought them out of the land of Egypt and made a covenant with them. He brought them into the Promise Land called them to be a holy people who would reflect His glory all over the earth. But they did not.

So God gives this parable to them as an indictment against them because the people had become “worthless grapes” or wicked. And God says to them, “what more could I have done that I have not done for it?”

Bridge

God provided everything Israel needed to produce good fruit.

He put a wall around it

Protect it from wild animals that would pick the vines for fresh fruit

God’s divine protection was upon Israel

A great example of this is when Assyria place Jerusalem under siege and God sent an angel to wipe out 185,000 Assyrian soldiers

He dug a wine press

This is a place where the grape justice could be pressed from the grapes

In ancient times this was done underfoot

The juice would then run into a basin where it could ferment

He built a tower in it

This allowed a watchman to keep an eye on thieves and to be sure everything ran smoothly

EVERYTHING that was needed to produce a good crop was put into place

Just as God provided for Israel, so God also provides everything necessary for us to produce good fruit

The Fruit in this parable represents righteousness

Righteousness is the product of the ChristIan life

And righteousness is what God requires for those who follow Him

God planted us, and God expects good fruit from His labors

What has God made available to us, so that we may live righteously

We have the atoning sacrifice of Jesus who makes us right with God and allows us to communicate directly with God

We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and empowers us to live God pleasing lives

We have the clear instruction written out in God’s Word so that we may know exactly how God wants us to live and what God wants us to do

We have the fellowship of other believers so that we may be encouraged by what God is doing in other people’s lives and be edified by other’s gifts

IMPORTANT POINT: No one May ever say to God, “You didn’t provide what I needed”.

We will never be able to say to God, “You left me in the dark”

We will never be able to say, I had no hope!

Just as God gave EVERYTHING Israel needed, so He provides ALL that we need today

And we have the responsibility to seek, submit, and apply what the Lord has graciously given to us

Despite the failures of the tenants to produce good fruit, God demonstrates Amazing Grace

Matt 21:34-37 “When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. “The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’”

Explanation

Harvest time

Grape vines do not produce quality fruit the first year

In fact it takes around 4 years to produce any fruit worth keeping and 5 years to begin to make a profit

So several years have passed by

Its time to collect the fruit of his vineyard

But instead of coming Himself He sends his slaves

Who are these slaves?

These represent the prophets whom were sent to the people of Israel to call them to repentance

If you ever read the prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Micah, and the others you will read about the coming judgement and call to repent!

You will read warning after warning about God’s judgement upon wickedness

But the people did not heed the message of the prophets

In fact, they hated them and even wanted to kill them

BUT God, in His great grace, sends His son because of they do not respect the messengers, saying, “surely they will respect My Son”

Bridge

Most farmers today would not have approached this situation in the same way

If I were a farmer, and someone owned me money and I sent a worker to collect the money, and they beat him, I would call the police and report a crime.

And if I was an extremely gracious person, I may even have try again thinking there was a misunderstanding, and sent more servants

But in no way would I ever send my own son after they way they Treated my servants and even killed some.

And I think this is what Jesus is highlighting in this section of the parable

The depths of His grace towards us

The way that God gives us chance after chance, opportunity after opportunity to GET IT RIGHT!

The many messengers God sends to us to proclaim the way of righteousness

And that is expressed in greatest terms by sending His own Son.

Rom 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

2 Tim 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,”

John 1:16 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

BUT NOTICE EVEN GOD’S GRACE HAS IT’S LIMITS:

Matt 21:38-41 “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ “They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

We must not fall into the error of taking advantage of God’s grace because even God’s amazing grace has its limits

Notice Jesus says, “when that landowner comes”

He had great grace by sending two sets of servants

And even greater grace when He sent His Son

But now He is coming Himself, and the implication is that He is bringing judgement on these wicked vine-growers

It is wise for us to regularly take a look at our own lives and see if there are areas where we are abusing the grace of God

It may be unrepentant sin we have fallen into

It may be something God is wanting us to do and we refused to do it

It may be that we simply have not repented fully and completely of our sin!

There is point where God’s grace disappears and only God’s judgement remains

And most often we do not know where that line is

But we can know if we continue to resist Him, we get closer and closer to that point

2 Pet 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

God gives Grace so that we will repent

Jesus is the foundation by which all good fruit springs from

Matthew 21:42-44 “Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.””

Explanation

Here Jesus makes application of the parable to the religious leaders.

And He tells them, the kingdom of God will be taken away from them

And the reason so is because they did not good produce fruit

And we must not miss this point that if our lives are not producing kingdom fruit, then we should fear the judgement that is coming to us

Notice Jesus says, “when that landowner comes”

It’s not a matter of if, but when he comes!

And there is no doubt there is judgement coming for this world!

There is a judgement coming for sin!

There is judgement coming for men who practice wickedness!

The decisive factor by which they were judged and WE WILL BE JUDGED is by “the fruit of the kingdom”

This is speaking of being “fruitful for the kingdom of God” (BDAG)

These “fruits” are righteous

character,

behavior,

and speech.

All throughout Jesus’ ministry, Her uses the term “fruit” to refer to the behavior that exhibits one’s true spiritual condition

“Good fruit” was an essential expression of a person’s genuine repentance.

Bridge

Fruit is the product of one’s life

Spiritual fruit is not the same as one natural abilities

You my have natural gifts that do good things, but that is not the fruit Jesus is speaking of

You my have good qualities in your life, but that is not the fruit in view here

This fruit is not a result of our obedience or disobedience to Jesus

We either produce good fruit or bad fruit

Jesus said, You will know a tree by its fruit

The power of sin produces bad fruits

Rom. 6:20–21 “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.”

Or the power of Christ which produces good fruits

Rom. 6:22 “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”

Why did the Pharisees not produce good fruit?

Because they rejected the the very source of all fruit: JESUS

John pointed to Him

The Holy Spirit filled Him

And God the Father confirmed Him

And they still rejected Him

Notice the verse, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone”

The chief cornerstone was the most important stone in a building. when they laid the chief stone, both walls coming off this stone ws plumbed according to that chief cornerstone. And the walls laid from those walls depended upon them bring plum or the whole building would be off. The entire building depended upon that one stone…

And who is the chief cornerstone?

It is Jesus. He was speaking of himself

The only way good fruit can come from anyone’s life is if one’s life is built and centered upon Jesus Christ

Jesus is the chief foundation stone

Without this stone in place, EVERYTHING else will be off

He is the essential element in the ChristIan life

Why would the Pharisees reject the cornerstone?

Because they did not think they had any use for it

Because they saw Jesus as unsuitable for their lives and therefore they rejected it

And I wonder how many of us in here today have that same mentality

Of course you would never say it out loud

But deep down inside, you may see Jesus as of no real use for your life other than a hope to go to heaven when you die

But Jesus is a building block, not a kind of fire insurance!

And as a building block, He must be foundational in all that we do

He must be first in all we do!

The first thing on our minds when we wake up should be Jesus!

Every decision should consult Jesus and consider the Kingdom of God

Our relationships should be centered on Jesus!

We must be the fragrance of Christ in all we do and think

Matt 21:45-46 “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.”

Explanation

These two sentences simply amaze me. Here we have the Pharisees and the chief priests listening to a parable to illustrate truth to them.

They are the evil tenants of God’s vineyard

They have been shown amazing grace from God

They have been warned about rejecting the landowners Son, the Chief Cornerstone

And Matthew says, “they understood that Jesus was speaking about them”

Yet instead of taking these words to heart, they were actually planning the Sin Jesus was condemning

Bridge

We must not be a people who hear what God is saying and not take it to heart!

We must read every story, every command, every parable, every verse as of it applies to us and it is serious!

And today, the call for us is to be fruit inspectors Of our own lives!

Application

Are we producing Kingdom Fruit?

Are our lives marked by righteousness?

Do we know we are inside the Kingdom of God because the product of our lives is pleasing to God?

The implications are too great to ignore

Judgment is inevitable

But for now, grace is still available

Conclusion

What does this mean for us?

Is Jesus Christ the Cornerstone of your life?

Have you built upon Him, and placed him at the center of all that you do?

God’s grace is available today for us to start all over, and get it right

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”

~PRAYER~

RESPONSE

PUBLIC INVITATION

“In Christ Alone”

Words and Music by Keith and Christi Getti

OFFERING

We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Potluck next week (see Kathy)

Evangelism this afternoon at 2:00pm

CLOSING PRAYER

Related Media

Related Sermons