Sermon Tone Analysis

Call to worship

Welcome everyone!

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.