A Snapshot of God

“A Snapshot of God”

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We live in a visual world; we have so many ways to see photos of our friends, kids and grandkids today. It is awesome; we can see and talk with our family and friends around the world with face-time. We can put our pictures on Facebook; Instagram, and Snapchat. We can make a video for our friends are family to watch later with Mark-co-polo.

Technology is a blessing when used right and controlled.

I use the realm shepherds app to learn the faces and names of new members. Please put your picture on realm…it is so helpful. I hate calling someone by the wrong name; especially when I am convinced I am right, and call them by name with confidence…Only to be wrong!

Many people hear the name God, and they have a picture in their mind of what God is like, but the picture they have is wrong, or incomplete.

We need to be sure that we have a full and complete picture of God, not a distorted, undeveloped, partial picture of God. In this parable we have a clear snapshot of God, a picture of want God is really like.

The Bible gives us the complete picture of God. We must accept the picture of God that is given to us in the Bible.

We accept the fact that God is a God of love, grace and mercy; but God is also a God who is holy, righteousness and just. We do not have the liberty to have a God of our own design.

This parable that Jesus tells gives us a picture of God as he really is, we see both the goodness of God as well as the judgment of God.

This parable is called “the parable of the wicked tenants”.

“A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning”

Jesus tells this story to the religious leaders because they are rejecting His authority and rejecting Him as messiah, and He is reaching out to them; He tells them this story to expose their plotting hearts, and to lead them to repentance and salvation.

As we look at this parable it is important to identify the characters in the story:

· Householder- represents God.

· Vineyard-represents Israel.

· Servants-represent the prophets.

· Workers-represent the religious leaders.

· Son-represents the Lord Jesus Himself.

It is a very simple story:

A man owned a vineyard; he did everything necessary to make his vineyard productive. He leased it out to some men who would work the vineyard, and when harvest time came the owner send his servants to get the fruit of the vineyard.

When the servants came to get the fruit the workers took the servants and treated them terrible:

V:10-“beat him and sent him away empty-handed”

The owner of the vineyard sent more servants to collect his fruit/rent and they did the same thing to them. V:11-“beat him also…

So he sent a third, V:12-“wounded him, and cast him out”

V:13-Read.

But rather than respecting his son, they caught him, cast him out of the vineyard and killed Him,

V:14-Read.

Jesus tells these religious leaders this story, and then asked them a question, V:15-“what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

Then Jesus answers:

V:16-“He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others”

Jesus explains the parable in V:17-18.

In V:19 they understand that the parable was about them.

They are the workers/vinedressers in the story.

In this parable we get a snapshot of God, my prayer is as we see this picture of God we will accept everything about God, and love Him and give Him the fruit of our lives.

1st snapshot of God we see:

1. “God is a Great Provider!

V: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 owner of this vineyard, who is a picture of God spend a lot of money and went to a lot of effort to prepare this vineyard to bring forth fruit that he could enjoy. He provided everything necessary to make this a productive vineyard.

He planted it; he protected it- built a hedged around it, and put a watchtower in it. He dug a place to hold the wine from the grapes.

This vineyard is a picture of the nation of Israel. In the O.T. the vineyard was a picture of the nation of Israel. The people, who heard this parable, knew that Jesus was talking about the nation of Israel.

"You brought a vine out of Egypt; you cast out the heathen, and planted it. You prepared room before it, and cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

God took Israel out of the land of Egypt; he planted them like a vine in Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. God hedged the nation of Israel with His protection and power from the nations around them that would have eaten them up.

Everything that was necessary for this vineyard to bear fruit was provided. In the book of Isaiah, he tells a similar parable about Israel being God’s special vineyard; and how God had been so good to them. ,-“God has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 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. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel”

God is saying I have done everything for my vineyard, Israel; I have been a great provider for them! That is certainly true, God did miracle after miracle to get them in that land, and keep them in that land. O how good God has been to Israel!

God gave them the land; it belongs to the Jewish people.

God gave them the law; basically ever bible writer is Jewish, God gave them his word as a light to their path and a lamp to their feet.

God gave them the Lord; it was from the nation of Israel that the savior of the world came; Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah! God blessed them that they might be a blessing to Him, and then a blessing and witness to the nations around them.

-“Truly God is good to Israel.”

The reason God did all that was to enable Israel to bear fruit for His glory. Yet all they did was bring forth bad fruit. This parable shows us the goodness of God to Israel.

But this parable also reminds us of the goodness of God to us! God planted me in this good land, I was born into the family, to the parents God provided for me. God has protected me, he put a hedge around my life, He has been my strong tower, He has watched over me! When I look back over my life I see the protecting hand of God. We all have stories where God protected us. (Stories) stomach pumped, fish bone, car wrecks. God has protected me, watched over me and blessed me in so many ways.

-“It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not”

God planted you, and has protected you, and provides for you. The Bible says that God gives us richly all things to enjoy. The Psalmist says He daily loads us with benefits. Everything that you and I enjoy God has provided it for us. God gives us the air we breathe, the water we drink, the clothes on my back, the food in my refrigerator, and the roof over my head; it is all provided to me by God! Yes God has been good to Israel, but God has been good to me! -“the goodness of God leads to repentance”.

In V:9, the Bible says he put his vineyard into the vinedressers/workers hands and went to a far country. The owner gave these men the stewardship of His vineyard. They were to work the vineyard, enjoy the vineyard, and then share the harvest with Him; and give him the first fruits. They had freedom to enjoy the fruit, and live in that great place. God has given you the freedom to build your own life with the blessings he has provided for you. God has given us life, health, money and everything we have comes from God. And God has given you freedom to live your life, and make your decisions to accepted Him or reject him. We are like these husbandmen/workers in this parable.

It is God’s world, He owns it; we just work here and live here. God has been so good to us, and we are not to just live for ourselves.

We are to acknowledge that he owns this world and the vineyard of our lives. We need to give Him our lives; we are made to serve the Lord, we are blessed with what we have to enjoy it, and give Him priority in our lives. Give Him the first fruits of all He has given to us! After all God has provided for us the least we can do is turn our lives over to Him!

God had provided everything necessary for Israel to bear fruit; bring glory to Him, and share Him with the nations around them. God has provided everything necessary for you and me to bear fruit, and bring glory to Him, serve Him, live for Him, and share Him with the lost around us!

God is a great provider- He has been good to us- the greater the privileges, the greater the responsibility!

2nd snapshot of God we see:

2. God is Incredibly Patient!

V:10-15.

These verses give us a snapshot of God’s patients as He sends His servants to collect what is rightfully His. The first-fruits of His own vineyard.

Follow the story; the owner has put the husbandmen in charge of His vineyard.

They are to take care of it for Him, to grow the crop for Him, and to live off the vineyard.

The owner has gone into a far country; harvest time comes, V:10, so He sends His servants to get His fruit. You would thing that these husbandmen, would have been glad to see the servants, and said “Oh yes here is the masters fruits, and please tell Him how grateful we are to Him for letting us live on His land, and enjoy all the fruit and blessing He has given to us! But that is not what they do,

V:10-“But the vinedressers beat him and send him away empty”. This is what Israel had done to the servants/prophets that God had sent to them asking for His fruit from the nation. God had sent His prophets to preach about the goodness of God, to call them to repentance and faith, and tell them to give the fruit of praise, glory surrender and witness to God! The prophets reminded Israel that God was the owner, and their assignment was to bear fruit for Him, to be a witness for Him, to worship Him and Him alone!

Jesus is giving these Jewish leaders and people in the temple area, a history lesson.

It is the history of God’s patients with His people-Israel, and their rejection of His messengers the prophets. God sent His prophets, and what did they do? V:11-“send another servant, and they beat him”

In the O.T. you find were God sent His prophets calling His people back to Him, to repent and bear fruit for His glory, and share His love with the world. But they rejected them; you have a long line of beaten, stoned, killed prophets, just like the story Jesus is telling them. What will this vineyard owner do, V:12-“He sent a third servant, they wounded…

That is incredibly!! This is a picture of how patient and kind and loving God is! The gracious and longsuffering landowner sends three servants to these stubborn men. We have a God that just keeps pleading for the heart of man. We have a God who loves us with a love that will not let us go.

The O.T is filled with prophets that where rejected and persecuted for preaching to the stubborn people of God. Jeremiah was beaten and put in stocks. Isaiah, sawn in-two. Zechariah, was stoned to death in the court of the temple

-“Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their backs and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you...”

-“Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened to me…

God is incredibly patient! God loves you, God wants you to love Him, give your life to Him, and bear fruit for Him. God has been patient with you, God is pleading with you to turn your life over to Him. God wants you to be saved, God wants us to give Him Glory, live for Him, give Him the fruit of praise, service, and witness from your life, marriage and family.

We have received the goodness of God; we must not reject the ownership of God.

God is looking today for the fruit of a repent heart, the fruit of a surrendered heart, and the fruit of a thankful heart.

God is patient; but He will not force you to respond to Him, He will not force you to give Him the fruit of your life!

In this parable the owner sent His messengers but He did not force the men to give Him the fruit.

Our God is kind, gracious, He comes to your heart and speaks to you about giving your life to Him, about serving Him, giving him what he deserves from your life, but He will not force you!

God is pleading with you today to give Him your life. God has sends messengers today, how will you treat them.

You ask what messengers?

· The messenger- nature.

-“the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handy work”

· The messenger-conscience.

-“your conscience bearing witness “

· The messenger- Bible.

-“These things are written unto you that you may know you have eternal life”

· The messenger-Holy Spirit.

-“When the Holy Spirit is come He will convict of sin, righteousness and judgment”

· The messenger-Preacher.

-“How shall they hear without a preacher?”

God’s messengers are speaking to you, calling you to come to God, to accept Jesus, to start giving God the first place in your life!

Oh how patient God has been with you! He has been leading with you to give Him what is rightfully His, YOUR LIFE!

God sent His prophets and they rejected them

V:13-“But last of all He sent unto them His son, saying, they will reverence my son”

Jesus is bringing them right up to the present moment; He is telling them about what was happening, right then.

The owner said they will respect my son- means- to turn in respect. It's as if God in heaven said, surely, surely, they will understand who my son is.

Heaven adores Him.

Hell trembles at him.

Surely they will honor, respect and response to my son. God sent His son.

-"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Wouldn't you think the world would welcome the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ with open arms?

Wouldn’t you thing that these religious leaders would recognize the very son of God?

But they didn’t, V:14-15-“But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him”.

Jesus is telling them what was going to happen to Him in a matter of days. Jesus knew what was going to happen before it happened.

· They were contemplating His death-“They said among themselves”

· They would catch Him for death-“And they caught Him” this is the garden of Gethsemane.

· They would cast him out”- Jesus was carried outside the city of Jerusalem and nailed to a cross. -“He suffered outside the gate”

Notice the phrase V:37-“Last of all He sent His son”

Jesus is God’s final call!

-“God, who at different times and in various ways spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds”

Jesus Christ is God’s final call to your soul; Jesus is God’s full and final revelation of Himself.

Jesus died on the cross for our sin, He is here today pleading with you to give him the fruit of yourself.

If you reject Jesus, there is no other call to your soul. God did all He could do when He sent Jesus, there is nothing beyond Jesus! God’s final call to you is reverence my son, respect my son, and receive my son! Give your heart to my son, live your life for my son, give my son the fruit of your life! DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON THE SON OF GOD! Nothing remains when Christ is refused. No one else can be sent. Heaven, itself, contains no further messenger. If Christ is rejected, hope is rejected; there is no other Gospel and no more Sacrifice for sin.

There is one last snapshot of God in this story:

3. God is a Righteous Judge!

V:16-18.

Evidently these husbandmen had a false concept of the owner of the vineyard, just like people have a false concept of God today.

They thought that the owner was far away, He doesn’t know what is going on here in His vineyard.

He will never come, never get involved, never check up on us, never hold us accountable for what He has given us, and what we have done.

Oh how wrong they were!

Did they think they could kill His messengers, and murder His son, and not be Judged or punished for it? Did they think they could take, take take, and never acknowledge that it all belonged to the owner? Did they think they would never have to answer for what the owner had given them?

Jesus asked the Jewish leader what would happen to the husbandmen that had done this in V:15.

They said, V:16, will be Judged, and that is exactly what happened to the nation of Israel. In A.D 70 the Roman general Titus came into the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, and nailed thousands of Jewish people to crosses all over the city.

The nation rejected God’s messengers, and God’s son, and they were, V:16-“They were destroyed” And the vineyard, the responsible to bear the fruit that would glorify God was given to someone else, V:16, that someone else is the Church. The church is not Israel; the church is given the responsibility in this age to bear witness to the saving gospel of Jesus! Let me ask you a question: Has God provided for you, has God been patient with you?

YES He has!!

Do you think that you can get away with rejecting Him, and taking everything that He has given you, and give Him nothing?

That you can reject His messengers and crucify His son and never face His judgment? Friend you are wrong! V:16-“He shall come…

The Lord is coming one of these days, and for those who have rejected His son, they will experience God’s righteous judgment. -It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

There comes a time when the patience of God is exhausted. Yes God is love, but God is Holy and righteous and just

-“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God”.

This is a complete picture of God. When a person rejects God’s son, they will face God’s wrath!

One day we will face God, and answer for what we have done with His son, and with the blessing He has given us. Then Jesus closes this parable in amazing way, He changes the metaphor from a vineyard to a building, V:17-18-Read.

The Stone that the Jewish leaders were rejecting was Jesus. They pushed Him aside, nailed Him to a cross; but God will raise Him up and He is the chief corner stone!

The issue is Jesus. It's not the church. It's not inconsistent church members; what will you do with Jesus?

-“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame”. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of salvation? Do you believe that his rejection is your salvation that he died on the cross for your sins? Do you believe that his resurrection is your life that he rose again so that you could live forever? If not, you need to know that you will be crushed under the heavy stone of God’s wrath against your sin. What a crushing mistake it is not to believe in Jesus! Do not stumble over the stone of salvation, and do not fall under the judgment of God, but believe in his Beloved Son.

Today God is a great provider, He is incredibly patient, but one day He will be righteous Judge.

Come today fall on Him for Mercy, and leave here with a new foundation for life, and a new purpose for life to bear fruit for Him!