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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

The Lord’s Vineyard

Father in heaven, thank you so much for this wonderful time that we can come together again to study your Word.

And Lord, as we're about to open the Scriptures, may you please guide us, lead us with your Holy Spirit, and help us to hear your voice, Help us to understand these words so we might have wisdom to apply it to our lives.

And empower us with your Holy Spirit, that truly you might write your words and your law in our heart this evening.

Well, the title of our parable this evening is entitled, The Lord's Vineyard.

And before we study the parable itself, we're going to look at the background leading up to why Jesus spoke this parable.

The Bible says, And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came unto him, as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things?

Because we actually studied it last week in the previous parable.

The priests and the scribes they were asking Jesus about his authority.

Who gave him all this authority to teach and to preach and to heal and whatever he was doing?

And Jesus asked him back a question about the baptism of John, whether it was of man or whether it was of heaven.

And we're not going to get into the details of that.

We spent quite a lot of time last week looking at it.

If you missed it, you can go back and look at it on Facebook there, on YouTube, and also if you want to look at the study guides and and all the studies that we have out there, you can go to adventproductions.com and all the studies and even along with the YouTube videos are posted there as well But at the end of this encounter that Jesus had with him, even though they're the ones that started it They refused to answer and so Jesus launches into this second parable.

And Jesus showed them that the priests, the elders, they were the second son who said he would go, but he never ended up going.

And that The publicans and the harlots would go into the kingdom of heaven before they did.

Because even though they disobeyed, even though the first son, which was the publicans and the harlots said no, they eventually repented and ended up going.

And they were the ones that did God's will.

But now we're going to look at this second parable, okay?

The second parable Matthew 21, pardon me, Matthew 21 and verse 33.

There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and led it out to the husbandman, and went into a far country.

So this second parable comes in right after the first.

Jesus doesn't leave any space for any further encounters or any more background.

So we know in some sense that this parable is also related to that encounter at the beginning when the chief priests and elders came to ask Jesus about his authority.

So this parable is about a householder who owns a vineyard and he does many things for this vineyard that he owns.

That means he put a barrier round about it like a fence so that it would be protected and he also put a wine press in it.

He built a tower and put a wine press and finally he let it out meaning he hired people to work for him and then he moved to a far country.

This is the background that we're given of this parable at the very beginning.

The word householder actually means master of the house and that is none other than God.

You know we've seen this several times but let's refresh our memories real quick in Isaiah chapter 5 verse 7.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plant, and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold a cry.

The house of Israel whom Jesus was speaking to at that point.

But the hedging, see he built a fenton, hedged it round about.

As we're looking into the details of this parable, we've got to understand all its symbols and what it represents.

For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her.

God had put a wall of fire round about Israel and he said I am the 1 that protects them.

I am the 1 that will put my glory in the midst of her.

So God was always the 1 that was protecting the Israelites when they were going throughout the wilderness journey and there were poisonous snakes.

He was the 1 that protected them, but when they complained, he withdrew his presence and these poisonous snakes came and bit them.

Every single time they went out to battle, it was always God that was fighting for them.

He was always the 1 that was in charge and he was always the 1 that was delivering them.

He was that wall of protection to the children of Israel whether they realized it or not.

But he said I would put my glory in the midst of them.

Exodus chapter 33, 18 and 19, Moses asks this exact question.

He says, I beg you, I beseech thee, Lord, show me thy glory.

And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee.

I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

And so when Moses asked, God show me your glory, God said I'll show you my graciousness, my goodness, my mercy.

So not only did God protect them, but he put his character in each of their hearts.

In the midst of all of them, they tasted of his love, of his goodness, of his mercy, and His patience and long-suffering to them, even though they rebelled against Him for thousands of years.

Yet God would come back every time they turned their face towards Him.

He would come back straight away and help them and be with them and help them to conquer their enemies.

But friends, what else is connected to God's character?

The Bible says, Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

But you see the 10 Commandments are a transcript of God's character.

God's glory is connected with His 10 commandments.

So not only was God's presence surrounding them and protecting them, but His character was also revealed to them through the law that God had given to them, His 10 Commandments.

And that was given to them above all other nations.

No other nation had such wonderful and perfect and beautiful laws as did the Israelites, the Jews of old.

And that would be that hedge of protection to them from the rest of the world and it was also a constant revelation of God's love towards each of them.

Let me show you another text concerning the law of God.

In Psalms 19, verse 7, the Bible says, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The Bible says that the law of the Lord is perfect and it had power to change any person.

It wasn't just a list and a law of commands of do's and don'ts, but in each word that was spoken to them from Mount Sinai at the very beginning and then later later written down with the hand and finger of God, it had the power also to convert a sinner into a saint.

There was power in that and that power is still available to each and every 1 of us today.

So even though many might think that the law seemed like was a burden to them, Jesus was saying that this was a hedge of protection to the Israelite nation.

They were blessed with the presence and knowledge and power of God so that they could reveal to the wicked fallen world God's perfect character and the principles of his kingdom which is love.

So coming back to the parable of this vineyard, okay, the Lord's vineyard.

Well obviously he was expecting good quality grapes from his vineyard as he grew all those vines and the grapes coming out, but so that he could produce high quality grape juice from it, or what the Bible in those days called wine.

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The Lord’s Vineyard

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