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ENTRY & END TIMES | The Vineyard and the Tenants | Matthew 21:33-45 | Philip Anthony Mitchell
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Be seated. If you are guests at 2819, we welcome you and we don't apologize either. And we're so glad that you're here. If you're a guest sitting in the overflow, we're glad that you're here. If you're one of our digital disciples watching live right now across the country, around the world, we're so thankful that you're tuned in right now live. If you live 10 miles from here, you're a digital disciple, I want to see you in our next gathering at 12:45. Just, just hop off the couch, put the latte down, and come into the building and feel the warmth of God's people. And if you're not a follower of Christ, you're in the room, you're in the overflow. You're watching me right now across the camera. We are glad that you're here. You can belong before you believe you could be amongst us, before you believe you could keep listening to these holy conversations we're having one another. We are praying that you would hear this gospel and be brought into the kingdom of God before time has run out. And we're so thankful that you're here. We're in a series, week six, called Entry and End Times, where we are Studying Matthew, chapter 21 through 25. Together, we are looking at the final actions of Jesus in the final weeks, the final days of his life on earth. And we are studying or about to study the final words of Christ, his end time teachings, the things that are coming for the world, coming for this country, coming for all mankind, whether they believe that or not. Our text today is coming From Matthew, chapter 21, verses 33, 46. Eternal God and ever wise Father. I just pray an awakening for your sons and daughters. I just pray for an awakening across this nation. I pray for an outpouring of repentance and an outpouring of fire. I pray you would move the church from just playing around and wasting time. I pray God, Lord, you would send a holy fire on this nation. Lord, even now, as we sit in rooms and across cameras, I pray spirit of the living God, you would minister to the hearts of the sons and daughters. You will trouble the heart of the unbeliever. I pray they would look past a man and hear your voice beckoning to them. You would give them stamina for teaching. They would lean in for the proclamation of the Word. They would push past a moment for entertainment. I pray for an outpouring of hunger on this nation again. I pray for an outpouring God of thirst for your presence and for your word. I pray for an outpouring of correction, an outpouring of conviction. I pray for revival to hit this land. Let the word of God from this house, God spread. Let the word increase and the number of disciples increase across this city, across this nation and around the world. Father, help this broken, weakness earthen vessel. I ask in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. And amen. And Amen. Family, this Bible that is sitting on this podium, I'm staring at its words and its pages. It is alive and it is active. These are not dead words and dead letters, but these are words and letters that have been breathed out by the power of the Holy Spirit for our learning and for our instruction. And there are times when I am studying certain passages that grip my heart so deep that I got to push away from my desk and I fall down on my knees and I weep before the Lord as I think about the implications of the text because the words of the text has so gripped my heart. Family, this text is one of those passages that as I wrestle with this text throughout the week, man, I'll push away from my table and I find myself burst into tears and I would fall down on the floor. Every time I keep coming back to this passage because of the diabolical evil in this text, man, it just breaks my heart when I look at this text. And every time I read this passage, I am reminded of something that hurts my heart so deeply. It is my survey of what the sin nature has done to mankind. It is the survey of the brokenness of fallen human beings. And I look across at society. I think about my own struggles, my own thoughts. I think about the people I have hurt and the people who have hurt me. I think about fights in the Christian church and divas on platforms and look at the mess on social media. And I look at all of that, and my eyes, they weep because I say to myself, dang it, Lord, human beings are messed up. This is what Adam has done to us, I'm telling you. And it makes me cry. Maranata makes me cry, Lord, come quickly, Lord Jesus. For though I plead for revival and I shed tears for revival, I know this will never be fixed until the Lord comes. And I look at the mess in the American church and the mess in the church around the world, and I be grieved from all the outgrowths that are fallen nature. I look at all the things that be damaging our relationships and damaging each other. I look at things like selfishness that be killing relationships. I look at things like gross immaturity that be tearing up churches. And of all the things man I was thinking about this week. One of the worst outgrowths of our fallen nature watch is extreme pride that goes unrepentant or unchecked. Where extreme pride exists in the heart of a person with no repentance, it has the potential to make somebody blind in their mind that they cannot see. It has the power to fill a heart with rebellion against all reason and truth. It has the power to fill a heart watch to reject messages that come from vessels because you don't want to hear it, because it rubs some area of vulnerability and what pride does, it makes us reject messages. It makes us be rebellious of heart. It makes us blind sometimes, sometimes that we can't even see. This is the beauty of community, even when it hurts that somebody can see something in you that you can't see in your own self. This is why it's dangerous to do Christianity alone. And this is why it's dangerous to always have an excuse when people are telling you about yourself. If 10 people keep telling you the same thing, maybe it's time for you to listen. It's only us who do damage to our own selves when we keep rejecting truth every time people keep telling us because we so prideful we can't see. It damages relationships. It damages opportunities, man. It damages churches, man. This is the diabolical sin at the center of this text. And at the center of this text is the fulfillment of a powerful prophecy that you and I are living in right now. Christ has rode into Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna from Psalm 118. He has seen the corruption in the temple and goes back to take a nap. He comes back and curses a barren fig tree as a symbol of his rejection of the nation of Israel. He purges the temple from corruption because he wants his house to be a house of prayer. Not a house of divas, not a house of fighting, not a house of lying on the pulpit, not a house of foolishness. He wants his house to be a house of prayer where we exalt him first and then everything flows out of prayer. He teaches in the temple, heals in the temple, he breaks all their laws into. And while he's teaching in the temple, thousands of people gathered around, pay attention. Here comes the spiritual leaders of Israel. Watch. Here comes the pastors of the first century, the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, all of the men who had all of the Old Testament, those men responsible for leading the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel, Here they come. They are threatened by his growth, they are threatened by his fame, they are threatened by his popularity. Confront him in the temple. How dare you? Who gave you the authority to teach like that? Who gave you the authority to come in here and kick over tables? Who gave you the authority to heal? And Jesus confronts them back and his response to them is three parables in a row. Like a movie, a trilogy, a three part series, three parables in a row. The first parable, the parable of the two sons, a teaching that exposed to them their rejection of God Almighty. And on the heels of that parable, he doesn't even give them time to stop and respond. He immediately goes into his second teaching. In Matthew, chapter 21, verse 33, he says to them, hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it out to tenants. And he went into another country. Stop. The Lord opens up the second teaching, his second rebuke of these spiritual leaders with a parable using imagery that was common to everyone listening in the first century Palestine, for the average person who owned the home had a vine in their backyard for the harvest of grapes and wine. The Lord is talking to them about imagery that was common to everybody who lived at that time, that it was not uncommon to see large estates dotted all across the nation of Israel where wealthy people bought land, planted vineyards, and then rented out those vineyards to tenants to work the land while they were away. Now I want to draw your attention to a few things. In the beginning of the parable, I want you to notice in the parable there is a master watch who owns the vineyard. I want you to notice that there are tenants watching who are only stewards of the vineyard. They own nothing. And I want to bring your attention to the word lease. That means their time on the vineyard is fixed. They will not be on the vineyard forever. I want to also draw your attention to the fact that the Lord said the Master built a fence or a wall around the vineyard. That wall was to protect people from robbing the grapes and ravaging the crops. I want to also draw your attention to the fact that he said he built a winepress in the vineyard. A winepress is a stone apparatus that's designed for crushing grapes, to harvest the juice, to put it in bottles, to produce wine. And I want you to notice he Also built a watchtower, a wall, a winepress, a watchtower. And the function of a watchtower was to have a building for safety, a building for storage, and a building for lookout. Now, why is Jesus going through such lengths to put all these things in this parable? He's trying to communicate to the spiritual leaders who are listening. He's trying to communicate to the thousands of people who are listening that this man, in this parable, in this story, went through great lengths to make sure that this vineyard was protected. It was well funded, it was well taken care of, it could be fruitful. He wanted to make sure that the people listening to the parable would understand that the tenants had no excuses to not be fruitful in that vineyard. Watch. They had everything they need to be fruitful. They have protection. They had a wine press, they had a tower, they had land. They had everything they need to be fruitful. He's trying to communicate, everybody, watch. That the master took good care of the vineyard and the master gave the tenants everything they needed to flourish in the vineyard. Watch. He's trying to communicate that the tenants had no excuses not to be fruitful in the vineyard. Okay, so watch. There is a master and there are tenants and the vineyard. Now, verse 34. Now, when the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. Now, I want to explain to you in history what's happening in first century Palestine. These wealthy landowners did not live in Israel. They would go to a foreign land and they would send representatives back to their vineyard to collect the money or the fruit that belongs to them. This would happen once a year where they would send their representatives back annually to take a harvest of the grapes that belong to them. Notice, the master did not ask them for the whole vineyard. He only asked them for what belongs to him. And I want to draw your attention to where it says he sent his servants. Not any servants. He sent his representatives. Watch. To his vineyard to collect. Watch his fruit. That is, since you're working my land, pay me what you owe me. Pay me what's due. Pay me what belongs to me. This is common practice in first century Israel. So now you have a master. Pay attention. He has a vineyard that belongs to him. He has tenants who are stewards, and he sends his servants to collect what belongs to him annually, every single year. Now, verse 35 is insane to me. I'm trying to. Sister. Verse 35. And the tenants, when he sent his servants to collect his fruit, the tenants took his servants and they beat one, killed another and stoned. Another. Okay, stop. Now, family, you can't just read past that like that don't matter, right? Because if you're going to study the word, you got to study with your heart. You got to study with your mind. You got to study with your soul. You got to put your intellect in there. Okay? This man owns the vineyard. He sends a servant one year to collect that money, and that servant is beaten and left within an inch of his life. The next year, he sends another servant. That servant is stoned and probably dies from his injuries. The next year, he sends another servant. They don't even wait for him to get on the ground. They kill him as soon as he gets to the vineyard. Now, family, listen. Somebody's over there saying, my Lord. When I read that, I'm saying, my Lord. Man, this is, hear me, diabolical, wicked, demonic activity. These servants are not only drunk on wine. These servants are drunk on pride. These servants are drunk on arrogance. Watch. These servants think that because the master is far away and because we can't see the master, they've been walking around that vineyard for so many years, the grapes start to look attractive and the vines start to look attractive and the ground start to look attractive. The tower is attractive. The winepress is attractive. Then they start getting prideful. They start feeling themselves. They start thinking, you know what? This is our vineyard. And so now they start feeling like. Watch. They are entitled to the land in which they were only stewards. So now any servant they see coming to collect money, they see that servant as a threat. Watch. So one year, another writer tells us they came one after the other. Matthew puts it all together. So one year, a servant comes, they stone him. Another year, a servant comes, they beat him within an inch of his life. Another year, servant comes, man, they kill him immediately. Man, these men are diabolical in their behavior. Watch, man. Some of us know people like this, who. You set them up to flourish, you give them an opportunity, or you give them a new relationship, and then they stone you with silence. They beat you with their words. They try to kill the things that you've done with their actions and their activity. Some of us have been on the other side of this kind of behavior. Man, didn't I do everything for you to flourish? It's like I gave the marriage everything. I gave the relations everything. And all I get back from you is stoning. All I get back from you is negative words. All I get back from you killing me softly like Lauryn Hill. See, now, some of y'all sitting there but you ain't never owned nothing, so you don't know what this feels like. I had a rental property in North Carolina, and I'm telling you right now, just imagine if you had a rental property in another state and you hired a property management company over that property, and you say at the end of the month, and you send one of your property managers to go collect what belongs to you. And then you get an email. Listen, that property manager you sent, man, they beat that property manager. That person is sitting in ICU right now. What? Hold on. Stop, stop, stop. You sent another property manager to pay me what you owe me. Then you get a phone call from the police. Listen, we're sorry, but that second property manager, man, listen, they beat that person so bad, that person succumbed to their injuries. Hold on. No, no. I'm going to send another property manager. You send another property manager, you get a phone call. Listen, that property manager you sent, as soon as they rang the doorbell, they got shot in their forehead. And if you ain't never had a rental property and you have never dealt with bad tenants, then you don't know the pain of dealing with squatters who lost their mind. Now, family, if this was. If this was my house and you killed three of my employees, all hell is about to break loose. I'm calling the police. I'm coming with the full wrath of the authorities. I'm traveling to North Carolina with an army of officials behind me. You ain't going to be a squatter in my house and be killing my. Listen, you put the deaf people I love. See, the tenants are rebellious, but the servants are suffering for the master. If that was your house, what would you do? If you had a squatter that was killing your employees, what would you do? I'm talking to you. I said what would you do? Huh? You did what? You pulling up. We pulling up like we knocking on that door. You gonna be angry. Come on. Don't sit here and act like, oh, you're just holy and righteous. No, no, no, no, you're not. You ain't that holy. If you got word that three of your employees. Employees Died who you love trying to collect your rent, you would be furious. You would be angry. You would be calling the cops, man. Like that sister said, you pulling up, and you ain't pulling up by yourself. I'm from Queens. I'm pulling up. I'm coming with goons with me, too. Kenny gonna be with me and Don gonna be with me, and I'm coming with holy goons who still got a Couple marbles loose. I'm bringing Rhonda. You know, Rhonda from Philly. We coming out there, we're strapped and we got the police. We go, we banging on that door. Like, I'm bringing Elder Milton. He from Philly, like, yo, you coming too? I'm bringing Sister Cameron. Like, we going like, we. We banging on that door. Listen, there is no way you would. You would accept that kind of behavior. Watch. And in the first century, that kind of behavior is almost unheard of. Watch. I know how I would respond. How did the master respond? Verse 35. No, let's go. Verse 36 again. He sent other servants more than the first, and they did the same to them. I want to draw your attention to the Word again. The Word again communicates a powerful attribute of the master, that the master is patient. The Word again communicates this powerful attribute of the Master that the master is. Watch. Gracious. And for some of us who have been personally rebellious, we need to be thankful for a gracious master and a patient master who lets you keep getting away with all of your mess while he keeps showing you. Watch his word. Grace, grace, grace. Has anybody been the recipient of grace? Has anybody been the recipient of patience? Has anybody ever felt God's grace? Why don't you give him praise right there? Then the Master sends his first group. They kill the first group and beat some of them. He sends a second group, they kill a second group and beat some of them. Listen to me. At this point, these tenants have watched us all, but taken over the vineyard for themselves. Just followed. Follow the story at this point. This has been going on for years. They have hijacked the vineyard for themselves. They no longer see. See, see themselves as stewards. No pride has blinded them. Now they see themselves as owners of something that did not belong to them to begin with. They are arrogant. They are prideful. Watch this word. They are unrepentant. They are drunk on wine and drunk on delusion. Okay, watch. Verse 37. Finally, the master pulls his last card out. He pulls what he thinks will be his best card. He pulls the one card he just is sure is going to work. I've been dealing with these squatters for years. I've been dealing with their rebellion for years. I've been dealing with their murderous behavior for years. I've been dealing with their pride and arrogance for years. I will now send them my best servant. He pulls his best card. It's like playing spades. He pulls that joker out his back pocket. Oh, y'all ain't from the streets. Y'all don't. I'm talking about the joker with the color on it. Where all my spades players at? Like he's sitting at the table. He pulls out that joker with the color on it. I see you cutting hearts. I see you cutting spare. I'm. I'm pulling out my joker on you. Now you gotta slap it down too hard. He pulls out his joker with the color on it. He pulls out his best. Play his best card. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, surely they will respect my son. I have no more servants to send. They have killed all of my servants. I'm going to send the heir of the vineyard. Surely when they see my son, surely when they see Malachi or Israel or Abigail or Josiah, surely they respect Pastor Philip. Then surely if he sends his own child, surely they would repent. Surely they will see the son and turn. Surely they see the son and say, you know what? The master's wary. We got to stop our nonsense. Surely they would repent. Big word in verse 38, but that's called hardness of heart. That is. I don't want to listen. I don't care about reason. I don't care what you keep telling me. I don't believe you. But pride says, when the tenants saw the son, pay attention to the text. They said to themselves, this is insane to me. Watch, watch. This is the heir. That is. They knew his identity. Gosh, this ain't my. We made a mistake with your son, sir. We didn't know he was one of your employees, sir. No, they knew the identity of the son, and they knew the son was the heir of the vineyard. And they knew that son sun was coming. They was going to lose the vineyard because it rightfully belonged to the sun. They said to this is the heir. What do they say next? Come. This is diabolical. Let us kill him and have his inheritance. That is man, they calculate in their mind. Pay attention. If we kill the son of the master, he has nobody else to send. At that point, we would own the vineyard. Watch this word. Permanently. Nobody will be able to take the vineyard from us then. And they took the son and they threw him out of the vineyard and they killed him. These men have sunk into such a place of depravity. They have now said to themselves, screw the master. He's too far away. He ain't coming back. The son, he's the last servant. Let's kill him. After we're done with this son, then we permanently own the vineyard. It's ours now. We're going to take this vineyard by force. Watch. And then Jesus asked them a question in verse 40. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? Can I just draw your attention to the word comes? It's a reminder to those tenants. Watch. That a day of reckoning is coming for them. Watch. It's a reminder to the tenants. Hear me. That they will not escape the Master. It's a reminder to the tenants that you can kill servants, you can even slew my son, but you will not get away with what you have done. I am coming. Watch. He asked them a question. What would he do when he comes? That is, a time of reckoning is coming. Now, everybody pay attention very closely. Verse 41. And they, who was they? Plural. The chief priests, the Pharisees, the scribes, the religious leaders. They're standing in front of thousands of people. This is Jesus and the religious leaders and thousands of people. Everybody's listening. Everybody's locked in. They're not falling asleep. They're not yawning. Their arms are not folded. Everybody's locked into the moment. The Pharisees, the chief priests, the Sadducees, the spiritual leaders, the corrupt pastors of the day, they respond in self righteousness. They so prideful they don't even see themselves. They respond in self righteousness. They said to him, he will, talking about the Master, put those wretched to a miserable death and he will let out the vineyard or rent it to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their season. Watch. I'm almost done. Pay attention. And what these spiritual leaders do, they do two things with their own mouths, they will condemn themselves. Watch. Now you're going to come into the text in a moment. And with their own mouths, they'll prophesy your future. Okay, let me. Let me say that one more time. With their own mouths, they will condemn themselves. Watch. And with their own mouths, they prophesied your future. They prophesied where you're sitting right now. Say pastor, I don't understand. Watch. Okay, Watch. Watch. Who are the people and things in the vineyard? Pay attention. The Master is God. The vineyard is the kingdom of God, and more specifically, even the nation of Israel, according to Isaiah, chapter five. Watch. The winepress is everything God gave the children of Israel. This is important to be fruitful in history. This is promises, covenants, laws, teachings, the Old Testament. Pay attention. The fence around the vineyard represents God's sovereign protection over the nation of Israel. The tower represented God's watching over the nation of Israel. Watch. The Tenants. Watch. Are the Pharisees, Sadducees, spiritual leaders of the nation of Israel. Pay attention. And the servants that kept coming were all of the prophets you read about. Gosh, I'm putting you in the text. Are all of the prophets you read about who year after year after year they kept coming with a message of repentance and future judgment and warning. And year after year, the children of Israel for thousands of years would kill prophets, imprisoned prophets, punch prophets, beat prophets, abused prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, they persecuted the prophets. Watch. Listen to me. And for hundreds of years. Pay attention. The spiritual leaders of Israel, they took the vineyard, that is, they took the kingdom of God that was entrusted to them as a stewardship. They created their own laws, they created their own doctrines. They began to lead the nation astray. And every time God sent a prophet to them. Watch. They will hang on to the words of false prophets who only prophesied blessing. And they would imprison, throw in cisterns, chop in half, murder and kill for thousands of years all of the real servants of God. It's the same thing Christians do today. They think they're doing God's work by persecuting real servants of God. Right. You let false prophets get away with nonsense. You let false prophets have $50, $20, $30, thousand dollar blessing line. You have false prophets prophesying husbands that are not coming and wives that are not coming and businesses that are not coming. You got false prophets telling you you're going to be blessed while you're living in compromise and sin lies. While the real prophets, who's confronting you about sin, confronting you about compromise, confronting you about holiness. You persecute the real prophets and think you're doing God's work. Watch. The climax of the rebellion of the spiritual leaders of Israel is when they saw the sun coming in the first century. Everybody paying attention, I'm about to close. They see the Son, they've seen his miracles, his teachings, his prophecies. They know he's the Messiah. They take him out the vineyard symbolically. Watch this. They take him out of Jerusalem and they kill him outside of the city. They took the sun and in the year A.D. 33, they killed the last great prophet that came from them when they nailed the Son of God to a cross. Why that? In killing Christ in AD 33, the spiritual leaders of that time thought to themselves, now we will own Israel for ourselves. Now everybody watch. I'm about to put you in the text now. Watch. That's me explaining this to you in 2025. Watch. How did Jesus explain the parable to the spiritual leaders? This is what. This is what we're supposed to do. He used the scriptures to explain the scriptures. He didn't use opinions to explain the scriptures. He used the word to interpret the word. So he tells them the parable. They condemn themselves. Watch. They prophesy your future, and I'm going to tell you your future. And then the Lord will now explain the parable to them with a verse, two verses from Psalm 118, the same Psalm that people cried. Hosanna is the same psalm the Lord will use now to explain the parable. He says in verse 42, the Bible is powerful. And Jesus said to them, have you never read in the Jesus? You got all that Bible and you interpret it wrong. All them conferences and interpret it wrong, all them podcasts and interpret it wrong. All them sermons and interpret it wrong. Have y'all never read? You spiritual leaders who have the Old Testament have all the scrolls. You have all that teaching. Have you never Read Quote Psalm 118, verse 22, 23. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Who are the builders? The builders were the spiritual leaders of Israel. Who did they reject? A stone. Who was that stone? Psalm 118 was prophesying about Christ. Psalm 8:1 18 was prophesying about Christ. And what is a cornerstone? Eye contact. In the first century, they didn't have cranes and the mathematics and the computers we have. So if you want to build a building, you lay a foundation. This is so insane. And you had to get a perfect cornerstone. Watch. With no blemishes, you would lay the cornerstone on the corner of the foundation. And then you build the entire building around the cornerstone. If the cornerstone is off, the whole foundation and the building is off. If the cornerstone is not right, the whole building is not right. I'm telling you that this is a prophecy about Christ. And we will use the Bible to interpret the Bible. In Acts, chapter four, Peter preaching his very first sermon, he says in Acts, chapter 4, verse 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, the rulers of the people, the same people that Jesus was talking to. If we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man was healed, let it be known to all of you, whack corrupt leaders, to all of the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Watch the text. Whom you crucified threw him out of the vineyard, whom God. Watch this. Raised from the dead by him. This man is standing here before you. Watch verse 11. This say his name is this. Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven. Not Muhammad, not Confucius, not Buddha, not Joseph Smith. There is no other name under heaven by which anybody can be saved. No other name. Somebody shout no other name. Christ is the cornerstone that the whole thing is built upon, I. E. If it's not built on Christ, if the marriage is not built on Christ, if the friendship is not built on Christ, if the house is not built on Christ, if the church is not built on Christ, if your life is not built on Christ. The whole foundation and the whole building, shaky. You think about how much stuff we build in in vain. Because Christ is not at the bottom of what we build in. King at the bottom of your ministry. He ain't at the bottom of your books. He ain't at the bottom of your podcast. He ain't at the bottom of your parenting. He ain't at the bottom of the relationship. He ain't at the bottom of the marriage, he ain't at the bottom of the church, he ain't at the bottom of the business. He not even at the bottom of most of our ministries. Oh, the Lord called me to do, and I'm fitting to do, and the Holy Spirit told me to do. Your flesh is at the bottom of that. If it's not built on Christ, I don't care. It's headed for a crash. It's a shaky foundation. Now here is where you come into the text. Because what the Pharisees did, they said, well, what would the master do? He's going to take away the vineyard from the wicked tenants. Watch. And the master is going to give it to other tenants. Now, everybody pay attention. This is where you come in the text. This is where they prophesied your future. And Jesus said in verse 43, Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you. Gosh, man. And given to a people, Ethnos in Greek, producing its fruit. Stop. Jesus prophesied their own condemnation. He said, since you won't be fruitful with my vineyard, watch the kingdom of God. Watch. This is going to be taken away from you. And God is going to give it to other tenants. Watch this. He called a people. And those people, they will be fruitful. Then when you study, you ask yourself, who is the Other tenants. Peter wrote in the New Testament that the church of Jesus is the new house, the new thing that's being built on the cornerstone. Watch. He said, preacher, I don't understand. In this moment in history, history from A.D. 70, the destruction of Jerusalem, God took away the kingdom from Israel. Watch. And he gave it to a new people. A church of white men and black men and Hispanic men and Jewish men. That God. That God created a new people. Watch. Who now are the new tenants in the vineyard? Watch. You don't believe that this is why the gospel is not coming out of Israel? Why? Because they're still waiting for a messiah who already came. Open your eyes. The Lord stripped them. Watch. Of the opportunity and the privilege to take the meal message of Christ to the whole world. That was supposed to be their job. But because they rejected Christ. And the Lord said it was marvelous in his eyes, that is, his rejection was allowed that the church could be created. And it encourages me because it reminds me that some pain is not wasted pain. That there are some things the Lord allows to redirect me, to open up doors for me, to bless you in ways you would have never imagined. The rejection of Christ was the Lord's doing. And hear me. And what God did, he stripped the privilege. Now listen to me. I'm talking to you serious. The privilege of preaching the gospel and preaching the truth of the scriptures to the whole world was stripped from Israel and it was now given to the church. Watch. God has leased out the vineyard to new tenants. And that anybody who is saved right now, under your feet is the vineyard. That under your. Under your feet is the vineyard. And God has given you the tower. He's giving you the wall. He's giving you the winepress. He's given everything you need to be fruitful and successful in the kingdom, in this life. Watch. Hear me. And so if we are the new tenants, how do we not take the privilege that's been given to us seriously, man? How are we just playing around with church and fighting each other over songs and look, you are the new tenants. You have been given the glorious responsibility of bringing the message of Christ through the whole world, man. You have been given everything you need to be fruitful as the new tenants. And when you understand that it should affect how you live, it should affect how you steward your money. It should affect what you do with your children. It should affect how you handle your relationships, man. You are the new tenants, man. And let me just remind you that we are all stewards under a lease. That's why I keep telling you time is running out and that the master is going to come check on the new tenants and he keeps sending prophets to the new tenants and he's going to come back and check on the new tenants to see, have the new tenants been faithful in the vineyard that they've been planted in. That's why, man, you should, if you're a single mother, be faithful. If you're a stay at home mom, be faithful, man. If you're a business owner, be faithful. If you're entrepreneur, be faithful. When you're a social media, be faithful. When you're talking to your children, be faithful. Be fruitful in the vineyard, man, I Wish I had 500 thankful tenants. I wish I had 700 thankful tenants. I wish I had 1800 thankful tenants, man. This is why, hear me. This is why I keep beckoning to you. Hear me. You are prophesied in the text. Israel has been stripped until the end times when the Lord will deal with them again in the great tribulation. But in this hour that we lived, we are the tenants. We have the vineyard, we got the tower, we got the wall, we got the winepress. The Lord expects us to be fruitful with this one life that you have, man. So how do we keep playing church and how do we not pray and how do we not read and how do we not suffer and how do we not give and how do we not serve and how do we not worship? How will we feel of entitlement when we are the global tenants? We got the covenants, we got the promises, we got the spirit, we got the word, we got the backing of heaven. We got the responsibility of making the gospel of Christ known. We got that. Israel lost that. How do we not take such a weight of glorious responsibility seriously? You know what it's going to take for some of us to take it serious? I know it's going to take. It's going to take the next verse. Stay right there. Don't move. Verse 44. Talking to those Pharisees. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. You know what the Lord is saying? He's saying two groups are going to be punished. The one who trips over the stone, that is the one who was doing life and was just ignorant and not taking it serious and playing around. They tripped over the stone. They said, man, watch. They said they just tripped over the stone. The stone going to fall. They're going to be broken to pieces in the judgment. You keep Playing with Jesus. Keep playing with that stone, you're going to die, he said, and that stone is going to break you to pieces. Can't escape the stone. And he said, there is another group, a group that can outright reject. I don't want to hear nothing about the Messiah, okay? He says when you die, that stone is going to fall on that person and crush them to pieces. That is. Nobody escapes the stone. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. Y'all ninjas know you ain't blind. You can see now. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they held him as a prophet. They still wouldn't repent. What more could God do? I gave you the Old Testament. I gave you prophets. I gave you promises. I gave you covenants. I give you laws. You killed all my prophets. Killed all my servants. You killed my son. Okay? I'm going to take the kingdom away from you. That's why Israel sits in darkness. They're not preaching the gospel of Christ. They're still waiting for a man. We preach. I'm going to give this to a new people. Ethnos the church. They are the tenants. They are in the vineyard. They have the promises. They have the spirit. They have the keys to the kingdom. They will be fruitful for me. And when I return, they're going to give me what belongs to me. You know what he wants? Souls. You know what he wants? Disciples. You know what he wants? Faithfulness. You know what he wants? Worship. You know what he wants? Praise. You know what he wants? Homage. You know what he wants? Humility. You know what he wants? Repentance. You know what he wants? Faithfulness. Do I got any thankful tenants at all? And now, Father, I pray over all the tenants under the sound of my voice. Oh, my God. Oh, my. I feel heat in the room. Father. God, I pray over all the tenants under the sound of my voice. God, oh, my God, those you have saved and planted in your vineyard. God, I pray you would open our eyes. You would burn us in our hearts. You would help us to see how you have hedged us roundabout. You've given us everything we need for life and godliness. And Father God, I pray you would pour out a spirit of repentance on the tenants. Pour out a spirit of conviction on the tenants. Pour out a spirit of fire on the tenants. Pour out a spirit of faithfulness on the tenants. Pour out a fresh anointing on the tenants. And God, give us the wisdom the humility, the courage, the faith, the boldness, the love to be fruitful tenants in your vineyard. We will honor the stone. We will exalt the stone. We will love the stone. We will submit to the stone. We would read the scriptures that are all about the stone. And we will lay down our crown at the feet of the stone. I pray that over every tenant, under the sound of my voice, I pray in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of the soon coming stone, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, somebody give the stone praise in this house right now. Come on, give him praise in this house.