Sunday School Lesson

1. Matthew 21:33-46
If I Reject Jesus?
April 2, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
http://berylloeb.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/one-finger.jpg
The Glory of God!
https://twcdaily.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/glory-of-god.jpg
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6tzRiT-BrDs/TIGM_Ih3dAI/AAAAAAAAAX0/0AJWPvlAfqw/s640/Gods+Glory.jpg

2. First Baptist Church Jackson Mission:
Multiply Disciples to Live Like Jesus.
http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M824600c9534029193ceef79dc4fff8fcH0&pid=15.1
April Memory Verse:
Matthew 22:37-38 ESV
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first
commandment.
Forgiven: A Celebration of the Cross
Sunday, April 09th
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

3. Last week we studied Matthew’s account of the Triumphal Entry.
http://guycarey.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/jesus_on_donkey_palmsundaycrowd.jpg
In the Gospel of John, we saw that some Greeks came wanting to see Jesus.
Jesus quickly related to them that He had death and fruit on His mind as He
entered Jerusalem.
John 12:24 ESV
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the Earth and dies, it
remains alone (a single grain); but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
We talked a good bit about the Gospel beginning with the cross and with
surrender.
If the message you are hearing today does not begin there, then it's a false
gospel, a fake gospel.
If you are being told that the way to gain a deep and wonderful sense of self-
esteem is to simply come to Jesus and let Him build you up and make you feel
good about yourself, you are not hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It does not begin that way; the true Gospel starts with a cross.
Dr. A. W. Tozer, the great preacher of a few decades ago said: The cross is the
symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of the human being.
The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had
already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back!
He was not going out to have his life redirected, he was going out to have it
ended.

4. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing. It slew all of
the man completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its
victim. It struck swift and hard and when it finished its work the old man was no
more.
The evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the
ways of man is false to the Bible and cruel to the soul of the hearers.
The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it.
In coming to Christ, we do not bring our life up to some higher plane.
We leave it at the cross. (Gal 2:20)
The grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die.
That is the beginning of the Gospel.
But it's not the end!
The end is, "If it dies, it bears much fruit!"
That is where new life begins.
There is a life we are all born with that must end.
http://destino.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/self-directed-life.jpg
It is a self-centered life, that thinks only of itself, seeks advantage for itself, is
ambitious and proud.
That life has to die.
That is the beginning of the Gospel.
But then, you must be born again!

5. http://mudpreacher.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/christ-directed-versus-self.jpg?w=614
When one life dies, another life takes its place - a life that is gracious, loving,
lovely, peaceful, filled with joy, gladness and a deep sense of self-esteem,
knowing who it is and what it was made to be.
That is the rest of the Gospel.
You cannot reverse these two, although people try to.
They jump immediately to the end of the gospel -- life in Christ -- without first
going to the cross.
But that cannot be.
John 12:26 ESV
26 “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My
servant be also.”
My servant must go where I've gone (to the cross).
In terms of daily, practical experience, what does Jesus mean, "He who comes
after Me must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me."? (Luke
9:23).
What does it mean to bear your cross daily?
It means two things: First, it means a once-for-all decision; and secondly, a
continuing series of choices. (Gal 2:20)
That is what the cross stands for: first, it is a surrender of the rule of your life to
Jesus.
It is a recognition that your life is not your own.

6. The key words of the Christian faith are, "You are not your own, you are bought
with a price," (1 Corinthians 619b-20a).
Actually, you never were your own.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a
price. So glorify God in your body.
The world tells us that we belong to ourselves, that we have a right to ourselves
and that is an illusion that is perpetrated upon us through the media.
That is a lie.
It's, absolutely, not true.
This is the beginning of true life: to recognize the fact that you are not your own,
to surrender your claim to yourself, to give up your right to run your own affairs,
and to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, to do what He says, and to stop what
He says to stop and that hurts!
It cancels out your own plans.
It confounds your ambitions at times, it feels like death because it is death; it's a
form of dying.
It also means to daily follow up on that decision.
Keep doing what is right.
Stop doing what is wrong, and do it all in the strength of Jesus' love and
companionship (the Holy Spirit)!
The result is that you will truly begin to live.
New power will come, to do what is right.
http://mudpreacher.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/holy-spirit-directed-life.jpg?w=614

7. New joy will be yours, an inner peace that nothing can take away, a new ability
to love even those you could not love before, because a new life is yours.
You have found a new Lordship - a new life.
Our Lord uses this symbol of a grain of wheat not only of Himself but of everyone
who follows Him.
According to the word of Jesus, a grain of wheat will never change until it dies.
4500-year-old grains of wheat were discovered in the tombs of the Pharaohs
and found to be absolutely the same as any grain of wheat today.
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7c/7f/dd/7c7fdd7212f8984ff3b94c85388e435c.jpg
But when they were planted, these old grains began to grow!
They had been totally unchanged for 4,500 years but now they began to
change daily - radically!
The sprout came, then the blade, then the stalk, and finally the head.
http://frlouis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/germination-of-a-seed.jpg
If wheat could talk, the grain of wheat now says, "I feel fulfilled. I’m bearing fruit!"

8. Then those grains in the head fall into the ground and they go through the
process again and again until at last a great, shimmering field of wheat is
growing, beautiful, rippling and golden in the sun.
The grain of wheat says, "Ah, this is life as it was intended to be."
Fruitful -- that is what the end of the Gospel is.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-90fW4ZO1_Yc/T13wCKhQ1nI/AAAAAAAAAEs/HZu1QAfeR9E/s1600/wheat+field+rainbow.jpg
If you belong to Jesus, every day will have its cross, every day will have
something you ought to do but you don't feel like doing.
That is your cross.
"He who follows Me must take up his cross daily and follow Me," Luke 9:23.
Every day has its bit of death in order that it might bring forth life.
The end result is a life so glorious, so complete, so obviously what we were
made for that it is hard to find the words to describe it.
The testimony of billions is that this is all true.
https://i0.wp.com/www.nccsouthboston.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/from-death-comes-
life.jpg?resize=900%2C300

9. You will find this thought everywhere in Scripture.
It doesn't make any difference whether it's the Old Testament or the New
Testament but you will find this only in the Bible!
No other book on Earth will tell you that this is the way to life; only the Bible, only
the words of Jesus.
His word is true, as He has demonstrated, and as the testimony of over 2,000
years bear witness, He brings life through death.
This is the choice that lies before us.
If we choose to die with Him, then we shall live with Him.
"Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
John 15:5 ESV
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is
that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Ray Stedman 1917-1992
http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4939299503409857&pid=1.7
• The Triumphal Entry in Matthew 21:1-11.
• Jesus Cleanses the Temple in Matthew 21:12-17.
• Jesus Curses the Fig Tree in Matthew 21:18-22.
• The Authority of Jesus Challenged in Matthew 21:23-24.
Matthew 21:23-24 ESV
23 And when He entered the Temple, the chief priests and the elders of the
people came up to Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are
You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 24 Jesus answered
them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell Me the answer, then I also
will tell you by what authority I do these things.

10. So Jesus countered the question of the Jewish authorities with a question of His
own, one which placed them in a dilemma.
https://lifeandheartmatters.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/jesus_authority.jpg?w=640&h=320
Were those who went out to be baptized at the Jordan responding to a merely
human impulse or were they in fact answering a divine challenge from God
Himself?
The dilemma of the Jewish authorities was this: If they said that the ministry of
John was from God, then they had no alternative to admitting that Jesus was the
Messiah, for John had borne unmistakable witness to that fact.
On the other hand, if they denied that John's ministry came from God, then they
would have to bear the anger of the people, who were convinced that he was
the messenger of God.
For a moment, the Jewish chief priests and elders were silent.
Then they gave the lamest of all lame answers and said, "We do not know."
If ever men stood self-condemned, they did.
They ought to have known; it was part of the duty of the Sanhedrin, of which they
were members, to distinguish between true and false prophets; and they were
saying that they were unable to make that distinction.
Their dilemma drove them into a shameful self-humiliation.
There is a grim warning here - there is such a thing as the deliberately assumed
ignorance of cowardice.

11. If a man consults expediency rather than principle, his first question will be not,
"What is the truth?" but, "What is it safe to say?"
Again, and again his worship of expediency will drive him to a cowardly silence.
He will lamely say, "I do not know the answer," when he well knows the answer,
but is afraid to give it.
The true question is not: "What is it safe to say?" but, "What is it right to say?"
The deliberately assumed ignorance of fear, the cowardly silence of
expediency are shameful things.
If a man knows the truth, he is under obligation to tell it, though the heavens
should fall.
This series of three parables (Matthew 21:23-22:14) grew out of the demand of
the chief priests and elders for Jesus to explain what authority He had for
cleansing the Temple.
As the custodians of the spiritual life- of the nation, they had the right to ask this
question but we are amazed at their ignorance.
Jesus had given them three years of ministry but they still would not face the
facts and wanted more evidence.
In taking them back to the ministry of John, Jesus was not trying to avoid the
issue.
John had prepared the way for Jesus and if the rulers had received John's
ministry, they would have received Jesus too.
Instead, the leaders permitted Herod to arrest John and then to kill him.
If they would not accept the authority of John, they would not accept the
authority of Jesus; for both John and Jesus were sent by God.
We cannot learn new truth if we disobey what God has already
told us.
See John 14:21.
http://www.trinitycranford.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/john-14-21.gif

12. John 14:21 ESV
21 Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And
he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest
Myself to him.”
The religious rulers had rejected the truth preached by John, and therefore Jesus
could not impart new truth to them.
Both He and John were under the same authority.
When John came ministering, the religious crowd showed great interest in his
work, but they would not repent and humble themselves and be baptized
(Matthew 3:7-12; John 1:19-28).
The nonreligious crowd, however, confessed their sins and obeyed John's words
and were baptized.
Again, and again, the religious rulers rejected the clear evidence God gave
them.
Their rejection of John was actually a rejection of the Father Who had sent him.
But God is gracious, and instead of sending judgment, He sent His Son and this
leads to the next parable.
Today
Matthew 21:33-46
If I Reject Jesus?
Matthew 21:33-46 ESV
The Parable of the Tenants
33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard
and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased
it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew
near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his
servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent
other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he
sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants
saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and
have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard
and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he
do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a
miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the
fruits in their seasons.”

13. 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and
given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will
be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived
that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest
him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Matthew 21:33-46 ESV
By rejecting John the Baptist, the religious leaders had rejected God the Father.
Now in this parable, Jesus is showing that they were rejecting Him, God the Son.
Key:
God = Landowner, Lessor.
Christ = His Son sent into the vineyard.
Servants = Prophets God sent to the vineyard to receive fruit.
Vineyard = Kingdom of God, His rule.
http://altruistico.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/vineyard-grapes.jpg

14. He also sent other servants and that is the history of Israel’s rejection of the
Gospel, the rejection of God’s Word.
http://hisstillsmallvoice.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/prophets-of-ot-870bc-465bc.jpg?w=620
The vinedressers = leaders of Israel, priests, scribes, Pharisees (lessees).
The lease = Covenant of grace and goodness with Israel that has accountability
and responsibility associated with it.
Fruit = repentance, righteousness and justice.
https://dgw7l17furt3h.cloudfront.net/uploads/covers/60/picture/small_7a05c2cb460bd1a580b7e2f0.jpg

15. Winepress = a way of collecting the wine juice to enjoy the fruit of the land – for
us and for God to enjoy His creation.
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/blogs/bytheglass/ancient%20wine%20press.jpg
Tower = used for watchmen who looked over the land, a spokesman, a town
crier – which was the ministry of the prophets for the enemies from without and
from within.
• Prophets in towers foresaw the coming of the Son.
Tower of strength = Christ
https://stevendkurtz.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/watchtower.jpg
The hedge = a sign of protection, we are protected by God – individually as well
as corporately.
He protects His people and He protects the nation.
There are only so many things He will allow to enter your life.
Jesus is the door and anything that comes into your life must first come through
Him.
The Father planted the vineyard - that is not a new idea in the OT at all.
He is the Master Who plants the vines (Isaiah 5:1-2).

16. Isaiah 5:1-2 ESV
1 Let me sing for my beloved (Lord)
my love song concerning his vineyard (His chosen people):
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill (the promised land, Canaan).
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines (the people of Judah);
He built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and He looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
Jeremiah 2:21 ESV
21 Yet I planted you a choice vine,
wholly of pure seed.
How then have you turned degenerate
and become a wild vine?
Psalm 80:14-15 ESV
14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
Likely this parable will remind the Pharisees of the tombs in the Kidron Valley.
http://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.p2i_MM-mICDI6Y_tYiv4NwEsDb&w=270&h=197&c=7&qlt=90&o=4&dpr=1.5&pid=1.7
Those tombstones were dedicated to the dead prophets.
You honor the prophets when they are dead but when they are here, you kill
them.
What is wrong with this picture?

17. They are honored when they are martyred but not when they come with the
prophecies.
Last of all He sent His Son, His best and most valued servant.
Certainly, they will respect My Son!
While Jesus was preaching, they were plotting His death.
They said, this is the heir, let’s kill Him and we will get all of this for ourselves.
They were jealous of Jesus!
Mark 15:10 ESV
10 For Pilate perceived that it was out of envy (jealousy) that the chief priests had
delivered Him up.
Jesus robbed them of their glory.
They thought they would get all of the positions, all of the income and thought
that they did not have to acknowledge Him as the Son.
If you do this to the Son, with Whom do you have to deal with?
http://pr.ak.vresp.com/d09668058/kaukauwavuni.com/dranilami/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Lower-
Body.jpg?__nocache__=1
They cast Him out of the vineyard and killed Him.
Outside of Jerusalem He carried His cross and was crucified.
Is there any justice in this vineyard?
Yes!

18. Therefore, when the Owner of the vineyard comes, what will He do to these who
were in the vineyard who killed His Son?
Jesus is asking them, “What would you do if someone killed your Son?”
They jumped out of the frying pan into the fire and said, “He will destroy those
wicked men miserably and lease the vineyard to other vinedressers.”
Jesus said that is exactly what My Father is going to do.
He will lease it to other (Gentile) vinedressers.
The Gentiles (that would be us) will render to Him the fruit in their season.
Psalm 118:22
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
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Jesus told the Pharisees that they were seeing this happen right in front of their
eyes.
You have rejected the Owner of the vineyard.
I say to you; the kingdom will be given to the Gentiles and whoever falls on Him
will be broken.
Acts 4:11 ESV
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has
become the cornerstone.

19. Truly, Jesus is our Rock.
• To the Jews, He is a stumbling stone (Romans 9:32-33).
• To the Gentiles, He is a smiting stone (Daniel 2:34).
• To the believer, He is the foundation stone (Ephesians 2:20).
Either you will fall on Him and be saved, or He will fall on you and you'll be
crushed.
It's your choice.
We highly recommend the first.
We recommend building your life upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ.
We preach the love of God but we must always see that His love is an
expression of His holiness!
We want to believe in the love of God but we don’t want to hear about His
justice.
There are many gods created by man and they are gods of love, fickle love.
Love with no sense of justice.
He must be a God of justice.
Those who reject Christ will be broken.
Those who have spurned God’s love will be broken.
The Cornerstone is eternal.
The Jesus Who sits kids on His lap is also the Messiah Who is coming in Revelation
14 and is associated with the blood up to the horse’s bridles.
https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.SFC6wfDI-M84NWfeDM3SbAEsCm&pid=15.1

20. What if Jesus told this parable to millions of believers who claim to be Christians.
Did I not plant the pilgrims on this shore? Natural resources, protection from
foreign invasion? Why do you reject Me?
A tragic picture of humanity.
We live in a day where we are seeing unparalleled expansion of wickedness.
He is the Owner of the vineyard and His will, will be done!
Those who have been planted by God must trust in the Owner’s Son.
Scripture gives us a worldview.
Be encouraged, remember this parable when watching the fake news.
God is the owner, Christ is the Son, there is a hedge around us and everything
comes through Him first.
He can use evil choices of men to bring about good and His will!
He has done it before and He will do it again and again.
Don’t be discouraged.
We are one day closer to the return of Christ.
Never before in history can, within seconds, the whole world change radically.
As God’s people, we need to be focusing on Him.
History is going somewhere and there will be dramatic world events but be not
discouraged, Jesus has overcome the world.
Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord and He will direct your paths.
God will use the Jews again.
Those who accept Jesus will not live under the wrath of the Son.

21. 1,000-year co-reign with Christ!
https://believeacts2blog.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/image52.jpeg?w=1000
1 John 2:28 ESV
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have
confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.
By rejecting John the Baptist, the religious leaders had rejected God the Father.
Then Jesus showed them through the Parable of the Vineyard that they were
rejecting Him, God the Son.
Next week we will see in Matthew 22 a parable that demonstrates their rejection
of God the Holy Spirit.
http://1thirstysoul.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/tintoretto_theweddingfeast.jpg

22. Matthew 22:1-14 ESV
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of Heaven
may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his
servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not
come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I
have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered,
and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no
attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest
seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was
angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their
city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited
were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast
as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered
all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with
guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had
no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here
without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to
the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In
that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called,
but few are chosen.”
We meet the Father and the Son; and the Son is alive (in spite of what the
husbandmen did) and has a bride.
The suggestion is that the Lord Jesus and His church are depicted (Ephesians
5:22-33).
The period described in this parable must be after His resurrection and ascension
and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The Father is still inviting the people of Israel to come, in spite of what they did to
His Son.
When we study the first seven chapters of Acts, we discover that the message is
going out to Jews only (Acts 2:5, 10, 14, 22, 36; 3:25; 6:7).
"To the Jew first" was God's plan (Acts 3:26; Rom. 1:16).
How did the nation's leaders respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the
Apostles?

23. They rejected the Word and persecuted the church.
The same rulers who permitted John to be killed, and who asked for Jesus to be
killed, themselves killed Stephen!
Later, Herod killed James (Acts 12:1ff).
How did the king in the parable respond to the way the people treated his
servants?
He became angry and sent his armies to destroy them and their city.
He then turned to other, people and invited them to come to the feast.
This is a picture of God's dealing with Israel.
They rejected the Father when they refused to obey John the Baptist's
preaching.
Israel rejected the Son when they arrested Him and crucified Him.
In His grace and patience, God sent other witnesses.
The Holy Spirit came on the early believers and they witnessed with great power
that Jesus was alive and the nation could be saved (Acts 2:32-36; 3:19-26).
The miracles they did were proof that God was at work in and through them.
But Israel also rejected the Holy Spirit!
This was Stephen's indictment against the nation: "You do always resist the Holy
Ghost" (Acts 7:51).
With the stoning of Stephen, God's patience with Israel began to end, though He
delayed the judgment for almost forty years.
In Acts 8 we read that the message went to the Samaritans, and in Acts 10 we
read that it even went to the Gentiles.
This final rejection is the awful "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" that Jesus
spoke about in Matthew 12:22-32.
This was a national sin, committed by Israel.

24. When they rejected John, they rejected the Father who sent him; but there
remained the ministry of the Son.
When they rejected the Son, they were forgiven because of their ignorance
(Luke 23:34; Acts 3:17).
No sinner today can be forgiven for rejecting Christ, for this rejection is what
condemns the soul (John 3:16-22).
But there remained the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit came on the church at Pentecost, and the Apostles performed great
signs and wonders (Acts 2:43; Hebrews 2:1-4).
The rulers rejected the witness of the Spirit, and this brought final judgment.
They had rejected the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and there were no more
opportunities left.
This "sin against the Holy Spirit" cannot be committed today in the same way as
Israel committed it, because the situation is different.
The Spirit of God is bearing witness through the Word to the person and work of
Jesus Christ and it is the Spirit Who convicts the world of sin (John 16:7-11).
The Spirit can be resisted by unbelievers (Acts 7:51), but nobody knows that crisis
hour when the Spirit stops dealing with a lost sinner.
Matthew 22:11-14 seems like an appendix to the parable, but it is vitally
important.
The wedding garment was provided by the host so that everybody was properly
attired and the poor did not feel conspicuous.
Salvation is personal and individual.
We must accept what God gives to us—the righteousness of Christ—and not try
to make it on our own.
Since these parables had a definite national emphasis, this personal emphasis at
the end was most important.
The nation's leaders were guilty of spiritual blindness, hypocrisy, and deliberate
disobedience to the Word.

25. Instead of accepting this indictment from Jesus, and repenting, they decided to
attack Him and argue with Him.
The result: judgment.
We should be careful not to follow their example of disobedience.
We don't want to confuse much of the vine imagery that there is in the word of
God.
There are four ways in which Israel is illustrated in the word of God as trees or
vines.
The first is this: you find the olive tree, then on occasions you find the fig tree.
There is the bramble bush and then there is the vine.
The olive tree – In Romans chapter 11, the nation of Israel is typified, pictured
and illustrated there as the olive tree.
Romans 11:24 ESV
24 For if you (Gentiles) were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and
grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will
these (Jews), the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
The olive tree illustrates and is representative of Israel's relationship in covenant
with God.
Whenever you read of Israel as the olive tree, God is illustrating the covenant
with Himself that the people had.
Now, at the moment, that covenant is in temporary suspension - in other words,
most of the Jews’ fellowship with God Almighty has been cut off.
They have broken their vows of the covenant, so it's in temporary suspension.
Because of that God has scattered the nation of Israel all over the world, and it is
us - the Gentiles - who are entering into the privileges that Israel might have
enjoyed if they had obeyed the Lord, trusted the Saviour, and believed on Jesus.
We know from prophetic teaching in Romans 11 that there will be a day and a
time that will come – when Israel will be grafted in again to the olive tree.

26. This time, instead of Israel being cut off and the Gentiles being put into that olive
tree, the unfaithful Gentiles will be cut off and Israel once more will be brought
into covenant relationship with their God, and they will be part of the olive tree
again.
The olive tree always symbolises the covenant relationship between Israel and
the Lord.
Then there is the fig tree, and that speaks of Israel not in covenant, but Israel as a
nation, as a people, the Jews.
Now, who are the Jews that the fig tree speaks of?
Well, they are the descendants of Benjamin and Judah that made up the
population of the city of Jerusalem.
You might think that the city of Jerusalem was just full of Israelites, but that's
wrong in a sense because it's primarily made up of the descendants of the tribe
of Benjamin and the tribe of Judah - that is the population of Jerusalem.
That is significant when we remember that it was the population of Jerusalem
that the Lord Jesus wept over and said: 'Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I would
have taken you as a hen gathers her chicks, but ye would not!'.
Now that's significant: the nation of Israel, the Jews.
That's why when the Lord Jesus passed by that fig tree that failed to bear fruit He
put it underneath the curse of God.
Israel, the nation, the Jews, this very moment as we speak, are under the curse
of God for their unfaithfulness - and there will be no fruit from the nation of Israel
until they are restored again by the grace of God.
The olive tree speaks specifically of Israel in covenant relationship with God.
The fig tree speaks specifically of the nation of the Jews, if you want to narrow it
in even more: the Jewish people, the descendants of Benjamin and Judah, who
dwelt in the city of Jerusalem in Christ's day.
Then thirdly there is the bramble bush, and this is a very graphic illustration and
picture.
It speaks to us of the way Israel has become under the divine judgement of
God.

27. Sunday
http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.YeZK4m9R0ZovA7PRca4vag&pid=15.1
Matthew 22:1-14
Offered To All.
April 9, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 ESV
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 ESV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.”
Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a ESV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 ESV
8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the
lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Romans 6:23b ESV
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

28. Romans 5:8 ESV
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
Revelation 21:7 ESV
7 "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will
be my son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquerors.
Romans 10:9-10 ESV
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart
one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:13 ESV
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If you have questions or would like to know more, please, contact First Baptist
Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/