Repentance and Rejection

Have you noticed that those of us who have convictions based on the Holy Scriptures are being regarded in our society more and more as intolerant and unloving. But followers of Jesus, we believe in truth. And if there's truth, there's also error. Jesus said, I am the truth. Not just that He speaks the truth.

He does that. He is the truth. He also said in that prayer in John 17 to his father.

We call it the high priestly prayer of Jesus. He said in John 17 verse 17 to his father, your word is truth. What a strong statement.

In the first little church where I pastored, when I went there, they asked me if there was a verse that we could put on the sign, and I chose John 17 verse 17. Your word is truth. It is not just that the Bible contains the Word of God. It's not just that the Bible points to the truth. It's certainly not that the Bible contains truth and error. It is absolute truth. God is a God of truth.

He's a God who cannot lie. And in the wonder of the inspiration of Scripture, the living God speaks through His servants so that what we have in our hands is the Word of God in truth. And those of us who believe this find ourselves in a kind of collision course with our society, which is becoming more and more intolerant of biblical truth. This even impacts the church of Jesus Christ. Many people come to church not primarily to hear the truth, but to feel good about themselves, to have an exciting experience, perhaps to check a box, to meet friends, to listen to some nice music, a kind of inspiring message.

And I suppose if you think that God exists to make your life easy, if you think God exists to make your life more comfortable, to make you feel good about yourself, to make you feel happy, then there's not a surprise if you don't want to hear the truth. There's a little girl called Samantha, and at school she's told that she's unique, she's wonderful, she's very, very special, a wonderful little girl. Very opposite from the kind of school I went to in Scotland. The problem is at home, mom and dad don't quite understand what little Samantha has done that makes her so special or wonderful. As she comes home and they look at her math test and she gets half of the answers wrong. As she writes a little essay and the grammar is terrible and it's full of misspellings, and when her parents talk to little Samantha about this, little Samantha is very upset, and she says, why can't you be nice to me like my teacher? Yells the little girl on the verge of tears. I'm never good enough for you, she says. And her parents respond and say, but honey, three times three is not 15.

So, says little Samantha, the teacher says it was a good try. Why can't you ever feel that I'm special? A little girl, irrespective of her mistakes, is being told that she's special, she's wonderful. She gets things totally wrong, but still is affirmed by her teacher.

What has happened? Truth has trumped this little girl's insatiable demand to feel good and to feel special. And we have a whole generation growing up feeling that we're very, very special.

And that the whole world exists to make me feel happy and to feel that I'm kind of some wonderful person. Problem with that kind of thinking is what happens when it confronts truth? What happens when you make yourself the center of your world and your goal in life is psychological happiness? What happens when you come face to face with the truth? In our passage today, we're going to see the increasing intolerance, in fact, increasing hostility against Jesus, who is the truth. Now, He's the perfect man, but as He confronts the religious leaders, they are threatened by the truth. Their authority, their power base, their influence is being undermined by Jesus, who not only teaches the truth, but is the truth.

And the intolerance of the religious leaders turns to hostility, and their hostility turns to hatred. And they're going to hate the truth so much that they're going to put to death on a cross the innocent man, our Lord Jesus Christ. Truth. I ask you today, are you open to the truth? Are you a seeker of the truth? Are you so determined that you will follow the truth? Could it be that some of us are rejecting parts of the Holy Scripture because it is in opposition to our own desires, our own prejudices, our own lifestyles?

Are we choosing what we believe or not believe based on our feelings, our traditions perhaps, our personal opinions, rather than pursuing and embracing the truth? Followers of Jesus are to be committed to the truth. And we're going to see in the two little stories that Jesus tells, the conflict between the religious leaders and Jesus, who is the truth.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21. And we're looking this morning at quite a long passage from verse 28 to the end of the chapter. Matthew 21, we're going consecutively through this book.

I don't choose what I preach on, it's chosen for me. And here we come to Matthew chapter 21, and we're going to see in this parable, which we begin to read in verse 28, the challenge of the truth. The challenge of the truth.

First of all, Jesus tells a parable about two sons, verse 28. What do you think? Jesus wants us to be thinkers. He wants us to reflect.

What do you think? A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he said, I go, sir, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of the father? They said, the first.

Let's just stop there. A parable of two sons. This is the first of three parables told by Jesus against the religious establishment in this part of Matthew. We're going to think of two of them today and then, Lord willing, the third in chapter 22 next Sunday. With the coming of Jesus, there is a radical change. So Jesus tells us a little story, a very simple story.

This is a small parable. A man has a vineyard and his two sons. He goes to the first son and asks him to work in the vineyard. Incidentally, sons and daughters are to work. My dad used to say to us at the table, you want to eat like men, you need to work like men. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 that if you don't work, you shouldn't eat. So if you're a young man and young woman, good health, and you're living at home in your parents' basement doing video games, you need to go and work.

Seriously. Don't live on your parents. Don't live on the government. God wants you to work.

That's not the point of the story, but that's what I'm saying to you. Go today and work. Adam worked in the garden. Work is good. Laziness is condemned in Scripture. So the man has a vineyard, obviously work has to be done, and he thinks I've got these two sons, obviously at an age and physical ability to work, and he asks them to go to work today in the vineyard. The first one says, I won't do it.

I will not. That's strange for a son to say that to his father, but that's what the man says. He says to his father, I won't do it. But afterwards, he changed his mind and went. This expression, change his mind, is similar to the word repenting. The man repented. That's what repentance is.

It's a change of mind leading to a change of action. He goes to the next son and says, will you work in my vineyard? Go work today in my vineyard. And the second son says, yes, I'll do that, sir. But he doesn't go. And the question then which Jesus asked is not a difficult question. He says, which of the two does the will of the Father? And the answer is given. We read in verse 31, the first.

That's it. The first son says no and repents and then does the work. The second son says, I'll do the work, but doesn't do it. What do you think? Verse 28, what do you think? Why is Jesus telling this parable? Now, we're very fortunate because we have the interpretation. The interpretation, verse 31. You say, what on earth does this mean?

Here it is. Are you listening? Verse 31, which of the two did the will of the Father? Easy answer, the first. Jesus said to them, here it is, truly I say to you, the tax collector, sorry, the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

What a statement. Who's he talking to? The chief priests and the elders. Verse 45, when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. Verse 32, for John came to you in the way of righteousness, that's John the Baptist, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him.

And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. You remember John the Baptist, Jesus is saying? What was the message of John the Baptist?

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The religious leaders, in the parable of the second son, the religious leaders should have been the first to respond to the way of righteousness. They were religious. John is a prophet. He's in fulfillment of Malachi, and John comes, and he's preaching the way of righteousness. He's preaching about the necessity of repentance and preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Of all of the people in Israel, the religious leaders, the chief priests and the elders, should have been the first to say, yes, we repent, we repent, and we believe in John.

But they don't do it. Surprisingly, people you would not have expected and who probably initially resisted the message are people who are corrupt and people who are immoral, the tax collectors. Now remember, Israel is under the heel of Rome. The tax is collected and is given by the tax collectors to Rome.

But in the transfer from the person to Rome, the tax collectors are taking quite a bit of their share. They are corrupt. They are deceitful people. They are despised. They're the lowest of the low.

You're a tax collector. You're working with the Romans, the very opposite of righteousness. And then there's the prostitutes.

Oh, they make quite a good living with all of the Roman soldiers there. They're selling themselves. They're immoral people. So here are people in that society, the lowest of the low. And yet Jesus is saying, did you hear it? The tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. The religious people, the people who knew the Bibles, the people you would have expected to have embraced the message of John and humility resisted. And the very people you would have expected to say no, and perhaps initially said no, are those who repent, who recognize they are not righteous, who recognize that in the sight of a holy God, they are sinful people, they repent, they are baptized, and they enter the kingdom of God.

Shocking, isn't it? This is the teaching of Jesus. And says Jesus, did you know this in verse 32 at the end? Even when you saw it, even when you saw what was happening to the tax collectors and the prostitutes. Here's a man like Zacchaeus, who is converted by the grace of God and his life is changed.

Here's the prostitutes, you know them. When they repent, they stop their immorality. Even when you saw that, you still did not repent, and you still did not enter the kingdom of God. Verse 28, what do you think?

This makes us think, doesn't it? See, God is not impressed by lip service or promises to do something. Here's a man who said, yes, I'll go, and doesn't go. Many people have said to God that they'll get right with God. Many people have said that they will repent and believe the Gospel sometime, but it never happens. On the other hand, I've seen this in my ministry, the very people that you think are the furthest from the kingdom of God, in actual fact, repent and get right with God. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it wonderful that when our Lord Jesus comes into this sinful world, He embraces the lowest of the low.

He embraces the sinners, because that's the very heart of God that He comes to seek and to save the lost. I ask you, in the past, have you made promises to God? You're in a very difficult situation.

Perhaps you lost your job, perhaps you're sick, perhaps a member of your family was very sick. It was some very difficult, very trying, personal circumstance, and you made a kind of deal with God. You promised God that if you go out of that situation, you'd get right with Him. Some of you have knelt here and made commitments to God, that you would go and serve Him, that you have consecrated your life to Him, that you have, as we heard in that song sung by Vicki, you've surrendered to Almighty God.

And you said, I surrender all and I'll get my life right, but you've never done it. It's a wonderful thing to be challenged by the truth. The religious leaders are challenged by the truth. The tax collectors are challenged by the truth.

The prostitutes are challenged by the truth. What a blessing to hear the Word of God, but the question is, what is your response? Is the response of the humble obedience of faith, not lip service.

Remember last week, plenty of leaves, but no fruit. Our Savior is looking for a repentant heart followed by the obedience of life. Not just words, not just a promise, but to be like a tax collector, to be like a prostitute, and to understand that in the sight of God you deserve His condemnation, but Christ has come to save you, and you repent, and you embrace Christ, and so you enter the kingdom of God. Isn't the Gospel wonderful? The challenge of the truth.

Secondly, the rejection of the truth. The parable in verse 33. Let's read this parable.

Isn't Jesus a master storyteller? Here's another story about a vineyard. Here another parable, verse 33. 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. When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit, and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did the same to them.

Finally, he sent his son to them saying, they will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, this is the heir, come let us kill him and have his inheritance, and they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these tenants? They said to him, he will put these wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.

Let's just stop there. The rejection of the truth. Here is another parable told by Jesus, another story told by Jesus about a vineyard. Now, much of the land of Israel was owned by absentee landowners. In this case, the owner has a vineyard, he prepares it, does a lot of work for it, a lot of expense, he takes care of it as we read in verse 33, and then he leases out the vineyard to tenants. For his rent, the owner is entitled to a share of the produce. The owner, the landlord, and the story is absent. But over a period of time, he sends his servants to collect his share of the produce, that's the agreement. Rather than the servants getting part of the profit of the vineyard, the servants are beaten and killed.

Unbelievable, isn't it? He sends several of them and they're killed. And finally, he says, well, I'll send my son.

They will respect him. And when he comes, the tenants think, well, the owner might be dead. Here's his son coming to us. We'll kill the son and then perhaps we can really own this vineyard instead of just leasing it.

Well, we'll claim his inheritance. And so they kill the son. You got the story?

Simple story. And justice demands, obviously, that the tenants are judged and the vineyard is given to others. There's a terrible treatment by these tenants, killing the owner's servants and finally killing his son. What's the interpretation of the parable?

Is it that difficult? Remember who he's speaking to? He's speaking to the religious establishment, to the chief priests and the elders, to the Pharisees. This parable is an indictment against Israel. The religious leaders, when he talked about the vineyard, would have made a connection with an Old Testament passage that I'm going to read from Isaiah chapter 5.

I'll just read a little bit of it. Verse 1, let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice finds.

He built a watchtower in the midst of it and shooed out a wine vat in it. And he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. This man in Isaiah, he has a vineyard, he takes care of it.

He does all he can to have a fruitful crop, but instead of getting what he wanted, he gets wild grapes. Verse 7, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the men of Judah are his pleasant planting.

And he looked for justice, and behold, bloodshed, for righteousness, but behold, an outcry. Go back to Matthew chapter 21. The vineyard here then represents Israel.

We're still in the dispensation, the age of the law, under the Mosaic law. The vineyard is Israel. The vine growers, who are they? They are the corrupt religious leaders. Again, verse 45, the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables.

They perceived that he was speaking about them. The vineyard represents Israel. The tenants represent the religious leaders, taking care spiritually of the nation, administering the nation, making decisions regarding the nation Israel. The owner sends his servants. And what do they do to the servants?

They beat them. They kill them, up to and including John the Baptist. Who is the son in the parable? There the owner says.

Finally, the owner sends his son. Clearly, our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is Israel. Israel has incredible privileges, and God spoke to the nation.

Read the Old Testament in different ways through the prophets. But what does Israel do to God's messengers? They mistreat them. A man like Jeremiah, they imprison him. They kill some of them.

They abuse them. John the Baptist is killed by Herod. Finally. Did you notice verse 37? Finally, he sent his son to them. What is God's final revelation to us? God's revelation to Israel. Finally, in all of the progress of revelation, prophet after prophet comes, and now comes God's son.

Finally, our Lord Jesus Christ. He sends him in great love to save them. And God's son is standing in their very midst telling them this parable.

Do you get the scene? Do you get what's going through the mind of the religious leaders? They knew their Bible. They knew he was speaking against them. He is confronting them with the truth.

Think of the courage of our Lord Jesus Christ. What are the religious leaders doing? Not only are they rejecting the truth, not only are they not believing the truth, they are actively plotting to kill God's beloved son. Just as King Herod wanted to silence the voice of John the Baptist because he spoke truth. Now the religious leaders want to silence the voice of God's son because they do not want the truth. They are repudiating God's rule over them. No, we are the rulers of Israel.

We'll do what we want. They don't like the truth. And just as their forefathers had done in the past, rejecting the prophets sent to them, so they reject God's message to them.

And now they are rejecting God's son, the Messiah. Did you notice what they did to him in the parable verse 39? They took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What's going to happen to our Lord Jesus Christ? They're going to take him. They're going to throw him out of the vineyard so that when he dies, as the writer of Hebrew tells us, he suffers outside the camp. They take him outside of the city to the place of the skull and it's there they put to death the Lord of glory. Enemies of the truth. The very ones that have been entrusted with guiding the nation, they're plotting to kill Jesus. Do you know what happens? Intolerance of the truth leads to rejection of the truth and then leads to hatred of the truth. Do you notice what's going on in our society? People first say, well, I see things differently.

Then they actively reject the truth and then they hate the truth. Kingsley Amis is a celebrated English novelist. I've told this story before. I think it's so applicable here and his son Martin Amis is also a celebrated novelist. Some of you may have read their work. Kingsley Amis, we had to read them at school. When he died, his son Martin Amis spoke at his father's memorial service. And the son, the irony of it, was held in a church in England. He recalled a conversation his father had had with a Russian poet, Yevtushenko. And Yevtushenko said to Kingsley Amis, well, he asked Kingsley Amis, are you an atheist?

I think of the reply of Kingsley Amis, this well-known author. Kingsley Amis said, well, yes, I am an atheist, but it's more than that. I hate him. Hating someone you say you don't even believe in, that's it, isn't it? The intolerance of the truth, the rejection of the truth, and then the actual hatred of the truth.

I hate him. And you say, well, John, none of us here would hate the truth. Well, I don't know. I'm asking, what's your response to the truth? This is not just a story.

This actually happened. This is the teaching of Jesus. And he told many things. And this story, and it's a powerful story, is kept for us in Scripture so that we would understand and respond.

I ask you, I want you to think of this. Do you regard Jesus? Do you regard the teaching of Jesus? Do you regard the commands of Jesus as an intrusion into your life? Do you?

When you hear the truth from God's word, as you read the truth, does it shake you so much so that some of it you just want to reject? Oh, you love the idea that God loves you. After all, you think you are really special.

You're a bit of a samanter, aren't you? You're really special. You're really wonderful.

Yes, I understand that. I am a wonderful person. That's why God loves me. It's a wonderful truth that God does love you, but He doesn't love you because you're a wonderful person.

You are a wonderful person because God loves you. And you say, well, I don't mind coming to Calvary Church on occasion. I'm really looking forward to the concert.

Wonderful music. Hope Monroe doesn't preach too long, but I'll be there. But beyond the leaves, when the Spirit touches you, is it the case that there are parts of the teaching of Jesus that you really are rejecting? This idea about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that seems odd. I want a bit of Jesus, but I don't want to be a fanatic. Hearing the song that we heard sung by Vicky that we are bowing to the authority of the Almighty King, is this really true that I am to surrender everything to King Jesus? That's a bit much. I don't mind doing a bit of it on Sunday. I even give him some money. I even serve sometimes, but total surrender.

How is it? Could it be that we're rejecting the truth? Could it be also that there's doubt in your mind now about the authority of Scripture?

Did God really say that? Because it intrudes into how you live. Because it impacts some of your personal relationship. Perhaps like these religious leaders, you want to be in control. You want to be in charge. You want to be the authority of your own life. You want to live your own life. Like little Samantha, you always want to be happy and you want people around you always saying that whatever you believe and whatever you do is just wonderful.

You're a really special person as you live as you like. And then the truth of Scripture intrudes and impacts your life. Today, you're confronted with the truth. See, this Jesus is the King.

We're going to see that in a minute. Do not reject the truth. The challenge of the truth, the rejection of the truth, verses 42 through 46, the triumph of the truth.

I'm going to tell you that truth always, always triumphs. Verse 42. We've got the parable.

Here's Jesus. Have you never read in the Scriptures? He's going to quote from Psalm 118, one of the great Psalms in the Psalter. Have you never read in the Scripture?

Here it is. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

And the one who falls on this stone will be broken in pieces and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this parable, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet.

Here's the master teacher, the triumph of the truth. The religious leaders are going to be judged. Israel, the vineyard, is going to come under is going to come under the judgment of God, but other people are going to be blessed. Did you notice in the parable Jesus said the vineyard will be given to other tenants?

Verse 41, or they said to him, let out the vineyard to other tenants. Verse 43, therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, ethnos, a nation producing its fruits. Israel is going to come under the judgment of God. The dispensation of the Mosaic law is about to end. A new age is about to come, the age of the church. And the apostles are going to be given the spiritual leadership to God's new community, the church. And now, rather than Israel being the focus of God's purposes, the focus will be on this new community that we know, the church. The kingdom of God is taken away from you, Israel, and is given to another people.

Turn to, for example, to Acts chapter 13. The judgment of God is going to come on Israel, and it did. In AD 70, the Romans attacked Jerusalem. The temple is destroyed.

The temple is gone, never yet been rebuilt. Jesus is saying something very, very serious, that those who reject Him will not go unpunished. You say, does this mean that Israel doesn't have a future? No, Israel does have a future. The vineyard, Israel is not destroyed, but it's given to others.

It's given to another people. Acts 13, verse 46. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying, it was necessary, he's talking primarily to the Jews, it was necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you.

That's Israel. The Gospel is preached to the Jew first. It was necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

The vineyard has been taken away from you and given to another people. And now, in the wonder of the purposes of God, we have the church. What's the church?

Comprises Jew and Gentile. Ah, but judgment is coming on Israel. Verse 41, he will put these wretches to a miserable death. Verse 44, the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. What's Jesus saying?

The apparent tragedy of the cross is going to turn to triumph as God vindicates His Son by the resurrection from the dead. Jesus is the stone who was once rejected. Verse 42, the stone that the builders rejected. Who's the stone? Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Who's doing the rejection? Israel has become the cornerstone. Israel rejects the Messiah. He's beaten.

He's ridiculed. He's crucified. The stone is rejected. But that same stone, how wonderful that the Lord Jesus Christ who's put on the cross, now He becomes the cornerstone, the main stone, the capstone. That stone which was rejected by you, in fact, is going to become the cornerstone. That the Lord Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth and the church of Jesus Christ and the truth of God will be triumphant. And that stone rejected by you, what's going to happen to it?

The one who falls on the stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. Don't you think of Jesus? This is His teaching. The kingdom is offered to you, the kingdom of heaven. The tax collectors and the prostitutes go in it before you. You continue to reject it. If you continue to reject it, the one that you are rejecting, in fact, is going to be the one who is triumphant. And that same stone that you reject is going to crush you and you're going to come under the judgment of God. Did you know your Bible, your mind goes when you think of that stone to Daniel 2, remember the image, Nebuchadnezzar's image representing all of the kingdoms of the world and then there is this little stone. And Daniel in his interpretation sees that little stone and it crushes all of the kingdoms of the world and that little stone fills the whole world. It says it will break in pieces all these kingdoms, I'm quoting from Daniel 2, and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever. This kingdom, kingdom of God, will stand forever.

Howard Marshall writes, the stone is set there by God's purpose so that if people refuse to build on it, it will become the means of their ruin. And here our Lord Jesus is quoting from Psalm 118. The point is, truth will triumph.

God's purposes will not be thwarted. The truth that Jesus is the only Savior results in opposition, it results in rejection, it results in hostility and in intolerance as we see more and more. But we say, this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

So Peter, wonderfully, in Acts chapter 4, listen to him. He says, let it be known to all of you and to all of the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, that's the stone being rejected, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you today. 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 given among men by which we must be saved.

That's it. The stone rejected has become the cornerstone. Our Lord Jesus Christ dies in seeming weakness, but he's raised in almighty power and this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. When Queen Elizabeth I in December 17, 1558 was told that her half-sister Mary, Mary Tudor, died and that she now was the queen. It's said that she was reading her Bible and was reading in Psalm 118 and said in Latin, this is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes.

She was amazed that with all that was going on that she was now going to be the queen and she was going to reign for a long time as Queen Elizabeth I. And she says it's the Lord's doing, it's marvelous in our eyes. What we do know is this, that when our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and ascended to his Father and crowned victorious, truth is triumphant, and we the people of God in the midst of a dark world where Christians are attacked and where people are intolerant of the truth, we keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and say, don't we, this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. And how wonderful that you and I can enter the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom which will last forever.

Isn't that wonderful to know that through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, this stone which was rejected has been made the cornerstone and God does a mighty work bringing Jew and Gentile into this new community, the church, as we await the return of King Jesus who will catch us up and we shall ever be with Him. The forces of secularism, the forces of evil are strong in our world, but this glorious truth that Jesus is the cornerstone fills us with praise and joy. I'm saying to you today, pursue the truth. Seek the truth. Proverbs 23 verse 23, buy the truth and do not sell it. Don't reject the truth.

Don't just talk about it. Humbly submit to the truth. As Jesus says, if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me. Today is a day of truth, a day of salvation. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. Follow Him and love Him with all of your heart because this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes that we are on the victory side. Some of you spent quite a lot over the last few days watching games. Some of your teams won and some of your teams lost.

I'm not sure if my team is going to be kicking off very shortly and they may well lose. But one thing I know is this, that we who are on the side of Jesus Christ, that we are on the winning team, that while it is dark and while it is difficult and while life is sometimes very, very tough, we understand this, that that stone is the cornerstone and that we are part of the kingdom of God and all of the forces of darkness will never, ever, ever prevail over Christ. This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Let's pray. As I pray, will you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God? I don't know what it is, where you are spiritually, you know. Perhaps you've never surrendered your life to Christ.

Will you do that? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of you are followers of Christ, but you got distracted.

You've become spiritually lazy or perhaps you've fallen into sin. I'm telling you, keep your eyes on Jesus and be part of that kingdom that will never end. Eternal God, we thank You for Jesus, the cornerstone. We think of Your work of salvation, the wonder of it, and we say this is the Lord's doing, it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has given us, let us rejoice and be glad in it. We praise You, Father. This is all of Your doing. We thank You for Christ and pray now that we will humble ourselves and love Him and seek Him with all of our hearts. In His name, amen.