What If Jesus Told A Story About Your Life?

What if Jesus Told a Story about Your Life?

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared April 18, 2021)

BACKGROUND:

*Today we will study one of the Lord's parables. But what is a parable anyway? The best definition I've ever heard is simply this: "A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning." I really like that definition, and depending on which Scriptures you include, the Bible gives us about 40 to 50 of these short stories. Today's parable will help us take a good look at our lives from God's point of view.

*Most of us know that here in Luke 20, we are very close to the cross. In Luke 19, Jesus was about 15 miles away from Jerusalem when He passed through Jericho. That's where we find the wonderful report about Zacchaeus getting saved. And in Luke 19:10 Jesus tells us that He, "the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'' Thank God for that!

*Luke 19 also tells us about the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. But in vs. 39-48 that chapter ends on this tragic note:

39. And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.''

40. But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.''

41. Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

42. saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

43. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,

44. and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.''

*That prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D., about 40 years after our risen Savior returned home to Heaven. Historians estimate that over a million Jews were killed in that horrific siege and destruction of Jerusalem. (1)

*Starting again in vs. 45:

45. Then (Jesus) went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,

46. saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'''

47. And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him,

48. and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

*Luke 20:1 tells us that Jesus was teaching those people and preaching the gospel to them. Matthew 21:14-15 tells us that Jesus also healed the blind and lame people who came to Him in the Temple. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful that things Jesus did, they were greatly offended.

*That's pretty amazing when you think about it, and it helps us understand how much they hated the Lord. They had been wanting and plotting to murder Jesus for over a year. And in this morning's Scripture those evil rulers confronted the Lord in the Temple.

MESSAGE:

*With this background in mind, let me ask you to think about the story of your life. What if Jesus told a story about your life? That's what He did in today's Scripture, and these religious leaders knew it. Sadly, it was a story of their rebellion against God, rejection of His Son, and their eternal ruin.

*But what if the Lord walked in here, and started telling a story about our lives? I know we all would want it to be the exact opposite of this story. And the good news is that it can be!

1. BUT FIRST WE MUST KNOW THAT GOD RECOGNIZES THE STORY OF OUR LIFE.

*The Lord surely knew the story of these men's lives, and He told it with a parable. In vs. 9-15, Jesus said:

9. . . "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.

10. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

11. Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

12. And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.

13. Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.'