Matthew
2000-year Fruit Inspection
It was 2000 years from Adam to Abraham
2000 years from Abraham to Jesus who said I will build My Church
2000 years have now passed and the question is, has the Church produced fruit?
We are at the end of the 3rd 2000-year cycle
A flood of destruction came at the end of the first 2000 years
To make room for Abraham
The destruction of Jerusalem came at the end of the second 2000 years
To make room for the Church
What will God see as He looks for fruit again in the earth?
Will He find faith like the faith of Abraham on the earth?
There will always be those who will be unfruitful and those who will be fruitful
There will be those who are unfruitful and yet agree with Jesus
But find Jesus does not agree with them
Don’t say you will go into the vineyard to work and don’t do it
Don’t try to take control of the Kingdom of God
Be a doer, because results are the only thing that matters
Enjoy the Kingdom of God,
The blessings of Abraham, but don’t take the ownership of it
Make Jesus Lord and give Him all the praise
It is time for another 2000-year Fruit Inspection
2000-year Fruit Inspection
Key Verse…
43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you
and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
From Adam to Abraham is about 2000 years.
From Abraham to Jesus is about 2000 years.
From Jesus to today is about 2000 years.
Near the end of the time from Adam to Abraham…
God looked for fruit and He found none
except in a man called Noah.
So God cursed the earth and destroyed it with a worldwide flood.
It was 427 years from the beginning of the flood
to God’s covenant promise to Abraham.
This is the covenant promise God made to Abraham…
The Lord had said to Abram,
"Leave your country, your people and your father's household
and go to the land I will show you.
2 "I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
Genesis 12:1-3
God’s covenant promise said the great nation
was not only to be blessed but…
All peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
When Jesus came about 2000 years later…
He was looking for fruit from the Nation
that God put His name on…
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,
the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own,
but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him,
to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
John 1:10-13
Jesus came to the world.
He came to His own, the Children of Abraham,
and He was not received.
Yet, there is still hope to be born of God.
Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom of God
revealing what the fruit of the Kingdom looks like.
It is here in Matthew 21,
we see Jesus riding into Jerusalem
as the King of the Kingdom of God
that was entrusted to the Children of Abraham.
It is key that we see Jesus has come
to earth looking for fruit
and the significance of the fig tree.
Jesus curses the fig tree for not having fruit
even though it was not the season for figs.
Jesus tells two stories in Matthew 21
and continues to tell more parables
about the Kingdom as we keep reading.
The first story in Matthew 21 is about two sons
asked by their father to go out into the vineyard to work.
One says he will work, but does not.
The other says he will not work,
but changes his mind and works the vineyard.
Jesus asked the Jewish leader
which one of the two did what the father wanted?
The Jewish leaders agreed with Jesus.
In the second parable,
Jesus asked the Jewish leaders…
"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes,
what will he do to those tenants?"
And again, the Jewish leaders agreed with Jesus.
41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied,
"and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,
who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
Matthew 21:40-41
Then Jesus said something very profound…
"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Matthew 21:43
The Jewish leaders agreed with Jesus
but when they discovered He was talking about them…
They looked for a way to arrest him,
but they were afraid of the crowd
because the people held that he was a prophet.
Matthew 21:46
About 2000 years ago,
God took the Kingdom of God away
from the natural children of Abraham…
Because after 2000 years they were not bearing fruit.
What fruit were they to bear?
All peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
Genesis 12:3
Jesus demonstrated what this fruit looks like
for three and a half years…
And they rejected Him and the Kingdom He proclaimed.
Jesus also said…
"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you
and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Matthew 21:43
The people the Kingdom of God will be given
to is the Church (both Jews and Gentiles).
It was 2000 years from Adam to Abraham.
2000 years from Abraham to Jesus…
Who said I will build My Church.
2000 years have now passed and the question is…
Has the Church produced fruit?
We are at the end of the 3rd 2000-year cycle.
A flood of destruction came
at the end of the first 2000 years
to make room for Abraham.
The destruction of Jerusalem came
at the end of the second 2000 years
to make room for the Church.
What will God see as He looks for fruit again in the earth?
Will He find faith like the faith of Abraham on the earth?
There will always be those who will be unfruitful
and those who will be fruitful.
There will be those who are unfruitful
and yet agree with Jesus…
But find Jesus does not agree with them.
Don’t say you will go into the vineyard to work
and don’t do it.
Don’t try to take control of the Kingdom of God.
Be a doer, because results are the only thing that matters.
Enjoy the Kingdom of God,
the blessings of Abraham.
But don’t take the ownership of it.
Make Jesus Lord and give Him all the praise.
It is time for another 2000-year Fruit Inspection.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 21:33-46 NIV
33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
"'The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
No comments:
Post a Comment