Clinging Obstinately To Sin

Mark 12:1-12

INTRO: Good morning church. For our text this morning open your Bibles to Mark chapter 12. I’m going to read a fairly lengthy section of scripture. It’s a familiar section and I beg your indulgence as I read this. We’ll begin with verse one.

Mark 12:1-12 – “1. Then He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 2. "Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. 3. "And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4. "Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5. "And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. 6. "Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, `They will respect my son.' 7. "But those vinedressers said among themselves, `This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8. "And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. 9. "Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. 10. "Have you not read this Scripture: `The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 11. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?'' 12. And they sought to lay hold of Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.”

The parable recorded in our text is, in comparison with the rest of the parables, unusual, and different. There are historical thoughts here suggesting this is a parable concerning the Jewish nation.

In fact, one commentator refers to this parable as a “historical parable” which he believes gives briefly the history of the Jewish nation from the exodus to the destruction of Jerusalem.
The parable is most assuredly pointed... so pointed, in fact, that the hearers would have had no difficulty in understanding its message.

Because this parable is very significant to the time Jesus was living and teaching, I think we need to spend some time examining, at least in brief, the details we find. As we look at these details we might think “this really isn’t all that relevant to me and to our time”. However, if we carefully engage in the study of the parable, there are great lessons to be learned here.

I particularly want you to look at verse 12: "And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way." I would like you to note this verse; we will come back to it later. I’ve entitled this lesson “Clinging Obstinately to Sin”.
Verse 12 indicates that was exactly the response of the people to whom the parable was spoken and for whom it was intended. They clung obstinately to their sin.

I. Points to note: Let’s turn our thoughts to the points recorded in this parable.

A. We’re introduced, first of all, to a vineyard. Clearly from a scriptural reference the vineyard refers to the nation of Israel.

1. You might want to turn with me to Isaiah’s prophecy chapter five and we will begin at verse one. Here’s what we read: Isaiah 5:1-7 – “1. Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard. My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. 2. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. 3. "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. 4. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? 5. And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6. I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.'' 7. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, weeping.” Clearly, as I said, the vineyard is Israel.
2. Notice the people when they heard this parable were aware that it was spoken against them. They immediately were able to make the connection. When we carefully read both the parable and the passage from Isaiah, we notice that there are some similar pictures, well-known pictures, take from Isaiah chapter 5 and included in the parable in Mark chapter 12.
3. These people are aware of the prophecy of Isaiah. When Jesus begins to speak they know the subject He is speaking about.

B. In the parable there are the husbandmen or vinedressers, as some translations have it; these are the religious leaders of the Jews.

1. Now, it was not all that unusual for there to be an absentee landlord who would rent out his land to others.
2. We are told that historically there were wealthy people who owned property they would rent out and they themselves resided elsewhere. Indeed this was common in many places and cultures up to, and including modern times.
3. As we read the parable and as we look at Isaiah chapter 5, we notice that the land owner has done everything that he could possibly do to give advantage to the vineyard so that it will produce a good crop. He has hedged it around to protect it. He has dug it up and planted well. He has put in the tower and the winepress.
4. But he is an absentee landlord. Distant ownership can give opportunity for irresponsibility and corruption.

C. We are also told in the parable about the servants that the landlord sent time and time again. Who were these servants? They were the prophets whom God had repeatedly sent to Israel.

1. These servants were sent to collect the rent for the land. It should have produced a great crop. The crop should have been sold. Money should have been plentiful. It was reasonable for the land owner to be paid his due for renting the land.
2. What happened? These prophets, these servants who were sent, were treated shamefully. The Bible says they even killed some of them. How…very…tragic.
3. In Matthew 23 verse 37 Jesus is heard lamenting over the treatment of the prophets by Israel. Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” These are tragic words—words where Jesus speaks volumes of the history of Israel’s treatment of the prophets.
4. In Acts 7:52, the preacher Stephen asks a pointed question of the Jewish leaders. Acts 7:52 He says: “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,” Well the truth hurts, doesn’t it? Rather than being affected positively by the truth, these people who heard the question knew it was a question asked of them in an accusatory way. What did they do? Ultimately they killed Stephen.

D. As we read the parable we notice that servants are sent repeatedly (think about that) he didn’t just send one servant to collect the rent. Repeatedly the land owner sent his servants hoping to collect his due. The fact that God repeatedly sent the prophets speaks to me of the longsuffering nature of God.

1. As I studied this I realize that the land owner had legal rights and he could have exercised those rights.
2. God could have ended His relationship with an ungrateful Israel at any time and He would have been absolutely justified for doing so.
3. I want you to turn to 2nd Chronicles 36 and read some verses with me—verses that help us see the nature of our God. 2nd Chronicles 36:14-16 – “14. Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. 15. And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” Look at those words. Why did He do this? Why over and over again did He send the prophets? Because He had compassion on them.
4. If we learn nothing else from this parable in Mark 12 we need to learn the lesson that God is longsuffering. In 2nd Peter 3:9 - Peter tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

E. The parable goes on to talk about the land owner sending his only son, his dearly beloved son.

1. The son will come and speak with greater authority than the servants who were sent, because he is the son. In the parable the landowner probably thought: They won’t treat my son the way they treated my servants.
2. In Hebrews chapter 1 beginning at verse 1 the writer of the book records this: Hebrews 1:1-3 – “1. God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. 2. has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3. who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
3. Yes, God spoke for hundreds of years through the prophets, but in these last times has spoken to us by His Son, by His Heir. His Heir has come to reveal the commandments of the father. How was He treated? Not a bit better than the prophets who had come before Him.
4. When He came they killed Him and threw Him unceremoniously out of the vineyard which belonged to His Father. I want to go back to this passage in Mark 12 for just a minute and there’s a verse at which I would particularly like us to pay attention. It is verse eight: Mark 12:8 – “And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.” This is a reference to Jesus. Jesus knew when He spoke these words that this was a reference to Himself. Here is another indication of His knowing that He is ultimately going to be killed by His religious enemies.
5. There is something said in the parable that gives us some insight into the thinking of those wicked husbandmen. They thought if they could kill the heir they could come into legal possession of the vineyard. The religious leaders in Jesus time were so jealous of their position, their power among the Jews; they would do anything to preserve it. Just as these husbandmen would do anything to preserve their position. There’s a little indicator in the 11th chapter of the gospel of John. Verses 47 and 48: John 11:47-48 – “47. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. (Now look especially at verse 48.) 48. "If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.''” They were jealous for their position and they wanted nothing to happen that would endanger their power and their role as leaders among the Jews. Does this have application today?

F. Jesus then makes another reference in the parable. He makes reference to the fact that the vineyard is going to be given to others. The others to whom He refers are the Gentiles.

1. Again in John’s gospel, chapter 10 at verse 16, Jesus says: John 10:16 – “and other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” Jesus never shied away from making reference to the inclusion of the Gentiles into the fold of God.
2. Turn to the book of Hosea 2:23. Hosea 2:23 – “Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, `You are My people!' And they shall say, `You are my God!' ” This passage is quoted in Romans the ninth chapter verses 23 through 25. Romans 9:23-25 – “23. and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24. even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 25. As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.''”
3. Clearly it is an inclusion of people who are not His people, but would become His people… the Gentiles. I have a strong suspicion that the Jewish leaders who heard these words were not thrilled with what they heard.
4. Jewish thought in those days would have been that any spiritual equality of Gentiles with Jews just “did not compute”. What Jesus said was offensive to the priests and the Pharisees and Scribes, but they knew that He had spoken this parable against them.

II. The Response: What was the response? How did they respond?

A. We read it a while ago in Mark 12:12 (that verse that I said we would come back to): Mark 12:12 – “And they sought to lay hold of Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.” They tried to find a way to lay hold on Him, to arrest Him, but those people who were so jealous for their position were also filled with fear of the population. Often that is the way with people who find themselves in error. They can be bold when all the circumstances are for them, but when the circumstances are a little iffy their boldness turns to flight. They left Him.

1. Here’s the point. There was no change. Jesus had spoken, clearly had taught with reference to historical facts of the Jewish nation and they knew it. We have heard the statement that those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. Those people were not learning the lessons.
2. Its one thing for something to be so unsettled, so confused, that you don’t get the point. But they knew Jesus had spoken a parable against them. Yet there was no change. There was no learning. They were clinging obstinately to their sins.

B. That brings us to the question I want us to think about this morning: Why in the world do people cling obstinately to sin, to error?

1. Is it possible that they think God is so distant, so uninvolved, so unconcerned, with human affairs? In the 94th Psalm beginning to read a verse four: Psalms 94:4-7 – “4. They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves. 5. They break in pieces your people, O Lord, and afflict Your heritage. 6. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 7. Yet they say, "The Lord does not see, nor does the God of Jacob understand.''” What the Psalmist is saying is some people have the impression that God is so far away that you can do whatever you want and He will not see, and you will not be held responsible. If you think that… you are very wrong. God sees. God knows.
2. Well, that’s one reason I believe that people cling obstinately to sin because they think He is not involved. It’s like when a young person goes off to college. While they were at home with their parents their behavior would likely fit their parent’s expectations. Now that they are away from their parents, the parents cannot see what is being done, or hear what is being said. The student may do what they like and the parents will never know. I’ve got a news flash. Parents always seem to find out. But that’s our way of thinking. Distance. God is distant from us—we think—so we can do what we like.
3. Is it possible that people think that God WILL NOT punish them for their sins? Perhaps. In the book of Ecclesiastes the eighth chapter beginning at verse 11: Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 – “11. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.”
4. When Nina & I travel to Tennessee, along I-40 for example, people are whizzing by us. They aren’t going 70 miles per hour. They are going noticeably faster. I don’t know what their thoughts are. Yet I have a suspicion that most of them think: I’m not going to get caught, and… if I’m not caught then I won’t be punished. If I’m not going to be punished… then I’ll just do what I want to do. Is that why do people do what they want to do? I’m not going to get caught. I’m not going to be punished. God is love, He loves me. Is that why they cling to their sins, their error? I’m not going to be punished?
5. Or perhaps people value their own ways so highly that they minimize their relationship with God. Once again the book of Psalms, chapter 10 and verse 4 the Bible says: Psalms 10:4 – “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.” Notice the word “proud”. I’m all about me. It’s ALL about me. My relationship with God isn’t really all that important as long as I can have my way, live MY life. And be able to say… I did it MY way. Is that why people cling obstinately to sin? I want to have my way. My ways are just so important to me that I really don’t have time to think about God.
6. Here’s another thought. Is it possible that there are just people who refuse to admit they’re wrong, that they’ve made mistakes—that they’ve sinned? Obstinate refusal to admit sin. Perhaps that was the situation with the people to whom Jesus was speaking in this parable. If you turn your Bibles to Romans chapter two, listen to what the writer says in verse one. He’s writing this to people who should have known better. Romans 2:1 – “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” That’s what they were doing—judging others. The writer says by the inspiration of the spirit of God, they were guilty of the same things. In their judgment of others they are not recognizing their own error. They refuse to admit their mistakes.
7. Is it possible that there are people who are just enjoying their own role, their position, so much, that they really don’t have time for a relationship with God? I think of something that is said in Galatians 1:10 that addresses itself to this idea. The apostle Paul wrote: Galatians 1:10 “ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” So many people are affected by this malady—men pleasers. Is that why people cling obstinately to their sins, their error?

CONCLUSION:
There are many reasons why people cling to their sins, but listen, folks, not a one of those reasons is worth the consequences. Not a one.

I wonder, do we make the same mistake these stubborn, obstinate people made; those against whom Jesus spoke this parable? I’m going to continue what I do. I’m going to continue to enjoy what it is that I’m doing even if it is wrong. I don’t care. I’m going to do it. Would that ever be our attitude?

If you recall some past lessons where we read of the sermons on Solomon’s porch we saw again illustrated the obstinate refusal of the religious leaders. Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.

God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. What a wonderful message that is. Yet, there comes a termination point. Hebrews 9:27: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die."  During my lifetime I can repent. I can turn to God. I can be obedient to God. Once I come to this termination point (and it comes for all of us) it’s too late. In the meantime God doesn’t desire the perishing of a single soul. Both Old and New Testaments say the same thing. He doesn’t have pleasure in the death of the wicked.

The issue hangs on our repentance. That was the issue for many of those religious leaders — and they were not willing to repent. I’m going to have my way no matter what it hurts, not matter who it hurts. I’m going to have my way—obstinacy.

When I think about the book of Jonah, I’m sure Jonah believed with all his heart that there was absolutely no reason for him to go to Nineveh to preach. These are sinful people. They are not about to change.

Finally though, he came and began to preach a simple message, just a few words as a matter of fact. He moved on to another place and preached the same message. And the first thing you know those sinful, awful people where repenting! They were not clinging stubbornly to their obstinate ways; and from the king to the lowest of the people they repented in sackcloth.

I wonder today about those who hear the message and are not yet Christians. If you are one, will you repent of your sins whatever they may be? Or for some reason cling obstinately to the way you are? Perhaps you see and understand, that repentance calls for you to in obedience to the gospel; “come and be baptized into Christ”. Yet, for some reason you are unwilling to repent before God and change your heart in a way that brings you to obedience.

We also should be concerned about Christian people. Yes, we are concerned about those who are out of Christ and lost, because they are lost. We all know many Christian people, people dear to us. We love them and are concerned with the impenitence of some Christians. As the cares of this life weigh us down, some of us slip into only giving lip service to God. Do we think; “I’m here. I’m able to be checked as present this morning as I should be." Do we recognize the things about our lives that we need to change? Or… do we cling, obstinately, to error?

As we sing the song of invitation, if you’ve been clinging to your own sinful ways let us urge you to repent, and make whatever changes need to be made. As a Christian if you need to change, ask God’s forgiveness. If you need our prayers, we would be glad to pray with you. If you need to be baptized into Christ, don’t cling obstinately to a way of life without the Lord for there will come a time when it is too late.

Whatever you need we invite you to come as we stand together and sing.

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Reference Sermon: Cecil A. Hutson