t h e KING’S BUSINESS
386 there will be no infidels,-; But npw men say in their hearts, “There is,.no God;” and "where,.is now their God?” and, “How dothGod know?” and “He will not require it,” and “Where is the promise of His coming?” That is ,the reason they refuse His demand, they cannot see God. The be liever must, maintain a paradoxical state of mind if he would be ready to render his rental on demand, (1) He must “practice the. presence, of God.” Abiding in Christ and. Christ in him he will bring forth much, fruit (John 15:5. (2). ;He must be looking for the coining of his absent Lord, for there is. no incentive like that to bear fruit and lay it by “against that day.” 2. The Abuse of His Messengers. Not till "the time of the fruit was. near” did the householder • demand . His portion. The The Lord is considerate, . But is not. the time of the fruit always? Israel.had 1500 years but was not ready;.. Christendom has had 1900.. “He sent his servants. (Jet, 25 4; 2 Chron. 36:16).. These in turn they treated "shamefully,” “sent away empty,”, “keat,” “wounded,” “stoned,” “killed,” and that "many” of them. Micaiah they struck in the. face;. Elijah they chased out of the country; Jeremiah they,killed; Isaiah, they sawed in two.; Zechariah. they stpned; John they beheaded; and millions since they killed, Christ have been killed for.His. sake- “Last of all, he sent his (“beloved,” Luke) son- saying, They will reverence, my son.” T h ey killed h im , cast h im out , and said; “The inheritance shall be ours.” “We.shall be independent of God, do what we please, enjoy His world, and have none to answer t.o, nothing -to pay.” This is the secret of men’s opposition to .Moses and the prophets, and the Apostles, and their successors; to the word of reproof and rebuke anpl judg
ment., They therefore crucify Christ afresh, though they know Him not" (1 Gor. 2:8). h(ot one of those messengers of old but' was worthy of reverence and credence, but when God sent His Son into the world (Heb. 1:1), tfiat men crucified H im then and that their successors reject Him now shows them to be “wicked” husbandmen in deed. The last thing that God could do to save sinners was to send His Only (Begotten Son, and the crowning sin of Alan's' ingrati tude, unprofitableness and wickedness is to rej ect.Him. IV. “Oq’T of T( h in e O w n M o u th " (Luke 19:22). '' 1. The Lord’s Question. “When the Lord of the vineyard cometh what will he dor” ' 2. The Jews Answer. “He will miser-' ably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their season.” “God forbid!”., they added (in Luke 20:16), ' But God did not. forbid it. He forbade a great many things and they gave no heed to Him, and He would now' give no heed to them. Since they would' not render, the peaceable fruits of right eousness, they must now “eat the fruits of their doings” (Isa. .3:10), It is as .natural for man to deprecate punishment as. it is ' to .deserve.it. Tint it he does not give the owner of the vineyard His .due, ,he will surely get. his. own.,
V. T h e S tone . . , .1. Rejected (John 19:15), ; : .
2.. Reinstated (Acts 2 :32-41; P's. 2 :l-8). 3. Grinding to Powder. First, Jerusa lem by the, Romans (Dan.: 9:26); Second, the Romans (Dan, 2:35;, Rev. 19.11-21).
^Jhprpforp alan it ta rmttanteö in tljp ^rripturp, Upfynlb. 31 lag in &inn a rbtpf rnrner atnnp, plprt, pminuB: anîi Ijp tljat bplipuptl) nn l;im shall nut bp rmtfouniipö. -1 Jlptpr 2:6.
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