30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 20 9-18 THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE 08 Luke 20 13-14 Man choosing independence from God
📖 Luke 20:9-18
24Feb2021 - *Man choosing independence from God* - _Luke 20:9-18_ - THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE 8 – Bible reading: _John 11:47-53_
The vine-growers were rejecting the servants and messengers whom the Owner of the vineyard was sending to them, for them to acknowledge the Owner, and produce the results that were expected of them.
The servants, whom the Owner sent to the vine-growers were not only the prophets but the Lord sent His message through calamities and tragedies that happened to Israel, to remind and to cause them to return to God's ways.
They cried out to the Lord when they were in trouble. The Lord heard their cry and brought relief to them but their return to the Lord was only for temporal respite from their struggles. Once they were liberated, they forgot God and His purpose for them and returned to their previous ways of rejecting God.
_Nehemiah 9:26-29 “Nevertheless they were disobedient And rebelled against You, Cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets, who testified against them To turn them to Yourself; And they worked great provocations. (27) Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, Who oppressed them; And in the time of their trouble, When they cried to You, You heard from heaven; And according to Your abundant mercies You gave them deliverers who saved them From the hand of their enemies. (28) "But after they had rest, They again did evil before You. Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies, So that they had dominion over them; Yet when they returned and cried out to You, You heard from heaven; And many times You delivered them according to Your mercies, (29) And testified against them, That You might bring them back to Your law. Yet they acted proudly, And did not heed Your commandments, But sinned against Your judgments, 'Which if a man does, he shall live by them.' And they shrugged their shoulders, Stiffened their necks, And would not hear._
The Lord sent His Son so that the people would respect the Son and come to a permanent relationship with Him.
_Luke 20:13 "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*.'_
Let us get a better insight of the Son.
_Hebrews 1:1-4 God, who at various times and in various 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*, (4) having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they._
_Colossians 1:15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (16) For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
(17) And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (18) And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence._
After having read of who Jesus is, let us be conscious that it is in Him that we can be the vine-growers that God has appointed us to be. God has provided His Highest so that in Christ we will produce the results, which God expects of us.
How did the vine-growers respond to God’s Utmost?
_Luke 20:14 But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, '*This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours*.'_
_John 11:47-53 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. (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." (49) And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, (50) nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." (51) Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, (52) and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. (53) Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death._
These leaders were anxious that the Romans would take away their place and the nation. They knew very well, their place as the vine-growers, but they sought to have the position and authority but without being subject to God. Without Jesus as their cornerstone.
This is man’s perineal dilemma. *Man is always choosing independence from God*.
*Thought to ponder*
```Jesus went to the cross so that our ego will be crucified with Christ.```