Don't Waste God's Patience | The Gospels | Mark 12:1-12

[music] Welcome to 10 Minute Bible Talks Where we connect the Bible to your life In the time it takes to get to work I'm Keith Simon On the first day of teaching his class of 250 college freshmen, RC Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers Each paper was due on the last day of September, October and November The professor clearly stated there would be no exceptions That's when the papers are due So at the end of September, about 225 students turned in their papers While 25, remorseful students quaked in fear We're so sorry they told the professor We didn't make the proper adjustments from high school to college But we promised we'll do better next time So, Professor Sproul, are we linted to their police from mercy And he let them have an extension But he said, be careful because I'm not going to do this again next month Well, the end of October rolled around In this time, about 175 students turned their paper in on time And about 50 showed up empty handed Oh, please they begged it was homecoming weekend we ran out of time So Sproul relented once more and he said, okay, this is at no more excuses Next time you get enough The end of November came around This time only 100 students turned in their papers The rest told the professor, we'll get it in soon Sorry, the professor replied, it's too late, you get enough The students howled in protest, that's not fair Okay, Sproul said, you want fair, you want justice? Here's justice You'll get an F for all the papers that were late, that was the rule, right? Professor Sproul later reflected and said the students had quickly taken my mercy for granted They just assumed it So when justice suddenly fell, they were unprepared for it It came as a shock and they were outraged I think that story parallels our relationship with God God is merciful and patient with us, but we take it for granted We begin to presume upon his grace And when judgment comes, we're shocked It's almost like we misinterpret God's patience To mean that he's a pushover Or that sin isn't a big deal Or that all the warnings in Scripture are a bit exaggerated Today in Mark 12, we'll see that it is dangerous for sinners like us to presume on God's patience Verse 1 And he began to speak to them imperables A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower And leased it to tenants and went into another country When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard There are only a few parables in the Gospel of Mark which highlights this parable's importance Jesus tells his parable when he's in Jerusalem celebrating Passover It's the last week of his life Every single person who heard him knew exactly what he was saying That's partly because Jesus' parables were drawn from everyday life The arrangement of an absentee landlord and tenant farmers was quite common In the early part of the first century A landlord would run out as land with expectation he'd receive a portion of the harvest it produced But the people also understood this parable because Jesus was retelling a famous parable found in the prophet Isaiah They knew the owner of the vineyard represented God They knew the tenant farmers represented the Jewish leadership We learned that the owner had been very generous again verse 1 A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country God had called Israel as a nation and given them leadership and delivered them from Egypt and parted the Red Sea and given them the Promised Land and given them the Law There seemed to be no end of how good God had been to Israel And I bet you can tell stories of how God has been good to you God hears your prayers, he meets your needs, God has blessed you with family and friends, he has provided education and jobs and house and food In fact every good thing you have in your life, no matter how big or how small is an undeserved gift from the Father who loves you Jesus says that God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous God is kind even to those who hate Him and despise Him, who reject Him and curse Him When the harvest was over the owner sent one of his servants to the tenant farmers to get his rightful portion of the crop which was usually anywhere from a third to half of the harvest The owner is only asking for what is rightfully his but the farmers give the owner a servant a rude welcome Here's verse 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed Again he sent to them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully And he sent another and they killed him and so with many others some they beat and some they killed God sent the prophets to warn Israel to repent of their sin and to turn to him but Israel refused to listen They put the prophet Jeremiah and stocks the prophet Elijah was driven into the wilderness The prophet Eurea was killed by the sword the prophet Zechariah was stoned to death near the altar The prophet John the Baptist was beheaded every prophet is mistreated but God is patient with sinners Why? Well second Peter 3 9 says the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness Instead he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance Oh God is patient with me I know far more truth than I obey I know I should read the Bible and yet my heart is cold I know I should pray and yet I'm self-sufficient I get distracted by temporal things I know God isn't controlled but I worry How has God been patient with you? Do you ever ask yourself why does God put up with me? He gives all of us every opportunity to repent of our sin and to turn back to him But it's easy to misinterpret his patience to mean that he doesn't care about sin Or that sin isn't a big deal or that there won't be any consequences for a sin But again why? Why is God so patient and kind toward us? Romans 2 says "Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, his patience and his forbearance?" Not realizing that God's patience and kindness should lead us to repent of sin not indulge in it Back to the parable in Mark, verse 6, "He had still one other, a beloved son, finally he sent him to them saying, 'They will respect my son.'" Now what farmer in his right mind would sin his son to these tenants? Why would you sin your son to people who have beaten and killed your previous messengers? Didn't the owner know what was going to happen? The owner sent his son because he was the only person who possessed legal claim over the vineyard The son goes as the father's representative with the father's authority to the father's property to claim the father's due But the son doesn't just represent the father's legal claim but also his compassion The inexhaustible love of God is on full display when he sends his son to people who had rejected him The son differs from the servants just like Jesus differs from the prophets that have come before him They were many, but he is an only son, they were servants, but he is the son, the heir, they were four runners, but he is the last and final word of the father But above all, the son is beloved In the face of humanity's refusal to repent and receive God's love, God sent the prophets And they were ignored and abused and killed Martin Luther said, "If I were God and the world had treated me as it treated him, I would kick the wretched thing to pieces, but instead of turning his back on the world, God sent his son." Charles Virgin said, "If you reject Jesus, he answers with tears. If you wound him, he bleeds out cleansing for sin. If you kill him, he dies to redeem. If you bury him, he rises to bring resurrection. Jesus is love made manifest." Verse 7 Why didn't they believe Jesus? Why does anyone reject Him? Well, because they want to take God's place, because we want to be God, because we want to live for ourselves They didn't want to submit to the authority of God, neither do we Verse 9 We believe Satan's lie that there will be no consequences for our sin. It's true that God is patient, but it's also true that judgment is coming Verse 12 Then the chief priest, the teachers of the law and the elders, looked for a way to arrest him, because they knew he had spoken the parable against them, but they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away Maybe you remember one of the images that went viral in 2025. It was a man and a woman at a cold play concert. The camera found them cuddling together, listening to the music, and their image went up on the jumbo tron. When they saw themselves, it was clear that their conscience bothered them. The man looked away, the woman hid. Chris Martin, the lead singer for cold play, asked if they were having an affair. Could we treat that as kind of like a modern day parable? What could you and I learn from it? I'm not interested in judging. that couple, I'm interested in learning for myself. Well, first this wasn't the first time they were together, right? I mean, they had made a lot of little choices that led them up to that point, where they were out in public together with someone who wasn't their spouse. And you could tell their conscience bothered them the way they hid their face. They had many chances to stop that relationship. They had many chances to repent and repair the damage that they had done. But I think it's safe to say they went to that concert and that huge stadium thinking they'd never get caught. And I understand why. I mean, there's a sold out football stadium. What are the chances they're going to be on the jumbo screen? But there they were, on full display, for their spouses, their children, their friends, their parents to see. I thought of Luke 817, where Jesus says, "For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all." See, I make the same choices they make. I creep towards sin. I do things thinking that I'll never get caught, that there'll never really be any consequences. But the reality is that according to Jesus, one day my sins, one day all our sins will be on the jumbo tron. God promises that unless we repent of our sin, one day we will face judgment. Are you waiting for? Are there sins that you need to repent of? Are there sins that you need to acknowledge and just come clean about to another friend? That you need to share with someone and ask them to pray for you? God is patient with us. He is so kind to us. He gives us every opportunity to turn away, to repent, to go a different direction, to run back to Him, to seek forgiveness, to repair the damage that we've done. Just pray. Father, I pray for all of our hearts. I pray that we would not reject the messengers that you sinned us. Maybe it's a friend or a sermon or a Bible study or a podcast, or maybe it's just your work in our own conscience. But that we would listen, that we would take in what you have to say to us no matter how you say it, and that we would turn from our sin and put our hope in you. That we would seek forgiveness and grace and mercy, and that we would repent and turn back to Jesus. We want to be on the road that leads to life. Say, Jesus, name we pray. Amen.