Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Does God's Patience Equal Weakness? | New Testament | Mark 12

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

Will God's patience run out? Are you surprised by God's judgment? Will there be consequences for our actions on earth? In today's episode on Mark 12, Keith answers all these questions and more. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Mark 12

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's class of 250 college freshmen, Professor R.C. Sprole carefully explained the assignment of three-term papers. Each paper was due on the last day of September, October, and November. Sprole clearly stated there would be no extensions except for medical emergencies. At the end of September, some 225 students turned in their papers, while 25, remorseful students quaked in fear.

We are so sorry, they said. We didn't make the proper adjustments from high school to college, but we promised to do better next time. So the professor bowed to their pleas for mercy and gave them an extension, but he warned them not to be late the next month. The end of October rolled around, and about 175 students turned in their papers, while about 75 students showed up empty-handed.

Oh, please, they begged. It was homecoming weekend. We ran out of time. So Professor Sproll relented once more, but he warned them, this is it, no excuses. next time if you turn it in late, you'll get an F. The end of November came, and only 100 students turned in the paper. The rest told Sprole, we'll get it in soon.

Sorry, Sprole said. It's too late. You get an F. The students howled in protest. That's not fair. Okay, Sprole replied, you want justice. You want fairness. You'll get an F for all three papers that were late. That was the rule, right? Sprole later reflected, the students had quickly taken my mercy for granted. They just assumed it. 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 begin to take it for granted. We begin to presume upon it. And then when judgment comes, we're shocked. I think that when God is patient with us, we begin to wonder whether he's really just. Like, are all the warnings in Scripture a bit exaggerated? Will there really be any consequences for sin?

Today in Mark 12, we'll see that it is dangerous to presume on God's goodness and patience. We start in verse 1. It says he began to speak to them in parables. Now, this is only one of two parables in the Gospel of Mark, which I think means it's really important. Here's how the parable goes. A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower and he leased it to tenants and went into another country. And Jesus' parables were drawn from everyday life. As Jesus spoke these words, everyone who heard him would have completely been on the same page. The arrangement of an absentee landlord and tenant farmers was quite common in the early part of the first century. The owner of this vineyard represents God. The tenants represent the Jewish leadership. And one thing we see in the very

first verse is that this owner has been very good to the tenants. God had called together Israel as a nation. He had given them leadership. He had delivered them from Egypt. He had parted the Red Sea. He had give them the promised land. He'd driven out the nations. He'd given them the law. I mean, you just see that God had blessed them beyond what they could have ever hoped for or asked. And I bet you can tell stories how God has been good to you. God answers your prayers. He meets your needs. He's blessed you with family and friends. He's provided you with whatever education, jobs, house, food that you have. Jesus says, God sends reign on the righteous and the unrighteous. Even those who hate him and despise him, even to those who reject him and curse him, God is still kind and gracious. The parable continues in verse two.

When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. Now, this isn't controversial at all. It was customary and right for an owner who invested so much to receive fruit from the vineyard. Usually in the first century, it was about a third to half of the fruit was owed to the owner. So this owner is getting what is rightfully his. but when that servant goes to get the fruit, he gets a rude welcome. Here's verse three. 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. So he sent another, and they killed him. And so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. God sent prophets to warn Israel to repent of their sin and turn to God, but they refused to listen. They put Jeremiah in stocks. They drove Elijah into the wilderness. They killed Uriah by the sword.

Zechariah was stoned to death near the altar. John the Baptist was beheaded. And yet God is still patient with sinners. 2. 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. God is patient with me. I know far more of the Bible than I obey.

When I try to pray, I get distracted by temporal things. I know that God is in control, and yet I worry. Why does God put up with me? Remember when Anonias and Sapphire lied to the Holy Spirit in Acts Chapter 5? They were struck dead immediately. And that's what we deserve every time we sin, and yet God is patient and merciful toward us. If you were one of these tenant farmers,

and you had seen all the servants come, and you had abused them and killed them, and there hadn't been any consequences, you might begin to think that that means the owner would never do anything. Maybe the owner didn't really care. Maybe the owner was weak. And if God is always patient and kind with us, unfortunately, we begin to wonder, is God weak?

We forget Romans 2-4. It says, do you show contempt for the riches of God's kindness, of his patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Well, the story goes on in verse 6. He still had one other, a beloved son. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, they will respect my son. Now, why would this farmer send his son to these tenants? And I think what we're seeing here is the inexhaustible love of God. The son was the only other person, other than the owner,

who possessed legal claim over this vineyard. And that's why the owner says they will respect my son. So the son goes as the father's representative, with the father's authority to the father's property to claim the father's due. The son doesn't just represent the father's legal claim, but also his compassion. The son differs from the servant, just like Jesus differs from the prophets that have come before him. There were many prophets, but there's only one son. They were servants, but he is the son and the heir. They were forerunners, but he is the last and final word of the father. but above all God's son is beloved.

In the face of humanity's refusal to receive God's love, God persisted and persisted and persisted. He sent his servants and they were ignored and abused and slain. 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 continued sending servant after servant. They are rebuffed and insulted and beaten. Finally, God sends his son. Charles Spurgeon, the famous British pastor, said,

If you reject Jesus, he answers you with tears. If you wound him, he bleeds out for sin. If you kill him, he dies to redeem you. If you bury him, he rises to bring resurrection. Jesus is love made manifest. Back to our parable in verse 7. But those tenants said to one another, this is the heir come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours and they took him and killed him

and threw him out of the vineyard see up to this point jesus had been using this parable to tell the jewish leadership how the former leadership had treated god's prophets but now he's using this story to tell them what they're going to do to him in a few short days the tenant farmers rejected the overture of love No longer content with stealing the produce that belonged to the owner, the farmers kill his messenger and then conspire to kill his son. If the farmers kill the error, they reason, the inheritance will be theirs. If man can dispense with God, then man can become God. Why didn't the Jewish leadership believe in Jesus? Why did they reject Him?

Well, because they wanted to take God's place. It's the same reason any of us reject Him, because we want to be God over our own lives. we want to live for ourselves. We don't want to submit to God's authority. Verse 9, what will the owner of the vineyard do? Well, he will come and destroy the tenant and give the vineyard to others. Maybe we think that God is a foolish landlord who will never enact justice. Maybe we think there will never be any consequences for our rebellion.

God is patient, but he's told us that judgment is coming. When I was 16, I got a speeding ticket for going 90 miles an hour. in a 55 mile an hour zone. I was very full of myself until that cop pulled me over, and then I lost all of my bravado. They took me to the police station. I guess that's what happens when you are going 90 in a 55. They fingerprinted me.

I actually had my picture taken, but then I got bailed out. At this point, I was not feeling so hot. Now, I guarantee you, if someone had said to me, look, you can speed, you can do what you're about to do. but you're going to pay for it. You're going to get the wrath of your parents. You're going to get hauled into jail.

You're going to pay a big fine. If someone had told me that, I don't think I would have done it. But here's the deal. I really didn't think I was going to get caught. I expected, at least in that moment, to get away with it. I was counting on not being punished. And that is why so many of us

refused to submit to God. It's why so many of us insist on living for ourselves. because we don't expect to ever have to answer for our sin to our unkindness to others or our indifference toward other people in need or our preoccupation with ourselves. But here's the promise that God has made. He is patient with sinners. But God's judgment is coming. Don't be caught off guard.

God told us that Jesus came the first time offering salvation, offering forgiveness, extending mercy. The next time Jesus comes, he will bring judgment against those who have refused him.