Welcome to the Plenteous Redemption podcast, where the cross and the culture are on a collision course for discussion. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign The Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now, here's your host, Thomas Ervin. Amen. Very good. All right. Well, we got a lot of ground to cover this morning. Matthew chapter 21. I believe we got 46 verses. That is less than a minute of verse. We can do it. We can do it. Matthew 21, and let's read verses 1 through 11. 1 through 11, Verse 1, And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethpage, under the Mount of Olives." See, I wanted to name our daughter Bethpage. That's the complementary village to Bethany, but Kristen didn't like it, so. Everybody's looking at me like... All right, so you already wasted all my time. There we go. Under the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples saying unto them, go into the village over against you. Actually, I suggest those names so she'll stop asking me. But she never stops asking me, so I have to get weirder and weirder names. Like Bethabara, I was like. Beth of Saradon, and she still wouldn't leave me alone. And straightway ye shall find an astide, and a colt with her, loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say, Alt, unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them. And straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the fall of an ass. And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and strawed them in the way. And the multitude that went before and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna, the son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? Not a clue what they're doing. Just joining in the crowd. What are they doing? I don't know. Let's go do that. Who is this? I don't know. It must be somebody famous. Let's just join in. Verse 11, And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and began to cleanse the temple. We'll get to that in just a second. So, as we progress from here, we're going to see clear rejection of the king. Now, don't let this little charade fool you. Hosanna, Hosanna, look who's coming. Well, who is it? We don't know. But clear the way, put the palm branches down, and throw your clothes out, and let's celebrate whoever it is. Well, who is it? We don't know. No clue. Now these same people who are doing this right now will be crying crucify him in just a few days. So don't let this kind of thing fool you. People who spend their life seeking fame and fortune, it's so fickle and fake and disappears so quickly, it's not worth your time. It's not worth devoting your time to. And it's so addictive to people that they get a taste of it, and then they can't live without it for the rest of their lives. They'll end up doing insane things just to get attention. And attention is not the same thing as fame. Those are two very different things, and it's all so fake and fickle. Now, he said there that they quoted the prophet. This comes from two different places in your Old Testament. We won't have time to go there and turn there, but one is Isaiah 62, verse 11. where it says, Thy salvation cometh, talking about the coming of the Lord, and then Zechariah 9, 9, Rejoice greatly, O Zion. So both of those are cross-references to the passage that we just read. Now it's interesting, both of those refer primarily to the Second Coming of Jesus, but they are quoted here in relationship to His First Coming because He did offer them the Kingdom of Heaven, and they rejected it. You say, well it looks like they're excited. About what? Who is this? They didn't have a clue who they were celebrating, and that's about how it goes today. That's how crowds are. The same people here spreading branches and shouting, Hosanna, are the same people who will crucify him not many days hence. Now, Palm Friday and all this religious garbage attached to it, it's so weird. When the Roman Catholic Church and now many other churches, because they just follow whatever the Catholic Church does, when they celebrate something like Palm Friday, what you're doing is identifying with these people. They don't even realize what they're doing. And so, you're joining the crowd of people who want to go out, throw palm branches down as somebody's riding into town. Well, who is it? We don't know. And they don't either. The Catholic Church has no idea who Jesus Christ is. We would have many, we would agree with them on many things that they would teach about Jesus. But the areas where we would disagree are far too strong and far too prominent. There was no Due to those disagreements, there's no relationship between us and the Catholic Church. And so we don't run around with palm branches or have Ash Wednesday or whatever it is. I know an independent Baptist pastor, he used to, I think it was for Ash Wednesday, you're supposed to give up some food or something that you, you know, whatever it is, Lent is what we get out of our dryer. But for them, it's a religious holiday. And so what he would give up every year is pistachio flavored ice cream. It's just, it's a joke. And so it means nothing. Oh, you poor soul, you are suffering for Jesus. So be careful about following the crowd. And we'll look at it. In fact, turn real fast to Acts 19. This is worth looking at real quick, even though we don't have time. Acts 19. Now you think about what we just read. Who is it? I don't know. Just do what everybody else is doing. And that's exactly what we see today. And social media has so intensified that. It's ridiculous. So Acts 19, look at verses 30 through 34. This is amazing. And when Paul would have entered in under the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. Now, he didn't say don't venture. He said don't adventure yourself into the theater. It will not be good. It'll be an adventure for sure. Those people are going to wear you out if you go in there. Verse 32, some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused. They don't have a clue what they're doing. They just see the crowd. And the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. So the majority of the crowd is just there because there's a crowd. What are you doing? We don't know. Well, why are you rioting? We don't know. They're rioting. They're rioting, so maybe we should go do the same thing. That's exactly what happens. That's the mob mentality. The mob mentality in places like, in third world countries, places like Uganda, is really bad. Now, This is what I would tell them, and I will tell you the same. Not that I suspect you'll be out riding in the streets anytime soon, especially Miss Kathleen. I have to keep an eye on you. And so, but you see the crowd moving to do something? Don't follow. Step back. Find out what's going on. Even if it seems like a good thing. Oh, look at who's coming into town. Who is it? We don't know. Why is everybody gathering in the streets and getting violent? We don't know. But you're going to join them? Well, yeah. Well, why? We don't know. Just follow the crowd, follow the mob. And the mob, people can get spun up into a frenzy, and things can get out of control so quickly. And then we start asking people, well, what happened? We don't know. Well, why were you doing that? Because they were, and they were, and they were, so we just thought that was the thing to do. You look at Los Angeles and Chicago and all these places where they have people, you know, they get an entire mob to go running through the streets, and they will jerk you out of your car and do horrendous things to you. You know, during all those riots when Donald Trump was president, We were on deputation driving around, and we had to go through Nashville. Well, just before going through Nashville, the day before, they had mobs of people blocking the interstate, and they would drag you out of your car and beat you on the interstate. And for what reason? They don't know. Well, what are you doing? We don't know. The mob is here, and so we just join them. And you know, the news media being what they are, the lying hypocrites they are, they're like, well, they're just passionate. So I inform people who got near my car. I have what is called a Kel-Tec Sub 2000. It folds in half. It'll drop in my backpack. It holds 30 rounds with a Glock magazine. That's 30 rounds of passion if you want to come near my car. So, you don't touch my family. They were dragging husbands and wives out of their cars and they could do nothing about it. I don't think so. We don't join a mob. We don't have anything to do with a mob. You don't get caught up in this type of frenzy, whether it's religious, if it's positive, if it's negative, we don't do that. We're going to march for abortion. No, you're going to get a mob together and go and do something that seems positive and will likely end up being nothing but trouble. We're just not going to be a part of any of that. And so, they don't even know who it is they're cheering for in the streets. It's amazing to me, and it's so current. It's so relevant to the time that we live in right now. All right, verses 12 through 17, chapter 21, verse 12. And Jesus went into the temple of God. And that's a pretty strong statement. Now, in a few chapters, Jesus is going to leave that temple for the last time. And you know what he says? Behold, I leave unto you your house desolate. Now, here he's going to say, don't turn God's house into a den of, you know, God's house is supposed to be a house of prayer. You've turned it into a den of thieves. But the last time he leaves that temple, he says, it's not God's house anymore, it's yours. And I leave it to you desolate. It's empty. God has nothing to do with it. All right, so back to verse 12. And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, now imagine this. Now, if we were downtown yesterday, passing out tracks on Second Saturday. The police are there, you know, there's EMT and all those type people are around. Imagine if I just went down the street flipping over those tables and told everybody to get out, what would happen? Now, that's at a small little event in Losedale. Now, Jesus Christ is in the temple at a massive event where thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people are coming. He walks in and clears that room out and says, get out and don't come back in. And they did not come back in. And we'll talk about that in a second. I'm getting ahead of myself. moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes," now look, do you see the contrast? He threw out the moneychangers, the people making merchandise of God, and refused to let anybody pass through that temple with a vessel, and we'll look at that in just a second. But the people who needed help, the people who needed God, they came to him in the temple and got what they needed. It's good to be on God's side. It's not good to be one of his enemies. And so he healed them, verse 15. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, what a phrase. Again, the contrast is money changers making merchandise of God, probably stealing people's money, overcharging for things because they know you're there at a football game and you just want to buy a hot dog and it costs $18 for a hot dog and they know you have nowhere else to go. It's the same idea. This is turned into an event rather than people coming to worship God. And when they turn the worship of God into an event, they then make merchandise out of God, and they're going to overcharge you for things that you need in order to serve God. That's not how it's supposed to go. This church, there are pastors in Uganda. If the people in the church want to talk to them, they have to pay money and then schedule an appointment. I don't know how you came up with something like that, but I want to watch when you stand before God and have to answer for that. It's dirty. And then you're in Uganda, which is stricken with poverty, and you're going to rob from those people on behalf of God? Yeah, you got something coming, man, that you don't realize what you set yourself up for. But they saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Now, these people are crying Hosanna, but they know who this is. They're not confused about who this is. Who's coming down the street? Everybody's all excited about it. We don't know. They're in the temple. They know exactly who this is. This is the son of David, Hosanna. They were sore displeased. They saw the wonderful things he did, and they were sore displeased. We can't have that around here. Could you imagine such a thing? That's where they are, verse 16, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus said unto him, Yes. Do you hear what they're saying? I do. I do. And what they're saying is correct. It's right. It's good. Yea, have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings that thou hast perfected praise? And he left them and went his way. He left them and went out of the city into Bethany, and he lodged there." Now, the Temple of God, this would be one of the last times that Jesus makes a reference to the Temple of God, you know, as belonging to God. Just a few chapters from now, that temple will no longer have any relationship to God. Now, the temple of God is you. You are the temple of God. The Holy Spirit lives in you if you're saved. You're supposed to treat the temple as such. However you would treat a religious building of this sort, the respect you would give it, the care you would give it, why wouldn't you give the temple of God that exists right now the same level of care? That's you, that's your body, all right? And you say, well, we wouldn't talk like that in the house of God. Well, you are the house of God, so don't talk inappropriately in the house of God, all right? So, you know, just be careful about that. Now, look at verse 12 again. And Jesus went into the temple of, what does that say? God. Verse 13, and said unto them, it is written, my house. What does that say about Jesus? He is God. So he's telling them openly, I'm God. This is my house. And you've made my house a den of thieves. I'm about to clean it up. Get out. Well, don't you think we should talk about this? Tables flipping over. Lissarolov used to talk about this, and he said that he was describing this scene, and one of the passages, it says he had made a scourge before he went in there. And, you know, he's talking about these liberal pastors who walk up to Jesus and say, Jesus, what are you doing? just making a whip. And they said, that's just not like Jesus. You've got the wrong idea. That's exactly like Jesus. You just have an improper idea of who Jesus is. Look at Mark 11 real fast. Mark 11, verses 15 and 16. Let's see what it says here. And they come to Jerusalem, and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple." You want to come through here or you leave your stuff outside? You don't bring nothing through here. Now imagine that. We're talking about at a time where thousands of people are there, and they expect these things to be going on there and came in preparation for that. And here you have one man who cleared that out and said, don't bring anything else back in here. And nobody challenged him. All right, now this, we've talked about it before, but this further illustrates Jesus was not some weak, pothead-looking hippie. He was a man. He was most likely a powerful man. There had been no corruption from sin in that body. And he worked day by day as a carpenter. From the time he was a boy up until he set out on his ministry, and even when he did set out on his ministry, he walked everywhere. It was a very manual, difficult, hard life. He was not some little weak, frail, long-haired European hippie. He was a big, powerful man. And he cleared that room out, and nobody questioned him. I could just imagine somebody outside like, Can you go get him out of there? You go get him out of there. And nobody wanted to take up that task. All right, verses 18 through 22. Now in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it, let no fruit grow on the tree henceforward forever. Presently, the fig tree withered away, and when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away? That would be pretty interesting to see. Maybe someday we'll get to see those kinds of things, but it's withered away verse 21. Jesus answered and said unto them verily I say unto you if you have faith and doubt not you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you if you shall say unto this mountain be thou removed and be cast into the sea it shall be done and all things whatsoever Ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive." All right, now, the point here is that faith is intensely important when it comes to prayer. If you're going to pray about something and you really don't believe that God can or will do it, then there's probably a good chance He's not going to. Now, if you really believe God can do it, it still doesn't mean He's going to do it. Because God is looking at what you're praying, and he's looking at what the Holy Spirit inside of you is praying, and he's saying, what does this person really need? Do they really need what they're asking for? Would it bring me honor and glory, or would it just make them happy? Now, it's not that God doesn't want to grant things to you that will make you happy. He might do that, but that's not the purpose of life. That's not the purpose of prayer. That's not the purpose of Christianity. God is not a genie in a bottle that you just rub the bottle I believe, I believe, I believe, and he pops out and gives you, you know, a thousand wishes or whatever you think God's going to give to you. That's not how it works. Now, you compare this with scripture. The idea is that if you pray in Jesus' name, in God's will, then there's a good chance God's going to do it and make it happen because it is for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, not for you. If your goal is just, Lord, I need a new car, I believe you can do it. I need a mansion by a lake with a yacht. I believe you can do it. Well, of course he can do it. But is that really what you need? Is that really what you should be praying for? And so if you're praying just to exercise your lust and hoping that God's going to come along with that, that's out of context of what's being talked about here. That is not the context. And so we don't want to misuse those things. Now, ultimately, this fig tree is a picture of the nation of Israel. The Lord keeps coming back to the nation and they never have any fruit. It's continually fruitless and and so therefore they will continue many days without a king and without a sacrifice. They're going to be they have presently withered away. They're scattered all over the earth. They're constantly being bombarded with people who hate them and they're going to remain unfruitful like this fig tree until the Lord restores them at a later date and he will and there when we get to it. There's a parable about this, you know, the Lord You know, the Lord tells a man, cut down that fig tree, and he says, well, let me dung it, let me try to, let me work on it. And it just doesn't work out. And so prayer requires a measure of faith, but ultimately this is in reference to the nation of Israel. All right, verse 23 through 27. Verse 23, and when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching and said, by what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority? All right, so now they're getting brave enough. They're not going to do anything to him. They're just going to go ask him. Who told you you could do this? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I and likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it, from heaven or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say unto us, Why did ye not believe him? But if we say of men, We fear the people for all hold John as a prophet." And they answered Jesus and said, we cannot tell. And he said unto them, neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. You want to play that game? We can play that game. All right. Now, it's amazing to me. The Lord says, he asked them a question that corners them, puts them in a very difficult spot. You got this crowd of people there, and the chief priests and the scribes are going to try and take back their authority here. Who said you could come here and do this? We didn't give you permission. And they'll say, well, since we're asking questions, tell me about the baptism of John. We cannot tell. We can't answer that question. Because if we answer that question, this mob is going to take us and and put us to death because they love John. And if we answer the wrong way, if we answer one direction, the mob's going to take us. We answer the other direction, you're going to make us look stupid because we didn't go along with what John was teaching. So we'll just be quiet and say nothing and move along. And so it'd be better to just say nothing in the first place. They cannot provide an answer because it would reveal their hypocrisy openly. And they're fine being hypocrites in private. They just don't want you to know that they're being hypocritical publicly. That's where they tend to get into some trouble. Don't waste time with people who just want to argue. That's all these people want. People come up sometimes and they just want to fight, they just want to argue, they're going to sap all your energy and take all your time, and it's not going to go anywhere. So give them a moment, try and determine, is this somebody who's just heated and angry, but we can talk? Or is it just somebody who just wants to argue? And if they just want to argue, Jesus Christ didn't argue with these men. He asked them a question, they wouldn't answer, and he said, well, neither do I. There we go. Goodbye. And he just kept doing what he was doing. Verse 28 through 32. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. Here we go with the vineyard again. Now, according to the Old Testament, who is the vineyard? Anybody know? Anybody want to guess? Israel. In these contexts, the vineyard is the nation of Israel. Verse 29, He answered and said, I will not, but afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said, likewise, and he answered and said, I go, sir, and he went not. Liar. Whether of them Twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Good answer. Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. Well, that was nice. Praise the Lord. I mean, you talk about how to approach people. Verse 32, for John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not. But the publicans and harlots believed him. And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that ye might believe. All right, so this is going to be commonly the case. It is far more common that the people who live, there's a great book called Life at the Bottom. written by one of my favorite writers. His name is Anthony Daniels, but his pen name is Theodore Dalrymple. I've told you about him before. He's a British prison psychiatrist, or he's a retired prison psychiatrist, an unbelievable writer. He writes in a way that will just, it's exciting to read. He's such a good writer. Well, he wrote a book called Life at the Bottom in which he tries to discuss the ideological background of people who live life at the bottom. Drug addicts, even poverty, a large measure of poverty is self-inflicted and things of that sort. Now, the point is, Those are most likely the people to trust in Jesus Christ It's very rare that somebody who lives life at the top of society who is rich Trust in Jesus Christ It's very rare They don't need Jesus. They don't need God. Don't you don't you see I have a big house. I have a nice car I have a lot of money. Yeah, but you can't take those things with you and You're going to die, and you're going to answer for the way that you lived your life. Well, I must be living life well. I have money. No, no, that's not how that works. All right, so you really need to trust in Jesus Christ. And so here he's telling them the harlots and the publicans are going to enter. Now, remember, which kingdom did he note here? the Kingdom of God. So this is a spiritual situation. This is not a physical earthly kingdom. This is not the Kingdom of Heaven. He didn't say they were going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven before you. The Kingdom of Heaven ultimately belongs to the Jews. Whether they act right or not, the Lord will fix all that in the end. That's the purpose of the tribulation, is to deal with their unrighteousness, to deal with their problems. But when it comes to the Kingdom of God, That's available to everybody, anyone who would trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's available to all. All right, now verses 33 through 46, verse 33, here another parable. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and led it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. Now, this is interesting, these past two parables, Who can think of a notable difference in the way they start versus, say, the ones in Matthew 13 and Matthew 18? The parables in Matthew 13 and 18, the Lord starts by saying, the kingdom of heaven is like. So that's not the context here. This is a broader context. He's moving further and further away from the nation of Israel, and they're going to take their rejection of him further and further as well. And so the more they do that, the more he expands his ministry beyond Israel to the Gentiles and preaches the gospel to anyone and everyone. Verse 34, And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servant to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it." Now, we just talked about this with the fig tree. What was the problem with the fig tree? It was unfruitful. So he condemned it to a lifetime of being fruitless. All right, now it's going to go even further. Not only are they unfruitful, now they're going to get violent. Now they're going to deliberately push back against God, and he's about to summarize the history of the nation of Israel in just a few sentences. Verse 35, and the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. That sound familiar? Try being a prophet in Israel and see how that goes. Not a prophet who tickles everybody's ears, but who tries to tell the truth of what God said. Verse 36, again, He sent other servants, more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, He sent unto them His Son. Is all this starting to sound vaguely familiar? Saying, they will reverence My Son, surely they're going to reverence the Son, right? Surely they would not treat the Son the way they treated the prophets. Well, let's see how it goes. Verse 38, but when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him. Let us kill him. And let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the Lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbands? Don't you answer that question. You should have been like the John the Baptist question, we cannot tell. But they didn't. They didn't get it. They answered the question, which was a foolish thing to do, and it's just setting them up for what's going to come. What will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read? He just set them up. They basically took the hook and put it in their own mouth, and now He's going to hit them with what the Word of God says about the situation. Jesus said unto them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in your eyes. Verse 43, Therefore I say unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Who is that other nation? Gentiles. Verse 44, And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. Good perception, good job. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude because they took him for a prophet. Now here's what's the idea, here's the concept that's just laid out here. What the Lord just told them is, I have been sending you my prophets In the Old Testament, he said, I sent them betimes. That means early and often, over and over and over, and you killed them, you stoned them, you imprisoned them, you despitefully treated them. Well now here's the son. And the scribes and the Pharisees said openly, we got to get rid of this man. He's going to ruin our position. He's going to take our place. We can't let him do that. So if we get rid of him, we can take his inheritance and put ourselves in his place. Foolish idea. So they crucified the son. Not knowing that that crucifixion was the fulfillment of prophecy, but if they had read, which Jesus asked them repeatedly, have you never read? Do you not read your Bible? Could you imagine sitting at Jesus' feet and saying, can I ask you a question? And he asks a question, and his response is, you don't read your Bible, do you? You obviously don't spend time in the Word of God. Now, I don't know that he would answer that way if you had a genuine question. These people didn't have genuine questions. They are trying to attack the Lord. They're deliberately trying to entrap him with his words, and instead he responds with, have you never read? You don't know what you're talking about. And the reason you don't know what you're talking about is because you don't spend time in the Word of God, which is where you would find the answers to these things. So now, the next step, all this is culminating into what the Lord is doing. He's telling them, I sent you the prophets, you stoned them. I, the Son, have come to you, and you're going to kill me. He tells them that, and John, he says, you're going to kill me. And they say, who's going to kill you? Nobody here wants to kill you. All the while, they're having private meetings about killing him. And so he's going to die, he's going to be buried, he's going to rise again, and now the Gospel is available to everyone. We're going to see that in Romans 9, 10, and 11. The Lord says, right now my dealings with Israel are on a pause. Right now I'm building my church, but a day is coming when I will return to my dealings with the nation of Israel, and I will finish their transgression. That's what the tribulation is all about. We hope you enjoyed this podcast. You can learn more about our ministry by visiting www.plenteusredemption.com. You can hear more Plenteous Redemption podcast audio at www.plenteusredemption.media. Please comment below if this podcast has been a help to you. Also, inform us of future topics that would interest you. Thank you again for listening to the Plenteous Redemption podcast.