If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Mathew chapter 22. We've been looking at a set of three parables for the last few weeks, parables which Jesus taught against the religious leaders of Israel. That whole section of the gospel of Matthew accentuates the coming judgment of God against Israel because of the rejection of the Messiah. They have rejected Jesus' person and message, they had rejected the message of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and they would be judged, this section of Matthew reminds us. These parables provide a spiritual diagnosis of the state of Israel at the time in which Jesus was preaching. We can see a picture of Israel’s spiritual problem in the very stories that Jesus tells. But, these parables also provide us with poignant…