Repentance That Bears Fruit

Date

Sun 26 Jul 2026

Series

The Kingdom’s Values

Passage

Matthew 21:28–32

Recording

http://www.richmondchurch.co.uk/20260726

Preacher

Martin Ludbrook

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Service Sheet Outline & Questions

Repentance, Fruitfulness, and Receiving the Son (Matthew 21:28–46
`The Kingdom’s Values (Matthew 19–23) #8`

God's kingdom belongs not to polished refusers but to repentant, fruit-bearing people who receive his Son.

Introduction
Polite agreement can hide stubborn refusal, and Jesus exposes the difference between sounding right and actually yielding to God.

1. Don't just say yes (vv. 28–32)
The first son shows that repentance means turning from refusal to obedience, while the second son warns that respectable words can still hide a practical no.

2. Don't steal the vineyard (vv. 33–41)
The tenants show how easily stewards become possessive, treating God's people, gifts and work as though they belonged to us rather than to him.

3. Do receive the Son (vv. 42–46)
Everything turns on Jesus, the rejected stone God has made central, so the right response is not resistant clarity but repentant faith and glad submission.

Conclusion
God is not impressed by polished refusal or possessive religion: he calls us to real repentance, real fruit, and a wholehearted response to his Son.

Questions to think about...

1. Why is saying the right thing not always the same as doing the Father's will? Where do you recognise "I will, sir" language in your own heart or habits?

2. What belongs to God that people often try to keep for themselves? Where are you tempted to treat stewardship as ownership in your time, gifts, ministry, or relationships?

3. What are we meant to do with God's Son? How does Jesus being the rejected stone whom God made central change the way we hear his warnings and promises?

4. Where is Jesus calling you this week from polished agreement to actual repentance, fruit, and obedience?

Manuscript

Repentance, Fruitfulness, and Receiving the Son | Matthew 21:28-46 | Richmond Church | 26 July 2026

God's kingdom belongs not to polished refusers but to repentant, fruit-bearing people who receive his Son.

Father, as we hear your word, save us from right answers that refuse you. By your Spirit, expose resistance, lead us to repentance, grow real fruit, and help us receive your Son in faith and obedience. Amen.

Introduction

“Leave it with me” can mean two very different things. Someone says it, writes it down, and does the job. Someone else says exactly the same words, closes the notebook, and nothing happens.

The words are identical. The response is completely different.

Many of us know how to...

sound willing,
give the respectable answer, and
recognise the right principle when someone else is under discussion.

We want the credit of agreement without the cost of yielding:

outwardly agreeing while inwardly resisting,
feeling the truth's pressure while holding back.

Jesus is still in the temple in the final week before the cross.

He has cleared it,
judged the leafy but fruitless fig tree,
faced the leaders’ challenge to his authority,
and asked them about John the Baptist—only for them to refuse an honest answer.

Now he tells two parables to drive home one argument. These leaders recognise the right principle and pronounce the right judgment, yet reject the King.

The danger is not ignorance but resistant clarity: seeing what Jesus means and refusing to bow.

Mark Twain said the difficult part of the Bible was not what he did not understand, but what he did. This painfully clear passage lands on people like us—near the truth, familiar with church, able to answer rightly yet refuse to move.

So this week's Kingdom Value is: Repentance that Bears Fruit

Keep this line in mind:

God wants real repentance, real fruit, and a right response to his Son.

1. Don't just say yes (28-32)

A polite answer can hide a stubborn refusal. Sometimes “Yes” means, “I want this conversation to end, but I have no intention of moving.”

Jesus begins with a parable simple enough for anyone to follow.

A father speaks to two sons. The command is plain: go and work in the vineyard.

Look down at Matthew 21:28-29 (NIV84) [28] "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'
[29] " 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went."

His first answer is ugly: a blunt no. But it is not final. He changes his mind and direction—a complete turn from refusing the father to doing his will.

That is repentance: more than feeling bad, it stops the refusal, admits what is really going on in the heart, and turns round.

Saying sorry is not repentance while sin still seems glorious. In The Wind in the Willows, Toad has become obsessed with motor cars. He has already smashed several, landed in hospital and paid one fine after another. His friends finally decide that something must be done. Badger takes him into a private room and gives him a long, stern lecture. Eventually, Toad appears with tears running down his face.

Badger thinks he has finally got through to him. He asks Toad to admit that he is sorry for his foolish behaviour. But Toad suddenly drops the act:

“I’m not sorry. And it wasn’t folly at all! It was simply glorious!”

We can speak confession while still loving the refusal.

Now read Matthew 21:30 [30] "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go."

This son sounds better: "I will, sir." Respectful words, good manners, immediate agreement—but no obedience. His mouth says yes. His life says no.

Church can echo “I will, sir.” We say,

“Count me in.
This is my church.
These are my people.
These elders are my pastors.” Together, that is church membership.

Good words—but shared life needs more than words. Our yes must grow hands and feet.

Look at the first half of Matthew 21:31 [31] "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered.

The leaders give the right answer. The son who did the father's will is not the son who sounded best at first. It is the son who finally obeyed.

Jesus does what Nathan did with David in 2 Samuel 12. He gets them to state the right verdict before they realise that the verdict is about them.

Now hear Jesus' application in Matthew 21:31-32 [32] For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him."

The people these leaders despised responded to John: they believed and turned. The leaders watched lives change—people who had openly said no to God turning to follow him.

Still the leaders would not repent and believe. They lacked neither evidence nor clarity, but had settled on refusal.

Picture any church meeting. Everyone agrees: “We are a family. Belonging matters. New people should be welcomed.”

On Sunday a newcomer stands alone with tea while regulars return to familiar conversations or rush through their own agenda, each assuming someone else will cross the room. Nobody voted against welcome. Everybody said yes. Yet the person goes home unknown.

That is “I will, sir,” church life.

Repentance may look wonderfully ordinary: crossing the room, learning a name, sending the message, offering a seat, asking how to pray, or admitting, “I call this my church, but attend like a customer.”

Elsewhere it may mean apologising, ending hidden compromise, forgiving, or taking the clear step delayed for months.

Where has our yes to God become a no in practice?

There is real hope: the first son had said no.

A real Christian can still need a real turning. Being in Christ does not mean every room of life is already open to him. We may defend a habit, withhold forgiveness, postpone a command, or keep one area where words say yes and actions no.

Grace does not make repentance unnecessary; it makes repentance possible and safe. We do not turn to persuade Jesus to receive us. Because he has received us, we can stop hiding, tell the truth and turn again.

The danger is not that we still battle. The danger is making peace with the refusal—keeping a manageable sin rather than facing repentance’s cost.

God wants real repentance.

But Jesus takes the problem deeper.

What happens when people...

enjoy God's gifts,
live in God's vineyard,
and start acting as though it belongs to them?

2. Don't steal the vineyard (33-41)

Things we serve can quietly become things we own. We begin, “How can I help?” and end, “Nobody is changing my thing.”

The first parable exposed false obedience; this heavier one exposes false stewardship—people trusted with something who start acting like owners.

Look down at Matthew 21:33-34 (NIV84) [33] "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
[34] When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit."

Jesus’ hearers know the picture. In the Old Testament, the vineyard pictures God’s people; the tenants, especially their leaders, are trusted to care for them. The owner plants, protects, equips and entrusts.

The vineyard is not theirs, nor is the whole harvest theirs to keep. They are tenants, not owners. The owner asks for his rightful share, not for what belongs to them. They refuse him what is his.

Likewise, our lives, bodies, minds, gifts, ministries, money and church are entrusted, never ours to possess.

Read Matthew 21:35-36 [35] "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
[36] Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them in the same way."

The servants recall the prophets: God repeatedly sent messengers to call his people back; they repeatedly ignored, mistreated and rejected them.

Here, fruitlessness is not passive. It can reveal where we still refuse God’s claim.

Now slow down for Matthew 21:37 [37] "Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.

The son is not another servant but the heir, bearing the owner’s full authority.

Continue with Matthew 21:38-39 [38] "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.'
[39] So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him."

The tenants recognise him. This is neither an innocent mistake nor careful legal reasoning: it is possessive rebellion. They want him gone to seize what is his.

We want the inheritance without the heir. That is human rebellion: wanting God’s world, gifts, help, people—even his language—while resisting his claim and pushing aside his Son.

Picture a church ministry begun to serve others and help them hear about Jesus. Years later the same name remains, one tired person carries it, and nobody can say whom it serves or what fruit it seeks.

Ask whether it should be reviewed, changed, shared or stopped, and the question feels like an attack: “You cannot touch this. This is our ministry.”

A trust has become a possession.

That danger touches any part of church life.

We can baptise comfortable distance as biblical faithfulness: keeping people at arm’s length and calling it wisdom; avoiding awkward welcome, friendship and shared life while calling our distance obedience.
We may ask a young person the same safe question each week, intending neither to hear, remember, act nor follow up. We have spoken and can call ourselves friendly, yet kept them safely distant.
Awkwardness does not cancel the Bible’s one-another commands. The danger is refusing to move, then calling refusal obedience.

God’s vineyard can become our territory: my group, job, cupboard, method, money, time, seat. We use God’s things while resisting God’s claim.

So a full diary is not a fruitful church. A tree may have leaves, a calendar may have meetings, and a rota may have names.

Fruit is neither frantic activity nor keeping everything alive because stopping feels like failure. It is yielded faithfulness {to the Father's agenda} under the Son—God receiving what is his from lives and a church that belong to him.

The warning is not slow growth. It is making peace with fruitlessness. It is defending the habit God’s word exposes, protecting disturbed comfort, postponing obedience, and closing off where Christ means to change us.

Look down at Matthew 21:40-41 [40] "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
[41] "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."

Again, the leaders get the answer right. Again, they pronounce the judgment that exposes them.

They know what justice requires. They still do not bow.

Fruitfulness asks whether God receives what is his from our life together. That may mean honestly reviewing a cherished ministry; saying, “One person cannot keep carrying this—I must help or we must change”; releasing money, time, a room, habit or position for God’s purposes; or noticing people present but unknown, children and young people undrawn into the family, and gospel conversation left to a programme or somebody else.

That searches deeper than, “How busy are we?”

There is mercy in truth before our grip hardens.

God wants real fruit.

Now Jesus brings the whole passage to its centre.

The decisive question is not merely whether the sons obey or whether the tenants produce.

What will people do with the Son?

3. Do receive the Son (42-46)

We are often more comfortable assessing Jesus... ... than being assessed by him—asking whether we agree, like his words, or find them reasonable. But the passage asks what we will do with the Son God has made central.

Everything has moved here:

Who does the Father’s will?
What happens when stewards resist the owner’s claim?
Now everything gathers around Jesus.

Look down at Matthew 21:42 [42] Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes'?"

The rejected stone is the one God makes central. The builders cannot see where it fits and discard it; the architect knows it is the joining stone on which the structure depends. The builders judge the stone one way; the architect another. People reject Jesus; God makes him central.

Jesus is speaking of himself. The tenants throw the Son outside and kill him; within days Jesus will be crucified outside the city. But God will raise him. The rejected Son will be shown as

Lord,
Saviour,
and the one on whom everything rests.

“The Lord has done this.”

Now read Matthew 21:43 [43] "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."

Jesus is speaking to leaders who claim the privileges of God's kingdom while rejecting God's Son.

The kingdom will not remain in the hands of those who refuse the King.

God gathers a people around his Son: Jews and Gentiles, former outsiders and former insiders, all who repent and believe. Their fruit does not buy their place. Their fruit shows whose rule they are under.

Some tender Christians hear verse 43 and ask, “Could the kingdom be taken from me? What if I do not have enough fruit?”

Notice whom Jesus warns. They are not worried about being without Jesus; they are trying to get rid of him.

Jesus does not take his kingdom from those truly his. If you trust him, your safety rests on the Son, not measurable fruit. Grief over fruitlessness because you do not want to resist him or be without him shows a different posture from these leaders.

But concern is not your Saviour. Jesus is. Fruit is evidence of his life and rule; it is not an entrance fee.

Listen to Jesus' warning in Matthew 21:44 [44] "He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

Jesus gathers up two Old Testament pictures.

In Isaiah ^[8:14–15], the Lord becomes a stone people stumble over and a rock over which they fall.

In Daniel ^[2:34–35, 44–45], God’s stone shatters the proud kingdoms of this world and establishes a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

A drifting boat still reaches the falls. Picture a man asleep in a small boat broken loose above Niagara. He need not row towards destruction; the current carries him while he does nothing. Neglect is no safe middle position.

The point is plain: resistance to Jesus ends in ruin. He cannot be safely sidelined, ignored or opposed. The rejected stone is also the judging stone.

Now read Matthew 21:45-46 [45] When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. [46] They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

They understand that Jesus means them and recognise the warning. Yet they move not towards repentance but towards arrest.

When a dashboard warning appears,

one driver stops, checks and changes course;
another tapes over the light to avoid seeing it.

These leaders notice the warning and try to silence the one giving it.

We too would rather understand Jesus than bow. We can feel exposed, know what must change, yet defend ourselves. We examine him from a safe distance, discuss the sermon, assess the wording, and spot who else needs it. But Jesus asks not whether we can explain him, but whether we will receive him.

That may begin with a simple prayer: “Jesus, you are right. I have resisted you. I cannot rescue myself. Forgive me. Rule me. Help me take the next step you show me.”

The Son we pushed away still receives those who come. He does not merely expose fruitlessness: he forgives rebels, gives new life and grows the fruit God seeks.

The first son can turn; tax collectors and prostitutes can believe; resistant people can repent. Do not hide in understanding. Come to the rejected and risen Son God has made central.

God wants a right response to his Son.

Conclusion

The leaders answer rightly, state the principle, pronounce the judgment and recognise the target—yet reject the King.

We want the safety of a right answer without surrendering our direction. The question is whether our answer to Jesus stays in our mouths or shapes our lives.

God wants

real repentance, not polished refusal;
real fruit, not busy leaves or possessive stewardship;
and a right response to his Son,

[!Tension] ...not clear understanding used as a shield.

How does repentance becomes concrete?

For one of us, it means turning to Jesus for the first time;
for another, crossing the room, making the call, sharing responsibility, releasing our grip, apologising, or obeying the word agreed with for months.

We do none of this to earn a kingdom place. Our hope rests on the rejected and risen Son.

The Son we rejected was thrown out and killed. At the cross he stood in our place and bore the judgment our rebellion deserved. God raised him to be Lord and Saviour.

Everything rests on him, and he welcomes everyone who turns and trusts him.

So this is where the whole passage leaves us.

Will we keep the language of belonging while resisting the life of belonging?
Will we keep handling God's things as if they were ours?
Will we hide behind understanding?
Or will we repent, yield what is his, and receive the Son God has made central?

Do not stop at recognition or respectable agreement.

Repent. Yield. Receive the Son.