Are You Ready?
Text: Luke 13:1-9
In August of 1965 a folk singer named Barry McGuire released a single titled “Eve of Destruction”. It’s a great song that talks about a lot of the things that were going on at the time, and one of the lines of that song says, “If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away. There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave.” And that line is in reference to the threat of nuclear war. And during that time… from the 1950’s to about the early 80’s, that was something that was always in the back of people’s minds… In-fact; I even remember doing nuclear bomb drills in school. We had our fire drills where we’d all assemble, and head out the designated exits and meet on the school lawn. We had our tornado drills were we’d all go to the middle hallway and sit on the floor with our head between our legs. And, we had our nuclear drills, where we’d get under our desks and wait to be incinerated.
And so… in 1965 Barry McGuire sings this song – “Eve of Destruction”; trying to get people to open their eyes to the threats of the Cold War… but the thing is – we’re ALWAYS on the eve of destruction! The real question is – ARE YOU READY?
If you have your Bibles, I’d like you to go ahead and open them up to Luke 13. We’ve been studying John’s Gospel, but this morning, we’re taking a break from that because things seem to be getting back to normal, and it’s good to get things into perspective… it’s good to consider not only the things that you are seeing and facing around you, but also to consider THE CAUSE of those things… and also… we’re looking at this passage, because I BELIEVE, we’re not done yet… I believe; based on scripture, that one birth pain is subsiding, but another one is ramping up.
So instead of John 13, we’re in Luke 13 this morning. And I’m going to read to you verses 1 – 9 (READ LUKE 13:1-9).
Now I don’t know about ya’ll but I love the way that God used the writers of the Gospel accounts. Matthew focused more on reaching Jewish readers, so he refers back to things they would understand and relate to. Mark was more focused on Greek readers, and he touches on the miracles a lot and it’s more “action” oriented. John wanted his readers to believe, and so he deals a lot with the evidences… evidence that Jesus is God the Son, who has come in the flesh, that He died for our sin, and was raised from the dead 3 days later… but Luke… Luke wrote in the style of a historian. I love Luke… He’s very detailed and particular. Luke was also a doctor, so he focused a lot on things like sickness, illness, healing, and also death. So if you’re tired of listening to the two doctors who are advising the President, say one thing, and the 130 or so other virologists, and epidemiologists, and other doctors who are saying something completely different… it might be helpful to go to helpful to go to Dr. Luke, and to his boss – THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.
Point is… Luke was a doctor… and so he kind of at times would focus on death. Not in a morbid way, but it was something that he had no doubt some familiarity with. And so he mentions this event that takes place in our text.
And apparently, there were some Galileans who had gone to do their sacrifices, and Pilate had them killed. That’s what Luke means when he says “Their blood mingled with their sacrifices.” In other words, they were going to sacrifice animals for their sin offering, and they themselves were killed, so that the blood of the men and the animals mingled together. Now this was a horrible thing in the mind of a Jewish reader. To be killed while you’re at worship, was an atrocity – it was an evil act. It’s the evil and wickedness of a Church shooter. You know, someone who will kill and murder people while they are worshiping God. That takes a special kind of evil person.
But also, in the mind of some – if you died in that way, you must have been some kind of sinner yourself. For God to allow that, you must’ve been evil and wicked in your own right.
So look at how Jesus answers them in verses 2 – 3 He says, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? NO, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will ALL likewise perish.”
So Jesus says, “Those guys died horribly, but they weren’t any worse, or any better than anyone else.” And then He goes on, in verses 4 & 5, “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? NO, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Now Jesus wasn’t saying, “Hey you had better repent or you’ll be killed while you’re at church.” And He wasn’t saying, “Hey you had better repent or a tower is going to fall on you.” That wasn’t what He meant when He said, “You will LIKEWISE perish.”
What He was saying is – “Hey! You had better repent, so that when you die, you’re not unprepared like these people were.”
The need of every single soul, whether it’s because of disease or a virus, or nuclear bombs, or church shootings, or collapsing towers, or old age – is to be ready to meet the Lord! We can leave this world and meet Him in a million different ways – some ways are slow and drawn out, some are quick and fast, some are painful and dreadful, others are without much pain at all, but we’re all going to stand before Him at some point in time. And things like calamities and tragedies, and pandemics present us with the opportunity to consider our end before it comes… To consider what’s important in life, and what we’re doing with our life before our end comes… to repent, and put the affairs of our soul in order. And so the question that this text is asking us is: Are you prepared for that?
Are you ready to stand before God and be judged by Him?
You know, almost every commercial on TV now has a little message that says, “Stay Safe”, and the ignorant celebrities are all over social media saying, “Stay Safe.” And I hear those things and see those things and I want to ask, “Are you safe in Christ?” Will you be safe 10,000 years from now in Him? When you stand before God and give an account of your life, and your actions, and your thoughts, and every idle word – will you stand there in safety or in fearful expectation of judgment?
Please here me this morning, if you can. I would rather get Corona Virus and die trusting Christ, than live 20, 30, or maybe 40 more years in unrepentant sin, and be lost for all eternity. And granted… I’d like to live 40 more years trusting Christ… but for us who are believers to live is Christ and to die is gain! So are you ready? Jesus says, “Unless you have trusted in Him and repented of your sin, you’re not ready.”
Turn with me over to Jeremiah 2:12-13 (READ).
God does not call the heavens and the host of heaven to be appalled and shocked when calamity strikes the earth. He doesn’t say be appalled and shocked when sickness or financial collapse, or war strikes humanity. This call to be shocked and appalled is because of sin. He says, “Look at what man has done. They’ve forsaken Me, and instead of worshiping Me, they’ve hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that hold no water.” In other words, “They’ve forsaken Me, and started worshiping false gods, and idols… worldly things that ultimately, and eternally amount to nothing!” They’ve put their faith, and their love, and their trust, and given their adoration to the flawed and failing systems of man and in idols that cannot save.
Church, it is not ultimately because of some virus, or cancer, or a car wreck that we actually die… Romans 6:23 tells us that it’s the wages of sin that leads to death. That’s why the Bible says, “Teach us to number our days…” It urges us to consider our end, so that we’ll be ready.
In times like these, most folks won’t even go to Walmart unprepared – but will you go to eternity unprepared?
Let me go back to our text and read to verses 6-9 (READ Luke 13:6-9).
Now Jesus had just told the disciples to repent, so that they don’t die unprepared to stand before God, and then He gives this parable. And because we have the completed cannon of Scripture we know and understand exactly what this parable means. Because we have these Gospel accounts, we know that Jesus’ earthly ministry lasted right about 3½ years. And each one of those years, Jesus would come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. And each year the people of Israel and Jerusalem failed to bear the fruit of repentance, the fruit of faith, the fruit of trusting in Jesus as their promised Messiah, and Savior, and Lord. And the end result was that they were cut off. The Apostle Paul talks about that in detail in Romans chapters 9 through 11… you should read that. It’s pretty clear.
But it wasn’t just an instant thing. The Lord is merciful and patient, and slow to anger. He gives opportunity after opportunity for people to repent and trust in Him. But ultimately, there comes a time when we go to stand before Him. Think about this… if a cure for the Corona Virus came out tomorrow, and all of this craziness passed by – death is still waiting for all of us. Because we’ve all earned that wage, and the payment will eventually come.
That’s why I said, we must go to the GREAT PHYSICIAN. We must go to Jesus – He is our only hope. He is our only solution. There is no one else who was pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. No one else has bore our sins and paid for them in full. No one else has loved you enough to bear the full wrath of God in your place, for your sins. Only Jesus!
And it’s only by knowing Christ, and by being KNOWN by Christ are you ever really ready.
It’s only by knowing Christ, and by being known BY Christ, that you stay safe FOREVER!
Because here’s the thing Church… the medial folks are already saying, “There’s going to be a ‘second wave’.” And the Bible says, that things like this will happen, more and more as we get closer to the Day of Christ’s return. And yes, I know, we may be 100 years from that… we may be a 1000 years from that, no one knows the day or the hour. But when we look at Scripture, and we see the things that God’s Word tell us will be taking place just before that, and then we look around at what’s happening in our world… I have to ask you Church – ARE YOU READY?
So Church; what I want you to walk out of here knowing this morning is this – Life is hard, and life is short, Isaiah 40 tells us that the “Grass withers and the flowers fade, and we are all like grass.” But our God is sovereign, and He is good. He loves you with an everlasting love and has demonstrated His own love for you, that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for your sins. And so… because God is sovereign, and because God is good, and because God loves us… we can cry out to Him. We can go to Him in prayer and say, “God this world is messed up, and this thing I’m going through is hard, so God, in your mercy, please hear my prayers, and help me get through this.”
That’s not a bad prayer to pray. Go to God… and go to Jesus.
It’s the only way we can be ready, and it’s the only way we can get through the valley of the shadow of death – if He is leading… if it’s His rod and staff that are comforting us.
Let’s pray.
CLOSING
