"Facing Judgement"
Luke 13:1-9
A sermon for 9/25/22
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor John Bright
Luke 13 1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
I still remember sitting at Duke hospital with Sandy (not her real name). She grew up just down the road from our farm and attended my home church. She was a few years younger than me and it was a shock to hear that she was at Duke with an aggressive form of cancer. I was a student at Duke Seminary so I called and we set a time to meet. It wasn’t her disease or the suffering that she wanted to talk about that day. It was the pain caused by those who claimed to be Christians that caused her tears that day.
She told me that her husband had started going to a church near their home. When he told the pastor about her illness, her husband brought back a message – “You are sick because you have sinned. You must repent to be healed. Because your sickness is serious – it must be really bad sin.” She was shocked. Her husband began to badger her about keeping secret, serious sin hidden from him. He imagined all kinds of imagined sinful scenarios. Eventually, the pastor told him that if she would not repent, he should leave his sick wife and the children.
She looked at me, tears streaming down her face – “Is this what the Bible teaches?” She had been reading her Bible and could not find any scripture that sounded like what this church was teaching her husband. I talked to her a long time that day about living in a fallen world. This would have been a perfect scripture to share with her, but I don’t remember which scriptures I shared with her that day. Most of all, I assured her that God loved her no matter what. Just so you know, she died in less than a year.
Here we find Jesus taking on sin, suffering, human mortality, and the ultimate judgement that every person will face – focusing especially on each person’s choices to follow Jesus and bear fruit for God.
Mortality and Repentance, v.1-5
Luke 13 “1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
A few weeks ago, we talked about the tragic loss of life on 9/11/2001. Not once did I suggest that those folks had done something to cause them to deserve death on that day. When I told stories of those who were saved by something as simple as a scheduling error placing a stewardess on a different plane, I never told you those folks deserved to be saved. That’s the basis of the conversation in verse 1. Two events are recorded here where some were killed. One has multiple people be massacred at the Temple. The other is a natural disaster of a tower falling on 18 people.
Jesus turns the discussion to the mortality of every human being. I have told you before – studies show that 10 out of 10 people die. That’s a 100% mortality rate. Every day, around 150,000 people on the earth die. (https://principia-scientific.com/how-many-people-die-each-day/)
The circumstances are different – accidents, disease, violence, wars and so many more. Can we look at one as being more deserving of death on that particular day? Jesus warned them of a similar fate – they will all die. Why? Actually, death is the outcome of The Fall in Genesis 3: 1“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
“6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”
God’s judgement would come to every one upon the earth. We were all born with that judgment upon us – our human bodies do not last forever. They break down and get sick. Then – everybody dies. It’s just a fact.
As we begin talking about and planning for a prayer ministry here at the church – this is a topic that we will have to cover again and again. I will remind you – every person Jesus healed – the ones we know about and all the others that we don’t know about – every last one of them died. If not, they would still be here….and they are not.
Let me share this with you from my favorite website – https://www.gotquestions.org/God-heal-everyone.html
“Often, Christians have an over-simplified idea of healing. They think that, if they are sick, they have only to ask God to heal them and, because God loves them, He will heal them straightaway. Healing is seen as proof of a person’s faith and of God’s love. This idea persists in some circles in spite of the truth that every mother knows: a parent does not give her child everything he asks for every time, no matter how much she loves him.”
“Joni Eareckson Tada struggled with this issue for a long time. As she recounts in her book Joni, she sought physical healing of her quadriplegia. She prayed and fully believed that God would heal her. In her words, “I certainly believed. I was calling up my girlfriends saying, ‘Next time you see me I’m going to be running up your sidewalk. God’s going to heal me’” (quoted in an interview with Marvin Olasky, January 17, 2013). Yet Joni is still in a wheelchair today. Forty-five years after the accident that left her paralyzed, God has still not healed her. Her perspective is one of great faith: “God may remove your suffering, and that will be great cause for praise. But if not, He will use it, He will use anything and everything that stands in the way of His fellowship with you. So let God mold you and make you, transform you from glory to glory. That’s the deeper healing” (quoted on Grace to You, October 16, 2013). Some feel that God will never heal anyone miraculously today. Others feel that God will always heal a person if he or she has enough faith. But God will not be put into either box.”
Every one is going to die, but what happens next is vitally important to Jesus. He tells them twice to repent. The Old Testament prophets called the Jews back to God – to turn around and return to Him. John the Baptizer called the Jews of Jesus’ day to repent. The Apostles in Acts called them to repent.
What’s the beginning of repentance? Make this admission – “God you’re right and I’m wrong.” Then, STOP WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN JUSTIFYING! That’s right, when we hold beliefs that are the opposite of God’s Word it is usually a means to justify our own sin. Only when we reject the lie will we do that 180 degree turn and leave the sin behind. Are we clear? As I continue in the Gospel of Luke, we will return to the topic of repentance over and over.
We all need to repent because we have all sinned – Romans 3 “22…For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Repentance is an act of your faith, not an act of will. My faith is in the blood of Jesus shed for my sin!
Another Parable, v.6-9
Luke 13 “6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”
Many have seen a connection with this parable and the lament of Micah the prophet:
“7:1 Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires.
2 The faithful man has perished from the earth,
And there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
Every man hunts his brother with a net.”
In this parable, the fig tree has been planted for three years – the same amount of time that Jesus was in ministry to the nation of Israel. There are many times in the Old Testament that Israel is warned and given more time. That’s what we see here. God, the man who owns the vineyard, will give them a little more time. Historically, Israel had another season after Jesus’ death and resurrection. They could have repented and turned to Jesus through the ministry of the Apostles. Instead, it will be the Gentile world of the Roman Empire that turns to God. Paul is in Ephesus in Acts 19 “8 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”
It is estimated that this is taking place in the 50’s AD – about 25 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Gospel is spreading and will continue to spread, eventually taking over the whole of the Roman Empire. What happens to Israel? In 70AD, after Jerusalem had been under siege for five months, the Romans destroyed the Temple and the city.
Our bodies will also be destroyed by death. If you decide to live your life doing what you want to do and never turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of sin, your destruction continues in the flames of Hell. Those who follow Jesus, who do not let sin rule them by repenting and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit – they will spend an eternity with God in the heavenly realm.
You have a choice. Choose wisely. Amen.
TEACHING SHEET
"Facing Judgement"
Luke 13:1-9
9/25/22
Mortality and Repentance, v.1-5
Two events are recorded here where some were killed. One has multiple people be massacred at the Temple. The other is a natural disaster of a tower falling on 18 people. The same is true both then and now - 10 out of 10 people die. That’s a 100% mortality rate. Why? Actually, death is the outcome of The Fall in Genesis 3:1-6
Let me share this with you from my favorite website – https://www.gotquestions.org/God-heal-everyone.html
“Often, Christians have an over-simplified idea of healing. They think that, if they are sick, they have only to ask God to heal them and, because God loves them, He will heal them straightaway. Healing is seen as proof of a person’s faith and of God’s love. This idea persists in some circles in spite of the truth that every mother knows: a parent does not give her child everything he asks for every time, no matter how much she loves him.”
Everyone is going to die, but what happens next is vitally important to Jesus. He tells them twice to repent. The Old Testament prophets called the Jews back to God – to turn around and return to Him. John the Baptizer called the Jews of Jesus’ day to repent. The Apostles in Acts called them to repent.
What’s the beginning of repentance? Make this admission – “God you’re right and I’m wrong.” Then, STOP WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN JUSTIFYING! That’s right, when we hold beliefs that are the opposite of God’s Word it is usually a means to justify our own sin. Only when we reject the lie will we do that 180 degree turn and leave the sin behind. Romans 3:22-26
Another Parable, v.6-9
Many have seen a connection with this parable and the lament of Micah the prophet: Micah 7:1-2
In this parable, the fig tree has been planted for three years – the same amount of time that Jesus was in ministry to the nation of Israel. God, the man who owns the vineyard, will give them a little more time. Historically, Israel had another season after Jesus’ death and resurrection. They could have repented and turned to Jesus through the ministry of the Apostles. Instead, it will be the Gentile world of the Roman Empire that turns to God. Paul is in Ephesus in Acts 19:8-10
It is estimated that this is taking place in the 50’s AD – about 25 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Gospel is spreading and will continue to spread, eventually taking over the whole of the Roman Empire. What happens to Israel? In 70AD, after Jerusalem had been under siege for five months, the Romans destroyed the Temple and the city.
Our bodies will also be destroyed by death. If you decide to live your life doing what you want to do and never turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of sin, your destruction continues in the flames of Hell. Those who follow Jesus, who do not let sin rule them by repenting and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit – they will spend an eternity with God in the heavenly realm.
You have a choice. Choose wisely. Amen.
