J.C. Ryle's Devotional Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke Chapter 12 Verses 54-59 And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower, and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, Give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him, lest he hail thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite. The first thing which this passage teaches us is the duty of noticing the signs of the times. The Jews in our Lord days neglected this duty. They shut their eyes against events of the most significant character which were occurring in their own day. They refused to see that prophecies were being fulfilled around them which were bound up with the coming of Messiah and that the Messiah himself must be in the midst of them. The ministry of John the Baptist had excited attention from one end of the land to the other. The miracles of Christ were great, undeniable, and well known. But still the eyes of the Jews were blinded. They still obstinately refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ. And hence they drew from our Lord the question, hypocrites. You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you do not know how to interpret this present time? It befits the servants of God in every age to observe the public events of their own day and to compare them with the predictions of unfulfilled prophecy. There's nothing commendable in an ignorant indifference to contemporary history. The true Christian should rather watch the career of governments and nations with a jealous watchfulness and hail with gladness the slightest indication of the day of the Lord being at hand. The Christian who cannot see the hand of God in history, and does not believe in the gradual movement of all kingdoms towards the final subjection of all things to Christ, is as blind as the Jew. Let us remember the words of our Lord in the passage before us, and not err after the manner of the Jews. Let us not be blind and deaf and insensible to all that God is doing, both in the church and in the world. May we all have an ear to hear and a heart to understand. May we not sleep as many do, but watch and discern our time. it is a solemn saying in the book of revelation if you do not wake up then I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you revelation chapter 3 verse 3 The second thing which this passage teaches us is the immense importance of seeking reconciliation with God before it is too late. This is a lesson which our Lord illustrates by a parable. He compares us to a man on his way to a magistrate with an adversary in consequence of a dispute and describes the course which such a man ought to take. Like Him, we are upon our way to the presence of the Eternal Judge. We shall all stand at the judgment bar of God. Like Him, we have an adversary. The holy law of God is against us and contrary to us, and its demands must be satisfied. Like Him, we ought to give diligence to get our case settled. before it comes before the judge. We ought to seek pardon and forgiveness before we die. Like him, if we let our opportunity slip, the judgment will go against us, and we shall be cast into the eternal prison of hell. Such appears to be the meaning of the parable in the passage before us. It is a vivid picture of the care which men ought to take in the great matter of reconciliation with God. Peace with God is by far the first thing in religion. We are born in sin and are children of wrath. We have no natural love towards God. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is impossible that God can take pleasure in us. The wicked his soul hates. Psalm 11 verse 5. The chief and foremost desire of everyone who professes to have any religion should be to obtain reconciliation with God. Until this is done, nothing is done. We have nothing worth having in Christianity until we have peace with God. The law brings us in guilty. The judgment is sure to go against us. Without reconciliation, the end of our life's journey will be eternal hell. Peace with God is the principal thing which the gospel of Christ offers to the soul. Peace and pardon stand in the forefront of its list of privileges and are offered freely to everyone who believes on Jesus. There's only one who can deliver us from the adversary. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Christ has blotted out the handwriting that was against us and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The claims of our adversary are all satisfied by Christ's blood. God can now be just and yet the justifier of everyone who believes on Jesus. A full atonement has been made. The debt has been completely paid. The judge can say, deliver them for I have found a ransom. Job chapter 33 verse 24. Let us never rest until we know and feel that we are reconciled to God. Let it not content us to go to church, to use means of grace and to be reckoned as Christians without knowing whether our sins are pardoned and our souls justified. Let us seek to know that we are one with Christ and Christ in us. Let us seek to know that our iniquities are forgiven and our sins covered. Then, and then only, may we lie down in peace and look forward to judgment without fear. The time is short. We are traveling on to a day when our lot for eternity must be decided. Let us give all diligence that we may be found safe in that day. The souls that are found without Christ shall be cast into the hopeless prison of hell.