Please turn with me to Luke chapter 13. It's a great privilege to preach the Word of God and a great responsibility. Luke chapter 13, commencing verse 1. There were present at that season some that told Him, that is the Lord Jesus, of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay, no, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. or those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them. Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He spake also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone, this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it. And if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down. May God bless the reading of his word to our hearts. A USA headline last week read, Earthquakes, North Korea Massacre, Can We Handle It? Is this an honest or evasive secular worldview response to disaster? Certainly conversation should arise in light of the multiple disasters and anticipated ones, and even now, as I speak, there is a hurricane entering into the U.S. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, terrorist attacks, accidents and massacres, and yes, North Korea, possibly. What are the questions that should be asked? Climate control, gun control, people control, self-control, Is the devil mad at good people? Job lost 10 children and prized servants and much property due to a tornado. The devil was mad at a good person, as it were. Is the Lord exacting his justice? Isn't it a dangerous world? Should we sinful image bearers of God not expect even more disasters? Are these warning shots for us to flee from the wrath to come? Is there a word from the Lord? Jesus answers questions about disasters. A massacre that left some Jews dead, bloodied, murdered. A horrific accident that left 18 Jews dead. included, today we could say, what of the 49 massacred in Orlando, the 58 in Las Vegas, hundreds killed in hurricanes and earthquakes, thousands in terrorist attacks since 2001, 500,000 that die of cancer every year, 40,000 people died in the United States in road crashes in 2016. That's 110 a day. Is there meaning in disaster? Are there any answers? Is this a cruel capitalizing on the sad tragedy of others? I appealed to you this morning. This is a sensitive, candid application to the rest of us who will all suffer calamity if we live long enough. My sister had to flee Irma. And her house has been damaged, though it hasn't been destroyed. And I just texted her today. She says the island is devastated. That is Marco Island. Jesus' answer was not, it was just their turn, or they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or they were worse than others, which is the appearance of things. What was His answer? What is His answer? What about the massacre by Pilate, the 18 under a collapsed tower, the 58 massacred out west? Number one, Jesus did not say that bad things never happen to good people. Abel was murdered. Tamar was raped. Job lost all of his children. Lot was captured in war. Jesus was crucified. Sooner or later, we will all suffer if we live long enough. And if you don't, it's because you'll die early and you'll have to have someone suffer because of it. Cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, or all of those, is the question, can we handle these or can we lessen them? Two, Jesus did not say good things never happen to bad people. Fidel Castro died at a good old age. So did Hugh Hefner. Judas Iscariot was an apostle. The wicked breathe God's air and eat God's food. God is good to all. Three, Jesus did not say that bad things never happen because people are bad. Haman hung on his own scaffold. Ahab was struck by a random arrow. Jezebel got eaten by wild dogs. Forty-two disrespectful youth were mauled by two angry bears. Madeline Murray O'Hare was stuffed into a fifty-five gallon drum. Sometimes you may not be able to tell it was a judgment from God, Harold's obituary probably didn't say he was struck by God, but he died of a disease. Harold Camping was the heretic that hurt so many people a few years ago, and his obituary died of the complications of a stroke, but I'm convinced the Lord struck him. 4. Jesus did not say that the Galileans and Jerusalemites were not sinners. He said they were not sinners above or beyond others. It's interesting, the sinful bias of the Jews in Jerusalem. He said, what about with the tongue and cheek? What about those northern Jews that were massacred by Pilate? They had it coming, didn't they? And Jesus said, and it certainly intimates, we ought to be aware of current events. He said, what about the southern Jews that had a tower fall upon them? Not just the Galilean Jews suffered, the Jerusalemite Jews suffered as well. All is sinning comes short of the glory of God. Five, Jesus intimates that these victims did more than die by their disasters. Do you notice that? He didn't say, you shall all likewise die if you don't repent. He said, you shall all likewise perish. Jesus is intimating here that they died unrepentant sinners. They suffered such things. And the wording, the tense is that they continue to suffer. The word perish is more than they died, but they perished in their dying. There's more than just dying. There's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. In other words, Jesus was pretty blunt. And it's not politically correct to say that Jesus is here warning people of hell. And he spoke more about hell than anyone else. And there are people that think that the Old Testament God is a God who is a bully, and the New Testament is gentle Jesus. And he is gentle Jesus, but the truth is that God's love and God's wrath are both, as one said, ratcheted up as you go from the Old to the New Testaments. And Jesus spoke some very serious words about hell, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. The word not quenched is the word asbestos, unquenchable. Remember the words in Revelation, where the smoke of their torment arose forever and ever. It's pretty graphic, isn't it? And if that's just, they say, well, it's just a figure of speech. Well, if the shadow is horrible, what is the reality? Sixth, Jesus did say by His response and by the parable that except we repent, we shall all likewise perish. He turns to the living observers and the parable underlines what His message is. In other words, He's saying unless we have appropriate fruit as image bearers of God, as trees planted by the Heavenly Father, we will be cut down by death. Not that all lost people will die in a disaster. Hugh Hefner died peacefully. Then what? Death will be the first installment of condemnation. Hell is a temporary holding place. Gehenna is the maximum security. People aren't going to want to exit Hades. There is an exit to Hades. There is no exit to Gehenna. There's an entrance, but no exit. Jesus is serious when people came to Him not so serious. Jesus is saying if we die unconverted, we will be cut down in death as a tree is cut down for not bearing fruit. The word that He uses here is also found earlier in Matthew 3 and Luke 3. Even now also the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn, cut down, and cast into the fire." Because it's rendering the ground useless and ineffective. We're God's image bearers. This is God's earth and we owe Him our lives. We owe Him our love. We owe Him our repentance. It's serious business. God is a prison as well as a paradise. And Jesus took this sensitive, this time in a sensitive atmosphere to very, very seriously warn people. to flee from the wrath to come. His answer is, the unrepentant are not ready to die, whether they die by calamity or natural cause. That's the message to take home. The unrepentant are not ready to die whether by calamity or natural cause. Unless we believers just wipe our brows and say, shoo, we too are not ready to die if we're not bearing sufficient fruit. It matters to begin well and it matters to continue well, but brother and sister, it matters that we end well too. Solomon didn't end well. Lot didn't end well. You want to end well. Now is the time for us to repent, all of us, whether lost or saved. These are opportunities that should stir up our repentance, not just breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't me that was affected. The unrepentant will perish when they die by calamity or natural cause. And the backslidden believer, how sad it would be to die in such a state. Do we not want to die well? We should die well as well as live well. I know a preacher whose wife had a mastectomy, and one of her dear friends, lady friends in the church, had contracted a terrible cancer not long after that, but her cancer didn't go into remission, and they had a large prayer meeting, and they should have, and hundreds of people showed up and prayed something like this, Oh God, heal her. which they should pray, heal her hundreds. But this woman who had a mastectomy was one of the last to pray and she said something like this, Lord, if you would heal her, we would be thankful. But if not, help her to die well. Help her to leave a good legacy with her children that we can die by grace as well as being saved by grace. And you know, the family of the woman that died admitted later that they prayed that this woman who prayed, who had had the mastectomy, might get cancer again. A couple months later, the husband of the woman called up the preacher and said, I need to talk to you now. And they met for coffee, and he said, the church people are such well-meaning people, and they've been so kind bringing meals and cleaning the house, but my wife is not getting any better. And when the people come to the house, they say something like this, how are you doing? I'm not doing well, I'm nauseous, I'm sick, I can't hold down anything. Not getting any better. Well, don't worry. We're praying for you. You'll get better. And the husband basically was asking the preacher, give me permission to let her die. They won't give me permission to let her die. She died. She died well. She left a legacy that we can die in the Lord well. that it's a pleasant thought to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Jesus is saying that disasters are didactic. They're teachers to us. He's urging repentance. All these disasters, they have many uses. They wean us from earth. They make us long for heaven. They help us empathize with people. But they should be a leverage, a warning shot to us to flee from the wrath to come, am I ready to die? We're not animals, thank God, that we just go to the grave and to the dust. It's sad. We had to put down our two cats this summer. It's sad to have to see these poor pets. They had them 18 years. To have to bury them. But people, we're made in the image of God. And we're going to live somewhere forever, as Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say. The urgency of repentance is underscored. Not just to unbelievers. Oh friend, if you're without Christ, it's urgent that you repent. For we're just a heartbeat away from eternity. A heartbeat. And there's no second chance. God is a God of the second chances on earth. And the Word of the Lord appeared to Jonah the second time. And how often has the Word of the Lord appeared to us the second and the third and the fourth times. I've heard the Word about four times before I was saved. And there might be someone here, you've heard the Word hundreds of times. Do you dare to die without Christ? Don't dare to die. Have you ever read the last words of people? There's one that just scares me. The man said, I'm just a little curious what it's like to die unprepared. What a fool. To fall into the hands of the living God. But believer, this is a word to you and me. Are we rendering this earth, the real estate that we are planted in, are we rendering fruit to God? Whittling away the time, curious idols. We should be surprised and thankful that we don't receive more for our own insufficient fruit. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. At the risk of being insensitive, you say, what have you suffered? Not as much as many. But my cousin Dennis died horribly of Hodgkin's disease, one of my favorite cousins. I was almost drowned as a toddler. I was detained on the Indian Reservation at 16 and didn't think I was going to die. I had a horrible accident because of drugs. I was the last to escape a dorm fire in 1979. I was robbed in downtown Buffalo. I saw my mother die of cancer. I closed my father's eyes two years ago when he died. We're all going to suffer if we live long enough. But as one man said, are we so bound up in this life that we think that the worst thing that can happen to us is cancer or bankruptcy or a hurricane or a massacre? Hell is worst of all, permanent separation from God. At least you experience the common grace of God if you're lost today. You're breathing God's air. But the common graces of God will end if you die without Christ. Please. Take Jesus' warning. Flee from the wrath to come. Believer, use these calamities to wean us from earth. Focus on the inner man. The outward man is perishing. We know that more every day, don't we? But the inner man, is your inner man being strengthened? Is Christ dwelling at home in your heart? No, we know He's in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. But it's like when we first got our church building, It was in horrible shape, inside and outside. Weeds everywhere where grass could grow. I had to thrust my way through the bushes to get to the front door and inside was broken glass and all kinds of dirty carpets and filthy magazines underneath the carpets. but it was going to be our home. And we just took a long time to sweep it, clean it, put a new furnace and water heater in, and it became our home. But it was a mess. Jesus comes into us and He comes to a mess. And He means to clean us up Are we resisting that purging of our temples? Isn't it not time for us to repent of our pet sins and to forgive one another and not to hold grudges? Isn't it time for family worship? Isn't it biblical? Joshua said, it's for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Are you leaving a legacy with your children that Dad prayed with us every day? That was a priority. Mom, pleaded with us for our salvation and they cared for our souls. Can we handle it? Is that the question? Or are we ready should disaster and when disaster takes us? We live in a dangerous world. Let's be vigilant, safe, and thankful each day. Let us seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near. Let disasters and calamities awaken us to fresh repentance and evangelism. Let us pity victims of disasters and help wherever we may. GFA would welcome donations to Dominica for the Corneliuses, for instance. Operation Renewed Hope and Voice of the Martyrs, all these places will welcome. Maybe you can go and visit if you're retired and help. Let us flee from hell, which is the worst, last, never-ending disaster. Let us begin to bear appropriate fruit if we've been planted by our Heavenly Father. Begin family worship. Begin personal prayer. Begin to mortify sin and to forgive. Though you may not forget, you can choose not to remember what your loved one may have done to you. Think vertically, how much more have we offended a holy God and he doesn't hold it against us. Let us gain heaven, the ending of all calamity and disaster, safe in the arms of Jesus. Let us live well, but let us prepare to die well. Let us stay close to our Great Shepherd, for He's with us whenever we go through the dark valleys. The Lord is my Shepherd. " There is meaning in disaster. Take time to think about it. Like Ecclesiastes 7.14 says, in the day of adversity, consider. Let's Let's consider. Let's take some moments to consider. Let's just wait till business as usual, things return to normal. That isn't learning from these disasters. The Lord has spoken. Who can but prophesy? Who can but fear? Who can but repent? Who can but evangelize? It's good to be in the house of mourning. There's a heaven to gain. There's a hell to shun. It's urgent that we repent. Not that we think about someone else that needs repentance. Let us repent of our sins. Stay close to our Savior. God bless. His word to our hearts. May the words of our mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.