Let us turn once again to Luke chapter 13 and read the first 10 verses. Luke 13, there were present at that season some that told him 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, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen 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, 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. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. Last evening we meditated especially on verses six and seven of this parable of the fig tree. And this morning we return to it, especially verses eight and nine. where we hear the vine dresser, and he speaks this, 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. A dear congregation, the Lord has spared us and He has brought us into another year. Others in this past night have exchanged time for eternity and have been summoned to appear before God's holy judgment seat. But we have been brought into another year. That's a gift. Each day is a gift. And each year is a gift. And it is one of the prayers that is prayed for you and me. Spare him one more year. But one day that prayer for sparing mercy will be passed. But this morning we may hear yet the entreaty for one more year. That's what you can write over this sermon then. The entreaty for one more year. We'll see three things. First of all, intercession made. Secondly, mercy sought. And thirdly, the outcome considered. The entreaty for one more year. First of all, the intercession made. Secondly, mercy sought. And thirdly, the outcome considered. Yes, solemn words were uttered by the vineyard owner. Cut it down. There was a reason for these words, as the owner of the vineyard had found no fruit on that fig tree. He had been patient, but after three years of finding the fig tree fruitless, he orders it to be cut down. That's what fruitless lives deserve. That's what fruitless lives in such a case can hear and expect justice demanding destruction. Cut it down. That's how we hear judgment threatening. But then we hear the voice of the vinedresser saying, let it alone this year also. Let it remain standing this year also. Spare it this year too. 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. We hear the vine dressers and treaty for this fruitless fig tree. What a mercy it is to be prayed for by others. Have you never felt that? For others to mention your name before the judgment, before the throne of grace rather, and for you to be prayed for. That's how it is here. It's a privilege to be prayed for by others. Intercession is made on behalf of others. Of course, there are other examples of that. There's not only this example of the vine dresser interceding on behalf of the barren fig tree. We have other examples in the Bible. Abraham, for instance, interceding on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 18 tells us how Abraham stood before the Lord and asked, Will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city. Will thou also destroy and not spare the place Fifty righteous that are there in Abraham interceding on behalf of others in the wicked city like Sodom or Moses. In Exodus 32, after a golden calf, was fashioned while Moses was up in the mountain receiving the law from God in the mountain. And then the anger of the Lord burned against the people for fashioning this golden calf and Moses prays on behalf of the people, Exodus 32. Or in Numbers 14, when the people They side with the ten unbelieving spies who gave an evil report and they don't believe that the Lord will bring them into the promised land. Again Moses pleads with the Lord for mercy and Psalm 106 verse 23 says, Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them. Moses stood in the bridge, and Israel had a mediator praying for them, even when it was so rebellious. What a mercy that is! Do you realize that? To be prayed for by others, to have someone praying for you, to have a loved one praying for you perhaps, to have a child of God praying for you, but especially to have the Lord Jesus praying for you. I mean, there is another instance in which something very similar takes place as in this account in Luke 13. We hear John the Baptist, for instance, in Matthew 3 addressing the Pharisees and the Sadducees and saying, O generation of vipers, bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance and think not to say within yourselves, that we have Abraham to our father. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And after that encounter, we read this, then cometh Jesus. John the Baptist is saying the axe is there. You're fruitless in your lives. You're about to be cut down. Then cometh Jesus. And what did Jesus come to do? Did He come with the axe? Did He come to purge and separate the wheat from the chaff? No, not yet. He comes first on a mission of mercy. He comes to suffer on behalf of sinners. and to pray on behalf of sinners. He is the praying High Priest. He's the one sent by the Father. Of course, He comes preaching the Gospel. He comes to do good. He seeks sinners' good. He warns. He instructs. He exhorts with long-suffering. And yet people did not believe Him. And they wanted to do away with Him. And they did, so that they crucified Him. on the cross, nailing his hands and his feet. And what did he do in response? Did he curse them? Did he hurl insults at his crucifiers? Did he speak words of bitterness against those who were against him? Does he complain about them? Here they have refused to repent. What can stop the acts of God's justice from being laid at the root of the tree this very moment? Now that Christ has been crucified, what does Jesus do? Does He say, Father, cut them down. They won't repent. No. You might expect it. I mean, if Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, because of their rebellion, were swallowed up because of their rebellion and sin against Moses, if Uzzah died because he touched the ark, Should not judgment come down upon these people who have taken the Lord Jesus and with wicked hands have crucified Him? Judgment is deserved. But while judgment is deserved, the Lord Jesus turns to His Father and says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And there in Luke 23 verse 34, the same word used in our text is used. Father, let them alone. Father, hold out a little longer. Don't cut them down yet. The Lord Jesus is the great intercessor who's praying. Yes, he's praying. Hebrews 7 verse 25 says that. Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession. Or Romans 8 verse 34. Who is even at the right hand of God. Who also maketh intercession for us. He's the great intercessor. Praying for sinners. Isaiah 53 verse 12 says that. He made intercession for the transgressors. Yes, he prays particularly for his people. I realize that. But there is also this example that shows him praying for those who are still unconverted. And it's Christ-like to intercede for others, isn't it? Stephen did that when he was being stoned to death, that he prayed, lay not this sin to their charge. Intercession is made. I wonder, at this point already in the sermon, whether we understand this. The privilege of being prayed for by others, and whether we pray also on behalf of others, and whether we pray for our enemies, and whether we intercede for those who persecute us. As Jesus says, love your enemies, bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Like Stephen, or like Paul, who says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. The unbelieving Jews are prayed for, and unbelieving Gentiles are prayed for too. the Lord Jesus prays as the interceding vine dresser. Is that not why you have received another day? And maybe another year? But what is it that He prays for? What is it that He seeks? Let's look at that in our second point, the mercy sought. Let's turn from the prayer in general, the intercession in general, to the prayer that's specifically prayed. Yes, the vinedresser is asking for mercy. Mercy is sought. That's what we need. Now let me say it with two things. Mercy is sought, first of all, sparing mercy. Let it alone. This year also. Let it alone. Let it remain. Postpone the judgment. Delay the punishment. Yes, there's prayer here for sparing mercy. We read of something like that sparing mercy in the days of Noah. When God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, God resolves to destroy the world with a flood. But He gives them time. He gives them a lot of time. 120 years they may be spared before the flood will bring them all to destruction. Time was given. Or in Genesis 15, God tells Abraham that his seed will inherit the land of Canaan, but because the iniquity of the Canaanites and the Amorites is not yet full, another 400 years will pass. 400 years! Generations will be given time of the Canaanites and the Amorites, even though they're wicked sinners. They're given time. Nineveh, remember, was told yet 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed. A long time may be given, or a short time. Years may be given, or days may be given. But whether it's short or long, it's sparing mercy. That's mercy, isn't it? No, I realize sparing mercy is not saving mercy. Sparing mercy is not saving mercy. Sparing mercy is not salvation. But it is a mercy to be spared, to be given time. Time to repent. Time to seek Him. Isn't that what the Lord has given to you, my unconverted friend? It's what the Lord asks for. Spare Him this year also. He's appealing to God's long-suffering kindness. As Peter says, He is long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Do you realize that? He seeks your good. Therefore, Father, let it alone this year also. Did you realize it? Mercy to be brought into a new year. To receive another day of grace. To be spared. And for the Lord to say as He does in Isaiah 48 verse 9, For my name's sake will I defer mine anger. I'll defer it. I won't unleash it now. I'll give time. Do you realize what you do by your unrepentant heart and life? You're provoking him by your sin. You're provoking him by your unbelief, my unconverted friend. And if he were to deal with you according to your sins, you would perish. The ground would swallow you up. An accident would take place and your life would be snuffed out. But the mediator prays that he would not cut you off yet, that he would defer his anger and hold back the acts of judgment. Here you have been cumbering the ground, but someone is praying that you may be allowed to continue another year. It's a mercy. Spurgeon said prolonged life should always be regarded as a gift of mercy. If we are here this year also, it is as a result of love's pleading. loves pleading. Therefore, let us seek grace to realize this, that we may live one more day and receive another year because of the mediator praying for sparing mercy. Give him one more year, one more year of gospel sermons, one more year of gospel witness, one more year of gospel influence, one more year of gospel preaching. Spare him one more year. But there's more. Sparing mercy. After all, I said sparing mercy isn't saving mercy. No, in order for us to be saved, something else is needed. What is it? That's the second thing. Awakening mercy. Awakening mercy. He says that the vine dresser says he will dig about it and dung it. He will dig about it and fertilize it. Can I put it this way? Some more dramatic means will be used to shake the soul and to awaken the soul. The shovel is going into the ground. The farmer will aerate the soil. He will loosen the hard ground. Yes, that hard ground must be broken up. As Jeremiah 4, verse 3 says, break up the fallow ground. And the roots are going to feel it. Maybe some of the roots are going to be cut by the shovel. That's unsettling. You see, the Lord has to shake us. He has to prepare the ground. He has to break our hard hearts. He has to break our stubbornness, our obstinacy, our rebellion. Sometimes He brings difficult providences into our lives. He takes a loved one away, snatches another one away. He confronts us with death and judgment. He has ways to do this. He did it with King Manasseh. Oh, how Manasseh cumbered the ground in his day. loving the world, and loving sin, and hating God, and persecuting God's people. And then Manasseh is brought into difficulty, and then his life is shaken. He's brought among thorns, and he's bound with fetters, with chains. That's what the Lord uses to awaken King Manasseh, so that King Manasseh may be saved, or Saul of Tarsus, A man who had thought he was a fruit-bearing tree, but he didn't realize how near to destruction he was, provoking God by his sin, until he was brought down on the road to Damascus. And he's awakened to his need, where the prodigal son, there in that distant country, a mighty famine arose. The vinedresser is using more dramatic means to make him see his need. He begins to be in want. That's what the Lord does. He uses trials. He uses affliction to make us see our need. Special calls and providences. The lump in your body that you hadn't felt before. The sickness of a child. Struggles with a rebellious teenager. An accident maybe. the diagnosis the doctor gives you, the conviction and conscience that troubles you. He's digging about you. He's putting in the shovel. He's doing more too. He's fertilizing with the aerated soil in order to reach down to those roots, to affect those roots, to give life As Matthew Henry says, He comes with the terrors of the law to break up the fallow ground and the promises of the gospel to humble and encourage us. He's digging around our lives by His Holy Spirit. Someone has said He has nutrients to give us from the cross of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Have you never felt the tree of yours shaken? Have you never felt the shovel of His law going in? Has the Lord never come to you with convictions and blessings, warnings and instruction? Has He not come providing nutrients from the cross, grace and blood? But what effect has it yielded? Has it resulted in fruit? Let us look at that in our third point, the outcome considered. The outcome considered, and then there are several possible outcomes. The vinedresser suggests that he will dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well. That's one possible outcome, that it bear fruit, that the means will be blessed, and that would be so good for the unfruitful soul to become a fruit-bearing soul in union with Christ. That would be a cause for rejoicing. Matthew Henry summarizes some of the good that would flow from it. He says, This unfruitful professors of religion, if after a long unfruitfulness they will repent and amend and bring forth fruit, shall find all is well. God will be pleased, for he will be praised. Ministers' hands will be strengthened. There will be joy in heaven for it, and the vineyard will be beautified, and the tree shall be blessed by God. Think about some of these things. It will be like a bran plucked out of the fire. That is to the glory of God. That He takes a vessel of wrath and makes it what was destined for destruction, but makes it know the riches of His glory and makes Him a vessel of mercy. Romans 9 verse 22. If He takes a fruitless tree and makes it into a fruit-bearing tree, that is to His glory. It will be to the praise of God. Yes, If there would be food, God's people would be encouraged. No doubt God's people are looking for this, and it encourages them to hear of God's saving work in souls. Think of what it must have been to have received the news that King Manasseh was converted in the Old Testament, that this useless tree that had been cumbering the ground for so long became a useful tree. King Manasseh is saved! Or what do we read of when Saul of Tarsus was converted? Then we read in Acts chapter 9, Then had the churches rest, and were edified in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. You see, my unconverted friend, it would be an encouragement to God's people to hear of God's not just sparing work, but saving work in your life. when a brand is plucked out of the fire, when a fruitless tree is made fruitful. Yes, that would be to our joy. After all, there is joy in heaven. There is joy in the presence of the angels when one sinner repenteth. Yes, and another outcome would be then the church would be beautified, the vineyard of God beautified, because there's another tree that doesn't just have leaves, but has fruit. God worked fruit of a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Fruit of grace. Fruit of love, joy, and peace. Fruit of repentance and faith. Fruit of Christ-likeness. Yes, and the tree is spared and blessed by God. It will be pruned and it will bring forth more fruit. That's one possible outcome. That's what God's people pray for. That's what the Lord seeks. That's what the vinedresser seeks. But there's another possible outcome that we have to consider too. The vinedresser says if he bears fruit, well, but if not, if not, if there is no change, if there is no fruit, if all That labor will be in vain if the terrors of the law will not do anything and the promises of the gospel will not do anything. If an extra year of warnings and callings and promises of the gospel will not do it, then the gospel witness will not do it, then cut it down. It's finished. There's no hope for him. One year. And the sinner will have to answer to God himself. You see, the Lord's patience does have a limit. Fruitless trees will not continue indefinitely. Time will come that they are cut down. They will not be allowed to cumber the ground forever and ever. If we will not repent, we must perish. Spurgeon says, If we will not be benefited by the spade, we must fall by the axe. And if there has been no repentance, the longer we have been spared, the greater our judgment will be. The more labor is bestowed on us, the more concern the Lord has shown to us, then to be cut down as fruitless, that will increase your agony and condemnation in hell. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. How terrible if we squander our days, if we squander our opportunities, if we squander our years and our gospel privileges, And we abuse his mercies still, year after year, in spite of him saying, give him another year. We'll try again. We'll dig. We'll dung it. We'll let him feel the shovel. We'll come with more warnings. How terrible it would be to perish then. Let me, in closing, make several applications. In light of this, first of all, in the words of Ephesians 5, verse 18, let us redeem the time. Ephesians 5, verse 18, let us redeem the time. Do you feel it, young people? Do you feel it, older ones? Time is precious. But time has a limit. And time is short. Time, when it's gone, you never get it back. I spoke a few weeks ago with someone who had been near to death. And I asked him what he thought of time and life now. I don't think he was older than 50. Our life is but a breath, and when it's done, it's done. You don't get time back. If you lose money, you can get money back, but you never get time back. And therefore, Paul says to the Ephesians, let us redeem the time, for the days are evil. And not only are our days evil, but our hearts are evil. Therefore, remember how precious time is, and how time is not to be wasted in squander. And therefore, we need to turn to the Lord and say, remember, Lord, how frail I am, how few my years, my life is like a cloud that comes and disappears. And let us seek grace that we don't squander our time. Our time is to be used well. Yes, let me mention two particular times that we should use well. We should use our Sabbaths well. Our Lord's Days well. And we should use our youth well, young people. Use your youth, young people, well. You don't get your youth back. Use it to seek the Lord. Use it to call upon Him, for He is willing to be found. He loves those that love Him, and those that seek Him early, they will find Him. Use your youth to seek Him, to be reconciled to Him, to find peace with God in Christ. The devil, I know, the devil says to you young people, you're young, you've got lots of time. You can always seek salvation later. Don't worry about it now. The devil later on comes back to you when you're old and says, you squandered your youth. Now there's no more hope for you. Now it's too late for you to seek the Lord. No, let's not listen to the devil when he says, just waste your time, throw it away. You still have lots of time. You don't know. Redeem the time. Use it wisely. Buy it up. Don't waste it. Take advantage of the time that's given. Twenty-minute blocks, let them not be used for squandering it on our phones and iPads. Use it to seek the Lord while He may be found. Especially use gospel opportunities well, gospel blessings well, and let us use it well even if we become very old. We still must die. Therefore, use the time to prepare to meet your Maker, for you must meet Him. Redeem the time by turning to Him with the time that He has given to you. Ask Him to show you how to use that time wisely. Ask Him for grace to redeem the time itself, because we're living on borrowed time, because someone is giving us another day or another year. But first of all, let us redeem the time. Let us submit to the work of Christ. Let us submit to the work of Christ. He's the vinedresser. He's the one who comes to us with the shovel. He's the one that comes to us with nutrients of the gospel. He's the one who seeks your good. Yes, there's pain when the shovel goes into the soil, and when he cuts at the roots, and there's pain when he prunes, Let us seek grace to submit to His work. Submit yourselves to God, James 4 verse 7. Submit to His convicting work. Submit to His awakening work. Don't despise it. Don't shrug it off. He is seeking your good. He is looking for your good. And He is looking for fruit. And in the lives of God's people too, He is looking for more fruit. Herein is my Father, glorify that you bring forth much fruit. Ask that you may take advantage of the days of grace given to you and the means of grace given to you, and that He will work by His Holy Spirit to open your blind eyes and to convict you of sin and righteousness and judgment. This is your only hope, that He has resolved to work and labor for the good of your soul. This is your hope, not that the world continues, not that you're given a long life, but that Christ wants to work. He wants to labor. He wants to strive with us. He will not always strive, though. And how sad it would be if nothing but the flames of hell will awaken our consciences. How sad it would be if we neglect so great salvation. Therefore, let us seek grace to submit to the shovel and the gospel nutrients, to the shovel of conviction and pain, and to receive from him the life that he gives and the sap that flows from the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Let us ask for the new birth. Let us seek all the grace that we need from Christ. And thirdly, let us pray for each other. Let us pray for each other. Let us intercede for one another. Let us imitate the vinedresser and pray for one another. Let us have hearts that are burdened with others like Paul who says, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. Let us pray for one another. Parents, we need to pray for our children. Children, you need to pray for your parents. Grandparents need to pray for their grandchildren. Grandchildren need to pray for their grandparents. Abraham prayed for Lot, living in the world of Sodom, realizing that God would be just to destroy Lot with the world, yet he prayed for him. Let us pray for one another. If there's a sick mother, the family prays. If there's a sick child, the family prays. that the Lord would spare this life for some time. Have you learned to pray? Has the Spirit of grace and supplications been given to you? Isn't that what you become concerned about when the Lord gives His Holy Spirit? Then you have a need like no one else, and nothing else, and you begin to seek Him. And you begin to seek Him for your soul, and for your own life. Let us not just pray for ourselves, let's also pray for one another. Can you think of no one to pray for? Is there no one that you know who is unsaved, is traveling to eternity without Christ, who needs the sparing mercy, but especially the awakening and saving mercy? The prayer of the righteous man availeth much. Let us intercede for one another. God's people, you should be on your knees regularly, pleading, yes, for yourselves and for more grace given to you, but also for others. And there are neighbors around us and people around us that we work with, and they don't know the truth. They don't know the grace of God. And there are children growing up who don't have parents praying for them. And grandparents don't pray for them. And that boys and girls don't know what prayer is either. And who to pray to and what to pray for. Should we not be praying for them? Spare them! But we should be praying especially for the church. Do good unto all men. Especially unto the household of faith. And there are still fruitless trees in our midst. There are fruitless young people in our midst. fruitless boys and girls in our midst, fruitless middle-aged people. Some people are half a century, and they're still fruitless. And there are those who are much older than that, and they're still fruitless. And it's so hard to awaken old sinners who are still fruitless. who have come under the shoveling work of the Lord Jesus, who have received gospel privileges. But let us pray for one another. The mediator does it. But if they do not repent, if the time of grace is over and they have not repented, then God's people will agree, yes, with pain in their heart, God's people will agree that God is just in cutting down the barren tree, the unfruitful tree. God's people will agree that God is just when a family member or a loved one is cut off, who remains fruitless. The vinedresser says that. If after that time and all that labor and there is still no fruit, then thou shalt cut it down. If they persist in being fruitless, then those who you have loved and who you have prayed for, if they are cut off, you will agree with God's judgment. Do you realize that, my unconverted friend? Those who have loved you and prayed for you, They will say God is just in cutting you off if you remain barren. Justice must be done. But why perish with such a praying intercessor as the Lord Jesus? Why perish when he displays all this work? lived a perfect life, and died the substitutionary death, has accomplished salvation, and is at work to apply salvation. And he's willing and able to give salvation to you, and to make a barren tree into a fruitful tree, to transform by his grace. I perish when he was cut off out of the land of the living, Even though he was the green tree, he took all the sins of unfruitfulness to the cursed tree of Golgotha, and the axe of God's judgment was taken against him, and he was cut off out of the land of the living. But he rose again, and he lives, and he's the source of fruit-bearing. He gives life and salvation. He gives the Holy Spirit also to give the fruit of love and joy and peace. And we made this New Year's Day come to him and say, Lord, I've discovered that I am all fruitless. But isn't the Lord Jesus the fruitful tree? And he says, from me is thy fruit found. Indeed, without the Lord Jesus, we can do nothing. I'm all barrenness. I'm all fruitlessness. I've abused mercies. I've squandered mercies. I've squandered opportunities. Have mercy on me. I need Christ. I cannot and will not bear fruit unless I'm in Christ. Grant me union and communion with Him, living in dependence upon Him and His grace, every day saying, Lord, I need Thee. and saying every hour, I can't do without Thee. Amen. Let us give thanks and pray. We turn to Thee, O great vine owner, vineyard owner and vine dresser, to ask Thee that Thou would spare us in order to awaken and to save, to grant us that living bond to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that green tree, who is the true fine, who has life and salvation to give, wilt thou grant that that union may be effected by thy gracious work, and that thou wouldst do so in our early years. Grant a special grace to boys and girls and to young people. Lord, turn them to thee. Our Lord, we pray it for all of us. If Paul prayed that all Israel might be saved, we would pray that the whole congregation would be saved. Lord, we can do it, but Thou art the great vinedresser. Will Thou bless the means and grant that there may be a sensitivity on our part, whereby we hear the knocks in mercy and turn to Thee for the mercy and salvation that thou art willing and able to give. Forgive our sins, Lord. Remember us this day. Give us a good and blessed day. Grant us also time in our closets. Help us and teach us to pray for one another and that thy kingdom may come and thy name may be hallowed. Forgive graciously our sins. Give us this day our daily bread, and lead us not into temptation. For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, we ask it. In Jesus' name, amen.