The following message was given at Grace Community Church in Mendon, Nevada. If you have your Bibles, let's open up to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. We'll be picking up in verse 54. We'll be going all the way to chapter 13, verse 9. This is the reading of God's word. He also said to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the West, you say at once, a shower is coming. And so it happens. And when you see the South wind blowing, you say, there will be scorching heat. And it happens. You hypocrites. You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, 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. Or those 18 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. And he told them this parable. A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, look, for three years now, I have come back seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? And he answered him, sir, Let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then, if it should bear fruit next year, well and good. But if not, you can cut it down. This is the reading of God's word. You know, there is a secret buried in this passage that should be no secret at all. You see, it's not a secret because Jesus tried to bury it. And it's not a secret because the ancient church tried to hide it. No, it hasn't been buried by a tradition. It hasn't been buried by theologians. But Jesus is going to tell us one absolutely indispensable thing that all people must do to be right with God. And this is the teaching that people for years, for generations have spent all kinds of time trying to obscure. People have reinvented Jesus. They have reinvented Christianity so many times that the most obvious of things have become hidden. But we will try and clear that up this morning. Now we have a longer chunk of verses than we normally cover, but it breaks up actually quite nicely into three clean sections. You will be able to remember this entire sermon in three parts, in one sentence. You must rightly respond to God because two, all sinners stand condemned and three, time is running out. You must rightly respond to God because all sinners stand condemned and time is running out. We begin with that first part. You must rightly respond to God. This was when we were in verses 54 to the end of chapter 12. Jesus starts, he starts with these signs that people live in light of. Namely the weather. And he describes two situations that if you were living next to the Mediterranean like they were, you would find them to be very commonplace. So you've got the Mediterranean on the West. And so when they would see clouds forming, when they would see clouds approaching from the West, common wisdom would have it that a shower was coming. Likewise, deserts to the south. And so a wind from the south would commonly bring scorching heat, hot enough to wilt the plants. These are common situations. Jesus is building up with a common point. And funny enough, I mean, this doesn't happen all that often in Jesus's teaching. I don't think anyone would have disagreed in the moment, which makes a kind of jolting what Jesus does next. Verse 56, so it's like lure, lure, lure, and you know the weather, right? You see the weather, you know how to interact with the weather. Verse 56, you hypocrites. Oh, oh, okay. Oh, I mean, why the harsh language, Jesus? You hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? See, his point is that people had these fairly sophisticated approaches to the weather. And they were observant. They learned. And they would act in light of their observations. And so his condemnation is that with the coming of the Son of God, they're not observant. They're not learning and they're certainly not living in light of what's going on. Jesus believes that there is something obvious about the times in which they live. And so if they can see clouds over the ocean, they should certainly be able to see what's happening around them. I want you to consider again where they are, what they have already seen. Consider the signs that have already come. Luke's gospel opens with John the Baptist and John the Baptist was a very big deal. Crowds were flocking to him as he ministered in the wilderness. And what was he proclaiming? He said he was preparing for the arrival of the King. He said that wrath and judgment of God were coming and they were coming for the unrepentant. And then you would even have it in his ministry. We see this recorded in John chapter one, verse 29. He would say, he would basically point at Jesus and say, this is him. The King I've been talking about, it's Jesus. He was the one who was to come. This is the lamb of God, the son of God. And so you put it all together. And John is saying the King is here. The judge is here. Judgment and forgiveness alike are here. It's a huge sign. And what's the other enormous sign that they are missing? Oh yeah, Jesus. Jesus himself, they are missing. People would say even just with his teaching, his teaching stood out. They said he teaches with authority. Unlike our scribes, he has this just special authority and they could tell just when he taught, they could tell. But then you added the works of power. Jesus healed. Jesus cast out demons. Jesus raised the dead right in front of them. And so take these two signs together. John the Baptist, the great and final Old Testament prophet. Jesus, the anointed, the son of God. And what are you supposed to do about these two? You're supposed to at least listen. You're supposed to obey. You're supposed to repent. You're supposed to believe. And what are you not supposed to do? You're not supposed to just gawk. You're not supposed to criticize. You're certainly not supposed to reject. Jesus is saying that these unbelieving groups, they can peg the weather and act accordingly. But when something more important and more obvious comes along, namely the Son of God among them, then suddenly they're unable to come up with the right conclusion. Jesus asks them, why don't you know how to interpret what's happening all around you? He's implying that it is more obvious to respond to the spiritual things of God than it is to respond to the weather. He condemns them not because they're ignorant. He condemns them because they are willfully ignorant. They have to be willfully ignorant to fail to respond rightly to a sign so obvious as Jesus Christ among them. In a spiritual sense, you must choose to be as blind as they were being. And so Jesus says, judgment will be terrible. for such willful ignorance. Verses 57 through 59, let me read them for you again. And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny Judgment will be terrible for such willful ignorance. Jesus says, why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Why don't you act in line with what you know is coming? And so this is this legal picture he gives them. You're on your way to court, but you know you're going to lose. That's important here for you to understand this. You know you are going to lose. And so how do you spend your time on the way to court? Do you dig in your heels? No, he's saying you spend that time trying to settle the case. Jesus says a debtor's prison awaits you. You're going to be dragged before the judge. The judge is going to declare you guilty. He is going to throw you into prison and not just any prison, not like our prison. He is going to throw you into debtors prison. And there's a very big catch about debtors prison. If you could not pay the debt before going to prison, how are you ever going to pay the debt when you are locked up? Do you see the breakdown there? Darrell Bach said this, that actually in ancient life, the debtor was beaten in prison. Why? As an incentive to his family to pay the debt. In fact, generally there was little possibility of getting out of debtor's prison. That is a hopeless situation. And so Jesus is making a strong case here. He says, you are ignoring the times in which you live. You are willfully ignoring the Son of God with you. You are ignoring the judgment hangs over your head. Now is the time for peace. You are going to lose the case. So now is the time to make peace. And every person who can hear Jesus's words needs to respond because they are all in the same boat. Our first point, you must respond rightly to God. Why? That's our second point. Because chapter 13, verses one through five, because you are a sinner and all sinners stand condemned. As Jesus is talking, some people, they seem to have felt the need to tell Jesus about some recent tragedies. And these are accounts that you're only going to find recorded in the Bible. One describes a man-made tragedy. There are these Galileans who Pilate killed, and making it all the more horrifying, perhaps, He killed them on their way to offer sacrifices to God. And so you have it, their blood mingling with the blood of the sacrifices they were intending to offer to God. The other tragedy describes a tragedy more likely of natural causes, a tower, maybe even a scaffolding falling on 18 people, killing them all. And we sort of have to guess at the reason that the crowd brought this up. But based on what Jesus will say next, the idea is probably something like this. They're hearing him and then say, you know, speaking of people being judged, what about these recent tragedies? And this comes from an ancient idea that only sinners suffer. See, people have long held a mistaken belief that those who suffer somehow specially deserve their suffering. It's this idea of divine retribution. The idea that God gives good to those who live well, to those who are good, and he gives punishment to those who are evil. And now you hear that, and there's a part of it that's clearly true, but it's also far too simple. Jesus confronts this idea. He looks around him, you think, you think these bad things happen to these people because they were bad people? No. No, that's not it. And Jesus just sort of brushes away their bad theology. And he goes right for the heart. He wants them to look past their misconception, and he wants them to see the truth of their situation. What he'll say twice, verses three and five, This is your situation, unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Because every sinner stands on common ground. And it's the common ground of condemnation. And your sin, whatever it is, will drag you to hell. Here Jesus confronts people who think that other people must be the bad sinners because they're the ones who've got big problems. They're the ones who've got disasters in their lives. And let's be honest, we're not above thinking like that. People lose their jobs and we wonder, oh, what's wrong with them? People's kids rebel and we wonder where they failed in their parenting because clearly if they had been doing a good job, this wouldn't have happened. People suffer in their relationships. People suffer in their health. And we have these thoughts like, well, that's what happens when you don't do things God's way. Jesus would look at you. Jesus would look into your heart and he'd say, no. Not only is that a simplistic way to view people and a simplistic way to view God, but it's also a devious defense against seeing your own sin for what it is. Put your eyes back on your own life. Put your eyes on your own soul. See your sin for what it is. A death sentence. Inescapable guilt. Eternal condemnation. Jesus says, stop looking at other people's sins. Look at your sin and repent. And repent. The only hope in the face of the sin that condemns us all is to repent. Forget about ranking other people's sins. Look at your sin, see its wickedness, see its filthiness, see its death and run from it. Run from your sin and run to the God who forgives. Jesus says there are two choices. Repent or perish. That's it. And so we have it, the secret that everyone should know because it was right there on the surface. But across time and across our own meddling, we have obscured it. It's just this, you must repent or perish. Every man, every woman, every child must repent or perish. Oh, what an unpopular thing to say. What an unpopular thing to say. Because, I mean, first, there's just the repentant side of it. Because we hear it, and our society hears it, and they want to say, who are you? You can't tell me what to do. Who are you to say anything I am doing is wrong? We don't like repentance. And then there's the perishing part. Not only is Jesus saying that we need to repent, he's saying that there is judgment awaiting those who do not repent. He's not saying that everyone's gonna have a tower collapse on them. He's saying that people have far more to worry about than a one-time death. They have to worry about an eternal death. They have to worry about an everlasting death. They have to worry about judgment in hell forever. Many hear judgment and they think it's offensive and they think it's even outdated, but you cannot escape that Jesus believed in judgment. Jesus has been popularly reimagined in so many ways, and one of them being that He doesn't expect you to change. He just wants to take everyone however they want to be. But the problem with that is you can't actually believe that if you read what Jesus says. If you read about what Jesus believed. Jesus said that our sin is very real. It's rampant. And it is damning. And unless we turn from it wholeheartedly, a hundred percent, unless we run from it and to Him, there is no hope. There is none whatsoever. And I hope you understand this isn't just some preacher telling you about hell, yelling about repentance. This is the son of God. You see the words, they're his own, right? You see they're coming from his mouth. It is the son of God warning all of humanity that they are on the path of destruction and they must turn around. They must turn around. You must respond rightly to God because you are a sinner and all sinners stand condemned. And time is running out. Our third point, chapter 13, picking up in verse six, the parable one more time for you. Time is running out. And he told this parable, a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vine dresser, look, for three years now, I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? And he answered him, sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure. And then, if it should bear fruit next year, well and good. But if not, you can cut it down. The parable's straightforward, isn't it? You have the owner of a vineyard. He plants a fig tree and he plants it in good soil. And what's it supposed to do? It's supposed to bear fruit. but it doesn't. And so for years and years at a time, it does not bear fruit. And so he comes and with every right, he wants to cut it down. He's saying it's not fruitful and it's taking the nutrients out of the soil. It's wasting its place in the soil that something else could be using. It's wasting the land. Why don't we just cut it down? And so you have the gardener saying, Let's give it one more chance. One more chance, and we'll do everything for it. We'll prepare the soil. We'll just get this just right. And if it bears fruit, great. And if it doesn't, then you can cut it down. This parable has more than one lesson for us. The first one is don't miss that God's grace and his mercy go above and beyond. Because the picture here is of a tree that year after year does not bear the fruit that it's supposed to. And this is humanity. This is humanity across all time. You have God in his grace, he reveals himself. He reveals himself and then he also puts in people a conscience, a conscience to sense their sin. And what would be the right response? It would be to repent. It would be to believe. It'd be to live a life in light of that repentance, in light of that faith. And yet so often humanity does not. But God, He continues to be gracious, and yet they don't respond. His goodness and His glory, they uphold humanity's very life, and still they don't respond. And then there they are guilty as can be totally deserving judgment. And yet still he doesn't judge them. Still he is merciful. Still he withholds the punishment that they deserve. Year after year, he gives them good that they don't deserve. Year after year, he does not give them the justice that they do deserve. Year after year, generation after generation, he is gracious, giving far above and beyond what people deserve. He is merciful, not giving them the punishment that they do deserve. And you could easily come to the mistaken belief that he will always be that way towards rebellious humanity. That the grace is unending, that the mercy is unending. But that's the second point of the parable. The grace and mercy will run out. The unfruitful tree would not get to waste grace forever. That unfruitful tree would not get to enjoy mercy forever. And just like the tree was counting down to its judgment, humanity is counting down to its day before the judge too. We so easily get lulled into thinking that the way things are now are the way things will always be. It's easy to think that we'll never be called to account for the wrongs we commit. It's easy to think that no one will ever know the sins that we've got bound up in our hearts, much less make us answer for them. But Christ is very clear. Christ is very clear that time is running. Grace is expiring, so respond today. Grace is expiring, so respond today. The point for someone hearing this is to see what's coming ahead, what is certainly coming ahead, and change how they are living. They're supposed to see that the window of opportunity is closing and they need to take advantage of it while they can. One more time, you must respond rightly to God because you are a sinner and all sinners stand condemned and time is running out for you. The part that matters most with Jesus's words, it's not what other people do with them. It is what you do with them. This is a passage that speaks especially to those who are not following Christ. It is a passage that speaks especially to those who are not trusting in his work for their salvation. It speaks especially to those who would say, I don't know if I have repented. Please hear, it is speaking to you. You must rightly respond to the times in which you live. We live today in a time of even greater clarity than when Jesus was teaching. We don't just have the signs of John the Baptist and of the teaching of Jesus, we have the completed ministry of Jesus. We have the Holy Spirit who has come, who's eliminating, who's guiding, who's convicting, who's saving. The gospel is believed across the world. The good news is regularly and widely proclaimed. There are Christians all over the place. Yes, we pray that there will be more, but there are Christians everywhere. The truth is not hidden in some cave. And in the face of this clarity, Jesus says to you, why don't you judge what is right? Why don't you live in light of the God of creation? Why don't you run from judgment? You must rightly respond to the times in which you live because you are a sinner condemned by God's law. Our conscience, it is a gift from God. It's a gift that some people make a lot of use of. It's a gift that some people make a lot less use of, but it is a gift and it is there. And in the face of God's creation, And in the face of what you know to be right, even if all you have is just a little glimmer of what is right, you know enough to know that you do not pass God's standards on your own. See, the big problem is what do we do about the bad things that we have done? What do we do about the bad things that are in our hearts? Because think of your own heart. Think of your own crimes against God. If I said, have you ever had an evil thought? Have you ever done something evil? You're not being honest if you can't think of anything. And so you think of it, think of your crimes. See the problem for you, the problem for every sinner still in their sins is that God is a perfectly just judge. And so what is he going to do with your crimes? See criminals in human courts, they don't get to show up and then just say, you know, these really weren't important. Let's ignore this. And actually any judge who goes along with that is considered a bad judge. Human criminals cannot ignore their crimes in human courts. How much more so will we not be able to ignore our crimes before the perfect judge in the court of heaven? We will not get to look at God and say, I didn't think that was a big deal. It never bothered me. Everyone else was doing it. That won't matter. Whatever good you think you've done, The problem is you can't escape the bad things that you have done. You can't escape that there is evil in your life. There is evil in your heart. And so you stand condemned. Before God's holy law, you stand condemned. And Jesus says to you, to no one else, pretend you're the only person in the room. Jesus says to you, If you do not repent, you will perish eternally. And all your privileges, your conscience, maybe your upbringing, maybe your church, maybe the only thing you'll have going for you is that you heard this sermon, but every single one of your privileges will be held against you. Like the acts of an executioner. The condemnation of God hangs over your head and time is running out. Time is running out, not for someone else, it's running out for you. The incredible thing about sermons, it's not the preacher. The incredible thing is that God is always working in sermons. Where the word of God is present, even just a little bit, God is working. And the wonderful thing today is that he might very well be working in you right now. Because in his love, you may be feeling the dread of judgment like you've never known before. And in his grace, you may be feeling the conviction of your sin, things that didn't bother you and now suddenly they bother you a lot. And by his power, you might be seeing glimpses of the truth that have never been clear to you before. But please do not mistake conviction with repentance and do not mistake fear with faith. Coming some of the way toward God is not enough. Being a halfway believer is not enough. Today, God calls you to completely give yourself over to him, to completely renounce your sins, to completely renounce how you lived, and to completely trust in Jesus's death on the cross for the salvation of your life. Today is the day because God's grace and his mercy will not last forever. He offers grace today. He may not offer it even tonight. He is merciful today, but his mercy will not go on forever. Christ speaks to you. and you must respond rightly to his voice. You are a condemned sinner before the law of God. Time is running out, so you must make peace with God now. There is no hope if you wait, but there is hope for you right now. Make peace with the judge now. Trust in the Savior who died to save sinners. Make peace with Him while there is still time. And trust that if you turn, turning from your life and from yourself and turning to Him, He will embrace you. If you flee your life, He will welcome you. If you give your life to Him, He will give his life to you. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the law of God and how it shines a light on our desperate need. We thank you for your grace. You have given us so much better than we have deserved. You have given us the breath in our lungs every day, even just to arrive at this point to hear these words from Christ. You have been so merciful with us. Oh God, if you called us to answer for all of our sins, we would be lost. Today, we pray that you would give the gift of repentance. to everyone in need of it now. We pray there would be no illusions. We pray there would be none who wonder if they have believed, who wonder if they have repented. Lord, by the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray you'd give them the blessed assurance of knowing they are yours. Please work in our hearts, make us useful to our loved ones, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We hope that you were edified by this message. For additional sermons as well as information on giving to the ministry of Grace Community Church, please visit us online at gracenevada.com. That's gracenevada.com.