I'm going to ask you to stand as we read from our Bibles. We are going to be reading Luke chapter 13, 1 through 9. There were present at that season some who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all others? than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 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. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground? But he answered and said to him, Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it, and if it bears fruit, well, and if not, after that, you can cut it down. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you that we can come into your house, that we can gather together, that we can sing praises to your name, Lord, that we can see Friends from long ago and far away and near and far, Father, that we can all feel the Spirit working. And Lord, we just ask that as we come to the time when the word is open, Lord, that the spirit would work mightily. Father, that you would bless the words of your son, Jesus Christ, to our hearts. And Lord, that they would convict and instruct and draw us to you. Father, we ask this in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. We have been going through the book of Luke, and Luke started by telling us about who Jesus Christ was, that he was the Son of God, and he gave us, I think it was 13 witnesses in the beginning of the book of Luke to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. And then he gave us indispensable proofs in the ministry of Jesus, his resistance against Satan, the miracles that he did, one after another, as we look from chapter 4 all the way through, I think, about chapter 9. 9-10, somewhere in there. And starting in chapter 12, we're getting into the doctrinal section of Luke where he has given us the teachings of Christ. And in fact, from 12-1 all the way up through our passage today, 13-9, we have one message from the Lord. And it was given in slightly different areas and different, you know, as he's walking along and people interrupt and there's a, you know, like a conversation. It shifts a little bit and then it kind of comes back. But it's all on eternity. It's on eternity and the importance of eternity. It started with a rebuke of the Pharisees who, while they were right in much of their doctrine, their hearts were far from God. They refused to hear. They refused to listen. And then there was a man in the crowd who said, you know, teaching against covetousness is good. Tell my brother not to covet. Have him give me the property, the inheritance. And Jesus said, who made me a judge over you? Watch your own heart. And then he taught again on the importance of eternity and Peter stands up. Good old Peter. I heard a new one yesterday. He not only inserted his foot, he managed to swallow it all the way as well. And I thought, yes, that sounds like Peter. That was in Matthew 16, when the speaker was talking about Matthew 16, where he took it upon himself to rebuke the Lord. He says, know that you can hardly not get worse than that. I agree. But Peter comes up and says, is this just for us, the spiritual few, or is this for everyone? And Christ just looks at him and turns the teaching right on him, headlights right on him and says, listen, there's gonna be rewards for those who follow. And for those that don't obey, there's gonna be punishment. For those who know much, there'll be a greater punishment. For those who know little, a lesser punishment. And talking to the apostles with Judas sitting there listening and the message coming to him. Then we came to this, he rebukes them for their wisdom, that they can discern the weather but they can't discern the times. He warns them that he is their adversary in many ways. If they do not believe that he is the Savior, he will become their judge and he will judge them and they will have to pay for their own sins. Then he comes to chapter 13 and we have this really interesting section on judgment. And again, he has just been warning them over eternity and over the coming judgment. And so they point to others. You know, that's what we all like. Well, what about those guys? They did so much more than I did. And Jesus, again, turns it right back. You know, when God's Word speaks, it speaks to us. You know, we're not to be sitting here going, well, that would really be good for my neighbor down the street. And, oh, I wish my, someone, so-and-so could hear that. There are times that that's true, but it's to be thought of first in our own application of our own heart. So Jesus turns it right back and he says, do you suppose that they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Or that the people of the tower fell on are worse sinners than all other in Jerusalem? He says, no. They're just sinners. They're normal people. Bad things happen to people. And God did not step in. And now they are in eternity. And this is what he's going to give them one more parable or warning about eternity and about the coming judgment. And this one is interesting. It Let me go back just a minute here and pick up another thought I wanna, this whole thing has been on eternity. And sometimes we think of eternity, and if I asked you to define it, you have a vague sense that it's that which is coming in the future. We'll die, we'll step into eternity. And yet it is so much more than that. Do you remember God says in eternity past he did things? We are actually in eternity from the moment of conception on. C.S. Lewis has an illustration that's pretty famous where he says, when you think of eternity and you think of God, you take a sheet of paper that's infinite, a roll of paper, and you roll it and it just goes all the way around the world and it keeps going and going and going, you know, as far as you can imagine. And he says, if you take all of human history, you write a little line about a half inch long, you know, here in Eagle River, That's human history in this infinite sheet of paper. God exists outside of it. He existed in eternity behind us. He exists outside of time, being able to know the future, the past, and the present with equal clarity. And He exists in the future well beyond when our limited time will be up. And it's just a picture to help us to kind of get an idea of how big is God. And we look at this eternity and we have two things, there are two reasons that we, two errors we have with it. We think it's going to come. And we forget that it's here already and that we're already standing before an infinite God. And the second one is we ignore God and eternity because we don't like what He says. We don't like what He says. Now this is what we saw with the Pharisees. Here was the promised Messiah. He had come showing them unbelievable proofs. And what did they do? No, we don't want to do that. We don't want to do that. He fulfilled Bible prophecy. No, no, no, no, no, no. You know, they had eyewitness accounts of the miracles. They were irrefutable. Nope, nope, nope. They just kept rejecting him and rejecting him and rejecting him. And so when we think of eternity and we think of God coming in and talking to us, we have to be careful of those same errors. That we don't think it's for some day in the future Because like the Tower of Siloam, the tower fell. They had no notice of it. They were in the tower, the tower fell, 18 people died, and they were standing in front of God. And we must also understand that when God speaks, it is gracious and loving that he is communicating, even when the message is harsh. even when the message is harsh. And now he takes and he gives them one more message for the Israelites. And it is a parable. And I'd ask you to remember in Matthew 13, there's a verse on why Jesus was teaching them in parables. Now, to get the whole context of that, you have to remember in Matthew 12, the Pharisees publicly start to declare that Jesus is doing the miracles in the power of Satan, in power of Beelzebub. So, at that point, Jesus stops to speak clearly to the multitudes and he starts to teach them in parables. Now, the last couple of teachings are very clear. It's not that he removed all teaching from them. But he removes some of it, he removes some of it. And in Matthew 13, 10 through 12, the disciples come to him and say, why do you speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, because it's been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. So they have tried to judge Jesus. They have shown themselves unworthy of his teaching. And so he's closed their eyes. He has removed the truth from in front of them. He's still teaching, but he's teaching them in parables that are harder to understand. But the other part of parables, which was so interesting as well, was that first sentence. He said, to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Parables also explain something that is hidden. so that we who seek truth and are willing to yield to Jesus Christ can understand it and put it in our earthly context as something that we can understand. Because often the things of eternity, they're too big for us. It's hard to grasp the immensity of God. But if you bring it down to a garden, Now we all know something about gardening. We might be a green thumb, we might not have a green thumb, but we understand it. And so these huge concepts become very applicable for us. So Christ starts with this parable in verse six. He spoke a certain parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Now, we're not as comfortable with the Old Testament as we are with the New Testament, but the Jews should have immediately started to pick up on this, that this was important, that this was coming right at them. In Isaiah 5, and I'm not gonna ask you to look these up, I'll just give you a summation of them. But in Isaiah 5, one through seven, Jesus compares Israel to a vineyard. And he calls for the people who hear this message to judge between him and his vineyard. He says, I dug up an area for a garden, for a vineyard, and I fertilized it, and I took it and I weeded it, and I took up all the stones, and I did everything that was needed. I hung the trellises. I put a fence outside. I even built a watchtower and hired a guard, and I drove a well. He says, the vineyard was ready. Then he says, I went out and I got the choicest of vines and I sprouted them and I put them in the vineyard. And he says, I desired good fruit. He says, but the vines sprouted and it brought wild berries, bitter berries. bitter berries. My parents have had some vines and grape vines that they planted and you know my mom while they were still there would always tell us you can go ahead and they're ready to be harvested. Well, to eat any of those grapes, you had to crush them into a juice and then you had to add, oh, I don't know, maybe a cup of sugar per quart. I mean, they were so bitter. It was like a choked cherry. And I'm sure there was, you know, we just didn't line up real quick to go visit and pick those berries. They weren't that tasty. And God is using that same illustration for Israel in Isaiah 5, and He's saying, you're this bitter berry. Instead of, you know, He had planted them on this beautiful plantation, this farm, guards, everything is there. 100% is ready. And they brought forth such fruit in their lives that it makes you cringe with their idol worship and their idolatry and their covetous practices and their enslavement through debt and all the different things that went on in the society. He says, it's a bitter berry. And then he gives a judgment. He says, this is what I'm going to do. This is again in Isaiah. And this would actually happen to Israel just after the life of Isaiah. And then it would happen again to Judah during the time of Jeremiah. He said, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna remove all the walls. I'm gonna break them down so that the enemies can come in. And I'm gonna tear down the watchtower and I'm gonna rip out the vines by their roots. Just like what we would do in a garden if we had something and it produced bad. How long are you going to put up with it? Not long. Not long. So, this is a vineyard. He also talks about Jeremiah. He talks about Israel being like figs. in Jeremiah 24. And he says, you know, the Israelites who were deported from the land and brought to Babylon, he says, they're like good figs. They were humbled. They sought the Lord. They were seeking God to some extent. And God said, I'm going to work with them. I'm going to choose them. I'm going to build them up. I will bring them back to the land. They will be blessed. He says, but you know, those ones that are still in the land of Israel, and we're fighting against God. He said, they're like bad things, figs that are so rotten, they're full of bugs. And you know, you pick one and it's like all of a sudden the smell comes up and the juice runs out and the bugs go running and you go, ooh. and you want to just get rid of it. And he says, that's what you're like. And he says, I'm going to, I'm going to make sure I'm going to fight against you as if you were this bad fig, I'll get rid of you. So when Christ starts to talk, this should have come back to their mind that God often uses these parables and he expresses truth in them. Things that actually are going to happen, not always good truth. So he comes and he says, in verse, Let's see, it was verse six. Yeah, verse six, he says, certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Now before we go on, let me just tell you about figs. Figs are a massively beautiful tree. They're huge and they put their roots out. They can go up to 200 yards with their roots looking for water. And they will survive in times of drought. And they have humongous canopies. And so they provide shade, especially in these semi-arid areas. And it's just a wonderful place to meet under a tree like this. You might have 40 feet of shade. You know, like our biggest oaks, if you can imagine them. And you can sit there. And when it bears figs, the figs are good when they're first ripe. People eat raw frigs. And then if you don't harvest them, they dry on the tree. So throughout the year, you can come up and you can find these dried figs. And that's what we're familiar with up here in the north. You have these dried figs that they sell and you can eat year round. It was a continual food source. So it was a place of shade and of rest and of food. So he puts it in his vineyard and he says, this is what we're going to do. We're going to have this beautiful tree. And you know, when I come out to work in the vineyard, we'll be able to get fruit from it. But the problem with the fig tree that he plants is that it doesn't bear any fruit. It does not bear any fruit. And he's tired of it, cumbering, you know, taking up space on the ground. Now the vines have come in, everything else is coming along, and he says, let's see what he says about it. So in verse 7, he says, 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? Now, this is the coming judgment. This is the coming judgment. I don't think they could have missed the parallels that Jesus is bringing here. Jesus has been in his ministry about three years. And during those three years, he's had large crowds that have followed him, seeking the blessings and seeking healing. But when it comes to the people who are really his, It's a very few. He's got 11 of the 12 disciples. And if you remember at Pentecost, there's only 120 in the upper room. Now there might've been some that weren't there for that day that were still his, but it's few, it's few. And with him having been in the ministry going on three years, There should have been a connection being made in these Jews' minds. Remember, we're talking about the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders and the crowd that's surrounding him. Three years he has been teaching them, three years they've rejected him. There's no fruit. There's no fruit. And so he, the owner of the vineyard asks this question, why should I leave it cumbering the ground? Why use this space for something that doesn't produce fruit? Let's dig it out and put something in that will produce good fruit. Now, there's a surprising twist here. And the twist is this, who's the keeper of the vineyard? You know, we really wanna identify the characters. In this parable, it's pretty clear to me that Israel is the fig tree. Christ has been ministering to them for three years, and they have not borne any fruit. It appears to me that God is the owner, and he comes to visit, and he looks, and he says, look, for three years, I've been looking for fruit. There is none. Let's get rid of it. Who's the keeper? Who's the keeper of the vineyard that's going to argue? Well, John 1.11 says, he came to his own and his own did not receive him. John 10.14 says, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and I am known by my own. Who's the one that keeps the sheep? The good shepherd, Jesus Christ. And in Luke 23.34, Jesus would pray on the cross, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. So I think this is a picture of Jesus Christ standing. He is the one who's been working the vineyard, planting and doing all of what needs to be done. And he's talking to the Jews and he's saying, do you realize how close your judgment is? You know, they wanted to look at the ones the tower fell on and the ones that Pilate's soldiers killed and say, look at all those guys. They must've been awful sinners. He says, do you realize how close your judgment is? The father stands ready to say, it is enough. You've had my son speaking and showing miracles for three years. Let's get rid of this nation and get started with someone else. And it's Jesus, the one that they're rejecting, who's praying to the Father and saying, give me a little more time. It goes back to the garden illustration. Let me dig it up and let me work some fertilizer into it and let me see if next year if it'll bear fruit. This is what makes this so amazing. You have this message of judgment and in the midst of the judgment we have Jesus Christ doing what only Jesus Christ does, praying on behalf of sinners. Literally, you know, the Father and the Son are one. I don't know how this works with that theology and the dialogue they're having. He's giving it to us in a way that we can understand it. As if the judge part, the righteous part of God has come to the point where there is judgment coming. And certainly there is. The sign that he was teaching in parables was a part of that judgment originally starting, that he had removed the clear and open teaching of the Word of God from them. So the judgment was already there. But also, we have the love of God still persevering through, still reaching out to this lost people, and he's going, what? There's still time. There's still time. This is the application of this whole message from chapter 12 and chapter 13, that there is eternity to come and that there is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned and judgment is on the horizon and there's still time because the keeper is praying the Father to give you a little bit more opportunity to bear fruit. but you have to listen, you have to listen. He said this in verse eight, sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. Then he adds this in verse nine. He says, and if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after that, you can cut it down. Now, I just want you to think, what happens in the next six months to nine months of Jesus' life? What happens? Lazarus is raised from the dead. Four days in the grave. Again, probably grave smell, decomposing body smell when you open the grave. And when Jesus calls out, Lazarus come forth, life returns and the body is put back to 100% and he comes out of the grave under his own power. He doesn't have to be carried out. He comes out. And the people go back and they take this message back to Jerusalem. And this is why when he comes a couple of weeks later, they throw this big party for him and they invite everybody to see him. And then he goes down to Jerusalem and all those people that were there start singing and praising the Lord and we have the triumphal entry. Because they cannot deny the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, that he has the power of life and death. And then he clears out the temple one more time. And he gives a whole series of teaching there in the last week. Then we have the upper room where he talks to his disciples. Then we have the crucifixion. We looked on Good Friday how the message of the crucifixion, Father forgive them, is the very title of Psalms 22. They would not have said Psalms 22. There was no 22 in the hymnal of their day. It was only by name. And the name for Psalms 22 is Father forgive them for they know not what they do. The first sentence. And as you read through that sentence, you see quotes from what the Pharisees and the chief priests were saying at the foot of Christ. or the foot of the cross, he saved others, let God save him. It's there, Psalms 22. The mockery of the crowd, it's there, Psalms 22. The bones being out of joint, it's there in Psalms 22. The fact that this was all prophesied by David, their king, a thousand years before the crucifixion of Christ, it was all there when he was on the cross. If that's not enough, they have the darkness over the land for three hours, from noon to three, the sun goes dark. It's not an eclipse. Eclipses don't last for three hours. It's complete darkness. It is a sign from heaven, what they have been asking for, for all of their life. All the Pharisees have always said, show us a sign from heaven. We'll believe if you give us a sign from heaven. They have their sign. There's an earthquake, the graves are opened. The centurion, the Roman centurion says, behold, this is the son of God. Then they double down on their sin and they hire guards to keep him in the grave, keep the grave shut. And God again shakes the earth, opens the graves, the guards come back and they say, an angel from heaven came down and the grave is empty and they pay him money to lie. good religious leaders, following the Ten Commandments. Now their sin is open and public and known amongst themselves. But this is the fruit, this is the fertilizer that is going to be laid down. And when Peter stands up and he preaches and he says, you with wicked hands have crucified the Son of Glory, who God foreordained for this purpose. They will be cut to the heart and they will say, what must we do to be saved? And 3,000 people will come to know the Lord. And later he will stand up in the temple and he will say, don't think that we have healed this man who was crippled. It's not of us. This is done in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And there's no salvation and no other name under heaven than in Him. And 5,000 men that day are added to the church. And the tree blooms. What a blessing to have Jesus praying on our behalf. Do you realize just how wonderful this parable is? They look at it, and I'm sure they're feeling confronted with the judgment that is coming, and well, they should, because if you don't repent, what? The last words of it. But if not, after that, you can cut it down. I will cease to pray if you reject, if you continue to reject. And God would bring the Roman legions and they would literally encircle Israel and the land around, drive the Jews back into Jerusalem and slaughter them. Men, women and children, millions would die in AD 70. He would pull them out of the land, rocks, root stock and everything, nothing left. That's the judgment that was coming. But before that, there's this opportunity where the gospel would shine and Jerusalem would have a thriving church for a brief period of time. You know, we look at this and we look at this whole message, we talk about eternity as if it's something for the far future. And we forget that it starts today because we're living in it. God exists outside of our time, outside of our lives. The same Christ that prayed for them to stay the Father's hand. Let me put some more fertilizer on it. Let me water it with my blood and show them the word of God that they sing from their Psalms in front of their eyes. That same God is on the throne of heaven at the right hand of the Father. And what is He doing? Romans 8, He's making intercession for you and me. He's still praying to the Father. He's still praying for fruit. You know, we look at it and we think eternity is far off. And we forget we're in time right now. Time is in eternity. And God steps in At any moment, something could happen. And I'm not trying to work something up. I'm telling you what the Word of God says. We don't know our tomorrows. We can't plan that far in advance. He says today is the day of salvation. And we have this picture of the love of God, even as they have rejected Him, of Jesus standing there and saying, just wait a bit, Father. Just wait a bit. Let me fertilize it some more and then we'll see what happens. Why would we ever reject this? You know, how do we respond to Jesus? Are we ready to hear his voice? Or like all of these, you know, during this whole message that he's talked in Luke 12 and Luke 13, they keep coming back and saying, oh, but not us. What about them? What about someone else? And he always is speaking to us. Do we hear? Are we willing to obey? Are we willing to sacrifice to Him? You know, that's the other problem is, you know, they would listen to His teaching and they say, well, I like the heaven part, but the persecution and the difficulties here on this earth and being known as a follower of God and being ostracized, that's, you know, taking up your cross daily to follow Him, that I'm not so sure about. You know, is there a second path, an easier way? What about a Christianity light? You know, you don't want the full calories, you get the light version. Isn't there an easier way? And there's people that do that today. They're not ready to get real with God. They're just, you know, they want to be around, but they don't want to be necessarily really identified with Christ. Christ says you're either all in or you're not in. There's no halfway measures. You're under the blood. You've been washed by the blood, forgiven, grafted into the family of God, gifted the Holy Spirit, or you're outside. You can't be in the middle. Thirdly are our eyes on eternity. Everyone here was judged this earth in light of eternity. We know theoretically that we're not gonna live forever. We all know that. You know, they say there's only two things that are for sure in life, death and taxes. We know we're not gonna live forever, but are we living this life in light of the fact that when our body dies, our soul goes to be with God and that we will stand in front of God? Can you imagine where the Jews would have been if Jesus had not stood in that way? You know, I can understand. We go back to the Old Testament. That was very fitting to talk about today in our reading of the Old Testament, where the ark of God comes back into Israel and thousands of Jews are smote and killed. What was it, 50,070 men die? And later we're gonna see on the way to Jerusalem as David takes up the ark, Uriah puts his hand on it because they try to use a cart instead of carrying it on their shoulder. And again, God strikes them down. God's law is without mercy. You need some sacrifice to stand in the center and to say, strike me and spare them. And God is here in this parable saying, I am ready to strike. They have offended me greatly. Look, there's no fruit after three years. And Christ is saying, no, let me, give me a bit more time. Give me a bit more time. And then God will strike his son and spare them. Do we see that? Do we realize that everything in this world that enslaves us, is trying to turn us away from God. There's so many things that are wonderful, but everything that is wonderful can also be a trap as it turns us from God. From the simplest thing like going fishing and then deciding you have to fish every Sunday, to family, great thing. But if it takes the place of God, it's become an idol. Do we seek to honor for the honor and praise of people? The Pharisees were there and the reason they rejected Jesus is a lot of it was they would have had to give up their own righteousness that they had worked on and their position. Look at us, we're the elite of this society. We have done all these things and Jesus is saying they were worthless. You've added to my law, you've made this whole list of rules and now look at you. And you've not dealt with the sin of your hearts. But the biggest thing is, why would we reject a God who would stand and pray for us? That to me is just amazing. You know, I find in my life, I'm probably more merciful now than I was in my 20s, but I still struggle with mercy. I do, I do. When somebody offends me, deliberately does something, It's hard to be loving and forgiving. It's easy. It's easy to say, well, just wait till he steps on a line. The judgment is coming. It's hard to be loving and forgiving. But Christ shows us how far he was willing to go. That even on the cross as they were, they had driven nails through his hands and his feet. He would say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I just pray today that as we look at this, that we would not look at it as just a pretty story in the Bible, but a reality of the fact that God still looks at people, still expects fruit, still holds out this call, the judgment is coming, and that Christ is the one staying his hand. Let's close in a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the time we can gather today. Father, we thank you for your Son that you sent to die in our place for our sins. We thank you for his heart of love as he prays on our behalf. Lord, and he prays in accordance with your will. Lord, while your law cries out for justice, your Son cries out for pardon and takes our punishment on himself. Father, what a blessing that is. I just ask this morning that you would encourage each one of us that are here. Lord, may we put our trust in your Son. We ask this in Jesus Christ's name we pray, Amen.