LUKE 13:1-9 A TRUE CHANGE OF HEART2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 13:1-9 A True Change Of Heart

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

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Well this morning as we look at Luke chapter 13 verses 1 through 9, we're looking at a situation where Jesus has been teaching the multitude. He's been sharing with them a variety of things that we've been studying through chapter 12 over the past many weeks. But now the people respond and they bring up a situation. It's a tragedy that had taken place and

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And as they bring up this tragedy, this situation that happened, Jesus now uses this as an opportunity to call them to repentance. And so as we look at this portion this morning, I've titled the message, A True Change of Heart.

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And God wants to challenge us and call us to have a real change of heart as we consider these things this morning. There's three points that I'd like to highlight for you from our portion and our time together. And the first thing that we find as we begin in verses 1 through 3 is that it's a call to repent or perish. Jesus will call us to repent or perish. Look with me again at verse 1. It says...

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Verse 1.

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So here amongst the crowd, Jesus is teaching and then there's this discussion that's happening amongst the crowd and they bring it before Jesus and they bring it up for, well, we don't know exactly what reason. We don't know exactly what their intentions were or what they were expecting from the Lord, but they bring up this situation about these Galileans that experienced this tragedy.

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Now the Galileans, it's a reference to the people from Galilee. And the region of Galilee is the northern part of Israel. Up in the northern part of Israel you have the Sea of Galilee. That's where Jesus walked on water. That's where the fishermen like Peter and James and John, they fished there in the Sea of Galilee. And the land surrounding that is known as the region of Galilee. There in the northern part of Israel.

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And so these were the Galileans. They were from that area. And Jesus, you might remember, was from the area of Galilee as well. Now,

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Now, it's interesting to consider because the people in the southern part of Israel, in Judea and specifically there in Jerusalem, they really looked down upon the Galileans. They were considered to be unspiritual by those who lived in and around Jerusalem because they thought, hey, we're here near the temple. You guys are way far away. You're not really serious about the things of God. And so they didn't...

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expect them to have a real grasp of the things of God. They figured they were mostly unspiritual and even considered, John Corson describes them as hillbillies, that they thought they were kind of like hillbillies. They were just kind of, you know, those people who live out there and they're rough in it and, you know, they kind of got the beard like Carlos has. They, you know, they just look real rough and gruff and that's the kind of the reputation that the Galileans had.

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Well, there was a situation they're telling Jesus about where some of these people from Galilee were killed by Pilate. And so we're talking about now they're bringing up a current event, something that had taken place, and they're seeking for some kind of response from Jesus. Now, it says here that the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices...

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Now the specific event that is being referred to here, we're not exactly sure what it is. It's not really clear what happened. There are some who believe that this is a reference to, there was a man named Judas, not one of the disciples that we know, but another guy named Judas who is rebellious against Rome and he led a little bit of a rebellion there in the midst of Israel and

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And there was a situation where Pilate surrounded and slew him and some of his followers while they were there at the temple or near the temple. And so it's possible that they're bringing up that situation and that's what they're talking about. But it's not really clear enough for us to say for sure. But that's okay because the details for whatever event they're talking about is not really important. Right?

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Jesus is going to use this to teach them an entirely different lesson than probably what they expected. We really don't know what their motivation was, whether they were trying to, you know, use this as an example. And yeah, we know about judgment and we understand what you're talking about because, you know, we got to see these Galileans be put to death or maybe they were looking for something political. Can you believe Pilate did this?

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You know, and this is what he did. And so maybe they were trying to get that kind of response from Jesus. We don't know what their motivation was. But it's clear. And I love what Jesus does is he takes it, he redirects it, and he begins to address them personally and individually. And we see that happen in verse 2. It says, And Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things?

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As Jesus hears them bring up these Galileans, he doesn't answer the question directly or address the situation directly. He begins by asking them a question. He says, what do you guys think? What's your opinion? Do you suppose, and he redirects the subject to, well, to their own selves. Think about your opinion in this, Jesus is saying.

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The word suppose here, it means to be of the opinion, to think, or it's the idea, you know, you say, well, it seems to me that, and that's what Jesus is saying, does it seem to you, is it your opinion, have you considered this, and you think that the Galileans involved in this were worse sinners than all other Galileans. Is that what you think? Is that your opinion? Is that what it seems like to you? Why do you think that Jesus calls attention to

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to their opinions at this point. He challenges their thinking because their thinking is incorrect. Their opinions are wrong. He says, do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? Jesus challenges them in their opinions because they saw this tragedy as an indication of the spiritual condition of those Galileans.

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They saw this as a clear indicator. All right, we know where these guys stood with God because of what happened to them. Now, this is so important for us to get because that was their opinion. Jesus is challenging it. It's something that you and I, well, we're going to wrestle with that as well. And we need to learn this lesson. This is a lesson we all need to learn. You cannot measure spirituality by circumstances.

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You cannot measure spirituality by circumstances. You cannot measure a person's relationship with God by the events and circumstances in their life. But that was the thinking of the day. That's what they supposed. That was their opinion. It was common. You might remember in John chapter 9 where Jesus heals the man that was born blind.

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It's a great miracle and a great story. I encourage you to check it out later on. But we're introduced to this man who's born blind by the disciples. It's the disciples who bring up this guy and call Jesus' attention to him. In John chapter 9 verse 2 it says, His disciples asked him saying, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind. The disciples bring up this guy. They point him out. Hey Jesus, look at that blind guy there.

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He was born blind. Whose fault is it? Did he sin in the womb and that's why he was born blind? Or did his parents sin and as a result of his parents sin, then when he was born, he was unable to see. They figured it had to be the result of sin. So it was either his sin or his parents sin. That was the way that they thought.

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That was the way that these people were thinking as they bring up the situation with the Galileans. And Jesus here is challenging them in that. It's the same line of thinking. Well, who sinned that these Galileans were slaughtered? Was it on one side or the other side? They must be serious sinners for this kind of tragedy to take place.

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Boy, his parents must be really sinful to have a child that's born blind. They must have done something really bad because their child is unable to see. It was the mindset of the day. It's a mindset that can continue even today. And so we need to watch out for this. It's a lesson we need to learn. You cannot measure spirituality or relationship with the Lord by circumstances. Is this how you think? When Jesus says to them, do you suppose...

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Could we ask you, do you suppose? Is that the way that you think that when you see that car accident take place that you begin to think, I wonder what kind of sin, you know, one of those drivers must have been in sin and so that's what caused the accident or there's the earthquake that takes place and man, that area of the city must have been really especially sinful because it was hit so hard with that earthquake or the plane crashes and

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There must have been some notorious sinners on that plane. I mean, to have that kind of thing happen. Or the person is diagnosed with a serious disease. And you begin to think, well, I wonder if, you know, it's because they're in sin and God's trying to deal with them in that sin. And we could go on and on and on. We begin to look around and think, maybe God's dealing with sin. Maybe this is because they're extra sinful that this is happening in their lives.

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I like the way that Adam Clark evaluates this. He says, It is very wrong to suppose that those who suffer by the sword or by natural accidents are the most culpable or guilty before God. An adequate punishment for sin cannot be inflicted in this world. That last line is so powerful. An adequate punishment for sin cannot be inflicted in this world.

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Think about that. If God were trying to bring judgment for sin, there's not a sufficient tragedy that he could bring in this life to pay for sin, to deal with sin. There's not adequate. If we could experience the worst things possible to experience in this life, it wouldn't be enough to pay the penalty for sin. An adequate punishment for sin cannot be afflicted in this world.

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This needs to challenge our hearts and challenge our thinking a little bit. We get the question often, why do bad things happen to good people? Well, you need to evaluate that a little bit because first of all, there was only one good person. His name was Jesus. Did bad things happen to Jesus? Absolutely. Yeah, he was rejected. He was mocked. He was scorned. He was beaten. He was crucified.

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for no fault of his own because he was perfect. He was the only good person. But bad things happen to good people. The rest of us, though, we're not those good people that we think. In fact, the whole reason why Jesus came and died, the only good person, he died upon the cross, was to pay the penalty for sin for all of us, the bad people. Do bad things happen to bad people? Yeah, absolutely. We see that happen as well.

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We all deserve much worse than we experience in this life. I know we think, hey, I don't deserve this when we're going through the midst of a difficulty, but we all deserve much worse than what we actually experience in this life. But here's the thing. God is not trying to repay sin with this life.

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He's not looking for opportunity because there's no adequate payment for sin in this life. So no matter what tragedy he would seek to bring, it's not sufficient payment for sin. Jesus says, is this what you suppose? Is this what you think that God needed to deal with their sin? And so he had them killed there by Pilate because they were worse sinners than the rest of the Galileans. He goes on to verse 3 and says, I tell you, no, that's not what God was doing. That's not what that was about.

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If you've been with us as we've been reading through the Bible in three years, you're very familiar with this concept because we wrestled with it for several weeks in the book of Job. And we saw clearly in the book of Job, tragedy does not only happen to sinners. Because God declares right at the beginning, Job is righteous and he is blameless, he is upright. None of the things that he experienced had to do with sin.

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In his life. God was not trying to judge him for sin. Or bring out some sin. Or deal with sin. None of it had to do with sin at all. Again we cannot evaluate. A person's spirituality or relationship with God. By circumstances. We need to correct our thinking in this. And have an accurate understanding.

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Verse 3, Jesus says, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And I love this. Because Jesus turns their subject around, whatever their intentions were, we don't know exactly for sure, but we know it probably wasn't this. But he turns it around and confronts them, first of all, in their bad theology. Your theology is off. Your doctrine is wrong. You're incorrect in your understanding. And then he goes on to call them to repentance.

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It's pretty amazing how he just redirects it, turns it around, and now it's a direct challenge and exhortation to them. You need to repent. And if you don't repent, you will likewise perish. Now there's a possible...

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literal fulfillment of this because in 70 AD Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome and it's possible that Jesus is referring to hey you think it's bad that you know Pilate killed them there at the temple mount and their blood was mingled with the sacrifices but there's a greater destruction coming and if you don't repent you're going to be part of that destruction when Rome conquers Jerusalem. That's a possibility it's not that it has to be that way but it's

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It's certainly an option there in the text. But Jesus' point here is, look, they were not worse sinners. So because they were not worse sinners, you must repent. Their theology was off. Their theology was that, well, God was dealing with sin. They were sinful. They were extra sinful. And so God brought judgment. Now, the problem with that

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bad theology is that it left them in a place where well I don't need to repent because I'm not experiencing those tragedies so apparently I'm not as sinful as they are and so it left them in a place where they felt like hey we're fine we're good we don't need to repent but Jesus says no unless you repent they're not worse sinners than you so you could experience the very same tragedy you could have your life cut unexpectedly short so you must repent

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But with their bad theology, they didn't see the need to repent. They're thinking to themselves, I must be righteous because bad things aren't happening to me. But tragedy can happen to anyone at any time. So repent. Be ready to meet your maker. As Amos called out to Israel in Amos 4.12. He's announcing judgment as well. And he says, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. We need to be ready to meet God.

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Because tragedies happen whether a person is right with God or not. And there's no guarantee of tomorrow or even today for us. We are mortal. Incredibly so. We're incredibly vulnerable and frail. It doesn't take much. So repent or perish. Those are the two options that you have. This word repent is

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It's the idea of this change that takes place. It's a regret, a sorrow, but it's accompanied by a true change of heart towards God. And that's why I titled the message this morning, A True Change of Heart, based on this understanding, this definition of the word repent. It means to have a real change. There's a real transformation that takes place. And I would ask you to consider this morning, have you had a true change of heart? Repent.

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Have that real change or the other option is perish. Now there's a sorrow that is connected with this idea of repentance. We'll talk about that in a moment, this godly sorrow. But it's different than regret over the consequences of your actions. Repentance is not being sorry that you got caught.

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Being sorry that you got caught, well, that means that if you could figure out a way to get away with it, then you would keep doing it. So you get caught and you think, okay, well, that didn't work. So next time, learn that lesson. Don't do it the same way. Okay, so maybe if I take these steps, then I won't get caught. If your sorrow is because you got caught, that's not repentance. That's not a real change of heart.

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Repentance is not being sorry that you have to experience the consequences either. Because again, if you can figure out a way to escape the consequences, well then you would keep doing it. You know, if you could figure out a way to do 95 down the 91 without the ticket, well then I'll do it. But that's not repentance. It's not a real change. It's just, well I'm sad that I have to pay the fine. I'm sad that I got caught.

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But it's not a real change of heart. That's just an expression of, I wish I had done it better so that I wouldn't got caught or wouldn't have to pay the fine. Repentance is not outward changes. It's not forced obedience. It's not even good behavior. What is repentance then?

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Well, turn with me for a moment to 2 Corinthians chapter 7. We'll be right back to Luke 13. But 2 Corinthians chapter 7, the Apostle Paul here gives us some excellent insight into what repentance is.

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And a lot of times when we think about or talk about repentance, we kind of think about it in terms like, yeah, you can't really tell, you know, it's hard to tell if somebody's really repentant or not. Paul says, no, that's far from the truth. There's real clarity when it comes to repentance, this true change of heart that needs to take place. 2 Corinthians chapter 7, we'll jump in at verse 10. Paul says, "...for godly sorrow produces repentance."

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leading to salvation. Not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. Paul's talking to them about sorrow because in his first letter, he made them sorrow. And he said, at first I felt bad because I had made you sorrow, but then I realized it was a godly sorrow. And godly sorrow produces repentance. So it's not to be regretted,

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I don't need to feel bad anymore because I realize now the sorrow that it produced in me was a godly sorrow which brought repentance. And so you don't need to regret that sorrow. I don't regret that sorrow because it produced repentance. But he says, the sorrow of the world produces death. Now again, if you're sorry that you got caught, that's the sorrow of the world. That's what produces death. If you're sorry that you have to pay the fine and pay the consequences...

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of your actions. That's a sorrow that leads to death. But a godly sorrow which produces repentance is something else entirely. What does that look like? Well, verse 11 goes on. He says, Notice what he's saying. He's all, look at your own example. There's evidence in your life. You can tell as you look at your life that there was this godly sorrow and repentance.

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What are the markers? Well, he says, what diligence it produced in you. What clearing of yourselves. What indignation. What fear. What vehement desire. What zeal. What vindication. In all things, you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. So Paul said, look, you can see from your own example what repentance looks like. This godly sorrow is the beginning of repentance. But it also produces diligence. Diligence.

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But there's a diligence that was there with you that you weren't putting it off. You weren't procrastinating. You weren't delaying getting right with God. You weren't delaying your relationship with God. You weren't delaying making things right. But there was this diligence. You got to work. You were seeking. You were faithful. You were diligent. But it also produced this clearing of yourselves. Now, this isn't like making excuses, right, or talking your way out of it. But it's the idea of making things right, right?

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Clearing up the mess that you made with sin. And so it caused you, this godly sorrow caused you to deal with the situation. Not to just, you know, walk away from it or pretend it didn't happen or just say forget about it. But to clear it up. To set it straight. It produced indignation. There's a righteous indignation, a righteous anger that's produced by godly sorrow and repentance. This anger at the things which are not of God.

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The things which would keep you away from God. He says it produces fear. The fear of the Lord produces a vehement desire. This strong desire. He says it produces zeal and vindication. There's these strong indicators, Paul says, that are produced by repentance. It's clear. You can observe it in your own lives, in your own example. That's what repentance looks like. It's a clear change from what was there before. It's a true change of heart.

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Now this morning I would ask you to consider, has your heart been changed like that? Have you been changed in that way? Because what Jesus says is, you have two options. Repent. Have your heart changed this way or perish. There needs to be that kind of radical change in your life or you will perish. And that brings me now to my second point back in Luke chapter 13. Point number one is repent or perish. Point number two is repent or

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or perish. Why is point number one the same as point number two? Because Jesus goes on to make that same point now in verses four and five. And from this we can see repentance is not just a one-time event. It's not just a one-time occurrence. Not just something that you look back and say, yeah, one time a long time ago I repented, so I'm fine.

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Now as we look now at verse 4 and 5, now we can also understand, not only does it need to have this true change of heart, but that change of heart needs to continue. But before we get to that, look at verse 4 with me again. It says,

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So first, the crowd brings up this situation. What do you think about the Galileans? Yeah, they must have been real sinful. This tragedy happened to them. Jesus says, your theology is off and you need to repent. But then he goes on to say, with his own example, what do you think about this? The tragedy that happened in Siloam. He brings the issue closer to home for them. Siloam was located in the southeast section of Jerusalem.

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You might remember the pool of Siloam. That's referenced throughout the scriptures. Apparently, as Jesus is describing here, there was a tower there as well. We don't have a historical record of this incident that he's talking about. But, of course, we know it happened because Jesus is talking about it. And so there's this tower there. There in the southeast wall of Jerusalem. And apparently it fell. It collapsed. And in the process it killed 18 people.

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Now, it might have been one thing for them to talk about the Galileans and think, yeah, they're extra sinful, so it's not surprising. But Jesus says, look, here's some of your own. And again, he says, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? Is that why this happened? Is that what you suppose? Is that what your opinion is? That you think, man, they must have been extra sinful because this tower collapsed upon them.

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Again, we see that Jesus is challenging them because this is what they thought. This was their mindset. Well, those people must have been real bad sinners because look at how God judged them. Again, we can see that it was the mindset of the day. Well, we saw it in Job's friends, which was a long time before this. We see it with the disciples. We also see it in Acts chapter 28. You remember when the Apostle Paul is on his way to Rome?

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He was taken prisoner. He was charged, but he appealed to Caesar. And so he's on his way to Rome to stand before Caesar. They're going by ship on the Mediterranean Sea. And there's a great storm. And the ship breaks apart. And all the people on the boat, including Paul, grab onto pieces of wood from the boat and they make it to the shore.

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They get to land. They survive the shipwreck. They start to build a fire. And as they're building a fire, Paul's putting some wood on the fire. And a snake comes out of the fire and bites Paul and fastens itself to Paul's hand. Now some of the native people in the island were coming out to...

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Watch these who had been survived the shipwreck. And in Acts chapter 28 verse 4 it says, So when the natives saw the creature hanging from Paul's hand, they said to one another, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live. This is the way that they thought. He must be really bad because he experienced the shipwreck and

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He just barely survived. It just barely escaped. But God couldn't let him live. And so God sent this serpent to bite him. He must be a murderer. He must be some extra special sinner because God's bringing this severe judgment against him. Jesus says, is that what you think? These guys were worse sinners? Do you think that Jesus gathered together? All right, let's plan this out. All right, let's get the 18 worst sinners of Jerusalem all here in this tower and then just crush it.

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Was that Jesus' plan or was that God's plan? Is that what you think? Is that your opinion, Jesus says? Listen, here's what we need to understand. God's plan to judge sin was accomplished at the cross. That's his plan for sin. Completely done. Accomplished at the cross. Jesus hung there. He said, it is finished. It's paid in full. So that you and I, we don't have to experience the judgment of sin because he received the

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The full payment for sin. He received the full judgment of sin. Now, there is a plan B. Plan B is those who reject God's forgiveness through Jesus, they will experience judgment. It's an eternal judgment in hell.

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And those are the two options. Receive the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ because he paid the price for your sin on the cross or spend eternity in hell. Those are the two options. That's it. Those are the only two options we get. Plan A, Plan B. Your choice. But here's the point. Either way, either one you choose, God's not trying to bring final justice in this life.

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And so the circumstances, the tragedies, the events that take place, it's not God trying to deal with sin in the sense of bringing judgment upon people for sin. He's already got that planned out, taken care of. It's resolved. Jesus says, is that what you suppose? Is that what you're thinking? Verse 5, he says, I tell you, no, that's not the case. Again, your theology's off. Your doctrine is wrong. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. He says the same thing.

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You have it wrong. You're incorrect in your understanding. That's not what God was doing. They weren't extra bad sinners. And so again, these tragedies could happen to anyone. Tragedies don't only happen to those who are in full-out rebellion against God. Tragedies happen to all kinds of different people for all kinds of different reasons and all kinds of walks of life. It's not

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a statement from God about their spiritual condition. I like what Guzik has to say about this. He says, in analyzing the issue, Jesus gets away from the question, why did this happen? And turns it into, what does this mean to me? He goes on to say, it means that we all may die at any time. So repentance must be a top priority. Those who died in both of these instances did not think that they would die soon.

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But they did. And we can suppose that most of them were not ready. He says, repentance needs to be a top priority. Because tragedy can strike at any moment. And you may not survive this service. You may not survive the day. How many people died yesterday, do you think? No idea. Of those who died yesterday, how many do you suppose were ready for it? They woke up in the morning and thought, you know, today's my last day. I better get ready.

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Maybe there's a couple who knew. But the majority woke up and thought, it's a day like any other. Did you wake up today and think, yeah, probably today's my last day. I better be ready for that. It's not something we typically do. But it could happen at any moment. And so repentance needs to be a top priority. We need to be ready to meet God because at any moment, we're there in the midst of His presence. At any moment, we're going to stand before Him. We need to be ready. Repent or perish.

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That's your option. Those are your choices. Now, this word repent, we talked about it, means a true change of heart. But there's also some things that we can understand about this idea of repentance that Jesus is calling for by the tense of the word. First of all, it's in the active voice, which means that you have to do it. When it's in the active voice, it means it's not something that is done to you and it's not something that is done for you.

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It's something that you actually do. When Jesus says repent in the active voice, he's saying you have to repent. Nobody can repent for you. Sometimes we look on at each other's lives and we think, man, if only they'd let me make the decisions for their life. I mean, we could do such a better job than they do. But we can't. Sometimes we look on to someone we love and, oh, if only I could repent for them. But we can't. Nobody can repent for you. Jesus says repent or perish.

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Those are the two options. And you have to do it. It's in the active voice, which means you have to do it. But it's also in the present tense, which means it's not just a one-time thing. But the present tense means it's continuous or repeated action. So as Jesus is making this call to repent, he's saying, you have to repent. You have to do it. Nobody else can do it for you. And you need to continue in it.

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Repentance, again, this true change of heart, we often describe it or illustrate it with the idea of a U-turn. Now, it's not an about face. An about face, you're looking one direction and you just turn around and look the other direction. But the idea of repentance really is you're going in one direction. That is, you're living in sin, you're practicing wickedness, you're practicing those things that God has forbidden, you're in rebellion against God, you're disregarding God's word, you're walking in that direction. Now, repentance...

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is the about face to stop that, to turn away from that disobedience. But repentance also is then going in the opposite direction. And so now instead of lying, you're telling the truth. Now instead of stealing, you're giving, you're providing, and so on and so forth. It's a not just a stop doing what's wrong, but it's a turnaround and walk in what's right. Walk with God.

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Now what Jesus is saying here is he calls to repentance. He says this is to be a continuous action. It's to be repeated. That you're to continue to walk in that right way and not go back to walk in the sins that you've been delivered from.

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Repent is not a one-time past action where you say, yes, I prayed the prayer. Yes, I said those words. I did that a long time ago at some point, and so I'm fine. Jesus is asking for a current and continuing repentance. Now, this idea of dealing with sin and repentance, I was reflecting on this week that, you know, this has been coming up quite a bit recently. And I've been doing this for long enough to recognize that

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When that pattern happens, when God begins to bring it up a lot, it's because there's something he's dealing with. When God has me to share these kinds of things, the call to repentance, this is not just for those who have not believed in Jesus, but because it's a continual, a current repentance. It's a challenge for all of those who have professed faith in Jesus to say, do I have a true change of heart?

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Has my life really changed? And so as God is dealing with this and he's been bringing it up a lot recently. Listen, I can tell you with great confidence. God is dealing with somebody or several somebodies. But there's some sin issues that God is seeking to deal with. And as he uses this time this morning and

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Several Sundays we've talked about that. On Wednesdays we've dealt with it. As he's using these times to bring up the subject of sin and repentance, these are opportunities where God is saying, here's an opportunity for you to deal with your sin and to repent, to have a real change of heart. And so I want to challenge you to take this seriously. And maybe it's you that God is speaking to. Maybe it's you that God is wanting to deal with and he's calling you to repentance.

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In the same way that he called those people in his day to repentance. He's saying you need to have a real change of heart. There's some issues that need to be dealt with. But repentance is not putting on a show. We're real good at putting on a show. And we can show up to church. And we can look like a good Christian. We can act like a good Christian. And we can fool everybody else. But if I fool you or you fool me. That's no big thing. Because we're not the judge. We're going to stand before God.

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And you can't fool him. And so putting on a good show, that's not repentance. Repentance is not making a big announcement either. You could stand up and say, I am turning away from all those things that I've done. You go, wow, look at the repentance in that guy. But if you make that big announcement and then you continue on in the sin that you're living in, that's not repentance. The announcement doesn't mean anything. It's not the show. It's not the announcement.

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It's not even controlling behavior or making rules, trying to make boundaries so that you don't practice those things. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that or that has no value, but repentance is the change from the inside out, where the heart is changed, not where the flesh is bound. The heart needs to be changed. It's a true change of heart. Has your heart been changed? Have you been transformed? Or I would ask you to consider, are you living in sin?

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Are you practicing sin? Are you continuing on? Is there sin in your life that you know about and you're not doing anything about it? That's evidence that, well, there's a heart issue that needs to be changed. Do you have a secret life or a secret part of your life that you keep hidden from friends or family or church? That's not reflecting a true change of heart. It's reflecting a good show but not a real change. I would ask you to consider, have you returned to

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To things that God had once delivered you from. You were set free and you once praised the Lord and said, Oh, thank God I've been set free. I don't have to wrestle with that. That addiction has been, I've been delivered from it. I've been just set free. But now you've found yourself back in the same place. This repentance that Jesus calls us to is a continual, a current repentance. Repent or perish. Are you walking in repentance?

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Full and final judgment waits for those who will not repent. That's the warning that Jesus is giving. Repent or perish. Now Jesus will go on to illustrate this call to repentance in verses 6 through 9. And here we have the point, bear fruit or be cut down. Bear fruit or be cut down. To illustrate his call to repent, he tells us this parable about a fig tree. In verse 6 he says,

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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. So as Jesus is telling this parable, he starts out first saying, here's a guy who had a fig tree planted. Now why did he plant a fig tree? Well, because he wanted some figs. Why do people plant a fruit tree? Because they expect it to bear fruit. It's not really so much for the looks or, you know,

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It's for the fruit to be produced. That's why you plant the fig tree. So he had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and then he comes seeking fruit on it and he finds none. So he comes later on to get the fruit but then he finds there's no fruit there. Now he planted the tree in order to get the fruit but now the tree is producing no fruit. Now this is an illustration. Jesus is making his point clear. Repent or perish, bear fruit.

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Or be cut down. Throughout the scriptures we can see that the fig tree is often used as a symbol or a picture of the nation of Israel. And so it's possible that Jesus is kind of dealing with two things here. That he's dealing with the nation as a whole. Saying, hey, I'm here. I'm looking for fruit. There's not any. If you don't repent, then you're going to perish. Rome is going to march in and destroy Jerusalem. But also we can see that Jesus is speaking directly to us. He's addressing the people. And he's saying...

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repentance is necessary bear fruit or be cut down in the same way that this man planted a fig tree God gives you life he gives you life now when he gives you life he does so expecting that there is going to be fruit that is produced but some of you are not producing fruit that's the picture that Jesus is painting here he gives you life there's an expectation you're also going to produce fruit

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For those of you who have received Jesus and the forgiveness that he offers, he gives you that life as you believe in him, expecting that there will be fruit. But some are not producing fruit. And so he comes to you like this man comes to the fig tree and he finds, well, there's no fruits on this tree.

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Well, the illustration continues in verse 7. 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? He says, for three years I've come seeking fruit. I've given it opportunity. In the same way, God gives people time and opportunity to repent. He does not bring judgment upon us immediately. So repent or perish, the parish will

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Well, it has an uncertain time attached to it. How much time does God give you to repent? We don't know. In the case of this fig tree, for three years this owner has been coming to look and there's been no fruit. Now sometimes people take this delay, this time, as an indication that God approves of their sinful practices.

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Well, yeah, God understands. He knows what I'm going through. He knows my background and how my mom brought me up. And he knows this happened in my life. And so it's okay. He doesn't mind so much that I'm doing this. And that's why he's not doing anything about it. You know, it's because he knows my background. He knows what I went through. He really doesn't mind or he approves. It's not a big deal. But don't mistake his patience for his acceptance. Because there comes a point where God says enough in the same way where this guy says, look,

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I've come back three times, three years. First year, okay, yeah, maybe there's not much expectation of fruit. I came back the second year, there's still no fruit. So I thought, okay, well, I'll give it one more shot. Next season comes, I go, there's still no fruit. So he goes to the keeper, he says, look, this isn't producing fruit. I've tried three times already. Just cut it down. It's just wasting space. There's a point where God says, enough. I've given you enough time to repent. I've given you enough opportunity to

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It's time to be cut down if you're not producing fruit. Why does it use up the ground, he says. The idea is that it's not only that it's not producing fruit, but it's affecting the whole produce altogether because we could replace that tree with something that will produce fruit. So it's not just the loss of the fruit, but it's the loss of what could be if something else were there. God gives you life. He gave you breath today.

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But he also expects there to be fruit produced in your life. He patiently awaits the appropriate amount of time. Whatever that may be, that's in his hands. We don't know how much time you or I have. But he gives us the appropriate amount of time. And then he says, that's enough. Verse 8. But he, that is the keeper of the vineyard, he answered and said to him,

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Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after that you can cut it down. So the owner says, I've been here three times, hasn't produced fruit. Let's just cut it down. Let's just start something new. And the keeper of the vineyard says, okay, give it one more year. One last chance. One last opportunity to produce fruit.

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And in this last chance, I'm going to dig around it. I'm going to fertilize it. I'm going to take extra care of it and give it the best shot. Give it everything that it needs so that if it's going to produce fruit, well, it has everything that it needs. And if it bears fruit, then great. The keeper of the vineyard saying, look, I know you're not just wanting to get rid of the tree for the fun of it. You just expect the fruit that is promised, that is supposed to come. And so if the tree produces fruit, then great. That's no problem. Problem solved.

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But still, if it doesn't produce fruit after this extra care and attention, giving it this one final chance and opportunity, then if it doesn't produce fruit, well then, you can cut it down. And I think the application is pretty clear. Bear fruit or be cut down. That God gives us opportunity. He gives us time. But there's a point where he says enough. And perhaps he gives us one last opportunity, one last chance, before he takes that action of cutting it down.

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The problem is we always think that this isn't that last chance. That there'll be another opportunity later on and then I'll repent. Then I'll really get serious. Then I'll have that real change of heart. But what Jesus is calling our attention to is that we don't know that. We can experience tragedy at any moment. When God looks at your life, do you think the word fruitful is what comes to his mind? Because he comes to you expecting fruit. Now we are easily impressed with ourselves.

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Wow, it's amazing how much fruit I produce. I can't believe it. But perhaps our standard for bearing fruit is different than God's standard. We have a fruit tree in our backyard. I'm not exactly sure what kind of tree it is. I know it's some kind of citrus, maybe tangerine. But, well, it produces a lot of fruit in one sense where you walk up to the tree and there's all this fruit all over the tree. And you can see the whole process of flowers and then the bud and the

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Fruit is produced. But even though it looks fruitful, it looks really good, I would not classify the tree as fruitful because, well, we've never been able to actually eat anything from the tree. Because although it looks like there's a lot of fruit on the tree, when you actually take a look at the fruit, you peel open the skin a little bit and you start to take a bite, you can really only get a lick. And it's like, I'm not going to eat that. That's terrible.

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It's awful. It's not, it's not fruitful. It's not edible. I think sometimes we're like that tree. We've put out all these little buds. We put out all these little fruits and we think, look at me. I'm pretty good stuff, man. It's like, yeah, you should be a Christian like I am. I show up to church all the time. I do all these things. I've got all these great little fruits. But maybe God's standard is not the same as ours. If God's standards were church attendance, that, well, that makes things entirely different, wouldn't it?

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When he comes expecting fruit, he just opens the record and says, alright, were they at church? Yeah, they were at church. Okay, they're good then. They're fruitful. Is that what God wants? Is that what fruitful means? That you attend church? Is it just the flower that God's looking for? Do you just, you know, do something pretty? Do something beautiful? Is it just the bud? You know, the beginnings of growth? Like, wow, they're really beginning to grow. That's enough. They're fruitful now. Is it tiny, inedible fruit? No.

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Is that enough? Is that sufficient? When God is expecting fruit from your life, that just these little tiny things, is that fruitful enough? Or do you have real fruit? Is there real substance to your life? Is there real substance to this change of heart that has taken place? Because Jesus is saying, bear fruit or be cut down. Those are your options. Repent or perish.

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So important, he says it twice, repent or perish. Then he illustrates it, bear fruit or be cut down. This is a serious issue. He's calling for repentance. I like the way that Warren Wiersbe sums up this passage. He says, the big question is not why do people die in tragic and seemingly meaningless ways, but instead, why does God keep me alive? Am I really worth it?

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Am I bearing fruit or just taking up space? Why is God keeping you alive? Are you bearing fruit? Is there this zeal, this indignation, this passion, this vindication in your life because your heart has been changed by God? Repentance is not just outwardly controlling behavior and making rules and setting boundaries. It's a change from the inside out. So this morning as we close, I would call you to repent. I don't know where you're at.

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And you can fool me and I can fool you. But we're not the judge. God is. And he sees your heart. He knows if it's really been changed. And if it's not changed, his call is repent or perish. Start bearing fruit or be cut down. And listen, some of you might be in this last phase where he's like, okay, one more chance. One more shot. One more opportunity. That's all you have.

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And perhaps this is your last chance, your last opportunity to repent and to let God change your heart. Don't take it lightly. Don't think maybe there's going to be another time. There might be, there might not be. But tragedy happens, tragedy strikes those who do good things and those who do bad things. Those who have good intentions and those who have bad intentions. So you need to be ready. Repentance needs to be a top priority. You need to make sure that your heart is right with God. And you do that

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By faith in Jesus Christ. By believing in Him. What He has done. Receiving His work for us upon the cross. Repentance is an action that only you can take. And if you've never done that. Or you have. But you found yourself back in the things that God delivered you from. He's looking at you this morning. He sees exactly where you're at. He knows what you're up to. He sees your heart. And He says repent. There needs to be a real change. I'm looking for a real fruit. I'm not looking for a good show.

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There needs to be some substance, a radical transformation that can only happen when you surrender yourself to him. Let's pray. God, I lift up each of our hearts to you. And Lord, you know exactly what our situation is, where our hearts are at. You know the appropriate response for us as we hear these words that you spoke. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to surrender to you.

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To be obedient as you call us to repentance and turn away from sin. To stop walking in it. To turn around and to walk in the ways of righteousness as you've called us to. To stop trusting in ourselves or thinking that we're more righteous than others. Or thinking that we're safe because we haven't experienced judgment. Lord, help us to see the reality, the necessity, the urgency to deal with sin. And God, I pray as we look to you, Lord, that you would change our hearts.

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Lord, because we recognize what you did upon the cross. You received the penalty. You were perfect and holy, but you received the judgment that I deserved. Thank you, Jesus. I believe that and I receive that. And Lord, I want to walk with you and I want to live for you. So change my heart. I surrender it all to you. I don't want to hold anything back. Radically change me. Transform me that I might bear fruit to your glory.

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And fulfill the purpose for which you've given me life. Lord, that you might find the fruit that you expect as you do this radical work in me. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.