Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Luke 13:1-9

Theme: God is a God of mercy, but He is also a God of Righteous Judgement.

If men do not repent they will perish.

I’ve spent the last month preaching a series of parables that reveal the loving, searching nature of God’s heart.

When it comes to lost sinners, God is like the faithful shepherd, searching for the one lost sheep.

He is like the persistent housewife, searching in the dirt until she finds the one lost coin.

He is like the loving father, waiting for the lost son to come home.

But I would be remiss in preaching the full revelation of the Scripture if I did not also preach that God is sovereign and wholly righteous.

Because of His righteous He is justified in condemning sin and the unrepentant sinner.

Billy Graham said that there are three things all mortal men experience: 1) You have to be born: You cannot be ‘unborn’, 2) You have to die: All men will die, 3) You have to stand before God and be judged.

The author of the Book of Hebrews writes: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment;” (Heb.

9:27).

Men ignore God at their peril.

Rejecting His Word has consequences.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Christians at Rome: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” (Rom.

1:18).

The Parable of the Fruitless Fig Tree is a parable that reveals the flip-side of God’s love and mercy.

ILLUS.

Most teens (or even young adults for that matter) don’t have a clue as to what flip-side means.

Those of us here tonight are “the initiated.”

We remember the days when music came on round vinyl disks called “records.”

They came in “thirty-three’s” and “forty-fives”— those numbers representing the revolutions per minute.

“Thirty-three’s” were usually albums and had several songs.

Forty-fives usually had one “hit” tune on one side and a lesser tune—that hardly anyone would listen to—on the other side – the flip-side.

And sometimes you missed out on some really good music by not flipping the record over and playing that second tune.

In the same way, we love to listen to God’s greatest hits: Tunes like, Amazing Grace!, He Is Able to Deliver Thee, Grace Greater than All Our Sin, and Love Lifted Me.

But, there is a flip-side to God’s grace and love and mercy.

That tune is hardly ever played or listened to, but it’s an important song that we need to listen to.

The Parable of the Fruitless Fig Tree is a story that reveals God righteous judgment.

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PARABLE

1. two calamities are the reason for the parable that Jesus tells

“Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no!

But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, no!

But unless you repent, you too will all perish.””

(Luke 13:1–5, NIV84)

2. the first calamity is brought up by some people in the crowd

a. some Jews from Galilee had come to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple and offer sacrifices to God

b. during their worship, Roman soldiers attack them and a number were killed

1) we don’t have any secular historical account of the incident mentioned in this passage, but we know Pilate’s rule was marked by insensitivity to the Jews and brutality against them when he thought they were slighting his authority

2) this kind of behavior was simply “par-for-the-course” for Pilate

3. the second calamity is brought up by Jesus, himself

a. he refers to a the structural failure of a tower in Jerusalem that falls and kills eighteen people

4. what conclusion does Jesus draw from these situations?

A. ALL MEN WILL DIE

1. this is a given of life ... you will die

“So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.

2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.

The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.”

(Ecclesiastes 9:1–3, NIV84)

2. you do not know when your death will come

“Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.”

(Ecclesiastes 9:12, NIV84)

a. some people will die a natural death ... peacefully ... in their sleep ... at a ripe old age

b. some people will die an unnatural death ... violently, while wide awake ... at all too young an age

3. but isn’t this encouraging!!

B. ALL MEN WILL DIE, AND MANY WILL PERISH

1. the word repent is a key word in this passage

a. it implies being in a right relationship with God the Father ... a relationship that only comes through repentance and faith

2. without repentance and faith, men will die and perish

a. perish in this verse refers to perishing under God’s judgment

b. all Christians know John 3:16—and love it—

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

(John 3:16, NIV84)

c. but it must be read in the context of the passage

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

(John 3:17–19, NIV84)

d. for those who refuse to repent, and come to Christ, and believe on him there is a condemnation that awaits, and the result of that condemnation is an everlasting perishing

3. you don’t have to perish!

C .

ALL MEN NEED TO REPENT OF THEIR SINS IF THEY DON’T WANT TO PERISH

1. the people in the crowd assume that those individuals upon whom these calamities fell must have been really bad sinners and that God was “getting even” with them

a. this was standard theology 101 among the Jews ... the simple singular reason bad things happened to people was God’s judgment on sin

b. even the disciples assumed this (John 9:1-3)

c. it has remained a popular theology throughout the ages

ILLUS.

When the blind English poet John Milton was old and obscure, he was visited one day by Charles II, son of the king that the Puritans had beheaded.

“Your blindness is a judgment from God for the part you took against my father,” said the king.

Milton replied, “If I have lost my sight through God’s judgment, what can you say of your father who lost his head?”

c. bottom line is ... we don’t know, and can never say for sure if a violent death or unnatural death or a personal calamity is a reaping of the whirlwind

d. there is the biblical principle of reaping and sowing found in Galatians

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.

A man reaps what he sows.

8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

(Galatians 6:7–10, NIV84)

1) but there have been some deeply wicked people who have lived long lives, and have not reaped what they have sown

2) and there have been some deeply pious people who have lived short lives, who have reaped what they’ve not sown

2. Jesus went on to show them the logical conclusion of their argument:

a. if God does punish sinners for their sin, then they themselves had better repent because all men are sinners!

vv.

3,5 “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

b. the question is not, “Why did these people die?” but, “All men will die, because all men are sinners.

Are you ready to stand before a holy God?”

3. none of us is sinless, so we had all better get prepared

4. he then spoke a parable unto them ...