Luke chapter 13. We want to look
today at verse 6 down to verse 9 about this parable the Lord
gives unto us. It's known as the parable of
the barren fig tree. The fig tree that didn't have
any fruit. That'll be the title of the message. The parable of the barren fig
tree. Now remember, the Lord often
taught great and spiritual truth using Parables. A parable is an earthly story
that teaches us a spiritual lesson. You remember one day the apostles
asked the Lord, why do you teach in parables? Well, because to
make it in language that they can understand or at least grasp
to some extent. The Lord uses these parables,
these earthly stories to teach us a spiritual lesson. And that is certainly the case
in this parable and in every parable that the Lord does teach.
It's intended, this parable is intended to enforce the warning
that is given in verses 2, 3, 4, and 5 about Repentance. He says, except you
repent, you will perish. He says that not once, but twice.
Having no repentance, you will perish. Much like that barren
fig tree bearing no fruit, the Lord said, cut it down. Now,
the Lord had just declared to this large crowd as they gathered
on the Sabbath day in the synagogue, as it says in verse 10, The Lord
had said, except you repent, you will perish, except you experience
in your heart the fruit of true repentance being changed by God
in your heart about how God saves sinners justly in the Lord Jesus
Christ, how mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and
peace have kissed each other in Christ, how God justifies
us freely by His grace through the redemption that is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. God must change our mind. And
that's what repentance means. It's a change of mind. It's a
turning. by the power of God. God also
changes our heart, our thinking, our mind, not only about how
God saves sinners justly, but how God is magnified and glorified
in the salvation of the ungodly. Who gets the honor and glory
for saving the ungodly, for justifying sinners? Certainly not the sinner. To God be the glory, great things
He has done for us. This is an amazing statement
and a faithful statement. And true, the Lord came to save
sinners. He came to call sinners unto
repentance. Who needs repentance? Good folks
don't. Sinners need repentance. Oh,
for God to grant us the fruit of repentance. A change of heart,
a change of mind, a change in thinking how God saves sinners
justly through Christ. How God is magnified and glorified
in the salvation of the ungodly. How God puts away sin. You know,
sin is very difficult to put away. The blood of bulls and
goats cannot put away sin. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. God, when He saves us and teaches
us the gospel, teaches us how God can justly put away sin by
the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ only. It's His blood
that maketh atonement for our soul. Here in His love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us, and that He sent His Son
to be the sacrifice for our sin. The blood of Jesus Christ God's
Son cleanses us from all our sin. You see, God must give you
this repentance. It's the gift of God like faith.
Faith and repentance is not something that is natural to us. It's foreign
to us. Arthur Pink called saving faith
exotic. It's something that blooms outside
of you and that is planted in your heart by the power of Almighty
God. God must change you in your mind,
in your heart, in your thinking. and turn you to Christ in faith,
or you will perish in your sin. Except you repent, you will perish. Now, I pointed out in a message
last week how faith and repentance always go together. Where you
find a repentant and broken heart, you find a believing heart. That's
why the Apostle preached repentance toward God and then faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said this in John 8,
24. He said, if you believe not that I am You will perish in
your sin. Except you repent, you will perish
in your sin. Except you believe that I am,
you will perish in your sin. Now my friend, we admit that
that's what we deserve. If God sent me to hell, He'd
be doing the right thing. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The justice of God
would say, cut it down. There's no fruit in that tree.
In my nature, we bear no fruit, do we? All we have is the sinfulness
of our sin. By nature, we have no fruit of
faith or repentance. And the holy justice of God would
say, cut it down! But the mediator stands forth
and says, wait a minute, let me dung about it, let me fertilize
it, let me water it with the Word of Life, that it may bear
fruit in due time. You remember John the Baptist? The last Old Testament preacher,
it says in John 3, we quote this often times and we forget that
it's the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ who declares this.
He said this, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God, the wrath of God abideth on him. Oh, for faith to believe
Him. I want you to turn to this Scripture.
Hold your place there in Luke 13. Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. And turn to
Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3. And notice
what the Lord says here. to those who had no faith or
repentance. Matthew chapter 3 verse 7. When he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves,
we're Abraham's children. We're the sons of Abraham. We have Abraham to our father.
was saying to you that God is able of these stones to raise
up children unto Abraham, and now also the axe is laid to the
root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not
forth fruit, good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. You, I tell you, you see the
necessity of repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, let's go back to Luke 13,
and let's read this parable, and know how it's inseparably
connected to what he said in verse 2, 3, 4, and 5. He spake
this parable, a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard,
and he came and he sought fruit. thereof, but he found none. Then
he said to the dresser, the man who was keeping the orchard,
the fig tree, he said to the dresser of his vineyard, behold,
these three years I've come seeking fruit on this tree and find none. Cut it down. Why cumbers it to
ground? And he answering, that is the
dresser of the vineyard, he answering said unto him, Lord, Lord, show
mercy. Let it alone this year also,
till I shall dig about it, and that I may dung it, may fertilize
it, and if it bear fruit, well. And if not, then afterward, you
cut it down. Justice will have its way. Cut
it down. Now, want to consider this earthly
story and then make a spiritual application. When you plant a
fruit tree, at some point you expect to receive some delicious
fruit, right? Over here at the new place on
Wynn's Branch, we've planted some fruit trees, some peach
trees, and some apple trees. And one day, maybe we'll have
some fruit. Probably not the first year,
probably not the second year, but on the third year, of pruning
those trees and fertilizing those trees and watering those trees.
I worry about those trees all the time. On the third or fourth
year, you'd expect peaches, apples. Back where we lived in Ashland,
Kentucky, we lived there for 20 years, had a nice house on
five acres of land, And one of the first things I did after
we had been there for a year or so, we had a large backyard,
and I planted an apple orchard. I put out an apple orchard, about
eight or ten trees, and I fixed those trees just right, planted
them just right, made sure they had plenty of water, cared for
them. I waited the first year, the
second year, the third year, no fruit. I waited all the way
to the ninth year, the tenth year, the twelfth year, no fruit. Mowing around those trees, trimming
around those trees. And one day, I went in the garage,
and I came out with my chainsaw, and I cut them down. Cut every
one of them down. I said, they're worthless trees.
They just cumbering up the ground. I cut them down, piled them up,
and burned them. No fruit. That's what he's saying
here. No fruit. No fruit. No fruit. Now, let's make a spiritual application
on this story two-fold. What the Lord is teaching here
specifically to the nation Israel. He came unto His own people.
Two-fold here. First one is this. The application
is to Israel, national Israel, the sons of Abraham. The Lord
came among them. And they received him not, did
they? He ministered about them for
three years in a very public way. They had so many privileges
given to that nation over the years that no other nation had. They had faithful Abraham. They had faithful Moses. They
had a king like David. They had a king like Solomon.
They had all those kings, Hezekiah, all those good kings that led
them in the way of worship toward God. God sent countless prophets
among them, didn't He? His prophets with His Word. Elijah,
Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all them mighty prophets. And we're
going to read in a minute in this same chapter, Luke 13, they
stoned the prophets and they killed the prophets. And God
sent them priests, Aaron and all the sons of Aaron, the priest
of God, Melchizedek himself. And then they had the tabernacle
God gave them, prescribed way to worship around the blood atonement
on the mercy seat. And then remember they had that
great tabernacle, not only the tabernacle, but that tremendous
temple that was built by Solomon. We've studied that, haven't we,
in 1st and 2nd Kings. They had the temple of God. They
had that mercy seat. They had the day of atonement.
They had all those feast days. The Passover Feast. Christ is
our Passover. The Feast of Tabernacles. The
Feast of Firstfruits. All these different feast days
that tell us and preach to us the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They had all those special privileges, didn't they? No other
nation had that. The Philistines, the Jittites,
the Amalekites, all the other isles, they didn't have the privileges
that this nation had. And yet, No fruit. No fruit. When the long-expected
Messiah came, the Lord Jesus Christ came among them, God Almighty
manifest in the flesh, for three years publicly ministered among
them, plainly and powerfully demonstrating among them that
He was the Messiah indeed. No man can do these things that
you do except God be with you. He demonstrated plainly that
he was the Messiah. He said, I and the Father, we
are one. And for the most part, among
all those people, no true fruit of repentance. Now there were
some exceptions, thank God. Like Simeon in the temple. When
he lifted up that baby there in the temple. He said, Lord
let me die, I've seen the Savior, I've seen the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in John chapter 1, He
came unto His own, His own received Him not. His own received Him
not. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own, and His own people did not even recognize Him whatsoever. They attempted to stone Him to
death, didn't they? They attempted to throw Him off
a cliff, didn't they? Then finally one day they said,
when Pilate brought forth the Messiah, the King, and said,
Behold your King, remember what they said? Away with him. Crucify him. We have no king
but Caesar. No fruit of true repentance. No fruit of true repentance.
He said, your house is left unto you desolate. Turn one page,
the last part of Luke chapter 13. Look at verse 34. He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto
you, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen
doth gather her brood under her wing, but you would not. You would not. Behold, your house
is left unto you desolate, no fruit. And verily I say unto
you, you shall not see me until the time come when you shall
say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. When
he comes again in judgment, every knee will bow, every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. He says over here in John, Chapter
5, let me read it to you, don't turn. John chapter 5, he said,
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life. They are they which testify of
me, and you will not come to me that you might have life. No fruit of true repentance. So there's that application to
Israel. Now, let's get right down where
the rubber meets the road. How about you and me? How about
you and me? The application for us today.
The Lord's church, the Lord's people, is His vineyard. It's His vineyard. His orchard. Trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord. I think of this scripture every
time I plant something in Isaiah 61, talking about His people,
His church, that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Now I want you to turn back to
John chapter 15. John chapter 15. The Lord is
glorified. in the planting of his trees,
because of the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 15, look
at verse 1 again. I am the true vine, and my Father,
my Father, the Heavenly Father, is the husbandman. Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit, he takes away. And every branch
that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. He said, Now are you clean through
the word which I have spoken unto you? Abide in me, and I
in you, as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide
in the vine. No more can you except you abide
in me. Now if you trim and prune a fruit
tree, and if you cut off a branch, and you throw that branch away,
is it going to bear any fruit? has to be connected to the tree,
to the vine. That's what the Lord is saying
here. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except you abide in the vine, no more can you except
you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches.
He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. For without Me, you can do zero,
nothing. If a man abideth not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide
in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will,
and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit." Now the fruit comes from the vine. The branch doesn't produce fruit
of itself. Now turn one page, John 15 and
look at verse 16. Here's the only way we can bear
fruit. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. I have chosen you and I have
put you in the vine. Christ is the true vine. I have
chosen you and ordained you, ordained unto eternal life, as
many as were ordained to eternal life, believe the gospel, that
you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should
remain, that whatsoever you shall ask in my name, He may give it
unto you. Now this is the fruit of true
faith, the fruit of the vine, the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
true faith, true repentance is produced by His blessing us through
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a result of being married
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I in them and thou in me that
they may be made perfect in one. You remember from our study in
Romans chapter 7, Verse 4, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become
dead to the law through the body of Christ, that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that ye should bring forth fruit unto God. It's His fruit that
is realized through and in you. Now I want you to turn to another
Scripture. We're going to see over here,
turn to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, and while
you're turning there, finding Galatians chapter 5 verse 22.
Notice here it's called Galatians 5 verse 22, the fruit, notice
it's not fruits, fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit. Now, let me read to you two other
Scriptures, and we'll come back. Just stay right there in Galatians
5, verse 22. In Ephesians 5, verse 9, we read
this, The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness,
and truth. Remember, our Lord said, when
He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will teach you all things,
He will take the things of mine and show them unto you. And then
in Hebrews chapter 12, we read this, No chastening for the present
seem to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Righteousness and truth, that
is the fruit of God the Holy Spirit. Now notice in verse 22, Galatians 5, verse 22. This is the fruit of a true repentant
heart, and this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
Nine things are mentioned here in Galatians 5, verse 22. I've
quoted this verse over the last 30 years that I've been trying
to preach the gospel many, many, many times. But the fruit of
the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Verse 3, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
second three, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there
is no law against being faithful and true and having peace. Now, the fruit here that is mentioned
is not of our fleshly nature, but is the result of the indwelling
Spirit that is produced by Him. We can take no credit, no glory
for any good or good work that are done in us, for all these
things are by His grace. Remember Paul said, by the grace
of God I am what I am. This fruit in various degrees
according to Our spiritual growth, but it is in every believer. We're going to read in a minute
from the parable in Matthew 13, the parable of the sower. Some
brought forth thirtyfold, sixtyfold, some a hundredfold, but all those
sown in the good ground brought forth fruit. Now, let's see if
we can look at all nine of these that are given here in Galatians
chapter 5. He mentions, first of all, love, joy, and peace.
Love, joy, and peace. Now, I want you to turn to the
book of Romans chapter 5. We see all three of these given
here in Romans chapter 5. Love, joy, and peace. This is
the Lord's commandment that you love Him and love one another.
This is that love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit. We love Him because He first loved us. And then we have
joy. By nature, we don't love God.
It's the fruit of the Spirit. We have love to Him and love
to another. We have joy. That is, we rejoice
in Christ Jesus. And we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Romans chapter 5. We see
these three given here. Romans 5 verse 1, Therefore being
justified by faith, We're going to see that in just a minute.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now how
is peace made? He made peace for us with His
own blood, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and we rejoice. We rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God, and not only so, but we also glory in tribulation
also. That tribulation worketh patient,
and patience Experience and experience hope, and the hope we have maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
heart by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us. Faith, hope,
and love. Love, joy, and peace. We have peace with God through
our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. Now, if you're back at
Galatians 5.22, Notice the next three that he gives here, long-suffering,
gentleness, and goodness. Long-suffering is patience with
others, opposed to being hasty to revenge, and inclining us
to patiently bear one another's faults. Be patiently bearing. Injuries. Long-suffering, impatient
with others. How long-suffering has the Lord
been to you? That's exactly how long-suffering
you should be with others. And then he mentions gentleness.
That is kindness. Be you kind one to another. Sweetness
in temper. forgiving one another, loving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. And then he mentions, the sixth one, he mentions their
goodness. Goodness. That is a disposition in us to
hurt no one. I want to harm anyone. I don't
even want to harm anyone. And then he mentions Faith, meekness,
and temperance. We know a lot about faith, don't
we? Faith and repentance always go
together. We know that faith and repentance are both gifts
of God. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourself, it is the gift of God. And then he mentions
humility. Meekness is humility. Humility
and meekness is the opposite of pride, is it not? A proud
heart goes before destruction. He's neither of them of a broken
heart, save it such as be of a contrite spirit. And then he
mentioned lastly, but not least, he mentioned temperance. Temperance. What is temperance? Well, temperance
is moderation. Moderation in all things. Moderation
in all things, whatever it may be. This is a fruit produced
by the Holy Spirit in the believer's heart, mind, and life. These things are not found there
naturally, but rather are put there by regenerating grace. Now turn a couple pages and find
Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. We read a moment ago from John
15, 16, You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and have
ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, that
your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask of the
Father in my name, He may give it to you. I have chosen you
and ordained you that you might go and bring forth fruit." There
is a growth in grace of all things that are present
in the believer to one degree or another. We grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't grow in
being more redeemed or being more sanctified. We are redeemed,
we are justified, we don't grow in those things, but we do grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
turn back to Luke chapter 13 one more time. Luke 13. The justice of God will speak
unto the man who is keeping the vineyard, and the justice of
God would say, cut it down, I find no fruit. But here we see the
intercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we see Him
as our mediator. Verse 8, He answering said unto
him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I dig about it
and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well, but if not, then we'll
cut it down. Aren't you glad we have a Mediator
who intercedes for us, who will stay the hand of justice till
God reveals mercy to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an
intercessor. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for us. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that is the man Christ Jesus. Our
Lord said, these things I write unto you, that you sin not, but
when you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. Aren't you glad that the Lord
Jesus Christ stayed the hand of God's justice and said, leave
him alone till I deal with him in mercy? And in grace. Now in
closing, I want us to turn to Matthew 13. I want to show you
something here in this parable. Matthew chapter 13 will be done.
Matthew 13. This is the parable of Sower.
Matthew 13, 18. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one, and catcheth away that which is sown in his heart, this is
he which receiveth seed by the wayside, no fruit. Verse 20,
But he that receiveth seed in the stony places is the same
that heareth the word, and at once receiveth it with joy, Yet
hath no root in himself, but dureth for a while, when tribulation
or persecution arises because of the word by and by, he is
offended. Again, no fruit. Verse 22, He
also that receiveth seed among the thorns, is he that heareth
the word, and the carriage of this world, and the deceitfulness
of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. No fruit
of true repentance. No fruit. of true faith. Now look at verse 23. He that
receives seed into the good ground, that's the ground that's plowed
by God the Holy Spirit. That's the ground that's prepared
by God to receive the Word, the seed, the Word of life. It's
he that heareth the Word and understands it, because He's
given us an understanding that we may know Him as true, which
also beareth fruit. That seed of the Word of Life
that's sown in the heart of that sinner by the hands of God the
Holy Spirit brings forth fruit unto life. Brings forth, beareth
fruit, and bringeth forth some hundred, some sixty, some thirty,
but there was fruit. There was fruit because of the
Lord's grace. Now, may the Lord be pleased
to cause us to grow in Him that we might bear much fruit unto
His glory. Remember it says in John 5 verse
8, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall
ye be my disciples. That's the bottom line in salvation
is of the Lord, His glory. His glory alone. Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him glory in this, that he understands
and knows that I am the Lord which exercises loving kindness
and mercy in the earth. Oh, may God be pleased to bless
us and to enable us to bear fruit unto His glory.