You open your Bibles this morning
to Luke 13. We're beginning Luke 13 today
in our continuing Bible class on Luke. And we're in just the first few
verses here of Luke 13. What a testimony to grace we
have here. We're going to be concerned today
with just the first few verses. to the right page here. And this
is a follow up to what had gone on before in Luke chapter 12. And verse 1 of Luke chapter 13,
there were present at that season or that occasion some that told
him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifice. And remember at this time in in their history, they were under
Roman domination, they were a province of Rome and they didn't like
it much and they were kind of in the dominated by them and they were
forced to pay taxes and behave themselves, but there was always
a certain amount of rabble-rousers around that were trying to throw
off the Roman yoke and there was always a plotting going on
with that all the time. So these Galileans were kind
of notorious, these particular ones were kind of notorious for
their insurrectionist kind of ideas about the Roman Empire. And even the disciples talked
to Jesus, said, well, will thou at this time restore the kingdom
to us and throw off the Roman yoke? And so there was that kind
of thinking going on at this time. And these Galileans, they
go up to the temple to offer sacrifices to a God that they
didn't really know for an outcome that they didn't really understand. And so when they were up there at
the temple, the Roman garrison was just kind of like across
the street. And the Romans says, there's all those troublemakers.
They went over there and dispatched them right there. So it says,
they were present at that season, some that told him that would
be Jesus of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with
their sacrifices. He just killed them while they
were sacrificing. And Jesus answering. said unto them, it was a kind
of a current event, it was what they talked about. Jesus said
unto them, suppose you that these Galileans were sinners above
all the Galileans because they suffered such things. So it's
kind of a, he's reading their mind a little bit there, and
they're presupposing that these guys were terrible sinners because
that's what happened to them. You suppose they were sinners
above all Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell
you, nay, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or
those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew
them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt
in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay, but except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. So, today in our examining
of this and A couple of interesting things
and some interesting ties to, we're going to kind of go back
and forth between John chapter 8 and 9 and Luke chapter 13 because
there's a lot of the same principles are involved here. and how man
views things through the fleshly eyes, and how we go about obtaining
grace, and repentance, and being born again. So there's a couple
of things mentioned here that are mentioned kind of in both
places. He says, the Tower of Siloam. That's mentioned in John. In John he talks about the Pool
of Siloam. There was a pool there. in what was called the old part
of the city and it was right near where the temple was and
that's where the priests went down to do their ablutions before
they went to the temple and stuff. Hezekiah built that pool in his
day because he was afraid that Jerusalem would be besieged and
they wouldn't have a water supply for the city. And they dug a
tunnel through solid rock 1,700 feet to a spring. And that spring flowed through
there and fed that pool. And so the repair of that is
mentioned in Nehemiah chapter 3, where they come back and they
build up the gates and the water gate and the city walls. And
they kind of made repairs to all that in this cistern there
in Nehemiah 3.15, if you want to read about that. It was called,
in the Old Testament, it was called Shiloah instead of Siloam. And the Tower of Siloam was,
according to my sources, was a construction by the Romans
to create an above-ground water system from what was previously
underground there. They said, well, we're in control. We don't have to worry about
being besieged, but we need more water. So they were going to
build a water aqueduct or something there. And this tower of Siloam
was going to be part of the structure that held that up. and it fell
on these 18 people there and killed them. So the Galileans
that were slain while they were doing the sacrifice were likely
the ones that Luke wrote both this gospel and he wrote Acts. And in Acts chapter 5, The apostles were jailed for
preaching the gospel, if you remember from Acts. And they're kind of giving a
little sermon there in Acts chapter 5 verse 30. The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. What
an interesting verse there. Jesus is the source and dispenser
of repentance. He's the giver of it. And we're
just the recipients of it. And in Acts 532, he says, and
we're witnesses of these things. And so also is the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey him. And when they, the
chief priests that they were talking to, and the Pharisees,
and those religious folks, when they heard that, they were cut
to the heart. And they took counsel to slay
them. And then stood there up one of the council, a Pharisee
named Gamaliel, the same one that Paul wrote about. He was
schooled by Gamaliel in the law and things. And he was a doctor
of the law and had a reputation among all the people. He was
widely acclaimed as being a renowned teacher. And he commanded to put the apostles
forth a little space. He says, hey, give these guys
a little slack here. He said, you men of Israel, take heed
to yourselves what you intend to do is touching these men.
He says, For before these days rose up Theodius, boasting himself
to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined
themselves, who was slain. And all as many as obeyed him
were scattered and brought to naught, slain by the Romans. And after this man rose up, Judas
of Galilee, in the days of taxing, The Romans were taxing the, that's
what, Matthew was a publican, he was a tax collector, and they
hated those guys, and publican was the lowest form of life because
they collected taxes from the Jews. gave it to the Romans,
and they weren't above extracting a little extra for themselves
in the process, so they were not well thought of. But after
this wrote up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing and
drew away much people after him and he also perished and all
even as many as obeyed him were dispersed and so that's likely
the same one as these Galileans that I think in Josephus it mentions
that these were the same fellows that were up at this up at this
temple sacrificing to a God they didn't know and praying for an
outcome that they didn't understand. They wanted a kingdom restored.
They wanted the Romans gone. And yet the kingdom of God was
right there among them, and they didn't see Him, couldn't see
Him. And so the above reference in
Acts kind of links us more to about Siloam. In Acts 5.31 it
says, And him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince
and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. Again, Jesus the source and the
dispenser of repentance. So we have a little bit of a
connection here between Luke 13 and John 9 regarding wrong
concepts by man regarding tragedy and repentance and grace, the
way they look at things and the way they apply them. It's just real common, even today,
in all times. Well, something bad happens to
somebody and they say, boy, I wonder what he did. He must have really
made God angry for that to happen to him. Tragedy is a sure sign
of God's judgment. Bad things just happen to bad
people. And the most heinous thing about
it is We think that we have the qualifications to make those
judgments. From my point of view, it looks
like he must have done something really bad. Alongside of this
is just this really absolute necessity for repentance, unless
you repent. Because he said to those disciples,
you think that those guys were killed because they were bad
sinners more than anybody else? Or you think that tower fell
on them because they were bad sinners more than anybody in
Jerusalem? Unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish. But
it turns out, though, that we have to ask the question, can
one repent unaided? So as we look over to John Chapter
9, I wanted to read a little bit from Psalm 2. In Psalm 130,
there's a famous scripture that said, If thou, Lord, should mark
iniquity, who shall stand? And He gives the answer, He says,
but there's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. So we always have that. So let's
go over to John chapter 8 and 9 for just a quick background
thing as it relates to our study today about making these judgments
and what about repentance. And in John chapter 8, if you
remember, Jesus was talking in the temple. He was teaching in
the temple. And they brought to him this woman taken in adultery. Remember that? And they said,
this woman was caught in the very act. And the law says we
should stone her. What should we do? And he stooped
down and he rode in the ground. And he said, whoever is among
you without sin, let him cast the first stone. And so one by
one, they all flittered away. And boy, what a what a sense of power
we get from him. And and, you know, everything
that happens is by divine purpose. And we find everything is linked
together by divine purpose and His sovereign will. And so we
have that woman that was taken in adultery, and then He says
a curious thing in verse 12 of chapter 8. Then spake Jesus again
unto them, saying, I'm the light of the world. He that followeth
Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
So as we look at this, he kind of shined the light of the world
on these hypocrites that were in the religious world and this
woman. And we saw the result of that.
They all left. And he said, woman, where are
they, thine accusers? And he says, she says, There
are none. He says, neither do I condemn
thee. What a wonderful statement from the Lord, the Savior. And
so, and then he says, I'm the light of the world, the same
light that shined on those evildoers that scurried off. And it kind
of remind me, Yvonne tries to take her puppy out at night and
for its little nightly stretch. And we just went after it rains,
we have this thousands of nightcrawlers on the lawn and the dogs... I'm not going out there. And
when you go out there and turn the light on them, they just
they just slither back into their little holes, you know. And that's
kind of what these guys did. They went away. And so he says,
I'm the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. How pertinent
that is to what is about to transpire in John chapter nine. Keep that
in mind. So, you know the same light that
makes the night crawlers and the evildoers squirm away draws
his elect to him. How incredible is that? So there's
just a number of incredible truths that are brought to the attention
of the church, and yet without revelation, they remain unseen.
They just can't be seen. In John 8, verse 32, he says,
I'm the light of the world, and then later on in verse 32, he
says, And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. And we always close our lessons
with a bit of that verse, 32 or 36, be free. And he says in
verse 38, I speak that which I have seen
with my Father, and you do that which you have seen with your
Father." Isn't that an interesting verse? He's talking about spiritual
sight there. He sees everything from the eternal
spiritual view. of God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit in the redemption of the church. And man in the
unregenerate state sees everything like Nicodemus saw it. How can a man be born again?
Can he enter again into his mother's womb? How can these things be? And they always apply a physical
a physical application to spiritual things, really, and they don't
really work out that way. In verse 47 of John 8, he says,
He that is of God heareth God's words. And he says, you therefore
hear them not because you're not of God. So it's just a plain
statement there that unless some divine intervention has taken
place, you're just, you can't see the kingdom of God. What
he told Nicodemus, unless a man be born again, you cannot see
the kingdom of God. And unless you've been born again,
you can't hear it. It's totally oblivious to you.
So what happens is they took up stones then to stone him,
because he told them, you can't see and you can't hear. And they
said, well, we have all these scripts. We have all these scriptures. We have all the roles. We have
all the robes, we have the big hats, we have all the religious
trappings, we have the power, we have the temple, we have everything. And you're telling us we can't
see, and we can't hear, and we don't know anything about God. So, we have a relevant application
of that comes right up next thing we see in John 9, verse 1, after
he escapes them trying to stone him. And remember that everything
happens by divine purpose. wasted steps in the Lord's mission
here on earth. Everything is, I must go here,
I must go there, I must abide at thy house. Everything was
according to his will and purpose. And so in John chapter 9, verse
1, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind, that was blind from
his birth. And boy, here's a textbook example
of truth from the Old Testament. And one of the things we want
to look at here is, Paul quotes Isaiah 65, 1 here in Romans 10,
verse 20, and he says, Isaiah was very bold and saith, I was
found to them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto
them that asked not after me. And you know what we find? We
find he's always the initiator. In everything, he is the initiator.
This man was a beggar. He was a blind beggar that was
brought to that gate there. There was a water gate, I think
they called it there, and he would be taken there and he would
be station and he would beg for his shekels and whatever he could
get for his living. And Jesus stopped and took note
of him because, oh, here's one of my sheep. Here's one of my
elect. Here's one that I've loved with
an everlasting love from before the foundation of the world.
The man was blind from birth, and that was his natural condition.
And what a potent bunch of verses we have coming right up here.
He was his natural condition. He was born that way. From the
minute he entered this world, he could not see. He could see
nothing. There was light all around him.
And in particular right now, the light of the world is standing
there in front of him, and yet he isn't capable of seeing it. He lacked the capacity, he lacked
the ability to see. There was no receptor for the
stimulus of light, no matter how intense. You could shine
a zillion candle power LED light right in his eye and he would
just, would never even know. The result was there was just
no ability to react to something not seen. The man was not susceptible to
the remedy of light in his present condition, no matter how intense. And the Jews that were up in
the temple right then, they thought they could see. They thought
they had the capacity, the ability to see, but they saw worldly
things. They saw world things, they saw
man things, but not spiritual things, and were in fact spiritually
blind, and Jesus just pointed that out to them. You see, I
tell you what I see from my father, and you tell what you see from
your father. The two polar opposites of how
they viewed things. and they couldn't see those spiritual
things and they were in fact spiritually blind as the scriptures
point out quite often. Ephesians chapter 4 has a bit
of a commentary on this that he says, Paul wrote, this I say
therefore in Ephesians 4 17, I say therefore in testifying
the Lord that you henceforth not walk as other Gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind. Well, what's the vanity of their
mind? The vanity of their mind is thinking that they can see.
They think that they have a handle on things. They think that they
have their situation under control. They think that they don't have
any problem other than the Romans here in this case. They don't
see a spiritual need for a Savior. They don't see a need to repent.
They don't see that they're spiritually blind. I can see fine. the vanity of their mind, having
their understanding darkened, he said, being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their heart." So Jesus, he pointed out that spiritual
dichotomy in John 8, 38. You see what you see from your
father and I see, I tell you what I see from my father. Total
opposite things. And so this fellow, he was blind
from birth by divine purpose. And again we have the same problem
with these disciples, these ones that were close followers of
Jesus, they had the same problem as that multitude that we find
over in Luke chapter 13. Jesus said, do you suppose these
Galileans were really bad sinners because they got killed, tragedy
struck them? Or the 18 that was killed by
the Tower of Siloam, you think they were a worse sinner than
anybody in Jerusalem because this happened to them? And the
disciples say, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind? These were guys that were with
Jesus and they had that kind of mental wrong concept going
there. He was blind, we find out in
a couple of verses. Neither this man did sin nor
his parents. Not that they were not sinners, but there wasn't
a specific sin that could be attributed to this malady that
he had. It was just according to the
purpose of God. And then again, all things that
we suffer are just directly related to the fallen sin. If it wasn't
for that, we wouldn't have the spiritual blindness or physical
blindness or any of those things. But it wasn't a specific incident
that he was being punished for. So it's a problem that we're
all prone to by nature. We have wrong concepts about
sin. We have wrong concepts about God and how He operates and how
He views things. We link tragedy as a sure sign
of punishment from God, and they must have done something really
bad to deserve that. And there's an element of Eastern
philosophy in there, because they said, who did sin? This man? Well, he was blind
from birth. So if he sinned that caused his
blindness from birth, he must have done something in a prior
life that caused him to be born that way. If you go down that
road, that's where that leads you to that Eastern philosophy
of reincarnation and stuff. Did he do something bad in a
prior life? Or did his parents do something really heinous that
caused him to be born blind? And he says, nope. It was that
the works of God might manifest in him. But we link everything
to being merit-based. Everything is merit-based and
tied through seeing through the eyes of flesh. And another error
that we mentioned earlier was we think we're able to judge
that, like these disciples. Either he did something in a
prior life or his parents did. Well, how do they know? They
are not capable or qualified to make that kind of a determination. And so we have to be careful
about that, even in these days, that we don't see something and
say, oh, that guy must have, I wonder what he was up to that
that happened to him. But you know what? Paul, all
kinds of bad stuff happened to him. And he said, you know what? It all turned out to be for the
furtherance of the gospel. So what about that? The true response is revealed,
and it's in connection to Siloam here. It's really an interesting
part of the scriptures that we're reading. In John chapter 9, verse
3, Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned nor his parents,
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must
work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night
cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world. And yet this man's still in his
blind condition, remember. He's the light of the world.
He's about to do some work here. He's already loved this man from
before the foundation of the world. But he's about to do some
things here that are intense. Remember from John 8, verse 12,
I said, remember this verse, I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life. And so now we have the symbolic
process of healing that we're going to be shown. You know,
Jesus could have just said, I will that thou see. Or like He did
the lepers sometimes, I will that thou be clean. But oftentimes
he attaches some thing for them to do out of the Old Testament
that shows the gospel application of it. Naaman the Syrian, go
down and dip yourself seven times in the Jordan River. And he says,
what's wrong with my water? What's wrong with my righteousness?
Why do I have to go dip in that Jewish water over there? Why
can't I use my own water? And so we know how that turned
out. But here we have this spiritual
process of healing that even though the Lord could have just
spoken the word or thought of it in an instant, He that created
the world would have no trouble taking care of this little issue. In verse 6 of John chapter 9,
it says, When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground. and made clay of the spittle,
and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay." Boy,
I thought, when I read that, it just, what a symbol of the
world. He just took that clay, that
dirt, that ground, that symbol of the curse, and he spit on
it, and he made this clay out of it, and here's this guy standing
there, and he hasn't hardly said anything, and Jesus hasn't really
spoken to him. And he doesn't know what's going
on. He might have heard him spit maybe, but he probably couldn't
see him go down there and work up some clay. And then he comes
up with it and he spreads it on this guy's eyes who couldn't
see. But even if he could had regular
vision, somebody takes your eyes over with clay, you're not going
to be able to see. And so that's kind of a spiritual
picture of of the clay of the world covering the the eyes of
the man and blocking their ability to see. And so then we have the
next thing, what we have here is the symbolic removal of the
clay of this world and the subsequent spiritual blindness by the washing
of the water of the word. Now, it says, go down to the
pool of Siloam and wash. Now Siloam means sent, because
it tells us that in the next verse in John chapter 9 verse
7 it says, And he said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation sent. And he went his way therefore
and washed, and came seeing. Now, we know from other scriptures
that a lot of the time water symbolizes the Word of God. Ephesians
5-6, washed by the washing of the water of the Word, Ephesians
5-6 tells us. The Word of God. So this man,
he must have been given belief or he wouldn't have gone. I don't
know what he put on my eyes, and he says, go wash. I don't
believe that'll work. I've been blind since I was born.
How's that going to help? So he had to have been given
belief to go and be obedient and do what he did. And he went
away and washed and came seeing. There's just this picture then
of this pool, this water that's called scent, and that's what
Jesus said. It's in the Greek. sent forth is what that word
is. And it's the same root word as
we find in Galatians, in the fullness of time, God sent forth
his son made of a woman made under the law and sent forth. And so this water, this scent,
this pool, it all refers to the Lord and the word of God in a
spiritual sense. It's what it's there for. You
know, back in Isaiah chapter 8, verse 6, it said that for
as much as this people refuses the water of Shiloah that go
gently. In the Hebrew, that's the same
word, Shiloah in the Hebrew and Siloam in the Greek, just as
Elias and Elijah and Elisha. the Greek rendering of those
words. They refuse the water of Shaloh
that goes softly and rejoice and reason and remeliasen. They'd
rather go with this worldly view, these worldly men, these worldly
traditions, all these things that have come from man. And
yet they refuse the washing of the water by the word. They refuse
that. And so it takes grace to overcome
that and for one to believe and go down and wash in the water
of the Word and wash away that new birth that gives you that
ability to see. Unless a man be born again, he
can't see the Kingdom of God. That's what he told Nicodemus.
You can't see it, and you can't come in. You can't enter. So
there's so many of these words that are tied together in John
and in Luke about the ability to see and the light and those
things and how they come from this divine source of our own
selves. We can't get there. We can't
see it. He said, I'm the sent one. That's what this means. In John
8, 42, Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, you
would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, neither
came I of myself, but he sent me. And so we see the application
of this. You know, it's the same root
word that the word apostles come from. A messenger sent one, one
that was a delegate that was sent on a mission. Now, we come to another issue
that's common. Well, boy, it wasn't very fair
of God to make that guy blind for all of his life, just for
this one little moment of time, you know. But we have this incorrect
viewpoint that he was afflicted either from his sin or his parents'
sin or God was mean to him because this happened. But God worked
it according to His purpose. And in God's scope of time, you
know, this guy was blind for a very short time, and I'm sure
that he wouldn't go back and say, well, I'm going to trade
what I have now for sight for the years that I had missing. He'd probably say, nope, don't
want that. It all works out that God worked
it for good according to His purpose. As we make all these applications
then from these two blocks of Scripture here in Luke and in
John, dealing with the Tower of Siloam and the Pool of Siloam,
and misjudging why things happen, why bad things happen sometimes. and how we obtain grace in being
able to see by being born again, and then how do we obtain repentance? He said, except you repent, you
will likewise perish, just like those guys perished. How do we repent? Well, you know, we find out that,
as we said earlier, that all things are initiated by God. Everything. Repentance is always
initiated by God and not because of supposed good works. And like
the light, in this blind man's case, it can't be seen or understood
until it's effectually initiated and administered and applied
by the Holy Spirit. You don't see it and you don't
understand it. Remember from our scripture back
in Acts chapter 5 verse 31, for to give repentance Remember, He's the author and
the giver and the deliverer of that. In Romans 2, verse 4, it
says, "...the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance."
In 2 Timothy 2, verse 25, "...peradventure God will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth." So again, it takes away the concept
that we have, the erroneous concept that repentance is something
that we have to kind of muster up. You need to repent of your sins,
and then when you repent, when you're sorry enough, when you've
repented, when you have suffered enough, then God will tap you
with the magic wand and the bell will ring and you will say, abracadabra,
I'm saved. But it turns out that's backwards. It's exactly backwards. Until
you've been born again, you have no idea you even needed repentance. Until you've been born again,
you don't see your need for even a Savior. You don't see the light.
You don't see anything spiritual. And you think, well, I can do
this. Tomorrow, I'm going to start
my repentance. I'm not through doing what I
was doing today, but tomorrow, tomorrow morning at eight o'clock
when I get, after I've had my breakfast and shower and everything,
I'm going to start repenting. And it's just not, it's just
not, Norm was saying this morning, he says, we'd just be doing it.
We'd just say, I repent, I repent, I repent, I repent, I repent.
All day for 24 hours a day, we'd just be saying, I repent for
that, I repent for that. And the most thing we have to
repent of is that this is all baloney. Repentance is something
that God gives you after the rebirth. And we look at that
all the time in Ezekiel. He says, when I give you a new
heart, when I cleanse you with the washing of the water by the
word, after that happens, then you're
going to look at yourself. Then you're going to loathe.
And you're going to turn from your old ways, which are not
good. and you're going to turn to Me. You're going to turn from
idolatry. You're going to turn from worshiping
yourself and your own ideas about how you think things should be to the living God. You're going
to turn from that to this. But that doesn't happen. You
don't even know you need turning until after you've been born
again. And that's why He says, you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And if the Son make you free,
you'll be free indeed. So that's what we have to say
about repentance and light, wrong concepts about tragedy and why
those things happen. And, you know, we just have to
trust God. When we see something like that,
you know, we see somebody that's maybe not born correctly like
this person was born blind or any kind of a malady, we just
have to chalk it up and say, you know, somehow this is working
for good. This is something that the Lord
has dealt, and we don't have the capacity to understand why
that is. And maybe someday we'll see it
like this blind man where he says, he was born this way that
the works of God should be manifest in him. And Paul said, well,
it turns out I was snake bitten, sunk, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked. It all turned out for the furtherance
of the gospel everywhere I went. So there you have it. And we don't seem to get to those
places by ourself. We need grace to see like that
blind man, and we need grace to repent like these folks that
he was speaking to in Jerusalem. So until the next time, thank
you, and as always, be free.