Well, this week's message is
not the one that I planned to preach for most of the week.
I've been thinking about something completely different. And the
more and more I tried to put the message together, the less
and less it seemed like it was the right one. And the Lord led
me to this passage of scripture that we're going to look at this
morning in Luke chapter 13, the start of Luke chapter 13. And
I've given the message the title, Accept Ye Repent. And that hymn
that we just sung was about the need, not just for belief, but
for repentance. The two go hand in hand, repentance
and faith. Accept ye repent. We've just
finished a series looking at the epistle to the Philippians.
And what a glorious epistle that is, how rich that is with gospel
truth. By God's Spirit enlightening
the sinner coming to look there, you will see what God says so
clearly. Not what religion says, Not what
self-made teachers say, but what God says to his people about
how salvation is accomplished. The glorious completion of everything
that is necessary to make a sinner right with God. We live in a
world, and I know science falsely so-called tells us that God's
got nothing to do with it, but we know in our heart of hearts.
We know that God has made all things. We know that we're answerable
to one who is holy and almighty and all-powerful. And to him
we must give account. We know that he is holy and we
know that we are sinful. And we know that he must punish
sin. We know that he cannot take anybody
to be in his presence who is not right with him. But in our
own selves there is no way to be right with him. And so Paul,
in that epistle to the Philippians, shows, as he does in all his
other epistles, how it is by the substitutionary work of our
Lord Jesus Christ that our Passover lamb is sacrificed for us, and
he has taken his people's sins, and he has made satisfaction
with the justice of God by shedding his precious blood. For the soul
that sins, it shall die, and the life is in the blood, so
blood must be shed, for without the shedding of blood there is
no remission of sin, says the scripture. Christ came as the
Lamb of God to shed his blood in the place of his people, that
the sin debt might be paid, that it might be cancelled, that it
might be wiped out, that the justice of God might be satisfied,
that the frown and the storm of the rage of the anger of God
against sin might in a moment, in the work of Christ, become
as flat as a millpond, that storm, that there might be peace with
God. This is the message of Philippians,
and the gospel blessings are so great That we, you know, we
all say, if you're an object of this grace, it's but by the
grace of God. It's nothing that I am. It's
what God has shown me, what he has revealed to me, how he has
called me, irresistibly, by his spirit, to come and to believe
the gospel of his grace. Now these gospel blessings, these
gospel blessings, are they yours? Are they mine? I want us to think
about these things, because the scriptures warn, clearly, against
presumption. The Scriptures warn so clearly
against presumption. We blithely sit around while
we watch events in the world going on, and you listen to the
morning service on the radio. And it's nothing other than a
pious kind of praying for world political peace and all the rest
of it. Jesus said, I pray not for the world, but for his people.
That's who he prayed for. In this world, there will always
be strife and trouble. There will always be calamity,
wars and rumors of wars. There will always be these things
until he comes again. But you know, there are those
who, in religious presumption of being well with God, they
observe calamity falling on others, but they're sure that it's not
going to touch me. No, no, yeah, alright, I assent
to these things, and I see calamity falling on others, but it's not
going to touch me. I assent to the truth of judgment,
and of God's right to condemn to hell, but it's not for me,
that's not going to happen to me. You know, do you heed warnings. Do you heed signs that tell you? I don't know about you, but I
get very frustrated when road signs don't warn me clearly of
what's ahead. We were towing our caravan back
around the outskirts of Oxford this week and there are some
roads there that are very, very confusing. The lanes are not
clear which lane you should be in. Now when you're just in a
car it's easy just at the last minute to switch to the one you
should have been in but with a caravan it's not quite so easy
and I get very frustrated that the lane signage is not clear. The warnings are not clear what
I need to do. Well I tell you In respect of
eternity, the Scriptures warn clearly. The Scriptures are so
clear. We ignore them at our folly.
Will you take note? Will you take heed? How often
do the Scriptures say, take, just if you've got a concordance
or an online Bible, just put in, take heed. See how often
it says, take heed, take, beware, take heed. Or will you just amble
blindly on, paying no attention? The Jews, the Jewish people,
thought that they were okay with God, about eternity, about heaven,
about hell. They thought that calamity fell
on those who were worse sinners than themselves, and they were
pretty good. Look at the first five verses of chapter 13 of
Luke. There were present at that season
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. Pilate had killed some Galileans. And Jesus answering said unto
them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans. Is that why they got killed?
Were they bigger sinners because they suffered such things? He
says, I tell you. Now, here comes a warning. Listen.
Take note, here comes a warning, I tell you, nay, but, except,
unless, unless you repent, you shall, you religious presumptuous
people, he's talking to the Jews, you religious presumptuous people,
unless you repent, you shall likewise perish. These are stern
warnings, aren't they? Is this not serious stuff? Or
those 18, verse 4, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and
slew them. Eighteen people killed by a tragedy. Whether it was an earthquake
that caused it or just structural weakness. A tower fell down when
there were eighteen people in it and it killed them all. Think,
he says he, that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
I tell you. Again, you see? Didn't hear it
the first time. Listen. Pay attention, listen,
nay, but, except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish. Clear,
clear warnings. Jesus gives clear warning. Except
ye repent, ye shall likewise perish. Well, what is repentance? What is it? What is repentance?
Repentance literally means to rethink. Pense, to think. Repent, rethink. Think again.
Think again. Think. Turn around in your thinking. That mindset that's got you going
a particular way. Think. Turn around. And it involves
these things. It may involve more, but it at
least involves these things. It involves Holy Spirit conviction,
first of all. That the Holy Spirit comes and
convicts people that they're sinners before his holy law.
Listen to what the scriptures say. I like not just to stand
here and to spout my own views. I love to read the scriptures
and for the scriptures to speak because God speaks by his word.
John 16, 8 to 11. And when he is come, this is
the the Spirit of God. When He is come, He will reprove,
He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. Of sin? Because they believe
not on me. Yes, He'll convict of sin. I
am a sinner, I know. Who tells me I'm a sinner? What
does that hymn say? A sinner is a sacred thing, a
holy thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
You know, everyone's a sinner. But not many know it. And it's
the grace of God that teaches people that they are sinners.
Oh, that I might know that I am a sinner before the law of God,
before the justice of God, before the person and holiness of God.
Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness,
because I go to the Father. He's gone out of the world. He's
gone to the Father. I need righteousness. Pursue,
follow righteousness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
Do you have the righteousness that's good enough to see God?
In yourself you will never have it. You will never have righteousness
that God requires in and of yourself. But in Him, there is righteousness. He convicts, I need righteousness.
And Christ, the righteousness of God, has gone to His Father.
I need to be made the righteousness of God in Him. I only can be
in the gospel of His grace. He says, you see me no more,
I'm no longer in the world. And of judgment, that there's
judgment coming. I'm a sinner, and the judgment
of God is coming. The Prince of this world is judged.
He's been bound by Christ by what He did at the cross of Calvary
already. His doom is set. His doom is
certain. The judgment is coming, and it's
appointed to man. And that's every one of us. Every
single one of us. It's appointed. Do you know there's
an appointment? I've got an appointment with the dentist this coming
week, I believe. You know, we have appointments all the time.
There's a much more important one. I can cancel that appointment
with the dentist. I can cancel the appointment
with the doctor. I can't cancel this appointment. It's appointed to man to die. Once. Once. And then? The judgment
of God. Of judgment because the prince
of this world is dead. Repentance involves Holy Spirit
conviction. Secondly, Repentance necessarily
involves faith in Christ. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ
is a change of mind. Believing in Him whom you refuse
to believe. Romans 10, 9 and 10. This is
what the Gospel says. It's already said in earlier
verses. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You know, we've sung in that
hymn, the wills and the shalls in the covenant of God are unchangeable. You know, in law, a legal document,
you will see lots of shalls and lots of wills, because this is
guaranteed. Well, guaranteed as far as the
law of man can guarantee it. But God's law is certain. God's
covenant is certain. Thou shalt be saved. Clear. Absolutely. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness. The righteousness of God which
is in him by faith of Jesus Christ. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. It involves faith in Christ.
Repentance does. It involves turning to God. As
Paul said to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9,
he talks about when he preached to them, when they came to that
place. And there are those pagan Gentile people, and Paul preached
the word of God, and Paul preached the gospel of grace. And where
most men and women would say, that's nothing to do with us,
we're not interested in that, he says, what manner of entry? we had to you. What manner of
you opening your ears and your hearts and your minds, how you
turned to God from idols. Your idols, your idols of paganism,
your idols of vain philosophy, material worldly philosophy.
You turned to God from those idols to serve the living and
true God. A change of direction. You were
serving those idols of idolatrous philosophy and false religion
and presumption and all of those things. and the Gospel turned
you from those idols to the living God, to serve Him. Whose work
is repentance? Who does it? Who does the work
of repentance? Ezekiel 36, 26. God says this,
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Acts 5, verse 31, speaking of Christ, one of the apostles preaching,
Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a prince and
a savior, to give repentance to Israel, the people of God,
and forgiveness of sins. Acts 11, verse 18, Then hath
God also to the Gentiles granted repentance. It's a gift. And
it's a gift of God. And it's the work of God. Zechariah
chapter 12 and verse 10. I will pour upon the house of
David. That's the people of God, the
people of Christ. I will pour upon the house of David the spirit
of grace and of supplication. Who does the work of repentance
in a sinner? It's the Spirit of God who turns
that stubborn, rebellious, unbelieving sinner to one who has a spirit
of grace. and supplication from God. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced. This is not speaking of Christ.
They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall
mourn for him. Because they'll be cut in the
heart. Do you know what it says when Peter preached on the day
of Pentecost? They were cut to the heart. They were cut to the heart. They shall mourn for him as one
mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him.
It's the work of God is repentance. But listen, whose responsibility
is repentance? Yes, repentance is the work of
God, but whose responsibility is repentance? Jesus says, we've
read it twice, except ye repent. Except you repent. Look at verses
24 and 25 of the same chapter 13. Jesus again speaking says,
to people like you and me, strive Don't sit on your hands doing
nothing. Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many,
I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. When once the master of the house
is risen up and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without
and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, and he
shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence you are,
except ye repent. Today is the day of grace, says
the scripture. Today is the day of salvation. Will you idly sin away while
that day passes? Salvation is the work of God,
but God will never rightly be accused of your unbelief. Your
unbelief is your own fault and your own responsibility. 2 Corinthians
5, verses 20 to chapter 6, verse 1. Paul shows this by the way
he pleads with the Corinthians. Now, then, we are ambassadors
of Christ, preachers. As though God did beseech you,
implore you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
in the place of Christ speaking to you, we pray, be ye reconciled
to God. While it's the day of salvation
is what he means. For he hath made him. Why? Here's
the reason. Here's the reason, the gospel
in a nutshell. He hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you. See, Paul is saying, he's pleading
with them as a preacher. We beseech you also that you
receive not the grace of God in vain. We read in Proverbs
chapter 1 and verse 23, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit
unto you. I will make known my words unto
you. God says this to us. Are you
listening? Turn you at my reproof. Turn you. Is he reproving you? He's saying to you, turn. There's
a lesson from history. The lesson is that of the Jewish
people. This was a warning to the Jewish
people that were around him. Jesus was speaking to Jews and
warning them about presumption of thinking that they were the
people who were favored with God and therefore they had nothing
to bother about. Turn back with me to Isaiah.
You don't have to come to it because I'll read it anyway,
but Isaiah chapter 5 and the first seven verses. Now listen
the tender words that God says to this people whom he'd chosen
out of all of the nations of the earth in these seven verses. He says this, Isaiah 5 verse
1, Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching
his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard
in a very fruitful hill. The vineyard is the people of
God. It's a picture. He's speaking of the Jewish people.
He fenced it. and gathered out the stones thereof,
and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the
midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it
should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes."
What he means is sour grapes, useless grapes, grapes that can
do no good, grapes that can't bring forth good wine. "'And
now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray
you, betwixt me and my vineyard.' What could have been done more
to my vineyard? that I have not done to it."
He'd given them his truth, he'd given them his grace, he'd given
them his protection, and his wisdom, and his knowledge, and
his word, and his spirit. What could he not have done more?
What could he have done more that would have changed things? He couldn't. Wherefore, when
I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth
wild grapes, useless grapes. And now go to, I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard. Now this is the warning. Israel,
this is the warning. This is what he says, I will
take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up, and
break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.
And I will lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned, nor digged,
but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command
the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it, for the vineyard
of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the men of Judah
his pleasant plant, and he looked for judgment, but found oppression,
for righteousness, but behold, a cry. That was the warning in
Isaiah. Now, that warning is followed
up in Matthew's Gospel. In Matthew's Gospel, chapter
23, and verses 37 and 38, where Jesus says this to Jerusalem,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Those people that he'd spoken to by
the prophet Isaiah 800 years before, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chicks. under her wings, and ye would
not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Your house
is left unto you desolate. And so it is to this day, I've
told you many times, there's no temple worship in Jerusalem,
there hasn't been. since those days when it was
destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Roman Emperor Tiberius,
just exactly as the Scriptures had promised. It has never been
re-established. There is no sacrifice as there
was under the Old Testament law. Why? Because that can only take
place in the temple at Jerusalem, and there isn't one. and there
hasn't been one since God destroyed it as he said he would by his
instrument in A.D. 70. They've been cast off and
they stand there as a warning as Paul tells us elsewhere in
Corinthians. He says, these things are written
for our learning upon whom the ends of the earth have come.
These things, let's learn the lessons of history. Let's not
ignore these things. Now let's look at how he illustrates
it. He illustrates it with a parable,
verses 6 to 9. in Luke 13. They were thinking
that they were okay, but Jesus said this, He spake also this
parable. He spake also this parable. A
certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came
and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto
the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come
seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down.
Why cumbereth it the ground? Why is it getting in the way?
I can grow something more useful there. And he answering said
unto him, this is the vine tender, he says, Lord, let it alone this
year also till I shall dig about it and dung it. I'll put fertilizer
on it, I'll treat it well, I'll do that which good gardeners
do to it. And if it bear fruit well, and if not, then after
that thou shalt cut it down. That's the parable. The key is
the fruit. How do we understand it? The
key is the fruit. He says it's like this, he's
looking for fruit, he's looking for figs. Why do you plant a
fig tree? So you get some figs. You know,
you don't want it there to produce leaves and wood, you plant it
so you get some figs. You plant a plum tree, we've
got plums on our little plum tree for the first time. Didn't
have any the first year but it's got some this year. That's good
because that's why we planted it. We don't want that tree there
unless it's going to produce plums. You look for fruit. Looking
for figs and if none then he says dig it up and burn it there's
only two things that you do with a fig tree you eat the fruit
of it if it's producing fruit or you dig it up and chop it
up and use it for firewood and burn it if it isn't because at
least you'll get some warmth from it what is the fruit? what
is the fruit? look it's fruit he looked for
fruit there on it's not fruits plural it's fruit what's the
fruit he's looking for? In John 15 verse 8, Jesus says,
herein is my Father glorified that you, his people, bear much
fruit. What is fruit? Are we talking
good works? No, we're talking about faith
in Christ. That's the fruit. Faith in Christ
is the fruit. You'll hear people say, don't
you want to please God by being fruitful? Don't you want to please
God? How do you please God? without faith says the scripture
Hebrews 11 verse 6 without faith It is impossible to please God. I don't care how good you are.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God. What is it to
have faith in Christ? It's to believe Him. It's to
trust Him. It's to trust Him. The Philippian
jailer, what must I do to be saved, he said. And the answer,
simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And anyone else in your household
that believes also. Believe, believe. Doors not shut
to anyone. What must I do? I must believe.
Mark 16 verse 16. Again, hear these words from
the mouth of the Son of God as he walked this earth. So Mark
16 verse 16 says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,
but he that believeth not shall be damned. John 3 and verse 18,
he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Romans 10 verse 9, that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. It couldn't be clearer, could
it? This is the fruit that the Scriptures look for. What shall
we do, said the Jews to Jesus? John 6, 28 and 29. What work
shall we do to work the works of God? Come on, tell us how
to be good for God. Tell us how to be acceptable
to God. And what did he say? This is the work of God, and
it's God's work. This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. You believe on Christ,
His Son. It's God's work in you that you
trust in the faithfulness of Christ on the behalf of His people. That's the work of God, that
you believe on His Son. that you believe what it says
about him being the substitute of his people, satisfying the
law of God on their behalf, making satisfaction to the law, paying
the price, the sin debt price, redeeming, redemption is purchasing,
redeeming his people with his precious blood, for you are not
redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold and precious
stones and all of those things of the world but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
because it's that blood that satisfies the justice of God.
It's that blood that makes propitiation. What does that word mean? Turns
away the anger of God. It's that word which is the mercy
seat where God promised to Moses he would meet with the people
and speak to them in the blood of an acceptable sacrifice, pictured
in the blood of an animal but always looking to the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that it is finished. It is
finished for his people. What shall I do? Believe. Don't do as Israel did of old.
Israel of old, Hebrews 3, 7 and 8, as the Holy Ghost said, today
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation
in the day of temptation in the wilderness. Harden not your...
See what he's warning. It's a warning. It's another
one of these warnings. Harden not your hearts as Israel
did. Look back. They did. They hardened
their hearts in unbelief and God cut them off. Don't do that. Let me ask you, has the fig tree
that is you, I'm talking about the parable, but has the fig
tree that is you been tended and fed with the truth of God's
grace? Where is the fruit of faith?
Where is it? Where is the fruit of faith in
Christ? Or are you just cumbering the ground, as the parable says?
You know, barren, a fruitless soul, Like the Pharisees, just
cumber the ground and hinder others. That's all the Pharisees
ever did. Can you see others, safely, in Christ? Shut in, in
Him. You know, like Noah's Ark. There
were day after day when the door of the Ark was open and the people
just mocked and passed by. As Noah, a preacher of righteousness,
finished that work that God gave him to do. But the day came when
God put them in, and it says, and God shut him in. God shut
the door. Beware that he doesn't shut you
out like those that were shut out of the ark in the days of
Noah. Like he's spoken about in this
parable. Don't be blasé with the gospel. This is about eternity. This
is about God. This is about one who is holy
and cannot look upon sin, and we are sinners and corrupt in
his sight. This is about justice, eternal
divine justice, whatever the justice of man might say. This
is about responsibility. This is ultimately about heaven
and hell. Look at Luke 13, 24 and 25. Again, I repeat it. Strive to
enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and shall not be able, when once the master
of the house is risen up and hath shut the door, and ye begin
to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord,
open to us. And he shall answer and say to you, I know not whence
ye are. This is what God said of unbelieving
Israel. Jeremiah 7 verse 16, Therefore
pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer
for them. I thought God told us always
to pray. This is what he says about those
who will stubbornly not believe him. Therefore pray not thou
for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither
make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee. God says,
I will not hear thee. God leaves people alone. Hosea
4 verse 17, he says this of Ephraim. Ephraim is joined to idols. What
does God say? Let him alone. Just leave him
alone. Leave him where he is. Don't
say any more to him. Look at Matthew's Gospel and
chapter 13. Matthew's Gospel and chapter
13 and verses 12 to 17. For whosoever hath... This is
what Jesus says. It sounds unfair but this is
the grace of God. Whosoever hath to him shall be
given and he shall have more abundance but whosoever hath
not from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore
speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not,
and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them
is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, by hearing
you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall
see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes
they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But,
but, blessed are your eyes, blessed are your eyes, for they see,
and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them. That's what Christ says. That's what Christ says. The
gospel. Is it a savour of life unto life? Or is it a savour
of death unto death? Heed the warning of the Jews. Romans 11 verse 21. If God spared
not the natural branches, take heed. Heed the warning, lest
he also spare not thee. But, Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter
11. verses 9 to 13. He says this. He says, ask and you shall receive. He says, seek and you shall find. Just let me turn over and read
it to you. Luke chapter 11 verses 9 to 13. to thirteen. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. If a son shall ask a bread of any of you that is
a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he
for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he ask for an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
him? I'll close with this. Just this
one scripture. 2 Corinthians 6, verses 1 and
2. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suffered
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.