Luke's Gospel chapter 13, and
I want to begin reading here in verse 1, just a few verses
I want to read for you. This is a message that our Lord
preached at least a portion in verses 1 through verse 5, and He is going to supply the
title. for us this morning. And all
I want to do basically is the Lord helping us seek to analyze
what the Lord Jesus said. I can do no better than that.
In verse 1 of Luke 13, there were present at that season,
there was a great multitude gathered together here. Chapter 12 tells
us a huge multitude. And some in this multitude told
him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled, had mixed
with their sacrifices. He shed their blood and their
blood ran out on their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were sinners above
all the Galileans? because they suffered such violence,
such a death, such things? I tell you no, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Are those eighteen upon
whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, crushed them,
killed Do you think that they were sinners above all men that
dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. But except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Now, I'll announce the
title of my text this morning, and when I do, I know what you're
going to do in your heart. It's a common thing, even for
the best believers, to almost shudder and have a chilling effect
in your soul. But this is the title the Lord
Jesus gave to this message. So it's not really my title or
any other preacher's title. But it's the title that the Master
Himself gave to this message. This must be the title of His
message, Repent or Perish. And when I say that, doesn't
that almost make you want to turn away? There's something
about this message, even though it's essential, yet in our heart
of hearts, We don't lack this word, repent. And we don't lack
this word, perish. We say sometimes to people, and
we ask people because we want people to give us the truth.
How many times have we asked a dear friend, now tell me the
truth. Be honest with me. Well, the
Lord Jesus Christ is honest to the point that He's brutally
honest. He's not hateful, he's not cruel, he doesn't mean to
be defensive, but he has no gall about it. He's sincere, he's honest, he's
light. He will not regard, he will not
spare our fleshly feelings, our weak frames of mind, at the expense
of this essential truth. Except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. That's honesty, isn't it? That's honesty. I wonder, brothers
and sisters, if in all of this large crowd, I wonder if the
mother or dad or some brother of these who had been violently
slain was in this multitude. How wonder some dear loved one
or relative wasn't standing near the Son of God who had a relative
that that tower fell on and crushed them. And there they stood. And
the Lord Jesus is saying, except you repent. shall all likewise,
like they, perish." This accident, we have it nowhere
else listed in the Word of God. Some historians tell us that
there is one or two instances in Roman history that was recorded
that Pilate did indeed send here to the temple. He had a grudge
against some of these Galileans and sent his soldiers that literally
whacked them to pieces and they bled out here in the temple.
But here is the only place that is recorded of these two incidences
that had probably recently just took place. Everybody knew what
the Master was speaking about. A violent, sudden death while
men were worshiping. Their blood was let out of their
body. Men and women were in the pool
of Siloam, swimming or bathing or sitting in the noonday sun. And suddenly a huge tower fell
over on them and crushed them. And the Lord Jesus took this
occasion to preach to these people about their own souls. And here is what I want to learn
from this today. I want to learn, first of all,
this. And I get this here from verse
1. There were present at that season
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. First of all, we can see this. There are people who love to
talk and discuss the death and condition of others, but they're
very hesitant to discuss or think of their own conditions. Did
you hear about the Galileans? Did you hear of what kind of
people they were? Did you hear about Pilate spilling
their blood? Did you hear about what awful
sinners they were? And there are those who always
want to be talking and thinking and judging others and their
condition and their eternal state. But they seldom want to think
about their own. These Galileans were terrible
sinners. Is that not the conclusion they
come to? But what do I think about myself? These people died unprepared
to meet God. Yes, they did. But am I ready
to meet God? These people were unconverted.
That's true. But am I converted? These people
died in their sins. That's true. But is mine forgiven
me? These people never believed God.
That's so. But do I believe Him? These people
died without repentance. Have I repented? These people
perished. Will I perish? I've often went to the funeral
home. And I've stood over a dead body
for years. It's been my habit. I keep great
myself of the habit, no matter who the person is. Seemingly,
I always look down upon the corpse, and I ask them this question
under my breath. How is it with you now? Where
are you now? But I've noticed I seldom return
that question upon myself. Where will I be when I lay there
where you lay now? How will it be with me when I'm
there where you are now? Is it well with your soul? Is
it well with mine? And if it is, if I have been
converted, if I truly have been brought to repentance, If I do
not die in my sins while others are dying in theirs, who makes
me to differ? Is it owing entirely to the free
grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ? We must think of ourselves, but
it is a habit to always be judging others and thinking and determining
the condition of others. That's the first thing we see
here. And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ told them. You're
concerned about the Galileans. You're concerned about those
who were crushed with the tower. Think of yourselves. Think of
yourselves. And secondly, we learn from our
dear Lord's message this, that it's easy, it's very easy to
misjudge the spiritual condition of other It's so easy to misjudge the
state other people are in in their hearts. There's always
two extremes that we go to. These men here went to one extreme,
and it was this. Since these people who had died
a violent death, and since this tower suddenly fell on these
people and crushed them, they must have been Desperately wicked
people. Don't we often think that? Someone
gets extremely sick, and if they don't recover shortly, what are
some of the thoughts that go through our head? Oh, they must
be a false professor. God must be punishing them. Surely
they wouldn't be suffering this way. This would have never happened
to that person unless they are a wicked person. They have a
false profession. We're sometimes like the Lord's
apostles, aren't we? Lord who did sin, this man or
his parents, that this man was born blind. I had a dear friend
of mine. He was a dear, precious friend.
And I believe to this day he was a true believer. And one day he was going out
35 from Muncie to LaSanceville, where he lived. And he swerved
out the pass and hit another car head-on. Killed him instantly,
threw his wife and the children. They were sitting in the road,
bodies laying everywhere. Heart-breaking, heart-wrenching
things. And the miserable, wretched thought
come to my mind. Could he be a child of God and
suffer like that? And I say a miserable, wretched
thought, because that's what it is. What about poor Lazarus,
who lived his whole life probably with a posture scratching his
soul, desiring to be fed just with the crumbs that fell from
the rich man's table? And he was beloved of heaven.
He was a child of God and yet suffered so. And dear Jonathan,
David's pleasant friend, the best one in Saul's whole house,
they killed him and cut off his head and hung his body on the
wall. Violent death. And he was a child of the living
God. That's one extreme people are
out to go to. And the other one is this, and
this seems to be so common in our day, and it's this. Seems
like in our day the world looks upon someone who has suffered
misfortune, or they've contracted some awful disease, or they've
had some dreadful loss in their life. And the world concludes,
if anybody goes to heaven, Surely it will be that person. That
dear old widow that lives down over the hill. She never hurt
anybody. She raised her children. She
was a fine neighbor. If anybody goes to heaven, it
must be her. She has suffered so, and she's
lost so much, and she's labored so hard. Now her sufferings are
over with. Well, how do we know that? How do we know that? How many
times have you stood by a casket of a person that died in their
sins? As far as you know and as far
as you could tell, they had no hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet, how many people come by and say, well, their suffering
is over with. They're better off now. And why
do they say that? misjudging the condition of men
after they die. If our Lord was here on these
occasions, how would He judge of things? We don't have to stand in doubt
because He tells us here in verse 3 and verse 5, doesn't He? These
men perished. They perished. And if you don't
repent, He says, You'll perish well. He wasn't talking, he wasn't
saying that Pilate is going to slaughter you. He wasn't saying
a tower of Siloam is going to fall on you. He wasn't talking
about temporal death. You'll perish forever. Those
who died are in a perishing state. And if you don't repent, you'll
perish too. Here, brothers and sisters, is
the fact. This settles it. All of us have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are condemned
by our very natures already, and whether we listen to this,
whether we are judged to be wicked in the eyes of our fellow man,
or whether they pity us and judge us worthy to heaven when we die,
will make no difference. It's not what men think, whether
they condemn us or commend us. It's not what they think. It's
not man's opinion. It's what the judge of all the
earth knows about us. And here's the question. Have
we repented? Have we been converted? Have
our sins been forgiven us? Have our iniquities, like a thick
cloud, been blotted out by the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord? It's not just certain people
who need repentance. Is that not what the Master said?
It's not a few people that need repentance. Peter said, repent
every one of you. What kind of people are in this
crowd, he said? Is there religious people? Repent! Is there open and profane sinners?
Repent! Repent, every one of you! The
Apostle Paul said, God commands all men everywhere to repent. All men are sinners against the
Holy God. And there is no fellowship with
God. There is no communion with the
living God apart from a thorough acknowledgment and confession
and forsaking of our sins. The Lord never saved the first
man in his sins. He always saves us from our sins. What the Lord is teaching us
here in His message is this. what Peter said to that wicked
saucer, Simon Magus. Your heart is not right in the
sight of God. That's what must be said to every
man. That must be the message to this
world. Your heart is not right in the
sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this, your
wicked thoughts, and pray to God they be forgiven thee. For
I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the
bonds of iniquity." Does that sound harsh? Did I not tell you
you would have a feeling of disgust, wanting to turn away? This seems
like such a hard message, doesn't it? But I tell you it's essential. Accept, you repent. You shall
all likewise perish. You take a person without repentance,
and they know nothing about their need of repentance. They are
content to judge others and try to determine others' condition
and state. But where repentance begins in
the heart, this will be our attitude, not woe to somebody else. but
woe is me. Not how bad someone else is,
but God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's the second thing we learn.
The third thing we learn in our Lord's message is this, and this
is very interesting. Religious participation. and participating in religious
activities will not secure our souls from eternal ruin." What
were these men from Galilee doing? What were these women doing?
They were participating in a religious service, a service that God had
commanded, the offering of sacrifices. They had come here and in the
very midst of their religious activities, they were slaughtered. And in spite of their religious
activities, they perished. They perished. You and I are
gathered here this day, aren't we not, to worship? We're gathered
here to read. We're gathered to pray. We're
gathered to sing. We're gathered to hear God's
Word. How would it be with us? if someone come through those
doors and slaughtered us? Are we trusting in our religious
activities? Are we trusting in that we pay
our tithes? Are we trusting in that we read
the scriptures or that we pray? Are we trusting in that we often
go to the house of the Lord? These things cannot secure our
souls. All of the expense that these
men went to to buy these sacrifices, all the time and labor to get
them from Galilee on the hot, dusty road to the temple, all
the time and effort that was spent participating in these
religious activities, and yet lost their soul to the boot. We have lost it. Participating in religious activities
cannot secure our souls. My granddaughter came to me the
other morning. We were sitting there at the
house and she was talking about men and women getting to heaven
different ways. And she was talking about there
being so many different kinds of religion and what people believed. And I said, sweetheart, that's
true. That's true. People have got different ways.
People have got different convictions. People believe differently. And
my Bible was laying there. And I said, you turn over now
your Bible. And this will settle this issue.
And you read John chapter 3. This will settle the issue. He
that believeth on the Son, he that believeth on the Son of
God hath life. And he that believeth not the
Son of God shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him." That settles the issue, doesn't it? But I've done this. I've done that. Since I was a
child, I've participated in this religious activities. You're
telling me that that means nothing. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see life. That narrows it down, doesn't
it? Religious activities will not justify us before God. He will not win God's favor towards
us. He will not earn us any mercy
or any grace. Here were men participating in
these religious activities, and yet they perished. It is not what we do. Isn't that
what the Lord is telling us? It's not your religious activities.
It's not what you do that secures your soul, but what another has
done on your behalf. It's not who we are. It's not
who we are. I'm this one and I'm that one.
It's not who we are, but it's who Christ is for us as our representative. And repentance means we see this. We know this. And we turn not
only from open and profane sins, but we turn from self-trust. We turn for putting our trust
and hope in our religious activities. If these Galileans perished,
in spite of their religious activities which God commanded, by the way.
Do I hope to be saved by my preaching? What if I died right now? Is
my hope to be saved, my hope in my soul, to be secured from
eternal ruin because I preach? If these men died, in their religious
activities? Can the Pope of Rome hope to
secure his soul by the office that he has obtained? That poor lady that went into
Vulgata camps and suffered with those who was dying of leprosy,
Can Mother Teresa expect to have her soul secured by her religious
activities? If these perished who had gone
to so much labor and time and effort to be involved and participate
in religious activities, brothers and sisters, they won't save
us either. They won't save us either. None of us will be saved. Let
the wicked forsake His way. Isn't that repentance? Isn't
that repentance? What was Lamentations 3 about? God beating a man out of His
own way. God breaking the heart. God breaking
the rebellion and putting a man's mouth in the dust. You say it
is an easy thing to turn a man from his way. It is the most
difficult thing between the eternities. Only God can do it. My way is
my way, and I am not going to turn it loose or turn from it
for anybody. Then you will perish. Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thought and
let him return unto the Lord. Repentance is turning from self
because I see myself. Finally, I see myself. And I
don't like what I see. All I see is evil and sin and
wretchedness and misery. And I'm turning from self. And
I'm turning from sin. Repentance is turning to God
in Christ to be saved from the evil of sin. If a man went to
heaven without repentance, you know something? He would hate
heaven. Heaven is a holy place. Everybody that goes there despises
sin and despises self because of it. You that love the Lord
hate That's what repentance is about.
Solomon said this, a man that covers his sin shall not prosper,
but whosoever confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have
mercy. That's repentance. Some people
try to cover their sins up by religious activities. They get
involved. Some people go to service every
night. They have some religious activity
going on on a daily basis. But lo and behold, they use their
religious activities to cover up their dark and deceptive minds. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know these for sin? Cannot at all. Religious activities cannot secure
our souls. What is it that is keeping you
this morning, dear soul, from the feet of the Savior? What
is it that is keeping you from His feet? What is it that is
keeping you from crying to Him for mercy this morning? Something
is keeping you from Him. Whatever it is, it may be some
lust of the flesh, it may be some self-trust, it may be unbelief,
it may be willful ignorance, or it may be mere neglect. But whatever is keeping you from
the Savior must be repented of, it must be acknowledged and confessed
and forsaken, or you will perish. Why did these Galileans perish?
They didn't repent. Why did these 18 people get crushed
and lift their eyes up in torment? They were without repentance.
They were without repentance. I can't help what it is this
morning that may keep a man from Christ. But whatever it is will
damn your soul. It will damn your soul. It may
be some open and profane lust that you're sucking on. It may
be some religious activity that's keeping you from Christ. But
you'll have to turn from it, and you'll have to despise it,
and you'll have to come to Him. Except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. We see something else here, fourthly,
in the message of our Lord Jesus, and it's this. Christ reveals
something to us of Himself. And look here what it is. He's
no ordinary man. This Jesus of Nazareth is no
ordinary man. He knows people. He knows their
thoughts. He knows their hearts. He knows
their conditions. He knows their conditions while
they're living. How could He say, except you
repent, you shall perish? Who is He to judge? How does
He know my heart? Because He's the Lord. He's the
mighty God. He knows things about us that
we don't even know about ourselves. He knows our condition while
we're living, and listen to this, He knows our state and condition
after we die. How many times have we as preachers,
and I've said it so many times, we go to the grave, and I've
said this as far as we could go. This is all we know. And that's true. But not him.
Not him. He goes beyond the grave. Hell and destruction are naked
in his sight. All things are naked and open
in the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The Lord Jesus
told us of two men who lived and died. One was a rich man. One was a beggar. The Lord Jesus
knew all about them when they were here living. But He knew
all about them when they died. He knew things about them that
you would have to be God to know. He said when the beggar died,
The angels wrapped him up in their wings and they flew him
up to heaven. How did he know that? Because
he is God. He knows these things. And he
said that rich man was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes. How did he know that? He is God. And he said that beggar that
was there in heaven, now he is comforted. He's not begging any
longer. He's resting. He's in the presence
of God and Christ and holy angels and holy saints. And that rich
man who went to hell, he's tormented in that flame. How does he know
these things? He's no ordinary man. He appeared
to be an ordinary man. He looked like everybody else,
except maybe he looked a little older than he was. He had no
halo. He didn't shine. He didn't glow.
He wasn't a handsome man. There's no beauty in Him that
we should desire in Him. But He knew everything about
us in this life and in the life that is to come. Does it ever
make you wonder how Christ could speak so freely of these perishing
sinners? Do you ever wonder? How would
you feel this morning if you had an apprehension of men perishing
in hell? If that was before your mind's
eye, we imagine, and we don't even like to imagine. How could
we bear up under the weight of knowing and seeing and being
so conscious of men being tormented in hell? I couldn't bear this. But He
does. This man bears this. He's not only the Son of Mary,
but He's the Son of God who came down from heaven. And He'll not
deceive us. He'll not lie to us. He'll not
dross over the reality of a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. He
is brutally honest with us. He will not spare the reality
that you and I face, heaven or hell. He will not accommodate
our weak minds. He knows this about us, brothers
and sisters, that we have to be awakened. If He spares us,
we sleep and we die, and the flames of hell will awaken us.
The Lord Jesus knows this. So what does He do? He awakens
us with this message. He warns us. He will have us
to be afraid because it is only those who are afraid that will
flee from the wrath to come. There has never been a man who
was saved from the wrath to come. But that man who heard the alarm
of wrath, arise in his ear. Flee. Flee. And one of you said
in here this morning that are saved, but what one day you found
your house on fire. You found, as Brother Wayne said,
yourself in over your head. And you said, my God, I'm in
trouble. I'm ready to perish. And you
come to the conclusion you had but one option, and that was
to flee from the wrath to come. And here's the Lord Jesus, and
though He's the most tender and sweetest man that this world
has ever known, meek and lowly in His heart, and yet He takes
this warning upon His lips, not just to frighten us, not because
He's harsh, but He knows what we don't know. If I don't get them out of their
sins, they'll perish in their sins. The only way I can get
them out of their sins is for them to turn and flee to Me.
So He sends His prophets, and He sends His apostles and preachers,
and He sends you to sound this alarm. Flee from the wrath to
come. Flee from the wrath to come. How serious and how dire Poor
humanity's lot must be for the Son of God to come down from
heaven with such a message. Repent or perish. Repent or perish. One dear man
said, If I die in the pulpit, I want
to die preaching repentance. And if I die outside the pulpit,
I want to die practicing repentance. That's how needful it is. And
I tell you, it's not a one-time deal, is it? Once repentance
sets up, you'll be repenting all your life. Once God begins
that good work in your heart and drawing you to Himself, He'll
never cease. You begin your way by saying,
Lord, be merciful to me. And I tell you, when you're on
your deathbed, you'll be saying, Lord, be merciful to me. Be merciful
to me. Repentance is the beginning of
our relationship with God. Nothing comes before repentance. Whatever comes before repentance
is useless. It's vain. Somebody said, I was
baptized when I was a kid. Did you repent? I knew nothing
of my sins. I knew not what to repent of,
and yet you were baptized. You know what your baptism is?
It's sin that needs to be repented of. Whatever was done and whatever
you did or participated in before repentance began in your heart,
it's empty. It's vain. It's a dead work is
all it is. Why did the Lord Jesus begin
with repentance? Except you repent. That's our
first step of having a relationship with God as our Heavenly Father. There's no relationship with
God apart from honesty. There's no relationship with
God apart from sincerity. There's no relationship with
God apart from the truth. Repentance is turning from hypocrisy
to honesty. Repentance is turning from pretense
to sincerity. Repentance is turning from a
lie to the truth. That's repentance. That's it
in a nutshell. It's throwing off the cover of
darkness and coming out into the light where everything is
exposed and revealed before the face of God Almighty. And here's
man's problem. He loves darkness rather than
light. He won't come to the light unless
his deeds shall be reproved. Until God puts it in his heart
to love light and hate the darkness. And then he'll flee from it.
You're in darkness this morning. Dear soul, I tell you, if you
can't get out of that darkness, you're going to perish. If you
don't turn from it, you'll perish. Are you a hypocrite this morning?
Are you living in pretense this morning? If you can't get out
of that skull, I tell you, you'll perish. You say, Bruce, I am a hypocrite.
How do you feel about that? Ain't that the burden of your
heart? Oh, there's sin I can't come out of, this miserable sin
of what I am. How do you feel about that? Is
that the burden of your heart, O wretched man that I am? One thing in closing is this.
Let me say this in the way of encouragement. I love these two
passages of Scripture. Listen to them. This is encouragement. It's encouragement for the children
of God, and hopefully if you're here this morning and you're
without repentance, it will be encouragement to you. Listen
to Acts chapter 5 and verse 30 and 31. 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."
Why? To give repentance. To give repentance. To give grace to repent. I tell you what, you cannot repent
in and of yourself. I'll tell you that right now.
I tried it. I tried it. You can't do it.
The will has to turn from sin. I tried that. It takes strength
to repent. But let this be an encouragement
to you. Jesus Christ gives grace to repent. He gives strength to repent.
Go to Him as Ephraim of old and say to Him, Lord, turn me. Turn me. Give me grace to turn. I know I must turn for myself,
but myself cleaves to me. Darkness cleaves to me. Sin cleaves
to me. Lord, give me grace to turn. And you know something? That
is why God has exalted Him, to give it. And listen to this passage. God
having raised up His Son, Jesus. sent Him to bless you." How does
He bless us? In turning away every one of
you from your iniquity. What a blessing repentance is. Brother Larry talked about the
blessing of faith this morning. Well, here is his twin brother,
repentance. And when a man is blessed to
turn from his sins, and hates it and turns to Christ for mercy
and forgiveness. What a blessing that is, Bill.
What a blessing that is. Repentance is essential. We can't
be saved without it. Accept. But I tell you, no man
ever repented, but what he obtained grace to repent. If you're here
this morning and you're struggling with it, then go to Him. Turn
to Him. and call upon Him and ask Him
for grace. Turn, and He'll help you to turn. Look, and He'll help you to look.
Come, and He'll help you to come. Let's pray.