Take Heed Lest You Fall

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

00:18

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith.

00:28

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 13th chapter. There were some present at that very time who told

00:38

Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He answered them,

00:44

Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?

00:50

No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

01:04

No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

01:09

And Jesus told this parable, A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit and found on it none.

01:19

And he said to the vinedresser, Look, for three years now I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none.

01:26

Cut it down. Why should it use the ground? And he answered him, Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure.

01:34

Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.

01:39

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.

01:45

Amen. Here again, these words from our epistle text, the

01:52

Apostle Paul writing, Therefore, lest anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall.

02:00

Take heed, lest he fall. Written in the New Testament, by the way, not the Old Testament. What does that mean?

02:06

Anyone who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall. Well, think of it this way.

02:12

Well, here we are in the middle of Lent, kind of like dead center of it right now. And the big word for Lent is repent.

02:19

That's the big word. Repentance is sorrow and contrition over sin, way you've transgressed

02:25

God's holy law. It is also a confident faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

02:31

And so we need to beware of kind of insipid, really not so easy to spot forms of self -righteousness.

02:44

And Jesus helps us out a little bit in our gospel text. Listen to what happens here in this gospel text and we'll tease this out.

02:51

There were some that were present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

02:59

You see, if they had CNN or Fox News back then, this would have made the headlines. I mean, major political figure in Jerusalem has

03:09

Galileans killed, takes their blood, mingles it with the

03:14

Jewish sacrifices. I mean, can you imagine the scandal of this whole thing, right?

03:19

And of course, we all know what would end up happening depending on which channel you're watching. It's now which view you're going to take.

03:26

Can you believe that Roman imperial lackey?

03:33

How dare he do this terrible thing? And then the other side would say, can you believe those

03:39

Galileans? How dare they not submit to the Roman Empire? And you could just hear the political banding about.

03:47

And so they come to Jesus and they want Jesus to weigh in. Jesus, which is it? Are you a CNN guy or are you a

03:52

Fox News guy? Tell us here, because this is all the buzz right now. And Jesus just pushes back and goes, all right, do you think those

04:02

Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish.

04:16

That's not why we told you that, Jesus. Come on, which side are you on? And Jesus says, stop worrying about them.

04:23

Stop worrying about that guy or her. You need to worry about yourself.

04:30

You need to repent. You need to repent. And then Jesus goes on and kind of doubles down here.

04:38

He says, now I tell you, unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish. Or how about those 18 on whom the

04:43

Tower of Siloam fell and killed them? Because everybody knows that the theology of the

04:49

Pharisees is that it's kind of like karma. You get what you deserve. And so all the

04:55

Pharisees are buzzing about this thing. Oh, that Tower of Siloam construction accident. Can you believe it?

05:01

18 people crushed to death by this tower that fell. And the Pharisees are weighing in going, yeah, that's right.

05:07

They were a bunch of sinners. They were a bunch of sinners. They deserve that. And Jesus says, yeah, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

05:21

No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

05:30

And see, there it is, you see, the one who thinks he's standing. Oh, take heed lest you fall.

05:36

You see, we oftentimes, when we talk about sin and stuff like that, the problem's out there.

05:42

It's the conservatives. It's the liberals. It's the alt -right. Oh, it's the

05:48

Mexicans. It's the Norwegians or the Polacks. It's always them but never me.

05:56

This is nonsense. You're the problem. I'm the problem.

06:04

Jesus died for you, for your sins. Stop worrying about them.

06:10

Well, I refuse to apologize until they recognize their sin. Knock that off.

06:16

You need to repent. You need to come to grips with the fact that, well, listen to what our intro had said today.

06:25

The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

06:30

Well, I'm not part of them. Well, actually, you are.

06:37

Oh, and you are not a God who delights in wickedness. And evil may not dwell with you.

06:44

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate, and there's that word.

06:50

Oh, look at this. God's guilty of a hate crime. He hates all evildoers.

06:57

And it says you destroy those who speak lies. And the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and the deceitful man.

07:06

You think God winks at sin? Is that what you think? Well, as long as I'm not part of that group,

07:14

I mean, God just kind of takes my sin lightly, right? As long as I'm not part of them, then

07:20

I'm okay. This is nonsense. This is utter foolishness. Consider what

07:27

Paul writes in our epistle text then. And he takes a look at the Old Testament and the wilderness wanderings of Israel.

07:38

And he notes that these were people who were baptized into Moses. They ate the same spiritual food.

07:44

They all drank the same spiritual drink. These were the people who were the recipients of the promises of God that through the seed of Abraham the whole world would be blessed.

07:57

These are God's chosen people. And yet, with most of them, Paul says, God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

08:09

Consider here's the reason why. He says these now took place as examples to us. To us New Testament, New Covenant Christians.

08:17

So that we might not desire evil as they did. And there's the rub.

08:27

Each and every one of us, we still have a sinful nature. Although we are baptized into Christ.

08:36

Our sins have been washed away. We are a new creation in Christ and we've been regenerated.

08:42

We still have our old sinful nature to contend with. And you know what your sinful nature wants to do?

08:49

Well, it wants to do evil. In fact, it desires evil. And so now your old sinful nature is at war with the new man that you are in Christ.

08:58

And so when you look at your sanctification, look at your holiness, look at your progress, it's a mess.

09:06

So is mine, by the way. Remember years ago when Facebook changed their relationship statuses?

09:14

You know, married, single, it's complicated. Right? Yeah, our sanctification is complicated.

09:23

Because none of us measures up. And this is why repentance is not a one -time thing.

09:33

It's not one and done. It's not a flu shot. Oh yeah, I repented March 22, 1993.

09:40

I remember the day very clearly. No, no, no, no, no. The Christian life is one of a daily repentance.

09:48

Daily contrition. Daily recognition that you fall woefully short.

09:53

So don't desire evil as they did because God doesn't wink at evil. Do not be idolaters as some of them were.

10:00

As it is written, the people sat down to eat and to drink and they rose up to play. You see, this was the first Woodstock right here.

10:08

The base of Mount Sinai. Kind of a Burning Man festival. Oh, it goes on. Don't indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did.

10:15

And by the way, sexual immorality is one click away today. 23 ,000 of them fell in a single day.

10:22

We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and they were destroyed by serpents.

10:29

Nor grumble as some of them did and then were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example.

10:40

But they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Why? So that we will not desire evil.

10:49

God does not wink at evil. God doesn't turn a blind eye to evil.

10:55

You want to see how seriously God takes evil? You look at Christ suspended between heaven and earth.

11:04

Bleeding, dying, suffering, languishing in the darkness on the cross.

11:10

That's what it took to save you and to save me. So the one who thinks that he is standing, oh, take heed.

11:23

Take heed lest you fall. Then Jesus in our gospel text goes on to tell this parable.

11:33

Let me help you out with the parable here. The parable of the barren fig tree. In the Bible, the nation of Israel, the chosen people of God, are compared to two plants, the two kind of major figures that are used as far as herbology is concerned.

11:49

One is the olive tree, the olive branches, cultivated olive tree.

11:54

The other is a fig tree, both of them referring to the nation of Israel. And so Jesus tells this parable then to the nation of Israel.

12:04

And watch how this works then. He says a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and he found none.

12:11

And he said to the vine dresser, look, for three years now I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none.

12:20

See, at this point, Jesus' ministry had lasted three years in Israel. And what was

12:25

Jesus' message? What was his stump speech? The gospels tell us.

12:31

He had the same message as John the Baptist. Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent.

12:37

Recognize your sin. Recognize your love for evil. Recognize how far short you have fallen.

12:45

And also trust that Jesus Christ is going to the cross to bleed and to die for your sins.

12:51

But see, he preaches repentance for three years in Israel and there ain't no fruit on that tree.

13:01

Very sparse indeed. So he says, cut it down. Why should it be used up the ground? So he answered him,

13:07

Sir, let it alone this year also. I'll dig around it and put on manure. One of my old pastors, never forget this line.

13:16

He actually said from the pulpit that the theme here is how about another year of poop?

13:22

Let's just go through another year of poop here and see if we can't get this thing to bear fruit. It's not a bad way of thinking about it.

13:31

But then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good. But if not, then you can cut it down.

13:38

Brothers and sisters, you do not know when your life is going to end. You do not know. Death comes suddenly sometimes.

13:45

Sometimes it comes slowly. And yet, we are over and again admonished by Christ to repent, to recognize our sin, recognize our love for evil.

13:58

But here's the good news. Is that despite the fact that our best efforts at being good are so marred by our sinful nature in thought, word, and deed, in the things we do and the things we don't do, that that was not the case for Jesus Christ.

14:15

He was tempted in every way that we are and yet was without sin. And so He was clothed then in our unrighteousness and He bled and died so that we can be marvelously clothed in His righteousness.

14:31

He suffered and died for your sins so that we can live, so that we can stand before God, the

14:39

God who does not wink at evil, who, well, causes the wicked to perish, the one who refuses to allow evil to dwell with Him, the one who hates all evildoers and abhors the bloodthirsty and the deceitful.

14:55

And in that list, we have to recognize that each and every one of us fit into one of those categories in one way or another.

15:03

But Christ has made it so that by being forgiven, we've been reconciled to God and we have been made the righteousness of God because God made

15:11

Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that we might be the righteousness of God. So that we are no longer declared to be wicked, which is what we are, and we are no longer evil and evildoers, but we are those who are blood -bought, forgiven, reconciled, and made holy.

15:27

We are saints because of the great gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ that He has bled and died for us.

15:33

And because of this verdict of God, where He has taken the guilty and said over them, you are not guilty because I have bled and died for your sins.

15:41

He then says, no longer walk as children of the darkness, but walk as children of the light. But my sinful nature still loves to do evil.

15:50

Yeah, so same thing with mine as well. And this is why the daily walk of a

15:55

Christian, it's complicated. It's complicated. It's a daily taking off of the old self and a putting on of the new.

16:04

And if daily is too long of a stretch, maybe minute by minute, hour by hour, warring with your own sinful nature.

16:13

So repent. Be forgiven. Do not have confidence in yourself that you are standing, lest you fall.

16:21

Stop looking at them to judge whether or not you're doing okay with Jesus, and start looking at His holy law and recognize that you're not.

16:31

And I'm not. And this is why we need a Savior. Repent. Repent.

16:38

In the name of Jesus. Amen. And again, that address is

17:17

We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.