Book of Luke - Ch. 13, Vs. 1-16 (12/07/2003)

All right, the thirteenth chapter of the book of Luke.

There were present at that time some seasons, some that told him of the

Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And Jesus answering said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the

Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Are those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them?

Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelled in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.

Now, this thing of death, the death, death kind of like a farmer that lost his cow.

When he was asked, how did you find her? He said, well, just all of a sudden. It just comes all of a sudden.

We don't plan it. These few verses give us several lessons.

Did you ever hear the expression, God will get you for that, or God's gonna punish you?

What about that, Russell? Does God get people? Yes, because they do certain things.

Has nothing to do with you or what you did. The victims of Pilate and the men who were killed when the tower fell were not judged of God.

Now know with a surety that God does nothing in spite.

Jesus is telling the religious crowd of his day that unless they repented, they should also perish.

Now, is that true, Joy? Yes. This passage has several fine lessons for us.

First one teaches us that when some Christian has trouble beyond the average amount, and many do, we're not to interpret it to mean that he is a greater sinner.

Now, when someone is a greater sinner, when we see someone that is having trouble, and it seems like God is pronouncing judgment on him, what are we doing?

We ourselves are doing what? What? Alright, first of all, you're judging, and you shouldn't do that.

Is the amount of trouble that you have directly related to the sin that you did,

Virg? No. Has nothing to do with that. Now, the consequences of what you did may follow, but not punishment from God.

That seems strange. The other side of the coin is that just becoming a

Christian does not automatically cause you to be trouble free.

I had a Christian, a man, a grown man that just discovered that.

He thought that when you become a Christian, everything will go fine. It would be no trouble.

I would never have trouble again. Well, Russell, he was right in a way, but in this world, you are going to have trouble, and the reason for trouble is what,

Russell? Right, that you can grow spiritually because of trouble.

Now, Bob, that seems the wrong way around to me. I think you would grow better if God gave you what you wanted and patted you on the back, but it doesn't work like that, does it?

Well, if you're a Christian, you're going to miss the great tribulation, but you won't miss the tribulations you're in while you're a

Christian. You're going to have a little trouble right down here.

Some of us have more than others, but he's promised us that he will never put on us more than we can bear.

That speaks of his putting it on, and he does.

Another thing we should see is that when trouble comes to someone else and not to you, what do you think,

David? Well, that's true, but just know that God does nothing out of spite.

It does not indicate that you are a superior Christian or a superior individual when everybody else has trouble and you don't.

I've been guilty of that. I think all of you have to some degree, sometime, a long time ago.

Maybe God's just showing you the trouble to bring you to him.

He spake also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted.

He planted it in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereof and found none.

Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years

I come seeking fruit on this tree, fig tree, and find none.

Cut it down. Why cumbereth it the ground? Now, if you cut it down and haul it off,

Bob, can you still expect fruit from that tree? No.

You can tell he's from the north. It's impossible to gather fruit from a tree that's not there.

So likewise good works are not possible unless the person is first made a real

Christ, a real in Christ. He's made real.

Eight. And he answered, saying unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also till I dig about it and dung it.

And if it bear fruit well, and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

The fig tree without fruit is symbolic in a way, in my opinion, of the nation

Israel. The owner of the fig tree expected it to bear fruit, and he was disappointed when it was barren.

Did he have the right to expect fruit from the fig tree?

Yes. He had the unquestioned right to take the fruit and set it in judgment by cutting down the tree because it was not bearing.

Israel had been promised blessings if they walk in light God had given them, and curses if they rejected the light.

The nation was given special attention, cultivated, fertilized. It should have produced fruit, but it didn't.

Now you can substitute a Christian in place of Israel. He's going to bring them back to the land someday.

Now you say, well, they're going back now. They're not going back in belief now.

They're returning to the land today in unbelief now, and they do not have peace.

This is the evidence of the hand of God in the affairs of the world. I hate to say it, but everything's going right on schedule.

Everything's taking place just as he planned it. He didn't slip up any place because we can't see the whole picture.

We condemn and criticize. Don't do that. 1310, and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the

Sabbath, and behold there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself.

Joy, what shape was this woman? I have seen people like that.

Was in a permanent sitting position, and when

Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified

God. Now, Virge, he laid his hands on her. Was that necessary?

Then why did he do it? All right.

And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation. Now, picture this man.

Because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath and said unto him, There are six days in which men ought to work.

In them, therefore, come and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.

David, he kind of missed the point, didn't he? Only a ruler, only a person of high standing, only a person that was self -righteous, that was seeking for you to obey the law, could think that way.

This woman had one of the worst cases of illness recorded in the Bible.

The problem arose not because our Lord healed her, but because he healed her on the

Sabbath. The Lord's, Lord healing people on the

Sabbath day was a reoccurring source of contention between himself and the religious leaders.

This woman had a spirit of infirmity that had plagued her for 18 years.

It's difficult to translate all of the terms into understandable

English because Dr. Luke is writing this and he used medical terms.

Suffice to say, her condition was chronic. This poor woman could not lift herself up.

Here was a woman in desperate condition. She was an unfortunate wretch who was an object of pity.

This was probably one of the most terrible cases of physical infirmity that the

Lord dealt with on earth. The Lord then answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, does not each one of you on the

Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering?

And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whose Satan hath bound, lo these 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the

Sabbath day? Now I must confess

I don't understand why she was apparently not an immoral person as she was a regular attendant to the synagogue, even in her condition.

It was in the synagogue that the great physician said be loosed. He laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified

God. His touch upon her was not essential but was an aid to her faith.

It was personal contact. Personal contact.

Do we need personal contact, David? Yes, and we need it with him.

That's the important thing for us. Ruler of the synagogue rebuked rebuked her sharply saying,

Yet this woman had not come to the synagogue with any intention of being healed.

Now did she, when she left home that morning hobbling her way to church, did she expect to get healed today?

No. The reaction of the religious ruler was strange indeed.

He didn't question the healing. He didn't mention the woman, but he said you healed her on the

Sabbath. You're not supposed to do that. He was more interested in the rule than he was in the fact the poor woman with a grievous infirmity had been freed.

The Sabbath question was a most important issue to those religious rulers.

Yet Sabbath prohibitions had become a burden too great to bear.

The Sabbath question is still one of the healing debates today.

Do I do this on the Sabbath? Do I not do this on the

Sabbath? Can I play ball on Sunday? Can I not play ball on Sunday?

Russell, we get so bogged down in doing it on Sunday that we forget the whole purpose of coming together.

The important thing is not to argue about religion. The important thing is to learn to live it, and I challenge you today to live it.

David gave us a very, very special message this morning on how to live it.

I think if we listen to that message, listen to this reading, and learn to live it, we'll do fine.

We'll stop here. Yes, wait a minute, let me find five.

Now, now, go ahead. Yes, all right.

In verse five, the word likewise, you shall likewise perish.

From that, I gather that they perished on earth.

People could see that, and they died. To likewise perish eternally is the crux of his message.

He says you shall likewise perish, not only die physically, but you will die in hell.

Yes, that's right, that's right.

So the repent, repenting does not mean that if I repent,

I'm not going to get killed. It means I will go to heaven if I repent.

First of all, if he, if I'm one of the sheep, I will repent. So set that aside, but he's saying you must repent or you'll likewise perish.

He makes the two together, the physical and the spiritual together.

Yes, yes, it's got to be, because you cannot repent and keep from dying, so you will die whether you repent or not.

No, no, they're reading things into it. Is that right,

David? All right, anything else?