WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.160 Well, church, we are in Luke again and covering a large section. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:11.119 This first section in Luke 12, 49 through 139. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:13.679 So left over from last week. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:26.079 And as I was preparing for the sermon this week and just thinking about the theme and the text and what it means, I was beginning to think about just my childhood actually, growing up here in Ohio. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:32.399 I was raised in a family that was filled with uh Cleveland Browns fans. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:38.960 My dad, my uncles, friends, neighbors, like everyone, just the Browns fans. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.560 And so that you just grow up in this. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:46.880 So as a young person, uh this taught me how to deal with regular disappointment in life. 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:47.520 Right? 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:49.600 Just it's gonna come. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.840 It also taught me how to pick a backup team that was pretty good most of the time. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.359 And that was the Packers. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:58.000 So didn't go so well last night. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:12.799 But what I was told in this discipling culture, if you will, of being a Cleveland Browns fan, a Cleveland Browns fan, is that there's still hope because there's always next year. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:14.079 How many times? 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:16.000 There's always next year. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:17.359 Maybe next year. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:22.719 And you know, if you hear that, okay, okay, and then the years tick by, you're like, I don't think so. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:30.640 You realize the glimmer of hope, the little bit of satisfaction kind of midway through the years. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.280 Well, maybe next year we'll have a winning team. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:35.040 Maybe next year. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:37.200 There's always next year. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:41.840 But that's a foolish way to think, isn't it? 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:44.560 There's always next year. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.840 There's always tomorrow. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:54.719 Next time I'm with that person, I'll say what I've been meaning to say. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:00.079 Next time I'm with so and so, I'll actually confess my sin and get right. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.079 Next time I fill in the blank. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:06.480 It's a foolish way to think. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:13.039 Because we're not promised tomorrow, we're not promised another chance, another opportunity. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:33.680 And as Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem, as he's getting closer to crucifixion, his crucifixion, he is clear that he has come to establish his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, and he's teaching that now is the time of repentance. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:40.240 Jesus' ministry was divisive, as the text tells us. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:48.800 Jesus says in verse 49, I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:56.159 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:00.960 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:04.479 No, I tell you, but rather division. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:15.520 Jesus' ministry was divisive because he was calling sinners to repent of their sin and follow him. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:21.680 They thought their faith was primarily about themselves. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:26.560 They thought their relationship with God was primarily about themselves. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:32.560 And here comes Jesus, and he's just saying, no, actually, it's all about God. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:43.599 It's not so much about you or your standards of righteousness that you have made or that you're bearing or you're laying on as burdens to others. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:48.400 So you can imagine that this is an offensive message. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:53.280 Jesus coming to say, this is actually not about you, it's about me. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:06.319 In the gospel, the good news, it is an offensive message because you're coming to people and you're saying, there is a holy, righteous creator God. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:12.159 He created all things and he created you, and he has authority over you. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:17.920 Because you're his creation, he now is a standard bearer. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:29.120 And the standard is one that you have not met, that you have come short, you've fallen short of. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:44.720 That God has created this world, He's created us, and now we have this sin thing going on, thanks to Adam and Eve. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:46.879 I didn't choose it. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:48.959 I wouldn't have done that. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.040 Oh, but you would have. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:52.560 And so would I. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:59.199 And Jesus says, Listen, you've broken my law. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:07.439 And the only consequence for that is that you're separated from me for eternity. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:09.360 And that's hell. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:17.199 And the Lord, in his kindness, sends a Savior. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:22.399 See, it's really offensive that there's a God and He's telling us how we're supposed to live. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:34.959 But then the mercy and the grace of God to come and say, But if you repent, and if you follow me, your creator, and if you live the way I've made you to live, there is life in that. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:39.040 There is joy, there is satisfaction and contentment. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:40.639 True life. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:44.240 You understand the mercy of God. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:52.639 But the truth is, you don't get to have the world and follow Jesus. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:06:01.199 You don't get to indulge your flesh and do what you want to do and get salvation and be a disciple of Christ. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:04.079 And this is what Jesus is revealing. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:10.639 That his message is divisive because he's saying, you've got to repent. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:16.000 He's saying your heart is prideful and your heart is arrogant. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:19.759 And you need to turn from those things. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:27.120 He gives them this rebuke that they are wise enough to interpret the sky. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:33.519 Again, this narrative, he's speaking with Pharisees and lawyers and kind of the religious crowd. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.000 And he's saying, listen, you know how to judge. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:38.160 You know how to interpret the time. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:42.079 You look at the skies, rain's coming. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:44.160 Or it's going to be tomorrow, it's coming. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:45.839 Or it's going to be clear. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.439 But you don't know how to interpret the times. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:59.680 All of the Old Testament, all of the Jewish scriptures were pointing to the Messiah. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:02.399 They were pointing to Christ. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:09.920 The scriptures said that he would be born in Bethlehem, that he would come from Nazareth. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.639 All the miracles that he performs. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:16.160 John the Baptist coming and preparing the way. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:21.199 All the signs just blaring in the sky, if you will. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:22.959 This is the Messiah. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:24.879 And Jesus rebukes them. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:29.920 You can see all those things, but you can't understand what's going on. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:31.439 The Messiah has come. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.000 The kingdom has come. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:39.839 And Jesus is giving them this warning. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:48.480 That as divisive as the message is, that Jesus is saying, listen, you're prideful and you need to repent. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:53.600 He's saying, listen, you don't have all the time in the world. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:55.600 He gives this analogy. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:59.519 He says, Why do you not judge, verse 57 for yourselves? 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:00.480 What is right? 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:12.160 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:16.800 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:23.439 Jesus goes on into 13 to talk about repentance and perishing. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:38.879 Do you think Jesus is just like kind of talking about the kingdom and talking about his what he's here to do and the divisiveness and how you're supposed to read the times, and then he just jumps into, and by the way, if you have a legal issue, here's how you need to take action. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:48.240 No, he's giving them a warning before judgment comes to you, before you stand before your creator, God, make an effort. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.039 Seek salvation. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:09:04.159 In this settlement, this isn't like, okay, God, well, I'm gonna give you 10 years, 10 good years of service, or I'm gonna raise my kids in the church, or I'm gonna read your Bible so many days, or do X, Y, and Z. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:08.879 But here, Jesus is giving them a simple picture. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:11.279 Judgment is coming. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:16.960 Why would you not want to settle with your accuser before you stand before the judge? 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.960 What they needed was someone to stand before the judge for them. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:30.240 And that's who Jesus is. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:44.960 Again, in verse in chapter 13, there's this conversation, people are talking about these Galileans and how they had died. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.440 They suffered in this way. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:52.000 This blood that was mixed, and all these things. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:57.440 And people are concerned, and like, well, what about those in the scaffolding fell that killed those guys? 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:02.320 Or when the blood was mixed in the temple and the pagan worship? 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:03.759 What about those people? 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:06.799 Like, are they before the judge? 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:09.200 And did they make it right with their accuser? 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:13.039 And how normal and natural is this for us? 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:20.000 We hear about judgment, we hear, we read about it. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:26.879 We start thinking of other people and their situation, and how are they handling those things? 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:30.879 Or diverting the attention. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:32.399 What about them? 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:36.240 What are you gonna say about those things? 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:43.200 And Jesus says, Do you think they were worse offenders than all of the others who lived in Jerusalem? 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:44.320 No, verse 5. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:50.399 No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:56.080 And once you've perished, that's it. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:04.080 There is no perishing, and then you have kind of an intermediate time or like a second chance or a do-over. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:08.399 Once you've perished, once you've you've died, it's done. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:16.240 And Jesus, to reinforce this message, gives us his parable of a fig tree. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:17.440 It's barren. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.679 The master says, cut it down, and the gardener says, Well, let me let me have one more year. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:26.559 I'll dig around it and I'll put manure in there and I'll do everything I can to get this to grow. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.519 He says, Okay, one year. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:31.679 You have one year. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:35.200 What was Jesus saying with that? 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:38.240 He's like, listen, judgment is coming. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:41.440 The opportunity to repent is coming. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:49.679 Those who the tower fell on or whose blood was mixed, their opportunity is gone. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.480 There is no more chance for them to repent. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:01.600 See, this message, you can see how Jesus' message would be divisive. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:07.600 It's not just saying that God is holy and you're not, and you need to do something about that. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:11.440 It's saying you need to do something about it right now. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:13.919 Because you don't know that you're gonna have tomorrow. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:20.639 You don't know that you're gonna have this afternoon, let alone a year, or the rest of your life. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.399 Or the rest of your life that you assume you're gonna have. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.000 Another 10 years, another 30 or 40 years. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:35.519 The call of Jesus is urgent, which feels divisive. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:42.399 JC Ryle speaking about this, talking about people diverting. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.360 They don't want to talk about their life or their death. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:48.720 They're concerned with other people and what happened to them and what happened to them. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:58.720 He says, let us observe for one thing in these verses how much more ready people are to talk about the death of others than their own death. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.080 They want to know about them. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:12.559 Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:21.600 Now, what that means is not that, like, well, everyone's a sinner and everyone's kind of missed the mark, and so everyone's gonna clean it up a little bit. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:23.919 Everyone's gonna work on this a little bit. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:32.480 But what it means is that everyone is guilty of sin, guilty of breaking God's law, which is a sin, and deserves hell. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:36.240 Deserves punishment. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:45.519 And if that is offensive to you, I think for most of us, there is part of us that, yeah, it kind of feels offensive. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:54.000 That's because God is so holy, so holy and righteous and good. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:14:03.519 That when you've broken his law, you haven't just kind of broken a law and you gotta kind of do some time or you gotta kind of do some community service. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:07.679 No, you've broken God's law. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:11.039 For that is an eternal punishment. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.559 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:33.200 And you would think as Jesus is talking, and he's talking with the Pharisees, he's talking to this huge crowd where thousands of people are gathered around, that there would be a softening of the heart. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:38.960 That people would say, Man, I have been living for myself. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:44.480 I have been taking God's law and making it about me. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:53.679 I have been kind of taking the good things that God's given me, and I've used them for my own glory. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.879 I've kind of made this thing about me. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:05.200 And here we're called to repent, we're called to turn, we're called to act now because judgment is coming. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.759 That would be the natural thing I think we would think. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.200 But we see in verse 10. 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:18.559 That's not really what happened. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:22.799 There was a hardening, or sorry, beginning in verse 10. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:27.440 This next passage, we begin to see the hardening of the hearts. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:35.200 This woman, she's in the synagogue, and Jesus is there and she's bent over. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:43.679 She's has a demon, a disabling spirit, verse 11 says, for 18 years. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:52.480 18 years is a very long time to be bent over and cannot fully straighten herself. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:59.679 And when Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your disability. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:07.840 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:22.000 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people this is passive aggressive behavior, there are six days in which you ought to work. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:23.200 Work ought to be done. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.279 Come on those days and be healed, not on the Sabbath day. 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:30.320 Can you imagine? 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:35.120 Can you just imagine for a moment Jesus? 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:39.919 We know from verse 12 he's addressing, he's talking about friends. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:41.679 He's using the language of friends. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:44.879 He's trying to be uh call these people to repentance. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:53.039 He's saying, listen, I didn't come just to bring this tranquil peace where everyone just kind of gets to do what they want to do and bad things disappear. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:17:01.360 No, he's like, I've come to conquer evil, and that's divisive because some people love evil. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:07.920 I've come to defeat sin and that's divisive because some people love their sin. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:13.680 But repent, turn, follow Jesus. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:15.920 What a loving message. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:23.119 And then this woman who has a disability from a demon for 18 years, and Jesus frees her in a moment. 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:24.480 She's freed. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.680 And what's the response to that? 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:29.920 Indignation. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:32.880 It's a pride. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:37.119 It's this pride that you know what, I'm doing okay. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:41.200 I don't need this Jesus guy to tell me how to do this. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:45.039 It's a hard heart. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:46.799 And Jesus rebukes them. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.480 You hypocrites, don't you untie your own oxen? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.680 Don't you do all these things? 00:17:51.839 --> 00:18:02.400 Take them to water, and hear a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for 18 years, shouldn't she not be loose on the Sabbath? 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:22.160 If there's any day of the week that we should see someone freed from their sin, freed from the bondage of a demon, should it be the day that we remember what Christ has done, or remember what God has created all things, and he's sovereign over all things and he's good? 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:24.240 And we belong to him? 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:41.440 Should it not be this day that we is set apart for us to remember the sovereign power of God, that he is a delivering God who took us out of Egypt, who provided for us in the wilderness? 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:45.759 He did not leave us in bondage. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:50.160 If someone's going to be set free, should it not be on the Sabbath? 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:59.920 Jesus rebukes them and says in verse 17, as he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:07.200 And all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:22.880 We would be with all the people rejoicing at what Jesus has done. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:25.440 And maybe that would be so. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.359 Maybe we we would be. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:34.079 But there are people who are against the gospel. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.240 Very heart is hard. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:40.799 I don't want forgiveness. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:43.759 They didn't do anything wrong. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:45.759 Or so, what if they did it? 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:47.599 I don't care, it's my life. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:48.960 I'll pay for it. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:50.559 Whatever. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:20:01.279 If that's you this morning, if your heart is hard toward Christ, I want you to know that he loves you. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.519 That he desires a relationship with you. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:17.039 And that he specializes in taking cold, dead hearts and making them alive. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:18.160 Amen. 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:20.319 That's what he does. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.480 That's his work to do. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:28.240 But his patience is not forever. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:34.559 And for those of us who are feel like we would be those rejoicing, praise the Lord. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:50.480 But remember, when Jesus was crucified, there's a lot of these same crowds who, when he came into town, were laying down their garments and praising him, saying, Hosanna, Hosanna. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:55.119 And within days were yelling, crucify him. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:57.119 Crucify him. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:04.559 Let us be humble in our assessment of ourselves. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:12.240 So Jesus rebukes them and he gives this analogy, these two analogies of a mustard seed and leaven and bread. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:15.119 And theologians talk about what all these mean. 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:24.480 But the principal idea is that from such a small thing eventually comes this powerful, mighty thing. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:30.319 So like is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:34.880 And in our day and age, maybe in your own life you feel the same way. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:41.680 You just look around in the world and you think, is God's kingdom really like is He is this it? 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:42.960 Like, is He doing His thing? 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:49.440 Because I'm looking at what I'm seeing in the news and what I'm seeing just in your own lives and family relationships. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:54.160 There's a lot of evil, a lot of bad, a lot of darkness. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:57.200 Where's the kingdom of heaven in all this? 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.759 And you can you can understand that logic, and you can. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:10.720 Understand here Jesus has come, lived a perfect life, he's really hasn't traveled that far, and yet he's establishing the kingdom. 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:11.599 What? 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:13.440 How's that gonna be? 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:21.119 And you can imagine even the early days of the church where it's persecuted and they're hiding. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:25.519 And it's not really, it's not prominent in any way. 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:28.000 Just the religious elite kind of scoffing. 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:34.480 Like, ah, he said he was establishing the kingdom, and everyone's just scattered and afraid. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.599 But Jesus is teaching us something. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:49.119 Whether it's in your understanding of your own life, or as you look out and you see the world, the kingdom is growing. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.519 The leaven is working. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:54.319 The seed is, the plant is growing. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:23:05.759 And when it grows, when it becomes full, and the all we're no longer in this already and not yet of the kingdom, but when the kingdom fully comes and it's all revealed, you'll be amazed. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:07.839 How did this happen? 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.880 And the world was dark. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.519 Sin was prevalent even in your own lives. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:24.079 The slow maturation of the Lord working and sanctifying us, and he will bring it to completion. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.640 It's a principle of the kingdom. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:29.279 The Lord is at work. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:34.799 Trusting the Lord, not our own abilities. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:44.000 The religious elite were often trusting in their own abilities, their own wisdom, their own understanding, their own righteousness. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:45.359 And we're not like that. 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:47.599 That's not what citizens of the kingdom do. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:50.160 We trust in Christ. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:54.559 In verse 22, we just transition. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:24:01.599 It says, and he went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:09.920 And someone said to him, Lord, will those who, excuse, excuse me, Lord, will those who are saved be few? 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.119 And what a question that we all ask, right? 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:17.200 If you're a Christian, like, how many people are going to be in heaven? 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:23.200 Sometimes you hear that like it sounds like next to nobody's going to be in heaven. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:27.039 Sometimes you feel like people teach that everyone's going to be in heaven. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.480 Jesus doesn't answer that question directly. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:34.400 He says, strive to enter through the narrow door. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:36.240 This word strive. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:40.000 In the Greek, it's where we get our word agony, this effort. 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:45.440 For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:57.920 When one, when once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:24:59.920 Then he will answer you. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:02.240 I do not know you. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.400 I do not know where you come from. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:10.960 Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught us in our streets. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:15.680 But he will say, I tell you, do, I do not know where you come from. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.359 Depart from me, all you workers of evil. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:29.920 And in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God. 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.200 But you yourselves cast out. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:41.039 And people will come from the east and the west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:49.440 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:26:00.400 What Jesus is saying here isn't just really try harder, strive and agonize into the kingdom. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:06.960 But what he is saying is pursue the kingdom. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:10.559 Pursue a relationship with God. 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:11.440 Repent. 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:17.440 Remember who he's speaking to, this religious elite who are against him. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:23.039 And those who are raised in this religious context with all these rules and laws. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:28.400 And he's saying to them, the door is narrow. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:35.200 And but if you seek after it, you will find it. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:41.359 Jesus, the Bible says, does not turn anyone away who seeks after him. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:46.799 But once the door has been shut, it will not be open again. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:50.079 It does not open again. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:51.599 And all the arguments. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:56.880 And this and that, and the other. 00:26:57.039 --> 00:26:59.039 I was a member of the church and whatever, whatever. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:00.240 I was a pastor. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:04.319 None of those things matter. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:08.880 It doesn't open the door and say, whoa, wow, you gave a lot of money to the kingdom. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:10.000 Come in. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:10.640 Right? 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:14.480 Or wow, you know, like you gave a lot of your time and you're just nice to everyone. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:16.079 Come in the kingdom. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:18.000 The door is shut. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.319 I'm going to read this long quote that I think summarizes this really well. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:31.119 There is something particularly striking in our Lord's language in this prophecy. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:41.200 It reveals to us the awful fact that men may see what is right when it is too late to be saved. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:49.039 There is a time coming when many will repent too late and believe too late. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:55.440 Sorrow for sin too late and begin to pray too late. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:03.279 To be anxious about salvation too late, and to long for heaven too late. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:14.000 Myriads of people shall wake up in another world and be convinced of the truths which on earth they refused to believe. 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:19.680 There is a time coming. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:21.759 There is a day coming. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:26.319 It may be this afternoon, it may be in 40 years. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:29.359 But the door will be shut. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:33.279 Your life, all this earth will end. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:41.839 And if we have this thinking that we're just, you know, I believe enough of the Bible. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:45.119 I've lived good enough. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:54.400 Our only hope is in Jesus Christ. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:02.240 Not that we're, not that we've said, hey, I want to be a follower of Jesus, and so I'm going to keep all the laws that Jesus said. 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:07.359 But that Jesus Christ has covered our sin. 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:19.599 Our faith is that we've repented, turned from our sin and following Jesus because Jesus was a sufficient sacrifice. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:36.480 Then when Jesus says, I've come to redeem those who are repentant, I've come to pay the price for their sin and bring them into my family, that he has the power to do that, he has the authority to do that, and that he did do that. 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:46.000 Our confidence isn't that we're just hoping when we get there and the book is open that the scales weigh out in the right way for us. 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:51.279 Christ alone is our hope. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:57.599 Jesus is in his mercy, in his kindness, has come. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:05.279 His calling, even the hard-hearted and the unrepentant, to the kingdom. 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:08.480 And many will refuse. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:15.519 Many will choose their sin over their creator God. 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:23.440 Many will choose to stay in their rebellion to God. 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:29.359 This is why, Christians, we should be a praying people. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:38.799 Praying that our own hearts don't become hard, and praying that the Lord would work and save those around us for soft hearts. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:44.640 And that we would not grow weary in telling others the good news of Jesus. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:49.839 The good news is just that God is holy and you're not. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:22.319 At that very hour, verse 31, some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:25.519 And he said to them, Go and tell that fox. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:39.440 Strong language, behold, I cast out demons, perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:41.839 What's he talking about right there? 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:45.680 He's talking about his death, burial, and resurrection. 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:49.920 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following. 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:54.799 For it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:10.000 Jerusalem, the city of prophets, where God has bringing his message to his people to follow him, to repent, to enjoy his love, his provision. 00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:20.160 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. 00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:31.680 How often would I have gathered you, your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:44.160 Jesus, from before the foundations of the world, has set out to redeem his people. 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:52.319 It is the covenant that God the Father made with God the Son that he would give him his redeemed, his bride. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:59.200 And Jesus, through the centuries, looking to Jerusalem. 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:06.799 How I have longed, how I would have gathered your children together as hens gather her brood under her wings. 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:10.079 Have you ever seen a mother hen gather her chicks under her wings? 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:10.960 You can't even see them. 00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:12.960 They're protected, they're cared for. 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:16.400 You were not willing. 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:20.240 Behold, your house is forsaken. 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:28.240 And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:33.519 Jesus is coming again. 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:35.440 He will return. 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:42.559 And you either die in this life and go see him, or you'll be alive when he returns. 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:50.400 And everyone, every single one of us, every single person will stand before him. 00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:57.279 And that's not a time that you want to stand in your own righteousness. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:05.119 For the only kind of righteousness you want to stand before God in is the righteousness of Christ. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:12.719 That has paid for your sin, that has made you a new creation, that has adopted you into his family. 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:18.960 As Romans tells us, you are now a joint heir with Christ. 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:24.239 That's the righteousness that you want to stand before God in. 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:28.239 There's only one way to do that. 00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:35.519 Repent, turn from your sin, and follow Jesus. 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:44.400 My plea this morning for you and for me as Christians is that our hearts would be soft. 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:52.400 That we would not grow weary in doing good, that we would not be confident in our own righteousness, but our hearts would be soft. 00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:58.239 That we'd be pleading with others to repent, follow Jesus. 00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:07.039 That we would be preparing ourselves, that we would walk in obedience, knowing as chapter 12 tells us, that he's coming. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:11.360 And we don't know when somewhere, live like he's coming today. 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:18.400 As his people, not out of fear, but out of worship. 00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:23.039 For those who are here this morning and they're still in their sin. 00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:26.800 You have not put your faith and your hope in Jesus. 00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:31.599 You've kind of kept him at arm's length or maybe really far away. 00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:38.559 Jesus makes this loving plea to you that today is the day of salvation. 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:41.039 Don't wait for tomorrow. 00:35:41.280 --> 00:35:43.199 Don't wait for next week. 00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:47.920 Don't wait to clean yourself up because that's never gonna work. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:50.559 Today is the day of salvation. 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:53.599 So may you repent and believe. 00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:55.360 Let's pray.