‘UNLESS YOU REPENT’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 10, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: February 10, 2021 from Luke 13:1-9

Theme: Now is the time to repent; because the sin of unbelief will be punished.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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There was a horrible event that occurred in the days of our Lord. We don’t know much about it except for the brief mention that is made of it in the Gospel of Luke. And even then, we’re given very little in the way of details.

Apparently, Pilate—the Roman governor over Judea—had killed a group of worshipers from Galilee in the temple area in Jerusalem. It was known that Pilate was—at times—a brutal man. His acts of brutality even angered his Roman superiors. And it was also known that the people of Galilee were rebellious and resistant toward Roman rule. And so one day—whatever the immediate provocation may have been—Pilate sent in his troops and killed a certain number of Galilean worshipers just as they were in the process of bringing offerings before the temple. And as if to particularly insult the Jewish people and offend their religious sensitivities, he actually performed the atrocious act of mingling their blood with the blood of their offerings.

It was shocking. News about it had spread; and it became the talk of the nation. It even came to the people who were listening to the Lord Jesus teach. They asked Him about it. They expected Him to say something about how—in spite of the fact that they were making offerings in the temple—these Galileans must have been particularly guilty sinners. But instead, the Lord Jesus turned the matter back toward those who spoke of it; and He used it as an opportunity to warn them about their own need for repentance. He even threw in another story for good measure.

Luke 13:1-5 tells us;

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-5).

Clearly, this was a warning. “Repent!” We need to remember that, in the larger context of this portion of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus was addressing the subject of religious hypocrisy. And in that context, Jesus warned those who brought this news to Him that unless they repented, they would also “likewise perish”. That was a response that our Lord’s listeners were not expecting. And then—because our Lord never wasted a teachable moment—He went on in the next few verses to tell them a parable that showed them that they should not only repent; but that they should repent right away and without delay. In verses 6-9, we read;

He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down’” (vv. 6-9).

These two portions of Luke’s Gospel are meant to go together. Their theme is the need for repentance from the sin of unbelief. And their lesson is clear: Now is the time to repent; because the sin of unbelief will absolutely be punished. God is giving the grace of time now; and so now is the time to repent. There should be no delay.

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Have you ever thought of what ‘repentance’ is? Perhaps a good place to begin is by considering what repentance isn’t.

Repentance isn’t the same thing as feeling bad about sin. Many people who commit sin feel bad about the sin they commit. They feel bad about it for a variety of different reasons. But it’s not automatically true that ‘feeling bad’ means that repentance has happened. People can feel bad because they are suffering the unwanted consequences of their sin. They can feel bad because they got caught and are embarrassed. But that’s not the same thing as repentance. The apostle Paul wrote about this in 2 Corinthians 7. He said that there is a kind of sorrow—a godly sorrow—that leads to repentance. Not all sorrow leads to repentance. Only ‘godly sorrow’ does that. He had written to the Corinthians sometime before about a matter of sin; and in verses 9-11, he said,

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter (2 Corinthians 7:9-11).

Feeling sorrow over our sin shows itself to be ‘sorrow in a godly manner’ if it leads us to a whole-hearted repentance from sin. But sorrow itself is not the same thing as repentance.

Nor is repentance the same thing as doing ‘penance’. Penance is a kind of voluntary self-inflicted punishment to display contrition for something—to show outwardly that we are ‘penitent’. In some religious traditions, certain acts of ‘penance’ are required whenever certain sins are committed. But that’s not the same thing as repentance. There are a lot of people who are serving time in the penitentiary. They’re required to. But they’re not necessarily ‘penitent’. Just performing outward acts of ‘penance’ is not the same thing as genuine repentance in the heart. As it says in Micah 6:6-8;

With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8).

Repentance—in its most basic form—means ‘changing one’s mind’. It means experiencing a complete transformation of the inward orientation of the heart that afterward expresses itself in an outward transformation of the life. It means that I was once walking in rebellion against God; but now, I have experienced a change in my mind and in my attitude, and walk in obedience to Him instead. It means that I once refused to believe in Him; but now, I have experienced a change in my entire inward orientation, and believe in Him instead. It means that I had once seated myself upon the throne of my life; but I have experienced an inward transformation by God’s grace, and I stepped down from the throne and allowed Him to sit where He belongs. Repentance is a grace from God that starts with my heart and my mind and my attitude; and that then works itself out in my words and thoughts and behavior and lifestyle.

And in these two passages, the Lord Jesus teaches us two important things. First, He teaches us that we must experience that kind of repentance toward unbelief. And then, He teaches us that—because all sin will be punished—we must not delay.

So then; first, notice that He teaches us that …

1. WE MUST REPENT (vv. 1-5).

When people came to Him and told Him the story of what Pilate had done—mixing the blood of some Galilean worshipers with their sacrifices—Jesus knew what they were thinking about it. Often, when people hear of such things—or hear of someone’s sudden and tragic death, or hear of some horrible and fatal disaster—they wonder if there was some unique level of guilt on their part. It’s a bit like what the native people of Malta thought about Paul, when—in Acts 28—they saw that he had been bitten by a deadly viper after he had been shipwrecked on their island. They said,

“No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live” (Acts 28:4).

They were wrong, of course; and Paul did just fine. But they were showing this disposition we tend to have of thinking that if someone meets with tragedy, it must be because they were particularly guilty sinners. But that ignores the fact that we are all sinners guilty before a holy God—all deserving of His just wrath.

So; Jesus said, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (vv. 2-3). He even went on to introduce another story that they must have heard about: “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (vv. 4-5). Apparently, a tower within the southern walls of the city of Jerusalem had recently fallen and had tragically killed eighteen people. We know hardly any more about this second event than we do of the first. But the two lessons to be learned from these two stories are the same. First, the victims didn’t suffer these tragic events because they were worse sinners than everyone else. But second, those who reported and knew about these stories were destined to meet a similar tragic end—unless they repented.

Perhaps a good application of this would be that—whenever we hear of a horrible tragedy like one of these—we should refrain from making moral judgments about the people that suffered them. We cannot know the details of their soul that only God can know. But it would be perfectly appropriate for us to look within ourselves and ask what our own moral standing before God is. Do we continue to embrace sin in our lives? Do we refuse to turn from it? Do we continue to harbor unbelief toward Him? Do we think that we—somehow—will be exempt from the judgment for sin if we do not repent of it?

So; the Lord Jesus used those two incidents to teach the people who heard Him that all sin will be punished before a holy God—including unbelief; and so they must repent. In God’s moral universe, all sin has a consequence; and that consequence is judgment from God.

And then, He teaches us that when it comes to repentance …

2. WE MUST NOT DELAY (vv. 6-9).

Jesus went on to tell a parable. We often call it ‘The Parable of The Barren Tree.” He said in verse 6; “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.” This is a parable that has very significant meaning in this context. Jesus was talking to the Jewish people; and both in scripture and in Jewish culture, a fig tree is often used as a picture of Israel herself. And that being the case, it was a horrible thing that such a tree was found barren.

Do you remember what happened when the Lord Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem in His ‘Triumphant Entry’? Mark tells us in the eleventh chapter of his Gospel;

Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response, Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again” (Mark 11:12-14).

As the Son of God—the King of the Jews—He had a right to expect genuine righteous fruit from His people. But when He came to them, He found none. Instead, He found them very religious in an outward sense; but hostile to Him and rejecting His rule over them. They would not believe on Him. And so—symbolically—He spoke this curse. In verses 20-21, Mark tells us;

Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away” (vv. 20-21).

What a picture this is! Can you think of a better illustration of religious hypocrisy than a barren fig tree?—with all the beautiful leaves but none of the fruit? And so, it’s a very significant thing that, in Jesus’ parable, the man who planted the fig tree waited and waited—but found no fruit on it.

In verse 7, Jesus went on to say of this man;

Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ (v. 7).

By this point in the story of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had been ministering, and preaching, and showing Himself to the Jewish people to be their long-awaited King for three years. But they had not repented toward God. They had not turned from their sin or believed on His Son. The time was drawing short.

But in verses 8-9 of the parable, Jesus tells us what the vinedresser said;

But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down’” (vv. 8-9).

In other words, God was allowing time for repentance—a little more time for fruit to be shown forth. But time is being granted in the prospect of promised judgment. If after a certain amount of time—during the fourth year—if no fruit is shown, the tree would come down. It was just a few months after speaking this parable to these people that the Lord Jesus was crucified. They had only a little more time to repent.

* * * * * * * * * * *

So; the combined message of these two portions of Luke’s Gospel is clear. Now is a season of grace. But that season will come to an end. Judgment will follow. Sin will be punished. We must repent of unbelief and disobedience—and we must not delay. As God had told His people long before—in Ezekiel 18:30-32;

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18:30-32).

In the course of our examining this passage, has the Holy Spirit pointed out unrepentant sin in your life? Are you refusing to believe on Jesus, or to confess it to God and turn from it? You’re in the time of grace right now; but that time is only for a while.

Jesus has come and has died for sin. Now is the time, then, to repent and believe the gospel. Don’t delay.

EA