The Time to Repent

Text: Luke 13:1-9

Luke 13:1–9 ESV

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; 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 offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Truth: Now is the time to repent.

I need us to think back on the past several weeks. There is one facet of Bible study that we should all do well to remember: Context is King. Our setting has not changed over the past several weeks. When the Gospel of Luke was written, it wasn’t written with chapter and verse numbers. Chapter 13 is a continuation of chapter 12 and the things we have heard over the course of the past few weeks are all spoken to the same group of people at the same time.

Why is this important? It matters how we interpret the text. The themes matter. Last week, Jesus challenged this crowd to properly interpret the present time (12:56) and to settle with their accuser (12:58). We understand from the week prior that judgment is coming. These thoughts are surely running through the heads of everyone listening to Jesus speak.

As we begin chapter 13, Jesus gets interupted with a statement or a report. The report? Luke 13:1 “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.”

There apparently was a group of Galileans that Pilate had killed while they were in the temple. Here’s why context matters. In keeping with the themes that Jesus just taught, this wasn’t merely a report. A present time, judgment, settling with the accuser. These thoughts were still present in their minds. So the report was underscored with a question or statement-these Galileans must have been terrible, terrible sinners for their lives to be taken in this manner. Two options existed: 1. They didn’t settle with Pilate (who they loathed) in time, or 2. They were so bad that God used Pilate to strike them down. In either scenario, the finger was pointing at the Galileans and their errors or sin.

Now to be clear-God has used wicked people or kingdoms to bring judgment on His people before. He has also struck down people when they have sinned. Those things are true. But the motive behind their thinking was flawed. Jesus knows the hearts of all men. He knows their motives. And He corrects them here.

Luke 13:2 “And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” Is it really the belief that these Galileans were in some way worse than the other Galileans? By what standard are you calling them “worse”? Is it by the standard of the Pharisees? Of Rome? Or are you using the standard of God?

Regardless of the standard in which they are judging the deceased Galilean’s lives, Jesus gives a response that points it back toward them. Luke 13:3 “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Ah. Now the turn tables turn. All while they try to assume the goodness of the Galileans, what Jesus commands them to do is to repent lest they also suffer and perish. And if there was any ambiguity in what He said and what He meant, He doubled down. Luke 13:4 “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?” If the Galileans were so bad that Pilate destroyed them, what about those men in Jerusalem that had a tower fall on them? Pilate didn’t do that. So the question then is how bad were those people that God threw a tower down on them? How much worse were they than the other people in Jerusalem?

This would have hit much closer to home. Could God have executed judgement in this way? Absolutely. But that wasn’t what their question or problem was if you are remembering correctly. The assumption these people had was that the Galileans and the men in Jerusalem must have been terrible and wicked-so much more so than anyone else-and that is why they all died the horrible ways they did. We can almost hear them state that the falling of the tower was clearly an act of God becasue of how terrible they were. But Jesus’ command doesn’t change. Luke 13:5 “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.””

The command is clear to every single person in this crowd-repent or perish. This goes hand in hand with everything else we have been studying in this series. There is a judgment on sin. There is a present time to be aware of. There is a need to settle with your accuser before you ever step foot in front of a judge. The command from Jesus toward these people is that the judgment for sin is coming, the present time to settle with your accuser is now, and you must repent lest you perish.

These all tie together. And to be clear-this command to repent is to be taken in the immediately. The present time is right then. Why? Because you don’t know when the next tower will fall or when Pilate will strike again. These Jews and this crowd should not think so highly of themselves as the superior sinners or worse-as righteous. Jesus doesn’t mince His words when He states that ALL will perish if they don’t repent. Jesus wants them to look introspectivly. The fact that they are alive and not the others is in no way indicative that they are better, righteous, or less deserving of death as the others.

He uses this parable to further explain His point. Luke 13:6–9 “And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ””

In this parable, a man had a vineyard full of several fig trees (the tree often used to describe Israel). When the man working the vineyard saw that one of his tress wasn’t producing fruit, he asked to cut it down. The vinedresser won’t allow it. Instead, the vinedresser said to leave it for a year while he provides adequate water and nourishment to it for survival and then see if it produces fruit.

Make no bones about it-this was pointed directly at those that thought themselves more righteous or good than others. Afterall, they were still alive. The religious leaders in this day, the hypocrites from chapter 12, would certaintly fit this description. But let us not think that there weren’t others who thought higher of themselves than they should have.

This tree that isn’t bearing fruit is 100% worthy of being town down. It is a waste of space. It is doing nothing of profit. If we are judging this from the outside in, we would agree with the handman of the vineyard. Get rid of that tree. But the vinedresser extends a stay of execution. Give it one more year before we completely remove it. In that year, the vinedresser will dig around it to make sure water gets down in the roots and will fertilize it. The tree at the end of one year will have no excuse if it bears no fruit. Then it can be removed. However, if the tree begins to thrive-it can stay and will be beneficial to vineyard.

Here these words of Jesus again: There is coming a judgment on sin, there is a time that you should pay very close attention to, you should settle with your accuser, and you should repent lest you perish.

The error made by those that assumed the were better because they were still living was just exposed. It is not because of their goodness that they still breath, it is becasue of the long suffering mercy of the Vinedresser.

One theologian stated this: “He declares that those men were not more wicked than others, but that their death was held out to all as a ground of alarm; for if in them God gave a display of his judgment, no more would others, though they might be spared for a time, escape his hand. Christ does not, however, forbid believers to consider attentively the judgments of God, but enjoins them to observe this order, to begin with their own sins.”

John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 153.

We like to put people in to two major categories when it comes to how they live their lives: good and bad. We develop scales on which we weigh someone’s life. For example: eating too much food for lunch on Sunday would be a 1 or 2 out of 10 on the scale of good and bad. Murder-probably a 10. A little white lie? Most would give it a 1 or 2 as well-maybe a 3. Robbing a little, elderly lady of her money? Put them under the jail. We rate goodness on a sliding scale that we have concocted on our own and if we aren’t careful-we tend to attribute goodness with righteousness. We do this when we state, “so and so is such a good person because...” insert random moral act or “they are really a bad person because...”inset random immoral act. Are there laws and consequences? Absolutley. Are some more severe? Yes. But let’s not misconstrue this. We tend to associate good and bad with righteousness and unrighteousness. While I understand the comparision-we must all understand that those words and that scale we try to use don’t really mean anything. Consider what Paul states on goodness and righteousness. Romans 3:9–20 “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

Hear that carefully-there is no one righteous. No one does good. Every single person is held accountable to God. These people in our text that are assuming that they are better becasue they live or that the Galileans and men of Jerusalem were worse becasue they died are missing the main point of what Jesus is communicating to them. They are all bad people! They are all unrighteous. The reason they live is becasue God saw fit in His infinite wisdom to grant them a little longer to continue to hear the Words of Salvation. Why? So they could repent!

Listen-church. We must hear these words carefully ourselves lest we think we are so far removed from these people or think we are somehow better.

It’s statements like “they got what they deserved” that come to mind. I pray that no one in here gets what they deserve. So quick are we to judge someone elses sin that we overlook our own. We are like those that Jesus spoke to on the mount that must remove the plank from our own eye before we point out the speck in someone elses. We come in with painted grins and hide behind stained glass all the while deceiving ourselves that we aren’t the ones that need to repent.

I remember after Hurricane Katrina that there were these facebook posts about judgment. Why did New Orleans get hit and have so much devastation? Because its a wicked city and that was God’s punishment. While that may be part of a bigger truth, God’s Word is clear here on what the first thought should be in your mind. It’s the same thought that the tax collector will have in Luke 18 when he hangs his head before God and pleads “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” . That is the proper view of judgment.

The words of Jesus that we see are meant to be taken as an immediate call to action and application. Repent or perish. There is no other option. The time we have been given to do so is a gift by the Father. To be clear, repentance isn’t just a word that we use haphazardly in church circles. It has a clear meaning-turn away from your sin and turn toward Christ.

Look-we have a hard time with this. We like to keep our pet sins and sweep it under the rug we call Grace. But that isn’t the command. Romans 6:1–2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

It’s these pet sins that we keep feeding that are hard for us to get rid of. But Christ calls us to do hard things. In fact, He calls us to do that today-in this present time. Repent. Turn to Him.

1 John 2:1 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

There are three things I want to leave with you:

There is coming a time of judgment. We have a clock that we don’t get to see. It’s appointed to each of us to die once-then we face the Judge. All of the good things that we say we did or all the bad things we point out about other people won’t matter. What will matter is if we settled with our accuser. Did we repent? Did we turn to Christ?

If you breath, there is still time. Hear me-I plead with you to repent and turn toward Christ. Namely-in salvation. Believe and Repent. 1 John is clear that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. There is only one scale of righteousness and unrighteousness and that is God’s. By that standard, we stand guilty. But praise be to God that we have an advocate Who satisfied the wrath of God with His own blood so that He could give us His own righteousness. Repent and believe.

Believer-we are no better than anyone else. The only difference is that we have been saved by Grace. But that grace is not a sin all you want card. We too must repent and turn toward Christ. Crucify your flesh, die to yourself. Identify those pet sins and then slay them in the power of the Spirit never to return to them. Repentance is a lifestyle. One that we would do well to adopt.

You may think you are too far gone, but there is not a single person that has ever cried out in genuine belief for salvation that He hasn’t saved.