Luke 13:6-9 (3)

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-If you would, please turn quickly in your Bibles...

…back to Luke 13.

And we’re going to be picking back up in Verse 6, this morning.

And remember as you turn, that we...

...looked at the first part of this section...

…two weeks ago...

And that...

Its main point

Its primary application

Its summarizing command...

…had been:

Luke 13:3 (ESV)

3 ...unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

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Well, the parable that Jesus tells...

…in our text this morning...

…appears to me, to be...

...a third iteration of that same warning.

-I think it's going to be an interesting study.

But it’s also going to be...

…a somewhat involved study...

…so, we’re going to jump on in.

-Let’s read it together.

Luke 13, beginning in Verse 6:

This is the...

Holy

Inerrant

Inspired

Infallible

And perfectly sufficient...

…Word of God:

Luke 13:6–9 (ESV)

6 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.

7 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?’

8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.

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

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Pray

-I had mentioned to you...

…the last time we were here, that...

…though Jesus’ application in this section...

…was/is universally applicable...

…that it appeared to be directed...

...SPECIFICALLY to....

The Unbelieving Jews

Living in the First Century.

Well, it was looking ahead...

…to today’s text...

…that had forced me...

…to draw that conclusion.

-Look at Verse 6 again.

Luke sets up the parable like this:

Luke 13:6 (ESV)

6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard...

Now, let’s try to resist the urge to...

… interpret the parable, right now.

For now, let’s focus on the parable itself.

A man had a vineyard.

What is that?

It’s a place that is set apart (sort of like a garden)...

Cultivated and treated with special care...

For the express purpose of...

…providing its owner with fruit.

Now, the man in our parable...

…Has included a fig tree...

…among the plantings of his vineyard.

Now, these are nothing in size...

…compared to most of the trees...

…of our forests around here.

But, within the confines of a vineyard...

…they would be of a formidable size.

They would take up...

…a fair amount of space in the vineyard.

But, they would be well worth...

…the time and space investment...

…IF they produced their usual fruit.

-But, for our vineyard owner...

...that was not the case:

Luke 13:6 (ESV)

6 ...he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

Would that be disappointing? Frustrating even?

-Well, it gets worse:

Luke 13:7 (ESV)

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

And, this is even worse...

…than it initially sounds.

Because under the law of Moses...

…you couldn’t even eat the fruit from a tree you planted...

…until the fourth year!

Leviticus 19:23 (ESV)

23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food . . . Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.

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That probably means, that...

...the vineyard owner in our parable...

…is probably referring to...

…years 4, 5, and 6...

…that the tree has been...

…taking up space and resources in his vineyard...

…and has yet to yield him...

…any fruit in return for his investment.

-Has the owner of the vineyard...

…been very patient with the fig tree?

Yeah!

Extremely Patient!

-But, what we see at the end of Verse 7...

…is that his patience has run out:

-After potentially 6 years...

…of waiting for it to get its act together...

…he tells its caretaker:

Luke 13:7 (ESV)

7 . . . Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’

Would it not be more useful as firewood?

Would it not provide at least some benefit from...

…the heat that would be produced by its destruction?

Plus, leaving it there...

…will rob sunshine and nutrients...

…from the other plants...

…that ARE yielding fruit in their seasons, right?

So, the greater good is...

…for it to be killed...

…and cut up into firewood.

-Now, watch how the vinedresser responds:

Luke 13:8 (ESV)

8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.

The vinedresser intercedes for the tree.

He says,

“let’s give it one final chance...

…to be what it's supposed to be!”

“I’ll make sure it has...

…every thing it needs...

…to be able to bear fruit.”

“I’ll make sure it has...

…every possible advantage .”

“Let’s just give it...

…one more go around...

…one more season...

…one more chance...

…to start bearing fruit.”

But then, even the vinedresser...

(who obviously has affection for the tree)

…says this, in Verse 9:

Luke 13:9 (ESV)

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

So, let’s be clear about the terms, here?

1.) Postpone the deserved judgment

2.) Give it special attention for one more season

3.) Give it one final chance to shape up

4.) If it fails this final probation… destruction and removal.

-Now, was Jesus’ purpose, here...

...to tell these people...

…how they could get the most...

Out of their vineyards...

or their vegetable gardens?

Of course not!

So, what did he mean by it?

Well, I think it’s actually...

…one of the easier parables to decipher.

Let me show you what I mean.

Let’s break it down:

Luke 13:6 (ESV)

6 . . . “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard...

Now, while we have be careful...

…not to take the liberty...

…of turning this into an allegory...

(where every part represents something else)

I do think, biblically speaking...

…that it’s pretty safe to identify the fig tree, here...

…as representing the Nation of Israel.

That is a representation...

…that is made throughout the OT...

…and, interestingly enough...

…is often interspersed with...

…the imagery of a vineyard.

For example:

Hosea 9:10 (ESV)

10 Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers....

Psalm 80:8–13 (ESV)

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.

Jeremiah 2:21 (ESV)

21 Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

Joel 1:6–7 (ESV)

6 For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number...

7 It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree...

Jeremiah 8:13 (ESV)

13 When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.”

Again, notice the correlation to our text:

Luke 13:6 (ESV)

6 . . . “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

-Now, before we move forward...

…let’s clarify something:

What is the fruit that the Lord...

…was calling Israel to produce...

…in His vineyard?

Well, essentially, it was the fruit of...

Obedience:

Righteousness

Justice

Holiness

He had called them, to...

Practice those things...

Model those things to the nations around them.

And since they were inherently...

…fallen to begin with...

…their very firstfruits would have to be:

Repentance!

-Now, Isaiah 5 is probably the most...

…helpful place to look...

…in order to understand...

…the dynamics of this relationship:

Isaiah 5:1–7 (ESV)

1 Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes...

Think about what all...

…the covenant Lord had done...

…for his covenant people:

Redeemed them out of slavery

Sustained them through 40 years of wilderness wanderings

Fed them with manna from heaven

Subdued their enemies before them

Established them in a good land, with...

Houses they did not have to build

Vineyards that they did not have to plant

Established for them a kingdom and a king...

…that was the most splendid in all the world.

Beyond that, he had:

Given them a perfect and permanent moral law

Made situational specific civil and ceremonial laws for them from it!

Guys, he had set them...

…upon a VERY fertile hill!

Look at what Isaiah goes on to say:

Isaiah 5:3–4 (ESV)

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

Now, compare that back to Verse 7:

Luke 13:7 (ESV)

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

Do you think there’s a correlation, here?

-Now, let’s throw another couple of passages into the mix:

(There are really way more than I could fit)

(This motif is ALL OVER the Bible)

Remember this?

Mark 11:12–13 (ESV)

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

(Headed back to Jerusalem)

13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves...

Do you see the similarities?

Now, watch what he goes on to say...

…at the beginning of the next chapter:

Mark 12:1–5 (ESV)

1 . . . “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country.

2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.

5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.

They absolutely refused...

…the vineyard owner’s demands for fruit.

This had been the cycle...

…throughout the entirety of the Old Testament era.

God had sent prophet after prophet...

…calling them to repentance...

But they ignored them...

…and silenced their voices in martyrdom.

-Now, watch this:

Isaiah 5:5–7 (ESV)

5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

And, as we all know...

…God raised up a pagan king...

…to destroy his vineyard.

Consider Verse 7, again:

Luke 13:7 (ESV)

7 . . . ‘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?’

-Now, on the precipice of...

…complete and utter annihilation...

…this happens:

Luke 13:8–9 (ESV)

8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.

9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good...

The Nation is given another chance!

And not only that...

…it’s going to be given EVEN MORE...

…by way of spiritual advantage!

What should we make of that?

Well, think about it:

God eventually restored the Southern Kingdom

They weren’t utterly dispersed...

…as their kinsman to the north had been .

They were given ONE. MORE. CHANCE...

…and this final period of probation...

…would come with replete warnings...

…that it would be their last.

For example, John the Baptist warned:

Matthew 3:8–12 (ESV)

8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance...

10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire...

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-Brethren, what’s so special...

…about this final “year?”

What does that extra care and fertilization represent?

The Incarnation!

The Person and Work of Christ!

There is no greater advantage than that!

Remember this parable from before?

Matthew 21:37–41 (ESV)

37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

38 But when the tenants saw the son...

39 ...they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Matthew 21:43–44 (ESV)

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

What’s the final warning in our text?

Luke 13:9 (ESV)

9 ...if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

In other words...

If you reject the Son

It’s over

There’s no grace

There’s no mercy

There is no sacrifice for sin

There is no forgiveness

You have no place in God’s Kingdom

Nor amongst God’s people.

That’s probably what Jesus meant...

…when he cursed that barren fig tree...

Mark 11:14 (ESV)

14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” . . .

Think about this:

(And see the heart of the Vinedresser in it)

Luke 19:41–44 (ESV)

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,

42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side

44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

And, here again in:

Luke 13:34–35 (ESV)

34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

35 Behold, your house is forsaken...

That decree of ichabod was carried out within 40 years.

But, he left them STILL...

…with a glimmer of individual hope:

And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

In other words...

…faith in Jesus Christ is the only way back in...

PERIOD!

-Think about this:

Romans 11:17–24 (ESV)

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,

18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you...

23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

But guys, that restoration...

…only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

-Alright, what’s the application for us?

Luke 13:5 (ESV)

5 ...unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Let’s finish with this, from R.C. Sproul:

A Walk with God: Luke (66. The Parable of the Fig Tree (Luke 13:6–17))

There is a limit to God’s patience, there is a limit to God’s grace. God will not strive with men for ever. The Holy Spirit does not endure patiently for ever.

God is long-suffering; God is slow to anger, but he does get angry, and there will be a time when that unproductive plant will be ripped up.

...the point is obvious: we do not have for ever to repent; we do not have for ever to come before God and bear fruit in our lives. We must take this call seriously.

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