Lenten Journey Continues:A Dark & Deathly Road [Luke 13:1-9]

“Peace Be with you!”

Let’s Pray. Father, may your will be done. Jesus, may your word be proclaimed. Spirit, may your work be accomplished in us we pray. Amen.”

I. Introduction: Lessons for the Road.

We begin this Lenten Journey in the wilderness where, with Jesus, we experience Temptation to NOT begin this journey at all, or to travel an easier way.

Then last week a check engine light comes on and it seeks to deter our journey by having us pull off. But we learned to press on and trust in Jesus who will lead us to our destination.

This Third Sunday of Lent Jesus gives us some lessons on how to journey this road we are on that can be dangerous and uncertain. He offers us hope what things appear hopeless.

Hebrews 9:27 NASB 95

27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

Lessons For the Road:

I. The Road is Deadly (v. 1-5)

Luke 13:1–5 NASB 95

1 Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Scenerio 1: Death by Evil (v.1).

Scenerio 2: Death by Accident (v.4).

Solution: Repent! (v.3; 5).

A. It’s Not Me It’s you: Facing Reality.

All creation is a death trap. Things are not as they ought to be and some die when they least expect it.

This is not God’s doing but by the doing of a fallen world. And it is for this reason that Jesus comes to set things right again. (Ex. Jesus calms the storms).

Solution: Repentance is Jesus’ solution to these questions and the uncertainty of our journey.

Death is like a mobster who wreak havoc in this world and you and I let it in. Death is Tony the shovel and he sees to it that everyone ends up “swimming with the fishes.” You and I can’t stop him. We coward when we hear him knock at our door. He uses whatever means necessary to accomplish his task. He are no respecter of how much or how little you have disobeyed God, he knocks on everyone’s door when he wants to. When he strikes and claims a victim Jesus is teaching us that unless we repent we will fall victim like everyone else. The Solution to this mobster is to repent from your sin and and turn towards Jesus who is the only one more powerful than death.

Jesus knocks on his door binds him up and sets us free. All we have to do is repent and believe.

Psalm 107:10–22 NASB 95

10 There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, Prisoners in misery and chains, 11 Because they had rebelled against the words of God And spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 Therefore He humbled their heart with labor; They stumbled and there was none to help. 13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death And broke their bands apart. 15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! 16 For He has shattered gates of bronze And cut bars of iron asunder. 17 Fools, because of their rebellious way, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18 Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. 21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! 22 Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing.

Death’s power is displayed around every corner and comes at you when you least expect it. So plan accordingly, repent and believe in Jesus so though death may come it is powerless over your life and to which you can say where is your victory, O Death where is your sting?!!

B. Graves or Grace: From Fear to Opportunity.

Everyone looks at what happens around them and asks why it happens. Why do bad things happen and exist? Why are we left to suffer or be surprised at the hand of sin and death?

Jesus leads us to ask different questions:

How have we not yet come to receive our fate since we be born in sin?

How has God’s judgment not come swiftly to us for our offenses?

How have we escaped death yet again?

These are the questions that we so often do not ask or even think. We are prone to ask the questions about the grave, never asking any questions about the grace that we have received. We heard the news report about the terrible acts that happen, and they should provide evidence of the falleness of the world. But we do not pay any mind to the reality of the grace that God has cause to fall on both the righteous and unrighteous. How does a sinful, rebellious world continue to spin for another day? It is because God is gracious providing another opportunity to repent and turn to him. Though these days be wick and bad, God is working all things for the good of those who love Him. His grace is poured out day to day and we pay no attention to it. We use his grace for the actions that prove we deserve the grave, rather than for action that demonstrate our appreciation for His grace.

If you were to take a survey of all the terrible deeds that have taken place in the world and calculate the toll of death, I think you would find that God’s grace and life will out number them still. I think you will find that more grace has been pour out of the hand of God than those who have experienced the hand of death and yet we all question Where is God in it all? He is in the acts of grace given to billions each day and particularly seen in the sacrifice of his own Son, without whom we cannot be saved and experience a blessed life beyond the grave.

Repent & Believe.

Plan accordingly and seize the moments of grace to repent and believe before your moment with the grave takes you by surprise.

II. The Road is Dark.

Luke 13:6–9 NASB 95

6 And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. 7 And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”

You can’t see what is up ahead. You cannot drive this road in the dark. You’re not there yet, but Jesus will get you there…Jesus is the light when all other lights have gone out.

A. You are not there yet.

B. Jesus will get you there.

C. Stop Refusing and Start Repenting.

The Light when all other lights go out:

The Church

The Church now replaces Israel as the elect people who belong as the bride of Christ and who have been commissioned to be the agency of bring God’s salvation into the world.

The warning still stands. Having been given all sufficient grace and nourishment to produce fruit, we will be judge with whether or not we bear fruit. If not we will be cut down. Repentance is also reflecting on what God requires of us and how we measure up. If no fruit is present then we must repent and turn towards producing fruit.

Christian

Individually, this parable also applies to our own lives. We are in need of applying fertilizer and removing weeds from where we are planted into so that we can produce spiritual fruit in our lives demonstrating the power of the Spirit. We cannot remain planted in a grove which the owner expects fruit and we have none. It doesn’t work that way. We all cannot remain as we are but must grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and bear the fruit of his work in us.

The Fourth Year…

This is why the Lenten journey is important to engage in every year. So that it becomes that fourth year, applying the special remedies of Jesus salvation more and more to our lives so that we can continue to bear fruit of his work in us. We must prune off those dead parts of our lives so that new growth can settle in and flourish.

Conclusion

1. Today is the day of salvation, repent and believe in Christ and you will be saved.

But if you will not take hold of the hope that lies before you and of which you are hearing now either for the first or again for another time, then you will be cut down and cut off and thrown into the fire.

You do not know the hour that death comes knocking on your door. But that knock will not be haunting or fearful if you have the hope and life that Christ offers to you.

2. Repent and Let Christ work in your life to produce the fruit his Father desires.

3. The Only Hope: If you belong to God then nothing will separate you from His Love.

Along this Lenten Journey we do not wait for death to come to us but we willing go and find death so that it can feast on our flesh. For to live is Christ and to die is gain! Those who repent of their sin do not run from death but journey towards it while trusting that life waits for them on the other side. For those who die in Christ will rise with Christ and no towers, or Pilates, or wilderness can separate them from the love of Christ and the eternal life he freely gives to those who trust Him.