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In Luke 16 we have two parables that deal with wealth… in the first parable Jesus is addressing His disciples, and in the second parable He is addressing the Pharisees, who were lovers of money.  Now my study Bible tells me that Jesus gave us some 39 parables in all, and one third of these parables deal in one way or another with money.  That is a lot of time devoted to one subject, but believe it or not, the statistics I have read tell me that the average person spends more than half his waking hours thinking about money.  That is (in my humble opinion) way too much time wasted on that subject… think of all the time a person could better spend his time thinking about how to improve his golf game J  With that said, I think we better get right down to business:

1 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

2 “So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.

4 ‘I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 “And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

7 “Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

8 “So the master ______________ the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.

Now if you weren’t already familiar with this parable, what word(s) would you expect to be in the blank?  How about

Killed

Beat within an in inch of his life

Sued

That would make sense, wouldn’t it?  After all, the unjust steward had just ripped him off again.  You certainly wouldn’t expect to find words like praised or commended in the blank, would you?  But that is exactly what we find.  Jesus has a way of getting our attention… we saw that for the past three weeks in the Parable of the Prodigal Son… Jesus is the Master Story Teller.

There is a certain level of discomfort in this story, isn’t there?  Somehow we don’t like it when Jesus tells a story and He says anything remotely good about the bad guys.  To give you another example, in Luke 18 Jesus tells the parable of the unjust judge and in doing so He likens the unjust judge to God Himself… I think most of us wish Jesus would come up with “better” illustrations!!!  But to coin a popular phrase, “It is what it is.”  If we have a problem here, do you think the problem lies with us or with the Master Story Teller?

1 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

2 “So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

This steward is in deep trouble… he is wasting the rich man’s goods and the news has gotten back to the rich man.  Payday of a different sort has now come.  The Greek word for wasting means squandering… it is the exact same word used in the parable of the Prodigal Son where we read:

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. Luke 15:13

The steward in Luke 16 is squandering the rich man’s wealth… exactly how we are not told because that is not the point.  So the rich man in today’s vernacular calls him into his office and confronts him, “What’s this I hear about you?”  As Donald Trump would say, “You’re fired, and I want an accounting of what you have done.”

3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.

4 ‘I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

The steward is shrewd… that’s probably how he got his job in the first place.  He has a high opinion of himself, “I cannot dig” probably could just as easily mean, “I will not dig.  I am a white collar kind of guy, not a blue collar worker. Digging is beneath me, and for that matter so is begging.  I have a certain reputation to uphold.  What am I going to do?  How am I going to put food on the table?  How am I going to maintain the level of luxury that I currently enjoy?  I know what I will do… I’ve got a brilliant idea.  My master may hate me, but my friends will love me.”

5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 “And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

The steward apparently had a seared conscience… not only had he squandered his master’s goods implying he was living high on the hog at someone else’s expense, but now he has hatched a plan whereby he can be charged with fraud… he is going to go to every single farmer who owes his master money and he is going to cut a deal with them… a deal they can’t refuse, a deal they would be crazy to refuse.  A deal they would turn down only if they knew this steward had been fired, but you can be sure this steward didn’t happen to mention this “little detail” when he was making these arrangements with them, after all the steward had always represented the master, so why would this be any different?  I trust it is obvious that there is only one person on planet earth this steward is concerned about and that is himself.

Here is the steward’s plan… one at a time he brings these debtors in.  Only two are mentioned here, but it is implied that there is a long list of debtors.  He will have a private meeting with each one.  “Our friend” the steward will pull out each man’s paperwork and he’ll renegotiate each and every contract.  So he says to the first, “How much do you owe my master?”  And this first one says, “a hundred measures of oil.”

A hundred measures of oil… folks, that is no small sum.  One measure is called a bath, and that is the equivalent of 8.75 gallons… so a hundred measures would be 875 gallons.  Historians tell us the cost of 875 gallons of oil would be 1,000 denarii.  One denarius is a day’s wage so 1,000 denarii would be about three years wages.  The Census Bureau reports that the median annual household income in 2007 was $50,233.  So if we calculate what that would be for 3 years in today’s economy we are talking over $150,000.  So the steward says, “Let’s cut your bill in half… would you like that?”  Now put yourself in that man’s shoes.  You owe your banker $150,000 on the mortgage on your home and he comes to you one day and say, “How would you like it if the bank cut your debt in half.  Would you like that?”  Your reaction?  You couldn’t sign the papers fast enough!!!

7 “Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

How much is a 100 measures of wheat?  A 100 measures of wheat translates into 1000 bushels of wheat.  I am told it would take roughly a hundred acres to produce this much wheat, and the value of 1000 bushels of wheat would be equal to approximately $10,000.  Taking 20% off the top would be reducing the payment by $2,000… again this is no small sum.  These are huge discounts.

8 “So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.

As I said earlier, that seems to make no sense whatsoever.  We would expect the master to bust a gasket… we certainly wouldn’t expect him to commend this crook.  However, on closer examination we see that the master doesn’t commend his steward for his dishonesty, he doesn’t commend him for being a thief and ripping him off.  No, not at all.  He commends him for acting shrewdly.  He took advantage of an opportunity by working the situation to his own advantage.  All the debtors are now deeply indebted to the steward… they owe him big time, and since they have this great obligation to him because of his “great generosity” the steward is going to be able to cash in those chips whenever he needs to.  And remember, he did it for everybody, not just one or two debtors.

We are not told what this steward’s name is, but if we fast-forward to today we could say his name is Bernie Madoff.  Please don’t hear what I am not saying today.  Jesus calls this steward “unjust” (16:8), and in doing so Jesus is condemning his wicked ways.  Believe me, you don’t want to ever hear Jesus call you unjust.  Yes we are to be wise as serpents, but we are also to be harmless as doves.  The steward was shrewd, but more importantly he was unrighteous.

1 Corinthians 4:2 – Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

This steward was unfaithful because he was using his master’s money for his own selfish ends, not for the master’s profit.

8 “So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

Jesus is saying that the sons of this world (the unsaved) are smarter than God’s children in their generation.  What does “in their generation” mean?  It means the streetwise (the sons of this world) are smarter than God’s children when it comes to the here and now (but not when it comes to eternity).  Now we have to understand exactly what Jesus is and isn’t saying here.  Let me tell you first of all what Jesus is not saying… The Bible makes it clear that believers have a home secured for us in Heaven while unbelievers have an eternity in Hell waiting for them.  If this is all we look at, who is shrewd?  Believers are shrewd.

Proverbs 15:24 – The path of life leads upward for the wise
That he may keep away from Sheol below.

Psalm 14:1 – The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

So when it comes to our eternal destiny, believers are wise and unbelievers have played the fool.  But hear me well on this, the subject matter that Jesus is addressing here is not salvation… it is discipleship.  Jesus is teaching us that when it comes to handling money, sinners (streetwise people) generally are wiser than saints.

The fact of the matter is this… believers are stewards, period.  We don’t own anything… God owns it all.  He simply has entrusted to us the care and management of various resources, including money.  As such believers ought to realize that we need to be wise in how we spend those dollars that God has entrusted to our care, and that means being wise enough to discern between the temporal and the eternal.

Paul expressed it this way:

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

The question is this… are you as diligent in the use of your money for eternal purposes as you are in the use of it for temporal ones (food, clothing shelter, entertainment)?  That’s the $64,000 question.  Do you have an eternal perspective?  What are you more concerned about… the temporal or the eternal?

9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

Jesus is making a distinction between the way unbelievers spend their money and the way believers spend their money, and the comparison is not flattering to believers.  The unjust steward was a person of this world (someone who walks in darkness) and he used worldly ways to make sure he made friends by the use of his master’s money so that when he was fired, he still had a secure future.

Believers are called to be people of light, which means we are to be shrewd (wise, but not dishonest) in the way we carry out the stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to our care.  Believers need to be wise enough to spend the money that God has entrusted to our care so that it serves us, not the other way around.  In verse 13 Jesus teaches us that no man can serve two masters, and He is implying in this that all too often believers wind up serving money instead of serving God.

9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

Just as the unjust steward made friends by the dishonest use of his master’s money so that he made friends who would receive him (welcome him) when he failed, that is to say, when his master fired him, so we as believers need to be wise and use money in a righteous way so that when we fail, that is to say, when we die, the friends that we have made by the godly use of money will receive us (welcome us) when we get to Heaven.  A lot of people use their money to buy earthly friends… we saw that in the parable of the Prodigal Son and we see that in the parable of the Unjust Steward.  Jesus is telling believers to use our money to “buy” heavenly friends.  Use your money to make friends who are going to welcome you into your eternal home.  These friends are going to be standing on the edge of glory when you arrive to embrace you because you invested in the ministry of the Gospel… they heard and they believed and they’re in Heaven.  They know that your investment played a part in their salvation.  Everyone who is saved is going to Heaven… you can mark it down.  But you can also mark this down… we are not all going to have the same welcoming committee.  To put it another way, you can’t take your money with you, but you can send it ahead.

10 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

11 “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

A lot of people blame their circumstances for their lot in life, but if you have heard me say anything for the past 16 years it is this… the problem isn’t the problem… circumstances only reveal what is going on in your heart.  Circumstances don’t determine faithfulness, character does.  You hear people say, “If I had more I’d give more.”  No they wouldn’t.  It doesn’t matter how much you have.  The widow who had nothing gave everything, and some people who have everything give nothing.  It’s never about circumstances.  It’s about your view of Heaven and your view of earth.  The words of the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount come to my mind:

Matthew 6:19-21 – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Do you think God is going to reward you in eternity if you are consumed with earthly things and thus you wasted the opportunities God has given you to love others more than self?  You can spend your money on countless creature comforts and earthly possessions, on all the shallow junk (that’s what it is in light of eternity… junk) that will burn up when you come into the presence of the Lord… you can do that if you want to, but do you expect our Lord to give you the true riches, an eternal reward that comes to those who are faithful?

10 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Did you notice that from God’s perspective money is a little thing?  We get that from the phrase, and he who is unjust in what is least.  Exactly what is it that is least?  In this context it can only refer to money.  If you don’t think money is least, you still have work to do in renewing your mind J  Again I am reminded of what Isaiah told us:

Isaiah 55:8,9 – “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

What we forget all too often is this…, we have a 100 percent guarantee that we will lose all the money we accumulate on this earth when we die.  We also have a 100 percent guarantee that we will keep all the rewards we lay up in Heaven… they are ours to keep, they are secure where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in to steal.  And yet in spite of this, most of God’s people spend most of their time and energy on temporal things instead of laying up treasure in heaven!  Jim Elliot said it well, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Here comes another zinger in verse 12.

“And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

OUCH.  Jesus is teaching us that the money we are spending is isn’t even our own money.  We don’t even own what we think we own because it belongs to Someone else.  And Who is that Someone else?  It is God.  You and I are stewards, just like the steward in the parable.

Haggai 2:8 – “The silver is Mine, the gold is Mine, declares the Lord of host.”

Psalm 104:24- O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions

Psalm 50:7-12 – “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God!

8 I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices Or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me.

9 I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

We ought to expect the ungodly to live high on the hog… a lifestyle characterized by indulgence, excess, exploitation, selfishness, and greed.  We ought to expect them to be unjust and even criminal if they think they can get away with it.  Here is a quote from Foxnews:

In an extraordinary 4½-hour interview from behind bars, convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff told a San Francisco trial lawyer yesterday that he got away with his $65 billion scam because regulators weren’t paying attention.

In other words, Bernie thought he wouldn’t get caught.  I think it is safe to say for the most part the ungodly believe in evolution, and what a person believes determines how he acts.  If you truly believe that you are the product of evolution why shouldn’t you act like an animal, or rearranged pond scum!!!?  To be consistent, if evolutionists think people should be put in jail for robbing and killing, why shouldn’t evolutionists have a social agenda to lock up lions and tigers for their aggressive behavior?  If a person really believed in the survival of the fittest as evolution teaches, to be consistent he should think society should reward robbing and killing… after all, that is a great way to weed out “the weak” and make sure only “the strong” survive.

Most of us have heard of Enron, and we learned there was criminal behavior taking place at the highest levels of the business world.  Why not?  To the ungodly it’s all about getting as much as you can… do unto others before they do it to you.

Christians, however, understand it’s not ours.  Everything we have belongs to God… we are merely stewards, stewards who will give an account one day to God Almighty.

13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Please don’t hear what I am not saying… no one can get to Heaven by giving money for the sake of God’s Kingdom. Heaven is a gift, freely available to whosoever will through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world.

Isaiah 53:6 – All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

1 John 2:2 – And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world

If you think that any amount of good works will get you into Heaven, you do not understand the Gospel. You can get into Heaven only by acknowledging that you are a sinner and trusting in Christ as your Savior from sin and judgment.

Salvation is not the end of the road, however, because God has a class for everyone of His children that is mandatory… that class is called progressive sanctification.  If you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior, you must learn how to change and grow so that He is your Lord, and not just giving lip-service to this fact.  Each of us must ask ourselves, “Am I a faithful steward, shrewdly using the resources God has entrusted to me to lay up treasure in Heaven?  Or, am I consumed with the things of this world, squandering God’s resources for my own personal pleasure, losing sight of the fact that eternity is quickly approaching?”

Money is amoral, that is to say it is not inherently good or evil.  It is the love of money that is evil.  The way we handle our money is a spiritual matter.  We are responsible not only to give as the Lord directs, but also we are responsible for investing our money so as to receive the maximum yield (the highest dividends) in reaching people for Christ.  In the parable of the unjust steward the Lord Jesus is asking, “Do you think God is going to trust you with heavenly riches if you are not using properly that which He has entrusted to your care here on earth?”

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We have spent two weeks studying the three parables found in Luke 15… the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the Prodigal son.  It is very important to remember to whom Jesus is addressing His teaching… the Pharisees and scribes.  The Pharisees and scribes, in their jaded perspective thought it was a scandal that Jesus associated with tax collectors and sinners…

This man receives sinners and eats with them (v 2).

They said this to attack Jesus, but the fact of the matter is no more wonderful thing was ever said about the sinless Son of  God.  Yes, Jesus did associate with sinners, but Jesus’ enemies took this truth and twisted it to serve their own purposes.  Jesus didn’t consort with them to seek fellowship with them in their sin.

Hebrews 7:26 – For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

His contact with sinners was always in the context of seeking their salvation.  He was a true friend of sinners, but He didn’t affirm them in their sin… quite the contrary, He gave His life for sinners to redeem us from sin’s cruel bondage.  Today we will focus on the older brother.

Luke 15:25-32 – “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26 “So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

27 “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

29 “So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.

30 ‘But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

32 ‘It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Before we look at the details of our text, let’s step back and make sure we can see the forest for the trees.  If we are going to interpret the parable correctly, we must always keep in mind the fact that Jesus is addressing the Pharisees and scribes.  Why is this important you ask?  It would be easy to assume the two sons represent believers since they are sons of the father, but I believe it would be a huge mistake to do so.  This household is not the household of faith, it is the household of Israel.

These two sons represent two very different kinds of sinners, but let me remind you, every variety of sinner stands in need of repentance.  The Prodigal represents those sinners who are openly wicked, who make no bones about it, but in time some of them come to themselves… they see the foolishness of their sin and they humble themselves before God as evidenced by their turning away from sin and turning to God.

The older brother on the other hand represents those sinners who look good on the outside, but are like whited sepulchers… they are full of death and decay on the inside.  They not only are blind to their need of redemption, they also are quick to declare their own righteousness.  While the prodigals are bold to sin openly, the “older brothers” are just as bold to play the hypocrite by disguising what is going on in their hearts.  Inwardly they are angry with God, but they are careful to disguise this anger because they want to appear righteous.

The Pharisees and scribes are perfect examples of this kind of sinner and the older brother in this parable portrays them well.  I trust it is obvious that both groups of sinners (the prodigals and the older brothers) stand in need of repentance.

25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26 “So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

I am sure the older brother had everyone fooled (except the father, that is).  Everyone in the community probably believed he was “the good son,” as outwardly he was very respectful and faithful to his father.  You have heard me say more than once that circumstances don’t make you miserable… circumstances only reveal what is going on in your heart.  We will see this truth come to light again as this parable unfolds.

The older son was returning from the field when he heard music and dancing… clearly some type of celebration was taking place.  He was surprised and understandably curious… why was there a party in full swing at his home w/o his knowledge?

27 “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

28 “But he was angry and would not go in.

But he was angry.  Those 4 little words speak volumes to us about the condition of the older brother’s heart.  Because the older brother represents the Pharisees and scribes, we know he was hoping to hear, “Your brother has come home, and your father has beaten and flogged him within an inch of his life.  Also your father has invited the community over to witness first hand that sin doesn’t pay.”

I trust it is obvious that the older brother was only going through the motions to make everyone think that he did, indeed, love his father, but now the cat is out of the bag.  The Bible gives us the definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13… think of the older brother and see how he is the antithesis of love:

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Another definition of love that I like goes like this… love is the desire for and the delight in the well-being of another, even to the point of self-sacrifice.  In other words if you love somebody, you rejoice with them when they rejoice and you weep with them when they weep.  This older brother knew well the grief his father suffered when the Prodigal left home, but nowhere in the story do we get a hint that the older brother shed a tear over this.  And now that the Prodigal had repented and it was obvious how delighted the father was to have his son back, if the older brother really and truly loved his father he would have rejoiced with him and for him… but as we all know, the older son didn’t respond this way.

Why?  The older brother didn’t care at all about his father, he cared only for himself.  He was deceived by sin into thinking that life was all about him… that life was all about his needs and desires… that life was good as long as he was the king of his own little kingdom.  He was deceived because he was living by his feelings instead of living by the Word of God.

You and I know, however, that we cannot trust our feelings… my feelings are telling me all the time, “I need this, and I need that,” but the fact of the matter is I need the Lord.  No matter how different we are… red or yellow, black or white, male or female, rich or poor, young or old, democrat or republican, we all share one thing in common… the older brother lives within each of us… we all love ourselves too much.  Because of indwelling sin, selfishness is hard-wired within us.  But as Paul Tripp reminds us, “We were never meant to be self-focused little kings ruling miniscule little kingdoms with a population of one.” The older brother didn’t understand this.

The older brother didn’t understand this because he didn’t understand grace.  He didn’t understand grace because he thought he didn’t need grace… he thought he was the good son who had “earned” his father’s approval.  And if he had earned his father’s approval by keeping his nose clean, he had only disdain for anyone else who didn’t work as hard as he did to live a “righteous” life… especially those who made no bones about wasting their means on riotous living… especially prostitutes.  If the older brother didn’t need grace, why should grace be offered to anyone else?  The very idea that his father was willing to forgive such indiscretions (and to do so w/o making that Prodigal brother of his work his fingers to the bone as a means of penance) was nauseating to the older brother… it was shameful.

Yes, the older brother resented the fact that his brother came home and had the audacity to approach their father in the hopes he could be reconciled, but what really got under the older brother’s skin was not so much his brother… it was his father whom he resented.  If you had asked the older brother what was the problem, what do think he would have said?  I have no doubt he would have said, “My no-good brother came home after squandering his entire inheritance and he had the audacity to ask our father to forgive him… that is bad enough… but what takes the cake is my father… he forgave him.  He didn’t lecture him, he didn’t punish him, he just forgave him.  I am so angry I don’t know what to do.”

The older brother didn’t have a clue that the problem was his own heart, did he?  After all, what grounds did he have to be upset with his father?  His father, by welcoming his once-lost son home wasn’t suggesting in any way that he now had any less love and affection for the older brother.  In some ways I see a connection between this parable and the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20.  The workers who were hired at the beginning of the day were upset with the land owner.  Why?  Because the landowner paid the workers who were hired at the end of the day the very same wage that they received for working all day.  The landowner’s generosity galled them.  It really is true… the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart and the ugly truth is we don’t want to be equal to others… our pride says, “To me be the glory.”

The older brother’s anger stands out like a sore thumb in this chapter.  If we look at the big picture we can see that one theme that repeats itself in these three stories is joy.  The shepherd who found his lost sheep laid it on his shoulders and said to his friends and neighbors, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.”

Likewise the woman who lost her coin was so overjoyed when she found it that she, too, called her friends and neighbors and said, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I lost.”

And as we have just seen, the father was so overjoyed at his son’s return that he threw a celebration the likes of which that town didn’t soon forget.  In all three parables only one person failed to rejoice, and who was that? The angry older brother.  Why was he upset?  Why was he angry?  He was upset and angry because his father forgave his brother’s blatant sinfulness fully and completely.  He was angry and upset because his father didn’t make his brother grovel in the dirt.  In his jaded perspective the older brother thought the father should have publicly compared the two brothers and in doing so he would have stated what a fine example the older brother was of what a son should be.

Now let’s not miss the obvious, the older brother was absolutely right about one thing… his younger brother didn’t deserve to be forgiven, he didn’t deserve any (not even one) of the favors his father bestowed on him.  The Prodigal deserved punishment.  But the trap the older brother fell into (which is the exact same mistake the Pharisees committed over and over again) is this… they thought they did deserve God’s favor.  They were blind to their own sinful ways.  They were guilty of comparing themselves to others and in doing so they incorrectly assumed they had a righteousness of their own… a righteousness that was pleasing to God.

In condemning his younger brother, the older brother was condemning himself.  It reminds me of Romans 2:1:

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

Let me show you how this manifests itself today:

You lose your temper, but I have righteous anger.
You’re a jerk, but I’m just having a bad day.
You have a critical spirit… I just tell it like it is.
You gossip, but I share prayer requests.
You curse and swear… I’m just letting off steam.
You’re pig-headed, but I’m goal-oriented.
You’re greedy, but I’m simply preparing for the future.
You’re a hypochondriac, but I’m really sick.

You’re double-minded, but I am flexible.

You’re lazy… I know when to rest.

You’re mean-spirited, but I am discerning.

In his little book Illustrations of Bible Truth, Harry Ironside pointed out the folly of judging others.  He related an incident in the life of a man called Bishop Potter.

“He was sailing for Europe on one of the great transatlantic ocean liners. When he went on board, he found that another passenger was to share the cabin with him. After going to see the accommodations, he came up to the purser’s desk and inquired if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the ship’s safe. He explained that ordinarily he never availed himself of that privilege, but he had been to his cabin and had met the man who was to occupy the other berth. Judging from his appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very trustworthy person. The purser accepted the responsibility for the valuables and remarked, ‘It’s all right, bishop, I’ll be very glad to take care of them for you. The other man has been up here and left his for the same reason!’”

The older brother is alive and well today.  Who is he, you ask?  He is a “good person” but he is not a Christian.  He pays his taxes, loves his wife, helps his kids, works hard, obeys the law and gives money to charity… every year he even buys five boxes of Girl Scout cookies.  Although he is a good neighbor and an all-around nice guy, he is not a Christian.  To be even more specific, he probably is a member of a local church, but he is not saved.  He is moral, but lost.

All of us know people whom we consider a little bit less righteous than we are, and to our natural way of thinking what a comfort they are to our hearts!  Every time the Holy Spirit gives us a little stab, it is so easy to remember these people, and when we do, we feel a lot better.  If we are brave enough to examine our thoughts, we find that we secretly feel God shouldn’t be bothering us when there are so many more sinful people around.  “God, why don’t You just concentrate on them!  They are the ones who need it!”

Listen to Ray Stedman comment on this:

Conveniently forgetting what we have done that is wrong — We may have been aware of our sin at the time, but somehow we just assume that God is going to forget it. We do not have to acknowledge it in any way — he will just forget it. As the sin fades from our memory, we think it fades from His, as well (Wrong!)… in the Sermon on the Mount we learn that if we hold a feeling of animosity and hatred against someone, if we are bitter and resentful and filled with malice toward an individual, then we are guilty of murder, just as though we had taken a knife and plunged it into that person’s breast, or shot them with a gun. If we find ourselves lustfully longing to possess the body of another, if we play with this idea over and over in our mind, and treat ourselves to a fantasy of sex, we have committed fornication or adultery. If we find ourselves filled with pride, yet we put on the appearance of being humble and considerate of others, we are guilty of the worst of sins. Pride of heart destroys humanity. We think these things will go unnoticed, but God sees them in our heart. He sees all the actions that we conveniently have forgotten. He sees it when we cut people down, or speak with spite and sharpness, and deliberately try to hurt them… isn’t it remarkable that when others mistreat us we always think it is most serious and requires immediate correction. But when we mistreat others, we say to them. “You’re making so much out of a little thing! Why it’s so trivial and insignificant.”

28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

Now the older brother doesn’t know it, but what he deserves is a swift kick-in-the-pants rebuke from his father, but again notice how gracious the father is… when the older brother wouldn’t go in to join the celebration, his father took the initiative to go out and plead with him.  What a great picture of the work the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of unbelievers.

We love Him because He first loved us.  1 John 4:19

29 “So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.

30 ‘But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

The difference in attitude between the two brothers is as different as night and day.  The younger, now repentant brother is humble… he is little in his own eyes.

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

The older brother, however, is filled with pride.

I never transgressed your commandment at any time.

He reminds me of the rich young ruler who with a straight face told Jesus that he had kept all of the 10 Commandments.

“All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”  Matthew 19:20.

I trust it is easy to see the ugliness of pride in others and why God hates it so much.  If I had been Jesus, do you know what I probably would have said to that rich young ruler?  “You have got to be kidding me… you are so dense you would probably try to be a stowaway on a kamikaze plane.  You are so obtuse you probably would call 411 to get the number for 911.  You are not the sharpest knife in the drawer… you probably put a band-aid on your hair when you get a haircut.  You haven’t kept even one of the 10 Commandments.”

Back to the older brother.  Not only does he think he has obeyed his father perfectly every time, he has the audacity to challenge his father:

you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.

This verbal attack is insinuating the father actually needed to ask his (the older brother’s) forgiveness because the father (in the older brother’s eyes) had so grossly mistreated him.  How outrageous!!!  How would the father respond?

31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

32 ‘It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

The father is always gracious… he is slow to speak, slow to wrath.  I think the older brother (and the Pharisees who were listening to this parable) hated the way Jesus brought this story to a close.  It brings to mind Romans 12:

Romans 12:17-21 – Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.

18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It is interesting that Jesus doesn’t finish the story… He leaves us hanging.  Did the older brother repent of his anger?

But more importantly, let me ask you what is going on in your heart… are you glad the father forgave the Prodigal or do you think the father should have repented of his “mistake?”  Would you like the story better if the father had agreed with his older son and said, “You are right.  I need to punish this miscreant to discourage others from following in his footsteps.  Besides, I have my honor and dignity to uphold.”

Even though Jesus didn’t tell us in this parable what happened in the relationship between the father and these two sons, unfortunately we do know how the story did in fact end.  It goes something like this, “The older brother’s anger got the best of him… so much so that he picked up a 2×4 and bludgeoned his father so badly that he killed him.”  You might be thinking, “Pastor, that’s a horrible thing to say.  Why would you say such a thing?”

Luke 15:3 tells us Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees and scribes, the religious leaders of the nation.  If we do a study on the timeline of events in Jesus’ life, we find that in just a few months the religious leaders crucified Jesus.  They hated Him because they understood this parable exposed their hypocrisy… it made them look bad in the eyes of the tax collectors and sinners who heard Him gladly.

As horrible as this ending is, there is Good News…  Jesus’ death is not the end of the story.  The grave could not contain Him.  The very worst thing that mankind could do (put the Son of God to death on that old rugged Cross) was overruled by the sovereignty of God so that it became the Best News that humanity could ever hear.  Freedom from the penalty of sin is now a free gift offered to whosoever will.  Everyone is going to identify with one of the two brothers… with whom will you cast your lot?

Ken Hayes fills in for Pastor Pete:  Listen here.

Listen to this sermon here

Last week we began studying the trilogy of parables found in Luke 15… the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the Prodigal son.  It is very important to remember to whom Jesus was addressing His teaching… the Pharisees and scribes.  The Pharisees and scribes, in their jaded perspective thought it was a scandal that Jesus associated with tax collectors and sinners…

This man receives sinners and eats with them (v 2).

They said this to attack Jesus, but the fact of the matter is no more wonderful thing was ever said about the sinless Son of the living God.  Yes, Jesus did associate with sinners, but Jesus’ enemies took this truth and twisted it to serve their own purposes.  Jesus didn’t seek fellowship with them to affirm them in their sin.  His contact with sinners was always in the context of seeking their salvation.

Hebrews 7:26 – For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

Big picture?  The sheep was lost because of its foolishness… unfortunately there is a striking similarity between sheep and people.  Now I am aware of the fact that many if not most of you have heard this sermon preached before and many preachers take the view that the ninety and nine represent saved people… after all Jesus uses the term sheep to identify the ninety and nine, and sheep is a term that is associated with saved people.  But please consider this… remember what Jesus said at the end of this parable:

Luke 15:7 – I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

Jesus is teaching about salvation… and if you are going to say that the ninety and nine represent saved people, if you are going to be consistent what is the only option you are left with when it comes to the one sheep that was lost?  To be consistent you are forced to say he was saved because he, too, is a sheep.  But since Jesus is teaching about salvation, that cannot be.  I think it makes a lot more sense to understand the ninety and nine represent the Pharisees and scribes… the ones whom Jesus is addressing in this parable.  I think it is best to put the ninety and nine in the category of God’s creation as Paul does in Acts 17:

Acts 17:24-28 – “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

25 “Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

26 “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

27 “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

28 “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

So the sheep was lost because of foolishness.  The coin, however, was lost because of carelessness … it is a sobering thing to think that our carelessness could contribute to a soul being lost.  What is especially sobering is this coin was lost in the home.

In the 3^rd parable the younger brother (the Prodigal) is a classic illustration of an undisciplined young man who is a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God… a young man who wastes the prime of his life on the party life, thinking his extravagant self-indulgence is what makes life worth living, but then finds out too late that indulging his fleshly desires has had the exact opposite effect that he set out to achieve… instead of finding the good life, he found himself enslaved to his lusts.  What a graphic picture of the process of sin.

James 1:13-15 – Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, the Prodigal thought life was easy… that it was a gravy train.  He cashed out his portion of the inheritance and wasted it all on riotous living.  He vigorously fed the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  He followed hard in Solomon’s footsteps and could say with him:

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure.  Ecclesiastes 2:10.

But “the good life” came to a screeching halt.  His money ran out, and in the providence of God a famine (a severe famine) moved in… no doubt an answer to the heartbroken father’s prayers.  The Prodigal began to be in want… that is something he had never, ever experienced before.  The party was over.  Let’s not overlook the main point… sin might promise freedom… sin might promise “the good life,” but the fact of the matter is this: the wages of sin is death… sin never, ever delivers on it’s promises, just the opposite is true… sin always leads to enslavement.

The Prodigal, however, still hadn’t hit rock bottom… we know that because we don’t see any evidence of godly repentance.  In order to save face, in order to not have to go home and admit to everyone who knew him that he had blown it (and blown it big time), the Prodigal thinks he can work his way out of his dilemma (much like the multitudes on the broad way who think they can do enough good things to work their way to Heaven).  So to avoid going home, he comes up with a plan:

15 “Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

Feeding pigs is as low as one can go in the hierarchy of the labor market… it is nasty, demeaning work.  If you have ever seen a documentary on one of the educational channels, you know pig farming is one of the nastiest businesses in existence.  The stench alone is unbearable… some call it obscene.

If this wasn’t bad enough, the Prodigal soon realized in the midst of this famine at least the pigs had something to eat… his job was to feed the pigs, but no one gave the Prodigal anything to eat… he was envious of the slop the pigs were eating… they were eating carob pods.  During a famine, the swine were given carob pods so that they would not be a burden on the farmer’s limited resources.  The rabbis considered this the equivalent of being in the direst need.

16 “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

For the Prodigal son born under the Law of Moses, pigs were considered ceremonially unclean… this young man has just about reached rock bottom.  But we need to slow down here and apply the lesson to ourselves, lest we think this doesn’t apply to us because we are not Jews born under the Law.

The ugly reality of this parable is this… the Prodigal son is not a story about the dregs of society.  The Prodigal is a picture of every unredeemed sinner on the face of planet earth.  Listen to Paul describe us in our natural state before we were saved:

Ephesians 4:17-19 –  This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

In writing to Timothy Paul called himself the chief of all sinners… many of us would call him the chief of all saints, but here is the point: if we don’t see ourselves in the same light that Paul saw himself, that is to say if we don’t see ourselves as the chief of all sinners we have too high an opinion of ourselves.  When you hear what the Prodigal did, what are you thinking?  Are you thinking, “How could he stoop so low?”  Have you come to grips with the fact that the motives that drove the Prodigal to do what he did are the very same motives that that are alive and well in your heart and in my heart?  Do you believe that, or are you afraid to take a good look to see what is in your heart?  Are you too busy trying to put up a façade so others won’t think you have these same tendencies pushing you to follow hard on the heels of the Prodigal?

In other words we are all Prodigals… and folks, there is great freedom in coming to grips with this because when we embrace this truth we can give up trying to be good enough to please God… we can’t please God in the flesh, none of us can:

Romans 8:5-9 – For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Let me say it again… when we came into this world we are all Prodigals.  Every last person is guilty of self-indulgence, wasteful living, even to the point of unrestrained lust.  The bottom line is we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  And what is sin?  Yes, sin is the transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4), but it is more than that… it is worse than that.  Sin is going to war against God… it is raising a high hand in God’s face and saying, “I am going to do what I want to do when I want to do it, whether You like it or not.”  Sin is hatred against God… it is wishing He were dead and we were God.  But let me remind you, God is our Creator, He wants only the best for us… He is loving, and patient, and kind.  If God weren’t all these things we would have been consumed long ago.

Romans 2:4-11 – Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:

7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness–indignation and wrath,

9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;

10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

11 For there is no partiality with God.

Fortunately for us, God loved us even while we were still in our sin (Romans 5:8).  He took the initiative to do what was necessary to reconcile the breach in the relationship, and that was the substitutionary death of His Son.  There is no way we could possibly atone for the sins we have committed… we are guilty as charged.  The answer is not found in denial, drugs, alcohol, Prozac, psychology, or moving to a new location… when you move you have to take yourself with you J  Unless you repent of your sins by claiming the shed blood of the Lord Jesus as that and that alone which can cleanse you, your future is certain eternal death.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18 ‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,

19 “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”‘

As awful as it was for the Prodigal to have run out of money, as awful as it was for his friends to have moved out and for the famine to have moved in, as awful as it was for the Prodigal to watch those pigs eat those carob pods when he had nothing to eat, it was exactly what was needed to bring him to his senses.  As those pigs wallowed in the mire and ate the carob pods, I think the Prodigal saw the reflection of his own life in a mirror… functionally he was a pig wallowing in the mire.

The Prodigal came to himself… that is to say, he saw clearly for the first time.  He remembered how good a father he really had… the things he had taken for granted became precious to him:

18 ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!’

He knew what he had to do… he had to turn from his sin, he had to go back to his father, humble himself, plead for forgiveness and submit to whatever punishment his father would surely mete out… this is the fruit of godly repentance.  No more covering up… no more excuses… no more blaming others for your sinful behavior.  The Prodigal owned his sin… he took full responsibility, and he asked for no special privileges… he wasn’t negotiating.

19 “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

There is one more sure-fire piece of evidence that the Prodigal has genuinely repented.  When he wanted to leave home he went to his father and said, “Give me the portion of goods that falls to me.”  How selfish.  How demanding.  How rude.  But now that he has come to himself, notice the change in attitude, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and…

Now if you were one of the Pharisees in the audience, how would you expect Jesus to finish this sentence?  Remember, the Pharisees thought they were good people… good people who kept the Law meticulously.  So what were they thinking should be done to this Prodigal, to this ingrate who had disgraced his father and dishonored him and shamed him so that he was the talk of the town?

It was obvious.  To a man every Pharisee knew what the father should do.  Forgiveness might (I want to emphasize the word might)… forgiveness might be possible, but it could be granted only after a long and arduous time of hard work because sin of this magnitude could only be worked off… it had to be earned.

Listen to John MacArthur on this, “Everyone fully understood that if the son were truly repentant, he would need to come crawling back to the father as a beggar.  He would have to express his repentance verbally, be severely humiliated and scorned, shoulder all the public shame he had subjected his family to, and do everything he could to make restitution.  In that culture, where honor and shame meant so much, such things were simply understood.  It was the only way to restore the honor of the father.  It was the only way for the son to regain any shred of dignity.  That’s what the boy needed to do, and that is just what he planned to do.”

So again, if you were one of the Pharisees in the audience, how would you expect Jesus to finish this sentence?  Maybe this way?

20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and went to get his whip.  This was the time to teach his son and everyone in the community what a great mistake it is bring disgrace upon the family name.  Forty lashes less one should make a lasting impression.”

That may seem harsh, but remember the Law called for the death of rebellious sons in Deuteronomy 21:18-21, but that’s not what we read.  The Pharisees couldn’t believe their ears.

20 “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”

How could this be?  It made no sense whatsoever as the Pharisees couldn’t begin to imagine mercy so great that the father (much less God) would grant forgiveness before the son had performed even the first work of penance.  This was like fingernails running down the blackboard, over and over again.  No father would do this.

And to make matters worse, the father ran to greet his son.  Back in that culture this would only serve to add to the father’s shame… it was a huge breech of socially acceptable behavior.  Running was for little boys and servants.  Grown men, especially men of dignity, men of importance didn’t run.  To us, the father’s running to embrace his son is seen as a tender moment in the story, but the Pharisees didn’t see it that way at all… to them it was scandalous… it was every bit as shocking as the sins of the Prodigal.

21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

I don’t know of a more powerful illustration in all the Bible of the wonderful truth found in 1 John 1:9,

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Spurgeon tells of being in his garden when he saw a dog

amusing himself among his flowers.  He knew that the dog was not digging up weeds and since it wasn’t his dog, he threw a stick at it and yelled at it to chase it away.  Well, the dog very quickly made Spurgeon ashamed for treating it so harshly.  The dog fetched the stick and, wagging its tail, dropped it at Spurgeon’s feet.  He says, “Do you think I could strike him or drive him away after that?  No, I patted him and called him good names.  The dog had conquered the man.”  Then he applies it: “And if you, poor sinner, dog that you are, can have confidence enough in God to come to Him just as you are, it is not in His heart to spurn you.”

The Prodigal in Luke 15 hadn’t performed one act of penance… penance being those things the sinner does to make up for sin.  How could a rebellious son who had sinned so publicly simply be let off scot-free?  The answer is found in remembering two things:

1. A parable has one main point… don’t attempt to make a parable “walk on all fours.”
2. Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who had a seriously faulty view of God.  The Pharisees thought God took more delight in their self-righteousness than He takes in sinners who repent from their sin.

Yes, sin has to be paid for… the Old Testament sacrifices make this point over and over again.  Sin is costly.  Don’t for a moment think that God simply looks the other way and pretends sin is no big deal.  From Genesis through Revelation the Bible makes it abundantly clear that no one can come close to ever atoning for his sin… that is why we all need a Substitute.

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

I can’t emphasize too much how the father’s actions stunned the Pharisees.  The Prodigal was known for what?  He was known for his reckless spending (by the way “prodigal” means lavish or extravagant… especially when it comes to spending money) and now the Pharisees are convinced the father has become the Prodigal (he has been extravagant in extending mercy, kindness, and grace)… forget the son, look what the father is doing.  Let’s say the son’s repentance was genuine… even if that is the case, it seems totally the wrong thing to do to throw an extravagant celebration.  Punishment is what is needed, not a party.  Instead of treating his prodigal like a scoundrel, the father is treating him like a guest of honor.

John Phillips tells the story of a Dr. Bland who had the reputation of being the most wicked man in the most wicked town in England.  The doctor was dying and knew that he had but a short time to live.  Someone sent for the minister, but he was a liberal who had only bits and pieces of a Bible and knew nothing of God’s redeeming grace.  The dying doctor soon saw through that fellow and had him chased out of his room.  Another minister came and led the doctor to Christ.  When the liberal minister heard of what had happened, he was indignant.  He couldn’t see why the doctor should escape the punishment he deserved.  “Do you think,” he asked a friend, “that a deathbed conversion atones for a whole life of sin?”  The friend replied, “No, but Calvary does.”

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him.

Not just any old robe, but the best robe.  Today we would say, “Get him a tuxedo.”

and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

The ring was a symbol of authority… in those days, whenever formal documents were signed they were sealed with the family ring.  And sandals?  They might seem insignificant to us, but again in those days only masters and their sons wore footwear… slaves went barefoot.  So the father giving the robe, the ring, and the sandals to his son is a public proclamation saying, “The best of all I have is yours.  I don’t want there to be any doubt that the past is forgiven and you, my son, are restored fully to a position of honor.”

I trust the meaning is clear… do you remember what the Pharisees said about Jesus receiving sinners and they said this in a pejorative way?  Well they couldn’t have paid Jesus a higher compliment.

Romans 5:6-8 – For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

23 ‘And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;

24 ‘for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

What a picture of the joy in Heaven whenever a lost sinner repents… in the words of Ephesians 3 it is exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think.

Before we finish up today I want to point out one more thing.  What was the cause of the celebration?  A cure for cancer had been found?  No.   Al Gore had invented the internet?  No. Global warming was no longer going to threaten life on earth? No.  Hydrogen fuel had finally been harnessed to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil?  No.  The cause for celebration was redemption.  This celebration wasn’t to honor the son’s sinful behavior, and as wonderful as the Prodigal’s repentance was, the celebration wasn’t exclusively about the son’s repentance, because if the father hadn’t granted full forgiveness and full reconciliation, there would be no celebration.

Again let me quote John Macarthur on this, “In effect, then, the celebration was really in honor of the father’s goodness to his undeserving son.  The father is rejoicing not because the son has somehow managed to do something to earn his favor (the boy really hadn’t done anything truly praiseworthy).  But the father was rejoicing because he had the long-awaited opportunity to forgive and restore the son who had so badly dishonored him and brought him so much grief. The celebration here is for the father’s sake, not the son’s.  The feast in effect honors the father.  It was the father who gave this boy back his life and his privileges.  It was the father who forgave him, restored him to sonship, gave him true liberty, and showered him with tokens of love.  So this father, who apparently felt no shame, threw a party so that he could share the joy of his own kindness with everyone.”

24 ‘for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

The son who was dead is now alive… the son who was lost is now found.  Repentance is a wonderful thing, but apart from God’s mercy and grace there would be no reconciliation.  There is everything right in rejoicing over sinners who repent, but let’s keep things in perspective… redemption is possible for one reason and one reason only… the Father delights in offering forgiveness.

Charles Spurgeon tells the story of how many years ago a certain prince visited the Spanish galleys, where a large number of prisoners were confined… chained to their oars to toil on without relief.  Being a great prince, the King of Spain told him that he might in honor of his visit set free any of the galley slaves he chose.  He went down among them to choose his man.  He said to one, “Man, how did you come here?”  He replied that false witnesses swore away his character.  “Ah!” said the prince and passed on.  He went to the next, who stated that he had done something wrong, certainly, but not very much, and that he never ought to have been condemned.  “Ah!” said the prince, and again passed on.  He went the round, and found that they were all good fellows – all convicted by mistake.  At last he came to one who said, “ You ask me why I am here?  I am ashamed to say I richly deserve it.  I am guilty, I cannot for a minute say that I am not; and if I die at this oar, I thoroughly deserve the punishment.  In fact I think it a mercy that my life is spared me.”  The prince stopped and said, “ It is a pity that such a bad fellow as you should be placed amongst such a number of innocent people.  I will set you free.”

You smile at that, but let me make you smile again.  My Lord Jesus has come at this time to pardon somebody’s sins.  You that have no sins shall have no pardon.  You good people shall die in your sins.  But, oh, you guilty ones, who humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, my Master thinks it is a pity that you should be among these self-righteous people.  So come right away and trust the Savior, and obtain life eternal through His precious blood.

The Pharisees and scribes, in their jaded perspective thought it was a scandal that Jesus associated with tax collectors and sinners…

This man receives sinners and eats with them (v 2).

They said this to attack Jesus, but the fact of the matter is no more wonderful thing was ever said about the sinless Son of the living God.

]]> http://victorybaptistchurch.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/luke-15-2/feed/ 0 victory baptist church http://victorybaptistchurch.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/luke-15/ http://victorybaptistchurch.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/luke-15/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:23:52 +0000 victorybaptistchurch http://victorybaptistchurch.wordpress.com/?p=264 ]]>

Listen to this sermon here

Once upon a time there were two families who lived next door to each other, but as is often the case, these families were as different as day and night.  The one family went to church and they were “good neighbors”… they took good care of their house and lawn and cars, they didn’t have loud parties, they never cursed or got into loud arguments, and the kids never got in any trouble with the law.

The other family never went to church… their house, lawn, and cars were a mess.  Have you ever seen those redneck pictures that some friends send you by way of email… like the one with the commodes out in the front yard being used as flower pots?  This describes the second family to a tee.

The second family frequently had loud parties that went till all hours of the night… drugs and alcohol were a way of life.  They cursed and fought loudly and frequently with one another.  The kids were on a first name basis with the law.  Nobody in this family ever went to church.

One day the teenage daughter from the first family told her father, “Dad, I think the family next door is having trouble… at school I heard that the parents are getting divorced.”

“Way to go!” Dad shouted excitedly, as his favorite football team scored a touchdown. After the extra point was kicked he mumbled, “Divorce, huh? Too bad!”  The daughter went into the kitchen where Mom was preparing dinner and told her the news. “That’s what they get for not going to church and for living like they do.  Let that be a lesson to you, in case you ever get the notion you don’t want to go to church!  I sure hope we get some decent neighbors in there after they’re gone!”

And, sure enough, the second family did split up and moved away.  And the new neighbors were the kind of people who were “good neighbors”… they kept up the house, the lawn, and the cars, they didn’t have loud parties, they never cursed or got into loud arguments, and their kids never got in any trouble with the law. The new family even went to church occasionally. And the first family lived happily ever after, never bothered by their neighbors again.

This is just a story, of course, but I hope that none of you identify yourselves with that first family because even though they professed to be Christians, they are not much like our Lord and Savior.  This family looked down their noses at their lost neighbors and rejoiced when they finally moved away. Jesus, however, spent a great deal of time with lost sinners because He wanted them to repent.

Luke 15:1,2 – “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. ²And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them.’ ³So He spoke this parable to them, saying…”

I think it is important to notice that Jesus attracted sinners, but the Pharisees repelled them.  Why is that?  Well, it is not because Jesus was soft on sin… He didn’t water down His message or compromise in any way.  No, He loved people enough to tell them the truth, yet He did so in a way that they realized He cared for them (at least the humble understood this).  The Pharisees on the other hand only had harsh words for sinners because they had no love for lost souls… the Pharisees used sinners for their own selfish purposes… they wrongly assumed that if they could do a better job of keeping the Law than the common people, then that would lift them up in God’s eyes.  Unfortunately, the mindset of the Pharisees is alive and well today.

The Pharisees were outraged that Someone who claimed to be the Messiah would befriend sinners.  Simon the Pharisee typified the Pharisee’s thinking… remember him?

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, ‘This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.’” Luke 7:36-39.

The religious leaders were blind to the fact that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost… and what is worse yet, is the fact that they didn’t have a clue that they themselves fell into this category.  They wrongly assumed it was only the dregs of society and Gentiles who needed to repent.

Luke 15:3-10 – So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

5 “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

7 “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

9 “And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’

10 “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.

We will read this story in just a little bit, but before we do I want to make some general comments and then look briefly at the first two parables.  Please understand that these three parables are one in purpose… to teach us that God welcomes and forgives repentant sinners.  These parables also teach us another very important truth about salvation… there is God’s part and there is man’s responsibility: the Shepherd seeks the lost sheep (God’s part… He takes the initiative) and mankind as represented by the Prodigal son makes a conscious choice to repent (man’s responsibility… the Prodigal came to himself).  We could spend several days looking at this subject, but that is not the purpose of this parable so let me just mention a few verses that teach this balance… let’s start with God’s part.

Romans 3:10-12 – As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

John 1:12,13 – But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 6:44 – “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jonah was right when he said, “Salvation is of the Lord.”

But don’t think for a minute that mankind is passive in this matter of salvation… God has commanded him to repent.

Acts 17:30 – “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

Genesis 4:6,7 –  So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Ezekiel 33:11 – “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

John 12:32 – But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

The phrase to be lifted up is a reference to the Cross (3:14;8:28).  With God initiating the drawing at the Cross, a person may come to Christ for salvation because He is the light of the world (12:46).  The fact that God is drawing all men means the drawing is universal in its application.  All men, w/o exception.

John 1:6-9 –  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

To emphasize just one aspect of the doctrine of salvation to the exclusion of the other is to look at the Bible through a fun house mirror.  There are 2 Biblical truths that we must embrace if we want to have a balanced perspective on this matter: 1. God chose us… the doctrine of election 2. Man is responsible and accountable to God for the truth revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Shepherd’s Theological Seminary has a statement of faith that captures this balance well:

Grace and the New Creation We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and in sin is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about by our sovereign God in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith and newness of life. (John 3:3; 3:6, 7; Acts 16:30-33; Romans 6:23; II Cor. 5:17; Ephesians 2:1, 5; II Peter 1:4; I John 5:1)

So in Luke 15 we have 3 parables… the first parable deals with a sheep that is lost, and while this wonderful parable is well known I think it is largely misunderstood.  Ira Sankey wrote a very popular song that was based on this parable, and the song goes like this:

“There were ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold.”

But notice, this is not what Jesus said.  Where did Jesus say the ninety and nine were?  Did He say they were safely in the fold?  NO!  He said they were in the wilderness!  The ninety and nine were representative of the audience to whom Jesus was directing His teaching… the Pharisees and scribes.  The Pharisees and scribes thought they lay safely in the shelter of the fold, but they were deceived… in this case thinking and reality were as far apart as the East is from the West.

5 “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

The sheep had wandered away and it was lost… notice the shepherd took the initiative to go looking for the one lost sheep, and when he found it, the text doesn’t say the shepherd beat the sheep within an inch of its life for being so stupid as to wander away!  No, just the opposite is what we find.  The shepherd lays that sheep on his shoulders and brings it home… he doesn’t even leave it to that sheep to walk home in its own power… the shepherd goes the extra mile, and he doesn’t do it begrudgingly… he is rejoicing!  What a great display of compassion.

One other tidbit I think is very interesting.  I think it is obvious that the shepherd in the parable is a picture of the Lord Jesus… the great Shepherd of the sheep.  Where did the Shepherd place the lost sheep?  On His shoulders.  Now let’s compare this with another familiar text:

Isaiah 9:6 – For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The government will be where?  Upon His shoulder… singular.  To govern the world with perfect justice is a simple task for the Son of God… He can lift it and carry it on one shoulder.  Perhaps you are thinking it should be much easier for the Lord Jesus to pick up one lost sheep and carry it easily upon one shoulder… how could one little lamb require so much of the Shepherd?  I think the answer is quite simple… the Shepherd knew from day 1 that to redeem that little lamb He would have to give His very life.  To govern, all the Shepherd has to do is speak, but to redeem, the Shepherd had to die.

7 “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

These legalists were a proud bunch… they imagined that they had a righteousness of their own that was very pleasing to God.  In fact, this is one of the reasons they hated Jesus so much… surely if He were the Messiah He would recognize them to be the upper crust of society… the cream of the crop if you will.  The fact that Jesus was seeking out sinners repulsed them… they thought the Messiah should be spending time with self-respecting individuals… and the fact that He wasn’t, in their mind anyway, proved to them that Jesus clearly couldn’t possibly be the Messiah.  The ninety and nine were representative of the audience to whom Jesus was directing His teaching… the Pharisees and scribes, folks who thought they needed no repentance.

Remember what Jesus said earlier in Luke’s Gospel, “But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” Luke 5:30-32.

This parable is teaching us that you have to know you are lost before you can get saved.  If you don’t believe that by birth and by choice that you are a lost person, how are you any different from the Pharisees?

The Pharisees and scribes, in their jaded perspective thought it was a scandal that Jesus associated with tax collectors and sinners… and that was reason enough to condemn Him.  Yes, Jesus did associate with sinners, but Jesus’ enemies took this truth and twisted it to serve their own purposes.  Jesus didn’t consort with them to seek fellowship with them in their sin.

Hebrews 7:26 – For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

His contact with sinners was always in the context of seeking their salvation.  He was a true friend of sinners, but He didn’t affirm them in their sin… quite the contrary, He gave His life for sinners to redeem us (not them, but us) from sin’s cruel bondage.

“⁸Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ ¹⁰Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The sheep was lost because of its own foolishness, but the coin was lost because of someone else’s carelessness … it is a sobering thing to think that our carelessness could contribute to a soul being lost.  What is especially sobering is this coin was lost in the home.  If we profess to be Christians, the way we live out our lives before our family members can significantly draw them to Christ or drive them from Christ.

Now when the woman found the lost coin, she, too, called her friends and asked them to rejoice with her.  At first glance it might appear that the celebration was a bit over the top for one lost coin, but if we do just a little studying we find that back in Bible times when a Jewish girl got married she wore a headband of ten silver coins to signify that she was now a wife… it was the equivalent of our wedding ring, so you can imagine that such a loss would be no small thing.  Please don’t think the coin was the equivalent of a dime or a quarter.

What did the woman do to help her find the lost coin?  She lit a candle.  I think we can all agree that the woman’s best hope of finding the lost coin was by means of bringing light into her home… and that light is Christ, the Light of the world.  You could say the woman turned to Christ to lighten her dark house.  Notice that she took the light everywhere she went sweeping (cleaning) her house.  This speaks to the fact that it is important to clean up your house (stop practicing sin in your life) and let your light shine before others if you want to find lost coins.

2 Timothy 2:19-21 “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”

The point of this passage is to emphasize the fact that God uses clean vessels to accomplish His work.  If you were to go over to some friend’s house for dinner and they were to offer you dirty glasses, and dirty knives, forks, spoons, and plates I suspect you would be offended… and rightfully so!  Just as you don’t like to use dirty utensils so it is with God.

Luke 15:11-32 –  Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.

12 “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.

13 “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

14 “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.

15 “Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16 “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18 ‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,

19 “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”‘

20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

23 ‘And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;

24 ‘for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26 “So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

27 “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

29 “So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.

30 ‘But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

32 ‘It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

According to Jewish Law it was perfectly legal for a son to ask his father for his share of the inheritance while the father was still alive, but it was an extremely rude thing to do.  It was saying in effect, “I really wish you were dead, Dad… I love you, but the fact of the matter is I love your money more.”

The younger brother is a classic illustration of an undisciplined young man who is a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God… a young man who wastes the prime of his life on the party life, thinking his extravagant self-indulgence is what makes life worth living, but then finds out too late that feeding his fleshly desires had the exact opposite effect that he set out to achieve… instead of finding the good life, he found himself enslaved to his lusts, and when his money ran out so did his friends.  What a graphic picture of the process of sin:

James 1:13-15 – Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

It is hard to over-estimate how outrageous this request was… the Jewish culture for 2,000 years was a culture that highly esteemed honoring one parents… to ask for your share of the inheritance before your father’s death said, “I don’t care how many generations this land has been in the family.  I want my portion now so I can liquidate it and turn it into cash.”  I trust you can see how this request also greatly dishonored the father.  I don’t think it is a stretch of the imagination to suggest that the Pharisees and scribes (the ones to whom Jesus was directing this parable) were thinking, “If this father had any backbone at all he would at the very least give his son a hard slap across the face and he would do this publicly to teach his son a lesson”… after all, the Law of Moses prescribed death by stoning for incorrigibly rebellious children (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

So where did the Prodigal son go?  He went to the far country.  Don’t think for a moment, however, that the far country is always a far away place… it isn’t… it is as close as your heart.  If the sheep was lost because of foolishness and the coin was lost because of carelessness, I think we could say the son was lost because of selfishness… he wanted what he wanted more than he wanted to please God.

Life in the far country, however, was not all he expected it to be.  Oh, at first he thought he had died and gone to Heaven with all the wine, women, and song at his disposal.  But then his money ran out, his “friends” ran out, and a famine swept across the land so that the son was forced to do what he apparently would not do for his father… work.

Don’t miss the scene our Lord is painting for us here by showing us the real nature of sin.  Sin promises freedom, but it only brings slavery.  Sin promises success, but it only brings failure.  Sin promises happiness, but it only brings misery.  Sin promises life, but it lies … the wages of sin is death.  The younger son thought he would go for the gusto, but the hunter became the hunted… such is the deception of sin.

Let me show you what this looks like today.  Joe started smoking marijuana when he was thirteen years old.  Why?  Peer pressure.  Although Joe knew God, he didn’t realize he was worshipping another god – “the opinion of others”, or stated another way, “my friends must think I’m cool.”  Drugs seemed to be the easiest way to satisfy the ruling desire of his heart.  What is crazy about sin is this… the first time Joe smoked marijuana he didn’t even like it… that, however, was a small price to pay… what mattered most to Joe was that he was accepted, he was part of the in crowd.  Now of course, Joe’s goal never was to become a slave to marijuana, it was to use marijuana for his own faithless purposes… namely, to be accepted by others.

Gradually, however, the hunter became the hunted.  The drug became a tyrant… that is to say, it began to consume him.  He would think about it, plan how he was going to get it, and how and where he was going to use it.  Two years later at the age of fifteen, Joe was in a dry-out clinic… enslaved and out of control… his god had betrayed him.

Please understand this: Joe started out wanting a good thing (to be accepted by others).  Joe, however, didn’t see the slippery slope that turned his good desire into an idol – “I MUST be accepted by others.”

Ed Welch writes, “The purpose of all idolatry is to manipulate the idol for our own benefit.  This means we don’t want to be ruled by idols.  Instead, we want to use them.  So it is with modern idolatry as well.  We don’t want to be ruled by alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, food, or anything.  No, we want these substances or activities to give us what we want: good feelings, a better self-image, a sense of power, or whatever our heart is craving.  Idols, however, don’t cooperate.  Rather than mastering our idols, we become enslaved by them.”

13 “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

14 “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.

Prodigal living.  A young man with a lot of cold cash is going to attract a lot of “friends.”  The Bible has a lot to say about the deceitfulness of riches, and the Prodigal, even though he didn’t know it at the time, is about to be enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks.  It really is true, if you sow to the flesh you will of the flesh reap corruption.  Imagine the shock, the dose of reality, that got in the Prodigal’s face all at once.  I think it would be safe to say the Prodigal was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  Generations had worked hard to the point the Prodigal’s father had accumulated a lot of wealth… we know this because the father had servants (plural).  I am convinced the Prodigal didn’t have any blisters or calluses on his hands from hard work… the servants did all that.  The Prodigal thought life was easy, and that it was a gravy train.

But all that came to a screeching halt.  His money ran out, and in the providence of God a famine (a severe famine) arose in the land at the exact same time… no doubt an answer to the father’s heartbroken prayers.  The Prodigal began to be in want… that is something he had never, ever experienced before.  The party was over.

The Prodigal, however, still hadn’t hit rock bottom… we know that because we don’t see any evidence of genuine repentance.  In order to save face, in order to not have to go home and admit to everyone who knew him that he had blown it (and blown it big time), the Prodigal thinks he can work his way out of his dilemma (much like the multitudes on the broad way who think they can do enough good things to work their way to Heaven).  So to avoid going home, here is the plan:

15 “Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16 “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

This is where we will pick up next time.

Listen to this sermon here

Last week we looked at the parable of the great supper… a certain man, (God), was preparing an elaborate dinner.  He invited many… and the first invitation went out to the nation of Israel.  The good news is that Israel said yes to God’s initial invitation.  Yes, we will serve You.  Yes we will come to your banquet table.  But when God sent out the second invitation at the dinner hour through John the Baptist (the invitation was, “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand”… the meal is ready… it is prepared and it is about to be served… the King is here and He is offering you the kingdom… please come”), instead of accepting the invitation, Israel offered up excuses… lame excuses.  How sad.

Now at this point the parable took on a surprising twist… instead of canceling the banquet, the Master said, “The banquet will go on.  The preparations are made.  We are not going to cancel this celebration.  We will fill every seat, but it’s going to be filled by the most unlikely people.”  The Master then told His servant, “Go at once into the streets and invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind… they will come.”

The Pharisees understood clearly what Jesus was saying to them… namely that they were going to have no part in the kingdom of God.  After Jesus had delivered His very first sermon in a synagogue in Nazareth, they tried to kill Him by throwing Him off a cliff.  If Jesus Christ is the door to the Banquet Hall, Israel said, thanks, but no thanks.  If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, Israel said thanks, but no thanks.  The nation of Israel was not interested in the message that Jesus was preaching… the message that they were sinners and needed a Savior.  When they heard that message, they wanted to stone Him because they were convinced that they were God’s gift to mankind.  This parable of the great supper only served to intensify their convictions.

Our text today is going to teach us that while the invitation to God’s Great Banquet is offered to whosoever will, even to the riff-raff of society, and it is a free invitation, make no mistake about it… there is a cost involved.

Luke 14:25-27 – Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

27 “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Great multitudes were following Jesus, but I trust it is obvious that Jesus is not primarily interested in seeing how large a crowd He could attract… in fact, He seems to be making a deliberate attempt to weed out a whole lot of His followers.  Jesus’ words have a similar effect to what we find in Judges 7 when Gideon’s army was whittled down from 32,000 to 300 men.

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

This is one of those verses that the unbelievers love to pounce on and say, “See there are contradictions in the Bible.”  Everyone knows the Bible commands us to love, honor, and respect our parents, so when Jesus uses the language that He does in this text, it is intended to make us slow down… it is designed to grab our attention in a radical way.  “Hate our father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, and even our very own life?  What are you talking about Jesus?”

We know that Jesus is not double-minded… we know that He is not going to contradict the 2^nd greatest commandment… we are not to hate our neighbor as we hate ourself.  Let me remind you of Paul’s admonition to young Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:15,16 – Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

Rightly dividing the Word of Truth is cutting it straight… anyone who wants to argue with you that the Bible is full of contradictions… anyone who wants to argue with you that the Bible is not the Word of God, trying to draw you into the debate of whether God can make a rock so big that He can’t lift it… SHUN them, AVOID them.  By the way when you meet such people don’t be afraid to answer a fool according to his folly such as, “I know the answer to that question, but before I answer it, I have a question for you… tell me, ‘Can a person be so ignorant that he is dumber than a rock?  The Bible says if people stop praising the Lord, then the very rocks will cry out, so if you don’t praise the Lord…’”

So we need to figure out, then, what Jesus means when He says we need to hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, and even our very own life.  In a perfect world everyone would worship God, but as we know sin has entered the world, and not everyone does, indeed, worship God.

Sometimes we have family members who oppose the Truth. When these difficult situations do arise, there should be no doubt as to Whom we are going to please.  The fact of the matter is we don’t love either Christ or our family member if we succomb to the pressure put on us to deny that Jesus is Lord.  Now our family member would say just the opposite is true… if we really loved him/her, they would suggest we should just stop being such a religious fanatic and get out of the cult (church) we are in.  In some ways we might be tempted to do such a thing, but to bow to that pressure would be saying that Christ is not worthy of being followed above someone we care about.  To put the wishes of someone we care about over the clear teaching of the Scriptures reveals we do NOT love Christ (even though we say we do) because we have put a sinful human being, who did not give him/herself for our sins, in a higher place than the sinless Lamb of God who freely offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.

We must always compare Scripture with Scripture… to take one verse out of context is extremely dangerous.  Yes the text tells us if we don’t hate our mother and father, wife and children then we cannot be His disciple… unfortunately I have met a lot of people who are very good at putting this verse into practice (hating their family) but I can assure you, they are not Jesus’ disciples J

Jesus is not talking about emotional/psychological hate.  He is not talking about having a bitter, angry, hostile attitude towards anyone, much less the members of our very own family as that would contradict everything we know about the general theme of the Bible… the 2 greatest commandments teach us to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength and then to love our neighbor as ourself.  We need to remember, Jesus also said, ”No man can serve two masters…he will love the one and hate the other.”  Matthew 6:24.

This is simply a way to indicate preference… it is a way to emphasize the differences that exist between relationships.

In both Malachi 1 and Romans 9 God has said, “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated.”  This doesn’t mean that God hated Esau in the conventional sense of the word… in fact in Genesis 27 we find that God greatly prospered Esau.  However God’s favor and blessing upon Jacob was so massive that by comparison, Esau would appear to be hated.  God chose Jacob over Esau to be the one through whom He carried out His sovereign will.

Sometimes in counseling, we come across a believing wife whose husband has forbidden her to go to church. While it is important for wives to manifest a gentle and quiet spirit (especially in the home), we have to tell that wife that she must explain to her husband that following Jesus Christ is more important to her than anything in the world.  “Honey I will do everything I can to honor and obey you, but if your wishes contradict the teachings of my Lord, I have to honor Him with my obedience… I hope you will come with me.”

I think we are all aware of the fact that sometimes (many times?) it feels like we have to hate our own life… we have to hate our life because we can’t live by our feelings if we are going to please God.  A Christian who is changing and growing will be doing the hard discipline of talking to himself throughout the day instead of listening to himself because when God saved us, He didn’t eradicate our old nature… He left it in place for us to do battle against and thus prove Whom we are really worshipping.  It is the put off/put on principle in action.

27 “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Jesus said something similar back in Luke 9:23,24:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

It makes no sense whatsoever to the natural man to deny himself anything… and because he can only think of saving his life for himself, he ultimately will wind up losing it.  And just because a person gets saved, we who are saved, know that the process of losing one’s life for Jesus’ sake is a day by day, moment by moment task (it’s not one and done), but this is the work that Jesus has called us to.  Let me remind you of the challenge Jesus confronted us with back in Luke 6:

Luke 6:46 – “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?”

Do you see what Jesus is teaching us?  He is saying that the Christian faith is not a part time thing… it is not something you do Sundays and Wednesdays.  Jesus is not going to let you get away with thinking you can make Him a part of your life when it is convenient for you.  To be a Christian is to take self off the throne of your life and enthrone Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior.

Salvation and discipleship are two very different doctrines, but they always go together if a person is genuinely saved.  Salvation is the free gift of God.  Discipleship is costly… it is what we do once we get saved to prove that we truly are saved.  Salvation is the root… discipleship is the fruit.

Taking up your cross is not living in resignation with your spouse… taking up your cross is not murmuring and complaining about how bad your job is… or how bad your health is.  No, no… a thousand times no.  Taking up your cross is not something you do passively… you take up your cross.  It is a conscious choice to please God rather than self, and when you do this God proves to you that He is bigger and better than the trial.

Would you like to know if there is some way you can tell if you are doing this?  Do you think God may have given us some tools to check self (not others primarily, but self) to see how you are doing?  I have good news… God gave us that measuring stick… it is found in 1 Corinthians 13:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 –  4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I trust you are in the habit of checking yourself throughout the day by this gold standard that God has given us… if so, I am confident you are keeping short accounts with God of your sin… because who of us can go for long w/o realizing we have fallen short of the perfection this demands?  Joni Eareckson Tada said in her interview with Larry King years ago something to this effect, “Larry when I wake up in the morning I am not a happy camper… I don’t like my paralysis.  I know my caretakers are coming in shortly and I don’t want to greet them without a smile, so I have to cry out to my Lord and Savior, ‘Dear Jesus I don’t have a smile for the people coming to help me today, so will You please give me one for them?  I don’t have any patience this morning, so will You please give me some of Yours?  I don’t feel like being kind right now, so will You bless me with Your kindness that others may see You living in me?”

In Jesus’ day, the cross wasn’t a piece of jewelry to be worn around the neck to compliment one’s apparel… no, it was an instrument of death… and death by extreme suffering.  Everyone who heard Jesus say, “Take up your cross” knew for all practical purposes that that man was a dead man.  A.T Pierson wrote, Getting rid of the “self-life” is like peeling an onion… layer upon layer, and a tearful process.

There are no short cuts we can take to achieve the goal of Christlikeness.  It takes regular, hard, sustained discipline.

27 “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Taking up your cross and denying self are not “optional equipment” for the true believer… Jesus didn’t say it was difficult to be His disciple w/o this… He stated it was impossible.  To “come after Jesus” means to grow in Christlikeness.  Paul expressed it this way:

Philippians 3:7-10 – But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

Paul wanted to be so much like Jesus Christ that he didn’t want to just be conformed to Jesus’ life… Paul wanted to be conformed even to Jesus’ death.  This is what it means to take up your cross and to come after Him.  If that doesn’t raise the bar high enough, Jesus raises it even higher in verse 33:

“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

The question we need to address is this… is Jesus asking His disciples to make a vow of poverty?  Is poverty a condition reserved for the spiritually elite?  Are true disciples really supposed to sell everything we own so we can serve Jesus?

In a word, no.

I believe that Jesus is teaching us that He is Lord.  Period.  Anything and everything that takes our allegiance away from the Lordship of Jesus Christ is to be avoided at all cost… even to the point of selling our possessions if we can’t keep them from becoming too important.

It reminds me of the statement Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:27-30 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

28 “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Hell.

30 “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Hell.

In other words, you can’t just add Jesus to your already materialistic/hedonistic lifestyle as a way of rounding out your spiritual needs.  No No No No No. To be a Christian means that you have been bought with a price and you are not your own (1 Cor. 6:19-20).  Nothing you own is your own.

Salvation is free… Jesus purchased it for you.  Discipleship is costly, however.  But please understand, discipleship is not something a true believer is free to opt out of… it is an integral part of the package.  Jesus owns you and He owns every part of you… you are His slave if you are truly saved.

I like the way Juan Carlos Ortiz tells the story of the pearl of

great price.  A man sees this pearl and says to the merchant, “I

want this pearl. How much is it?”

The seller says, “It’s very expensive.” “How much?” “A lot!”

“Well, do you think I could buy it?” the man asks.

“Oh, yes,” says the merchant, “everyone can buy it.”

“But I thought you said it was very expensive.” “I did.”

“Well, how much?” “Everything you have,” says the seller.

“All right, I’ll buy it.” “Okay, what do you have?”

“Well, I have $10,000 in the bank.” “Good, $10,000. What

else?” “That’s all I have.” “Nothing more?” “Well, I have a few

dollars more in my pocket.” “How much?” “Let’s see … $100.”

“That’s mine, too,” says the seller.

“What else do you have?” “That’s all, nothing else.” “Where

do you live?” the seller asks. “In my house. Yes, I own a home.”

The seller writes down, “house.” “It’s mine.”

“Where do you expect me to sleep—in my camper?” “Oh,

you have a camper, do you? That, too. What else” “Am I supposed to sleep in my car?” “Oh, you have a car?” “Yes, I own two of them.” “They’re mine now.”

“Look, you’ve taken my money, my house, my camper, and

my cars. Where is my family going to live?” “So, you have a family?”

“Yes, I have a wife and three kids.” “They’re mine now.”

Suddenly the seller exclaims, “Oh, I almost forgot! You yourself, too! Everything becomes mine—wife, children, house,

money, cars, and you, too.” Then he goes on, “Now, listen, I will

allow you to use all these things for the time being. But don’t forget that they’re all mine, just as you are. And whenever I need any of them, you must give them up, because I am now the owner.”

This, I believe, gets to the heart of what Jesus means when He says that we must give up all our possessions in order to be His disciple.  Jesus isn’t just Lord of the tithe… He is Lord of all.  We are just the managers of it for Him.  And what do we gain in return for surrendering ourselves and our possessions to Him?  Only all the riches of Heaven for all eternity, that’s all.

Listen to the lyrics of the following song:  All of Me by Mosie Lister:

All of me,

Not a part but all of me;

All the heart and soul of me,

Jesus, I surrender.

I believe;

Lord, help my unbelief!

On the altar now I lay

All I am today.

Use me, Lord;

Use me anywhere at all.

Though my place be great or small,

Let me fill it gladly.

Take my life;

Be it poor or be it grand,

Let me live it by Your plan,

Shape it with Your hand.

As I am I come to Thee without one plea;

Only that Thy saving blood was shed for me.

All of me

Through the ages yet to be,

I surrender, Lord, to Thee,

I surrender all of me.

Now if you think that Jesus is asking too much… if you think that the cost of discipleship is too high, Jesus reminds us of the cost of not following Him.

28 “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it –

29 “lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

30 “saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

How foolish… can you imagine making plans to build a house w/o first considering if you have the financial resources to pay the mortgage?  Suppose we saw a newer and nicer church building with a great location come available… can you imagine telling the current owners we wanted to purchase it, but never gave a thought as to whether we could afford it?  Would that be wise?

So it is spiritually… if we make a profession of faith in Christ, but then live a life that brings shame on Him, people will ridicule us as they would ridicule a man who started to build a tower but didn’t have the funds to finish the job: “He claimed to be a Christian, but look at him now!  Some Christian he is!”

31 “Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

32 “Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.

As I am writing this, Iran and North Korea are in the news and they are making threats to the USA.  Can you imagine what would happen to either of these countries if they initiated an attack upon us?  I am not suggesting they wouldn’t be able to inflict some casualties, but those casualties would only serve to intensify our desire to wipe them off the face of the earth.

So it is spiritually… if we make a profession of faith in Christ, but then live a life that brings shame on Him, people will ridicule us as they would ridicule a king who started to attack a nation twice its size: “He claimed to be a Christian, but look at him now!  Some Christian he is!”

34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

35 “It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Jesus uses yet a third illustration to show the cost of not following Him… that of salt that has lost its flavor. The salt in Jesus’ day was not pure salt… it was contaminated with other substances.  If moisture got into the salt, it would evaporate and all that was left was the other impure minerals… the salt had thus lost its saltiness and as such, it was useless and had to be thrown away.

Jesus is saying that if a person who claims to be a Christian doesn’t live as he ought to live, he is useless to God.  Jesus could be referring to a make-believer or He could be referring to a true believer being taken out of this life.  There is a sin unto death for both believers (1 John 5:16) and unbelievers (Romans 13:4).  Either way, I am confident we don’t want to be in that number!

Let’s consider the weight of these words that Jesus just spoke.  There can be no reasonable doubt that Jesus is clearly setting forth His absolute supremacy and authority in these verses.  What mere man in his right mind could claim that everyone in the world should hate their closest family members in comparison to their love for him? We would rightly call such a man a cult leader… can you say Jim Jones?  Can you say Kool Aid?

There is no doubt Jim Jones was the leader of a cult. Jesus, however, had the authority to make the claims He did for one simple reason… He was God manifest in the flesh.  He alone deserves to be first above everyone/everything else in our lives because He alone is the Lord God who willingly offered Himself on the cross for our sins, and He rose from the dead to prove He is who He claimed to be.  JESUS IS LORD, and that demands a response on our part.  What should that response be?  Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-11:

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Do you remember the game show, Family Feud?  It is a game of association that pits two families against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to survey-type questions posed to the audience.  For instance, the question might be, “Name a sign that your TV is over 40 years old.”  Answer: black and white TV.  What I am saying is this: if Family Feud asked, “What comes to mind when you hear the name Jesus, I believe almost no one would give the answer, “Someone who gets in your face.”

Unfortunately it speaks volumes about the “strength” of the church when the church is known for a message that can be summarized as a feel-good-about-myself-Christianity.  So to get with the times, I thought I would entitle my sermon today this way, “Your Best Life Now.”

Folks, I want you to know God loves you… He loves you so much you need to know the only thing He cares about is your happiness, so today I want you to learn how to become all that God wants you to be and how to have all the riches and good health that God has in store for you… if you have enough faith you can have it all.  The only thing holding you back from making all your dreams come true is your concept of God… whatever you are lacking, the problem is you don’t have enough faith… God wants you to be rich and healthy and beautiful.  From now on we are going to focus on the goodness of God… since He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and since you are His child (remember He loves you so much) He wants you to know those cattle belong to you.

Are you nauseated yet?

2 Timothy 3:16,17 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Feel-good-about-myself-Christianity won’t tolerate doctrine because to the seeker-friendly crowd doctrine is boring, and to the immature Christian doctrine seems to be unnecessarily divisive.  Reproof?  Who needs that?  Correction?  Who says I am wrong?  Righteousness?  I am good person… just ask me.

If your car broke down and you took it to a mechanic and he found that someone had put sugar in your gas tank, what is the first thing he is going to have to do?  He is going to have to drain your gas tank and flush out your fuel lines.  We have a spiritual enemy that has put all kinds of sugar (what tastes good) in the preaching of God’s Word to the point it has choked the engine… your soul won’t be able to get any real power from it.  Yes, sugar tastes good to your palate, but a steady diet of sugar will destroy your body.  Just as a little bit of sugar will shut down your car’s engine immediately, so likewise a little leaven leavens the whole lump.  The Bereans in Acts 17 were commended for searching the Scriptures to make sure the message they heard was truth.

I know it is hard on the ears, but God is not first and foremost in the business of making us happy… He is in the business of making us holy.  For that to happen we have to immerse ourselves in the Word of God so that God can teach us what is right (doctrine)… so He can rebuke us (reproof)… so He can show us how to put off the old and put on the new (correction)… so we can clean out the old life of sin so that He can teach us how to stay on the right course (instruction in righteousness). The Word of God constantly confronts us with areas where we need to judge ourselves.

Luke 14:1- Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.

What comes to mind when you hear the word Pharisee?  How about the word hypocrite?  How about false teacher?  The Bible warns us from Genesis to Revelation about false teachers and the deadly, destructive impact they have on people. The Bible teaches us that Satan, himself, can appear as an angel of light, serving up false religion in order to capture men’s souls… and his messengers also, are angels of light appearing to offer truth, but what appears to be truth is only a mirage.  In reality those ear-tickling messages are the road to destruction.

Remember the big picture.  The nation at this point had all but officially rejected their Messiah.  Jesus came to His own and His own received Him not.  They had rejected their Lord, their Redeemer, their Savior, the son of God, their only Hope, and actions have consequences… they missed the very One whom they had for centuries been waiting for, and w/o Him they would/could not enter into the kingdom of Heaven and as such they forfeited eternal life.

Now how is it possible that the majority of Jews (not just a few here and there), but the majority of Jews… how is it possible that the majority of Jews missed the very One whom they had for centuries been waiting for?  How could they possibly come to the conclusion that their Messiah, the Son of God was empowered by Satan and thus they needed to kill Jesus?

How could they be so wrong?  Here’s how… speaking of the Pharisees, Jesus said:

Matthew 15:14 – “They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

How could they be so wrong?  The nation followed the teachings of their leaders instead of following the teachings of the Word of God… sound familiar?  Their trusted leaders led them down the primrose path… they saw light at the end of the tunnel, but the light they saw was the light of an oncoming train!

And who were these leaders?  By and large they were the Pharisees… supposedly they were the representatives of God, but in reality they were wolves in sheep’s clothing.  I am sure by now you all know the name Bernie Madoff… the thief who was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person… he faces spending the rest of his life in prison, and up to $170 billion (that’s BILLION) in restitution.

What Bernie Madoff was to his clients, the Pharisees were to the Jews.  They played their part well… they had the masses convinced that they were the real thing.  They were fastidious about God’s law.  Paul’s testimony says it all:

Philippians 3:4-6 -  though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:

5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;

6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Outwardly, no one was more righteous than the Pharisees.  The average Jew had no reason to doubt the Pharisees were God’s favorites and that the Pharisees were first in line on the way to Heaven.  Do you think anything has changed in 2,000 years?  As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun.  The assumption today is that it’s the religious leaders and the good people who can be sure they’re going to Heaven.  We hear this all the time… the good people are going to go to Heaven.  Especially good, religious people.  I mean, if you’re good you’ll probably get there, but if you’re good and religious you already have your ticket punched.

But Jesus had a different opinion.  Jesus called them blind guides, serpents, a brood of vipers, children of Hell, and hypocrites (Matthew 23).  The Pharisees thought they were the guardians of the truth, and since Jesus didn’t agree with them they thought they were doing God a favor by plotting to eliminate Him.

Luke 14:1 – Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.

They watched Him closely.  The verb has the connotation of lurking or lying in wait to catch somebody doing something he shouldn’t be doing… they were out to get Him.  Now the Pharisees had turned the Sabbath on its head.  To soothe their guilty consciences the Pharisees developed a system whereby they could major on the minor things and thus, convince themselves and many others that this was the way to please God.  And the most important thing a person could do in their opinion was to adhere to their man-made rules and regulations pertaining to the Sabbath.

As such, they took the command to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy and embellished it so that the final product didn’t even resemble the original.  Jesus reminded us that the Sabbath was made for man to give him rest, but the religious leaders turned that command around and stood it on its head so that the net result was that man was made for the Sabbath.  I don’t believe it would be an exaggeration to say that the Sabbath and its observance became the defining point of their religious system.

2 And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.

3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.

The Pharisees were very well aware of the fact that Jesus declared Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath which was blasphemy in their minds because they understood rightly that this was another way that Jesus was claiming to be God.  Thus they hatched a plan to give them all the evidence they needed (in their minds) to put Jesus to death… the plan?  They put in front of Him a certain man suffering from dropsy.

Dropsy comes from the Greek word udrwpikov…  first part is hydro, water.  Dropsy is edema… it is water retention, bloating.

But the point you need to know is that the Jews viewed somebody who had this condition as a vile sinner because they thought that this condition was the result of sexual sin… this was the judgment of God upon a person for his immorality.  A possible second explanation in their minds was at the very least this was a serious uncleanness because it was related to the body’s failure to eliminate.  But either way, this is either a wicked immoral man or a very unclean man.

And what did the Pharisees do?  They set this sick man right smack dab in a place where Jesus couldn’t help but see him when He came to the Pharisee’s house to eat… it was a set up.  Why?  So Jesus could heal him.  Now think about that… “Do a miracle, Jesus, so we can positively know for sure that You are not the Son of God.”  That makes a lot of sense!!!

Jesus could have told the man, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll heal you,” thus avoiding a confrontation with the Pharisees… but He didn’t do that.  Jesus healed the man right on the spot and then publicly rebuked the Pharisees.  As you know the Bible teaches us to answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceits (Proverbs 26:5).  No one has ever done this better than Jesus.

3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.

Jesus put the Pharisees in a no win situation… it reminds me of the time in Matthew 21 when the religious leaders asked Jesus by what authority He was doing His teaching and preaching and miracles.  Jesus said He would gladly answer their question if they first answered one simple question that He had for them… the baptism of John… where was it from?  Was it from Heaven or was it from men?  Do you remember how this stumped them?

Matthew 21:25-27 – And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

26 “But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.”

27 So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

So it is in our text today… if they said it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, they had no case against Him.  But if they said it was not lawful to heal on the Sabbath, not only did they come across as uncaring, but they had a bigger problem.  Let me explain.

Everyone knew the Pharisees were strong on doctrine… not only were they strong on doctrine, but they were fiercely committed to the authority of the Scriptures.  They didn’t back down on the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures.  They had a high view of the Word of God… every time they met in their synagogues somebody would read the Word of God.  They were also committed to moral living.  Strong doctrine, scriptural authority and moral living.  So far so good.

The problem the Pharisees had was this… they went beyond the teaching of the Scriptures.  There’s nothing in the Bible that forbids a person from going to the doctor on a Sabbath… nothing whatsoever.  The Pharisees, however, in their twisted thinking decided something like this, “The Scriptures forbid us to do any work on the Sabbath so to make sure this doesn’t happen… to make sure no one slips over the line and does a little bit of work, let’s make more rules and more rules to make sure no one can even come close to breaking the Sabbath.”

Therefore the Pharisees laid this trap for Jesus by planting this sick man right in His path because in their minds Jesus was committing sin by healing this poor man on the Sabbath.   I think it speaks volumes about the condition of the Pharisees’ hearts… they couldn’t care less that this man was suffering… they simply wanted to use his suffering for their own wicked purposes… I don’t think it would be a stretch to suggest the Pharisees were glad this man was suffering.

Jesus asked them a simple question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”  They were tongue-tied:

4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.

5 Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

Jesus heals the man instantly… no great fanfare… He just heals him and lets him go.  But Jesus didn’t let the Pharisees go… He exposes their hypocrisy.  It is not a big to-do, but I want you to know some texts have the word “son” instead of “donkey,” so it reads, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”

Wells were everywhere in Israel and as such, it was not uncommon for people and animals to fall into a well (a pit).  As such, the answer to Jesus’ question is as obvious as the nose on your face.  “Who among you isn’t going to rescue your own son or your ox out of a well on a Sabbath day?  You’re not going to just stand by and let them drown.”  This is a particularly poignant illustration because the man Jesus had just healed was drowning in his own fluid.”

I can guarantee you the Pharisees would rescue their own son or their own ox.  In fact, we know they would rescue anyone’s son or ox for one simple reason.  Exodus 21 tells us they were commanded to do so… if a Jew stood idly by and failed to rescue an ox that had fallen into a pit, then that Jew would have to buy at his own expense another ox for the person who owned the ox (and the Jews have a well-deserved reputation for handling their money wisely).

6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

Marveling at His answer, they became silent.  Tongue-tied, they couldn’t say a word because everyone present knew Jesus had spoken the truth.  Well, that’s how the meal began.  Do you think the Pharisees might have lost their appetite?  I think most of those Pharisees might have had indigestion that day because the Bible goes on to tell us:

7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:

8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him;

9 “and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.

10 “But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.

11 “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Let’s remember the big picture.  The Pharisees had the responsibility of teaching the Word for one main purpose… to keep people from falling into sin so they could live in such a way as to please God.  How sad to see them resort to using a sick man to get Jesus to commit what through their perverted eyes was sin.  What a contrast between their motives and the motives of the Lord Jesus… Jesus loved them enough to not cooperate with them (something peace-lovers would have done) and He loved them enough to rebuke them by means of a parable so they would repent and get right before God.

Hypocrisy and pride are first cousins.  Those who are consumed with outward appearances because they want to impress others have a problem with pride.  In Matthew 23 Jesus explained that the Pharisees did what they did to be noticed by others and to gain honor for themselves. Jesus is telling the Pharisees through this parable that the way of pride is going to result in disgrace, but the way of humility will result in future rewards.  Nowhere will this be more clearly seen than at the Judgment Seat… there the proud, who have trusted in themselves and their own self-righteousness, will be judged severely by God, while the humble, who recognize their own sin and who have cried out to God for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus to be their only hope of forgiveness, will be exalted.

Now please understand when Jesus tells the dinner guests that they should seek out the lowest places, He is not teaching us about a subtle way to manipulate others for self-gain!!!  A person who would choose the lowest place for the purpose of being promoted openly before others would still be condemned because his pride is still controlling him, and that is the very thing Jesus is rebuking.  Jesus is teaching us an application of what it means to esteem others more highly than ourself.  We need to be able to say with Paul:

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.  1 Timothy 1:15

The minute we think others are bigger sinners than we are means we are no longer little in our own eyes.  Psalm 103:10-14 is still true today:

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.

14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

Back to our text:

12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.

13 “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.

14 “And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Jesus isn’t finished teaching yet… He continues to rebuke the Pharisees for their sinful pride, and in this case the Pharisees are guilty of using people instead of loving them.  Jesus is not suggesting it is wrong to invite your friends and relatives over for dinner, but He is teaching us that we are not being godly if we only invite people who can pay us back, especially if we invite the rich and powerful for the purpose of getting in good with them because of what they might be able to do for us later on.  There is no getting around it… that is just plain old selfishness.  If we want to hear those words, “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” we are going to minister to others without the thought of “what is in it for me?”

The difference in what God can and can’t bless comes down to one word… motive.  There may be no difference in what you are doing (the actions), but there can be a huge difference in the motive… why are you doing what you are doing.   For example if a husband is meeting secretly with his wife’s best friend to get some ideas for gifts that his wife will like, that is a good thing.  But if he is meeting with his wife’s best friend because he wants to explore the possibilities of having an affair with her and he is simply using his wife’s birthday as an excuse to meet with her, that is wicked.  The outward action is the same in both cases, but the motive determines whether it is good or evil.

We all have sinful hearts… we all want what we want more then we want to please God… we are born this way.  What do we want?  We want peace, acceptance, pleasure, control, we want to matter.  The flip side of this looks like this… we want to avoid conflict, we want to avoid rejection, we want to avoid boredom, we want to avoid someone else telling us what to do., and we want to avoid living a life where no one seems to care if we live or die.

Last week we looked at a verse that speaks volumes about the motives of our heart:

Deuteronomy 29:19 – and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

The dictates of your heart… what are some synonyms for the word dictates?  How about motives.  How about feelings.  We do what we do and we feel what we feel because we think what we think.  That is why it is so important to renew our thinking.

The captain of the football team may be in the back seat of his car with his girlfriend because he is motivated by pleasure… she may be there because she is motivated by acceptance.  They are both willing to sin to get what they want.

The housewife who is mortified because an unexpected visitor showed up and saw the house a mess may be motivated by a perfection idol.

The husband whose wife and children feel they have to walk on eggshells to keep his geyser of anger from erupting is most likely motivated by power and control.

The employee who gets all bent out of shape whenever a co-worker shoots him a condescending glance is likely motivated by the idol of respect.

To complicate the picture, more often than not there are several motivating factors working together to push a person away from living to please God.  For example, consider the teen who hates it whenever her parents ask her to help around the house.  Yes, she may be a lover of pleasure and as such murmurs and complains whenever her goal is thwarted, but there may be more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye.  She may be trying to assert her independence and she may be under the delusion that going to war against her parents’ wishes is the way to establish her own identity.  Or it could be that she is craving to be out with her friends 24/7 because she needs their approval… she needs to hear her friends praise her for how she stands up to her parents.  Or perhaps it is even possible that she is rebelling against her parents to find out if they still love her even when she is not perfect.

Our hearts are complex… so much so that if the truth be told, we can’t begin to fully understand our own hearts perfectly.  The good news is we don’t have to… the Bible makes it clear that far more important than knowing ourselves is knowing God.  He, not self, should be the object of our meditation.

It would be easy to assume that because God is God, because He is almighty, because He is high and lifted up, because He dwells in Heaven where sin cannot exist… it would be easy to assume that God doesn’t feel any pain and that He knows only eternal bliss.  It would be easy to assume that, but it would be a terrible mistake to do so.  Listen to the agony… to the very real pain expressed in our Lord’s voice in our text:

 34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

 35 “See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

Contrary to popular opinion, God is not some Stoic Being in the sky who is just sitting there with a big frown on His face and a big stick in His hands waiting for you and me to mess up so He can get His kicks by making life miserable for us.  God wants only the best for us… He wants us to succeed.  In fact the Bible refers to the wrath of God as His strange work.

Isaiah 28:21 – The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim [2 Samuel 5:20 where God fought on the side of David against the Philistines] he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon [Joshua 10:10 where God fought on the side of Joshua against the 5 kings of the Amorites] to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.

God’s strange work in Isaiah 28 is that He will now be fighting against the same people whom He had previously helped.

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

 35 “See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

These are tragic words… words that pierce the heart… words of compassion.  Can’t you just hear the pain in Jesus’ voice… can’t you just picture the sorrow of His heart and the tears streaming down His face as He utters these words that speak of the consequences of Israel’s rejection of the One who was responsible for their very existence?  These are heartrending words spoken to God’s chosen people… to whom much is given much is required.  The nation disobeyed God and now they are paying the consequences for their actions.  Israel has killed her prophets and she has stoned the messengers sent to her by God.  That was bad enough, but now she has gone to the point of no return by rejecting her own Messiah.  The condemnation is clear… your house is left to you desolate.  What does that mean?  Simply this… Ichabod has been written on your mailbox.  What do mean by that, pastor?

1 Samuel 4:12-22 – Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

 13 Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out.

 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli.

 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see.

 16 Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.” And he said, “What happened, my son?”

 17 So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.”

 18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

 19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.

 20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it.

 21 Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

The glory has departed from Israel, because Israel has rejected the glory of God.  The glory of God is not some vague phenomenon… the glory of God is the Lord Jesus.

Hebrews 1:1-3 – God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Jesus isn’t just the glory of God, He is the brightness of God’s glory, and Israel has said to Jesus, “No, we don’t want You.”  Actions have consequences.  Israel has brought condemnation on herself, and that condemnation will last (according to Romans 9, 10, and 11) until the Lord comes back at His Second Coming… then all Israel will be saved. 

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

Even a blind man can see that God’s heart is breaking here.  Please don’t ever think that God, because He is God, has a cold and indifferent heart when it comes to those who are perishing.  Ezekiel tells us that God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked… to the contrary, God is grieved when the wicked die.  Why does God experience grief when the wicked die?  Because God is a God of compassion.   Compassion means to suffer with.  God experiences pain. 

Jesus is saying He wanted to gather Israel into a protected place…into the safety of His everlasting love.  To protect them from what?  Are you ready for this?  People go ballistic when you tell them the truth, but here it is… fasten your seatbelt: to protect them from God’s wrath.  Yes, God is a God of love, but God is more than one dimensional… God is also holy, and as such He hates sin.  Sin is the object of God’s wrath.

Deuteronomy 29:14-29 – “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone,

 15 “but with him who stands here with us today before the LORD our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today

 16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by,

 17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them-wood and stone and silver and gold);

 18 “so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood;

 19 “and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’ -as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

 20 “The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven.

 21 “And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,

 22 “so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it:

 23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’

 24 “All nations would say, ‘Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’

 25 “Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt;

 26 ‘for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.

 27 ‘Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.

 28 ‘And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

 29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

People who perish, perish for one reason… they follow their heart.  They may have heard that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, but in their pride they think they are the exception to the rule.  “Others may be so foolish as to be ensnared by their hearts, but not me.”  People who follow their heart are shaking their fist and saying to God, “I will not have You reign over me.” And God is the perfect Gentleman… He allows them to become slaves to their lusts… lusts that cannot be satisfied by lusting for more.

35 “See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

Notice what the text didn’t say… it didn’t say, “See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me ever again.”

There are a whole lot of people who believe that the promises that God made to Israel are now null and void… they believe that the church is Israel, and that God is fulfilling those promises to Israel through us, the church.  I don’t believe that.  As Dean Reinert at Piedmont Baptist College used to say, “People who spiritualize tell spiritual lies because they do not have spiritual eyes.”  I think the Bible is very clear on the future of Israel, and I want to address this (again) because this speaks to the faithfulness of God.  To put it simply, if we can’t trust God for what He promised Israel, why would we trust Him for what He has promised us? 

To demonstrate the church is not Israel, I want to show you the evidence that points to the fact that God’s covenant with Abraham is unconditional and the important ramifications that follow.

Genesis 15:1-21: After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”  5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. 7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” 8 And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”  10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.  11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.  13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.  14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.  15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.  16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.  18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,  20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,  21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

The most important point in this passage is the fact that God… symbolized by the smoking oven and the flaming torch… passes between the dead animals while Abraham is asleep.  This fact is very significant because it means that God is taking upon Himself the full responsibility for keeping the covenant.  It’s as if God is saying, “Go ahead and take a nap, Abraham.  This one is on Me.”

Theologians call this the Abrahamic covenant.  It is perhaps the most important covenant in all the Bible because it contains (by implication) God’s plan to send His Son to earth.  When Paul discusses the “seed” of Abraham in Galatians 3, this covenant is on his mind.

Here are four words that describe this covenant:
1. Personal.
2. Literal
3. Unconditional
4. Eternal
When God makes a promise He keeps it.  I believe that the very existence of the Jewish race after four thousand years is one of the strongest proofs of the truth of the Bible.  The Jews are here because God promised Abraham that He would make of him a great nation.  Therefore, we may say with confidence that this covenant is still in effect today. 

Since this covenant is unconditional (not dependent upon the obedience of Abraham and his physical descendents for the fulfillment of the promises) then every promise of this covenant must be fulfilled … including the promise that Israel would be given the land forever.  If this covenant is everlasting that means that the nation of Israel will last forever as a people and that God has a future program for this nation because several promises of the covenant have not yet been literally fulfilled.

On the other hand, if this covenant is conditional then the promises I just mentioned are null and void to the nation of Israel.  Those who believe that the Covenant with Abraham is conditional believe that the promises are now being fulfilled in the church. 

The question then is this… is the church Israel?  I believe the answer to that is an emphatic NO!  I believe the Bible teaches us that in spite of Israel’s manifold sins, she will never be totally destroyed as a nation, and that God is going to literally fulfill all of the promises He made in His Covenant with Abraham … He is not going to fulfill them in the church.

Some argue that because the nation of Israel has been driven out of her land at times (as in the Babylonian Captivity), this proves that Israel is not the permanent owner of the land.  I would suggest to you that Israel could still own the land and yet not occupy the land.  A landlord doesn’t have to reside in the property he owns to maintain ownership.  It really doesn’t matter whether or not you and I think Israel owns the land… the only opinion that matters is God’s opinion.  There are numerous passages that indicate God views Israel as the owner of the land in spite of His sending them out of the land.    

Ezekiel 34:12-15 – “As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.

 13 “And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.

 14 “I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

 15 “I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord GOD.

Yes, God chastened Israel for her sins by driving her out of the land for a season, but He never punished her to the extent of abolishing her ownership of the land…. to do so would be to violate His promise to give the land to Abraham and his physical seed forever.
Genesis 17:1-8: Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless. 2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.  7 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.  8 “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
Notice the word everlasting… God uses it twice for emphasis. Confusion however can set in when we read the following text:
Galatians 3:26-29: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Let me quote the Bible Knowledge Commentary, “Believers in Christ are Abraham’s seed. As Paul previously stated, Christ is the Seed of Abraham (vv. 16, 19); therefore being in Christ makes a believer a part of that seed and an heir of the promise to Abraham. Any discussion of the seed of Abraham must first take into account his natural seed, the descendants of Jacob in the 12 tribes. Within this natural seed there is a believing remnant of Jews who will one day inherit the Abrahamic promises directed specifically to them (cf. Rom. 9:6, 8). But there is also the spiritual seed of Abraham who are not Jews. These are the Gentiles who believe and become Abraham’s spiritual seed. They inherit the promise of justification by faith as Paul explained earlier (cf. Gal. 3:6-9). To suggest that Gentile believers inherit the national promises given to the believing Jewish remnant—that the church thus supplants Israel or is the “new Israel”—is to read into these verses what is not there.”

To confuse the physical with the spiritual is to make a huge mistake.

Gen.2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Did Adam and Eve die the day they disobeyed God by eating of that which was forbidden?  Yes and No.  They died spiritually (they were separated from God because of their sin), but they didn’t die physically that day.  To confuse the physical with the spiritual is to make a huge mistake.

Romans 6:1,2 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

Are we dead to sin? Spiritually, yes we are… sin no longer has dominion over us… we are separated from sin’s power over us.  Spiritually we are dead to sin.  Physically we cannot be dead to sin… otherwise we would be in the grave.  To confuse the physical with the spiritual is to make a huge mistake.
John 4:13-15: Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,  14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

The woman at the well confused the physical with the spiritual.

John 6:48-50 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

Was Jesus talking in physical terms or spiritual terms?  I trust the answer is obvious.

To confuse the physical with the spiritual is to make a huge mistake.  Yes we are the spiritual seed of Abraham, but that does not mean that the promises made to Abraham are for the Body of Christ.  Why? 

Galatians 3:16: Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 

The church is not Israel.  This distinction is of no small importance. 

Galatians 3:24-29: Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The purpose of this passage is to teach that there is no spiritual superiority in the Body of Christ… a believing Jew is not superior to a believing Gentile, a believing man is not superior to a believing woman, a believing free man is not superior to a believing slave.  It is important to understand the purpose of this passage… otherwise, one could argue that we don’t need to have separate men’s and ladies’ restrooms… after all, this passage says there is neither male nor female.  By the way, I actually know a woman pastor who has used this passage to explain why women can now be pastors.  To confuse the physical with the spiritual is to make a huge mistake.    

There is a physical seed of Abraham and a spiritual seed of Abraham.  Do not confuse the two.  The church is not Israel.  Let me give you some more evidence to support this:

1 Corinthians 10:32: Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God.  God, here, is making a 3-fold division that we cannot ignore.  There are Jews, Gentiles, and the church.  The church is not Israel.

Israel was told to utterly destroy all unbelievers when they went into the land of Canaan.  If we fail to make a distinction between the church and Israel one could easily come to the conclusion that the church is to go and do likewise.  Just the opposite, however, is the command given to the church.  We are to go into all the world giving life (not taking life) by preaching the Good News of the Gospel.

Consider this difference between the church and Israel… the nation of Israel has rejected Christ whereas the church, by definition, has received Christ.  In fact, Old Testament Israel was the original persecutor of the church.  Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand… therefore, the church is not Israel.  Furthermore, as long as a Gentile remained a Gentile he was excluded from membership into Old Testament Israel.
Ephesians 2:11,12: Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

In other words, for a Gentile to become a member of the nation of Israel he had to become circumcised and place himself under the Law… not so to become a member of the church:
Ephesians 2:13-16: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,  15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,  16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 

Furthermore, and very importantly, Old Testament Israel had both believers and unbelievers in covenant relationship with God.  For example, when God put Israel under the Law, the entire nation was under the Law.  That does not mean that every Jew possessed saving faith because keeping the Law saved no one.  The unsaved members of Old Testament Israel were as much under the Law as the saved members of Old Testament Israel.

By contrast, the New Testament church (the real church) is made up solely of saved members.  Another way to express this idea is as follows… a Jew becomes a Jew by natural birth… he does not choose to become a physical descendant of Abraham.  On the other hand no one ever becomes a Christian by natural birth… to become a Christian, you must be born again. The church is not Israel.

Furthermore, Romans 11 teaches us that as the covenant people of God, Old Testament Israel was in the place of God’s blessing.  Old Testament Israel, however, rejected Christ through unbelief and as a consequence God has removed Israel from that place of blessing.  Guess who is now in that place of blessing that Israel once enjoyed?  The church!  Eventually God will restore Israel to that place of blessing when she receives Christ at His Second Coming, but don’t miss this important point: Since Israel is out of the place of God’s blessing while the church is in it, the church and Israel are not the same.

Furthermore, the Bible teaches us that the last days for Israel are glorious days:
Isaiah 65:17-25: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;  for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat;  for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. 24 “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.

By contrast, the last days for the church are not glorious days …they are perilous days… thus proving once again that the church is not Israel:
2 Timothy 3:1-5: But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:2  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,  3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,  4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 

There are a whole lot of folks today who will tell you to follow your heart.  I am here to tell you if you follow your heart you will look back on your life and have nothing but regret.

The favorite chant of those who resist the truth that Jesus is the ONLY Way to Heaven is this, “You are so narrow-minded.” 

In other words these folks pride themselves on their open-mindedness.  But let me remind you it was this same open-mindedness that motivated Cain to follow his heart and bring an offering to God that made so much more sense to him (a beautiful fruit basket) than the offering that God had commanded (the sacrificial death of an animal).  

It was this same open-mindedness that motivated Aaron to follow his heart and fashion a golden calf for the people while Moses was on Mt. Sinai with God.

It was this same open-mindedness that motivated Nadab and Abihu to follow their heart and offer profane fire before the Lord (Lev 10).  

It was this same open-mindedness that motivated David to follow his heart in his dealings with Bathsheba and Uriah.

It was this same open-mindedness that motivated Solomon to follow his heart and marry a whole host of pagan women.  It was this same open-mindedness that motivated Solomon to follow his heart and join these women in their worship of false gods.

On and on I could go.  Let me simply say the church cannot afford such open-mindedness… you cannot afford to follow your heart.

God is faithful.  He has called us to be faithful… that means we will study the Scriptures to see how we are to live to please Him, and then we will put our studies into action.

Mark 8:34,35 – “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

 35 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Listen to this sermon here

Before we dig into our text today, let me remind you of the context… I want to give you a short review of what we studied last week.

Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Why would Jesus mention striving? What’s the striving all about?  How could anyone want to enter in and yet not be able to enter in?  Is Jesus trying to make salvation so complicated that only a few can understand it?  Is God trying to hide salvation from the masses?  Doesn’t this passage make salvation seem very, very difficult, and if so, isn’t this contrary to everything you have heard about salvation? Who is right, and how are we going to reconcile the differences between what Jesus is teaching in this passage and what the prevailing notion of the day is? 

Salvation is a narrow door.  Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man comes to the Father except through Me.”  For the most part, people hate that message.  “So you think you are the only ones going to be in Heaven?  A loving God wouldn’t send people to Hell.  So you think you’re right and everybody else is wrong?  I believe all roads lead to God and all the good people will go to Heaven.”  As you know, there are a whole lot of people who believe these statements, but Jesus doesn’t believe them, and His opinion is the only One that matters.

Salvation is hard to find.  Why?  There are so many voices… so much confusion… so much chaos.  There is so much deception, so much false Christianity all over the place that it’s hard to find the true door. 

You might not like the fact that it is narrow. You might be thinking that it’s way too exclusive. You might be thinking, “I believe that God is loving and that He will accept everyone who tries to do his best. I believe that all sincere people will get through the door.”  Jesus, however, is the One who said the gate is narrow, not wide.  He made it narrow without checking

with us for our ideas about how wide it should be… imagine that!

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Please understand that Jesus isn’t suggesting salvation is earned… He is not suggesting our good deeds or human effort are sufficient to secure a place in Heaven.  The striving is the fervent labor that is required to go against the popular notions of the day.  The striving is the fervent labor that is required to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. The striving is the fervent labor that is required to defeat sin so that it doesn’t rule over you.

I don’t think the church today really does understand what the right invitation for salvation should be.  I don’t hear most evangelists challenging people to fight to receive salvation.  Strive to be saved.  Modern preaching makes salvation seem so easy, but if we compare today’s popular message with the model Jesus gives us here in our text, the two are not compatible.  I am going to cast my lot with Jesus… I hope you will too.  So with this in mind let’s look at our text today.

Luke 13:31-35 -  On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.”

 32 And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’

 33 “Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

 34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

 35 “See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

I think it is very interesting that some Pharisees came to Jesus and told Him that He had better leave town because Herod wanted to kill Him.  Why would anyone want to kill Jesus?  After all, the Son of God came offering the gift of all gifts, the forgiveness of sins/reconciliation with God/ eternal life/ and everlasting joy in Heaven.  But instead of embracing this gift of salvation with thankful hearts, which only a few Jews did 2,000 years ago and only a few still do today, those to whom He brought salvation sought to kill Him.

Herod the Great was one of the first who set out to kill Jesus.  As you might recall, Herod was not a Jew, he was a descendent of Esau (an Idumean) and he ruled in Israel from 37 B.C. through about the time of Christ.  Herod was an extremely insecure man… he felt so threatened by anyone who might possibly be a threat to take over his position of authority that he slaughtered his own family members and anybody else around him who might sometime pose a potential threat.  He was so paranoid that when he heard from the wise men that the King of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem, Herod tried to find Baby Jesus so he could kill Him… and when he couldn’t find the Christ-child, he gave orders to have every male child two and under in the whole area around Bethlehem put to death.  Herod the Great wanted Jesus dead from the time He was born.  And if you recall the timeline of events in the Gospels, you know this was not an isolated incident.

In Luke 4 Jesus stood up in the synagogue and read the following passage from Isaiah the prophet:

Luke 4:18-21 – “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  

Do you remember the response of those in the synagogue that day?  Did they say, “Thank You, God for our Messiah… praise God from Whom all blessings flow?”  Was that the response?

Luke 4:28,29 – So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.

In John 2 at the beginning of His ministry, one of the first things Jesus did was to drive out the moneychangers in the Temple at Passover season.  

John 2:15,16 – When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.

 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”

If we compare Scripture with Scripture we know it wasn’t just the Temple authorities who wanted Jesus dead… I think we can safely say 99% of leadership of Israel was offended by Him (the only exception I am aware of was Nicodemus).  The Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, chief priests, high priests, scribes all wanted Him dead because He didn’t play their game… instead Jesus exposed these religious leaders for what they were, and He had the audacity to call them hypocrites.

In John 5 Jesus healed a man who had had an infirmity for 38 years, and Jesus did this on the Sabbath.  The reaction?

John 5:16-18 – For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

 17  But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 

Let me remind you of the exchange between Jesus and Caiaphas the high priest:

Matthew 26:62-65 -  And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?”

 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”

 64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

 65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.  So I find it very interesting that the Pharisees came to warn Jesus in our text that Herod wanted to kill Him.  Why would they warn Him… after all, they also wanted Jesus dead.  By the way, this is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great.  Herod the Great is dead now.  This is his son, but his hatred for Jesus was just as great as his father’s hatred for Baby Jesus.  He, too, saw Jesus as a threat, just as his father did.  You probably know Herod Antipas best for the role he played in having John the Baptist beheaded. 

So why would the Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod wanted to kill Him?  I don’t know for sure because we don’t have chapter and verse telling us why, but I don’t think it is difficult to believe they did this because they hoped it would be a quick and easy way to get Jesus to leave town and run for His life.

Did their plan work… was Jesus intimidated by this threat?  Hardly. “Go and tell that fox…”   Jesus could have called Herod anything, but He chose to call him a fox.  What do you think of when you hear the word fox?  One of the first things that comes to my mind is the Scripture that tells us little foxes spoil the vines.  Jesus could have called Herod a roaring lion, and that certainly would bring up an immediate comparison in our minds… but He didn’t.  Jesus didn’t elevate Herod to that great of a threat.  A fox was more of a nuisance… it certainly wasn’t a complimentary term.

32 And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’

Jesus knew that Herod wasn’t in charge… God the Father was in charge.  He stated this very clearly elsewhere:

John 10:17,18 – “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

18 “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

32 And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’

Some translations say “and the third day I shall reach my goal.” What does all this mean?  Simply this… God’s timetable is unfolding for Jesus, and no king like Herod could shorten the time or disrupt God’s plan.  When His work is accomplished, His death, burial, and resurrection will be its perfection.

33 “Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

I trust it is obvious that Jesus was not intimidated in the least by this threat… in fact, Jesus goes on to state He isn’t going to change any of His plans whatsoever because He is on a divine timetable… as such He will continue to do exactly what He’s been doing… preaching and healing until His work is finished.

“For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.” 

What is that all about?  The best I can tell is this is likely a proverb that was well known among the Jews at that time.  I think it is a bit of sarcasm… something that was said tongue-in-cheek because so many prophets were killed in Jerusalem that it almost became a certificate of authenticity that a prophet was indeed a prophet of God if he were to be killed in Jerusalem. 

In 2 Kings 21 the Bible tells us that Manasseh shed very much innocent blood… he even killed his own son by offering him up as a human sacrifice to Molech, the Ammonite god.  According to Jewish tradition, Isaiah was put to death by Manasseh by being sawed in two (Hebrews 11:37 might be a reference to this incident).   

And then over in 2 Kings 24 the Bible tells us about Jehoiakim, another evil king, who “filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.”  The Jewish people had a history of murdering the prophets and shedding innocent blood.  Listen to Stephen rebuke the high priest in Acts 7:

Acts 7:51-53 – “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

 52 “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

 53 “who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” 

And listen to Jesus rebuke the Pharisees in Matthew 23:

Matthew 23:29-36 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

 30 “and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

 32 “Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.

 33 “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

 34 “Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

 35 “that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

 36 “Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Let me give you one specific event that is recorded in Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 26:20-24 -  Now there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.

 21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt.

 22 Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt.

 23 And they brought Urijah from Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

 24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Needless to say, it wasn’t unusual for a prophet to die in Jerusalem.  As you know, Jerusalem was supposed to be the city of God, but it certainly wasn’t a good witness, was it?  If you didn’t know the Scriptures, who would you expect to be the ones responsible for the death of the prophets? Israel’s enemies?  How about the pagan nations?  You might think that would be the case, but much to Israel’s shame, it wasn’t the enemy who did this… it was Israel itself.

This is the essence of the parable that Jesus told in Matthew:

Matthew 21:33-46 – “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.

 34 “Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

 35 “And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

 36 “Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

 37 “Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

 38 “But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’

 39 “So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

 41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’S doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

 44 “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

 45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.

 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

I think that Jesus was being quite sarcastic when He said it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem.  OUCH!!!  The nation’s capitol, the center of worship is the same place where they killed God’s prophets.  How ironic.

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

 35 “See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

These are tragic words… words that pierce the heart… words of compassion.  Can’t you just hear the pain in Jesus’ voice… can’t you just picture the sorrow of His heart and the tears streaming down His face as He utters these words that speak of the consequences of Israel’s rejection of the One, the very One who was responsible for their very existence?  These are heartrending words spoken to God’s chosen people… “How often I wanted to gather you in, but you were not willing.”  This passage certainly makes it clear to me that while God’s offer of salvation is genuine, the decision to accept or reject that offer is left up to mankind… God’s grace is (sad to say) able to be resisted.  The nation disobeyed God and now they are paying the consequences for their actions.

I am sure most Jews really struggle with this… it must bring about a real crisis of faith in their hearts.  After all, if they are God’s chosen people, why are they suffering at the hands of the world’s most wicked people?  Habakkuk asked this question some 2600 years ago. Very few Jews have found the right answer to this question.  If, indeed, the Scriptures are the oracles of God and they have been given the Scriptures, then why has God abandoned them?  The answer isn’t complicated… Deuteronomy 28-30 makes it very clear that obedience yields blessing and disobedience yields curses.  Let me give you a summary of God’s instructions in Deut. 30:

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,

 16 “in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

 17 “But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,

 18 “I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.

 19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

 20 “that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Why, if Israel is the apple of His eye, why is the nation on the receiving end of so much hatred?  Have you ever heard of Nazi Germany?  Have you ever heard of Hamas?  Why is there so much aggression against Israel?  How can the nation ever explain the untold misery… the suffering that just never stops?  Israel can’t understand their history of pain and suffering for one simple reason… they are unwilling to recognize that they have rejected their Messiah.  Israel is learning the hard way that to reject your Messiah is to leave yourself desolate.  As we read these verses I am reminded of what we will come to in Luke 19:37-44

37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,

 38 saying:” ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

 39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

 40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

 41  Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

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

 43 “For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,

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

Here is the account of the Triumphal Entry…the fickle crowd was shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” Then in verse 41, instead of being glad because of the celebration, Jesus saw the city and He wept. The Linguistic Key to the New Testament tells us He sobbed.

Can’t you hear the pain in His voice… it is expressed in the Oh…  “Oh Jerusalem.”  There is passion and sadness in this cry… it reminds me of the time David cried out when he heard the news that Absalom had died:

2 Samuel 18:33 – “O my son Absalom-my son, my son Absalom-if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!”

It’s that kind of emotion… pain, grief, agony. 

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!

The sad part is the nation wasn’t done yet.  It wouldn’t be long until they would crucify their own Messiah.

So the question we need to ask is this… Has God abandoned Israel forever?  If you know Romans 9-11, if you remember the many unconditional promises that God has made to the nation of Israel starting with the covenant God made with Abraham back in Genesis 15, if you understand the church is not Israel, then you will come to the conclusion that God is not done with the nation of Israel.  God is going to fulfill every single one of the promises He has made… both to the nation of Israel and to the church.

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule. 
4 minutes later: the violinist received his first dollar… a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
  
6 minutes later: a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. 
 
10 minutes later: 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The child stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes later: the musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour later: he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

  
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days earlier, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a true story (you can check it out on snopes.com). Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post (not a newspaper I would recommend) as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.  They wanted to find out: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
 
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: if we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. how many other things are we missing?

It is one thing to miss an exceptional musician, but it is quite another to miss the One Who is the Author and Giver of life… the very One who has made music possible.

Listen to this sermon here

 Years ago, before Korea was divided, a theology professor

from Yale visited a mission in northern Korea. He wanted to

preach in a country church, so the mission sent him with a missionary interpreter to a rural Korean village. The professor began his sermon, “All thought is divided into two categories, the concrete and the abstract.”

The Korean interpreter looked at the tiny congregation sitting

with eager attention on the floor of the little church…toothless grandmothers, barefoot schoolboys…and made a quick decision.  “Dear friends,” he translated, “I have come all the way from America to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ.” From that point on, the sermon was firmly in the interpreter’s hands.  (Christianity Today, 11/14/94]).

I don’t know your opinion about what this interpreter did, but I will tell you mine… I love what he did.  I love what he did because he knew that the eternal destiny of human souls was at stake.  He knew there is a very real war going on in which we face an enemy who is deceitful… so deceitful that he is able to transform himself into an angel of light, and so instead of allowing an opportunity slip by to present the Gospel… instead of allowing this audience to be deceived into thinking that they had heard the truth simply because a man stood before them with a bunch of letters after his name, he chose wisely to redeem the time because the days are evil.

Luke 13:22-30 – And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.

 23  Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them,

 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

 25 “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’

 26 “then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’

 27 “But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

 28 “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, and yourselves thrust out.

 29 “They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.

 30 “And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

I believe this text flies in the face… it goes against the grain… of what we hear so frequently today from America’s pulpits… it is nothing short of radical… it is a shocking statement because here Jesus is teaching us that there are going to be many people who want to enter the kingdom of God, who really think that they indeed are saved and yet, at the last moment, when it is too late to do anything about it, they discover that they never were saved.  That is a very shocking statement.  Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” 

Jesus makes it seem all so difficult… why would He say such a thing?  What is your understanding of the Gospel?  Is it easy or is it difficult to enter the kingdom of Heaven?  If I am reading this text correctly, Jesus is saying it is difficult, very difficult.  But when I hear preaching today, I hear a different note being struck.  For the most part, I hear the Gospel presented in ways that make it seem very easy to be a Christian.  Pray this prayer, say these words, and presto, you are a Christian.  That’s all it takes.  It’s really simple to be a Christian.  The popular notion today is say the right words, “Jesus save me,” and you’re in.

Why would Jesus mention striving? What’s the striving all about?  How could anyone want to enter in and yet not be able to enter in?  Is Jesus trying to make salvation so complicated that only a few can understand it?  Is God trying to hide salvation from the masses?  Doesn’t this passage make salvation seem very, very difficult, and if so, isn’t this contrary to everything you have heard about salvation? Who is right, and how are we going to reconcile the differences between what Jesus is teaching in this passage and what the prevailing notion of the day is?  Let’s look at the text.

23  Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them,

 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

The context is important… Jesus is speaking to a crowd made up largely of religious Jews.  These folks believed in the one true God… they were not atheists, agnostics or polytheists. They had a rich heritage… they reveled in the fact that they could trace their family tree back to Abraham… they believed the Hebrew Scriptures.  They would agree wholeheartedly that the Holy Scriptures were breathed out by God… they didn’t need any convincing of that.  These folks weren’t foolish enough to believe in the theory of evolution… they believed the Genesis account of creation.  Furthermore we know they never even questioned the Biblical account of the Flood, just as they never even questioned the Biblical account of Jonah.  That being the case, why would Jesus say that it was necessary to strive to enter into the kingdom of Heaven?    

In answering the question as to whether or not only few were going to be saved it is important to understand that Jesus was not addressing a pagan audience… in today’s vernacular we would say He was talking to the church crowd, most of whom (if not all) were quite sure that they were on their way Heaven. 

“Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?”  That is an excellent question for several reasons.  First of all it understands that it really is necessary to be saved.  It is an acknowledgement of the fact that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  It understands the fact that we are at enmity with God… our minds and hearts are darkened by sin… we are living under the imminent wrath of God.  As such, there is a universal need for a Savior… Someone who can deliver us from the condition that has separated us from God… Someone who can settle the sin issue so completely that mankind can indeed be restored to a right relationship with God. 

I like this question for another reason… the person who asked this question recognized that Jesus Christ was the appropriate One to answer his question.  Jesus alone would know if only a few were going to be saved.  And we don’t want to miss this important point… Jesus did not answer his question directly.  The man had asked, “Are there few who are saved?”  Jesus turned it around and said, “That’s not the right question… the only thing that matters from your point of view is whether or not you are saved.”

I saw a survey that George Barna did recently… I think it will astound you.  For the purposes of the survey, a “biblical worldview” was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the world who still rules the universe today.  In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.

Overall, the current research revealed that only 9 % of all American adults have a biblical worldview.  Among the sixty subgroups of folks who participated in the survey was one defined by those who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today and that they are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their Savior.  Labeled “born again Christians,” the study discovered that they were twice as likely as the average adult to possess a biblical worldview. However, that meant that even among born again Christians, less than one out of every five (19 %) had such an outlook on life.  I think we could ask the question today, “Are only a few really saved?” 

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Strive.  The Greek word is agwnizomai and it gives us our English word agonize.  Let me show you some of the other places this word is used so we can get the meaning of it:

John 18:36 –  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

What word in this text is the Greek word agwnizomai ?  It is the word fight.

1 Corinthians 9:25 – And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

What word in this text is the Greek word agwnizomai ?  It is the word competes.

Colossians 4:12 – Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

What word in this text is the Greek word agwnizomai ?  It is the words laboring fervently.

Let me quote John MacArthur on this, “It’s a fight.  It’s a striving.  About what?  What are we fighting about here?  We go right back to that critical passage in the 9^th Chapter of Luke and verse 23 where Jesus explains exactly what it’s about.  Verse 23, Luke 9, “If anyone wishes to come after me,” so you want to come into My kingdom do you?  You want to be saved, “let him deny himself.”  That’s it.  It’s not about self-fulfillment.  It’s about self-denial.  It’s the end of you.  And then take up His cross be willing to die if need be, daily.  In other words, you so desperately want to enter the kingdom of God and be saved from your sin and receive eternal life, that you are willing to die physically every day because this gift is so surpassing.

And then follow me.  And He says this, “For whoever wishes to save His life shall lose it.”  You try to hold on to your life the way you want to live it.  You’ll lose it.  Here’s where the battle lies.  The battle is between you and Christ.  If you lose, you win.  If you win, you lose.  You save your life, you lose it.  You lose your life, you save it.  What’s the point he says if you gain the whole world and you forfeit your life, your soul.

This is the battle.  The battle is in you.  The battle is repentance, legitimate honest self denial.  To the point, not where I want Jesus to fix my life or I want Jesus to fulfill my dreams or I want Jesus to do for me what I want to do.  Whatever you want to be, whatever you want to do, whatever you want to become, guess what?  God wants you to become that.  That’ll sell.  Just hook up to God and you’ll fulfill all your dreams.  It’s not about that.   It’s about the end of you and the end of your dreams and ambitions and desires and longings.  It’s a stunning statement, stunning.  You give up your life.  You give up your dreams.  You give up your goals.  You give up your desires.  He could cost you your family.  He brings a sword between people in your family.  You might have to give up all your possessions, who knows.  You have to be willing to hate yourself.  You have to be willing to hate everything around you in this kind of repentance. 

I am hoping that right about now the light is coming on so that you can reconcile the difference between the popular notion that it is easy to become a Christian and the teaching in our text where Jesus says it is difficult… very difficult to become a Christian. 

Matthew gives us a passage that strongly parallels our text… I have mentioned it several times over the years:

Matthew 7:13-15 – “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.

 14 “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 15  “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

In Matthew’s account Jesus explains to us in no uncertain terms what one of the main stumbling blocks is that prevents people from entering the kingdom of Heaven… false prophets.

Salvation is a narrow door.  Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man comes to the Father except through Me.”  For the most part, people hate that message.  “So you think you are the only ones going to be in Heaven?  A loving God wouldn’t send people to Hell.  So you think you’re right and everybody else is wrong?  I believe all roads lead to God and all the good people will go to Heaven.”  As you know, there are a whole lot of people who believe these statements, but Jesus doesn’t believe them, and His opinion is the only one that matters.

Salvation is hard to find.  Why?  There are so many voices… so much confusion… so much chaos.  There is so much deception, so much false Christianity all over the place that it’s hard to find the true door.  The following cartoons speak volumes:

We need to listen to what John the Baptist said. 

Luke 3:3-10 – And he [John the Baptist] went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,

 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.

 5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth;

 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

 7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

 8 “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

 9 “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

 10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”

John the Baptist is quoting Isaiah 40, and we can see he is preaching repentance.  There’s no forgiveness of sin apart from repentance.  Baptism was the way to demonstrate outwardly the inward spiritual work of repentance.  And so he says, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.”

John is not talking about a physical path here… he is talking about your heart.  Get your heart ready.  How?  You have to make the path straight.  Every ravine has to be filled up.  Every mountain and hill has to be brought low.  Every crooked place has to become straight and every road has to become smooth and then all flesh will see the salvation of God.  

A ravine (of Isaiah 40 that John the Baptist quoted) is a low place and it speaks metaphorically of the dark things of the heart.  You have to take a good, hard look at yourself and bring these desires to the light of God’s Word.  You have to deal honestly with the deep, dark sinful secrets of the heart. 

The high places speak metaphorically of your pride, your self-will, your self-esteem and these have to be confessed and forsaken.  The crooked places speak of the twisted thinking that runs counter to “Thus saith the Lord.”  You need to put off the old, put on the new and you do that by the renewing of your mind.  You have to exercise yourself unto godliness.  And the rough places speak of the clutter/baggage in your life.  There is work to be done if you want salvation to be real.  You are the one responsible to humble yourself so that your heart is a broken and contrite heart.

Salvation is the free gift of God, but don’t make the mistake of thinking you can take the free gift and be free to live as you see fit.  No.  No.  A 1000X NO.   You have to count the cost.  You want salvation?  Great, but you need to know while you can’t earn salvation by your works, God commands you to become His disciple and discipleship is costly.  There’s work to be done in your heart. 

I trust it is now easier to see why Jesus can say many will try to enter the kingdom of Heaven, but they will not be able to do so.  That is a very strong statement… it ought to make the hair stand up on the back of our neck… but the point is this, there are a whole lot of people who superficially want Jesus to be a part of their life. 

Jesus Christ is not looking for people who want to live their life their own way, and use Him as an insurance policy against Hell.  Jesus Christ is not looking for people who want to add His high moral standards to their unregenerate life.  Jesus Christ is not looking for people who want to appear outwardly all cleaned up, but inwardly demand to have their own way.

No, the Lord Jesus is looking for people who desire an entirely new nature… one created in His holy likeness.  He is looking for people who want to exchange their sin and their selfishness for His holiness and righteousness.  He is looking for those who are tired of being a slave to sin, and want to become His slave.  Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

The fact that the gate to Heaven is narrow and the gate to Hell is wide teaches us we had better not follow the crowd.  All roads don’t lead to Heaven so that you can take your pick. There is one and only one door, which is Jesus Christ. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). The entrance is narrow and exclusive, not broad and all-inclusive.

You might not like the fact that it is narrow. You might be thinking that it’s way too exclusive. You might be thinking, “I believe that God is loving and that He will accept everyone who tries to do his best. I believe that all sincere people will get through the door.”  Jesus, however, is the One who said the gate is narrow, not wide.  He made it narrow without checking

with us for our ideas about how wide it should be… imagine that!

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Please understand that Jesus isn’t suggesting salvation is earned… He is not suggesting our good deeds or human effort are sufficient to secure a place in Heaven.  The striving is the fervent labor that is required to go against the popular notions of the day.  The striving is the fervent labor that is required to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. The striving is the fervent labor that is required to defeat sin so that it doesn’t rule over you.

I don’t think the church today really does understand what the right invitation for salvation should be.  I don’t hear most evangelists challenging people to fight to receive salvation.  Strive to be saved.  Modern preaching makes salvation seem so easy, but if we compare today’s popular message with the model Jesus gives us here in our text, the two are not compatible. 

25 “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’

 26 “then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’

 27 “But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

 28 “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, and yourselves thrust out.

 29 “They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.

Let me give you a simple illustration in today’s vernacular to explain what Jesus is saying.  To do so I want to remind you of the parables we looked at last week.

Luke 13:18-21 – Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

 19 “It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

 20 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?

 21 “It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” 

Last week we saw that in the providence of God, He allows the tares to grow alongside the wheat and evil to lodge in “the tree” of the church.  In the parable of the mustard seed the Lord was showing us the rapid outward growth of the visible church and the evil that we find in it… in the parable of the leaven the Lord is showing us the rapid inward growth of false doctrine. 

Let me give you an example. 

Associated Press Fri., Aug 21, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS – The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination took openly gay clergy more fully into its fold Friday, as leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gay and lesbian people from serving as ministers.

Under the new policy, individual ELCA congregations will be allowed to hire homosexuals as clergy as long as they are in a committed relationships. Until now, gays and lesbians had to remain celibate to serve as clergy.

The change passed with the support of 68 percent of about 1,000 delegates at the ELCA’s national assembly. It makes the group, with about 4.7 million members in the U.S., one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance.

We don’t have to wonder about what God thinks of this.  The Bible makes it clear that homosexuality is an abomination… it is sin.   

We have an enemy who hates God and because you and I are made in the image and likeness of God he hates us too.  What our enemy has done is this… while we were sleeping he has taken down all the road signs on one side of the highway and replaced them with the signs on the other side of the highway.  Now anyone who is familiar with the area won’t be fooled, but if you are traveling through a strange city you are going to be in trouble if you follow the signs that say 40 West to California because unbeknownst to you, you will be traveling East.  And so it is spiritually… all the road signs say, “This way to Heaven,” but that road goes to Hell.  We have an enemy who has switched the signs and because the masses don’t know their Bible, they don’t have a clue they are headed down when they think they are headed up.

We were warned about wolves in sheep’s clothing… today there are many people who call themselves Christians, but they are on the broad road.  “You don’t have to worry about confessing your sin.  You don’t have to worry about self-control, denying yourself, and obedience to Christ.  You don’t have to concern yourself with having a broken and contrite spirit.  Just pray this little prayer and presto… you’re on your way to Heaven.”  That’s the broad road and it leads to destruction. 

Jesus said the narrow gate is hard to find because the true Gospel results in a war going on in your soul.  You have to come to grips with the fact that you are fallen and that you love your sin… you love your selfishness… you love to be the one in control of your life.  You want what you want and you want it now.  The Gospel that comes from the Bible doesn’t accommodate that.  That’s not the Gospel.  The Gospel is not Jesus wants to come to you and make you everything you want to be.  That’s a false Gospel.

25 “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door,

Let me remind you that you don’t know when you are going to die… you don’t know when God is going to shut the door.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking, “I’ve got plenty of time.”  You might not have another opportunity like you have right now as you hear the Word of God preached.  When you leave here you are most likely going to get involved with things to do at home, and the tug of the Spirit on your heart will fade away.  You might think that is a good thing, but later (too late) you will find out what a terrible mistake it was.

Once that door is shut, there will be no bargaining or back room deals.  We must receive salvation on God’s terms and in God’s time, or not at all.  At the Great White Throne everyone will know the truth and realize what a horrible mistake they have made.  But it will be too late. As J. C. Ryle said, “Hell is nothing but truth known too late.”  Salvation is too important a matter to put off to another day.

Furthermore, you don’t know when God is just going to get tired of your unbelief.  God is patient, but His patience is not a bottomless pit… God doesn’t have endless patience.  Romans 1 teaches us the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all those who suppress the truth.  If you continue to suppress the truth, you will discover that God has an end to His patience. 

Contrary to popular polling data, Hell will not be a wild

party for all the wicked.  And, contrary to popular opinion, Hell will not be solely for the worst of the worst… the Hitlers of this world.  Jesus was talking to religious Jews who thought they were deserving of Heaven… but these men would not submit to Jesus.  As such they entered the wide gate… the gate of destruction, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. One thing is certain… there will be many religious people in Hell.  That ought to be a warning to every one of us.  The Apostle Paul warned us:

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? –unless indeed you are disqualified. 2 Corinthians 13:5 

And listen to the warning from Proverbs 14:12:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone.  Saving faith, however, is never alone… it is always accompanied by good works. 

James 1:26 – For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.