Dangerous Assumptions

6 · Provides cultural context about Galilean identity and the extreme brutality of the massacre, where human blood mixed with sacrificial blood

Now the region of Galilee was known as a place where rebellion and kind of revolutionary sentiment was common. So maybe it's sort of like the Boston, Massachusetts of the 13 original colonies. Maybe that's kind of what Galileans are known for back then. Maybe that's why Pilate's making the example. We don't know. We don't actually know if these people who are slaughtered were actually revolutionaries or if they're just cast into the group with everyone else. What's clear though is that the slaughter is so brutal that by the time it's finished, the blood of these worshipers is indistinguishable from the blood of the lambs they were killing on the altar. So it's a horrendous scene.

7 · Examines possible motivations for the crowd raising this event — perhaps testing Jesus' political allegiances

And so they mentioned to Jesus, they want to get his take on the brutality. What do you think happened, Jesus? Did you hear about this? It might be that they're testing him. Does he sympathize with the revolutionaries? Is he sufficiently anti-Roman enough? We can't be totally sure. We don't totally know what's going on with that.

8 · Identifies the theological assumption Jesus detects beneath the crowd's question: suffering is direct punishment for sin

Jesus, though, sees something sinister lurking behind the surface of their reporting of this tragic death of these people. Jesus sees, but behind their bringing up of this event, that there's a theology at play. There's something that he wants to address. It's the unspoken assumption about what it means to suffer. Namely, that if someone suffers, you can draw a direct line of cause and effect. If they are suffering, it's because they have sinned.

9 · Expands the theological error: the belief that suffering proves one is an extraordinary sinner, worse than others

Put another way, if you suffer, if you face hardship, if calamity blindsides you, the one thing you can know for sure in the midst of the calamity is that it's happening, you're suffering for your sin. The unspoken thing in the crowd's hearts that Jesus addresses is that only sinners suffer. It's the generally held belief in that day. If you're suffering, if a tower falls on you, the only reason a tower would fall on you is if you were some sort of extraordinary, unusual, spectacular sinner.

10 · Identifies a biblical parallel to the crowd's theology in Job's comforters

It's the theology of Job's friends.

11 · Introduces the specific biblical citation supporting the parallel

In Job 4:7,

12 · Quotes Job's friends declaring that the innocent never perish, revealing the same faulty theology the crowd holds

"Remember, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where was the upright cut off?" The assumption is never. The righteous people don't suffer at the hands of tragedies, or so Job's friends tell him as he sits having suffered his own tragedy.

13 · Expands the pattern to include the disciples, showing this false theology pervades even Jesus' closest followers

It echoes the assumption of the disciples. It's not just the crowd. It's not just Job's friends. Even the disciples think this way in John 9:1. Jesus is walking along and he sees a man blind from birth. And his disciples said to him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? You see the assumption. If you're blind, it has to be some sort of punishment.

14 · Jesus explicitly refutes the suffering-equals-sin equation, contrasting the crowd's view of an eager-to-punish God with Scripture's consistent portrayal of a merciful, slow-to-anger God

Jesus confronts this dangerous assumption about suffering head on. "Do you think," he asks, "that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? No, I tell you." The idea that only sinners suffer, we don't often think of it this way, but the idea that only sinners suffer is in some ways the dark underbelly of prosperity theology. Prosperity theology says, if you believe hard enough, Blessing will come. But the flip side of that, the dark underbelly of that is if bad things come, it's because you haven't believed. It's because you've been disobedient. It's not a new theology. There's nothing new under the sun. For generations and millennia, God's people have assumed that suffering comes to sinners. Now, sin certainly has its consequences. The book of Proverbs makes that clear, right? It might be that suffering is the result of sin, but it's not a guarantee that suffering is the result of sin. In fact, what's happening here is the exact opposite of who God is. This assumption, these people are suffering because God pushed over a tower to crush them. Because they had sinned extraordinarily. The constant refrain of the Old Testament, the constant refrain, is not that God has like an itchy trigger finger, just waiting to punish, just waiting to blast us. But that's how many people seem to picture him. It's certainly how the crowds view things. The belief that the prerequisite for suffering is always sin is a fundamental and profound misunderstanding of the gospel itself. It's owing to a view that God is perpetually angry, that He's eager to punish, that God sits in heaven and He is quick to lash out, that He's only a hair's breadth, a moment away from crushing us at any given time. But that's not who the Bible presents to us. The Old Testament, again and again, the consistent refrain is not that God is eager to punish. The repeated refrain of Scripture is like Psalm 145:8: The Lord is gracious and merciful. He's slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The first time that promise appears in Numbers, it's tagged with, "He forgives iniquity and transgression." The character of God isn't that He's quick to punish, it's that He's merciful. He's slow to anger. He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve.

15 · States the theological consequence: assuming suffering proves sin both slanders God and severs believers from gospel comfort in suffering

And so when we draw a straight line between suffering and sin. If someone suffers, sin is involved. What we're actually doing is impugning God's character. You're contradicting the way God reveals His character in Scripture. And more than just impugning God's character, you're cutting yourself off from the comfort God wants us to experience in the midst of our suffering.

16 · Recounts contemporary persecution — a pregnant Pakistani Christian woman losing her unborn child and nearly dying in a church bombing — to illustrate righteous suffering

Freshly made aware to me this week. We were down at Voice of the Martyrs as we go each year to serve VOM as they serve the persecuted church. You don't go to a place like Voice of the Martyrs and not be reminded of the way that countless people are suffering for the name of Jesus throughout the world. I was reading in a book they have called I Am N. The book is part of an initiative based on the reality that When ISIS flooded through Iraq, part of what they did was they drew an Arabic N on the wall of homes that Christians resided in. The N standing for Nazarene, standing for these are Jesus people. And so the initiative from VOM is to say, I am N. That me, Matthew Wassink in Lenexa, Kansas, I am N. I stand with my suffering fellow believers in Iraq. And in that book that they've sent out with that initiative, there was the story, you've maybe heard of it or remembered, a year ago there was a brutal suicide bomber attack in Pakistan. The most brutal attack on Christians in the history of a country with a history of attacks on Christians. And these suicide bombers, it actually sounds like our passage in Luke, they went into a church. And they detonated their bombs and over 100 people were killed and over 100 people, 150 people were maimed and injured. It was a devastating thing. And you read the story about one of the women there, her name was Khalida. She was 8 months pregnant. And one of the pieces of shrapnel, one of the ball bearings ripped through her belly and killed her unborn child. And her legs were shattered and her arm was shattered. And, and then she received substandard medical care. And so the rods they put in her legs rusted and she had a massive infection and almost died.

17 · Applies the illustration: the dangerous assumption prevents genuine care for suffering believers and contradicts the biblical command to identify with imprisoned and mistreated brothers and sisters

And you hear those stories and you recognize the dangerous assumption that's sitting in this text. Did she lose her baby? Because she was a flagrant sinner? Did 100 of her brothers and sisters in Christ lose their lives as they went to worship because of some extraordinary transgression? No, the Bible doesn't teach us to view reality that way, does it? And yet there's something lurking in our hearts that thinks that way. And when we entertain this dangerous assumption that suffering is always the result of sin, it mars God's character, but it also cuts us off from actually caring for other believers. You can't walk out Hebrews 13:3, "Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated since you also are in the body." That's not the crowds in Luke 13. They're kind of pointing them and distancing themselves. Hebrews 13 says, no, you remember them, you pray with them, you consider yourself part of the same body and members with them in their imprisonment. And as much as we can embrace that with something like VOM, I think it still gets hard in the nitty-gritty of life.

18 · Pastoral anecdote of a father whose child died, tormented by the belief that his past sin caused the death — illustrating the pastoral devastation of this false theology

I remember sitting with a couple who had lost a young child, and understandably they were just absolutely wracked with grief. There had been tears and there had been questions. One of those times where you just sort of sit with them and you hold them and you cry with them, you pray with them, but most of the time you're just quiet. And the husband at one point pulled me aside and confessed, "I think my child died because of a certain past sin." And he's just got tears pouring down his face, and you could just see that he's pleading with me to give him assurance that his child isn't dead as direct punishment for his sin. It was heartbreaking to recognize that that's what he's struggling with as he sits in the hospital, as he puts his child in the grave. That's what's keeping him up at night.

19 · Contrasts the false theology with gospel truth: in Christ, punishment has already fallen on Jesus, so God now works all suffering for our good rather than against us

But the gospel contradicts this narrative. For those who are in Christ, God is not against us. God is not eager to punish. In fact, the gospel informs us that the Father, for those who are in Christ, has already poured out punishment. There's already been a calamity. There's already been a tragic death for our sins. It was the tragic death of Jesus dying in our place as our substitute. And the gospel tells us that that happens so that now in Christ, God is actively working all things together for our good. For those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We think of that verse and we sometimes think it's for the righteous people when they suffer. And we forget that the gospel tells us that all of us outside of Christ are not righteous. We've only been made righteous in Christ. And so the punishment we deserve has been poured out on Jesus. And now, because that punishment fell on Him and not on us, Now all things are working together for our good. That's what the gospel tells us.

20 · Presses the pastoral urgency: without correcting this theology, pastors cannot minister effectively to those drowning in false guilt over suffering

If we don't combat this dangerous assumption about suffering, how do you stand in a hospital with a father crying, asking you, did my sin cause the death of my son? Did my sin cause the death of my child? It's a significant thing to recognize the dangerous assumption that says suffering only ever happens because of our sin.

21 · Pivots from dangerous assumptions about suffering to dangerous assumptions about spiritual condition

More than just bad theological assumptions though, there's another thing at play. The people in the crowd and by extension, us as well, can hold dangerous assumptions about their own spiritual state.

22 · Connects Luke 13 to Luke 12's judgment warnings, establishing that the crowd reporting the massacre had just heard Jesus warn them directly about coming judgment

We took a break last week as Dave preached, so I'll give you a little reminder. Remember in Luke 12, Jesus concludes the chapter with a series of warnings. The Master's going to come and He's going to return, not when you're ready. And if the Master comes back and you're not being faithful as a servant, it won't be a good thing. Judgment is coming. He's been keeping on this Lucan theme of repentance and the need for repentance. And so with that in mind from Luke 12, Luke 13 starts out, you can literally translate verse 1, "Now on the same occasion..." There's no gap in time here. This isn't weeks later. This isn't a different group of people. This is the same crowd that just heard Jesus say, "Judgment is coming." You can figure out the weather. You know when the wind blows off the Mediterranean that rain is coming. You know when the wind blows from the south in the desert that it's going to get hot. You can tell the weather, and I'm in front of you and you can't interpret what's happening. To that same crowd, He tells this. He gives them this answer about the Galileans.

23 · Exposes the crowd's self-righteous reflex: hearing judgment warnings, they immediately deflect to others who 'deserve' judgment more

And their assumption is, their first instinct is to hear all of that about impending judgment, and to point to someone else. Jesus is just incredulous with them. Are you listening? Are you paying attention at all? What's going through your minds? Those people in Galilee weren't slaughtered. That tower didn't crush those people in Siloam because they were evil. No, I tell you, Jesus answered them, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. I'm warning you about judgment, and you're saying, "Well, yeah, what about these people? They already died." They didn't die because they were worse sinners. But don't you understand? They've all assumed the warnings are for somebody else.

24 · Diagnoses the psychological mechanism: self-righteousness produces a reflexive deflection that blinds people to their own spiritual danger

They've made this dangerous assumption about their own spiritual state in a significant way that they've been blinded by their own self-righteousness. If it wasn't so tragic, it'd be a fascinating psychological study. How is it that a guy is preaching to them and warning them about repentance and coming judgment, and their psychological reflex is to say, "Yeah, but they're worse." There's something going on in their hearts. Luke 12, these warnings to remain steady, to stay vigilant, to bear fruit. That Jesus will bring division. And their response is, "Yeah, but did you hear about the people who got slaughtered during worship? We've never been slaughtered during worship, Jesus."

25 · States the functional consequence of self-righteousness: it provides perpetual escape from conviction by shifting guilt onto others

"No, I tell you," Jesus says, "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." The lure of self-righteousness. Is that it allows us to constantly identify others who are worse sinners. It frees us from the conviction of our own shortcomings as we self-righteously shift guilt onto other people. The Spirit has us in the crosshairs of conviction, and you grab your buddy and pull them in front. That's what self-righteousness does.

26 · Dante's Terrace of Wrath illustrates self-righteousness as blinding smoke — moral superiority that renders one incapable of seeing reality or one's own danger

In one of the classics of Western literature, Dante's Divine Comedy, there's a scene that takes place. He envisions these terraces where there's different sins that are taking place. And on one of the terraces, the third terrace, it's called the Terrace of Wrath. And in Dante's epic poem, the Divine Comedy, on this Terrace of Wrath, there's people who are sitting there who's besetting sin is essentially self-righteous anger. Not exactly what we expect him to kind of put the target on, right? But he does. It's an entire scene where he examines and astutely depicts that these people are consumed with self-righteous anger. And one of the things he does in the poem is he depicts this third terrace, the terrace of wrath, as being thick with smoke. It's not that there's smoke coming out of their ears and their self-righteousness. The point Dante is making is that this thick smoke shows us, it's imagery that helps us to see self-righteousness blinds us. The thick smoke leaves everyone on this terrace completely incapable of examining their surroundings and having their bearings corrected and really knowing what's going on. Self-righteous anger, self-righteous blame shifting is like thick blinding smoke. A self-righteous person is incapable of seeing reality correctly. He can't see 2 inches in front of his face. His self-righteous moral superiority creates this dense fog. And so he's completely unaware of the peril that he's in.

27 · Rembrandt's painting of Stephen's martyrdom depicts the crowd's self-righteous rage as dehumanizing — faces twisted with animalistic hatred

It's precisely this that in another classic cultural artifact from Western civilization, in Rembrandt's painting of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, there's so many amazing things about the painting. First of all, he did it when he was 19 years old. So all of you budding artists, at 19, are you creating classics that centuries later are going to be hanging and selling for millions? So he paints this painting at 19. And it's the painting, it's a famous painting of Stephen being martyred. And Rembrandt is this master of light and detail, right? And so he uses light to just draw your eyes naturally to parts of the painting he wants you to focus on. The things that are outside of the light are just filler. They're just filling detail. And so as you'd imagine, in this painting, it shows St. Stephen right in the middle of the light. This beam of light comes right across the painting. And Stephen's in the middle of it. But behind Stephen, in the background, is the crowd. And this crowd is consumed by their self-righteous anger, their self-righteous hatred of this Jesus follower. And the skill of Rembrandt is seen when you look into the faces of the crowd. They've got these huge rocks in their hands and they're reaching back to throw them. But if you look at their faces, there's just this almost animalistic look to them. Their self-righteousness has left them almost looking as if they're not human, almost like they've lost their humanity.

28 · States the theological consequence: self-righteousness makes it impossible to see Christ's righteousness or recognize our need for His provision

As long as we are convinced of our own self-righteousness, of our own righteous standing, our own moral superiority, it's impossible to see the righteousness of Christ. Here is a man dying for his faith in the Messiah, and the self-righteous around him are holding stones to crush him to death. Blinded by the smoke of our own moral superiority, self-righteousness means we're incapable of seeing our need for Christ's provision. This is Jesus' warning to the crowd in Luke 13 and to us this morning. It's entirely possible to trust in our own righteousness, to trust in your own moral achievements, your own holy things that you're doing, your own goodness, to trust in those things so exclusively that you can't trust in Christ.

29 · Puritan quotation warning that even our duties — not just sins — can become false grounds of confidence if we trust them instead of Christ

A wise Puritan once said, "We must be watchful not only for our sins, for our duties may also undo us." Don't just be watchful for your sins. Be watchful for the way our hearts have a tendency to take good, holy things and to twist them into trophies of righteousness that we put our hope in instead of Jesus.

30 · Rembrandt's self-portrait in the mob reveals his recognition of his own capacity for self-righteous violence — a model of honest self-examination

And that's the real brilliance of Rembrandt's painting. He has all the characters you'd expect. Like I said, Stephen's in the middle, the beam of light is shining on him. He's standing there, this contradiction of the angry self-righteous mob. And here's this meek man dying for Christ and praying for those who are killing him. And he's looking up to the side to heaven. And his gaze goes past this young man who's sitting at the back of the crowd covered with cloaks. It's Saul, soon to be Paul. It's all the usual characters you'd expect, except for one. There's an anachronistic character in the painting. If you look and you know the history of the painting, just behind Stephen in the middle of the self-righteous mob that's slaughtering this man, there's a face, not connected to a body, just a face just sitting in the crowd. The face. Is Rembrandt's own face. It's such a discerning moment. Rembrandt painted his own face into the crowd of the self-righteous. It's a humble recognition that as he looked into his own heart, he saw that he was not all that different from the crowd ready to stone Stephen. Full of confidence in their own rightness, their own holiness.

31 · Warns that self-righteousness in a church produces factionalism, gossip, and poisonous comparison — everyone views their group as more holy than others

It is a devastating thing for self-righteousness to infect a church. It is a deadly thing for self-righteousness to take root in a local body. When that happens, you start listening to sermons and applying them to your neighbor. Right? You're quick to see your own virtues. You're quick to see the way that you are mature, right? And you're quick to whisper about another person's faults. It's a poison to the health of the body. You view your family as morally superior to that family over there. When this kind of self-righteousness takes root, factions grow. And these factions look at each other and all the factions are looking at each other thinking, "Well, they're not as holy as we are. We're the place where maturity is happening." The nature of the human heart is that we are all susceptible to this creeping elevation of our own worth and our own moral superiority.

32 · Story of a seminary-trained worshiper judging an older man for not singing or raising hands, revealing his own self-righteous superiority disguised as zeal for God

I was recently reading an article. It was more of a biographical confession. And it was about a young man who on a Sunday morning had his own self-righteousness revealed for all its nastiness. Now mercifully, it was only revealed to him. It wasn't like the whole church saw it. But it was a sobering thing. And he described just how he had become blind, how inaccurately he had viewed himself, and how ungraciously he was viewing the believers around him. On this given Sunday, he was in worship and they were singing. And, you know, he's a seminary-trained guy. He knows the nature of worship and the call to worship God with all our heart, strength, mind, and soul. The places in the Psalms where it talks about expressing worship with our hands, right? Expressing our affections in the midst of worship. He's doing this. He's a full believer. You engage your whole heart in worship. And so he's worshiping, his hands are raised, he's calling out, he's praying, he's clapping. And as he's worshiping and just full of the Spirit, he assumes, he notices that the guy in front of him is just standing there. And this older gentleman in front of him as he watches song after song, does not even appear to be singing. Not only is he not raising his hands, his hands are just in his pockets. And the guy writing the article just said, I was just looking and just thinking, what is your problem? We are here to worship God, the true and living God. We're in his presence. We're gathered as people, and you're going to stand here like a lump on a log with your hands in your pocket and not worship him? He's just vacillating between, "I love you, Jesus!" "What is your problem?" "You're glorious, God!" "You are a dolt!" And just kind of oblivious to what was going on in his heart.

33 · Narrative hinge: the moment of revelation approaches when the judged man turns to greet his judge

And he said they got to the end of worship and he'd been stewing on it for a couple songs, and the pastor gave his obligatory, "Now greet those around you." And the guy turns.

34 · The revelation: the 'unspiritual' man had been weeping in worship over God's mercy, exposing the narrator's self-righteous judgment and lifting the fog of moral superiority

And like a 10,000-pound punch to the gut, his eyes are blood red and his cheeks are covered with tears. And he hasn't been singing because the entire time in worship he's been weeping. He turns to him and he says, first thing out of his mouth, Though our sins were as scarlet, He has washed us white as snow. Isn't the mercy of God amazing? Glory to God! What's wrong with this guy? And then boom! The smoke and the fog are lifted. Isn't the mercy of God amazing? He doesn't treat us as our self-righteous sins deserve. What an amazing moment of self-discovery for this man.

35 · John Stott's quotation: the cross alone shatters our inflated self-view by revealing the full weight of our sin and Christ's substitutionary death

I love how John Stott puts it in his commentary on Galatians. Every time, every time we look to the cross, Christ seems to say to us, I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying. Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until We have visited a place called Calvary. It is there at the foot of the cross that we shrink to our true size.

36 · Direct pastoral pivot from illustration to congregation: the cross reminds us our trust is in Christ's blood alone, not our moral superiority

Did you hear about the Galileans? No. I'm at the foot of the cross and I'm freshly reminded my trust is only in His blood. What a reminder about the dangerous assumption of our spiritual condition when we're blinded by self-righteousness.

37 · Signals the third major section on assumptions about repentance

The final dangerous assumption is about the nature of repentance.

38 · Jesus confronts the crowd's assumptions that repentance is for others or can be delayed

Jesus perceives in the crowd a self-righteousness. He perceives in a crowd incorrect thoughts about suffering. And along with all of that package, he recognizes they are completely failing to understand that this message of repentance is for them. That's what self-righteousness does. It's everybody else who has to repent. I can sit down with anybody in the church and have coffee with them and give them the 10 reasons I think they need to repent. That's what a self-righteous person thinks. That's how they interact with people. Those lists are just unfolding in their mind. This assumption it's always others who have to repent. Or the other dangerous assumption, maybe actually there might be some things I got to get straightened out, but there's always tomorrow. There's always time down the road. Jesus emphatically confronts these assumptions. Twice he declares in verse 3 and verse 5, identical phrases. He's driving home the point. No, I tell you, it's not the Galileans and the people under the tower who are extraordinary sinners. No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you with all likewise will perish. I'm not giving these messages to go home and talk to your neighbor or your mother-in-law. I'm cutting to your heart. Oswald Chambers is exactly correct when he writes, the entrance into the kingdom of God is through sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man's respectable goodness. Then the Holy Spirit who produces these struggles begins the formation of the Son of God in the person's life. The foundation of Christianity, Chambers writes, the foundation of Christianity is repentance. There is no entering the kingdom outside of repentance.

39 · Signals the shift to the parable of the fig tree as exposition of the repentance theme

So Jesus tells the story of a fig tree. He wants to draw this truth out.

40 · Explains the parable's agricultural details: fig trees normally bear fruit naturally, but this one receives extraordinary patience and care — three years plus a fourth year with special cultivation

It's not uncommon in that day to plant a fig tree in your vineyard. The beautiful thing about a fig tree is they're not supposed to require much work. They grow in that part of the country and you plant them. The law tells you for 3 years you don't pick the fruit. That's the law. It's God being really helpful to people and just saying, "I'm going to make it a law that when you plant a fig tree, you can't pick the fruit for 3 years because it's not mature yet. So I'm going to tell you you can't do it so that after 3 years, the fruit's really nice and choice. You've allowed it to mature." But they just sort of grow on their own. That's what fig trees do. And so here this guy has planted a fig tree and he's given it its period of waiting, and now he's come, it's mature, it's time. Comes the first year, no fruit. What's wrong with my fig tree? Comes back the second year, still no fruit. I'll be patient, I'll come a third year, still no fruit. And then at the urging of the vinedresser, he's willing to allow for a whole nother year. At the urging of the vintresser, we'll, like, take extra measures for this tree. We'll dig a trench around it and we'll cover it with fertilizer and manure. We'll add extra nutrients to get fruit from this tree.

41 · States the parable's conclusion: if fruit still does not appear after extraordinary patience, judgment will come

But Jesus warns, at that point, if there's no fruit, the tree will be cut down.

42 · Connects the fig tree parable to John the Baptist's warning in Luke 3: the axe is already at the root — repentance must bear fruit or judgment will come

It echoes the words of John the Baptist at the beginning of the gospel in Luke 3. To the crowds, John says, they're coming to be baptized. They want their spiritual experience, another emblem of righteousness, another trophy of righteousness. John says to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

43 · Synthesizes Chambers' teaching with the parable: real repentance produces visible fruit — transformation into Christ-likeness — and fruitless profession will face judgment

Go back to Oswald Chambers' quote. The entrance into the kingdom of God is through sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man's respectable goodness. You're not good. You're a brood of vipers. Then the Holy Spirit who produces these struggles, the Spirit who brings about repentance, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person's life. You enter the kingdom of God through repentance, and when that repentance is real, you start to look like the Son of God. And if you're never looking like the Son of God— first year, no fruit. Second year, no fruit. Third year, no fruit. Manure, fertilizer, care, extra water— still no fruit. There's a judgment coming. Real repentance bears fruit. It reveals itself not just in words, but in a lifestyle. The lifestyle of the kingdom that Luke is describing for us.

44 · Defines repentance's essence: returning repeatedly to Christ

If he had to put a point on that lifestyle, it's this: the chief fruit of repentance is it's a lifestyle that returns again and again to the person of Jesus. Repentance is all about returning to the person of Christ. The failure of the crowds is they're doing the wrong kind of repenting. They're repenting and they're failing to see the Messiah. Jesus is mercifully warning us. This story, you read about a fig tree and the guy is getting ready to chop it, like, man, maybe God does have an itchy trigger finger. No, there's mercy all over this passage. He waits for the tree to mature. And then for 3 years patiently comes looking for fruit. He is slow to anger. He is abounding in steadfast love. He will authorize the trench. He will authorize extra grace. But there comes a point where judgment arrives. Jesus is mercifully warning us. The story is telling us of God's patience, but it's also telling us, repent. Jesus is pleading with us this morning, return to Him. Joel 2:12, yet even now, declares the Lord, return to Me with all your heart. Even now, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. And rend your hearts, not your garments. Don't pretend like you're repenting. Really give me your hearts. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He relents over disaster.

45 · Personal story of a high school classmate who died suddenly in a car accident, illustrating the unpredictability of death and the danger of assuming there's always time to repent

I hadn't thought of this person in probably a decade. As I was preparing this morning, wasn't even gonna be part of the sermon, I thought of a kid I knew in high school. His name was Nate Leslie. I think we called him Los Ojos. Is ojos the word for eyes in Spanish? He kind of had big eyes. That was kind of our joking nickname for Leslie. And he was a nice kid, he was a gregarious kid, loving life kid. He was just always kind of one of those kids that he was nice, didn't know the Lord, but you kind of always thought eventually he's gonna get it together. And I remember my junior year, he was a senior, coming to school on Monday and finding out that on Sunday night he was driving down the road and went to pass a tractor and going over a hill and collided with another truck, and he was killed. And it just stunned us. And I remember this table of his friends and these girls just weeping. And it was just this sobering moment of recognizing we have no idea.

46 · Applies the illustration to the text's warning: the assumption that repentance can be delayed is refuted by Jesus' urgent 'even now' call to return

And the dangerous assumption of repentance is that there's always tomorrow. But Jesus beckons us today, "Yet even now, return to me with all your heart."

47 · Transitions to communion, framing the Lord's Table as an act of repentance rather than mere ritual

In a few moments, we're going to go to the table in communion. At Providence, we invite everyone to take communion with us, provided you've been baptized, you've made a credible profession of faith in Christ, and you're living in accountable relationships with other believers. We're going to go to the table, but I want us to remember as we go there, the table is a place of repentance.

48 · Reframes communion: Christ's death purchased our repentance by transforming our hearts

It's the place where we're reminded that Christ went to the cross to secure for us our repentance. As he dies on the cross, he's purchasing your repentance. Have you ever thought of the cross in that way? He's dying to ensure that your heart of stone will become a heart of flesh. The table reminds us that Christ goes to the cross for individuals. He died for us, the righteous for the unrighteous. He suffered for us, the sinless one for sinners. And it's a reminder as we come to the table that he welcomes us. To take and to eat and to drink, to spiritually feast on him. All of that language that we're used to when we celebrate communion, right? But part of what we're doing when we come to the table is recognizing that the table represents Jesus with his arms wide saying, come to me, return to me. Repentance isn't something you just do at the beginning of your life in Christ. Repentance is a lifestyle.

49 · Direct application: each time we approach the cross or the table, we are answering Christ's invitation to return to Him in repentance

Every time we look at the cross, every time we come to the table, Christ is saying, "Return to me. Return to me."

50 · Closing prayer invoking the Spirit's work to soften hearts, convert the lost, and help believers see communion as returning to Jesus with repentance and trust

Would you bow your heads? Lord, I ask that you would rend our hearts this morning. Lord, as your prophet Joel prayed and prophesied, Lord, would you do the spiritual work of softening our hearts? Lord, I pray that there are people sitting here who have never bent their knee, who for the first time this morning, Lord, that you would shine the light of the gospel into their hearts. Help them to see that Jesus is the perfect provision for their sins. Help them to see that you in love have sent your to die in their place. Help them to trust in Jesus this morning. And God, I pray for all of your people, all of those who've already been joined to your Son. As we come to the table this morning, would you do a work in our hearts? Would you remind us that as we come to the table, we are returning to Jesus? Lord God, help us to put off sin. Help us to die to self-righteousness, to kill gossip, to put away slander, to fight against laziness, to put away unbelief, to put away countless other sins, Lord. But in all of those things, as we come to the table, help us to remember. Give us fresh eyes to see that we are returning to Jesus. And that his arms are open wide. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.