Luke 13:1-17

Holy Spirit now upon us.

God, as we open up the word to be preached, we ask that you would convict us where we need convicting.

Make us holy, God.

Refine us.

Comfort us where we need comforting.

Lord, let us hear your voice above all else.

We love you.

We don't take you for granted.

Jesus' name, amen.

All right.

I have an exciting person to introduce you guys here today.

Calder, if you wouldn't mind coming up, if you guys could give a light round of applause for the great Calder Marriott.

So here's the thing about Calder.

It's kind of the year of crossway church plant.

If you guys remember in January, we sent out uh Matt Brown and the Lubowski fam and uh to plant Golden City out in Golden.

And then a few weeks ago we had Beck Easton, who's planting with his team in Pueblo, come and preach for us.

And today we're having yet another.

Calder and his team are print are planting in in Boulder.

So, Calder, would you would you mind telling us a little bit where we're at in the process here?

Yeah, we uh we've been meeting as a core team in one of our core team members' house since August 2nd.

We're just going through DNA, who we are, we sing, take communion together.

And on the 13th, we'll meet in our building as just a team, pray, get things ready, and then launch Sunday is September 20th.

And how long has this been uh how long you guys have been working towards this?

Uh me and my wife, eight years.

And why Boulder called her?

Tell us.

I mean, we know it needs it, but tell us why for you.

The same reason why Denver.

Jesus loves Boulder, this I know for the Bible tells me.

So there's uh I mean recent reports and conversations with pastors on Boulder, the stats right now are 0.8% evangelical.

Put that in kind of a little bit more context.

China's two to three percent, depending on what you're reading and looking at.

Boulder's what, 30 minutes from here?

Yeah, um, and there's a yeah, there's a huge need for churches.

There's a handful there doing an awesome work, and we're just joining in what's already going on.

So, Calder, thanks for taking your team and planting in a place of great need, bro.

Like from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for doing that for the kingdom of God and here at Crossway and for our state.

Um, I had one other question I was gonna ask you.

If there's something we can pray for you for right now, you're about to sell your house, Lord willing, but you're moving to what?

I don't know.

You don't have a place to live yet.

No idea.

So if we could pray for that, but if there's something else that we could pray for, what else would you say?

I would say preservation and protection if the marriage is on our team, my own marriage.

Um yeah, you we can already see.

I mean, we're kind of in the honeymoon phase.

Everybody's getting along, laughing, loving one another.

But we can already see Satan's thumb pressing Satan pressing his thumb into some things.

We can feel it, um, especially in our family.

Just things are starting to, the volume's starting to ratchet up.

Um, and we can feel it.

So yeah.

Calder, thanks for bringing the word for us today.

Have at it, bro.

Give it up for Calder, everyone.

Well, I get to continue on in your guys' series of Luke.

So if you're not already there, we're in Luke chapter 13, verses 1 through 17 this morning.

Luke 13:1–17

And I've I've been wrestling with this text because it's a heavy one.

Adam didn't invite me here to preach fluff this morning.

This text is heavy.

And the text demands atone this morning.

We're gonna wrestle with some questions.

We're not gonna dive deep into these questions because Jesus doesn't necessarily do that.

But some of the questions we're gonna nick or hit are why did that evil happen?

If God is good, why do things like killings, death, natural disasters, all of those things, why do those things happen?

We're gonna circle those questions.

Because there's a reality here in our text this morning in Luke chapter 13, verses 1 through 17, that Jesus wants to feel.

Luke 13:1–17

One of those things that he wants his audience and us today to feel is our mortality.

I read this line in a fiction book a couple months ago.

The author said this young men know they will die, old men believe they will die.

There's a difference there.

Are we people that know it or believe it?

What did Moses say in Psalms 90, verse 12?

Psalms 90:12

Lord, teach us to number our days.

Why?

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Jesus wants us to feel that.

I'm convinced of it from Luke 13.

And also, Jesus wants us to know life.

We're gonna unpack an amazing parable in this passage that the vine dresser is patient.

So here's where we're headed this morning.

Three points for what is one of the main aims of these 17 verses.

Point number one, repent or perish.

And for that, we'll be in verses one through five.

And just definitionally, repent is kind of a Christianese word, right?

What does it mean?

Repent means turn from the direction that you're headed and turn to something or someone else.

Turn from to turn to, repent or perish, and we'll unpack perish here in a couple minutes.

Next, it's an unbelievable kindness that we have this parable in this text and in Luke.

The vine dresser is patient.

Repent.

For that will be in verses six through nine.

And lastly, there's a call to us churched folk.

Repent of religious hypocrisy.

For that, that'll be verses 10 through 17.

For what is, I think, one of one of the many aims of these 17 verses, repent.

Why?

For the salvation of God is here.

Let me pray for us one more time and we're gonna dive into the text this morning.

Well, Father, simultaneously the task at hand is one of the most impossible things that you could have set before us this morning.

Use sinful and broken people to stir in the hearts of sinful and broken people affections for your son.

So I pray that you would help to that end this morning.

And the singing of your word, the preaching of your word, the enjoyment of the sacraments and communion.

And Father, at the same time, the tax at hand is unbelievably easy to do without you.

So, Father, I beg for help.

I beg for mercy.

I beg for clarity of mind and concision of speech.

I pray that your word would do the very thing that you have set it out to do this morning in this sacred moment.

So, Father, I pray that you would make much of your son.

I pray that you would raise the dead to life this morning.

I pray that you would stir in the hearts of those of us who are alive in your son for the mission of your kingdom.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So, point number one, repent or perish.

Now let's just quickly recap where you guys have come from.

Chapter 13, verses 1 through 7 is a part of teachings that began in chapter 12 of Luke.

So many of those teachings, as you guys have been unpacking, have had the themes of be ready, be prepared for the times, the master is returning, settle accounts with debtors.

And some of these teachings we see in Luke chapter 12 and on now into 13, some of them Jesus directs towards the crowds that are with him.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Some of them he's directing towards his disciples.

And most recently, in Luke chapter 12, verse 54, Jesus is addressing the crowds again.

Luke 12:54

And so look at verse 1 of chapter 13 with me.

There were some present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

Okay, let's unpack a few things.

The people respond to Jesus' most recent teaching of settling accounts and making things right before men.

And if you would do that to avoid jail time, wouldn't you do that before God before it's too late?

And after the people hear that teaching, something comes into their minds.

What the people recount to Jesus is Pilate and his men's butchering of the Galileans as they're coming to Jerusalem for Passover.

And what Jesus does next, in the response of these people, inquiry of this event, is the most Jesus thing ever.

Look at verses two through five with me.

And Jesus answered them, Do you all think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?

No, I tell you, but unless you all repent, you will all likewise perish.

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem?

No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Jesus is doing a lot here.

So let's try and unpack it piece by piece.

One of the things that Jesus is doing in confronting the crowds is he's correcting wrong Orthodox belief that the Jews held at the time.

A belief that went something like this: that the greater the calamity that so-and-so suffered, or those people suffered, indicated the level of wickedness that they had committed or were committing.

In his audience, the crowds, after settling the debts with the accusers, they may have been thinking of the Galileans who were murdered, and they must have been murdered because they had a high debt to settle.

And Jesus makes something clear that the Galileans who were butchered by Pilate's men were no worse than anyone hearing that teaching this morning.

And Jesus further emphasizes this point with the Tower of Siloam falling and killing 18 people.

Jesus is saying this isn't some cosmic karma that caused these people to die in the way that they did.

Now, interestingly, Jesus never gives a long-winded why this happened in the sovereignty and providence of God.

But he gives them the warning that the people needed in this moment.

There's a theme that started in chapter 12, verse 57 to 59, and it's continuing here in 13.

Be reconciled to God.

And so let's unpack something else.

The word perish.

I don't know what your other translations say.

The ESV is perish, but it's worth a quick pause and ponder over this word.

This word is not necessarily emphasizing physical death, while it's implied in there.

Rather, perish is coming under God's judgment.

And this coming under God's judgment or the wrath of God is an infinitely worse reality than just physically dying.

Loved ones.

And if you have not been told that you're loved today, you are loved by the king.

We'll talk about that soon.

But loved ones, the text is clear on a few points.

All of us will die.

And for those of us who are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, by the gospel of Jesus, our death is just a gateway to life with Jesus forever.

But for those of you who are not alive in Jesus Christ, there is a far worse reality waiting that is already happening right now as we live.

You see, tragic things happen.

And we may never get the answer behind the why.

Why the school shooting, why the plane crash, why the car accident, why the diagnosis, why the unforeseen death, why the foreseen death.

But the tragedy ought to serve as a warning.

You will die.

None of us knows the day or the time.

As a matter of fact, those who died today already are in the process of dying and will die today, at least for the most part, probably didn't put it on the Google calendars last week.

They didn't plan it.

And there's a further reality of death that I've got to unpack in perishing.

This is not just a one-day reality.

But for those who do not believe in their hearts to confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, the Bible is clear.

You are dead right now in trespasses and sins.

Jesus is addressing this reality too in his message.

He wants desperately the people to see what happens and then repent or perish.

This is a theme that's been building in Luke since chapter 3.

Today, not tomorrow, for tomorrow's made up.

Today is the day of salvation.

We don't know what the day will hold.

So please know that if you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, hear the word preached.

Jesus died for you, He rose for you, and He's coming again to make all things right.

Faith comes through hearing, hearing through the Word of God.

The call is simple: repent or perish.

And for those of us thinking, all right, sweet, I can sit back, check out.

This part of the text is not for me.

We've missed the point.

One Puritan preached this at a friend's funeral.

He says, Paul says, work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

Many men, when they come to die, are troubled about this.

Oh, I have not done as I should have this or that, but I haven't done it.

I've done amiss.

I have not thoroughly repented.

Something is not done that should have been.

I have not made my evidences sound.

I have not made my calling and election sure.

Oh my conscience is troubled, and my soul cannot find that peace in God.

Oh, do take warning by them.

And now we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and upon this ground, because the time is short, repent from sin or perish.

Brothers and sisters, do we spend the days wisely redeeming the time, believing that death is an inevitability that will come at a time that we have not planned?

And we will one day, soon and very soon, see the righteous judge face to face.

If Jesus comes back or you die at 5 p.m., midnight, 1 a.m.

today, or tomorrow morning, would we be ashamed to be caught by Jesus when he comes back or when we see him face to face doing the things that we're doing?

Let us no longer forsake the thoughts and the reality of our mortality and live as fools.

We've got to stop wasting time.

It's short.

And the call is simple repent or perish.

And to help his audience further see the danger at hand and the mercy that is hanging over them.

He tells a short story with a major lesson.

Point number two, the vine dresser is patient.

Repent.

Now this parable in verses six through nine, I think, is the central point of these two stories in the first part of Luke 13 and the next part.

As a matter of fact, I think that it might be one of the main aims that Jesus is getting at, starting in Luke chapter 12.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

And so let's try and unpack this parable.

Look at verses 6 through 7 with me of Luke chapter 13.

Luke 13 · chapter mention

And we when Jesus told this parable, or and he told this parable, a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

And he said to the vine dresser, Look, for these three years now I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none.

Cut it down.

Why should it use up the ground?

We've got to do a little legwork here.

We've got to take off our western glasses and put on the glasses of the original audience to hear and capture what Jesus is getting at in this parable.

Jesus is addressing the sinful state of the Jewish nation at the time.

And Jesus compared the state of the nation with the barren fig tree.

And this fig tree is not, Jesus didn't just pick his favorite fruit tree and use it.

Fig tree is often imagery used in the Old Testament to describe Israel.

And further, fruit trees of all kinds, not just figs, were planted in vineyards.

And according to Leviticus chapter 19, verse 23, the fruit of trees planted in vineyards could not be touched or eaten for three years.

Leviticus 19:23

Let's consider that for a moment.

The man with a fig tree never finds fruit on this tree.

And many scholars and commentators point out that the fig tree that Jesus has in mind is very likely six years old in light of Leviticus chapter 19, verse 23.

Leviticus 19:23

The man knows he can't go look at the tree and take the fruit until three years after.

Six years.

The man gave this tree to produce fruit.

This is more than enough time for the tree to bear fruit.

And the man who planted this tree did what was right and reasonable to do with the tree.

He had the right to make room for something that would bear fruit.

The nation of Israel in this parable, and the leaders in particular that we'll see in the next few verses of Luke chapter 13, are facing judgment if they do not repent.

Luke 13 · chapter mention

But look at verses 8 through 9 with me.

Look at verses 8 through 9.

And the vine dresser answered him, Sir, let the tree alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure.

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

It is purely the tender care and patience of the vine dresser to try and get that tree to produce fruit.

The vine dresser is giving the tree one last chance for bearing fruit.

And if after the year there's no fruit on it, then they can cut it down.

But notice something.

The vine dresser doesn't say to the man who owns the vineyard, hey, if this tree produces good, bad fruit, you can still cut it down.

If it doesn't produce enough fruit, you can cut it down.

No, no, no, just fruit.

Even if there's just a tiny little fig, fruit, keep the tree.

Even if the fruit is bad for the first year, the fruit is there.

There is a limited period for the duration for the extended period of mercy.

And the tree doesn't know when the time will come for the vine dresser to chop it down.

And so let's think a moment about this vine dresser.

Let's ponder the tender care of what he's doing for this tree.

He digs around the tree to loosen the soil so that water can more easily and more readily sink down to the roots.

He does this in part also to allow the roots to grow and take more root down into the soil.

He gives the soil the nutrients the soil and the tree need in order to bear fruit.

His hands are in the dirt, he's sweaty, he's invested, he's involved.

There's a level of love for this tree.

I got a feeling of our vine dresser in this parable that a smoldering wick he will not quench, and a broken flax he will not break.

The tender mercy of this vine dresser is breathtaking.

The tree has and will receive everything it needs to bear fruit.

And if that fruit does not come, it will be cut down.

The main theme of chapter 13, 1 through 9, and soon too, 10 through 17 is clear.

Repent.

And let's unpack that a little bit more.

Repentance is a central theme of John the Baptist's teaching in Luke chapter 3, verses 8 through 9.

Luke 3:8–9

It's in Jesus' preaching in Luke chapter 5, and soon it will be the heart, one of the heart messages of the church's preaching, and Luke's counterpart to the Gospel of Luke, Acts.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

And Jesus is pleading with his audience for repentance, lest the people and the religious leaders come under the judgment of God and perish.

It was not just that the slaughtered Galileans or the people who were crushed by the tower would perish, but everyone will come under divine judgment if repentance has not happened.

Time is short.

And the patience and the kindness of our vine dresser in this parable is meant to lead to repentance.

Recall Paul's words with me, that he addresses to the religious elite, that he talks to the good old church people.

In Romans chapter 2, verse 4, he says this, or do you presume, O church, on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Romans 2:4

Loved ones, each and every burst of flavor in our food is an act of kindness meant to lead us to God.

Each and every bout of deep and true laughter with friends is meant to lead us to the resurrected Lord.

Each and every view of the mountains to the west is a sweet showing off of God's immeasurable riches and kindness and mercy.

Can you imagine why an infinitely holy God would reveal Himself specifically to us in His Word?

And that we can read on our phones, on our desks, at any time, at any day, promises of God and the love for His people moment by moment.

That kind of kindness is unbelievable.

And that's meant to do something.

Lead us to repentance, lead us to Him.

God's patience and kindness is a theme dripping on every page of Scripture.

And the vine dresser's patience and kindness is meant to lead that tree to fruit or to repentance.

Today is the day of repentance, not tomorrow.

Salvation is here now.

And Jesus is not done yet.

The next story that Luke puts immediately after this one is one that calls for repentance of religious hypocrisy, or for all of us who grew up in the church, who think we're too good for repentance, who are perhaps blind.

To our own respectable sins.

So, point number three, repent of religious hypocrisy.

Now there's some debate, as is true of literally every single verse in the Bible, of how this is linked to the larger context as the whole.

But the connection of verses 10 through 17 with the preceding passage is an example of God's visitation of salvation among the people in Israel and the hypocrisy with which the Israel leaders responded.

The unfruitful tree that Jesus discusses in this parable is immediately shown here in the story of religious hypocrisy.

And so let's unpack it.

Look at verse 10 with me.

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

Pause for a moment.

This is important.

This is the last time that Luke records Jesus teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath.

And this story is intended to remind Luke's audience of Jesus' first appearance in the synagogue on the Sabbath.

The first time, recall with me, he reads from Isaiah and proclaims what?

That he is the anointed one to proclaim good news to the poor and set the captives free.

And after he does this in Luke chapter 3, Jesus confronts the people.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

The people try to throw him off a cliff.

The situation in Israel is dire.

And the need for repentance is not a new need in chapter 13, 1 through 17.

Jesus heals on the Sabbath in the synagogue two other times in Luke.

In chapter 4, 31 to 37, Jesus heals, and the tension over what to do with Jesus by the religious leaders, the volume turns up.

And the next healing is in chapter 6.

And the rulers are now waiting for Jesus to heal, and the text says this, so that they might find reason to accuse him.

The volume is cranked a little louder.

Jesus heals in Luke 6, confronts the religious leaders, and now the tension, you can see it, you can feel it, you can cut it.

The tension here in Luke chapter 13 is mounting to a high.

Luke 13 · chapter mention

And Jesus is here in Luke 13 to show and do the very thing that he has done time and time again in Luke, that he displayed in Luke chapter 3 to set the captives free.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Look at verse 11 through 13 with me.

And behold, there is a woman who had a disabling spirit for 18 years.

She was bent over, she could not fully straighten herself.

And when Jesus saw her, he called over to her and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your disability.

And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.

Let's unpack some things.

This woman is very probably, very likely known by the people in the region.

She was likely a regular at the synagogue.

And there's a double description of her disability in this text.

And this double description is telling.

And so let's unpack it a little bit.

The phrase disabling spirit.

This is important.

This is telling of what she's been going through for 18 years.

The biblical authors, Matthew, Mark, and Luke especially, are not shy in ascribing ailments to demonic forces.

As a matter of fact, they know when not to ascribe them to demonic forces.

They know when and they know when not.

And Luke, the doctor, does not provide a medical diagnosis, but rather describes it as a disabling spirit.

Later, too, in just a few verses, Jesus says, This woman was bound by Satan for 18 years.

And I hope that we can feel with her for a moment.

So let's just try and imagine something.

Let's try and imagine her life.

Let's try and step into her sandals.

For 18 years, this woman has been bent over and not fully able to stand.

Imagine daily tasks being nearly impossible.

Imagine the way different people would have treated her based on how she looked and was slumped over.

Imagine, perhaps this might have been true for her, we don't know.

But imagine not being known for who you are, but your disability and your infirmity.

People not caring much for your bubbly personality or warm smile, but rather being known for your inability to stand upright.

Did she receive the true care she needed from the synagogue rulers who were placed by God in her life to shepherd her and care for her?

Did she receive the love that she needed in this 18-year infirmity?

We will see in just a moment that if she did, it was not from a heart that actually cared for her at all, but was just following regulation and rule to check a box.

But let's look at something else.

Let's look at the true shepherd.

Look at this phrase.

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, remember, there's crowds everywhere.

Let's unpack a few things.

The woman makes no request of Jesus.

There are many people pressing around him, and yet he sees her and calls to her and touches her.

And the healing is instantaneous.

Can you imagine the moment for this woman?

Eighteen years of suffering and pain gone in a moment at the merciful touch of the vine dresser.

What a moment this must have been for this woman.

We don't know what she did other than she glorified God, but did she raise her arms uplifted over her head for the first time in decades?

Did she skip around the room as a freed woman?

Did she fall on her knees and bow her head before the king?

We don't know, but we do know that she gave glory to Jesus.

We get a picture of what it looks like for the vine dresser to make every provision of repentance for the people in the healing of this woman.

He healed a woman who was disabled by Satan for 18 years.

We get in real time the vine dresser with his hands in the dirt making way for the roots to receive water, to see and feel the nutrients of the touch of the vine dresser and the healing of this woman.

And yet the response is horrifying.

Look at verse 14.

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant, because Jesus, healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, There are six days in which work ought to be done.

Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath.

The ruler is outraged.

The ruler's reverence for the Sabbath outweighed his love, their love for God and neighbor.

Again, the woman is very likely known by the ruler of this particular synagogue in this region, and yet he responds like this, after eighteen years of suffering and oppression.

What kind of heart are we dealing with that is not rejoicing over the healing of this woman?

A heart that is blinded to his own need for repentance, a heart that if it does not repent will likewise perish.

And look at Jesus' response in verses 15 to 17.

Then Jesus answered him, You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water?

And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at the glorious things that were done by him.

Jesus calls out.

Notice he note he addresses the ruler singularly, but then he says hypocrites plurally.

Jesus calls out all those who like the ruler are placing tradition and added regulation over mercy and compassion.

The ruler who is following added extra biblical regulation that in his mind helped him safeguard from breaking the Sabbath law, and in that sense, missed entirely what the Sabbath was about.

And the hypocrites that Jesus confronts have elevated tradition over love of God and neighbor.

Official Judaism in Luke, Mark, Matthew chose to disregard God's mercy toward people as desperate as a crippled woman.

You know what's frightening about this?

This likely was not intentional.

They thought they were honoring God and how they upheld the Sabbath, and they completely missed it.

The rulers were doomed, a barren fig tree with the axe laid at the foot of the tree.

They were doomed for they forsook what the Old Testament commanded time and time again: justice, mercy, humility, and love.

And what Jesus finds instead is hypocrisy.

For the religious leaders, the axe is laid at the fruit of a barren fig tree.

And yet Jesus is here watering the roots.

It is a grace for Jesus to even say to them in this synagogue, you hypocrites, do you not see your own hypocrisy?

Some of the greatest mercies we can be shown in our lives is being shown our sin by the Spirit of God in others in community.

That is a mercy.

And if you're like me, it's all too easy to sit back, cross my arms, and say, shame on that ruler of the synagogue.

I'd never do that.

But how many of us rejoice secretly in the grossness of our own sin at the setbacks and hardship of others?

We never admit that out loud, because that would reveal our own hypocrisy.

How many of us think of others as more sinful because they struggle with this or that?

And I graduated from that sin ten years ago.

I don't, that's not me.

How many of us think, I hope so-and-so is hearing the sermon, they could really use it?

How many of us refuse to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice out of some stubbornness and hardness of heart that won't move towards?

How many of us are so set on one tradition that we condemn wrongly those who do things slightly differently?

How many of us love our own sense of piety, my own added rules and regulations, other than Jesus Himself?

How many of us, like the synagogue ruler, can rightly handle the word of truth and not act on it?

This synagogue leader likely knew his word better than any of us in this room.

He could, I'm sure, exegete the Torah and the rest of the prophets with accuracy and precision.

He would get an A plus on every single Simeon Trust workshop, and yet he never lived it out.

Jesus made clear in this story a couple of things.

Salvation is here.

And look at verse 17 with me.

And as Jesus said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at the glorious things that were done by him.

Where are our hearts this morning?

Are we people who are prone quickly to rejoice over the great things that are being done by King Jesus?

Are we the adversaries living out in religious hypocrisy time and time again?

I hope some things are clear.

Repent or perish.

We do not know the day or the hour, and there's a kindness here.

The one who we are turning to, fine dresser, is patient.

Repent of religious hypocrisy, the salvation of God is here.

And there is no greater act of watering the roots, giving the roots nutrients that they need than the cross of Jesus Christ.

The tension of our story will eventually lead to the climax of the death of Jesus on the cross.

And there's a truth today that I want to hang in the air, repent or perish.

Simply turn from sin and know a reality that ought to humble me, ought to excite us and move us to all of us rejoicing over the glorious things that Jesus has done and is.

Hear this.

If you missed everything else this morning, whatever.

Just hear this.

God runs to us and is ready to meet us when we begin to repent of sin and are sensible of our faults.

He is more ready to pardon and forgive us than we are to ask for it.

Repent, turn to Jesus, for there is more mercy in Jesus than there is sin in me.

He died on that cross to become a curse for us.

He was buried in the cold, dark tomb to remove sin and slay death.

He didn't stay there.

If he stayed there, we wouldn't be here.

He rose again.

And three days later he came out of the tomb holding the keys of death in Hades.

And right now, as we speak, at 11, 10 a.m.

on this fine Sunday morning, King Jesus is seated on the throne with a promise to return.

The time is short.

He will return soon.

Repent or perish.

And in his patience, he is giving the nutrients to barrenness that we need.

He's coming again to judge the living and the dead.

The salvation is here this morning.

Call is simple.

Let's turn from sin and turn to Jesus.

Let's pray.

Jesus, I pray that you would help us see and feel the beauty of your mercy and your kindness and your patience.

Thank you that there is more mercy in you than sin in me.

Father, raise the dead to life and stir those who are alive in you to action and repentance of sin.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for that word, Calder.

We're going to enter into a time of communion where we remember the completed work, the victorious work.