Luke 13 Part II, Food 4 Thought Ministry

You know as time goes on I feel like I need to take every opportunity..actually I feel that it is my responsibility , to minister as I am able….

I had a conversation with this guy not long ago.. He is an expat living in Cavite and we stay loosely in touch and touch base with each other now and then. This time

I had a chance to share the gospel with him. He says ..so in your bible study are you the preacher? I said yes, one of them.. He says so how does this work if people are from different denominations with different ideas…

I said everyone is welcome regardless of their former denomination or church affiliation….

He goes, I guess that’s good because , you know, we're all going to the same place anyway.

And, you know, we're all going to end up before God."

I said, "Well, I agree with you---all roads lead to God.

Everybody will have to face God one day.

But that's where the dividing line is. Then there is heaven and then there is hell. There is eternal life and there is eternal damnation. And so while all roads will eventually lead you to the judgment seat of God in some capacity, not all roads lead to heaven." I don't think he knew what to say to me.

Maybe he just had another drink. I’m not sure….



Lets pray..

Lord thank you for all of our blessings this morning and thank you for the opportunity to extend ourselves to others using our diverse gifts that you have given us. We are grateful that you are with us , that our light can shine, through the love of Jesus, as was intended. Open our hearts and minds this morning so that we may take in your word and digest it, and apply it in our lives when we finish here today..

Be with those of us who are suffering and mitigate their pain or heal them Lord, if that is your will…

..We ask these things in Jesus’ name…

Amen

In Luke …..Chapter 13, verse 22

We left off on Wednesday with a question….

The question posed was.. “Lord, are there few that be saved?”

This man with the question gets moved from the hypothetical to the personal. This guy's hypothetical: "Listen, I have a theological question. You think there's few or many who are saved?"

Jesus cuts right to the personal.

And he said unto them, 24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: 26 then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. 27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. 28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. 29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

Did you get that?" those that were shut out were lamenting… They said to Jesus…You were there with us. We were next to you. You were in our town. And if your from this day and age you might say “Man, you hung out on line with us."

Here's the principle, and I want to bring it forward..: temporal proximity to Christ does not equal eternal security with Christ.

I know people who are so close to us physically---they hang out with God's people, They may attend meetings; they go to church---but may not be saved.

Remember that Judas was as close as you get.

He is not in heaven today by the choices he made, we can believe that.

Continuing on, Jesus said, " 'But he will say, "I tell you I do not know you,

Depart from me, all you are workers of iniquity."

Notice the words they use. Jesus said they're going to say this, "Lord, Lord."

They have the eternal language, They sound like us, they talk the talk but never walked the walk..They are viewed as “Workers of Iniquity..”They have the eternal language but they don't have eternal life.

Anybody can go, "Praise the Lord!"

It's one thing to say, "Jesus is Lord," it's another thing to submit to Jesus as Lord.

So they can have the right language, but they're missing out ; they're missing the relationship with God.

God says to them who are standing outside of the gate…."I don't know you.

You know, when we say we know someone, it's a very interesting word. It's a slippery word now in our vocabulary.

I get , at least every once in a while , somebody who will say, "Do you know ---so-and-so..

They say hi."

And I go, "Who?" ( We have several thousand expat members in Expat World Philippines)

And they'll tell me his name and they say, "Well, he says he knows you very well."

I said, "You know, he might, but I've---I don't think I've ever---I don't---I can't---

I'm trying to place---I'm trying--- haha

" So do any of you know the president of the United States?

No. Probably not

I don't.

I've never met the man.

I've met president Kennedy, but even that one that I've met I could never say I, "I know him."

I knew who he was. I know what he looks like. I remember how he talked, and the things he stood for , but I didn't know him personally.

There are people who know that about Jesus.

They will tell you that they know that he said this and he said that, and he's that, he's this, and he was born in Bethlehem etc and so on . . . ." But do you know him? Have you established a relationship with Christ? The superficial will not be enough to get you through.. We can fool our friends, coworkers, family and everybody but we can’t fool God.. What is a person who tries to fool God? He “Fool-ish”….

He may say to your surprise that"I never knew you as a follower.

I never knew you as a disciple.

Oh, I saw you as those who were fascinated with me, but I never knew you as one who followed me. You never lived my way, you never carried the light of life… You have the eternal language, but you do not have eternal life." What a shocking answer this will be to those who think that they can fool God… What a shocking answer this must have been to the man who asked the question.. “Are there few who will be saved?” It's not what the guy expected when he asked a theological question:

Jesus just keep pushing answering directly, healing and shining a light on hypocrisy .. Now the Pharisees at this time are going ballistic , they can barely take more of Jesus.. He is just too much to endure for them.. so

"On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to him, 'Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you.'

" Now, again, it's the little things that get me in the text.

I read this and I thought, , "That's interesting that the Pharisees are warning Jesus to depart because 'Herod's looking for you.' " Why would they care? They hate Jesus. You would think they would say, "Let's not tell him. Let's just try and get him in trouble with Herod."Why would they even care to warn Jesus? Now here's the answer, I believe: they want him to go to Jerusalem.

First of all, they want him out of there.

"Get him out of our town.

And if he goes to Jerusalem, they know that there's a plot afoot to get him killed.

They are thinking…Let's get him toward Jerusalem, the center of Judaism, the center of our religious culture." And so they warn him, " 'Herod wants to kill you.'

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."

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

" If you didn't catch that, that's heavy sarcasm.

He says, "Go tell that fox . . . ." Foxes were known as sly. Incidentally, does anyone think that because Jesus preached turn the other cheek and preached humility that he was timid??? No so.. He was anything but timid. He may have been the bravest man that ever lived and he fought every step of the way for humanity.. a largely ungrateful humanity…. But you know humility is only the process of giving God credit for everything, having faith and trusting Him, and turning the other cheek is trusting Him enough so that we can give others a second chance….Jesus demonstrated that it has nothing to do with being brave enough to stand by and live by your convictions..

Now Foxes

Foxes were also known as being very, very destructive animals.

And, also, the term "fox" was used to describe in that day a worthless person.

So it's quite a thing for Jesus, knowing that Herod the tetrarch of that area, the king

of that area is looking for him to kill him.

"Go tell that fox, that sly, destructive, worthless king that I'm on a mission."

Now Jesus, of course, did this because he is submitted to the will of his Father, not the political rulers.

Obviously, this is not politically correct, what Jesus just said, right?

But he's pleasing his Father in heaven. Does everyone here believe in the trinity? The Father, Son and holy ghost? If so than understand also that when Jesus pleases the Father he is also being true to himself… If we have the faith and conviction.. If we have been or want to be born again than when we also please our Father we are being true to ourselves in the process.. Can you see how nicely this all comes together for us…? There is no contradiction….

But he's making a statement to the people by way of example, and how he is treating

someone under authority, certainly respecting that person, but calling a spade a spade.

And this is who that guy is: he is sly, he is deceptive, and destructive. This is the type of candour that got John beheaded and it will also end with Christ on the cross. He is aware and willingly pays this price..

And it's true, history does show Harod was pretty worthless to the people, a worthless person, in terms of governing that area.

“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

Proverbs 29:25 Jesus feared no man..

I believe that if you can kneel before God, you can stand before any man.

If he is your Lord, you've got nothing to fear.

There's a great story of Hugh Latimer.

But Hugh Latimer was a preacher who preached during the days in Britain of Henry VIII, the king.

And King Henry was not fond of Hugh Latimer's bold gospel-centered, Christ-centered preaching on repentance.

And he was offended by it so often. Well, the king came to hear him preach one day, and Latimer knew that he was in the audience,

so in his preaching he performed a little soliloquy.

It's a little conversation, imaginary conversation with yourself.

So he said in his sermon: "O Latimer!

Latimer!

Latimer!

The great Henry is here in your service listening to you, be careful what you say, because he

can take your life."

"But O Latimer!

Latimer!

Latimer!

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is also in this service today, be careful that you

do not offend him."

And he went on to preach and offend King Henry yet again.

He didn't care who was there. Reminds me of John the Baptise… They came from far and wide to hear John but he did not cater to them either…

Latimer wanted to please the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and we can see that here with Jesus.

So the passage reads: verse 31

31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. 32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! 35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Notice in that little statement that Jesus instructs us on the patience of God: "Jerusalem,

Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent unto her."

In other words, for generations, for years God had sent to Jerusalem prophet after prophet,

messenger after messenger, the Old Testament shows that history, and so many of them were mistreated and killed by Jerusalem.

So that shows the patience of God.

The second, notice the pleading of Christ: "How often I wanted to gather you."

And the metaphor is of a protective hen gathering her young. What an insight into the heart of Jesus, the patience of God, the pleading of Jesus Christ that he often wanted. That was his best intention for them to be saved.

You know Jeremiah 29, "The thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of good and peace, to give you a future and a hope." That's the heart of Jesus.

So we see the patience of God, we see the pleading of Christ, but we also see the power of choice.

Jesus says, "But you were not willing!"

And because they were not willing, because they said no to the invitation of Jesus Christ,

he says, "Your house [the temple] is left to you desolate."

Let us not be as was Jerusalem . Let us not reject Christ by word or by deed. And Let us not be left outside of the gate looking in but finding ourselves being turned away as we hear the words from our Lord that means, you did not fool me, you thought you were a fox but I know your heart.. You are workers of iniquity…

We can embrace humility by just giving God his credit for all that we are and all that we may become and for the many blessings that we all have but may neglect to acknowledge… Let us truly learn and live by what it means to turn the other cheek to love your brother. What it means to embrace the value of extending second chances and having the faith and bravery to be it all…to not just talk the talk but walk the walk and insure that our names will be written also in the book of life…I hope that in some small way that you can take from this chapter today something that will change your life for the better.

Lets close in prayer…

Our father we are thankful for your word, for this gathering of souls and for your presence here this morning. As you read the hearts of all of us, place within us the thing of substance that we most need in our lives to take us forward, and allow our light, gifted by you to us, to shine more brightly than ever before.. We are thankful this morning for prayers answered, for our relationship with you and for your grace and patience with us. We know that it is a patience born of love and we ask to know more of this in our lives.

We ask for your special attention for those, who are in need both spiritually and physically, who have touched our lives… Bless us today with courage and fortitude to go forth each day and shine the light of Christ in our world where we need the warmth and vision provided by your light.. We understand clearly that you are the light of the world and we are grateful and willing to be even a candle for you in this increasingly bleak work. We await your return and your perfect kingdom ; a concept beyond our understanding.. Guide our steps with your wisdom ..Help us to be ready to abide with you forever and ever.

We express all thanks and ask all things in Jesus’ name…

Amen