LUKE 13 DISCIPLES REPENT

LUKE 13  DISCIPLES REPENT

1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.2 And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

This may be the forgotten word in many churches, but it is not forgotten in the Bible; Nine hundred and sixty-nine times we are enjoined in the Bible to repent.

THE MANDATE TO REPENT.

We have had Vaccine Mandates…a Mandate is a command.

Now there were some people who were put to death by Pilate and, there were others who were in a catastrophe when a tower fell on them and they died. And people were talking about it in the market place and in their homes and in the streets. They were saying, I wonder what these people had done that was so terrible, so horrible because they were killed. And Jesus said, do you think that's why this tragedy happened because they were sinners more than other people? And do you think because no particular tragedy has happened to you that you may not be a sinner because you are just sailing along finely? He said no, they didn't die because they were sinners more than others. And you, because a tower doesn't fall on you or some calamity does not happen to you, because you are sailing along, does not mean that you do not need to repent. The key is in verse 3 and verse 5. "Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish."

What is the mandate for repentance? May I tell you that Jesus here commands it, that Jesus warns that we must repent? The first sermon that Jesus preached, the very first sermon that Jesus preached was repentance. That ought to tell you something.  Matthew  4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." From the time Jesus began to preach, the first words out of His mouth are repentance. That ought to tell us something.

Now that was His first message. What was the last message that Jesus gave to the church? Don't say the Great Commission. That was not the last message Jesus gave to the church. That's the last message Jesus gave before His ascension. But the last message that Jesus gave to the church is found in the book of the Revelation. Revelation 3: 19. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Now doesn't that say something? The very first message that Jesus preached repentance. The very last message that Jesus preached is repentance. Now you may not think that repentance is important but I will tell you what those people in hell think. Those people who are in hell right now, and there are some in hell right now, they think you ought to repent. Luke 16:30. There was a man in hell who asked Abraham that a messenger might go and give the message and this is what he wanted. "And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." Do you know what the people in hell think the people in this church ought to do? They think they ought to repent. The mandate for repentance is this, that Jesus Christ began His ministry concluded His ministry. Those in hell believe that we ought to repent.

 

THE MEANING OF REPENTANCE

Many of us don't know what repentance means. Luke 13: 3, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Now we need to understand, first of all, what repentance is not so we can understand what it is.

REPENTANCE IS MORE THAN CONVICTION OF SIN

You can be convicted of sin and still not repent. There was a man named Paul. Paul preached to a ruler of his day. The ruler's name was Felix. And Paul opened the Bible and Paul preached so much that this man literally trembled. Acts 24:25. And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, "Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you." Paul preached and this man literally trembled but he didn't get saved.

There is no record in the Bible that he ever got saved. I sincerely believe that Felix is in hell. He trembled under the preaching of the Word of God. He was convicted but he did not repent. Repentance is more than conviction of sin.

REPENTANCE IS MORE THAN CONFESSION OF SIN

You can confess your sin and still not repent. There are a number of episodes where men used these words "I have sinned." They confessed their sin but none of them repented.

Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them  "I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked."

Now do you think he repented? He said, "I have sinned." When did he say this? When the thunder was rolling and the hail was falling and the fire was flashing through the land. When God took away the thunder and the lightening and the hail, notice what happened. In Exodus chapter 9, verse 34, "And Pharaoh, when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants." He said, "I have sinned." And God took away the thing that was plaguing him and he sinned all the more. He confessed his sin but he did not repent.  I have seen that happen so many times, people who get in a bind. Perhaps a wife will leave home, perhaps a child will be hit by an automobile, perhaps some tragedy will come and they say, "Pastor, pray for me. Oh, I need to do something about my sin." And as soon as the problem is past they go back into deeper sin.

There is another man who said I have sinned. His name was Judas.

Matthew 27 :3,4 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself."5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. This was the hopeless confession. It was a confession of remorse. Judas had committed the unpardonable sin. Judas had crossed the deadline. Judas filled a suicide's grave. And he said, "I have sinned." But he never repented. Repentance is more than confession of sin. Every one of these men that I have mentioned used those words "I have sinned" and not a one of them repented.

REPENTANCE IS A HEART CHANGE

The word repent—metanoia—is a combination of two words, which means a change of mind or a change of heart. It is a turning from sin to Jesus. There is a negative and there is a positive. Acts 20 :21. Paul said we are to be "testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Repentance and faith are heads and tails of the same coin. You cannot repent toward God unless you turn to Jesus Christ. You tell God that you are sorry for your sin and turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness. Again, let me give you another scripture that shows you the heads and tails. I Thessalonians 1:9, "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had among you, how you turned to God from idols to serve the true and living God, the living and true God." Repentance and faith are heads and tails of the same act.

Genuine faith must be a heart change. And it is whole-hearted change. Ezekiel 14: 6 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations."

REPENTANCE IS A CONTINUING CHANGE OF HEART

6 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.7 And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?'8 And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

 

And I will tell you something else. Repentance is a continuing change of heart. It is not something that you do once. It is not something that you do in order to get saved and then forget it. Jesus was speaking to the church in that last command when He said, "Repent" that I told you about. Repentance is a crisis followed by a process. We live repenting day-by- day-by-day. I have done far more repenting after I have gotten saved than I did when I got saved because I know more about me and I know more about God.

 

THE MOTIVE FOR REPENTANCE

THE COMMAND OF GOD

Acts 17: 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

THE CURSE OF GUILT 

Isaiah 57:20 "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up

mire and dirt." 

You wonder why you can't sleep. You wonder why you are irritable. You wonder why you have no joy. But it is more than just discomfort now.

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

Hell is an awful place

Hell is an agonising place

Hell is an always place.

THE CONDITION OF GRACE

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

Here is an invitation to not perish.  It is gracious of God to provide us away out from perishing. And the way out is to turn from our idols to the Lord Jesus Christ the only Saviour.   Repentance is turning from all else to the Lord Jesus. 

 

THE MISSING OF REPENTANCE

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.11 And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability."13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had 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 day."15 Then the Lord 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 it?16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

 

"You hypocrites"

They missed it. The synagogue ruler was indignant about little stuff and couldn't see the glorious things the Lord Jesus was doing right in front of him.