Jesus Christ has long been recognized by educators as “The Master Teacher.” Well, if He were here now, do you suppose we’d have any trouble understanding what He taught? Oh, I don’t think so! People didn’t have a problem with that then, why should we now? Well. Let’s think about that awhile. What do you say?
A special greeting to you, my friend. I'm glad you've chosen to be with us for Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way to live here, and His way to prepare for life in the hereafter. What a joy to have you join our services and our study today. We believe the Bible is God’s way –His only way-- of speaking to mankind in this 21st century.
All the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) is inspired of God. Of course it is. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God..." And 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 20-21 says, "...no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation (or meaning, explanation or decision), the prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." The New Testament is the Lord's way for Christianity, though. I'm sure you've heard it said, "If people would just live the way that we're taught in the New Testament, this world would be a great place to live." Oh, that's so right. None of us will ever live up to it perfectly; --of course we won't, but it’s as Elton Trueblood said, what's worse than failure to come up to the perfect standard is not to have a standard. And, it comes to me that it would be less desirable to comply perfectly with a lesser or lower or a human standard, than to fall short at times of the perfect one. Well, that's what this program is all about --the Lord's way. No one has ever come up with a better one, friend.
We're presented here by your friends, and ours, all members of churches of Christ, in the area served by this station, just so we may lead you in the Lord's Way. And you know, they'd very much like to have you pay them a visit one day very soon. Why not do that? If we may assist you in finding their place of worship, please write us In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or you may address us at searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number to call, if you like to call on the phone. The number is 1-800-321-8633. And still another choice you have is to visit our website at www.searchtv.org . Ken Helterbrand leads our singing and does a superb job. He'll lead us now as we sing.
We’re reading today from Luke chapter 13 beginning at verse 1 and we are going to read 3 short verses for our text. “There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galilians were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” And with that reading from our Savior let’s go to God in prayer. Holy Father we are so thankful for the revelation of Your truth in the Bible; and for the assurance that we can depend upon it being the absolute truth that it claims to be. We are thankful Father for its preservation and for its revelation so that we can know what Jesus taught and be confident, be sure that it is the truth. We pray Your blessing upon us and Your presence with us as we study it today. In the lovely name of Jesus our Savior we pray. Amen.
Jesus, the Son of the living and loving God was a preacher. He preached a lot about repentance. In fact, He had more to say about repentance than any other preacher of whom we read in all the New Testament. It would be an interesting exercise if when we were reading our Bibles, if we took one of those highlighters and we highlighted every passage in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in which Jesus addressed the subject of “repentance.” Matthew, chapter four, tells us that after His baptism by John in the Jordan and His temptation by Satan on the mountain, He returned to Galilee and began His preaching ministry. And what do you suppose He was saying? Listen. We can read it. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Now we will turn to our text: “There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” The expression “At that season” connects the event that we are talking about in this passage with the one just previous to it with the event or the teaching in the preceding chapter. And that’s about all we can know about it. It seems that perhaps some who’d been listening interrupted the Master with a question. Like many of that day –well even of our own day—some (perhaps all) of these people believed that extraordinary suffering was punishment for extraordinary evil. You may remember that Job’s three friends who came to visit him and comfort him believed that and they asked Job what terrible sin he had committed against God that brought upon him such terrible punishment. Well, some comfort they were, we’re they? And Job told them so in no uncertain terms. Well you remember, too, that in John chapter nine, Jesus healed a blind man. But some of His disciples asked Him, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” That’s John 9 and 1. So, people have been thinking that for a long, long time and they’re still thinking it, but it isn’t always true. It’s the same issue with which we’re faced in our text in Luke 13 and 1. It’s Jesus’ reply that’s the point of our interest here, however. As a matter of fact, it’s the whole thrust of the incident. Jesus said, “Do you suppose that those Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Jesus brought their attention to their own sin. He also calls the reader’s attention to his or her own sin, and our need of repentance.
But of all Jesus said about repentance, His message takes on special meaning to us, Christians, because after His resurrection, He gave that great commission to His apostles as we read in Luke chapter 24 verses 46-47. "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem."
From that it's obvious that He intended for the church, his disciples, to preach and to teach a lot about repentance, too. The theme is to be sounded to every nation of the world. The good-news story of Jesus Christ is incomplete without the message of repentance. Repentance and remission of sins or forgiveness of sins are related like Siamese twins. No one can preach salvation in the name of Jesus Christ without preaching repentance. Jesus, Himself, conditioned forgiveness of sins on the repentance of the sinner. The person who argues that there's nothing that a sinner can do to be saved is just mistaken, that's all, friend. He may have heard that idea taught and preached so frequently and for so long, for so many years perhaps, that he just bought into it without examining our Lord's teaching, consequently, he's simply mistaken.
But, we don't hear much said about it in many churches these days. Do you know why? Perhaps it's because it isn't the socially correct thing to do to talk to a person about his/her sins. They won't come back to church to hear the preacher point out their sins and insist that they repent. Secondly, the religious world has been oversold on the idea that there's nothing a person can do to be saved, it's all by the grace of God. Consequently, churches are filled with unrepentant, unsaved people. Like a parrot, they've repeated the sinner's prayer which had no meaning at all to them. They were accepted into the congregation without repenting of their sins, with no commitment to living the Christian life, only from what they can get out of it.
Why do you suppose Jesus wants repentance and remission of sins preached in all nations? Well, first of all it's because He, "... commands all men (men is a generic term here, meaning women, too) to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness..." That’s Acts 17 verses 30-31. It's because He commands all men everywhere to repent that all people born into this world must know before they have to leave this world that God commands them to repent of their sins. And the church is God's designated agency for getting that message to every person in the world. Read it in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 10 and 11.
Then too, God wants repentance preached to the whole world because it is His will that all men come to repentance. In 2 Peter, chapter 3 verse 9 the Scripture says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." I sometimes have people come to my door wanting to study with me who tell me they don't worship a god who would send people to Hell for ever and ever. Well neither do I, my friend. The God of the Bible does not send people to hell. He is not willing that any should perish, or go to hell, but that all should come to repentance. Men who will go to Hell at the judgment, will have chosen for themselves to go there --against the will of God. God does not will that any person should perish, but His will is that they repent. But, He doesn't force anyone to go to Hell; neither does He force anyone to repent. We make the choice ourselves, each of us. And God wants that preached to every nation in the whole wide world. We're doing that today through this program.
Well, since God wants everyone to repent, let's not lose any time learning what repentance is and what it is all about. Every discipline of study has its own vocabulary. For example, in university when I enrolled in my first study of physics, I found the glossary in the back of the textbook a very handy thing, because I came upon words that I'd never seen before, never used before. If you're a beginner in the study of the Bible, you'll see words that you have not seen or read or heard. "Repentance" may very well be one of those words, because "repentance" is a Bible word. Well what does it mean?
It isn't, as someone might've told you, "sorrow for sin." Many people grieve over a sinful past who never repent. The Bible says, "Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:10). So, there are two kinds of sorrow: godly sorrow, that works repentance and worldly sorrow. What's the difference? Obviously, the first is sorrow which one has before God. The person is sorry about what he has done because of God. He's done it before God. He's ashamed in the presence of God. He has offended God. The second sorrow a person feels is before the people of the world. He's been found out. He's embarrassed before his wife or his children or his associates. He's lost the interest and the respect of people. Now the first, Godly sorrow, leads a person to repent. The sorrow of this world, doesn't lead to repentance, it leads to death.
Repentance is a gift of God, but not in the sense that some people think. When Peter related to the Christians of Hebrew background his reasons for going into the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, to preach the gospel to them, it was said, "When they heard these things, they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, Then God has also granted the Gentiles repentance to life", Peter said in Acts 11:18. So, God gives all men repentance to life in the sense that He affords them the opportunity, the blessing.
But, repentance is not as I heard a false prophet explain on television, something that the Holy Spirit moves upon your heart to do for you. No, not at all. It is something each of us must do. As I said, Jesus was the greatest preacher of repentance in all the New Testament. What do you say that we let Him explain what repentance is. He does so very plainly in a parable that's recorded in Matthew chapter 21 verses 28-32. Since the old King James Version is plainer, let's use it here: Jesus says, “A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."
Now look: the man told the first son to go work in his vineyard. The son said, "I won't do it." Have you ever heard a child say that to his father or mother? I have. And it’s a source of embarrassed. What humiliation. But, if we thought that's just characteristic of our times, only well we are mistaken about that, because Jesus told this like it was characteristic of that day, too. Anyway, Jesus said that son "afterward repented and went.” How about that? Great! What did he do? He changed his mind and went into the vineyard. Didn’t he? Let us pray. Holy Father, we are thankful to you for the message you have given us from the lips of Jesus. We pray Father that we may have led someone to have changed his mind about the way that he is living and want to come to the Savior. In His name we pray, Amen.
We hear from many people who make it a point to view this program every week, some of whom, are backslidden Christians. I mean, they were baptized once and lived for Christ for awhile, but went back into their old lifestyle of sin again. I hope that hasn't happened to you, but if it has, will you listen to someone who loves you just a minute? There is someone just like you mentioned in the eighth chapter of Acts.
There we're told that when the Jerusalem church was being persecuted, the disciples all but the apostles, fled to other cities. Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. The Scripture says, "When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." And there was a certain deceiver in Samaria who had deceived those people for a long time with his fake miracles saying that he was a great power of God. (Well, did you ever hear anything like that in all your life?) Well, his name was Simon. And the Scripture says, "Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and the signs which were done." You remember, don’t you that Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). So on that authority, we must conclude since the Bible says Simon believed and was baptized, he was saved.
Then later when the apostles Peter and John came to Samaria and laid hands on some of them, thereby conveyed miraculous powers on them, Simon sought to buy that power with money. Peter rebuked him very sharply saying, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God." Would you say he's still saved? Well. He once believed and was even baptized as Jesus commanded. What did he do now??? In verse 22 Peter told him, "Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. Then said Simon, "Pray ye to the Lord for me..." If you were once baptized, and fallen into sin, your heart is not right with God, you need to do as Simon did.
Well, we are happy that you have joined us today for our study. Our program is made possible here by members of the churches of Christ in the area of this station. I hope you will worship with them. If you'd like a free audio cassette tape or a copy we’ve given you our address and our telephone number and we hope that you can join us, you can contact us this week. We hope you will. God bless you now until next week when we will be back to study the word of the Lord with you. We love you.
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