It was a fig tree, a fruit-bearing tree by profession, so it ought to have borne fruit. It was planted; it was not a wild tree, it was planted in a vineyard, in the proper place for fig trees to grow, in good soil; and therefore the owner of it had a right to come and look for fruit on it; but he found none. Have we not here, tonight, some who are planted in the Church of God who ought, by their profession, to be bearing fruit, but they are not? Christ has come, and he has looked for fruit; but he has found none.
Luke 13:7. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
The owner seems to say, “If I had not found fruit the first year, I should have thought that the season was unfavourable; if I had found no fruit the second year, I might have thought that peradventure the tree was a little out of condition, and would come round again; but when I come for three years, and three years consecutively I find no fruit, then it is clear that the fig tree is a barren one. Why should it stay here, and spoil the soil, occupy the place that a good fig tree might have occupied, and take away the nutriment from other trees?” So if, after many years, some of you have brought forth no fruit, God may well complain about you. You are eating the bread that might have nourished a saint. You are occupying a place in which your influence is injurious to others. Others do less because you do nothing. I pray the Holy Spirit to bring this home to the conscience of any barren professor whom it may concern, lest the command should go forth, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?”
Luke 13:8-9. And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
Even the vinedresser’s pleading has a limit: “Give it one more year.” He admits that the time must come for the axe to cut down the tree that is fruitless. The cumber-ground tree cannot stand for ever; it is unreasonable that it should. And you cannot be permitted to live for ever in sin; you cannot be allowed to taint the air with blasphemy for another fifty years. There must come an end to such a life as yours, and that end may come very soon. The edge of the axe is sharp, and the hand that wields it is strong. Beware, O barren tree!
Luke 13:10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
When there happened a very remarkable miracle. The parable that preceded it was a parable of judgment; the miracle that followed was a miracle of mercy and grace.
Luke 13:11-12. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him,
You can see her slowly moving along, bent double. Hers was a painful walk, but she came at Christ’s call.
Luke 13:12-13. And said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
See what Christ can do. After I had preached this morning, I had to speak with just such a woman as this, one who has been, for many years, the victim of deep despondency. How I wished that I could lay my hands on her, and say, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity”! But we cannot work such a miracle as that. It is Christ who must do it all; and blessed be his name, he is always great at a pinch! Christ loves to come in at a dead lift. When we are all beaten, and we have reached man’s extremity, then it is Christ’s opportunity. Oh, you poor despairing woman, bent double by your sadness, the Lord’s hand can restore you: and we pray for you tonight, even the thousands of Israel pray for you at this moment! Lord, lay thine hand upon that poor child of infirmity!
Luke 13:14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation,
Wretched creature, to be indignant at Christ’s doing good! There is no reckoning with self-righteous people. They are mad themselves, and they think others so.
Luke 13:14-15. Because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men, ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, —
It served him right. This is just the word that would naturally come to the lips of the Saviour. Because be was loving and tender, he could not endure this hypocritical indignation: “The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite,”
Luke 13:15-16. Doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed front this bond on the sabbath day?
A very conclusive argument. You may do deeds like this on the Sabbath; and you may come and be healed on the Sabbath, even though it should involve you in a journey. It is so needful that you should get the bread of heaven, so needful that you should get the blessing of Christ, that on this day you may come and be healed.
Luke 13:17-19. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it.? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
You get a little grace tonight; let that Divine Man take but a grain of the mustard seed of his grace, and drop it into your heart, which he will have prepared like a garden, and there is no telling what will come of it. That sigh, that tear, that wish, will grow into holiness of life and zeal of conduct. It may be but very little in its beginning, but it will grow. Both good and evil begin with very small eggs, but they grow into great things.
Luke 13:20. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Now take the bad side, and see how the kingdom of God may be perverted and injured by evil influences.
Luke 13:21. It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
That woman of Rome has hidden her leaven in the church, and it has leavened the whole; and now the woman of intellect has put her leaven into the church. Conceited self-invention of new doctrines, perversion of the simplicity of the gospel, that kind of leaven has been hidden in the meal of the church, and it is leavening the whole. God help us to keep out the leaven both of Romanism and of Rationalism!
Luke 13:22. And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.
His face was toward the cross, he was working his passage to his sacrifice, and preaching his way to that place where he should complete our redemption. This is a wonderful picture of Christ: “teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.”
Luke 13:23. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?
What business is that of ours? Our business is far more practical, to be saved ourselves, and to endeavor to be the means of saving others. Jesus did not answer the question; but he did what was better.
Luke 13:23-24. And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
You can get into the broad road without striving; but you must “strive to enter in at the strait gate.” Strive for that which requires self-denial, that which humbles you, that which goes against the grain, that which is not according to human nature. Do not imagine that grace is to be had while you are half asleep, and that heaven is to be gained on a feather bed. Strive, strive, for many will seek in vain to enter. Seeking is not enough; it must come to a holy violence: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” When will that be? That will be when you are in another state.
Luke 13:25. 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;
They will be very respectful; they will call him, “Lord.” They will be very earnest; they will pray, “Lord, Lord.” They will be very simple and very honest in their request: “Open unto us.” They will be very personal: “Open unto us.” Such will the prayers of the ungodly be when they wake up to the fact that they are shut out of heaven.
Luke 13:25-26. And he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
They came to the communion-table. They used to hear sermons indoors and out of doors. “Thou hast taught in our streets.”
Luke 13:27. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
They shall be judged by their works. If they were workers of iniquity, it proved that they were unrenewed and unsaved. Christ will not endure their company, but will say to them, “Depart from me.”
Luke 13:28. 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.
You who thought that you had a share in the kingdom of God, and were, by birth, the natural heirs of it: “You yourselves thrust out.”
Luke 13:29-30. 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. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
The least likely to be saved shall be saved; the blackest sinners, the vilest outcasts, the grossest unbelievers, shall be brought to repentance and faith, and shall be saved; while those who were first in privileges, children of godly parents, professors of religion, those who appeared in every way likely to be saved first, will be left to the last, and be shut out of the kingdom of God, never to enter. God grant, in his infinite mercy, that nobody in the Tabernacle tonight may be of that unhappy number! Amen.