Gillespie, J Stewart: The Barren Fig Tree

Now, I have my, have my Bible open in Luke chapter thirteen. Luke chapter thirteen. To continue with some of the, the parables, I, uh, we did say that as we have opportunity on a Sunday evening, we might spend a little time thinking about some of the parables that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke. Uh, I think I'm maybe coming to an end of those parables that, eh, eh, might be suitable for a gospel meeting, so we're looking at Luke chapter thirteen. maybe one or two parables left to speak on that, eh, I have in mind, but, eh, we've got a parable here of the fig tree tonight in chapter thirteen, and we might just read around about it a little bit. So Luke chapter thirteen, and we'll read from verse number one. There were present at that season some that told him, that is the Lord Jesus, of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. So you notice there in the first five verses of this section, you notice that we're thinking, well, we're thinking about a few things, but that we're thinking particularly there at the, at the end of a tower that fell down. Verse four. uh Eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell. So we're thinking about a tower that fell down in the first section, and you'll notice that this is a warning section. So the Lord Jesus Christ begins with a warning, and the warning, of course, he repeats it twice. We, we would say this, of course, that if God said something to me once, then that would be wise of me to take heed. But if God takes time to say something to me twice, then I would be very foolish to ignore it. And the Lord Jesus Christ twice in this section, he calls for repentance, for repentance. You'll find it there in verse three, that you repent, and again in verse number five, repent. So here's a warning section, and the Lord Jesus Christ draws our attention to this, and he repeats it twice, repent. So we know this about the, the broken tower, and there's a warning. In verse number six, we're into the parable. And he spake also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit in this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why encumbreth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this, 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. So we have in the first little section there, you noticed a tower that fell down, and then I'll draw your attention here to this parable. It concerns a fig tree that's to be cut down. So we've got a tower that fell down, and we've got a fig tree that was to be cut down. The Lord Jesus Christ, he he starts with a warning, and here in this section we find a a gardener, uh, we find the man looking after the fig tree, and he's waiting, he's waiting. So we start with a warning, and then we th- th- then we're waiting in the second section, we're waiting for fruit. Now, verse number ten. Verse ten. and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. That's interesting, isn't it? You notice that, do you remember that there was eighteen people killed when the Tower of Siloam fell, and here's a woman, uh, and she's had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. I thought that was interesting, you know, uh, just, uh, just to notice that. You know, sometimes in life, just, uh, before we finish that section, just w- w- when we're passing there, sometimes in life, you know, we come across difficulties and problems in our, in, in, in our life, and we wonder, you know, if, if God really cares, if God is interested. But did you notice that as our Lord Jesus took note of the, the tower that fell down in the opening verses, he's got every single soul that perished, he's got them numbered eighteen. He was very precise. He knew all about it. You know, sometimes we just pass on a story and, and we hear about a tragedy and we say, oh, there were so many hundred killed, or we, we, we may be thinking about some of these, eh, disasters out in America, so many thousand that died. The Lord Jesus Christ is specific. Eighteen that were, eighteen that were killed. The Lord Jesus Christ knows all about it, and he understands it, and he takes note. And when it comes to this woman who's been suffering, one person who's been suffering, the word of God takes note. Not just she's been suffering for a long time, but she's been suffering for eighteen years, and God is interested, and God records precisely what has been happening. And sometimes, you know, we wonder. We wonder because the Lord will allow suffering, and perhaps the Lord will allow disaster, and we wonder if that means he's not interested, if he doesn't care. But you notice that the Lord is interested, and the Lord does care, and eighteen years, we notice there in verse number eleven, she's been suffering. Verse eleven: 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 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. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation 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, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to the watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound low these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? 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. And we do look to the Lord for his help as we think about these sections together. So, you notice then three little sections here. In the middle there is a parable, so we we continue our theme of looking at the parables. But if I might just give you a little heading for each of the three sections. You notice in the first section we're thinking about a tower that fell down, and we'll think a little bit about the warning there that our Lord Jesus Christ begins his message. And you know, when we preach the message of the gospel, we really have to be faithful to the word of God, and we have to begin with a warning, and we'll come back to that in a minute. But we start off with a, a tower there in the opening verses that fell down, and then we come to a tree, and we notice that as the, eh, the, the gardener and as the owner of the, eh, the vineyard looks at this tree, they're wondering about whether or not they should cut it down, for it's been there for, well, three years, and it hasn't brought fruit, and they're wondering if maybe the time has come to put the axe to the tree and just to be done with it, just to be finished with it. They've been patient long enough, uh, and and we notice there that there's a tree that might be cut down. And then, of course, we come to the end there and and we meet a woman, and she's not cut down and she's not fallen down, but she's bowed down, isn't she? And she's crippled. I don't know what her medical condition would be, really, but eh, my father, you know, my father used to tell me when when I was growing up through my teens, he used to say to me, Stuart, you're you're walking about there like a half-shot knife, you know, and he said, stand up straight. Well, here was a woman, and she was walking about like a half shut knife. She was bowed over, some kind of problem with her spine, and she was bound down. She was like so many today, you know, all that she could see all of her life was the earth. She was bound down. Sometimes you see very elderly ladies, don't you, and they're bowed down with osteoporosis, and they spend all of their day just looking at the ground. Well, such was that, the condition of that woman. She spent all of her life just looking at the ground, just looking at the dirt, just looking at the earth, but she had an experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he did for that woman what he can do for you and I. He lifted her up, and he lifted her eyes up, and he lifted her eyes up so that she might see better things than just the dirt and just the earth and just the world. She could see, she could see heaven, couldn't she? And she could see Christ, and what an experience that was. Uh, so we notice then a tower that was, that was broken down, uh, and then this tree that might be cut down, and a woman that was bowed down. You notice that as we begin this section in Matthew chapter, in Luke chapter thirteen, you notice that we begin with a warning. We, we noticed that, didn't we? Twice the Lord Jesus Christ in, in, in those opening verses, twice he says, twice he draws to the attention of those that are listening, uh, that message, verse three and verse five, repent or ye shall all likewise perish. He begins with a message of repentance. That's very important, you know. It's interesting that as you look at some of the great preachers in the word of God, and a- and as you look at the message they brought from God, it often begins the way the Lord Jesus Christ begins here in Luke chapter thirteen. And so we're going to copy them tonight, and we're going to begin with repentance. Uh, had we come to the beginning of Luke's gospel, we would have found a great preacher by the name of John the Baptist, and it said of John the Baptist that he preached the baptism of repentance. So as folks went to hear, uh, that this preacher in the wilderness, John the Baptist, the first thing that they heard was a call to repentance, to repentance. And if we turned into Mark's gospel and we looked at some of the first things that the Lord Jesus Christ, eh, eh, said to those that came to listen to his message in Mark's gospel, you would find that the very first words that he spoke were w- w- were words of repentance. Repent, repent, repent of sins. Uh, and you find it there in Mark, and you find it in Luke, and you find it again here in Luke chapter thirteen. You know, any gospel message, any message from God, if I'm going to be right with God, it has to begin with repentance. There must be in my life a real acknowledgement of my sin. You see, there's something that is a barrier between me and God. It is sin, sin in my life, sin that I've been born with, and sin that I do, and it sets up a barrier between me and my God, and there has to be repentance. And if there's no repentance, there's no salvation. And there's no point in kidding myself on, for I'm not kidding God on. There's no point in kidding myself on and saying that I'm saved and continuing in my sin. If I continue in my sin, as far as the Bible is concerned, I'm not saved. For the very beginning of salvation is this, it's to be sorry for my sin. That word repent, that's what it means. It means a change of mind. It means seeing that in my life there is sin, and I change my mind about sin. I don't regard it as a small thing anymore. I don't regard it as just a little bit of pleasure. I don't regard it as something that, well, doesn't really matter. Regard it as a serious thing. I see sin for what it is. I see sin as bringing the judgment of God upon me. I see sin as as as separating me from God. I begin to get to grips with the seriousness of my sin. Difficult to do that, you know, because we live in a time when sin is regarded as something that doesn't really matter, and our world is surrounded by, by, by, by glorifying sin, and sexual immorality forms much of the content of our media. It's used in advertising, and it's used in the television, and alcohol abuse and drug abuse are common, and swearing and cursing is common, and all of these things that we're surrounded by them, but we have to see the seriousness of them. You say, why do I have to see the seriousness of them, Stuart? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us. He tells us this, that in life there are many uncertainties, and those opening verses illustrate some of the uncertainties of life. I hardly need to tell you about them. For as the Lord Jesus Christ begins this section in verses one to five, he points men and women to some of the uncertainties of life. He points them to man-made disasters. Here were Galileans, verse number two. and verse number one, and they were up at the temple minding their own business, you might say. They were doing something good, something religious. They were offering sacrifices at the altar, and there was a man, Pilate, and for reasons best known to Pilate, he decided to vent his anger against the Jews that day, and he slew them all. Their blood was mingled with the sacrifices. They'd gone out minding their own business, up to the chucks, if we want to to use that kind of a a modern language, doing nothing wrong, you might say, and they were struck down. That's a man-made disaster. And then the Lord Jesus Christ points them to to a natural disaster, if you like. Verse number four, the tower of Siloam fell down. Folks going about doing their ordinary business, and a tower that was in construction, it fell down and and they were wiped. This is the points the the the Savior to this. Life is full of uncertainties, but here is one certainty, one certainty. Right at the end of that little section, verse number five, I tell you, here, here is a certainty. You know, we sometimes say that to folks, you know, just to try and emphasize, uh, that we really believe something to be true. We say to them, let me tell you. Now he- here's God speaking. I tell you, I tell you. Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. A certainty. Amidst all of the uncertainties of life, says the Savior, here is a certainty. If it happened to be you, or if it happened to be me walking past that tower and I was wiped out. If it happened to be you, or if it happened to be me there, and Pilate drew his sword and brought our life to an end, where would we be? Well, says the Savior, if you are in your sins, and if you have not repented of your sins, here is a certainty, you'll perish, you'll perish. The Savior isn't speaking just about dying. He's speaking about something far more important and far worse than that. Said the Savior elsewhere in the New Testament, if you die without me, you shall die in your sins, and whether I go, you cannot come. If you want to know what it is to perish, not just to die, but to perish. If you want to know what it is to perish, you would have to turn back over a few chapters in Luke's gospel to Luke chapter sixteen, uh and you would get a picture of a man there, a rich man, and he dies, and he opens his eyes in hell being in torment, and you will find a picture in Luke chapter uh sixteen, if you want to read it when you get home, and it's a picture of a man who is perishing. He's perishing. He opens up his eyes in hell, being in torment, and that perishing is a perishing that is tormented forever. He looks back at his life, and it's full of regrets. He looks back at folks that he's left behind. There's a bit of loneliness, the pain, and the sorrow, and the regret. Perishing, perishing. As said the Savior, amongst amongst these uncertainties of life, here's something very certain. Unless you repent of your sins, ye shall all likewise perish. That's a sober. I know what it is to die a little bit. Don't know from firsthand experience, obviously, but I've seen many people die. If you speak to me about death, I can think of folks I've seen dying. Sometimes it's been quite a peaceful thing. Sometimes it's been a sudden thing, and I can relate to what it is to die, but I can't really understand, can I, what it is to perish. I've never seen anybody perish. I've seen them die. But that perishing, you see, it began the moment after death, and it was where their soul ended up after death. A man or a woman that died without Christ. A man or a woman that closes his eye in the hospital bed or in their home, and they die without a saviour, the next moment they're perishing, perishing. It's a terrible thing. That means that from thenceforth there is no more hope. You know, you can take many things away from a person, and it, people are very, very resilient, you know. You can tell them all sorts of things that they've got a tumor, they've got a cancer, they've got a bad heart, and all the rest of it, and they can pick themselves up and go on. But you know, if you take away hope from a person, you can see them going down like that. And a person who is perishing has no hope. Can you imagine that? Opening up your eyes in hell. Luke sixteen, I'm thinking about. There's a man in hell, and he would love to make contact with someone in heaven, and he hears this between you and me, there is a great gulf fixed. He's there, and he learns this in hell. He's there forever, ever. There's no hope, absolutely no hope. There's no way out. Trap. Perishing. Terrible certainty, isn't it? Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. I don't really know what that means, but God does. God does. And because God knows what that means, we have a parable. It's a parable of a fig tree, very interesting parable. Verse number six. There's a vineyard. A vineyard, of course, is a place where you'll find fruit. There's a strange thing about this vineyard, not that I know much about vineyards, but this is seems to me a strange thing anyway. Verse number six. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. Now that's a little bit out of place. I've seen some guy queer things out of place since I've come to Newcomer, you know, but that's a, that's a very queer thing out of place, a, a fig tree in a vineyard. I've seen folks, you know, with borders in their front garden and they've planted onions and leeks in them. That's the first time I've ever seen that. I saw that in Newcomer, you know. A very practical use of your garden, I have to see, I have to commend that, eh, but eh, that's the first time I've seen it, a wee bit out of place. But here's something very out of place. A fig tree planted in his vineyard. Now, a vineyard's a place of fruitfulness, just for those of you that study your Bible, eh, you, you just draw your attention to this, that oftentimes when the Bible speaks about the vineyard, it's speaking about Israel, and of course the Lord Jesus Christ, he's there, and he's speaking particularly to Jews in Luke chapter thirteen. and so there is a particular, eh, a particular message for the Jews there, for the vineyard. Vineyard is the nation of Israel, and God, as he looked down upon the nation of Israel, he was looking for fruit, and of course the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came to his people, he didn't find any fruit. It was very disappointing. It was very sad. And there's this fig tree, just one fig tree. A certain man had a fig tree, and it's there in the midst of his vineyard, uh, and here is something, a tree in the midst of his vineyard, and eh eh and the vineyard eh eh owner, he comes and he's looking, he's looking for fruit. We'll maybe not just get caught up too much as to what the fig tree might be. But but you notice this, there's one fig tree, and the owner of the fig tree is looking for fruit, uh, on that, on that fig tree. You notice that that fig tree has been there for three years, and by this time, the owner is expecting to find fruit. He came after the first year, and he was looking for fruit, didn't find any. So he waited a year, he was a patient kind of chap, and he came back the second year, and he looked again, and there's still no fruit. He- he's patient though, he's patient. So he comes back the third year, and he looks, and there's still no fruit, nothing for him, nothing for him to enjoy. And so at the end of the third year, the the owner of the vineyard, he he's really beginning to lose his patience. And he says, really, enough's enough. This tree is not bringing forth fruit, and you and I know, well, if a tree doesn't bring forth much fruit, then the best thing you can maybe use it for is firewood. Certainly if you've got a stove or a or a fire, the best thing you could do. And so he suggests bringing the fig tree down and and just turning it into fire. Did you notice, though, that the gardener there, he he seems to have a bit of a heart for the fig tree, and he's got a suggestion, and his suggestion is this. He suggests, you know, that that maybe there's a reason, maybe there's a reason for this fig tree not bringing forth fruit. And did you notice what his reason was? Down there, verse number eight. 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 I shall cut it down. Says the gardener, listen, maybe there's a reason for this fig tree not bringing forth fruit. Maybe, maybe there's a problem with what it's feeding on. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe the fact that there isn't any figs coming, maybe it's just feeding on the wrong things. Let, let, let's try feeding it. Let's try putting in some food into the roots of this fig tree and see if something comes that, that brings pleasure to you. You know, God is looking down our lives tonight, and God is looking for fruitfulness. He's looking for something for himself. One fig tree. God is taking a special interest in your soul, and as God looks at my soul and your soul, he's looking for something for himself, something to enjoy, a life that's being lived for his glory and his pleasure, not just for our pleasure, but something for him. And he looks after a year, is there anything there? Nothing there. And he looks after a second year, is there anything there for him? Nothing there. And he comes back after a third year, and he looks, is there anything there? Nothing for him. And what's the problem? The problem is this, what we're feeding on, what we're feeding on. You know, if the food isn't there, we'll not grow, and if the food isn't there, we'll not bring forth fruit. We need to be feeding on the right thing. I'm thinking maybe mainly of Christians tonight in this little parable here of the fig tree, and and I'm thinking about my own life. Is there anything there for Christ? Is there something fruitful? Maybe I'm feeding on the wrong thing, you see. Maybe I'm getting caught up with everything that's out there in this world, and maybe I'm not feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ came to hungry men and women in his day, and he said this, I am the bread of life. You see, it was the Savior that could satisfy. It was the Savior that could feed the hungry soul. It was the Savior that could bring something that would really bring purpose and meaning and satisfaction and joy. You see, a soul that has found Christ and a soul that's feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoying the Lord Jesus Christ is a soul that's really going to be bringing forth fruit, isn't it? And so we notice here the fig tree, and, and it's just, it's not being fruitful, and maybe the problem i- i- is what it's feeding on. But I noticed this too, you know, that the owner of the fig tree was very, very patient. Did you notice that? He was very, very patient. Year after year, he came just to see if there was anything for himself. And then at the end of the third year, the gardener w- was even more patient, and he waited another year. Very, very patient. You know, we've got a God who calls for repentance. We've got a God who calls c- t- calls us to see that we're sinners in his sight. We've got a God that calls us j- j- just to see that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've got a God who warns us, and he warns us that if we die without Christ, and if we die in our sins, we'll fall into a lost eternity. But you know, we've got a God who's very, very patient. We've got a God who's a God of second chances, and sometimes e- even a God who's a God of third chances. And in this parable, maybe we could even say he's a God of fourth chance. Four, at least four years this big tree has to get things sorted out and to bring forth fruit. We live in a cruel world, don't we? Folks will write us off sometimes just for one wee mistake, put us in the rubbish bin. They would just have nothing more to do with us. But the Lord is very, very patient, very, very patient. Give it a bit more time. Give it another year. Give it another... Feed it, feed it. Well, the Lord's looking for fruit, you see, and the Lord is very patient. Why is he patient? I'll tell you why he's patient. Because the Lord himself alone knows what it means to perish. It's only God, you see, that really knows what it means for that fig tree to be cut down. It's only really God who knows what it would mean if he was to say to my soul tonight, that's enough. I've had enough. I've waited long enough. I've called for repentance often enough. I've called for faith often enough. I've called to that soul often enough to repent of their sin and to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's enough. And only God really knows what it would mean for him to say, bring the axe to that person, take him away, cast him into the fire. Only God knows what it means for a soul to perish. And so we've got a God who's very gracious, and a God who's long suffering, and a God who sees and gives exceeding patience. Maybe the Lord's been very patient with you, you know? And maybe you're on your second chance, or your third chance, or your fourth chance. Listen, none of us know how many chances we're going to get. Can I just encourage you just to, to take him seriously, to see your need of a savior, and to ask the Lord Jesus Christ into your life, to turn from your sin, to believe in the savior that loved you and died for you, and put things right tonight. For we don't know, you know, when that gardener will come, and he will just say, listen, that's, that's time enough, that's opportunity enough. Let's just bring it to an end. So So we we know notice this way. then the, the tower in the opening five verses, and the tower, of course, that fell down, and, and then in that second section, there's the fig tree that was to be cut down, and as you notice, to the woman, and she was, she was bent down. We've noticed, of course, already that it is, of course, recorded here, verse number eleven, of that, that dear lady. It's recorded that the Savior had taken special in her. Sometimes, you know, in this world we feel a bit like a number, and eh, we feel maybe like we just don't matter, we're not very important. Sometimes we can feel that, and eh, well, maybe we're right to this old world, maybe none of us are terribly important. But when it comes to the Lord and when it comes to the Savior, did you notice that not only did the Savior know about this woman, but but he knew all that was going on in her life. It it wasn't that the fact that she had gone through suffering meant that he wasn't interested, but he knew about her. He he had been counting those years that she had gone through that suffering, eighteen years, year after year, and he knew, and he understood, and he cared. He was interested in that woman and her suffering. And here's a woman, and and she's bent down, she's bent down. She has a tremendous problem. Life is, life's a drudgery for her. Uh, there's nothing really in, in that dear lady's life that would encourage her, for constantly she goes about life looking down at the ground. There, there's nothing really, there's nothing there in, in, in, uh, that would really just lift her up and, and give her a lift. Yvonne was reading a book a short time ago about Korean Christians that were being persecuted, uh, out there in, in, in the east, and uh, if you're in certain parts of Korea, if you're a believer, if you're a Christian, uh, and, and you're found to be a Christian, then that means imprisonment and really something very similar to what we knew in the west as the concentration camps. There wouldn't be much of a difference there. And one of the things, one of the, the things that they, they did to the Christians when they put them in these camps was that they, whenever they were outside the, eh, the barracks that they stayed in, they would always insist that these Christians walked looking to the ground. They weren't allowed to look up, they weren't allowed to look at heaven. It was just to discourage them, you see, to discourage them from, from looking beyond earth and to be looking upwards, eh, to their Lord and to their Savior, uh, and, and they were just, eh, they were encouraged to be earthbound, earthbound. You know, it's only the Savior that's able just to lift us up above this main old earth. Uh, and that's what the world th- th- th- the Bible tells us is passing away, uh, and a world that's even beginning to, to show some of the signs, I think, of old age, isn't it? It's just beginning to crack at the edges. We've been seeing that in recent days, and the scientists are scratching their heads as to what they're going to do with the ozone layer and as to what they're going to do with the pollution and the greenhouse effect and the deforestation and all of these things. This old world, it's, it's on the way out. And there's only one way, there's only one way that your eyes and your heart might be lifted up beyond this old world, is to find a savior. And here at the end of Luke chapter thirteen, we find a woman, and and all of her life is just focused on this old world, and there's a savior, the savior that's able to lift her up, the savior that's able just to lift her life above the ordinary, and to straighten, uh, straighten her up and and to bring her life, uh, into a new sphere. Did you notice too that the problem that this woman had, it was something way beyond her ability to deal with. Did you notice that? It wasn't just that she had a medical problem, and the kind of medical problem that she had would be very difficult to deal with, but but beyond that, the the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about the fact that she's been bound by Satan. Did you notice that? Down there, verse number sixteen. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound low these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. You know, not only did this woman have a serious problem, but she also had a problem that was beyond her power to do anything about. She was bound and fixed by a power greater than herself, a power that brought her down and kept her down. And for something to be done for her problem, she needed a power greater than herself, and she needed a power greater than. She needed the very power of God, the power of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's lots of self-improvement plans out there today, and folks trying to sort themselves out. We're not encouraging to you to that tonight. We're encouraging you to look to the Savior. We're encouraging you to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're encouraging you to look off to Jesus. We're encouraging you just to see the Son of God that loved you and who died for your sins, sins that would take you into the lake of fire, sins that would bring you to perish. Christ is able in his infinite power and by the greatness of his work at Calvary, he is able to deliver you. He's able to save you. He's able to save, says the Bible, even to the uttermost. He's able to save you tonight, and he's able to save you forever, right through into eternity. For his power is greater than that of our problems, and his power is greater even than that of Satan that bound us women. What a savior he is. We notice a warning at the beginning, a warning about the seriousness of my sin, and we notice there too a God who's patiently waiting, waiting that I might respond. And we notice too there a woman, and did you notice how she's left, verse number seventeen and verse number thirteen? Did you notice that she is left there worshiping? She's left glorifying God. Her life, you see, is lifted up. Uh, her life has changed. Uh, her life is made anew. A great work, you know, a great evidence that Christ has had something to do with her life is when our life is made anew. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, and there she is. She's no longer, she's no longer bent down, she's bowing down, and she's worshiping, and she's glorifying God, because she's had an experience of Jesus Christ, and she's been made anew in Christ. Shall we pray? Our Father, we do just come before thee, and we do give thanks for our Lord Jesus. We thank thee, our Father, for the salvation that is there in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee, our Father, for the, the somberness and the seriousness of the warning. We ask, our Father, that we might heed thy warning, and we do pray, our Father, that we might turn from our sin and put our faith in the Savior who loved us and died for us. We pray that that would encourage each of us. We pray, our Father, that our lives might be fruitful. We pray, our Father, that each of us might know the Savior as our very own. So part us with thy blessing, we pray tonight, as we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.