 All right, well good evening, everyone. How are we doing tonight? Good to see everybody, good to see you. And that's well, this is the day of the Lord, right? And we're doing well, worshiping and praising the Lord. Tonight, our sermon title is The Fruitless Professor. We'll be going through the parable of the barren fig tree. So if you will, please turn with me in your Bible. It's the Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13, The Fruitless Professor, the parable of the barren fig tree. Let's begin with reading our texts together. Beginning in Luke chapter 13, verse one. We'll read down through verse nine. Luke chapter 13 and verse one. Here, the Bible says that there were those that 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 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. Or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. He also spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground? But he answered and said to him, sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not after that, you can cut it down. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for this time and your word. I was so blessed, God, to have your word. I was so blessed to be able to hear it proclaimed or to have it in our hands that we can study it or that we can read and learn of you, God, in your goodness and your kindness and certainly, Lord, hear your patience, your forbearance, just your goodness that should lead us to repentance. I thank you, Lord, for the blessing of your word. I pray, God, that tonight this would be an opportunity in the searching light of your word that each one of us would examine himself and take stock where we're at. If there's anyone here, Lord, who proves to be just a fruitless, empty professor only, Christian in name only, or that you would break their heart, Lord, over that fruitless state, God, that you would make them alive in Christ, that you would give them new birth, Lord, that in the power of your spirit, the power of your might, they might produce fruit for your glory. We love you, Lord, and we want to see you made famous, and we want to see your name proclaimed, and Lord, we want scripture to, again, in the power of your spirit, to transform us, to conform us into the image of Christ for your praise and worship in Jesus' name, amen. And again, the fruitless professor from Luke chapter 13, the parable of the barren fig tree, and here, we know that in scripture from the Bible, Hebrews chapter nine, verse 27 says that it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment. There is, if you will, the proverbial date with destiny that we all have to face, and we all will face it. The wages of sin, the Bible says is death. The Bible says that the soul that sins, it shall surely die. The Bible says that everyone cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the book of the law to do them. Death, then, is the byproduct of sin. Death is the byproduct of sin, and you are a sinner. The truth be known, you're a sinner from your birth. The psalmist says that in sin, my mother conceived me. From the moment you were conceived in the womb, you are a sinner by virtue of your father, Adam, who through Adam sin entered the world and through sin, death. And you're a beneficiary of that heritage, if you will. You are a sinner. And as a result of being a sinner, our sin produces death, and that death is just and right. Death, eternal torment and hell, is the just and good judgment of God against sin. We all deserve to die, and we all will face that physical penalty. Outside of Christ, you'll face an eternal penalty. We'll talk about that. And it is a just penalty that is due. The point of this parable is that our death is certain, our death is certain, and our time is short. And point one on your notes, the time for patience, the time for God's patience will pass. The time for patience will pass. Look at verse one in chapter 13 for context here. Verse one, it says, there were those present at that season, some who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Now they were in the process of sacrificing. So this happened within the temple. They were sacrificing the temple and Pilate mixed their blood. In other words, he killed them in the process of sacrificing. Verse two, in Jesus answered and said to them who were listening, do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? And the crowd in the audience here were those, especially Jews, who were listening to the sermon that Christ was preaching. Fairly lengthy sermon and he's drawing it to a close and he's about to make a point in chapter 13 that is important for us to understand. Here, those that were listening were considering, at Christ's question here, the death of those Galileans. It was a common thought at that time that your death reflected how badly of a sinner you were. If you died an excruciating death, that was because you were a worse sinner than anyone else. That God's people fell asleep, so to speak, and didn't die to surrender to death. There were those that thought that because you were a worse sinner than anyone else, then you suffered physical consequences for that. You remember the story of the man born blind in John chapter nine, right? They were walking along a road. They saw a man that was born blind, blind from his birth, and the disciples asked Christ as they were walking. Was it because of this man's sin or his parents' sin that he was born blind? And Jesus said, listen, you've got it all wrong. It wasn't because of his sin or his parents' sin. It was so that the glory of God might be shown in him and Jesus Christ in attesting himself to be the Son of God with power performed a miracle and gave that man who was born blind gave him a sight. Here the same thought prevails in their minds. These Galileans who were killed during sacrifices in the temple must have been awful, despicable sinners, right? He goes on, then he says, I tell you no in verse three, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Again, we all face death. This word for perish here is implying judgment. You're all going to face the same judgment unless you repent and he puts the focus right back on them, takes it off of those Galileans, right? Consider their end. Unless you repent, turn from your sin, you will all likewise perish. Here again, repentance tied to perish. If you do not repent, you will perish. Repentance is essential to salvation, right? But then he goes on in verse four, or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they, and again the same language, were worse sinners than all the other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Here, focus is on those in Jerusalem, on whom the tower of Siloam fell. Those Galileans who were killed at the sacrifice in Christ in setting the stage here for our parable makes a couple of important applications or a few implications that must be applied in order for us to understand our parable, right? From this account, we see these points. One, there is an urgent need here for repentance in light of judgment. There's an urgent need for repentance in light of judgment. Judgment hangs over the head of those listening to this account in the same way that it hung over the head of those Galileans or hung over the head of those who were working at the tower in Siloam. It was hanging over the heads of his listeners here. If you're outside of Christ, judgment hangs over your head now. And there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment. It is urgent. There's an urgent need for repentance in light of this judgment that is coming. In 2 Peter chapter three, we see this Peter speaking of it. He says, scoffers will come in the last days. They're gonna be walking according to their own lust and saying, where's the promise of his coming? You can sense that in Jerusalem at the tower or in the temple at those sacrifices that they wouldn't have expected that their end was coming. They didn't expect that tower to fall and they didn't expect pilot soldiers to come in and to kill them during afternoon sacrifices. They didn't expect that their end was near. We all have that problem, don't we? We don't have a proper view of our potential end. We don't have a proper view of eternity. We don't have a proper view of the judgment that hangs over our head outside of Christ. We just don't have a proper view here. And Jesus Christ in telling this account and giving this account is trying to put this in perspective for them. It wasn't because their time was cut short that they were worse sinners. You can all likewise perish, right? It wasn't that their time was cut short because they were more despicable, more disgusting in God's eyes than anyone else. We are all sinners in need of repentance. Peter says, where's the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. And these scoffers just think they have time. They think they have time and more time and more time. And they scoff not thinking that judgment applies to them. Verse five, for this they willfully forget that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water and in the water by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water. Remember the flood, remember the flood. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But here, listen to what he says to us. Verse eight, but beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years is one day, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, the patience of God, the grace of God in time. Those in Jerusalem, those at the temple had no more time. Their time had run out. Their time had run out. And unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish. One day our time, your time will run out. You'll be without any time left and judgment will come knocking. Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. And in this thinking of the flood, again in the hand of God in this and the judgment that's pending, reflect back on Genesis chapter six verse three where the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever. For he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. Lord has appointed the end. The Lord has appointed the end of your life. He knows the number of your days. He knows how much time you have left. For man approaching the flood, the Lord says my spirit will not always strive with man, you've got 120 years. And during that 120 years, Noah, right, and his family by himself, they built the ark, took 120 years to do it. While Noah building the ark was a preacher of righteousness, the Lord in his grace and mercy, preached faith, right, preached faith in God, preached righteousness, preached salvation that is in God. Noah preached the gospel and were any other saved? No, and their time ran out that 120 year clock ended and judgment was executed. There is a time when your time is up. Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon entitled, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It's a powerful sermon. But in it, he speaks of the frailty of human life. And the point of that sermon comes from Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 35 where the Bible says, vengeance is mine and recompense. Their foot, God says, shall slip in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things to come hasten upon them. Jonathan Edwards said of Israel, under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit. Are you fruit producing or are you a fruitless professor? Are you fruitless? Jonathan Edwards goes on to say this. It is no security to wicked men for one moment that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man that he is now in health and he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages shows this is no evidence that a man is not on the very brink of eternity and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon day. The sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different and unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell that there is nothing to make it appear that God has need to be at the expense of a miracle or go out of the ordinary course of his providence to destroy any wicked man at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world are so in God's hands and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God. Whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell than if means were never made of or at all concerned in the case. I'm thinking about it for a moment. The ways that you can go out of the world are innumerable. It's inconceivable the number of ways that the Lord can take you out of this world. There is a limited amount of time and the Lord's patience is running out. Your time is short. You must repent and turn to the Lord. Who knows how your death will come and when it will come. The fact that you have not perished yet as they did in the Tower of Shalom or in the temple that day is not any indication of your goodness. And actually the reverse of that is true. It's an indication of God's goodness as displayed in his grace and in his kindness in his loving forbearance in God's patience. The fact that God gives us more time. The fact that you're taking a breath right now is the grace of God to you when time is running out. Here, don't be concerned in verses one through five. Don't be concerned with whether or not they were more wicked sinners than you. That's the point that that Tower didn't fall on you. What are you going to do with the time that you have? What about you? What about the plank that is in your own eye? What are you going to do with the time that you have? Jesus is basically saying, listen, I know you're concerned about those Galileans. I know you're concerned about those on whom the tower fell, but what about you? And you, honest with yourself, have to say there but by the grace of God, go I. The fact that we've got time left. Are you a fruitful Christian or a fruitless professor? Are you bearing fruit? It's in the reality this truth. Reality this truth that this heart-arresting, pride-crushing reality that tells our story here in Luke chapter 13 verses six through nine. He begins to make this point with a parable. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. We have an earthly story here of a man and his vineyard and his fig tree and it has a heavenly meaning. And stories often, these parables, are often intended to arrest the mind and arrest the heart and let it arrest your mind as you listen, right? Point two on your notes beginning in verse six. These that are there, these fig trees, if you will, this fig tree, we are planted with a purpose. The fig tree is planted with a purpose. In verse six, the Bible says he also spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. The purpose for which they were planted is to produce fruit. And we have a backstory here to the parable, right? Israel at this time was an agrarian society. They lived off crops. They lived off the harvest, off the fruit of the land, okay? And as such, they had vineyards. Vineyards at this time were well protected, well cared for. They were hard to cultivate, difficult to cultivate and so they were well protected, well cared for. It wasn't unusual then to find vineyard owners who also planted fig trees inside the hedge of their vineyard. Fig trees, very expensive, very valuable. And so what better place to put them than within the confines of your own vineyard? Oftentimes you'd find fig trees planted inside a vineyard. But now also vineyards were well cared for. The ground was well fertilized, well cared for, well watered, weeded, a great place to provide for a fruit producing fig tree. Fig trees were so valuable, so expensive that it was a death penalty offense to cut one down. They were valuable. And here with the fig tree, fig trees produced a crop, three crops a year. Each year, three different crops. You had a crop in June that was fairly large that the owner would get a fairly large sum of money for. You had a crop in August, another large crop in August, and then a small crop in September that were like crab evils, little bitty figs, nothing more than kids to throw at each other. A small crop in September, big crop in June, big crop in August. So three crops were typical on your average fig tree, very valuable fig tree. So here comes the drama. The owner of the fig tree, the owner of the vineyard came and sought fruit. He sought fruit and he found none. Verse six, he also spoke to this parable, a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, look, for three years I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down, why does it use up the ground? This would have been shocking. If it had neglected to produce fruit for one or two harvests, that may have been understandable and may have been something to work with, but the fact that it's gone three years, nine supposed crops and hasn't produced any fruit, this would have been shocking. These trees were valuable and so the expression of the vineyard owner was an expression of disgust. This thing is a waste of my investment, waste of my money, a waste of space in my vineyard. It's not done what it is supposed to do. It hadn't produced any fruit and it hadn't produced any fruit for a long time. So now the Jewish audience listening to this, all right, would have thought to themselves and as Jesus started the parable, they might have thought to themselves, wait a minute, Jesus has already called them hypocrites. He's already told them a few parables, right, that have arrested their hearts and minds. In that sense they've been offended at what he's been teaching and they might have just begun to get a sense. It might have dawned in their minds what Jesus Christ was saying and what he was doing here. John the Baptist in chapter three had already called them broods of vipers telling them to go produce fruits of repentance saying that the ax was already laid at the root of their tree. Here is certainly one of these parables that would have come to mind would have been in the parable of the sower in Luke chapter eight where Jesus basically said, you must produce fruit. If you don't produce fruit, you're good for nothing than to be thrown into the fire. So these parables would have come to mind. Jesus Christ was at this time tearing down the false religion of Pharisees. And so again, this parable, the parable of the barren fig tree here would have arrested his Jewish audience and it would have begun to dawn on them exactly what he was saying. Maybe as they listened, they would have thought about a reference to Isaiah. They knew their Bibles, right? Their Old Testament. They grew up reading the Old Testament. They knew what Isaiah said and they might have heard in this teaching a reference to Isaiah. Let's go look at that ourselves. Turn to Isaiah chapter five. Isaiah chapter five. And they're thinking to themselves, is Jesus teaching the same thing again? He's calling us hypocrites again. They're calling us fruitless producers again. Isaiah chapter five. And look here beginning in verse one. And they would have known this passage well. God's disappointing vineyard. And Isaiah chapter five, verse one. Now let me sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a wine press in it. And so he expected it to bring forth good grapes but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, oh inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge please between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes did it bring forth wild grapes? The words the owner of the vineyard came seeking fruit and he found none. Came looking for fruit and he didn't find any. It brought forth wild grapes. And now please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. The Lord says I'll take away its hedge and it shall be burned and break down its wall and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned or dug but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant. He looked for justice but behold oppression. For righteousness but behold a cry for help. So in the immediate context here in this parable we're talking about the Jewish people. We're talking about God's own people and this parable is a parable about the Jews. In the same way that they would have heard this and referenced in their minds Isaiah five and saw them as the disappointing or fruitless vineyard. Here they're beginning to get the idea that this parable is applied to them. If they put two and two together they would have taken John's warning that the ax is laid at the root of the tree and would have seen in themselves the ax laid at the root of their tree. They're about to be cut down. Back in Luke chapter 13 we see this here in this chapter happening with respect to the Jews. Look back in Luke in chapter 13 later in the chapter look beginning at verse 34. Here Jesus crying over Jerusalem, pleading again this is the heart of Christ for his people heart of Christ for the Jewish people look at verse 34. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen that gathers her brood under her wings but you were not willing. See your house is left to you desolate and assuredly I say to you you shall not see me until the time comes when you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And we see the judgment against the fruitless professors in Israel the Jews here but this also has application for us. That's a principle of Herman Nug's right Bible study. You take application it was meant for that audience is intended audience but then you cross the principalizing bridge into our time today and there's application for us. Here if this tree had gone three years with no crop three years without a harvest that would have been tragic. It would have been considered a lost cause. It has been three years. The emphasis here is on the sterility of the tree. The sterility of the tree, the uselessness of the tree, the fruitlessness of the tree. This is the professing Christian in our application today who is no Christian at all. This is a professing Christian the person who is a Christian in name only that just hangs around the church and the Lord think about it. What more could the Lord have done for his church? He purchased it with his own blood. He supplies it with faithful teachers, faithful brothers, faithful sisters. Gives you every resource. Think about the resources that we have today. Can the Lord say that of his church today that what more could I have done for you fruitless professor than what I've already done? He's done everything, everything. Here it's interesting in the parable in chapter 13 that it's a fig tree. It was fig tree's plural applied to the nation of Israel, but here the Lord uses the principle of a fig tree, a single fig tree. That's single Jew, if you will, out of the nation of Israel. That's single professing Christian out of the church. It's that fig tree, that single solitary individual fig tree that is fruitless. What more could God have done? Gives us every resource available. Every means. We have everyone with a Bible in their hands. Think about the martyrs who died to put a Bible in your hand. Think about the resources that you have on the internet. Think about the brothers and sisters that you have in this church that dig around you and fertilize around you so that you can grow in Christ and produce fruit. Think about all that the Lord has done. Often talk to people. I know you have too in counseling people about assurance of salvation, whether they're genuinely saved or not. They have this impression in their minds of God being an ogre who wants to do nothing more than to prop you up so that he can shoot you down and be glorified in your condemnation. That's not the God of the Bible. Think about all that the Lord has done to see you genuinely and soundly saved. He's brought you to a Bible believing church, placed a Bible in your hand, placed you in the midst of his people to preach the gospel to you, giving you every resource imaginable. The Lord in his kindness and in his goodness has done all that for you and even beyond that gives you time, gives you another day, another breath to turn from your sin. And that is the patience and goodness and kindness and forbearance of God. None of us produces much fruit as we want, right? But are you producing fruit at all? Are you producing any fruit? Since you've claimed the name of Christ, have you seen a progression toward godliness that produces the fruit of the spirit in your life? Joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness? Do you see the spirit of God producing fruit in you? Are you exercising yourself toward godliness? Do you have a love for the word of God and a hatred for your sin? Do you see progression in your Christian life more and more conformed into the image of Christ? It may be at times not visible to you. Ask a brother, ask a sister. Are you producing any fruit at all? The point here in the parable in chapter 13 is the barren fig tree, it's not producing any fruit. We all go through periods of time when we wanna be more productive than we are, we'll never produce as much fruit for Christ as we want to. Are you producing fruit at all? You might say that I'm alive, but just barely. And turn from apathy, turn from indifference and serve the Lord fervently. This should, this understanding that the Lord comes seeking fruit should provide for us a powerful motivation to go out in the power of the spirit and produce it. Amen? And the distinguishing factor of the Christian life is fruitfulness. You're looking at assurance of your salvation. You have the objective promises of God in scripture that the Lord will save you, that he'll indwell you with his spirit, that you will be graven, you are graven on his hand, that no one will ever snatch you out of his hand, that the Lord will, those whom he justifies, he will eventually glorify. You have all these glorious promises of God in Christ Jesus to those who are genuinely saved. The question is, are you genuinely saved? The only way that you can know that from your perspective is fruitfulness. So whether you are bearing fruit, the Lord comes seeking fruit, are you producing fruit or are you the barren fruitless professor? You have to examine yourself. You may be able to pass inspection with some. You may be able to pass inspection in the church even for a period of time, looking like a tear, but you can't pass inspection with God. You're planted with a purpose. That purpose is to produce fruit. Look quickly at Titus chapter two, where Titus says this exact thing. In Titus chapter two, in beginning in verse 11, here's the grace of God in verse 11 that brings salvation that has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age as producing the fruit of godliness, the producing the fruit of righteousness, of sober living. Verse 13, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ that produces the fruit of hope, right? Produces the fruit of faith. 14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people that's producing the fruit of righteousness, zealous for good works, producing the fruit of good works, or to be fruit producing Christians, right? But third point on your notes, back in Luke chapter 13, their profession, the profession of the fruitless professor is pointless. Their profession is pointless. In verse seven, Christ says, that he said to the keeper of his vineyard, look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground? Three years. Three crops would have been a long enough time and he waited three years, okay? This is one of the greatest graces that God gives and it's the grace of time. It's more time. It's a great grace of the Lord. Second Peter 3.9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness but his long suffering, he's patient toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Goes on to say in verse 15 that we are to regard the patience of God as what? A salvation. Regard the patience of God as salvation. It's the Lord's patience that is a great grace to us. In Romans chapter two, verse four, he says, or do you despise the riches of his goodness forbearance, his patience, his long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance but in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you're treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Psalm 145, this is a beautiful Psalm. Psalm 145 verse eight, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is slow to anger, great patience. One of the greatest graces that God gives us is time. You have time but time is running out. Time is short and you don't know when that time is up. The fact that you've had this much time is enough time. Turn from your sin and turn to Christ now. He first starts by saying, cut it down. The owner of the vineyard says, cut it down. Why do we even allow it to take up space in the vineyard, right? Just cut it down, get rid of it. Why does it use up the ground? He says, encumbereth the ground, as the King James says. It causes the soil around it to deteriorate but also this is just a statement of frustration. This is a worthless, profitless tree. Just cut it down. The axe is laid to the root of the tree. That tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and is good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire. Why does it even take up the ground? And the profession here of the fruitless professor is pointless and even potentially in the church damaging. Look quickly at 1 Corinthians chapter five. 1 Corinthians chapter five. Again, this is the person who is Christian in name only, who is in the church not producing any fruit. And here you understand that when it says that he comes seeking fruit, he comes seeking good fruit. Any other fruit is considered no fruit. The word comes seeking fruit. So if you're not producing good fruit, if you're producing wild grapes or here wild figs or weak, sickly, inedible figs, you're producing no fruit. Here in 1 Corinthians five, we see that false professor, that so-called Christian in the church but we also see what that person produces here. It's potentially damaging. 1 Corinthians five, let me be in verse six. Here Paul says, your glory is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven is the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. This leaven is the influence of a sin from a leaven himself, from a sinful person. I wrote to you, he says in verse nine in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters since then you would need to go out of the world but now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother. In other words a brother in name only, not a brother. A fruitless professor, just professing Christ but not producing fruit. Here producing the fruit of sin, producing the fruit of leaven that will meander its way through the church potentially a damaging influence. In second Corinthians chapter six verse 14 Bible says do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness. What communion has light with darkness and what accord has Christ with belial or what part has a believer with an unbeliever and what agreement has the temple of God with idols for you are the temple of the living God. Their profession is pointless. Their existence if you will in the church is pointless because the Lord comes seeking fruit. The Lord is seeking fruit and He's seeking good fruit not bitter fruit, not poisonous fruit, not leavening fruit, not wild fruit. He's seeking fruit but they presume again point four on your notes in verse eight they presume upon the patience of God. And verse eight he goes on to say in Luke 13. But he answered and said to him, sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. Literally it means dig it and dung it. We're gonna dig around it and fertilize it. Here in this verse is great opportunity, right? If you think about it again, the Lord being gracious to us in providing time there is opportunity. This is the glorious promise of hope in this verse. Let it alone this year also until I dig it and dung it and hopefully it'll produce fruit. There is reprieve in this verse. This means more grace. Think of the infinite grace of God in mercy to us in that He doesn't destroy us at the first sin and even here we see more grace. Think about the grace throughout scripture to the children of Israel. And think about the grace to those, these fruitless professors here. Those in the church, this more grace of God, the awesome patience right of the gardener, the vineyard owner, more patience. With the Jews, God gave them Christ. After all of the failures, after all of the rebellious idolatry that they were involved in, the Lord sent the Messiah, gave them miracles, gave them the apostles, the constant preaching of the gospel. And then they crucified Christ. They showed contempt for those preachers, they gnashed their teeth at them and they even had a zeal for God but it was not according to knowledge. Was this it for the Jewish people? No. The Jewish people, God has promises to them still remaining. In chapter 11, has God cast off His people Israel by no means. There's promises coming. Read 9, 10 and 11 in Romans. The point here though too is that we cannot presume upon this hope, cannot presume upon this patience. Listen, it's been three years already. It's produced no fruit and so the owner comes, just cut it down, disgusted. Why does it take up the ground? Just get it out of here. It's a worthless wasteful tree. I've wasted my money, has no value. Just cut it down and the gardener comes along until I dig around it and fertilize it. Just one more year, just one more year. This is great patience, great long suffering, great forbearance but we cannot presume upon that. Are you a Christian in name only? Don't presume upon the patience of God. The ax is laid at the root of the tree. Are you a Christian? Are you claiming Christ? Do you believe that you're genuinely and soundly saved and right now you're going through a phase where you're not producing fruit? Examine yourself. Will you, fruitless professor, show contempt for His kindness, His goodness, His patience? Let me give you an example of presumption. Look at Numbers chapter 14. Numbers chapter 14, the Lord is good. The Lord is gracious. The Lord holds out for you an offer of salvation that results in a glorious inheritance, a glorious rest. You cannot presume upon the Lord and you cannot presume upon the Lord thinking that you will have another chance, thinking that you'll have another opportunity. In Numbers chapter 14, we have the Israelites who sent out the spies. The Lord had commanded them to go in and possess the land. They sent out the spies and the spies come back with a bad report. Look at verse 36, Numbers 14, verse 36. Now when the men who Moses sent to spy on the land who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil report about the land died by the plague before the Lord. But Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb, the son of Jefunah remained alive of the men who went to spy out the land. Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel and the people mourned greatly. Lord gives you opportunity and gives you opportunity and gives you opportunity. You hear the gospel over and over. Praise God, right? The gospel over and over and over again. You have a Bible in your hands that you can study and read and hear the words of God to you from. You have every resource. What more should the Lord have done for his vineyard? Right? Here, the Lord gives them this land to inherit. The Lord has won victory after victory after victory. He has carried them through the wilderness. Now brings them to the brink of going into the promised land and they reject the command of God. Moses tells all these words to the children of Israel and the people mourned greatly. Verse 40. And they rose early in the morning and they went up to the top of the mountain saying, here we are and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised for we have sinned. When the Lord said that those in the wilderness who complained and grumbled, he swore in his wrath, they would not enter his rest, their time was up. It was the last opportunity. They had opportunity to inherit the promise, to inherit the blessing, to go into the land and they failed to do it. They rejected the goodness and kindness and grace of God to them. They presumed upon God, presumed upon his grace and they failed to go up. When they heard the judgment, listen, not one of you will enter my rest. All of you will die in the wilderness. Their time was up and now thinking that they have another chance, another opportunity. They said, wait a minute, wait a minute, we'll go up now. And so they set to go up now. In verse 41, realizing they'd sinned, verse 41, Moses said, now why do you transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed. Do not go up lest you be defeated by your enemies for the Lord is not among you. There comes a time when the door is shut. Comes a time when your time is up. The Lord knows that and you don't. The Lord knows when the tower falls. Lord knows when that blood will be sprinkled with the sacrifices. The Lord knows the number of your days. When is your time gonna be up? Don't presume upon the grace of God. Don't presume to think that you have another opportunity, repent now. Produce fruit for the Lord now because the Lord comes seeking fruit. Here, they're transgressing again, verse 44. But they presumed, right? They presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp, nor the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them and drove them back as far as Horma. Just their time was up. What is the reason that anyone would wait? Why would you wait? You have the promises of God. You have scripture. You have the gospel. You have this glorious inheritance laid out before you. Why would anyone wait? One reason is because they think they have more time. They think they have more time. You simply don't know when your time is up and the Lord is gracious, supremely gracious considering your sin to give you one more second. So why would you wait? You cannot wait. Those that decide to wait reveal the heart of an unconverted person and the hardness of heart of someone who's potentially irretrievable. Don't wait. Something that they will simply escape. Somehow it's all gonna work out in the end. Somehow I can rebel against the Lord and still inherit Canaan. It simply doesn't work that way. In actuality, it's just unbelief. It's unbelief. You don't believe that there's a judgment pending. You don't believe that there's a God who is angry with the wicked every day. You don't believe that time is running out. You just believe that somehow it's all gonna work out. Do you realize, for those of you who may be in this position, maybe you're a Christian and you're examining yourself whether you're producing fruit. Maybe you're that fruitless professor and you're convinced in your mind you're a Christian and you're producing no fruit. Examine yourself. But do you realize that there are those in this church who dig around you, who fertilize you, who care for your soul? It's that grace and mercy of God for one more year and you come and they're loving brothers, loving sisters. Sometimes you spurn that. You've seen that happen frequently. Someone gets hostile, they reject that. And that is the loving kindness and forbearance of God that should lead you to repentance. That is some loving soul that will come along digging around you and fertilizing you. Some brother, some sister comes up to you and says, can I dung you? Say yes. Praise the Lord. You got brothers and sisters in this church that want to dung you. That's a glorious promise from God, amen. This is the grace of God. One more day, one more time, one more minute. Just loving brothers and sisters. To hear the gospel. You also realize though, Christian, that you must as brothers and sisters intercede for those barren fig trees in your life. Do you know a barren fig tree? What are you doing to dig around it? To fertilize it, to love it, to dung it. We've got barren fig trees in our vineyard and they need that. Whose life are you digging into right now? And that's the grace of God also. We need to be digging into their lives. Point five on your notes. There is fully and finally in chapter 13, verse nine, their appointment with perdition. Their appointment with perdition. Verse nine, Christ says that if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that, you can cut it down. This if here is a conditional phrase. It's a conditional word. Actually in the Greek language, there are three different classes of conditions. I love the language. It's awesome to get into that. But you can see conditions in the Greek language that are likely to happen and conditions in the language that are unlikely to happen. The way that this word is constructed, this is a condition that is unlikely to happen. It's unlikely. If it bears fruit, it's like shaking your head, shrugging your shoulders. If it bears fruit, fine. But if not, then we'll cut it down. It's just a condition that's unlikely to happen. And again, the patience of the Lord with a fruitless professor. The reality here is that he'll by no means believe the guilty unpunished. Back in Numbers 14, verse 18, the Bible says that the Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty. Time is running out. Mercy has its limits. You may say to yourself, but I thought the Bible says that his mercy endures forever. You look at Psalm 136 and every verse. And his mercy endures forever. And his mercy endures forever. And his mercy endures forever. But as his mercy endures forever to you is the question. His mercy, his attribute of mercy endures forever. But will it endure for you? His mercy doesn't endure for everyone. Time runs out. His spirit will not always strive with men. In Psalm 103, verse 17 says, but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children to such as keep his covenant and to those who remember his commandments to do them. That's who his mercy endures forever to. Are you a fruitless professor? Are you prepared to die? Think about that question for a moment. Are you prepared to die? You know, it's not fatalistic to think about death. It's realistic, right? Everyone has an appointment that date with destiny. Everyone will die once and then comes the judgment. So it's not fatalistic to think about death. We have to think about death. There's times when you're witnessing at the door and you talk to someone about the meaning of life. I've never thought about that. Door the other day. Never thought about that. Slow down, you need to think about that. Time is running out. That judgment is coming. Even now is the ax laid at the root of your tree or has the ax been removed in Christ? If you're in Christ, if you turn from your sin and sincerely, you've turned from your sin and you've put your faith and trust and reliance in Christ, then Christ has removed the ax. Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. There's no judgment for those in Christ. Jonathan Edwards goes on to say this. And now you have an extraordinary opportunity. A day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open and he stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners. A day wherein many are flocking to him and pressing into the kingdom of God. Think about this statement here for a moment. In light of verses one through five, there's that day when the tower of Siloam fell, 18 were killed. There was that day when Pilate and his men went in and killed those who were sacrificing the temple. There's that day when so and so died or so and so died or so and so died. The experience, the death of a loved one, death of someone close to you, there's that day when they died. But now to you, the mercies of God, that door to his mercy stands wide open because you have this time. The time is now. That time won't last forever and time is short. There are many who are flocking to him and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south. Many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in are now in a happy state with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day to see so many others feasting while you are pining and perishing? Are you so torn up over your sin, so grieved over your fruitless condition that you are pining and perishing? You feel the weight of that guilt, the weight of shame for your sin. There are others flocking to Christ. Why not you? That door of God's mercy stands wide open. Why won't you go through it? To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart while you have caused to mourn for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit, how can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield where they are flocking from day to day to Christ? Same way that those died in Jerusalem at the tower or those that were in the temple. Here it brings up those precious souls fleeing to Christ in the Suffield. And why wouldn't you flee as they do? Why wouldn't you turn to Christ as they did and be saved? Why would you persist? Why would you persist in a fruitless condition knowing that judgment hangs over your head? Turn, turn at the Lord's instructions. Hear this instruction to the nation of Israel, the children of God, the Israelites fell on deaf ears. But then the glory of God and salvation is that he opens that gift of salvation by faith in Christ to Gentiles, to you and me. To be saved, will you hear his call? Or will he lament over you as he did over Jerusalem and leave your house desolate? There's time now and the time is now. Today is the day. Repent of sin, put your faith in Christ and produce fruit. The Lord comes seeking fruit, amen? Amen, let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord God, strengthen us by your spirit to be fruit producing Christians. Lord, soundly saved. God, find us faithful to be digging around one another's trees. Lord, exhorting one another while it is called today, stirring one another up to love and good works. For your glory, God, and for the good of your people. Lord, for the salvation of souls that they might be saved in the day of judgment. Lord, I pray that you would protect each one of us. God, preserve us by your spirit. Protect us from being a fruitless professor. Open the eyes, the hearts and the minds of the deceived. They might see their condition and turn to you. Or to that Christian. God, I pray that you'd strengthen their heart. God, empower them by your spirit. They're in a state of momentary fruitlessness. God, I pray that you would snatch them back from that precipice of falling away from the living God and restore them, restore to them the joy of their salvation. Bring them, Lord, to a fruitful condition in Christ. Lord, for your glory and for their good. Hold us fast to your word. Lord, in for your name produce fruit among us. We want to see souls saved. We want to see your kingdom advance. We want to see Christ exalted. We want to see you magnified. We love you, Lord. And we thank you for this time in Jesus' name. Amen.