“The Signs of the Times” Luke 12:54-59
In our passages today we’ll see that Jesus used two illustrations to impress on the crowds the importance of discernment and diligence in spiritual matters.
First, He talked about me weather, and then He talked about a lawsuit.
If we were as discerning about spiritual things as some folks are about me weather, we’d all be better off.
Have you ever noticed, especially the men folks, like maybe in a barber shop, just about the 1st thing they seem to start talking about is the weather, I suppose to start some sort of conversation.
The people here in our text could predict a storm, but they could not foresee the coming judgment. They seem to know when the temperature was about to change, but they could not interpret the “signs of the times.”
Have you ever realized that the Jews had the prophetic Scriptures for hundreds of years and should have been able to see what God was doing, but their religious leaders led them astray?
Listen as I read today’s text found in Luke 12:54-59
54And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. 55And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
56Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? 57Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?
58When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 59I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
--And of coarse vss 59 I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite. – Is telling us that if a person winds up in hell, he’ll never get out because there not a way for him to pay himself out.
How sad it is that men today can predict the movements of the heavenly bodies, can even split atoms, and even put men on me moon; but they are blind to what God is doing in the world. They know how to get to the stars, but they do not know how to get to heaven.
These are exciting times in which to live as a Christian. We have been privileged in our lifetimes to see things happen that had never happened before, man has even set foot on the moon, Israel became a recognized nation with a place on the world map in may 14, 1948, of coarse there’s much more territory that is still to come.
And also now there are medical surgeons that are performing heart transplants and many other operations that was unheard of not too many years ago.
I have been sitting in the top of a pine tree Deer hunting and called home on a cellular phone, its amazing what has happened in just the last few years.
We look on as every day our world gets closer to acceptance of a one-world currency, and eventually a one-world leader. –Who’ll be the Antichrist-
In these closing days of the church age, the people of true faith are called to understand the times in which we live.
Our educated world possesses a great deal of scientific knowledge but not much spiritual wisdom.
Again in Verses 58-59 When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 59I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
A person will do just about anything necessary to stay out of prison, but how many people will apply the same concern and diligence to stay out of hell?
The nation of Israel was on its way to judgment, and the Judge was Almighty God. Their debt was mounting up and they would pay the last mite.
Now a days people can be warned many times on the weather channel to start preparing for a severe storm that is on the way, we see them boarding up windows and the like getting ready
The word of God has been sent out the world over that the Lord Jesus is coming for His Church, for lost sinners to be saved, and yet it seem to go unheeded, but as sure as your listening to my voice it is certain to happen and we believe it can not be very for away, just any time now, there is not any thing left to take place that must take place to keep it from coming to pass.
This requires not only aware-ness of our world situation but of an under-standing of Scripture.
Here in our text in Luke 12:54-59, Jesus is telling the people that were there listing to Him and also He is telling us today that there is great wisdom in reading the signs of the times.
The Lord Jesus is showing in these verses that there is going to be a judgment, there are two things here that I want us to see.
FIRST, we NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT JUDGMENT IS REAL
vv. 54-56 54And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. 55And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
56Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
The people who lived in Palestine in the days of Jesus’ ministry did not have the modern weather observation equipment of today, but they did have the ability to observe the conditions in the sky.
Jesus asks, Why were they so good at reading the earth’s winds and such failures at reading the spiritual winds?
They could read earthly weather, but they neglected the signs of the moral and spiritual climate all around them. Why were they were so shrewd in earthly matters and so ignorant in spiritual matters?
Jesus calls it hypocrisy. 56Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
Think of all the energy, time and money spent in our modern society to bring us the very latest weather reports from around the world. Yet the people of today pay far more attention to tomorrow’s weather forecast than they do to their eternal destiny. There’s always a brief weather summary on the front page of the newspaper, but the religious section is some where back in an obscure subsection of the paper.
The apostle Peter spoke of this coming judgment when he said, 2 Peter 3:3-7 3Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Jesus never called people hypocrites without good reason. When Jesus calls these people hypocrites it not because they were confused about who Christ was, or because they had never heard. His anger is directed against those who were in a position to know the truth and who deliberately rejected that truth.
Paul says in his letter to the Romans 1:16 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
People today have heard this warning many times, so it’s not that these individuals don’t know, it is that they refuse to acknowledge God.
The signs are there for people who are willing to observe them, and they warn of a inferno of judgment against an ungodly world, a fact which most people prefer to ignore or deny.
Because of this we have a world culture that in spite of the witness and testimony of the True church, continues to reject the good news of Jesus Christ, they call good evil and evil good, worship money, glorifies sex, makes heroes out of villains such as Jessie James.
I have heard people say with my own hears that he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, but the key word here is, ‘robbed.”
There’s the killing of precious little babies in the name of convenience, and seem to worship self as the god of all things.
Much as with storm warnings, we don’t usually pay attention or prepare until we realize the severity of the storm and accept the reality that it is going to hit were we live.
In the same way people often ignore the warnings about God’s judgment until they recognize the reality and the severity of it. But most wait until it’s to late.
In A. D. 79 the Roman city of Pompeii suffered a swift and complete destruction with the eruption of Mt. Ves-uvi-us.
Most of us have seen pictures of the arche-ological exploration of that city.
The explosion of Mt. Vesu-vius was so sudden that the residents were killed in the midst of their daily routine. What we may not realize is that the citizens of Pompeii didn’t have to die.
Roman historian writers of the period recorded that for weeks prior to the eruption; there were sounds of rumbling and the shaking of the earth.
There was even a plume of smoke clearly visible for days before the eruption. The citizens of Pompeii died because they ignored the warnings. Warnings are only good if they are responded to.
Makes me think of the load mouth of Iran with their nuclear program, I only hope and pray that we don’t wait to late. I’m certainly not a politician, I’m for from it, but it’s time as for as I’m concerned to take his nuclear facilities out.
We need to stop listening to the bleeding heart liberals and do what’s best for Israel as well as the rest of the world. Us included.
Well, like wise people today need to prepare for the judgment that’s surely coming.
Having issued the warning, Jesus in verses fifty-seven through fifty-nine, gives the crowd (and us) some advice on how to prepare for judgment.
57Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?
58When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way,** give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from Him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 59I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
We have here a parable of sorts that a man is on his way to the judge with an adversary and it tells us that commonsense would be to settle with this man before we stand before the judge.
Like this man we are on our way into the presence of a Judge. And since we are all guilty and heading for judgment the wisest thing to do is to settle out of court before judgment.
This is only common sense. Well, the judge of all the earth is coming one day to judge the earth. And because of our guilt, arrival in court means that only a guilty verdict can be expected and then we will have to pay the ultimate price of our guilt’ that is the people who die in their sins.
We all have a debt of sin before God that someone must pay. Romans 3: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Either Jesus does it in our stead by his sacrifice on the cross or we will pay every last cent before God.
It’s best to settle out of court. Man had better settle with him before it is too late.
People will do almost anything to stay out of jail, but how many people will apply the same kind of diligence to stay out of hell?
The 1st thing to do is to realize our sinful condition.
Rom. 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom. 5:12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
This Preparation Involves Real Change
This Preparation Involves Accepting Jesus Christ As our Personal Lord and Savior.
The New Testament repeatedly emphasizes the importance of individual acceptance of Jesus Christ and the judgment that awaits those who reject Him. Hebrews 9:27-28 27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation
We’re going to have to settle things in this life so that our lives will not come to the court of final judgment, where it will be too late to find salvation.
Now is the time to choose: Prov. 29:1 1He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy
Ezekiel 7:8-9. 8Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. 9And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.
Let me urge you sinner friend come to Jesus and confess that you’re a lost sinner, receive Him into your heart as your personal Lord and Savoir.
