Gospels (35) - Luke 12:35-13-21

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Gospels

Rusty's Notes

Luke 12
READY FOR THE MASTER’S RETURN
35 “Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. 36 You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. 37 Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

• On a daily basis… what’s the one time you don’t want Jesus to come back… it’s gonna happen to someone.
• If you are focused on the outward appearance you’ve had to think about the fact of what you want to be doing when the Lord returns.
• People don’t really live their lives thinking about what they will be doing because they don’t believe the Lord will return in their lifetime.
• Is he talking about “the Rapture” or the Second Coming?
• We can pinpoint the Second Coming because of the 7-year tribulation and the halfway point of when the anti-Christ sits on the throne in the temple on the temple mount.
• Jesus has to be referring to what we believe to be “the Rapture.”
• If you are living from your heart… no need to worry about when Jesus returns.

 
REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT
41 “Lord,” Peter asked, “are you telling this parable to us or to everyone?”
42 The Lord said: “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.

• I wonder what I will be doing.

44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

• Talking about the unredeemed.
• Those who rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

47 And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. 48 But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.

• Has much been entrusted to me?
• Has much been entrusted to us?
• How are we to be on alert?
• John 6:29 - 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”[1]
• John 17:3 - 3 This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.[2]
• Our job is to intimately know the Creator.
• Where did I get the idea that I had to be “doing” something when Christ returns?
• Get off the treadmill and enjoy Jesus.
• Trust Christ’s life in you to love others.

 
NOT PEACE BUT DIVISION
49 “I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how it consumes me until it is finished!

• Baptism in the Scripture does not always refer to water.
• It means to identify with your leader.
• Paul says those who followed Moses into the Red Sea were baptized as followers of Moses.
• Jesus here is referring to His crucifixion.

51 Do you think that I came here to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 From now on, five in one household will be divided: three against two, and two against three.
53 They will be divided, father against son,
son against father,
mother against daughter,
daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law,
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

• Micah 7:6
• The images Jesus used—fire, baptism, division—speak of opposition and conflict.[3]

 
INTERPRETING THE TIME
54 He also said to the crowds: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, right away you say, ‘A storm is coming,’ and so it does. 55 And when the south wind is blowing, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is.

• Meteorologists. They can predict the weather.

56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don’t you know how to interpret this present time?

• The present time – Jesus is the Messiah.
• The Prophets forecasted the coming of the Messiah.
• How tragic that men today can predict the movements of the heavenly bodies, split atoms, and even put men on the 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![4]

 
SETTLING ACCOUNTS
57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way. Then he won’t drag you before the judge, the judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last cent.”[5]

• Most people will do whatever they can to stay out of jail.
• They will bargain with lawyers up to the last minute.
• Forgiveness of sin will have to occur for the “last cent” to be paid.
• “The last cent” – They will lose their lives by the hands of the Romans in 70 AD.

 
Luke 13
1 At that time, some people came and reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

• No other report of this act in history.
• This was just another ploy (question) to trap Jesus into saying something that would take Him down.
• If he defended Pilate, then He would prove Himself to be Pro-Roman.
• If he spoke against Pilate, surely Pilate would find Him and have Him killed.

2 And he responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things?

• Pharisees taught that you suffered based upon the amount and degree of sin you brought on yourself.

3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.

• Jesus is saying that if you don’t repent… in the end, you will suffer the same consequences.

4 Or those eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.”

• Jesus avoided the question concerning Pilate and focused the subject of eternity on the ones trying to trap Him.

 
THE PARABLE OF THE BARREN FIG TREE
6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’
8 “But he replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 Perhaps it will produce fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’

• Leviticus 19:23-25 - 23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden. It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you; I am Yahweh your God. [6]
• So this man had actually been waiting for 7 years for fruit from this tree.
• Fig tree was the symbol for the nation of Israel
• 3 years represented Jesus’ earthly ministry
• 1 more year represented the 40 years before the destruction of Israel by the hands of the Romans in 70 AD.

 
HEALING A DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM
10 As he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, 11 a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

• Just because you are sick doesn’t mean that you are demonized.
• But what about the fact that this woman was still coming to the synagogue for 18 years even though she was oppressed by a demon?

12 When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free of your disability.” 13 Then he laid his hands on her, and instantly she was restored and began to glorify God.

• Jesus defeated Satan right in the house of God.
• Jesus is the only one who can set people free.

14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done; therefore, come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.”

• Who was under more bondage? The lady who was oppressed for 18 years or the Pharisee who was teaching legalism?
• This is what religious people still believe and teach today.
• What does the Bible say? Don’t work at all!
• Sabbath rest… watch God do the work in you.

15 But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it to water? 16 Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for eighteen years—shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

• Daughter of Abraham (Jewish) – One of your own!
• Not only was Jesus saying they did work on the Sabbath but you cared for your animals because they needed it.
• You treat your animals better than you do people!

17 When he had said these things, all his adversaries were humiliated, but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things he was doing.

• God will always humiliate religion.

 
THE PARABLES OF THE MUSTARD SEED AND OF THE LEAVEN
18 He said, therefore, “What is the kingdom of God (mystery form of the kingdom – the Church) like, and what can I compare it to? 19 It’s like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”

• Matthew 13 – Annoyance birds (grackles)
• The Gospel will be the foundation but it will still be infiltrated with error and lies.

20 Again he said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It’s like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.” [7]

• Leaven here is either negative or positive.
• If it is negative it is referring to Jewish nation which was destroyed in 70 AD.
• If it is positive, it is the Gospel that spreads until things in heaven and on earth have been restored.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jn 6:29). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jn 17:3). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 223). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 223). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Lk 12:1–59). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Le 19:23–25). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Lk 13:1–21). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.