Well, as we take a look at our passage, again Luke chapter 13, verses 1 through 9. Let me read the passage for us as we begin today's look into the Word. Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who lived in Jerusalem?

I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." And he began telling this parable. A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard keeper, "Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any.

Cut it down. Why does it even use up the ground?" And he answered and said to him, "Let it alone, sir, for this year too until I dig around it and put in fertilizer. And if it bears fruit next year, fine, but if it does not, cut it down." Let's take a moment to pray.

Our God, we thank you for your precious Word. Lord, we thank you for your grace in teaching us and guiding our hearts. We want to ask, Lord, that your Spirit would continue to sanctify every thought, every desire, everything in terms of our attitude and even our emotions. I pray, Father God, that all of it would really be in conformity to your truth and your reality.

We also take time to pray for Pastor Peter, praying, God, that as he travels, as he connects with other pastors, Lord, that you give him grace and guidance and sustain to strength. We also, Father Lord, take a moment to pray for the various things that are happening both in our own country and across the world.

Father, there are so many, in this season, so many things that have occurred, cause for grief, cause for mourning and great loss. We pray, Father God, that for those many who are involved, that your grace would be felt, Lord, and that, God, your presence would all the more be known.

We thank you, it's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. I want to start this morning by gathering our thoughts to what is happening out in Houston, Texas. You guys, I'm sure, have been following the news. You guys, I'm sure, have been talking with your coworkers and friends about the extent of all that's been going on there.

And very much statistically, this is going to be one of the greatest tragedies that's happened in more recent history, in terms of US history. With there being over 30,000 individuals who are displaced, so not only people who incurred damage to their home have lost precious values, et cetera, but people who have been displaced from their home, it's over 30,000.

People are trying to estimate the cost of all that flood water coming in, and they're estimating that it's going to be well over $190 billion. And just the extent of what's going on, I've been following carefully because a close friend of mine who I went to seminary with, he planted a church in Houston.

It's called Harvest Houston. So when the news broke out, I saw on his feed people texting each other, him trying to reach out to certain friends, not being able to communicate the worry from a pastor's heart. And then I see on his feed, he says, "I'm going to go buy a boat." Unfortunately, they're all sold out because people are just buying boats to try to save their family and friends.

Finally, he gets a boat, and he's out on the waters every day now. He's been on the waters every day trying to save both his congregation members and his neighbors. So this has been quite just a tragedy, for lack of better words, in a lot of the things that have been happening.

And as we take a moment to think about these things, perhaps for you and for a lot of people who perhaps have friends, connections with it, there's a mixture of emotions. There can be mixtures of emotions of just disbelief, "I can't believe all that stuff is happening." It can be the mixture of emotion of just sadness and sorrow for the people who have incurred so much loss.

Or there could be confusion, like, "Why in the world do these kind of things happen? Disasters on this level, this scale?" Things that, again, hard for us to fathom maybe, but why do these things happen? And in combination with all that, not only is there the flooding that's happening in the States, things that are happening in Myanmar, things that are happening still in Syria.

You think about all these things, things that are happening in North Korea, and all around there are incredible crises, incredible things that cause us worry, anxiety, fear, sense of even frustration, anger, you know, anger at what's happening in the world. So with this mix of emotions, what do we do?

With the mix of sentiments that we have, how do we navigate that? Well, the passage that I read in Luke chapter 13, it's an interesting passage because Jesus is giving a series of teaching, all in one gigantic sermon, so to speak, okay? Jesus is in front of a massive crowd.

When you look at the passage, you don't have to turn there, but in chapter 12, you can see if you have the red-letter Bible with Jesus' words, it's like all red, right? So what you notice is this is a long, long sermon that Jesus is teaching, and at the beginning of chapter 12, verse 1, it says that there was such a crowd, right, that people were climbing over each other.

So just imagine in an era where you have not a lot of, you know, I guess acoustics like this where I have an amplified voice, and Jesus is teaching, and the people are so gathered, and people are just coming, coming, coming. I mean, he's a man who has known to heal, feed, you know, everything, right?

People anticipating him as the Messiah. So there has been an incredible crowd that has gathered around him, estimated maybe this is, you know, upwards of 10,000 people, because that's not far off from the different crowds that he drew from previous times. So in that kind of scenario, Jesus is teaching, and he says these interesting words to a scenario when some people have reported to him a great, great tragedy.

And so in light of the tragedy, we're going to learn some perspectives. Here's the first one, okay? First perspective to think about. In the midst of tragedies, we are challenged to change our expectation, okay? In the midst of tragedies, we are challenged to change our expectations. What I'm saying here is when you look at the story of what Jesus receives as a report, take a look at verse 1 again, that on the same occasion, so again, same day as Jesus is teaching, there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

Now that little story, like these Galilean whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices, what is that? Well, you can already tell by the reference of blood and mixing with the sacrifices that Pilate has killed these Galileans within the context of worship. So I want you to get kind of a picture of what's going on is in recent days, because in order for people to have been killed with sacrifices, there's a season when the Jewish people have a custom to offer up sacrifices.

There's only one season when your average Jew, not a high priest, not a specific line of the Levites, a priest goes in to give a sacrifice, but rather a regular individual can go and give sacrifices, and that's the time of Passover. So what's interesting is in a very precious, in a very highly esteemed day of atonement, you know, the greatest day of the year, so to speak, for the Jewish people, you have individuals giving sacrifice and Pilate, who has a hatred for the Jews, Pilate, who has a history of shedding blood because he is a military man, much like many political figures who have taken the route of being in the military, rising up through the ranks, and then entering into politics, Pilate is that man.

He knows how to control people in the way that he knows how is to shed their blood, okay? So what you're seeing is a moment in which here is an individual that clearly has a reputation, the Jews already despise him and he despises them, he actually goes and has the audacity to enter into sanctuary, right?

To enter into sanctuary in the highest pinnacle point of the Jewish custom and slaughter individuals so that their blood will be mixed with the blood of their sacrifice. That's the scenario, okay? Why do I describe that? Because then you can imagine the expectation of the people as they tell Jesus.

Jesus is perceived and presumed to be the one who would give them political victory, right? To give them deliverance from that oppression. He's already proven to be a leader in that he's amassed thousands of people to come and listen to him and so eagerly were the people wanting to make him their king.

And so they come with expectations telling him, "Look what's happened." And so almost, you know, implicit within the story as they say, "Look what's happened," there is an expectation. Perhaps they're expecting Jesus to be outraged. Perhaps they're expecting the crowd as they hear this, because remember, this is all happening as they're given this report and Jesus is giving his response.

This is all happening in the context of the masses listening to him. So perhaps these individuals were probably wanting to rally, just like in modern day right now, there's all these rallies of people championing their cause, whether it be right or wrong. Right now we have a massive, just this political environment where people are saying, "We have to champion this cause and we have to champion that cause," right?

Perhaps that's what they were expecting. Well, rather than Jesus giving this, you know, passion felt conviction deep, like, "How dare they," you know, perhaps that's what they expected, right? Jesus to just throw down some things, like, "How dare they," you know, "We need to gather our people and go.

We won't stand for this. I'll go straight to the, you know, to the emperor," whatever it may be they might have expected. That is not the case. Rather the story goes, rather than Jesus having perhaps this sympathy for those in Galilee who have lost their lives, rather than giving this heart-wrenching, passionate speech, how we will not stand for injustice, how the Jewish people particularly have experienced oppression beyond so many other people.

I mean, the Jewish people particularly have experienced all kinds of oppression all through their history, right? So contrary to expectation, Jesus rather gives them this pointed turnaround of the finger and says, "You might be pointing at the Roman government, but I'm pointing at you." So this is why I say we have to, we have to challenge our preconceived expectations because many times, again, perhaps, again, this is not maybe for all of us experiencing this, but there are times when we see injustice, there are times when we see certain kinds of pains and tragedies that people go through, and it actually offends us.

You know what I'm talking about? You hear something on the news of what's going on, and it actually, even though we're not necessarily in it or recipients of it, just the fact that it's happening and occurring in our day, it offends us, right? And that's why you see, whether it be on social media, whether you see individuals who are political figures or celebrities or whatever it may be, events happen and all of a sudden they come out swinging.

They come out angry and enraged. Why? Well, a lot of times the reason why they come out enraged in that way is because when certain events happen, it offends and transgresses their standard. So here's a challenge to us. When certain things happen, and I'm not just obviously talking about natural disasters, I'm talking about other major events in life, crisis, tragedies, you know, in these events we have to examine our own standard.

By which way, by which criteria am I evaluating and judging this scenario? And am I having an initial response because it's offended my standard, or am I having an initial response because it's offending God's standard? That is a very important question to ask, right? Is it offending my standard or is it offending God's standard?

And the reason why I go this is because sometimes for us, when we start asking the important questions or even the tough questions and sometimes even the more existential questions, why is this happening? How is this possible? We go down that line and sometimes we have the danger of not just simply asking that question in curiosity, we have the danger of asking that question in complaint to God, how are you allowing this to happen, God?

And we dare not do that, right? Because immediately then we recognize, once we have that tone and attitude towards God, we are no longer operating underneath His standard. We're asking God, why have you transgressed mine? Does that make sense? And so by way of application, again, we have to make sure that we challenge how we are evaluating and perceiving the events that are happening.

Are we assessing and judging them based upon what we expect? Are we judging them based upon God's standard? And there is now a question, what do we expect? Are natural disasters, political unrest, pain, suffering, are these things anomalies to you? Are these things strange, out of the norm occurrences that have no explanation, almost stuff that's like completely, you know, from out of this world?

Do you perceive that perhaps your expectation is what we are granted in this life is to have a long life and the greatest tragedy would be to cut that short? Would that be the greatest tragedy? Because then we have to ask, what was your expectation for life on this earth?

Well, this leads me to my point two, in light of various tragedies, we need to fear what should really be feared, okay? In light of various tragedies, we should learn to fear what really should be feared, okay? What do I mean by that? Well, in front of these masses, in front of the various people, what Jesus is presented with is a crime, right?

You would even deem that like this heinous, almost terroristic kind of, you know, a crime against humanity. I mean, who goes into the sacred place of God, who goes into the sanctuary of worship and goes in to slaughter individuals? I mean, that's stuff that we only hear of. That's only stuff that we can only see in maybe movies of those individuals who are the most vile, wicked terrorists of our generation, right?

Well, in light of that, again, I point to the fact that Jesus says this. Go to verse two, Luke chapter 13 verse two, "And Jesus said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.'" Okay?

When I read that passage, I'm not, again, I'm not trying to show you something that is like novel, brand new, and something that we've never heard of, but something that perhaps challenges our perception of what is the greatest tragedy in our lives. Because according to Jesus' words, the greatest tragedy is not that a crime took place.

Now, He's not just simply being insensitive. He's not simply being dismissive. He's not being cowardice and saying, "Oh, well, what can we do against the mighty Romans?" He is seeing things in the reality of faith. He is seeing things in the reality of Christian faith, of how God in truth has told us what is actually real.

That heaven exists, hell exists, and the greatest tragedy is not simply that a select few were slaughtered in the temple. Rather, many are dying. Many are dying and on their path to eternal destruction. What's worse than the greatest torture? What's worse than being inflicted by some heinous, wicked individual?

What's worse than anything you can imagine? Jesus has a perspective that is quite far different than the theology, superstition, and the expectations of the people. And Jesus calls it out almost. He says, "You presume," basically. He looks at them and says, "Do you suppose that you are less of sinners?

Do you suppose that they were greater sinners?" Within that, Jesus calls out their expectation. See, you operate under the age-old wisdom that if you do well, you'll have a long, prosperous life, right? And you operate under the age-old wisdom that if you're suffering, then perhaps you have some kind of hidden sin in your life.

Perhaps somehow you weren't faithful. Perhaps somehow you were doing something wrong, right? I mean, wasn't that the age-old wisdom that all of Job's friends operated under? You guys remember that? Job experiences an incredible amount of suffering. Like literally everything he has is being ripped away from him, his children, his family, his wealth, his health, because Satan desired to affect him and pain him in every facet of his life.

So he took away all of his wealth, his reputation, and then he lastly struck his own body, right? Now at that point, remember Job said, "I don't know what's going on. I have a case against God because I have no idea what's going on." And his friends came and said, "Well, we know that stuff just doesn't happen for no reason.

Come on, man, spit it out. What were you doing? What sin do you have?" Right? They were operating underneath that kind of theology and that kind of typical logic that good people receive good and bad people receive bad. That is the typical theology of today. And that is nothing more than superstition.

It is not Christian. It is not godly. It's not even wise. It's not even realistic. It is just superstitious. I put in some coins here, put in some coins there, do good works there, and ba-dam, I've got a prosperous life. That is superstition, right? But rather, Jesus is talking about pointing to the greater spiritual reality.

The greater spiritual reality is that every single individual will perish. The greater spiritual reality is that each and every single one of us has a very small allotted time. The greater spiritual reality is that we are all destined heading for death, and after that comes judgment. And so in Christ's perspective, He is looking at something greater and beyond what the people of His time are.

You know, earlier I mentioned that this is one really long sermon that Jesus is giving in one context in front of a massive load of people, right? Well, if you actually now turn back to chapter 12 at the beginning of this, okay? So go on Luke. And just go page over to chapter 12.

Starting from verse 1, I'm going to read this passage to us, and it just says, "Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together, they were stepping on one another. He began saying to His disciples, 'First of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. According to whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops. I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear the one who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him.'" He says, "Fear Him." So I ask you this question again. What was our expectation and what are we fearing most of all in this life?

Are we fearing those great tragedies? Are we fearing, "Oh, like the worst life possible would be to be oppressed by some individual and I'd have to work some, you know, menial job under some horrible boss." Is that the worst case scenario for you? Well, later on, that same chapter, verse 49, Jesus says, "Shattering expectation, I have come to cast fire upon this earth and how I wish it were already kindled.

But I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. Do you suppose I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. From now on, five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.

They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." So we think about this whole concept here, the first two points. One, challenging our expectation, but two, realizing that the typical stuff that we fear is only a fear that exists in the context of our expectation.

But the reality that Christ is presenting to us shatters those expectations and also shatters those fears. The things that we should fear are not threats to our well-being and health. The thing that we should fear is the threat to our soul. The thing that we should fear is eternal judgment and damnation from God.

And so whether it is, yes, by way of just kind of quickly thinking about this, whether it is the natural disaster of Hurricane Harvey, whether it is the oppression that people experience because of corrupt regimes, corrupt governments, whether it is simply suffering that people experience because daily living, those things, yes, you should care about.

I am not saying diminish those things, don't care for it and just sit on your butt. I am all the more challenged by my friend, his name is Brian, by my friend Brian who bought a boat to go save his congregation members and his friends. I'm all the more encouraged by the people who researched are there opportunities for me to go actually volunteer, took time off work and went.

I'm all the more encouraged by people who are giving their finances for these causes of helping individuals. Do it. If God has laid it on your heart to see the sufferings of the people who are weak in need, don't close your heart, do it. But the reality is that is not our greatest cause because that is not the greatest need, right?

I almost, when I was preparing this sermon, I was fearful of saying that because in a moment like this when so many people are suffering, in occasion like this when people are suffering in a fashion by which I have never experienced, I was fearful of saying it because someone could look at me and say, "How dare you say that?

You have no idea." And that's true. I have no idea what they're going through right now. But the fact of the matter is Scripture teaches us and Jesus teaches us, yes, people have need. Yes, there are orphans, there are widows, there are people who are suffering, there are people in poverty.

And yes, we as Christians have a great responsibility to them, right? Because we receive the love of God. But that isn't our greatest cause. Why? Because that isn't the greatest need. The greatest need is the greatest fear. The greatest fear is that people would die without hope and that for all eternity, not for their breath on life, but for all eternity, they would experience hell apart, separated from the sweet love of God.

Until then, now, it challenges us. By base minimum, we should be giving people who are in need physical supply, help, and strength. We should be all the more fearful. We should be all the more moved. We should be grieved if we see people who are dying without grace, dying without the gospel.

Do you see how that challenges our paradigm? Base minimum is to help people who are suffering. Our greatest ambition, sharing the gospel with those who are lost. The problem though, as we think about this, is perhaps our paradigm of what is the deliverance that we need. What is the thirst that we need to have quenched?

We presume it's the stuff of the world, but we need to be challenged. No, the greatest need isn't water for thirst. It is the words of life to those who are eternally condemned. The greatest need is the gospel to deliver them from eternal fire to eternal life. That is the greatest need and therefore our greatest cause.

What's more, further thinking about this, please go back to chapter 13, verse 6. Jesus, in emphasizing the point, okay, emphasizing the teaching, he goes on to give a parable, an interesting parable. So verse 6 says, "And he began telling this parable. A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.

And he said to the vineyard keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too until I dig around it, put in fertilizer and if it bears fruit next year, fine, but if it does not, cut it down.'" So what is he trying to highlight?

Well the point I want to make is this, point three. The first point was we need to challenge our expectations. Second point, we need to fear what actually needs to be feared. Third point, we have to realize, okay, in light of the tragedies, we're all living on borrowed time, okay?

We're all living on borrowed time. This is a perspective changer, you know, especially for those of us who naively presume, naively presume we just have the rest of our lives to live, we have so much to look forward to. There's just, you know, I'm looking at my life right now, sometimes I get kind of amazed thinking like, you know, there are days when I feel a little older, I'm getting a lot more gray hair and stuff, and I start thinking, 'Oh, I feel old,' especially recently I went to a youth group retreat and I just felt even more old because I was, we were in Big Bear, I was like breathing hard, and everything just kind of told me, my body just told me, 'You're old,' right?

But I'm not old, you know? Given that the vast majority of Americans live till they're like 80, I've got like 50 more years to live, which is crazy to think about, right? Well that is, yes, a reality in some sense. With your eyes, when you're looking at people, how long they're living, you might be thinking, 'There's just many years to live, I've got like 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, you know, years to live.' That is a gross presumption, right?

It was Jesus' regular teaching, 'You do not know when your life will be required of you.' All of you who are building your barns, building bigger barns, putting more stuff in your barn, and then needing bigger barns, you do not know when your life is expected of you. It is a gross presumption for the regular American to just presume, 'I've got so many years to live.' And tragedies where thousands of people are dying, when thousands of people are being displaced, again, the number of people who have died out in Myanmar and Syria is just staggering, okay?

These kind of tragedies remind us we are living on borrowed time. And it is a misconception, false worldview for us to presume we just have the world to live. In this parable, we have the landowner, and the whole land belongs to him. And the fact of the matter is he is looking at these plants who are just taking up real estate, and he says, 'Cut it down.' The point of the parable is that the vineyard keeper has asked the Lord, right?

The master of the field, 'Give it just a little bit more. Let me fertilize.' Right? That's the point. And then he says, 'But afterwards, cut it down if you will. If there is no fruit, just cut it down.' Essentially the point of it is you are living on borrowed time.

Judgment will come. Whether it is the year or whatever it may be, the time that God has set, judgment will come. And so that's why if you remember the last sermon that I preached two weeks ago, I made much of 2 Peter chapter 3, that this is exactly what the apostles are teaching us.

This is exactly the message we should be receiving in our generation. This is not just a parable for Jesus' generation 2,000 years ago. This is even more relevant to us now, 2,000 years later. Is it not? It's more relevant to us now, 2,000 years later, than even when Jesus spoke it to his generation, the masses in front of him.

But what's more, just the passage for you in 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 8 and 9, Apostle Peter taught us, 'But do not let this one fact escape your notice, that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but he is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but to come to repentance.' That is an amazing passage teaching us.

We might count it slow because our linear timeline is like, that, that, that, that, year to year. He says, 'No, this short time is a time of patience to you.' And that's why if you go back to Luke chapter 12, please turn to this verse with me. Luke chapter 12, in the context of all these sermons, taking a look at verse 54, okay, we read earlier verse 49, but taking a look at verse 54, he says this, 'And he was also saying to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out.

And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,' and it turns out that way.'" You hypocrites. You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time? Why do you not analyze this present time?

Why are you so dull to not know judgment is coming? When there's rumors of war, natural disasters, why do you not think that disaster is coming? And that's what I want to highlight to us. I am not going to be one of those guys who are like, you know, January 2018, "Jesus is coming.

I can see it now." You know, I don't know. You don't know. Jesus said, "You just don't know. That's not for you to know." But clearly, the generations have become more wicked. The value of life has become, you know, diminished. Apostle Paul said, "In the last days, there's going to be greedy individuals, lovers of evil, haters of good, and you're going to hear," and Jesus taught, "You're going to hear all these rumors of war.

You're going to see natural disasters." I feel, maybe it's not going to be in my lifetime, but I feel like, my goodness, I better be sober because it can come any day, right? Well, here's the dilemma though. Along with our presumption that we have so much time to live, we presume we have both so much time to live and we are okay.

We see in our generation amongst the spiritual climate of Christianity that there is perhaps a spiritual lethargy, maybe just a lack of passion. We see a lack of urgency. Perhaps there is an incredible amount of flippant behavior in the church. Perhaps there's an incredible amount of casual, familiar approach to their life as a Christian.

And what that tells me is there is a presumption. Not only do I have plenty of time to get it straight, I am okay the way I am. That is an incredible, gross presumption, is it not? And that is exactly what Jesus points to. The people come saying, "Oh my goodness, there is this crime," and Jesus points the finger and he goes, "Zoop," but look at you.

Are you any safer of the judgment that those criminals deserve? Are you any safer from the fires of hell? Rain will come down, yes, but you know what he's referring to is the rain of God's wrath and we've been studying in the book of Revelations and it's been causing me to be afraid because that's the point.

When God comes in His authority and in His glory, it is going to be a scary thing. We're going to, people are going to tremble like none other, but it is a gross presumption. I have plenty of time and I'm okay. And Jesus asks the very point in question, "Do you presume that you are less of a sinner?

Do you presume that they are more?" And so going back into it, he actually points to another tragedy. Over in verse 4, it says, "Or do you presume that those 18 on whom the tower and Siloam fell." Now, supposedly what happened was people were walking by the tower of Siloam.

It just so happened maybe it was one of these like leaning tower of Pisa things and everyone's like sitting there like with the photos. It just so happened it fell on 18 individuals and they died. Perhaps if you're operating under, again, the wisdom of the world, they're thinking, "Well, I walked by and I didn't fall, it didn't fall on me, but they walked by, probably something was wrong with them." No, Jesus says, "Do you presume?

Do you presume that those 18 on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who lived in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." There is a gross presumption in our generation where everyone thinks they're godly.

Everyone thinks they're Christian. Everyone thinks they're safe. But I want you to remember that was exactly the time of Jesus. Everybody held to a certain ritualistic standard. Everybody thought the Messiah was coming. You remember how many people welcomed in Jesus as the Lord and asked Him to save them and said, "You're the son of David.

You're the Messiah." Every individual in Jerusalem washed their hands and thought they were clean. He's not talking to wretched sinners who are like killing people. He's talking to wretched sinners who just believe in a false religion. They're just incredibly religious, incredibly blinded to the fact that they're dirty in the art.

They just know, but I'm clean on the outside. So with that being said, again, by way of application for us, yes, not every tragedy, not every crisis is because like, "Oh, there must be some gross sin in me." But still, every opportunity or every tragedy is an opportunity for us to assess our heart.

Clearly we should be sober. Am I sober? Clearly these things are regular patterns of life in a world decayed by sin where people are being oppressed. They're being exploited. But am I being sober then? Am I one of sanctified hearts? There's a passage that rocked me when I was studying the Old Testament.

It says, "The man who acts presumptuously by not listening and heeding the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to judge, that man shall die. Thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. Then all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again." I believe there is this sentiment, especially in a generation.

I want to ask this question, okay? In the midst of great tragedy, in the midst of turmoil and crisis, you have amassed a people of 20,000 people. So imagine with me that there is a convention, there is a conference talking about how we should respond to these tragedies, what we should do about these gross crimes against humanity that is happening in our day and time.

And you have 20,000 people and you've been asked to come speak a word to them of encouragement. What do you speak? What do you say? In our generation, most likely how the peace and love of God is going to comfort their hearts, how the love of God pervades and transcends it all.

Well in this time, Jesus actually in the midst of 20,000, 10,000 people, a huge, huge crowd, his exhortation and encouragement to them is, "Please in the moment of tragedy, do not think presumptuously. Don't think, 'Of course I'm on God's side. Don't think, 'Of course God will deliver me.' Don't think, 'Of course.' That is presumptuousness.

Even though, I mean I feel like this is the mantra of our day, "Even though I keep failing, even though I keep sinning, even though I keep dishonoring God, disobeying, it's fine. God will always accept me. I'll always be saved." Let that not be the mantra of our day, but rather, this is going to be the last point, rather, in every scenario, learn to fear God.

In every scenario, learn to fear God. What am I saying with this, that we should learn to fear God? The parable, the passage before, all of it points to this one idea. In these moments of great tragedy, you might fear loss, pain, oppression. You might fear lots of things, and I'm going to be honest with you, I am a worrywart, and that's why I take forever to make decisions, because I have to calculate what's going to be the cost of this decision, what's going to be the negative of that decision.

Yes, some of you guys are like me. You guys are very quick to calculate every kind of risk. You're like experts at risk management, and so you take a long time to decide things, because you have to make sure you examine it from every angle. That's me. What does that make me do?

It makes me worry a lot. It's like, "But if I do this, but if I do that, and I play that game, it's like, huh, huh, huh," right? Well, in that scenario, you could sit there until the day is done, analyzing all the risks. You can sit there looking at, "Oh, but what are we going to do about the Romans?

What are we going to do about that president, this president, those terrorists, and this and that?" Yes, again, those are things that God has given us wisdom and eyes to see, but in the end, Jesus is challenging the whole mass. You need to fear God, because that's what He says implicitly.

That's what He says explicitly. Going back to that passage in chapter 12, verse 1 through 5, I'm just going to read it for you again. He says that there were these people all gathered, and He said, "Began saying to His disciples, first of all, 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, the pervasive, sinful attitude of the Pharisees, whose worldview is corrupting you.'" Okay?

And then He says, "These are hypocrites. They're fake and phony, but there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, hidden that will not be known." What is He saying? You need to fear God, because He knows everything. He's going to expose every vile and wicked individual, whether it's by word, by thought, by action, everything will be exposed.

What does that mean? You need to fear the One who will expose you. You need to fear the God who knows it all. And then He goes on, "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in light, and whatever you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the hilltops.

I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body." After that, they have no more that they can do. "But I will warn you, I will warn you of this, of whom to fear. Fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell.

Yes, I tell you, fear Him." Look at how emphatic He's teaching him. "I tell you now, yes, I do, the One you must fear who will expose you, who knows all things, who is so much more powerful than that Roman soldier, so much more powerful than that Roman elite, so much more powerful than the crisis at hand, so much more powerful than the tragedy that you feel like you cannot control.

It's frustrating you. Fear Him who has ultimate power and authority over both our lives here and our souls into eternity." And so that is a challenge for us. We sometimes neglect to fear the One. Sometimes I talk to people. You know, sometimes I come in and we strategize about how to do ministry.

We start thinking and strategizing about, you know, what's the most efficient, effective way to go about doing the work of God. And you know what the really interesting is? Sometimes when you think too much about strategy, plan, efficiency, product, what happens is God gets left out. Like our conversation doesn't involve God much at all, right?

And I think there, even in that, there is a misconception. Even in that, there is a worldview that's off. So I want to challenge you and conclude with this, okay? In your worldview, we challenge, today we talked about in light of tragedies, it does shake us up. It does cause us to question.

It does cause us to feel certain sentiments. And in the midst of that, number one, let's make sure that we are challenging our own expectation and worldview, what we believe to be right, normal, and acceptable. Number two, let's make sure that we actually have the fear of what should really be feared, a correct assessment of what is a genuine tragedy.

What is the worst of all? What is the worst case scenario? Is it just the loss of comforts? Is it just the loss of possessions? We talked about the third point, that we have to recognize that we all live on borrowed time, that there should be a sense of urgency.

In the midst of tragedies, there should be a sense of understanding that we all have a very small allotted time to live, and it is our wrong perception that we have so much ahead of us. But lastly, that we need to learn to fear God in every circumstance, that in the midst of all of this, if we're not looking to the majesty of God, if we're not looking reverentially at the supremacy of His sovereignty, if we're not looking in fearfulness of what He could do, if we're not looking in hope at what He can provide, if we're not looking with anticipation of how He will come, then we're actually missing the point of every opportunity that we have, every moment of learning that we have.

And so I want to challenge you with that last thing, that as Jesus commands us, perhaps, perhaps we might have a presumption that we're less sinners, and the only ones deserving of hell is the Hitlers, the Stalins, and the, you know, the dictators of this world, but rather we must make sure that we are actually looking to Him with every, every ounce of anticipation and trust, not presuming like the rest of the world, but rather trusting as we have power in Christ.

Let's take some time to pray. Amen.