LOJ #141: ‘Spiritual Storm Warning’
Andover Baptist Church-April 15th, 2012
Opening
A. Text for today is Luke 12:54-59 and our sermon is titled
Spiritual Storm Warning
B. Scripture NET:
“54 Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time? 57 “And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last cent!”
C. Children’s Sermon (SLIDE)
1. What did you think of the storm last night?
2. Where any of you in the basement?
3. How can you tell that there is a storm coming?
4. Out of the mouths of babes
5. It’s pretty easy to tell when a storm is coming isn’t it?
6. Well did you know that Jesus said that telling that He
was from God is just as easy
7. Many people don’t want to believe in Jesus because they
don’t want to
8. The smartest thing you can do is believe in Jesus
D. Introduction (SLIDE)
1. Anybody remember what happened 20 years and 354
days ago? (SLIDE)
2. On April 26th, 1991 at 5:40 p.m. a tornado slammed
into Andover Ks.
a. It was determined to be of F5 in strength, the
most powerful designation for a tornado (also
referred to as the Finger of God)
b. There were 13 casualties and 150 injuries
c. Damage was estimated at around $250 million
3. In recent years the ability to predict the circumstances
that would produce a tornado as increased significantly
a. Our 24 hour warning for last night’s storm is an
indication of that
b. But even without all the technological advances
one can still tell when a storm is brewing
1. A green sky
2. Hail
3. An approaching cloud of debris
4. Still and quiet
5. Tornado sirens
c. Some of you may say that’s pretty obvious
James, and your right it is
4. Jesus tells His contemporaries and our culture that it’s
just as obvious Who He is as it is when a storm is
coming
a. He did not hide anything, nor does history
b. If a person denies Jesus he has no excuse and is
nothing more than a hypocrite, willfully rejecting
the obvious
c. 21 years ago a whole community wasn’t ready for
the Finger of God, are you ready for the
Judgment of God?
Sermon
READ: Luke 12:54, 55 (Scripture slide)
“54 Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is”.
A. Jesus is now addressing the crowds and not the disciples as He
had been
B. To prove His point Jesus uses weather patterns for an example
of interpreting the obvious.
1. This is not the only time that Jesus has done this
Matthew 16:2–3 (NET) “ 2 He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.”
2. He mentions a cloud in the west
a. This would be coming over the Mediterranean
sea
b. When clouds go over a large body of water they
pick up moisture and this means rain when it
hits land
c. One does not have to be a meteorologist or
fortune teller (some say there is a difference) to
know that rain is on its way.
3. Just as obvious that a west wind will bring rain, so a
south wind will bring heat.
a. South of Israel is the great Sinai desert (get over
a 100 degrees in that desert)
b. Wind blowing unabated over super heated sand
will be pretty toasty when it hits you in the face
c. In fact this wind is so hot it has been known to
literally wilt plants in its path
d. The wind isn’t the only thing from the south that
would testify against those who reject Jesus
Luke 11:31 (NET) “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, something greater than Solomon is here!
READ: Luke 12:56 (Scripture slide)
“You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time?”
A. Jesus calls His rejecters ‘hypocrites’
1. Recall that a hypocrite is a play actor, one who wears a
mask
2. Those who reject Jesus, in face of all the insurmountable
facts, receive this from Him as a title
B. How could they possibly know that Jesus was the Messiah, one
might ask
1. For one there were very specific Messianic prophecies
that Jesus fulfilled that no one else could have
2. Second there was His teaching that was done like no one
else had ever done (with total authority)
3. Next we see His miracles that no one denied that He had
done which prove that He was from and is God
4. Then you take a look at today and you see that His word
and His Church as survived and you have a rock solid
reason to believe in Him
5. I don’t even have to remind you, but I will, that the book
or Romans goes on to say that no person has an excuse
when it comes to recognizing God and His power
C. You see the issues is not the inability to see God in this world,
it’s the unwillingness to see God in this world
1. God has not hidden His workings
2. Jesus is not buried in a tomb under the desert sands
3. But yet the world is unwilling to see and recognize the
times (then as well as now)
4. You have to have the will to want to know the truth,
many claim too but they refuse to come into the light
5. We are in the same boat today: I’m not one to read the
newspaper and say, ‘Prophecy Fulfillment’….but we
can see our culture advancing towards a militant atheism
and assault on religious freedom
D. Jesus’ point is pointedly simple, if you can kinda guess the
weather, you can surely see He is the Messiah
READ: Luke 12:57 (Scripture slide)
“And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?"
A. In light of the circumstances [and evidence] do what is right
B. Or possibly more to the point while you still have time decide
what is right
C. Jesus is telling the crowds to judge for themselves the signs and
not to take the word of the religious leaders
Matthew 15:10–14 (NET) “10 Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 13 And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 14 Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”
D. We need to come to a conclusion ourselves
Acts 4:19 (NET) “But Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you decide”
1. Why follow false teachers? There is nothing good to
come from that except judgment!
John 5:39 (NET) “You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me”
2. Did you know that you are obligated as a believer to test
my words even? Never, ever take another person’s
teachings as valid unless you are certain they gel with
Scripture
READ: Luke 12:58, 59 (Scripture slide)
"58 As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last cent!”
A. The crowds are put in a position of the one who has done
wrong
1. They are on the way to court alongside their adversary
2. This is likely a debtor and the one who is owed
3. We know that they are going to a non-Jewish court
because it would be a scribe not a magistrate who
would have decided it in that case
B. The one who is in the wrong, and obviously deep down knows
it, better get things settled with the one they owe, than to have
the Judge side against them
1. They can admit their guilt or have it exposed against
their will, the choice is in their hands
2. 'drag' = force and in shame
3. It would be impossible to pay a debt when you cannot
work in prison (speaks here of a small copper coin 1/8
of a penny)
4. Emphatic future negative: in hicabilly it means, 'Boy
you ain't a never geten out'
5. Often times what would happen in prison is that the
debtor was beaten to encourage their family to pay
up...and there was very little chance one would get out
of it
6. This does not teach the false doctrine of Purgatory as the
Catholics believe (we will deal with that in our
Defender’s Sunday School Class)
C. According to the context if they would make things right with
that the adversary, they would be satisfied with the settlement
and will not come back against them ever
D. Again Jesus message is clear: Do everything you can to tet
right with Me before you get judged
Psalm 50:22–23 (NET) “22 Carefully consider this, you who reject God! Otherwise I will rip you to shreds and no one will be able to rescue you. 23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.”
Luke 13:24–28 (NET) “ 24 “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves thrown out.”
Application (slide)
A. Facebook on religion: 'I dont believe in fear based religions, I
think they all have something to offer, like love and
compassion and acceptance. Its really to bad how our
religiousorganizations instill fear and prejudice, thats not what
we are here for and thats not what organized religion should be
teaching"
B. Sadly for them God’s judgment is taught, there is no way
around it
C. There is no shelter on earth that can hide you from the all
powerful judgment of God
D. There is no reason to get ready when a tornado warning is
issued, so why not even more concerned with our spiritual
life?
Invitation
Let us sing our last song # ,
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