Hello friend, I'm Phil Johnson and you're listening to Grace to You, featuring the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. We're changing our schedule today to bring you what we trust will be a timely study from God's Word. You've no doubt heard about the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was killed last week while speaking to students on a university campus. Charlie admired John MacArthur and was a friend of our ministry, and Charlie's tragic death is just one more reminder of how depraved the world is. It also reminds us of something Jesus said that those who follow Him would be hated and possibly even killed for His sake.
And yet, we also trust that God will cause even this tragedy to work for good. And we find strength in the fact that Scripture doesn't leave us in the dark when it comes to how Christians should respond to the wickedness of this world. That was the theme that John MacArthur examined in the messages we're going to air today and tomorrow. John was also speaking on a university campus when he taught these lessons, but they are important for listeners of all ages, and even though John preached these messages more than a decade ago, the content is timeless because God's Word is timeless.
So with a series preached on the campus of the Masters University, here is John MacArthur now on Grace to You. to show you how to think and act in evil days. We live in a society unlike any in the past. We live in a world of electronic media and mass communication. Uh relentless visual images.
And enhancements, we see everything. We see everything that happens in the world of any. significance and we see it again and again and again and again. We're not isolated from anything, every catastrophe. Every calamity, every cataclysm.
Every disaster, every tragedy. Everything is paraded before our eyes and becomes a vicarious experience for all of us. How do we as Christians Absorb that, take that in, turn that into motivation to be effective for Christ in the world in which we live. As believers, we need to understand the world the way the Lord wants us to understand it. We need A biblical View.
So that takes me to the 13th chapter of Luke. This is a very notable portion of scripture. Let me read the opening few verses 1 through 5.
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 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Perish. This is a very, very important and very foundational way to view the world. This is information that would have been in the Jerusalem Gazette.
Or the Jerusalem Times, or whatever they called it.
Some Galileans were in the temple and they were offering sacrifices, and Pilate's soldiers came in. And slaughtered them so that their blood was mingled with the blood of the sacrifice. Very dramatic scene. And some other Jews, eighteen of them, To be exact. A word.
Minding their own business and walking in a construction zone, and a tower fell on them. and crush them to death.
Now, the question that is on the mind of these people who are in the presence of our Lord is: did this happen to these people because they were worse sinners than everybody else? That's the point. Verse 2, do you suppose these Galileans were greater sinners? Verse 4, do you suppose those 18 on whom the tower fell Or worse culprits. That is the question.
Why is this the question in their mind? Because this was Jewish theology. If you go back to the book of Job. Job's friends come to him in the middle of his calamity and they say, There must be sin in your life, Job, because God is punishing you. This is the only way they would have defined that.
You remember they were silent for a long time, and then when they opened their mouths, all wisdom left, and they gave that same ridiculous viewpoint that when you have a calamity in your life, this is the direct. personal judgment. of God. That's what the Jews believed in Job's time, way back. In Pentateuchal times, you go all the way to the time of Christ, John 9, a blind man, and what do the leaders say to Jesus?
Who sinned? This man or his parents? He's blind because somebody sinned. Because if something's wrong with you, that's a judgment of God. on your personal sin.
If, on the other hand, you're doing fine and you're well and you survive, you must be the good people. Is that how we are to understand calamity? Where that 20 some folks who were killed in Connecticut, the worst people in that school. Where the people were murdered in the theaters in Aurora, Colorado, the worst people in the theater. How do we understand those kinds of Calamities.
Well, let's look a little closer at this passage because it's very, very instructive for us. Verse 1.
Now on the same occasion That is the same occasion as a long, long sermon in chapter 12. A sermon that our Lord is preaching, an evangelistic sermon to be sure. Which ends in verses 58 and 59, while you're going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate on your way, there make an effort to settle with him so that he may not drag you before the judge. And the judge turns you over to the officer, and the officer throws you in prison. I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid.
The very last cent. This is an analogy, and at the end of our Lord's sermon, he's saying, You better make your peace with the judge before you show up in court. That that's an analogy with a spiritual point. You better get right with God before you show up in his courtroom. before you show up in his Presence.
So he has preached this long evangelistic sermon. It has been interrupted a couple of times. It was interrupted in verse 13.
Someone in the crowd interrupted him. And then it was interrupted again in verse 41 when Peter interrupted him. And I love that fact that Jesus is so intimate in his preaching that people feel like they can stop him in the middle of his message and talk back to him. Even strangers did that as well as Peter. And then down in chapter 13, verse 1, he's interrupted.
Again, There were some present who report to him about the Galileans whose Blood pilot shed. He's talking about judgment. He's talking about being ready to meet God. And that Introduces into the minds of these people the question. about death.
and judgment. And what happens? What is God doing? in the midst Of a calamity.
So they tell Jesus about this incident where the Galileans. We're offering sacrifices. Pilate's men came in. and massacred them. Obviously a very fresh event.
It surfaced and it brought up their traditional idea that God punishes bad people, and if you escape the punishment or the calamity, then you're the good people. Let me give you a little background. This is a mass execution. We don't know how many people, but this is a slaughter. Of Jews at worship, a bloody slaughter in the most protected and sacred place.
in the temple. The temple is the only place where sacrifices are offered in Israel, so, this is in the temple. And the gory details say that the blood flowing down the altar from the sacrifice is mingled with the blood of the offerers. That means that it probably happened at Passover because Passover is the only time people actually participated in the slaughter of their own sacrifices.
So there they are, these people from Galilee, offering their sacrifice at Passover, a surprise attack. By um Pilot's men slaughters them.
Now there had been other slaughters. There was a slaughter Archelaus killing 3,000 Judean Jews in 4 BC, according to Josephus. There have been these kinds of slaughters before. Many Pharisees had been crucified on an earlier occasion historically.
Some have even suggested that these Galileans were thought of as insurrectionists. That they had somehow done some rebellious acts and had irritated the Romans, and this was retaliation. And when they knew the Romans were coming after them, they ran to the altar and they grabbed the horns of the altar. You remember, that's what Adonijah did back in 1 Kings chapter 1. He said, You know, this is like King's X.
I'm hanging on to the horns of the altar. You can't hurt me. And Solomon. did not kill him on that occasion. Pilate was not so gracious, however, and Did not spare them.
He was a brutal man. He was a man marked by bribery, atrocity. He was implacable, inflexible, self-willed, a wicked man. And it was this kind of conflict that eventually led the Jews to rebel and brought the Romans down in 70 AD to destroy them.
So, this is an incident that would have touched everybody's life. They all would have known about it. Pilate would have been in Jerusalem at the Passover over from his place in Caesarea, where he usually was. They they mentioned this And Jesus Presumes to know the question that's on their minds. They just make a report.
They just report to him about this recent incident. And he says, Do you suppose? And that means he's going into their minds, and according to John 2:23 to 25, he knew what people thought. No man needs to tell him what was in the heart of man. He knew what was there.
He reads thoughts. He read Nicodemus' thoughts in John 3. He knows.
So he knows the question, and he answers the question. It's a question that's in their minds. And the question is that simple question: what about? calamities, not about death in general, what about calamity? Is this singled out for the worst of people?
Is God doing something that we could Actually call Judgment. Actually, call judgment.
Well, let me back off of that question for a minute and just say: God would have a right to kill us anytime, any of us, anytime, right? The wages of sin is what? Death. The soul that sins it shall die. Certainly God would have the right to kill every sinner anytime he wanted, and that would be a just act.
on God's part. That would be a just act. God is just to judge sinners. We are worthy of that judgment. But God is merciful.
God extends grace to us, and sinners live and they get used to living and they get used to not being. judged.
So, when something happens like some calamity, then the question arises: why is this happening? Why is this happening? The better question is why is this not happening? Why is there not more of this? Because God is patient.
and kind. and gracious and merciful. The sinner may be storing up wrath against the day of wrath. But he has the opportunity. During that time, To come to God.
and to be forgiven.
So the question then, go to verse 2. Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? And the Lord says in verse 3, I tell you no. I tell you no. They're not.
greater sinners. than anybody else or everybody else. Go to verse 4.
Now Jesus introduces another incident. 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? We don't have any other details on this. Uh th this is the only place that this is ever referred to.
Now we know that Pilate built an aqueduct in that area, and either the tower was perhaps part of the construction scaffolding for the aqueduct or some kind of a permanent tower, maybe as a guard station or whatever. But it collapsed and it collapsed And snuffed out the life of 18 people. That also would be headline stuff in the Jerusalem. Gazette. In the first case, what's interesting is they were worshipers doing what the Old Testament prescribed for them to do.
They were doing. righteous deeds. acting obediently. And the second, they were just innocent bystanders. They weren't doing anything in particular, but walking down the way.
When it crushed them. And again, Jesus understands the conventional wisdom, and so he says, Do you suppose those who were worse? Culprits, ophiletes, worse debtors to God, worse violators of God's law than any other people. And he says, I tell you, no, no. Which is to say, the fact that you're alive and you're wondering this and you're posing this question in your mind.
does not mean that you're better. Doesn't mean that you're any better at all. This is eliminating this long-standing Wrong idea. That bad things happen to bad people. And good things happen.
to good people. Calamity happens to good and bad people. Calamity happens to people doing the right thing. It happens to people doing nothing. In particular.
It happens. And that's why, in verses 3 and 5, the answer to the question: do bad things happen only to bad people? is no. No. Emphatic, Uqeed, no, I tell you.
Just because you're alive doesn't mean you have escaped judgment, doesn't mean you are good. The true calamity is that you will die and you will experience the terrible judgment of God. And you better, going back to verse 58 and 59 of the previous chapter, you better get before the judge and make a right relationship with the judge. Find out what the judge requires for forgiveness. and deliverance.
and salvation. The issue is not. How you die. The issue is not from what you die. The real calamity is that you die.
without Repenting. then you will face divine judgment. and perish in hell. The lesson is this, you're going to die, you better be ready. because you're not in control of when.
That's the lesson. And again, I go back to what I said earlier: life in this world is a very dangerous thing. And there's only one group of people who have any Truth. that can deliver people from the danger of being alive. And that's Christians.
There is no other message. There is no other truth. How important is your life? How important you are. Is your testimony?
It's more important than anything else on the planet. People are being slaughtered in Syria, up to 75,000 people. Politicians and world leaders are meeting to try to solve that problem. But nobody died that wasn't going to die. Children are are killed in a school.
Politicians get together and they talk about gun control. But nobody died that wasn't going to die. People in Colorado just passed Laws against guns because uh Person massacred people in a theater, but nobody died that wasn't going to die. The answer is not diplomacy, the answer is not. New laws.
The answer is Only available. for the world from you. You're going to die. You don't know when you're going to die. Just dodging traffic in LA.
can be a deadly experience, as you know. You have no control. over that.
So that makes you critical. to the world in which you live. But the only thing that makes you critical is that you have the gospel, which alone can rescue people from the eternal damnation that is the consequence of dying without repenting.
So what is the message that Jesus gives? At the end of verse 3 and at the end of verse Unless you repent. you will all likewise perish. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. perish.
You're going to die. And it's going to be the end. You're going to be literally destroyed. A very familiar word used there in the New Testament to speak of eternal destruction. You need to change your mind about your sin.
You need to come to the only Savior, the only one. who can rescue you. from judgment. You will all likewise. perish.
to be lost, destroyed, killed. The intent of the warning is that divine judgment comes after death. You have to be ready to die. You know, once you get a vision of this and you see All humanity as people on the brink of death. and you have the only message that can rescue them from hell, your life takes on an importance that transcends every president, every king, every monarch, every ruler, every great mind on the planet.
So I think it's a fair assumption to say that All the people killed at the altar and all the people crushed by the tower, went to hell. They perished. I don't know that we could conclude that any of them We're true believers in the true God. And it was over for them. in this life, but had just begun.
eternally in the next life.
So in a sense, Everybody's living on borrowed time. Everybody lives on borrowed time. And with that thought in mind, Pick up the parable with which Jesus draws this uh sermon to a conclusion In verse 6, 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 didn't 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? But he answered and said to him, let alone, sir.
For this year too. Until I dig around it and Put fertilizer. And if it bears fruit next year, Fine. If not. Cut it down.
That tree is living on borrowed thyme. And that's exactly what our Lord is saying about every human life, not just Israel. But every human life, everybody lives on borrowed time. Everybody. You're moving through a world.
as a possessor of Christ and the Holy Spirit, As a believer, Knowledgeable of the gospel, you're living through. A world, moving through a world. in which you alone have the truth that rescues dying people. You are the most important people. on the planet.
Judgment is near next year. Judgment is imminent. Life is short. It appears for a little time like a vapor and fades away. God is patient.
But he will not always strive. with man.
So as we think about Life in this world. As we think about what matters in this world. I think we have to go back to this very basic reality. that really only one thing matters and that's what has eternal implications. The one thing that only Christians can do, and that makes them the most important people.
in the world. And that is to communicate the gospel to a dying people who are all living on borrowed time. They're going to die, they don't know when, they're not in charge of when. Whether it's here or anywhere around the world. That's why we're here, that's why we exist.
That's our great high calling. Nothing but that really matters. In the big Picture. We can't get caught up in the trivial, we can't get caught up in the superficial and the temporal. were too important.
I guess the irony of it is The world is trying to marginalize us. Trying to shut us up. And you may see that happen more in the next 10 to 15, 20 years, 30 years of your life if the Lord tarries. This is how it flows. Reject the Bible.
In a culture, we've done that, we're there. That's first, reject the Bible. Second, Turn morality. upside down. Fornication is good.
Sex is recreational. Homosexuality is normal. Homosexual marriage is acceptable. Abortion is good. Women's right to choose.
So you've Rejected the Bible, now you've turned morality upside down, you've substituted good for bad. Light for darkness. Bitter for sweet. To borrow Isaiah 5's words. Third.
Demand tolerance. Demand that all of this morality be turned on its head. Be tolerated, all of it. It has to be tolerated. We're going to be forced.
to be tolerant which then turns to intolerance.
So, first you reject the Bible, then you turn morality upside down, then you demand tolerance, and then for the people who don't provide that tolerance, you become intolerant.
So that the message of Christianity becomes high. Hustle. And that leads to the final step, which is persecution. Persecution. I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
To look down the road and say, We are the only people in the world who have the message, and we're liable to be persecuted for it. which is going to raise the stakes on your commitment. The price is going to be higher. Not going to be a benign Sort of Judeo-Christian tolerant culture that you work and live in. ahead of you.
It's going to be hostile. It's going to be aggressively hostile. And when you speak the truth. They're not going to like to hear it. Because you're going against the grain.
I think it's going to be tough for us in the future. In a sense, I wish this could be more like a boot camp here. Because I think you're not just going to be going into the world of your parents, you're not going to be going into the world of. of m my world where I grew up, my parents' world. which was favorable and open to Christianity and affirming of a biblical morality.
That's all changed.
So now you have a message that is the truth, the only hope of the world, and they're not going to like you. For it. Which raises the stakes on your commitment. Just look at the world the way our Lord told us to look at the world. Everybody's gotten in the way to death.
Everybody's going to die. They're not in control of when. When they die, they do face judgment. They're all living on borrowed time. You're their only hope.
Make your life count. for the gospel. You're listening to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. Thanks for tuning in today. We interrupted our regular schedule to bring you John's study How to Think and Act in Evil Days.
It's a look at how to honor Christ and how God can use you to draw unbelievers to Himself in a world that seems to grow more and more wicked every day. We thought this would be some timely biblical content in light of the murder of Charlie Kirk last week.
Now this brief look at how to think and act in evil days will continue tomorrow. We'll be interrupting our regular schedule to bring you that series. And I should mention that we will not be airing the concluding messages from the study we've been airing for the past few weeks, titled Myths About Salvation. But Myths About Salvation is available in its entirety on our website. You can download every message free of charge, the MP3s, and the transcripts.
And for additional encouragement, we want to send you a booklet by John MacArthur called 15 Words of Hope. It's a compelling look at the saving gospel of Jesus Christ based on one of John's best-known sermons. We'll send you the booklet free of charge. Just ask for 15 Words of Hope. when you contact us today.
You can visit our website, gty.org, and the booklet to ask for, the title again, is 15 Words of Hope. Request your copy at gty.org. Or you can call us and ask for 15 words of hope, our phone number here, 800-55 Grace. Also, remember that you can download every message from the study we've been airing the past few weeks called Myths About Salvation. We took a break from it today to bring you today's special broadcast.
Both the MP3s and the transcripts are available free of charge at gty.org. And in fact, we have more than 3,600 sermons by John MacArthur available all for free on our website. Take advantage of all the verse-by-verse Bible teaching available to you at gty.org. And thank you for praying for the Kirk family as they mourn the death of Charlie. Your prayers are vital, especially now.
And so again, Thank you for bringing the Kirk family before the Lord. And now for all of us at Grace to You, I'm Phil Johnson. Be back tomorrow as we continue John MacArthur's series called How to Think and Act in Evil Days. Don't miss the next 30 minutes of unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time. on tomorrow's grace to you.
