Morning Sermon - 18th October 2026 - Repentance, Mercy, and the Barren Fig Tree

Well, it's lovely to be here amongst friends at Ballina Hinch.

And it's good to come together, isn't it, to lift up our praise and our worship to God.

And God has given us the opportunity to come together every Lord's Day to worship him, to hear his word, to pray, to fellowship together.

We've been blessed already simply by coming through the door into this place of worship and to worship him.

I do want to give you, the, greetings of Connsbrook Avenue Congregational Church.

And, like yourself, we have our harvest service this morning, followed by a church lunch.

And I moan about this every time I come here, that I am missing out on a church lunch.

And you're having one this evening, and that just is salt into the wound.

But we're thankful for harvest and one thing about a harvest service is yes we're thankful for the harvest, we're thankful for another year aren't we?

It's a reminder that this time last year we were meeting together to celebrate the harvest and God's mercies have been with us every moment, every day up until this very moment in time.

So we come together with thankful hearts.

Before we read God's word, let's come again to God in a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, again, we just thank you for your grace and your mercy to us.

We thank you, Father, for all the good things that you give to us, every day.

We thank you for that common grace, that grace that you pour out upon all of your creation.

But we thank you for that particular grace towards your people.

The psalmist tells us that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

And we want to come and thank you again for your grace and mercy to us.

We sing of you as our great creator, and we sing of you as the one who has sent his son into this world to save sinners.

And we thank you that he is reaping a harvest of souls even today and will do until he returns, people from every nation, tongue, and tribe.

So we thank you for the harvest that we see, before us in the food, the things that we eat and drink, But we thank you above all for that harvest of souls which many of us are included in.

And we thank you for our savior.

We thank you for his wonderful work of salvation that cleanses us from all our sins and our unrighteousness, that keeps us safe and secure until that day when we enter into our eternal home.

Help us this morning to hear your word.

You've given us your word.

It's a means of, grace.

It's a means by which you speak to us.

Help us and encourage us in our faith.

Come and meet with us as we seek to meet with you.

Open up your word, open up our ears to hear the word of God.

We ask it in the name of Jesus our savior.

Amen.

Amen.

And reading this this afternoon this now, this afternoon is in Luke chapter 13.

Luke chapter 13.

And I'm going to read the first nine verses.

There were some present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, And he answered them, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?

No.

I tell you.

But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Or those 18 on whom the Tower Of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

He told them this parable.

A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

And he said to the vinedresser, look.

For three years now, I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none.

Cut it down.

Why should it use up the ground?

And he answered him, sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and put on manure.

Then if it should not bear fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.

Amen.

May God add his blessing as we read his word together.

That second section verses six down to nine is a familiar parable, a story that Jesus told a man has a vineyard, he grows his grapes and in that vineyard he also has a fig tree.

Maybe it's an unusual place to plant a fig tree but he maybe was just using up the space that was there.

And for the last three years, he's come looking at this fig tree because he wants some fruit.

He wants his figs.

He maybe wants to make a pudding or something.

I don't know.

Or just eat them.

But each year, he's disappointed.

Each year, this fig tree has not produced any figs.

And on the fourth year, he comes.

He said, look.

For three years, I've been here, and I've been looking for fruit from my fig tree, and I haven't got any.

Why is it taking up space?

Cut it down, get rid of it, and perhaps then we could plant something else.

But the the gardener who's looking after the the vineyard says, well, hang on a minute.

Leave it for another year.

Let me give it special attention, let me dig around it, let me loosen the soil, let the air get in, get the water in, and let me put some manure in to fertilize it, and then come back next year and see what happens.

If there's fruit, great.

You've got your fruit.

If not, then we can pull it up and throw it away.

I don't know if you're a gardener.

I'm not really, but I do like plants and appreciate gardens and so on.

And when we read this, we might think that Jesus is just giving people some gardening advice.

We might think that Jesus is like the Alan Titchmarshes of today, or the Monte Dons who give us all the information and show us what to do so that our gardens look lovely.

But is that what Jesus is doing?

Is he just giving us some gardening advice?

Well, that might be included, but I don't think that is what Jesus is talking about.

I don't think he is simply giving us some gardening advice.

So the question would be: What is Jesus telling us here in the parable of the barren fig tree?

For us to understand that, I think we need to look at the previous verses.

We always need to look at the context, don't we?

And there are three things that we see here in verses one down to five that I think help us to understand why Jesus tells us the parable of the barren fig tree.

The first thing that you'll notice is there is a terrible atrocity.

A terrible atrocity.

There was some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

We're not told who these Galileans were specifically.

Galilee is up in the north of the country.

And they were often seen in a bad light by the rest of the nation because a lot of the Galileans had intermingled with Gentiles, and so they weren't considered as proper Jews, the real McCoy, and they were often looked down and despised on.

But here, these are Galileans who are coming all the way down to Jerusalem to offer up their sacrifices.

The Jews were duty bound to offer sacrifices at certain times for certain things, and these Galileans had come down to Jerusalem into the temple and were offering up their sacrifices.

And we're told that Pilate had them killed.

I don't think it was Pilate himself.

Perhaps these Galileans had a name.

Maybe they were rebels.

Maybe they were anti Roman, as a lot of the Jews would have been, and people had told Pilate they were in the temple.

He gave the orders to go and have them killed.

During their act of worship, while they were sacrificing to Almighty God, Pilate's soldiers had them healed.

It's a terrible thing, isn't it?

A terrible atrocity.

And Jesus asked the question to those who had told him this awful news: Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?

Perhaps we can read into that that the answer was yes.

That's why Jesus asked them the question.

They thought these Galileans must have been the worst of Galileans and the worst of sinners for God to end their days in this manner.

They assumed that those who died in such brutal ways must have been awful people.

But Jesus says, no.

No.

And we'll come on to that.

We'll follow that up in a moment.

We know of atrocities, don't we?

Even this this week in America, another school shooting by a 16 year old.

And of course, we could bring in many other atrocities that we hear about on a daily, if not weekly, basis.

Atrocities still happen today.

Are the people who die in such ways the worst of the worst?

The second thing that we notice is there's a terrible accident.

A terrible accident.

Verse four: All those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?

Now, Galilee was up in the north of the country.

Siloam is a part of Jerusalem on the South Side, and you probably have heard of the Pool Of Siloam where a man was miraculously restored to health and strength.

In this area there was a tower.

We're not sure.

We're not told anything about this tower.

Why it was built or had it been completed?

Maybe it was being constructed and perhaps it was constructed very poorly.

Some buildings are like that, aren't they?

They're they're half built, and something goes wrong and they collapse.

Maybe it had been completed, but maybe the foundations weren't very good.

What we are told that this tower suddenly fell down on 18 people and killed them.

Killed them.

What a terrible accident.

What a terrible accident to have seen, to have witnessed, to have been involved in.

And Jesus says to them, what about these 18 people here in Jerusalem, people from Jerusalem?

Are they the worst of the worst because of the way they died?

And again, we can assume that Jesus knew that that's what they were thinking.

Yeah, they must have been for God to have taken them out of this world in such a way.

And again, we're aware, aren't we, that accidents happen still today, again this week in Pakistan, a terrible accident in the school where the roof collapsed, killing about, I think it was 30 children and a teacher.

Accidents happen all the time.

Does that mean those who have died in such occurrences are the worst of the worst?

Jesus says, no.

Terrible atrocity, a terrible accident.

Then there's the terrible assumption.

The terrible assumption.

Twice, Jesus asked the people if they thought the people who died offering their sacrifices, who died when the tower fell on them were the worst sinners.

Were they the worst sinners?

And the...

As I've said, Jesus is anticipating that their answer is going to be yes.

If you look at someone in the Old Testament or the New Testament, if you were alive in the Old and New Testament age, and you saw someone who had a lot of sheep, had a lot of cattle, had a lot of land, who had a bumper crop, you would think they were blessed by God.

It doesn't matter how they lived, the fact that everything seemed to go well for them, you would think they were blessed by God.

If they were killed while they were offering up their sacrifices in such a brutal way, or if a tower fell on them and killed them in a terrible accident, you would think these were terrible people and God had inflicted his judgment on them in these ways.

That's what the assumption would have been.

But twice, Jesus tells you...

Tells us, no, I tell you.

No, that's not the case.

You cannot determine someone's spiritual state by the way that they die.

You cannot assume that someone is a terrible sinner because they've left this world in such circumstances.

Nor can you assume that someone who dies in a nice death is a godly Christian.

You cannot do that.

What a terrible assumption that is to make.

And we often see this in the death of a celebrity.

I don't know if you noticed this, when a celebrity dies, people post things on Facebook or X or whatever it is they use.

Sorry to hear the news about the death of so and so.

What a lovely person they were.

I remember, and they'll give an account, and they finish RIP.

RIP.

They were a good person.

I like them.

I was a good friend to them.

They did no one any harm.

Rest in peace.

You see, we still have this assumption today that if someone is a good person, then even if they perhaps die too young, if they die, in some way, they're still a good person, and they're going to glory.

But of course, that is nonsense, isn't it?

How you die does not determine whether you are going to heaven or you're going to hell.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us, and that in fact, they ran out of space, telling us how godly people, died in gruesome ways.

In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 35, women received their dead raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword.

They wandered about in sheepskins and goats skins being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

They suffered because they were Christians.

They didn't suffer because they were ungodly people, the godless people.

They didn't suffer like that because they were the worst of sinners.

They suffered because they were believers in the living God.

And the world hates the living God and hates those who serve him.

The way that someone dies does not determine the kind of person they were or where they will spend eternity.

But Jesus goes further, doesn't he?

He doesn't just say, No, they weren't.

He says, 'Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.' Twice he says, 'Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

What determines your eternal destiny?

What determines where you're going to spend eternity?

It's not the manner in which you died, it's whether you have repented of your sins.

That is what determines where you spend eternity.

Have you dealt with your sins?

That's the issue that Jesus is bringing out here because inevitably we are all going to perish.

There's going to be a day when we will be no more.

Where are we going to spend eternity?

Well, it all depends on how you have done or dealt with your sins.

Have you repented?

Have you repented of your sins?

What does it mean to repent?

To repent means that we have come to see ourselves as sinful people.

Some people don't like that.

Some people don't like seeing themselves as sinful people.

A sinful person is someone who has disobeyed God, who has broken God's commands.

You read the 10 commandments.

Have you broken those 10 commandments?

I suggest you've probably broken all 10 of them because we have a sinful heart, a sinful nature.

And to repent means that we, first of all, recognize that we have sinned.

Secondly, I suggest it means that we have seen ourselves as the worst of sinners.

We don't look and compare ourselves to the others.

We don't compare ourselves to the minister.

We don't compare ourselves to anybody else.

We look at ourselves.

We look at our thoughts, our words, our deeds.

And when we do that, our sins mount up.

And we see ourselves as the worst of sinners.

But repentance isn't just seeing ourselves as a sinner.

Repentance is seeing our need of salvation.

We need a savior.

We need someone who is going to deal with our sins for us because we cannot do it ourselves.

And this is the wonderful news of Jesus, isn't it?

That he came into the world not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

And someone who has truly repented is someone who has heard the gospel that Jesus came to save and is trusting Jesus to save them.

They recognize that God must punish sin because he's a holy and a righteous God, and that punishment must either fall on me or on someone who's taking my place.

And someone who has truly repented has seen that God sent Jesus into the world to rescue and save the worst of sinners, and they're putting their trust in him.

And the wonderful news is that the moment we put our trust in Jesus for our salvation, he saves us.

He cleanses us from all our unrighteousness.

He takes away the punishment that we deserve because he has borne our sin in his own body and the punishment that we deserve.

Those who are relying upon Jesus for salvation know that they are saved from that day of judgment.

And on that day, all will be well with them.

Not because they're good, not because they've sat in a church every Sunday for so many years, or they've read their Bible, or they've prayed, but because of Jesus.

And only because of Jesus.

Our eternal destiny is not determined by the manner of our death.

It is determined by whether we have dealt with our sin.

Have we dealt with our sin?

Can I ask you this morning?

Have you dealt with your sin?

Have you ever seen yourself in that light as a sinner who needs salvation?

A sinner who is under the the the anger, the the law of God, that you cannot do anything to erase your sin, to make up for your sin.

All you can do is cry out to God for his mercy and trust in the one he has saved.

And if you have done that, don't think that repentance is a once and for all act.

Repentance is an ongoing work, isn't it?

Because we still sin.

We still struggle with our sin.

Believers are those who have repented and keep on repenting.

Have we dealt with our sin?

Now that brings us back to the vineyard Here in Luke chapter 13, he also spoke this parable.

A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

Then he said to the keeper of the vineyard, look for three years, I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.

Cut it down.

Why does it use up the ground?

But he answered and said to him, sir, let it alone this year also until I dig it around and fertilize it or put manure on it.

And if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after that, you can cut it down.

What lessons do we learn from this parable?

First of all, I suggest it pictures for us that God comes looking for fruit.

God comes to us looking for fruit.

He comes looking to see, is there the fruit of repentance?

And maybe he comes and he finds no fruit.

Maybe he comes again the following year and he finds no fruit.

Maybe he's been year after year after year and has found no fruit.

John the Baptist, when he saw the pharisees and the sadducees coming to his baptism, brood of vipers, he said, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.

Jesus preached, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the in the in the gospel.

And again Paul taught in Acts 17: Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained, and he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead.

Notice the connection between repentance and the day of judgement.

On that day when Christ judges, only those who have truly repented and those who are trusting in him as a saviour will enter into heaven.

God is searching, he's searching through us to see are there any signs of fruit of repentance?

I wonder if God finds that in us this morning.

The second thing we have here is that God, though he searches us and may not find fruit of repentance today, is a God of mercy.

And this is such a sweet thing.

God is a God of mercy.

He says that the man who owned the vineyard said to the gardener, dig it around, or pull it out.

It's no good.

He says, no.

I'm going to dig it around.

I'm going to fertilize it and then come back next year.

Now perhaps this, for some, is speaking of the the ministry of Jesus, the three years, the three year ministry of Jesus.

And there may be something in that, but I'm not sure what the fourth year would indicate.

But I think what we learn here is that when God comes and find...

Finds no repentance, he shows mercy, and he comes again and again and again.

I grew up in England.

You can you can...

You know that.

You can tell that.

Just outside Luton in a village.

Our church wasn't as grand as this, it was someone's house and we sat in their front room and they had a morning service and an evening service and the evening service was very much a gospel message and I sat there Sunday by Sunday with my two mates on the sofa at the back of the house listening, and I heard the gospel and the call to come to repentance, and I never responded.

The following week, I never responded.

You may be the same, you've heard the gospel again and again and again and there was a day when you responded and you came and believed and trusted in the saviour and hallelujah for that.

But maybe you've been here for many many years and you've heard the minister pleading week in week out and you're still unsaved.

God is merciful.

He's given you an opportunity again and again and again.

But the third lesson we surely learn from this is that God's mercy runs out.

God's mercy runs out.

We don't know what happened the next year.

Did the barren fig tree produce figs?

Was it saved?

Did it carry on for the next few years producing fruit?

We don't know, do we?

What we are told is if there wasn't, it would be dug up and thrown out.

God's mercy does run out.

And don't think that, well, I know someone, He was a bit like the thief on the cross.

He came to the Lord.

He came to repentance and faith right before he died.

That's what I'm going to do.

Don't think like that.

This very passage tells us that life comes to an end unexpectedly.

You might be involved in some sort of atrocity, and you never get that opportunity to cry out for salvation.

You could be walking down the road and some building collapses on you, and you haven't had chance to cry out.

You're taken in a moment, in an instant.

You could have medical issues and you're dead before you hit the floor.

You haven't got that opportunity.

God's mercy should not be depended on.

Today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day that we should get right with God and deal with our sin.

We should not boast about tomorrow for we do not know what a day brings forth.

As we close, this morning, I trust that I'm speaking to people who have dealt with their sin, who have seen that they are the worst of sinners and have come to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus, God's only method of salvation.

He is the only one who is able to save us.

This morning we are rejoicing that we are part of that great harvest of souls that God has gathered out of this world and will bring us safely to his heavenly, heavenly barn, his home.

And we know the Lord is our saviour.

God is merciful and everyone who is a believer today is a token of God's mercy, but God's mercy can run out.

Don't, don't tempt the mercy of God.

Seek the Lord today and be wonderfully saved.

Amen.

May God add his blessing to the preaching of his word.

We're going