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17 - Spare It This Year Also - Christ's Object Lessons · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, spare it this year. Also, Christ, in his teaching,
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  Speaker 1: linked with the warning of judgment the invitation of mercy.
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  Speaker 1: The son of Man is not come, he said, to
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  Speaker 1: destroy men's lives, but to save them. God sent not
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  Speaker 1: his son into the world to condemn the world, but
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  Speaker 1: that the world through him might be saved. His mission
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  Speaker 1: of mercy, in its relation to God's justice and judgment,
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  Speaker 1: is illustrated in the parable of the barren fig tree.
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  Speaker 1: Christ had been warning the people of the coming of
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  Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God, and he had sharply rebuked their
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  Speaker 1: ignorance and indifference. The signs in the sky, which foretold
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  Speaker 1: the weather, they were quick to read. But the signs
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  Speaker 1: of the times, which so clearly pointed to his mission,
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  Speaker 1: were not discerned. But men were as ready then as
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  Speaker 1: men are now to conclude that they themselves are the
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  Speaker 1: favorites of Heaven, and that the message of reproof is
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  Speaker 1: meant for another. The hearers told Jesus of an event
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  Speaker 1: which had just caused great excitement. Some of the measures
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  Speaker 1: of pontious pilot. The governor of Judea had given offense
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  Speaker 1: to the people. There had been a popular tumult in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and Pilot had attempted to quell this by violence. On
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  Speaker 1: one occasion, his soldiers had even invaded the precincts of
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  Speaker 1: the temple and had cut down some Galilean pilgrims in
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  Speaker 1: the very act of slaying their sacrifices. The Jews regarded
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  Speaker 1: calamity as a judgment on account of the sufferer's sin,
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  Speaker 1: and those who told of this act of violence did
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  Speaker 1: so with secret satisfaction. In their view, their own good
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  Speaker 1: fortune proved them to be much better and therefore more
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  Speaker 1: favored by God than were these Galileans. They expected to
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  Speaker 1: hear from Jesus words of condemnation for these men, who
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  Speaker 1: they doubted not richly deserved their punishment. The disciples of
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  Speaker 1: Christ did not venture to express their ideas until they
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  Speaker 1: had heard the opinion of their master. He had given
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  Speaker 1: them pointed lessons in reference to judging other men's characters
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  Speaker 1: and measuring retribution according to their finite judgment. Yet they
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  Speaker 1: looked for Christ to denounce these men as sinners above others.
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  Speaker 1: Great was their surprise at his answer. Turning to the multitude,
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  Speaker 1: the Savior said, suppose ye, that these Galileans were sinners
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  Speaker 1: above all the Galileans because they suffered such things. I
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  Speaker 1: tell you nay, But except ye repent, ye shall all
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  Speaker 1: likewise perish. These startling calamities were designed to lead them
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  Speaker 1: to humble their hearts and to repent of their sins.
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  Speaker 1: The storm of vengeance was gathering, which was soon to
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  Speaker 1: burst upon all who had not found a refuge in Christ.
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  Speaker 1: As Jesus talked with the disciples and the multitude, he
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  Speaker 1: looked forward with prophetic glance and saw Jerusalem besieged with armies.
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  Speaker 1: He heard the tramp of the aliens marching against the
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  Speaker 1: Chosen City, and saw the thousands upon thousands perishing in
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  Speaker 1: the siege. Many of the Jews were like those Galileans,
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  Speaker 1: slain in the temple courts in the very act of
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  Speaker 1: offering sacrifice. The calamities that had fallen upon individuals were
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  Speaker 1: warnings from God to a nation equally guilty. Except ye repent,
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  Speaker 1: said Jesus, ye shall all likewise perish. For a little time,
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  Speaker 1: the day of probation lingered for them. There was still
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  Speaker 1: time for them to know the things that belonged to
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  Speaker 1: their peace. A certain man, he continued, had a fig
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  Speaker 1: tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought
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  Speaker 1: fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the
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  Speaker 1: dresser of his vineyard, Behold these three years I come
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  Speaker 1: seeking fruit on this fig tree, and fine none cut
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  Speaker 1: it down. Why cumbereth at the ground Christ's ears could
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  Speaker 1: not misunderstand the application of his words. David had sung
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  Speaker 1: of Israel as the vine brought out of Egypt. Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: had written, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is
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  Speaker 1: the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his
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  Speaker 1: pleasant plant. The generation to whom the Savior had come
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  Speaker 1: were represented by the fig tree in the Lord's vineyard,
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  Speaker 1: within the circle of his special care and blessing. God's
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  Speaker 1: purpose towards his people, and the glorious possibility before them
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  Speaker 1: had been set forth in the beautiful words, that they
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  Speaker 1: might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: that he might be glorified. The dying Jacob, under the
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  Speaker 1: spirit of inspiration, had said of his best loved son, Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: is a fruitful bow, even a fruitful bow by a
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  Speaker 1: well whose branches run over the wall. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: the God of thy Father shall help thee, the Almighty
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  Speaker 1: shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above blessings of
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  Speaker 1: the deep that lieth under. So God had planted Israel
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  Speaker 1: as a goodly vine by the wells of life. He
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  Speaker 1: had made it his vineyard in a very fruitful hill.
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  Speaker 1: He had fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof,
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  Speaker 1: and planted it with the choicest vine. And he looked
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  Speaker 1: that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth
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  Speaker 1: wild grapes. The people of Christ's day made a greater
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  Speaker 1: show of piety than did the Jews of earlier ages,
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  Speaker 1: but they were even more destitute of the sweet graces
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  Speaker 1: of the spirit of God. The precious fruits of character
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  Speaker 1: that made the life of Joseph so fright, grant, and
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  Speaker 1: beautiful were not manifest in the Jewish nation. God and
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  Speaker 1: his son had been seeking fruit and had found none.
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  Speaker 1: Israel was a cumberer of the ground. Its very existence
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  Speaker 1: was a curse, for it filled the place in the
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  Speaker 1: vineyard that a fruitful tree might fill. It robbed the
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  Speaker 1: world of the blessings that God had designed to give.
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  Speaker 1: The Israelites have misrepresented God among the nations. They were
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  Speaker 1: not merely useless, but a decided hindrance to a great
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  Speaker 1: degree their religion was misleading and wrought ruin instead of salvation.
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  Speaker 1: In the parable, the dresser of the vineyard does not
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  Speaker 1: question the sentence of the tree. If it remained fruitless,
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  Speaker 1: should be cut down. But he knows and shares the
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  Speaker 1: owner's interest in that barren tree. Nothing could give him
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  Speaker 1: greater joy than to see its growth and fruitfulness. He
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  Speaker 1: responds to the desire of the owner, saying, let it
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  Speaker 1: alone this year also till I shall dig about it
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  Speaker 1: and dung it, and if it bear fruit well. The
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  Speaker 1: gardener does not refuse to minister to so unpromising a plant.
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  Speaker 1: He stands ready to give it still greater care. He
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  Speaker 1: will make its surroundings most favorable, and will lavish upon
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  Speaker 1: it every attention. The owner and the dresser of the
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  Speaker 1: vineyard are one in their interest in the fig tree.
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  Speaker 1: So the father and the son were one in their
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  Speaker 1: love for the chosen people. Christ was saying to his
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  Speaker 1: hearers that increased opportunities would be given them. Every means
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  Speaker 1: that the love of God could devise would be put
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  Speaker 1: in operation, that they might become trees of righteousness, bringing
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  Speaker 1: forth fruit for the blessing of the world. Jesus did
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  Speaker 1: not in the parable tell the result of the gardener's work.
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  Speaker 1: At that point, his story was cut short. Its conclusion
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  Speaker 1: rested with the generation that heard his words to them,
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  Speaker 1: the solemn warning was given. If not then after that,
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  Speaker 1: thou shalt cut it down upon them. It depended whether
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  Speaker 1: the irrevocable words should be spoken. The day of wrath
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  Speaker 1: was near in the calamities that had already befallen Israel.
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  Speaker 1: The owner of the vineyard was mercifully forewarning them of
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  Speaker 1: the destruction of the unfruitful tree. The warning sounds down
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  Speaker 1: along the line to us in this generation, Are you,
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  Speaker 1: o careless heart, a fruitless tree in the Lord's vineyard?
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  Speaker 1: Shall the words of doom ere long be spoken of you?
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  Speaker 1: How long have you received his gifts? How long is
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  Speaker 1: he watched and waited for a return of love planted
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  Speaker 1: in his vineyard under the watchful care of the gardener.
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  Speaker 1: What privileges are yours? How often has the tender gospel
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  Speaker 1: message thrilled your heart? You have taken the name of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: You are outwardly a member of the Church, which is
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  Speaker 1: His body, and yet you are conscious of no living
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  Speaker 1: connection with the great Heart of Love. The tide of
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  Speaker 1: his life does not flow through you. The sweet graces
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  Speaker 1: of his character. The fruits of the spirit are not
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  Speaker 1: seen in your life. The barren tree receives the rain
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  Speaker 1: and the sunshine in the gardener's care. It draws nourishment
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  Speaker 1: from the soil, but its unproductive boughs only darken the ground,
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  Speaker 1: so that fruit bearing plants cannot flourish its shadow. So
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  Speaker 1: God's gifts lavished on you convey no blessing to the world.
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  Speaker 1: You are robbing others of privileges that but for you,
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  Speaker 1: might be theirs. You realize, though it may be but dimly,
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  Speaker 1: that you are a cumberer of the ground. Yet in
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  Speaker 1: his great mercy, God has not cut you down. He
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  Speaker 1: does not look coldly upon you. He does not turn
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  Speaker 1: away with indifference or leave you to destruction. Looking upon you,
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  Speaker 1: he cries, as he cried so many centuries ago, concerning Israel.
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  Speaker 1: How shall I give thee up Ephrium? How shall I
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  Speaker 1: deliver thee Israel? I will not execute the fierceness of
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  Speaker 1: mine anger. I will not return to destroy Ephrium. For
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  Speaker 1: I am God and not man. The pitying Savior is saying,
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  Speaker 1: concerning you, spare it this year also till I shall
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  Speaker 1: dig about it and dress it with what unwearied love
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  Speaker 1: did Christ minister to Israel during the period of added
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  Speaker 1: probation upon the cross, he prayed, Father, forgive them, for
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  Speaker 1: they know not what they do. After his ascension, the
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  Speaker 1: Gospel was preached first at Jerusalem. There the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: was poured out. There, the first Gospel church revealed the
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  Speaker 1: power of the risen Savior. There Stephen, his face as
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  Speaker 1: it had been the face of an angel, bore his
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  Speaker 1: testimony and laid down his life. All that Heaven itself
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  Speaker 1: could give was bestowed. What could have been done more
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  Speaker 1: to my vineyard. Christ said that I have not done
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  Speaker 1: in it. So his care and labor for you are
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  Speaker 1: not lessened, but increased. Still, he says, I the Lord
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  Speaker 1: you keep it. I will water at every moment, lest
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  Speaker 1: any hurt it. I will keep it night and day
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  Speaker 1: if it bear fruit well, and if not, then after
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  Speaker 1: that the heart that does not respond to define agencies
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  Speaker 1: becomes hardened, until it is no longer susceptible to the
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  Speaker 1: influence of the Holy Spirit. Then it is that the
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  Speaker 1: word is spoken, cut it down. Why cumbereth it the
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  Speaker 1: ground to day? He invites you, oh Israel, return unto
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, thy God. I will heal their backsliding. I
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  Speaker 1: will love them freely. I will be as the dew
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  Speaker 1: unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily, and cast
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  Speaker 1: forth his roots as Lebanon. These that dwell under his
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  Speaker 1: shadow shall return. They shall revive as the corn, and
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  Speaker 1: grow as the vine. From me as thy fruit found
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  Speaker 1: end of Chapter seventeen.