Drawing a Line in the Sand

In Luke chapter 12, as we continue our kind of working our way throughout the Gospel of Luke.

! And so find Luke 12, and I'm going to be reading verses 49 through 59. So we'll go all the way to the end of chapter 12. We'll be finished with 12, and next time we'll begin to look at Luke 13.

All right, so I follow along as I read from my Bible. Here is what Jesus said. I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.

But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished. Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.

For from now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son, and son against father.

Mother against daughter, and daughter against mother. Mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Then he also said to the multitudes, Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, A shower is coming, and so it is.

When you see the south wind blow, you say, There will be hot weather, and there is. Hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, But how is it you do not discern this time?

Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, Make every effort along the way to settle with him, Lest he drag you to the court or to the judge.

The judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite, or sent.

Interesting passage. No doubt you have heard the expression, And I've made this the title of my sermon, But the expression is drawing a line in the sand.

You've heard that before. It's a very popular kind of expression, To draw a line in the sand. And I thought I would do just a little bit of research this past week, To try to discover the origin of that expression.

You know, it's always been kind of interesting to me, Some of the popular expressions we have, Figures of speech, idioms, and so forth, To try to find out their origin. And you'd be surprised, Some of the origin of our most favorite expressions and figures of speech.

So I did a little bit of research on this particular expression, Drawing a line in the sand, And I discovered that, Very likely, It originated during some major historical event.

And just which historical event, Is just a little bit uncertain. For example, In more recent times, The expression was used by then President H.W. Bush, When in 1990, The Iraqis invaded Kuwait.

Most of us in this room remember those days, Though now even 1990 seems like ancient history, Doesn't it? And we remember that time, And then President Bush, Took a, Kind of a, Poker, Or whatever it was, I don't remember now what it was, And he, Kind of made the gestures of, Of a line.

And he said, A line has been drawn in the sand. And what did he mean? Well, We know what he meant. I think he meant that Saddam Hussein had, By his actions, And the actions of his armies, Had put out the challenge.

The challenge not only to the U.S., But also to the world. And the challenge was to stop him if we can. To stop him from taking that country. By the way, Now we have Russia doing the same thing, Similar thing to Ukraine.

And I'm not sure we've drawn any kind of line in the sand, For that one. But, That obviously is not the origin of the expression. I don't think it originated with President Bush.

To find its origin, Most historians point us back to 1836, And the siege of the Alamo. Remember that story in history.

And, Popular legend, And of course this comes out in the movie, With John Wayne. Some of you have seen that. The Alamo. The popular legend has it, That Colonel William Travis, Took his sword, And he drew a line in the sand.

And then he urged those, Under his command, Those in the Alamo. They urged those who were willing, To stay and to fight, And to defend the fort, To cross over that line.

And you know of course from the movie, And also in, According to the legend, That everybody crossed over the line. And so what was the point of that? Well the point of drawing the line in the sand there, Was obviously, To take a stand for commitment.

To make a commitment. To make a sacrifice. And of course it ultimately did end, In the sacrifice, The ultimate sacrifice, For everyone who crossed over that line.

And everybody did. I even found, By the way, Someone who suggested, That the origin of this expression, Comes from the Bible. It's rather interesting to me, Maybe even a little bit of comical.

When Jesus in John chapter 8, Was challenged by the Pharisees, When they brought to him, This woman that had been caught in adultery. Remember that story. And they presented her to him, And by way of some trickery, Really they were trying to trip him up, To trick him, They said, What sayest thou?

That is, What would you do, With this woman caught in adultery? You remember the Bible records, That Jesus immediately stooped down, And he began to take his finger, And draw in the ground.

Make a mark in the ground. We don't really know what that was, But this particular person suggested, That what Jesus actually did, Was draw a line in the sand. And then he said, He who is without sin among you, Let him cast the first stone.

Essentially then saying, If you are worthy, Then step over this line, That I've drawn in the sand, And execute your judgment, Against this woman caught in adultery.

That's an interesting theory. And since we really don't know, What Jesus wrote in the sand, I guess it's perhaps, As good a theory as any other. I don't think that this is the origin, Of the expression, Drawing a line in the sand.

Very likely, And most historians agree, To discover the origin, You have to go back to 168 B.C. That's a long way back. When Antiochus IV, The infamous Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, Wanted to, And decided to invade Egypt, And conquer Egypt.

And at the time, Egypt was under the protection, Of the Roman Empire, And so his army then, Was met, At the border of Egypt, By the Roman ambassador, Gaius Papilius.

I know you've heard of him, Right? And so he met with Antiochus IV, There at the border of Egypt, And met with him face to face, And he ordered him, To withdraw his armies.

And a Roman historian, Recorded, This is why most point to this, Because it's pretty verifiable. A Roman historian at the time, Recorded that, Papilius, Drew a circle in the sand, Around Antiochus IV, And he said, Agree to withdraw your armies, Before you step out of this circle, Or face war, With the Roman Empire.

And historians tell us, That Antiochus quickly agreed, He didn't want to face, The Roman Empire. So maybe that's the origin, Of this expression, Draw a line in the sand.

But regardless of the origin, The true origin of it, The meaning is, Really pretty clear, Isn't it? We know what we mean, When we use the expression, Or when we hear it used.

The line in the sand, Is the dividing point, Between two opposing positions, Two decisions. Either stay on your side, Of the line, And maintain your current position, No matter what, Or cross the line, And embrace a new position, Or a new direction, Or perhaps a new set of beliefs, Or perhaps a new commitment, And on and on we could go.

So it's pretty clear, What we mean by the expression. And I've said all of that, And you're probably wondering, What does all that have to do, With Luke chapter 12? I think it should be obvious, As I read the text a moment ago, Ought to be clear, That Jesus has drawn a line, In the sand here, In this passage.

Very clear line. And essentially, He's saying, You'd better make up your mind, About me. About who I am. You'd better make a decision here, About me.

About what I have claimed, And so forth. And so a line, Has been drawn in the sand, And you can either stay, Where you are, In regard to Jesus, Or you can come over, To his side.

But the line, Has been drawn, And there is no, Middle ground, There's no in between. You can't have, A foot on both sides, Of it. Remember what Jesus said, Just a chapter, Earlier in Luke, In Luke 11, 23, He said, He who is not, With me, Is what?

Against me. That's a clear line, Drawn in the sand. You cannot sit, On the border, Sit on the fence. You cannot go on, Undecided, When it comes to Jesus.

And so in our passage, This morning, Very clearly, I believe, In no, Really, In no uncertain terms, Jesus draws, That line.

And essentially, It is the gospel. The gospel, Is that line, That is drawn, In the sand. All right, Now then, With that image, All right, The image, Of a line, Drawn in the sand, We can kind of picture that, In our minds.

That image, Cast in our minds, Let's just look at this text, And see the line. First of all, I want you to notice, What I would call, The bottom line.

I think the bottom line, Is that line, Drawn in the sand. The bottom line, That's where Jesus begins. And really, That's an expression too, Isn't it? That we're pretty familiar with. And the bottom line, Or that expression, Comes from the context, Of business, And it typically refers, To the most important, Line on a financial statement, And it's the bottom line, That is, It's the net profit, That's the most important thing, On the statement, The most important figure, On that financial statement, It's the bottom line, So we understand the expression, When it's used in that context, But the expression, Is also used in many other, Senses of the word, Or, Or in other contexts, And so the expression, The bottom line, Typically refers, To that which is, The most important thing, The most important thing, We have another, A very similar expression, It all comes down to this, Have you ever heard anybody say that?

All comes down to this, And that is, Here's the bottom line, Here is the most important thing, The most significant thing, Here is what it all comes down to, And it's the cross, The cross of Jesus Christ, Look at verses 49 and 50, Jesus said, Now look at it closely, Because, It's really, Quite astounding, When we hear, What Jesus says, And it also, Invokes questions, Provokes us, In a sense, Because, It seems strange, Much of what he says, In these two verses, He says, Starting with verse 49, I came,

To send, Fire, On the earth, I came to send fire, On the earth, Now let's just stop right there, For a moment, Remember, In the previous passage, We spent a couple of weeks, Looking at it, Jesus was talking about, His second coming, He said, The son of man is coming, He's talking about, His second coming, He's talking about the future, Still yet today, Our future, But here, In this particular passage, This morning, Jesus is referring, To his first coming, Right?

His first coming, And specifically, What he had come to do, And of course, Ultimately did do, At his first advent, His first coming, He said, I came, Or I have come, And what had he come to do?

Well, Verse 49, Look at it, This is what Jesus said, To send fire on the earth, I have come, To send fire on the earth, Now, This word fire, Or, When Jesus said fire, He is referring to judgment, Fire very typically, In fact, Almost universally, Throughout the scripture, Ultimately, Refers to the judgment of God, And so Jesus said, I have come, To send fire on the earth, And you're probably thinking, Well, Is that what he came to do?

Really? That's not something, That we realize maybe, Maybe this seems, A little bit wrong to you, As a matter of fact, You might be thinking, I thought he came, To save the world, Or, I thought he came, As he said, To seek, And to save, That which was lost, Well, You'd be right, Of course, You'd be right, But let me ask you a question, Save the lost, From what?

From what? You say, Well, From sin, Of course, And you would be right, But only part right, Jesus, Listen, Jesus came, To accomplish, God's eternal judgment, On sin, That's what Jesus, Had come to do, Jesus had come, To accomplish, God's eternal judgment, On sin, Whose sin, My sin, Your sin, If you will believe, On him, See, Listen, Do you think, That the cross, Is a display, Of God's mercy, And grace, It is not, It is not, Not primarily, The cross, Is a clear display, The ultimate display, To the world, Of God's wrath, Towards sin, God's judgment, Upon sin, Do you want to know, What God thinks,

About sin, Do you want to know, How God responds, To sin, Look at the cross, Look at the cross, Of Christ, I want you to take your Bibles, And turn to Romans chapter 1 verse 15, And I really do want you to look at it, In your scriptures, In your Bibles, And see what Paul has to say here, In Romans 1 verse 15, Familiar passage, Taught through Romans, Already in this church, And we've covered this passage, But I want us to look at it, See how it applies, To what Jesus is talking about here, In Romans chapter 1 verse 15, Paul said, So as much as in, Is in me, I am ready, Or eager, To preach the gospel to you, Who are in Rome also, For I am not ashamed, Of the gospel of Christ, Now that's part of the passage, That we're very familiar with, Aren't we?

Paul then, Is eager, He's eager, He's ready, To preach the gospel, And he's not ashamed of it, And why? Well he tells us, And in the next three verses, Paul tells us why, Why he's eager, Why he's not ashamed, And each of the next three verses, Begins with the very same word, In the Greek text, It's the word gar, Which is, Is a conjunction, And it's translated, Usually for, And so in the next three verses, They each begin, With the word for, So we know, Then they're connected, And we know also, That these three things, Are the reason why, Paul could say, I'm eager to preach the gospel, And I'm not ashamed, Of the gospel, The first one, Verse 16, For, It is the power of God, To salvation, For everyone who believes, For the Jew first, And also the Greek, And so, Paul is eager, To preach the gospel, Because the gospel, Reveals the power of God, To save, That's a pretty good reason, To preach the gospel,

Second, Verse 17, For, There's that word again, For in it, In what? The gospel, The righteousness of God, Is revealed from heaven to heaven, As it is, Faith to faith rather, As it is written, The just shall live by faith, Or so, Paul is eager, To preach the gospel, He is unashamed, Of the gospel, Why?

Because the gospel, Reveals the righteousness of God, And then third, And here's, Here's what I want you to see, Verse 18, For, The wrath of God, Is revealed, Revealed in what?

The gospel, Revealed from heaven, Against all ungodliness, And unrighteousness, And unrighteousness of men, And so Paul is unashamed, Of the gospel, Ready, Eager, To preach the gospel, Because the gospel, Reveals the wrath of God, Towards sin, And toward all sinners, That's what Paul said, Now look, Look at, Look at what, Jesus said in verse 12, Because he's saying the same, Verse 49, I came to send fire, On the earth, And, And look at this, How I wish it were already kindled, Now how could he say that?

If fire is a reference, To the judgment of God, And Jesus is saying that, He has come, To bring that judgment, Into the world, How then could he say, That I wish it had already been kindled, I'm looking forward, How could he say that?

How could Jesus wish a thing like that? How could he wish, That for the fire of God's, Righteous wrath and judgment, To come upon the earth?

Because he wished it for himself, He wished it upon himself, He wished for the fire, Of God's judgment and wrath, To be kindled, To be ignited, Upon himself, Verse 50, But I have a baptism, To be baptized with, That is, Jesus would soon be crucified, Upon the cross, And he called it a baptism, And the word actually comes to us, Straight out of the Greek language, It's what's called a transliteration, It is the Greek word, Baptisma, Baptisma, And the word means, To be engulfed, To be submerged, To be immersed, In something, And he's not talking about water, Of course, Not talking about water baptism, Jesus is talking about, Being immersed, In the fire,

Of God's righteous judgment, That is kindled, Toward sin, Specifically my sin, And your sin, If you believe, That took place at the cross, That's what took place there, Where my sin, Was placed upon Jesus, Where your sin, Was placed upon Jesus, 2nd Corinthians 5, 21, For he, That's God the Father, Made him, That's God the Son, Who knew no sin, God the Son knew no sin, He made him, Who knew no sin, To be sin for us, That's the cross, God then, See, Focused his righteous wrath, Upon Jesus, At the cross, The cross, Is about Jesus, Then satisfying, God's righteous wrath, For my sin, God's fiery judgment,

Was kindled, At the cross, That's the bottom line, That Jesus has drawn, In the sand, And here is the, The grace, Of the cross, The mercy of the cross, Jesus longed, To do that for me, Jesus longed, To do that, For you, He said, In the last part, Of verse 50, How distressed, Yes, I am, Till it is accomplished, What a statement, You see, Listen, Jesus did not dread, The cross, Jesus did not, Fear it, Jesus did not, Shrink away from it, Or back from it, He did not, Hope to avoid it, Okay, What you believe, About his prayer, In the garden of Gethsemane, It's not that Jesus, Was fearful of the cross, And wanted to, Avoid it somehow, To maybe, Find some other way, It's not about that at all, He looked forward to it, He, The Bible says, Set his face, Toward Jerusalem,

Because that's where, He would, Be crucified, Hebrews 2, 12, 12, 2, Says, For the joy, That was set before him, Endured the cross, I'd love to camp out, A little longer on that passage, But we need to move on, That's the bottom line, Alright, First then, The bottom line, Drawn in the sand, What it all comes down to, In life, Is Jesus came, To take upon himself, God's righteous judgment, For your sin, That's the bottom line, But there's another line, Drawn in the sand here, I think, Second, Notice what I might call, The dividing line, That's also an expression, Isn't it, That we hear, Here, Use, The dividing line, This is the dividing line, And here it is, Who Jesus is, And what Jesus came to do, And did do, At the cross,

And what it means, To mankind, And how we must, And are commanded, To respond to all of that, That does not make everybody happy, It does not bring, Happiness to people, It is not agreeable, To everyone, In fact, To most, It is not agreeable, It is not good news, For everyone, It's hard for us, As believers, Redeemed of the Lord, And immersed in his grace, And enjoying, The great riches, Of his salvation, It's hard for us, To imagine, Why anybody, Would not want that, Why anybody, Would reject the gospel, The good news, Of Jesus Christ, But the fact is, Most have rejected, And continue to reject, It's not agreeable, To everyone, And so then, The simple fact is, The gospel, Is a dividing line, Between people, It is, The gospel, Is, Divisive,

Don't be surprised, By that, Look at what Jesus says, In verse 51, Do you suppose, That I came, To give peace on earth, Is that what you think, Jesus is asking, Well you might be thinking, Well the Bible, Does talk about, The gospel of peace, Doesn't it, And you're right, The Bible does say that, Paul wrote that, In Ephesians, Chapter 6, Verse 15, Even before that, He wrote the very same thing, In Romans chapter 10, Verse 15, He wrote about, The gospel of peace, And you might also, Be thinking, What about, Isaiah chapter 9, Verse 6, When the prophet, Calls the Messiah, Who of course, Is Jesus, Calls the Messiah, The prince of peace, And also, Don't forget, What the angel said, To the shepherds there, Who were tending their flocks, By night, When Jesus was born, And the angel came, And announced his birth, And the angel said, Glory to God, In the highest, And on earth, Peace,

Peace, Good will toward men, Don't forget that, But, What does Jesus say, Here in verse 51, Do you suppose, I came to give peace on earth, I tell you, Not at all, Now that's shocking, Isn't it, Kind of cuts against the grain, Of what we believe, And what we thought, And what we concluded, He says, Not at all, But rather, What?

Division, Now we don't like Jesus, To say things like this, And, We have to ask, Is there a contradiction here? A contradiction in the Bible?

Not at all, Because, Because, See, The peace, The peace, Jesus accomplished, At his coming, At his cross, Was a peace, Real peace, Between God, The father, And, The sinner, The sinner who believes, Peace, Because, They're enemies, We're enemies, Enemies by birth, Second Corinthians 517, Therefore, If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creature, Creation, Old things have passed away, Behold, All things have become new, Now, That is in your life now, All things are of God, Who has, Reconciled us, To himself, That's peace, Made peace, Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Romans 5, 1, Therefore, Having been justified, By faith, We have, Peace with God, That's good news, Peace with God,

Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, And really, When you look at Paul's letters, Every one of Paul's letters, Opens with this truth, Romans 1, 7, Peace from God our Father, 1 Corinthians 1, 3, Peace from God our Father, 2 Corinthians 1, 2, Peace from God our Father, Galatians 1, 3, Peace from God our Father, Ephesians 1, 2, Peace from God our Father, Our Father, And it's in Philippians 1, 2, It's in Colossians 1, 2, It is in 1 and 2 Thessalonians 1, 1 and 2 Timothy 1, Philemon 1, 3, Peace from God our Father, Even the apostle John, In his second epistle, Says the same thing, Peace from God our Father, But, Jesus said, That he had, Not come, To bring peace on earth, And that is right, That is right, That is right, Listen, Don't be surprised by this, Don't be confused by this, Don't be caught off guard by this,

Don't be discouraged by this, While the gospel brings eternal peace, Between the believer and God, The gospel brings anything but peace, Between man and man, And it will always be that way, Until Jesus comes, And to illustrate this, Jesus quotes the, Really the gist of Micah's prophecy, In Micah chapter 7, Verse 6, This is what he says, In verse 52, He says, For from now on, Five in one house, Will be divided, Three against two, Two against three, Father will be divided, Sighted against son, Son against father, Mother against daughter, Daughter against mother, Mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, And this is somewhat of a quote, From Micah 7, 6, And so we need to understand this, We don't need to be surprised by this, The gospel does not, Foster peace in the world,

In this present world, The gospel fosters division, The gospel is divisive, By its very nature, And it will be that way, Until Jesus comes, Now, Jesus used then, Of course, As his illustration of this, The most fundamental unit, Of society, And that would be the family, But, But, But understand, That the same truth, Applies to every other context, Of human relationship, Alright, It does apply to sons and daughters, Children to parents, Husbands to wives, And so forth, Yes, But also friends to friends, And, And even strangers to strangers, And workers to employers, And churches to government, Even in our own country, With that in mind, You know, In our country, We are seeing this line in the sand, More profoundly than ever before, In the history of our nation, I mean, It's clear, There's a clear line, Drawn in the sand today, Between the church,

The true church, The believing church, And our government, And the divisions among us, Are greater than ever before, There's no gray area here, Where we thought there was before, And I don't really think, There ever was a true gray area, There's no gray area, Certainly, For us to see now, In our country, There's a clear dividing line, Between those who are committed, To the word of God, And the gospel of Christ, And a government, And a culture, And society, Clear dividing line, And there can be no compromise, When it comes to the gospel of Christ, And that's the line, Jesus has drawn in the sand, But there is, Of course, A blessing for those, Who remain committed to Christ, Even in the midst, Of great opposition, Division, Matthew 19, 29, Everyone who has left houses, Or brothers, Or sisters,

Or father, Or mother, Or children, Or farms, For my name's sake, Will receive many times as much, And will inherit eternal life, The dividing line, I know this is somewhat foreign, To your experience, Most of you, Because perhaps you, Are part of a family, Where all are believers, And maybe even a lineage, Your whole lineage has been, That of believers, But, But understand, And don't be surprised, That the gospel, Always, Will many times, Bring divisions, In our personal relationships, With other people, Alright, So the bottom line, The dividing line, These are drawn in the sand here, And then third, The timeline, The timeline, Jesus now, Turns, I don't know if you noticed this, As I read it a moment ago, He now turns, From speaking directly, To his disciples, To speak to the crowd,

The multitudes, That were pressing in, Very close upon him, Remember, There's a great multitude there, And all throughout chapter 12, Jesus has been speaking, Directly, And specifically, To his disciples, And yet all the while, There is this huge crowd, Of people that have gathered around, Perhaps tens of thousands, Have gathered around, And Jesus now turns to them, And this is what he says, In verse 54, Whenever you see a cloud, Rising out of the west, Immediately say, A shower is coming, And so it is, I mean they didn't, Couldn't, You know, Peck the, Weather channel app, And find out, What the weather, They just look to the sky, And clouds coming, And so, Hey, It's going to rain, And so it does, And then he says, And when you see the south wind blow, You say, Well, There will be hot weather, And there is, And then he says, Hypocrites, Hypocrites,

You can discern the face of the sky, And of the earth, That is, You know how to analyze, To correctly analyze, The appearance of the earth, And the sky, But why do you not analyze, The present time, This time?

You see, He's speaking to the Jews here, God's chosen people, And they had the scriptures, God had entrusted them, With his revealed word, They had the scriptures, All of them, They had the prophets, Who spoke of the Messiah, They had all of that, They also had, To this point, Even some very clear, Verifiable, Fulfillment of prophecy, In this person, Jesus from Nazareth, They already had, A lot of that, And they had, Jesus preaching, They had his teaching, They had his interpretation, Of scripture, And what the prophets, Had said, They also had his miracles, That validated, Not only his true identity, But the validity, Of his message, They had all of that, In fact, You could say, That they had all,

Of the evidence, Required, That the Messiah, Had indeed come, And it was Jesus, They had all of that, And yet, They could read the sky, And they knew, When it was going to be, Time for rain, They could look at the wind, They could read the wind, And they knew, That it was going to be, A hot, Hot weather coming, And yet, Jesus is standing, Right there, In front of them, Right there, In the midst of them, And they did, Not discern the time, Of the coming, Of their Messiah, Hypocrites, He said to them, Now listen, It's no different, For people living today, No different, Than it was for those Jews, There that day, All that the Jews, Had, People today have, And more, They have the New Testament, We have the full revelation, And yet,

Countless millions, Cannot, Or will not, Refuse to discern the time, God's timeline, It's time to repent, That's the line drawn in the sand, It's time to repent, It's time to believe, The timeline, Is drawn in the sand, And for now anyway, There is still time, The timeline, Of God's grace, And salvation, Is now, That leads then, Naturally, To the last thing, Jesus says in the text, Jesus draws a line, In the sand, There's the bottom line, The dividing line, The timeline, Then finally, I think very clearly, The deadline, There's a deadline drawn here, Quickly, Look at verse 57 again, Yes, And why, Even of yourselves, Or,

Or in your own initiative, Do you not judge what is right, It's a burning question, It's why don't you see the truth, Why don't you respond, To the truth, The truth, Of what's standing, Right here before you, The truth of the gospel, Why don't you, Even in your own initiative, Do what is right here, And then Jesus, Tells a short parable, Verse 58, When you go with your adversary, To the magistrate, Make every effort, Along the way, To settle with him, Lest he drag you, To the judge, And the judge deliver you, To the officer, And the officer, Throw you into prison, I tell you, You shall not get out of there, Till you have paid, Every, The very last cent, That's his parable, And the circumstances, Of the parable, Are pretty easy to understand, But what is the application, And how does that fit in here at all,

Well, Let me ask you, What did Jesus say, Just before he spoke this parable, He said, Why even on your own initiative, Do you not judge what is right, All right, So what is right about what, Well, What is right about this time, That's what he's talking about, Not judging rightly about this time, And what is this time, Well, It's the time of Jesus coming, It's the time of Jesus saving ministry, And that time is still now, It's right now, The time of Jesus saving ministry, Is right now, So, Do what is right, Do what is right, Believe on Jesus, That's, The point of this, Believe on, To enter into, Peace, With God, Through faith, In Jesus Christ, Or, As implied by the parable, Be like the man,

Who settles things, With his adversary, Before he must stand, Before the judge, Before then, Why? Because you don't want to stand, Before the judge, Believe me, You don't want to stand, Before the judge, The judge is God, You don't want, To appear, Before his, Righteous, And final judgment, Because you're guilty, You're guilty, And you have no defense, And you will be cast, Into prison, Which is a symbol, Of hell, Here, Where you will pay, Every cent of your debt, Your sin debt, And how long will that take?

Just eternity, You'll not get out of there, Until you pay every cent, Do you understand, The point of the parable? Or, You can do what is right, You can do what is right, What is called for, What is demanded of, Of the gospel, Before you face the judge, You can settle things, Before the judgment, You can trust Jesus, Now, But time is limited, That's why I say, There's a deadline drawn, In the sand, And Jesus has drawn it, He has drawn it, It's a deadline, And he says, Repent now, Right now, Trust Jesus, Christ, Now, Or, Face the consequences,