or for those years with a sharp eye, you'd have seen that there is some comparisons between those two readings. There are some things that the readings have in common. So we're gonna have a little look at what these readings have in common from Luke chapter 13 and Isaiah chapter five, Luke 13, six to nine, Isaiah five, one to seven, Is there any farmers here tonight? I don't know whether we've got a farmer at the back. You'll be able to relate to this then, to these two parables. A farmer expects an abundant harvest from the labor that he puts in. He puts in a lot of time, he gets up early in the morning, he goes out and he plows his field and he sows some seeds and he expects an abundance harvest. He should expect an abundance harvest. If the rain has fallen and the sun has shined, then there should be a harvest. It wouldn't be an unreasonable expectation to have an abundance harvest if you are a farmer for your labour. He doesn't always get the abundance harvest, but usually he will do if everything is right and everything is going right. God expects an abundant harvest from his labor, from the labor that he puts in to us for the things that he has done for us. What more could God have done to have brought forth an abundance harvest? He sent his only begotten, beloved Son into the world to die upon the cross for sinners who would repent and turn to Him in faith. That's what God has done. What more could God have done than send His Son into the world? His sacrifice upon the cross was acceptable to God, what more could God have done than to send His Holy Spirit to wake up those who are His? What more could God have done than to put His Spirit within us and cause us to walk in His statutes? What more could God have done for us? Interestingly enough, this is a little bit like the sower and the seed. Do you remember the parable that Jesus told about a sower, some seeds, and some soil? And the sower was the person who preaches the Word. God sends people to faithfully preach the Word in this land. The seed is the Word of God. As it goes forth, it is scattered on the congregation. I'm not daft, I know as the seed goes forth to this congregation, some of it is not going to land on good ground, it's going to land on stony ground. You're not even listening, your ears are not open, your heart is not prepared for the gospel, and it's just going to go in one ear and out of the other. And we even know that straight away, the evil one comes to take away So I know that a lot of the preaching that I will do in this church and in my own church is just going to land on deaf ears. Some of it will land on grounds where some people will take it in. They'll start to listen, but they are shallow. They are very, very shallow. And all of a sudden, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches will just choke the seeds out, and they might go along for a while, and they might appear to be a Christian for a while, and then they'll be off out into the world. The apostle Paul said, they have gone out from amongst us because they were not of us. If they had been of us, then they would have stayed with us. And you'll see that. You'll see yourselves as Christians, people you think are genuine Christians, and you'll be all excited about their conversion. profess Christ and they'll get baptized. And then all of a sudden, after a period of time, they will just walk away and disappear. They were never Christians in the first place. The Apostle Paul made that clear. In our readings, there are these two parables about what God does in a vineyard and with a fig tree. Praise God that when the preaching goes out, some people will be saved. The ground has been prepared and the Lord Jesus Christ said, my sheep shall hear my voice and shall follow me." They will follow the Lord Jesus Christ, so praise God that the preaching of the word does exactly what God wants it to accomplish. Let's take a little look at these two passages. Parallel parables about the goodness of our God. Our God is good. Our God is good all of the time, not some of the time, but all of the time. And that's why our God is worthy of all honor and of all praise and of all love. glory because of the wonderful blessings that he has bestowed upon us. So we must bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy name. He is worthy of all praise because our God is a good God. It also shows us here man's badness, the hardness and the deception of the heart of man who hears the gospel being preached, who has been given every opportunity to repent and is told from pulpits in the land that God is commanding all men everywhere to repent. It's a commandment of God. What more could God have done? He has given us his word. What more can God do? So I want to just talk for a little while just about a few different things. Four points, so that shouldn't take me too long. How many points did I have this morning? Loads and loads, took me ages. So we're going to think about preparation We're going to think about expectation, that when you prepare something, you should expect something. Then there is deception, and then there is a reaction. And these are the four things that these two parallel parables have in common. They have in common preparation, expectation, deception, and reaction. Firstly, preparation. Preparation in Isaiah chapter five and verse two. What do we see here? Let me just read verse one and two. Now I will sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. He fenced it, gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." Luke chapter 13, verses six to eight. He spake also this parable, I say, Man had a fig tree planted in a vineyard, and he came, and he sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none. cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? And he answered and said unto him, Lord, let her alone this year also, till I shall dung her, till I shall dig about her and dung her. So there is a vineyard and this vineyard is fenced. It has got a fence around about it to keep the animals out, to keep out the animals that might come in and they might steal the seeds or might destroy the vines. So that is fenced around about to keep the animals out in verse two. Then we see that the stones have been removed, every hindrance of growth, every stone, every bit of an old brick, anything like that has been removed in case they are a hindrance to the growth of the vine. We see that it is planted with the best Vines, again, in verse two of Isaiah chapter five, the best of vines have been the choicest of vines. These aren't Aldi vines. These are Mark's and Spencer's vines. These are the best vines that you could possibly get. And he's planting the best of vines, nothing cheap going on here. He hasn't got it off Timu or eBay or anything like this. These are the choicest of vines then. He plants them in a fruitful hill, a place that is guaranteed to bring forth fruit. It's a fruitful hill because it has brought forth fruit in the past. The best of the land. It says also in verse 2 that he places there a high tower and built a tower in the midst of it. 24-hour care. There is a tower built in the midst of it so somebody can watch over it and make sure that it is going to bring forth fruit. Everything is being prepared for the best of the harvest. We see the fig tree in Luke chapter 13. And what do we see in verse 6? we see that it is being placed in the best soil. It tells us in verse six, he spake this parable, a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. This is not just any old fig tree that's just left by the wayside. He's planted it in the vineyard in the best of the soil. He put it in a vineyard so it has the best soil that there is. What else does he do? He hires a man, he hires a dresser. It tells us in verse 7, it says this, and he said unto the dresser of the vineyard, he has this man who's going to look after this fig tree. Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree. So here's this man who looks after the vineyards, who is saying, look after the fig tree, make sure that it is okay. So he has put a man over the job. Then he fertilizes it in verse eight, and he answers and says unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also till I dig about it and dungy. He fertilizes it. You know what dung is. It's the type of stuff that the woke people speak in this generation. So he's fertilizing it with dung and putting fertilizer on it. Every single effort has been made to make sure that it brings forth fruit on this fig tree. What more could have been done. What more could have been done for this fig tree and for the vineyards? Also, when we think about it, what more could have been done for this nation that we live in? Let's apply this to this country, to this nation in which we live. We have the King James Bible. We have the authorized version of the Bible. We've had it for over 400 years in our own language. It is the most accurate version that there is, the most accurate translation of the Bible that we have. Why do you say that, Eddie? You might be saying to him, I think such and such a translation is far better. I will give you 3,900, this is going to be a long night, isn't it? 3,993 reasons why the King James Bible is the best. I could give you a whole lot more, but I just don't have time. What are those 3,993 reasons? To me, it is the word ye. It's a Scouse word. It's Scousers use it. It is a plural word that means use. Scousers use the word use. I'm talking to youse tonight, a youse listening to me. It's a singular word that is actually Plural, it's a Scouse word. I tell everyone who comes into our church, we've got this big sign outside, what think ye of Christ? And they say to me, why do you use that old English on your sign? I say, because it's a Scouse word. Because when the big crowds are coming down Anfield Road, who've been watching Liverpool play, it's what think yous of Christ. It's speaking to them all, plural. Modern versions have replaced the word ye, a plural word, with you. A singular word, and we wonder why the church has become sort of me, me, me. It's all about me. It's all about my felt feelings. It's all about me. They've centered everything around the individual rather than centering it around plural, God's people, the congregation of the saints, the church. That's why you meet people who say, we don't need the church. I'm a Christian, I sit in me house and I read me own Bible and I do me prayers and I go online and I read and look at whatever I want. I've got some podcasts, pastors, I don't need the church. Of course we need the church because the Bible calls us ye. It's not talking to the individual, it's talking to us personally. Plurally, we are plural. We are bricks in a building. We are lively stones fitted together as the temple of God. We are sheep in a flock. We are never singular. We are plural. God takes the one sheep and he adds it to the fold. We are not to be alone. It is not good for man to be alone. alone. So 3,993 reasons you can tell your friends. The word ye is a plural word that is talking to use. We have the King James Bible. What more could God have done than to give us this amazing translation of the Bible that we have? What more could God have done? Remember, I say remember, some of you won't remember, that he blew away the armada that was coming to this country. It was a Roman Catholic Armada that was coming to take the country back to darkness and superstition and God sent a mighty wind and scattered it. A lot of it was wrecked over the coasts of Ireland. What more could God have done to protect it as the gunpowder plot? Remember the gunpowder plot? We celebrate it every year on the 5th of November in this country. God graciously, mercifully protected King James. Who is this King James? The King James Bible was about to be released. And of course Guy Fawkes and his gang led by a group of Jesuits were going to destroy King James and the parliament to again take the country back to darkness and superstition. But God, in his amazing providence, caused that plot to be discovered. And what could God have done in the way that he has protected this nation? He has given us holy laws. Do you know that when street preachers are arrested in this country for preaching the Bible, did you see that preacher who was arrested for preaching the Bible during Ramadan, how offensive it was, the police officer said, to preach the Bible in Ramadan. Have you got no respect? It's a Christian nation. A preacher could be dragged off to court for disgracefully preaching the Bible and they say, Place your hands on this Bible and say, I swear, what is that all about? We have got godly laws where we are protected by the words of God in law. If only Christians knew how protected we really are. Did you know that we won the Civil War? So, you know, it was yous who won the civil war. It was us nonconformist Christians who won the civil war. We have rights in this country that our forefathers have died for. They have died for our rights. They have been burnt at the stake. They have shed their blood for our rights. God has been so good and so gracious to us as a nation. What more could he have done for us? The national religion in this country is reformed Protestantism. Did you know that? Did you see King Charles when he gave his oath to defend the faith, as a defender of the faith, the reforms? He wasn't happy at all, but he had to say that he would defend the reformed Protestant faith, because our forefathers have died to keep the Constitutes, to keep this country and the monarchy, Protestants, abiding by the reformed Protestant faith. Oh, they've locked it in. They've locked in our rights, our forefathers. There are plenty of gospel churches still preaching the gospel in the city of Liverpool. there was a pub on every corner and a church on every other corner and a church there. I'm the pastor of Stanley Park Church in Liverpool. If you didn't arrive half an hour before the service in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, you didn't get a seat and our church seats a thousand people and you couldn't get a seat they had to put chairs up the aisle they had to put chairs in the pulpit it was absolutely packed come the 1970s they even put an overflow system to downstairs and packed in another 500 people downstairs we used to have gospel preaching churches who were faithfully preaching the gospel all over the nation Where have they gone? Where are these gospel preaching churches that our forefathers went in and defended the faith in those places? What more could God have done for us? Great preachers. GC Ryle, great preacher in Liverpool, first Bishop of Liverpool. God's been so gracious, given us these men who have written their expository thoughts and have written commentaries of the Bible. Charles Spurgeon, George Whitfield went to see his church today. They were having a A meeting in there that was far from a Christian meeting. I just went in and disrupted it and took some pictures, as you do, and went to see his pulpit. God has raised up men in the past who have been prepared to lay down their life for the gospel. Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, Rogers, and many, many more who have laid down their life so that we could have the gospel. What more could God have done for this? nation, for this nation, what more could God have done for the nation of Israel, which he's talking about when he talks about this vineyard. He had cast out all the heathen from the land. God had cast out the heathen from the nation and God had blessed that nation, placed them in a fruitful land of Canaan. He cast out all of the heathens, those stones, amongst the people. He'd fenced them with godly and good laws. He sent the prophets into them and he protected them 24-7. What more could God have done for the nation of Israel than he did to? But we read in the Scriptures that Jesus Christ came to his own. and his own received him not. He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and they crucified him. What more could God have done than to send his beloved son to die for his people? Salvation is of the Jews, Jesus said, and he came to save his people from their sins. What more can God have done for you for you who are sitting here tonight, maybe still in your sins, maybe not a Christian, what more could God have done for you than to send a preacher of his word to put you in a nation that is full of the freedom to be able to go into a town center and hear the Bible? being preached. What more could God have done? Maybe placed it in a Christian family, where you're brought up, here in the Bible, where you're brought up understanding God's word. Maybe given you some Christian friends, put you in a decent Christian church like this one. He's given you the gospel. He's given you your health. and your strength and a desire to be in a place of worship tonight. There's no coincidence that you are here tonight. It is a God incident. God has brought you here for a reason. What more could He have done? How about you? How about you as an individual? Have you brought forth any fruit that is meat to repentance after all of the work that God has put in? Or is it just leaves? Is it false fruit that looks like fruit to everybody else? I think the pastor sort of mentioned in his prayers that we can come to church, we can fool everybody, we can give a good impression with a nice tie and a good suit. But all of the rest of the week, we just live like a devil. Do you know that there are actual atheists and there are practical atheists sometimes who sit in churches? Actual atheists say there is no God, and they blatantly come out and tell people there is no God, we don't believe that there's a God. And then there are practical atheists who say that there is a God, but then live like there isn't a God as a witness for Christ. Actual atheists, practical atheists, there is this preparation that God has done. He has greatly blessed us and he expects fruit. Then there's the expectation, the expectation of what God wants. What do we see? What do we see in the vineyard in verse two? He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. The owner had bought a wine press where you don't go out and pay all of that money on Amazon for a wine press and not expect any wine to come from it. So he'd got a wine press. I don't know if he'd had it made, I don't know if he'd dug a hole, I don't know where he'd got this wine press from, but he had an expectation that there was going to be a harvest, an expectation that there would be the wine that would be pressed in the wine press. Then we see the fig tree in verse six again of Luke chapter 13. And it says at the end of the verse, and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none. So he comes along and he seeks the fruit. He looks for the fruit and he finds none. That's what it tells us in verse seven. Then he said unto the dresser of the vineyard, behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree. How longsuffering is our God, how patient is our God with us. Our God is a longsuffering and patient God, and that's just with me, nevermind with you. God is so patient with us, waiting to see us bring forth fruit. fruit, so there was an expectation for the vineyard and the fig tree to bring forth fruit. And what does the dresser say? He says in verse 8 of Luke 13, he answered and said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also come on. Three years planted in a vineyard, this fig tree should have brought forth fruit. By now, just leave it, and I shall dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit well, and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down. God is so patient, he gives it an extra year, an extra year to bring forth fruit. fruit. I'll give it another year. Do you think that the Lord was being unreasonable here? The Lord of this vineyard is unreasonable? Of course he's not unreasonable. Matthew chapter 21 verse 19 says this, the trees on the wayside even are expected to provide fruit Even a tree on a wayside should provide us with fruit. Proverbs chapter 27 and verse 18 says, if thou should keep a fig tree, thou shall expect to eat the fruit. It's an expectation. If you keep a fig tree, you are going to eat the fruit. There is nothing unreasonable about this. Think about the nation of Israel again. What was expected? We look back in Ezekiel chapter five, Isaiah, sorry, in chapter five, I keep saying Ezekiel. I said this to our brother earlier as well. It's Isaiah in chapter five. If we look at verse seven, It says this, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and Amenaduda, his pleasant plant. He looked for judgment, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a crime. So he's expecting judgment. and righteousness, that they might be working on behalf of God as those who are judges and those who are living as those who are righteous. God chose the nation Israel. He chose the most of all the nations of the earth. It tells us quite clearly in scripture, I never chose thee because thou were greater in number than any other nation. In fact, you were fewer than these nations, but I love thee because I loved thee. Know what the reason? He set his love upon these people, the nation of Israel, and he loved them, he chose them, and then he protected them. He protected the nation of Israel against all of those heathen nations around them, the Amalekites, and the Gergesites, and the Canaanites, and everybody else. He protected them, and he made them his Ambassadors, how gracious is God that he should do this for them and make them his ambassadors. So, he expected them to walk in his ways. That's what he expected by the amount of work that he had put in. What about this nation? What does God expect from us as a nation? God has protected us. God expects with our holy laws that we will do the right thing. He has set up a government in this country is supposed to wield the sword against evildoers. But in this generation, they are wielding the sword against God's people. People, it's terrible the amount of preachers who are getting arrested in the Yom Kippur. It is a terrible situation. What about us? Righteousness, God expects from us. He expects righteousness and judgment. He expects righteousness, not our righteousness. As I've mentioned already, our righteousness is filthy rags to God. Filthy rags, that's all your righteousness is. It's self. Righteousness, God doesn't want your righteousness, he wants the righteousness of Christ in you. He wants you to be made the righteousness of God. If you are a Christian here tonight, he expects righteousness from us, Jesus' righteousness. That's why we're told, seek ye first and foremost the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto your respects. Judgment, we hear so much in this day and age, the battle cry of the liberal, judge not lest ye be judged. You'll have heard it every time you'll have said to somebody, well, do you think that what you're doing is right there, the scripture says, judge not. Lest ye be judged. I'll get it tattooed on myself just so that you know. Nobody judges me but God. You've seen them, haven't you? Judge not, lest ye be judged. What's that talking about? Judge not, lest ye be judged. When the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, commands us to judge righteous, Judgment, of course we're to judge. We're to judge righteous. Judgment, judge not lest ye be judged, is telling us because of what type of judgment you judge, you shall be judged. So make sure that you are judging righteous judgments. Make sure you're not just pointing the finger at someone, condemning them because they sin differently than you do. We all sin. Some other people sin in a different way than you do, and you point the finger. And you say, I don't do what they do. I don't lust like they do. But you might be covetous. You might be greedy. I don't do what they do. I'm not as bad as them. Be very, very careful when you point the finger. There's three fingers pointing back at you. Be really, really careful that when you judge, you judge righteous judgments, that you are prepared to stand before God one day and have the same type of judgment. It's not self-righteous, hypocritical, judgment thou art inexcusable. Oh man, it tells us in Romans chapter two, you condemn someone for doing something and you do that thing yourself. inexcusable, so God demands righteousness, God demands judgments from Christians. He expects us to seek right and to act right and to judge right. He expects holy thoughts. He expects holy words. Be ye holy as your Father in heaven is holy. Holy actions. Without holiness, no man shall see God. The Bible tells us we must be doers of the words and not just hearers only deceiving our own selves. The Bible tells us you can be like a person who looks in the Bible and you see what it says and then you walk away. and you forget what manner of person you really are, and you don't put the Bible into practice. God wants us to be doers of the word, not just haters only, or we're deceived. We are deceiving our own selves. Bible tells us, much is given, so much is expected. So how about you? How about you? Are you a doer, or are you a disappointment? Are you a disappointment when God looks for fruit in your life? He doesn't see it. Are you a doer of the word or are you a deceiver? A deceiver pretending to be a Christian, but really you're not a Christian. So what do we see next? We see deception. We see deception. In the vineyard, again, in verse two in Isaiah and chapter five, it tells us this quite clearly. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choices of vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein. And he looked, and it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes, wild grapes it brought forth, that looked exactly the same. as normal grapes. So he looks and he sees grapes and he's like, happy days, it's Brawford grapes. I'll be able to use my wine press and I'll be able to press these grapes and I'll be able to make myself some money. So the owner turns up and he sees wild grapes and they are bitter, bitter grapes. God expects the Christian to be better and not be bitter, but some Christians are bitter. They leave a sour taste in your mouth. There you go. Is this person even a Christian? They don't seem to have any love or joy or long-suffering or meekness or gentleness or any of these things. It's just a bitterness. From a distance, from a distance, we might be happy. We might walk up to somebody who says that they're a Christian and start chatting with a smile on our face and we walk away with a frown on our face feeling really sad. From a distance, they may seem and appear to be a Christian. They've ticked all the boxes. They look right. They dress right. They use the right Bible version. They've got a tie on and all of these different things. And we think this, This person must be a Christian, but in close examination, there is disappointment. There is the fig tree again in verse six in Luke chapter 13. It says, he came and he saw fruit thereon and found none. He found none. The owner turns up, no fruit. Again, again, three years, no fruit. You can hear the disappointment in verse eight. And he answered and said unto him, Lord, Let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it, there is this real disappointment even in the keeper of the vineyards. He's like, Lord, just give it a year, just one year, one more year, so on both there is an appearance of life, but it is a false appearance of life. The nation Israel had plenty of outward show, loads and loads and loads of outward show. They had the temple, they had the religion, they had the scribes, they had the Pharisees, they had the priests, they had the lawyers, the keepers of the law, they had the Sanhedrin, they had men standing on the street corners praying. in long robes, they had plenty of religion. They were tied on out of their spice racks. They were taking a tenth of the cumin and mint and they were putting it, I don't know if you put that in your collection yourself, but they were putting their spices into the collection. They had every appearance of being a righteous and a holy nation, all outward show. robes, laws, pilgrimages, all of the rest of it. They had their Sabbaths, they had their sacrifices, but what does God say? In verse seven there in Isaiah, it tells us, the vineyard of the Lord's, the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, his pleasant plants. He looked for judgments and behold, oppression, Oppression, that's what he saw. Oppression for righteousness, but behold, a cry. He sees oppression, that they were oppressing the people, oppressing the poor. They weren't godly men whatsoever in this nation. And he sees oppression and a cry. Look at this nation of ours, plenty of religious traditions, there's still pilgrimages all over this country, Walsingham, other places, there are pilgrimages, there are robes, there is incense, there is dance, there are churches that dance around and they wave their hands up in the air, there is penances, there are priests galore in churches, Catholic churches, Anglican churches, wall to wall, priests. Let me just ask you this question. Do you know what a priest is in the Bible? In the Old Testament of the Bible, the priest was a person who made sacrifices. That was their job, to make sacrifices. Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice, one sacrifice for sin, and now he is seated on the right hand of God, and the Bible tells in the book of Hebrews, so there now remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. So all the priests should be on the dole. They should be claiming universal credit. If I had the number, I'd say it, and they could look it up. We don't need priests, because there are no more sacrifices. We don't need churches with altars in them, because the final altar was Calvary, and the final sacrifice was Christ. Oh, we have plenty of religion. We have plenty of stuff that looks religious that looks on the outside and the outset that it is spiritual and it is Christian, all the lively music and the preacher worship on the internet when people are just heaping up preachers on the internet on their favorite lists having itchy ears. certain that the Lord Jesus Christ must have been speaking about this day of people who were just heaping up preacher after preacher after preacher. You go on YouTube, you will find millions of preachers. But do you find any real genuine fruit? It is very hard to find considering we have churches all over the place. I wonder what God thinks when he looks at this country and its outward show. of religion, but no reality. How about you? Is it reality, or is it religion? What is it that you have in your life? Is it a head knowledge, or is it in your heart? You may be able to quote the scriptures, you may know the Bible, you learn, and my testimony I knew. Bible verse, and it was because I knew one Bible verse, just this one, that the Lord saved me, because I took him at his word, and had faith and confidence in the words of God, and took him by his word. So you know the Bible, but you don't put the Bible into practice, or you would do it, or just hear it, or you would take it, Or are you a giver? Are you in church because you want to save God? Do you love God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and you want to save Him and you want to worship Him for what He has done for you in sending His Son into the world to die for you? Is the fruit or is the sour grapes? Is Jesus your substitute, Savior and Lord of your life? Or is He just somebody that you sing about and you like the words in the songs so you come along and sing Would you believe it? In our church in Stanley Park, we have had two old ladies who've been coming along to our church for over 15 years, and they're not converted. They say to me, oh, I love that hymn. Eddie, oh, such a great hymn. I love that, but they're not saved. I'll ask them about their internal condition. They will say, don't worry, lad. Don't worry, lad. We were christened as babies. I'll say, that doesn't save anyone. It just makes you wetter and no better. That's all that it does. So it will not... But don't worry, we as our confirmation in the Church of England, we were confirmed. I said, all you've confirmed is the fact that you are sinners, that's all that you've done, and they are not converted, and they will not even listen to the gospel, but they come along week in, week out, hear the preaching of the word, and never respond. What more can God do than bring them under the sound of the preaching, week in, week out, for them to bring forth, no, fruit whatsoever that is meet unto repentance." Is that you? Is that you? Do you come along to church, but there's no fruit in your life that is not the fruit of the Spirit in your life? I don't know what you're like at home, who you are at home. is who you are, who you are before God in prayer is who you are. You may never pray, you may never speak to God in prayer, but you'll say that you are a Christian, who you are in your prayer life is who you are. Lastly, we see the reaction, what happens, both owners, are disappointed at the absence of fruit. In the vineyard, we see it there in verse five. And now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down." So what happens here with this reaction, this reaction? The fence is removed, the fence is removed, so that all sorts of evil and terrible beasts can come in and destroy, can come in and destroy this vineyard. The beasts can come and destroy. The care is removed in verse six. and I will lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns, and I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it." The rain is to stop. This shows us, doesn't it, that it is God who is the owner of the vineyard. Your average owner of a vineyard can't stop the rain falling. He can't say, no rain today, thanks. This is God. He is going to stop the rain from falling, and only God can stop the rain. What about the fig tree? What about the fig tree? Again, we see it there, verses seven to nine. He comes seeking fruit on it. The guy answers and says, give it a year, give it a year, and I'll just dig it about. And if it bear fruit, well, in verse nine, and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down. There's the reaction. There's the reaction. There was a fellow, it was a Sunday school teacher, and the children used to come into the Sunday school and hear the word being preached in the Sunday school, but they weren't responding in any way, and he prepared his messages and delivered them to these children, and they were like, I don't care, we're only here for the free Mars bars. I used to go to a little youth club when I was about 12 or 13. Well, he went because he had a chessboard, and he used to like playing chess against me mate and beating him. And he said, a little talk, and he'd give you the free Mars bar. I was only there for the free Mars bar. No other reason. This Sunday school teacher, he doesn't see any fruit from all of his labor. The year back you go and a year later you look at the Sunday school and some of the children are not there. A couple of the children have died. Others, their parents had taken them to other countries, other countries where the Bible isn't preached. The parents weren't bothered about the gospel. They were just getting rid of the kids for a couple of hours. And then all of a sudden they are removed from under the sound of the gospel. That can happen. I might come back in 12 months time if the pastor's staff don't know to invite me for these long, long sermon sessions that I've been doing and some of you may not be here. Some of you may have died. Some of you may have moved. Some of you may be in the mosque. Some of you may have become Jehovah's Witnesses, or Seventh-day Adventists, or Mormons, or something like that. He that thinketh he stands, he lest he fall. Stop trusting in the fact that you're attending a good Bible-believing church. There must be a reality and a genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, or God could just remove you. All together, remove your protection of being under the gospel. Go back the year later to the Sunday school, and the Sunday school teacher is no longer there, the kids are there, but some liberal, woke persons moved in and they're bringing some liberal gospel to the children and they're not hearing the gospel anymore. Some kids have been removed under the sound of the gospel. In some places, the gospel is removed. There's going to be churches all over this place, all over this area, all over Liverpool that once preached the gospel, but now the gospel has been removed, and that is the judgment of God, the judgments of God, because the churches are not bringing forth any fruit whatsoever. And that is what happens here to the vineyards, and this is what happens to the fig tree. With the fig tree, they're going to cut it down and burn it. Why? Because it's a waste of time and it's a waste of space, so it's gonna be removed, and it could be dangerous to the other plants in the vineyards. Our nation has refused to worship God. The nation of Israel refused to worship their gods. They worshiped false idols and statues. They had false gods. They had abandoned gods, and they were invaded by other nations, by the Assyrians. And then the Babylonians, they were invaded, God had taken away the protection. They were trusting in the fact that they had the temple in their lands. Are we trusting in the fact that we are a Protestant reformed nation? Are you trusting in living in a Christian country? Stop it. Stop trusting these things. God has removed this protection. Even all the protection we've got in law, they are being undermined. They are being chipped away at. Eventually we might go out in the streets and preach the gospel and be arrested and jailed. This nation is under the judgment of God, just like the nation of Israel was. So God grafted them out and grafted in the Gentiles. Praise God that he's grafted us in, non-Jews like us. He has shown mercy to us. But remember, it's because the nation of Israel was grafted out, those Jews were grafted out that we might be grafted in because of unbelief. because of unbelief, because God looked, expected fruit, and saw oppression and a cry. What about us? What are we showing? Are we showing any fruit? It's happened to the Church of England in this nation once. A godly Protestant church, our bishops have been burnt at the stake. Now, our bishops are a waste of time. We've got women bishops, we've got people who are pretending to be bishops, they're LGBT and they're transgender, and all of these type of things, pretending to be bishops. The anger of God is upon this nation. The judgment of God is upon this land. Gospel churches, genuine gospel churches, are empty in comparison to charismatic churches where they're jumping up and down and never preaching the true gospel. Deception is everywhere. Jesus warned of it. He said there will be wolves that come in amongst you to scatter the flock, grievous wolves coming in amongst us, not sparing the flock. There are those that rise up from amongst us. There are those that come in from the outside, grievous wolves destroying churches. It is time that we make a stand, that we stand up. When the pastor was saying today, some of you men might have to stand up if there's any women come in the church. I was thinking to myself, it's about time in this nation that the men started to stand up, really, genuinely stand up, stand up for Jesus, because there is deception absolutely everywhere. There are signs and lying wonders. Having a chat to someone a little while ago, And he was saying, does it ever worry you that when Jesus said, there'll be many who will say in that day, Lord, Lord, they will say, depart, you workers of iniquity, I never knew. Does it ever worry you that it might be you? I said, no. Because he says, Jesus said, there'll be many in that day who will say, Lord, Lord, we have done great mighty wonders in your name, signs and lion wonders, great mighty wonders in your name, but not for your name, but for their gain or their fame, great mighty wonders in your name. This is not gonna be a reformed Baptist because he says, I have cast out demons in your name. I have prophesied in your name. Who's that talking about? It's not talking about your average Reformed Baptist who trusts in the words of God. He's not going around trying to cast out demons and practicing anything like that, not at all. He's not prophesying in the name of God. The Lord has told me to tell you and that type of thing, not at all. Those who are performing lies and wonders, signs and wonders, we have done great and mighty wonders in your name, casting out demons and prophesying. Could that be you? Maybe you're thinking, well, I've come from a charismatic church, and I've spoken tongues, and I've done great and mighty wonders, and I've healed the sick, and I've cast out demons. You need to start thinking it is the Word of God that will bring forth fruit, not signs and wonders. Don't be looking for feelings. Don't be looking for signs in your life. Trust. The Scriptures trust the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the only thing, the only thing that we can genuinely trust. So what about us? Are we showing any fruit in our lives? Do you love God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, with everything that you are? You may be called one day to prove that in this nation. I don't know where the nation's heading, but it's heading rapidly into darkness. It is heading rapidly into woke-ism. It is heading rapidly to people saying on a television that the likes of us are a cult. We are cults because we are fundamental Bible-believing Christians. We are extremists and they will need to get rid of the extremists. I don't know when that is going to come. I pray that it will not be in our lifetime. But we don't know, because I also pray that the Lord Jesus will return in our lifetime. Oh, come quickly, Lord Jesus. The country is in a mess. It is as it was in the days of Noah. You see it all around us, sin and deception, religiously. Do we love Christ? Do we love his words? Do we love his people and love fellowshipping together with Christians? Do we love the preaching of the words, the preaching of the words? I was saying to your pastor, the apostle Paul once preached till midnight and somebody died. Maybe I might do that tonight and hope nobody dies. But now it's like, oh, come on, I've got the chicken in the oven. Are you gonna finish yet or what? Do we love the preaching of the word, the faithful expounding and preaching of the Bible, of God's word? Do we absolutely love the fellowship of God's people? And do you show forth the fruit of the Spirit in your life personally, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, Galatians 5, 22, or is it the fruit of the flesh? Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, in verses 17 and 18, that a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit. It might look like it's got good fruit, but a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit. By nature, we are corrupt. Every single one of us, there is no way we are ever gonna produce any fruit in our life that is acceptable to God by nature. We need a new nature. We need this new life that we were thinking about this morning. We need to be born Again, because we will not produce good fruit by nature. Jesus also said, I am the vine. Jesus said, He is the vine, and if we are in Him, we shall produce good fruit. No point in looking at someone who's been a Christian, or claimed to be a Christian for 20 years, and they bring forth no fruit whatsoever, and scratch your head and go, well, they say that they're a Christian. By their fruit, you shall know them, the Bible says. People walk into, our church in Stanley Park in Liverpool, and they say to me, I'm a Christian. I've been a Christian for 10 or 20 years. I go, great. And I think in my head, we'll see. We'll see. Time will tell. I never take somebody's word for it when they say they are a Christian. By their fruit ye shall know them. Test every spirit to see if it is of God." Even the Bereans tested the Apostle Paul's preaching. They went away and they checked out in the words of God if what he was saying was true. That's the Apostle Paul. And they still check them out, check everything out by scripture. They don't just believe it because everybody's following this great preacher on the internet. Check it out for yourself and test every spirit. We must produce God's fruit if we are a genuine Christian because of the preparation that has been done. the life, the death, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. An amazing preparation that God has made for us that we can spend eternity with Him and be like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall be like Him if we are in Christ. What more could God have done? What more could God have done? Christ said, if there be any other way, take this cup from me. There was no other way. It was an eternal covenant with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit that Christ knew he was coming into the world to save us from our sins, those who are his people. There is no other way. There is no foundation that any man can lay, except for that foundation that is already laid, that is Christ. Jesus, what more could God have done? But people are still not satisfied. They're looking for signs. They're looking for wonders. They're looking for feelings rather than just looking to Christ. So God expects a harvest of fruit, not sour grapes, not bitterness, not sour grapes. Jesus came to make his branches better. and fruit producers, not bitter with sour grapes. But if you don't abide in Jesus, then you'll always be a disappointment. You'll always be a disappointment. It may be a disappointment to your family. It may be a disappointment to your friends or to the church if you are not abiding in Christ and you are a disappointment to God who is commanding you to repent. And one day you will stand before Him. And judgment could be today. I don't know when the Lord is coming back, but you will stand before Him. In judgment, naked and ashamed, naked and ashamed if you have not produced the fruit that the constant preaching of the words of God demands, demands in you that you must produce fruit and one day you will face the owner's wrath. Reaction, if you are not a Christian, when he says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. So are you a Christian who is producing fruit? Is it seen by your family and your friends and the other people in the church? Or is it just wild grapes? Examine yourself to see if you be in the faith. Amen.