Lukewarm Church, Who

Kills the Prophets – Luke 13:31-35

Introduction

Luke

13:31-35 ESV 

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for

Herod wants to kill you.”  (32)  And he said to them, “Go and tell

that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and

the third day I finish my course.  (33)  Nevertheless, I must go on

my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a

prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’  (34)  O Jerusalem,

Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to

it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her

brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  (35)  Behold, your

house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed

is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

When I was in

college I had an odd favorite Bible verse.Well at least

it seemed odd to those who didn’t understand my schooling situation.You see I went to

a private Christian university called Seattle Pacific University.It was a

Methodist university, the same one my Pastor went to.But what I

didn’t know was that from the time my Pastor went there to when I went

there a change had happened in the Methodist church, a change away from

Christ…Therefore my

favorite Bible verse, the one that I kept close to my heart, the one that

I preached… the one that I even prayed, was from Chapter 3, verse 16…

3:16… but not John 3:16, rather, it was Revelation 3:16…Revelation 3:16

is Jesus speaking to the church of Laodicea…A church of

people who claim to be Christians, who claim to accept Christ…But they teach

there own ways.They teach

there own thoughts.They think they

know what is best, they think they know the truth better than God does.So they mix

their ideas with God’s ideas and they get this mess.They mix the

truth of God, which is HOT with their truth, which is ice COLD, and they

get a lukewarm mess.So Jesus tells

them this in Revelation chapter 3:

Revelation

3:15-16 ESV 

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either

cold or hot!  (16)  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor

cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

On my first day of theology class at Seattle

Pacific University my professor had written 

on the board in huge letters “God changes”.He went on to try to teach and show examples

from Scripture where God changes.He then concluded that because God changes we

can’t say that something is a sin, just because it was a sin when the Bible was

written.Sure premarital sex might have been a sin then…Sure homosexual sex might have been a sin then…Sure most divorces might have been sinful then…Sure following multiple religions might have

been a sin then…Sure worshiping the environment might have been

a sin then…But that was THEN! And God changes, and this is

NOW!So sleep with who you want.Worship the environment and bow down to it.Divorce and remarry as much as you want.Study and learn from other religions…God changes, after all, that was then and this

is now.Of course there was a problem with all of this,

and that is that God never changes…

Hebrews

13:8 ESV 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Malachi

3:6 ESV  “For

I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

James

1:17 ESV 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the

Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Numbers

23:19 ESV  God

is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his

mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not

fulfill it?

God does not change, church! Therefore His word

does not change…If His word says it’s a sin, it’s a sin todayIf His word gives a promise, that promise