From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part six of a series. Read part five.

"Agree with your Adversary quickly" on the way to Judgment.

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. And 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 that 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 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. (Luke 12:54-59)

We Must Emulate Jesus' Pattern in Evangelism

Thus far in our study of Jesus' evangelistic parable we have seen a presentation of the Gospel that begins - as it must - with "bad news". A lost sinner must understand the hopelessness of his condition, apart from the saving intervention of the Godhead, before he will understand God's redemptive remedy.

Jesus began this parable by making it apparent, through the use of rhetorical questions, that even the highly intelligent people to whom He was speaking could not discern the truth of the Gospel on their own. Jesus then went on to describe the Last Judgment as an adversarial proceeding for the unrepentant sinner. Lastly, He made it clear that a "guilty" verdict has already been rendered against each individual who is born into this world, from the moment of conception. We are born under God's condemnation, and in our last segment we saw why this is true.

This must be the pattern in all evangelism. Sinful man cannot understand that redemption in Christ is "good news" without first understanding the "bad news" about his present hopeless condition. A person will not embrace and receive a cure unless he understands that he has a fatal disease.

"Agree With Your Adversary Quickly"

But now, as He draws this short parable to a close, Jesus declares that there is one way out of the sinner's hopeless predicament: "When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him..." Or, to put it in different terms, Jesus is telling His hearers to "settle out of court". Settle before you come before the magistrate.

Matthew records a similar statement of the Lord Jesus in the fifth chapter of his Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 5 verse 25, Jesus says: "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison."

But Jesus accompanies this gracious invitation with a warning: "Agree with your adversary quickly". There is no time to lose. That is Jesus' message. We find the same message in First John chapter 1 verse 9:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

"If we confess our sins..." The word confess in that verse is the Greek word homologomen, which means "to say the same thing as someone else" - to agree with someone.

If we say the same thing that God says about our sins, if we agree with our adversary while we are on the way to the judgment, if we settle out of court based on the righteousness and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ - then we will come before His judgment seat to hear a verdict of "not guilty". That verdict will not, as Jesus tells in Matthew 25, be based on any merit of our own. It will be based entirely and only on His shed blood and perfect righteousness.

That is the message of this parable to lost sinners: Settle out of court. You are on your way to judgment. Agree quickly with your adversary on the way to judgment; the force of that word in the original Greek is without delay. Lose not a moment in agreeing with God that you are a sinner, justly condemned under His wrath, and therefore bound for a lost eternity unless you receive His gracious gift. Tomorrow - or even the next hour - may be too late. There is no second chance after death:

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time [the original denotes "the time of opportunity"]; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (Hebrews 9:27-28)

Indeed, "how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation" (Hebrews 2:3)?

The Evangelistic Task: Call On Sinners to "Settle Out of Court"

Following the pattern of Jesus' evangelistic example, it is our task to call sinners to "settle out of court". Receive the gift of grace that Paul speaks of in Romans chapter 5. Otherwise, dear sinner, your eternal destiny is Hell. Do not delay! Receive the righteous obedience of Christ in exchange for the sinful disobedience of your father Adam. Receive the righteous obedience of Christ in exchange for your own sinful disobedience of God's law because you are a sinner after the manner of your father Adam. Receive the washing away of your debt of sin and guilt by the atoning blood of Jesus. Receive eternal life as the free gift of God through Christ.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (1 John 1:12-13)

Next: Infinite Comfort for the Believer in Christ

sas0053

Copyright 1998-2024

TeachingtheWord Ministriesmmmmmwww.teachingtheword.org

All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirety only,
for non-commercial purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included.

We also suggest that you include a direct hyperlink to this article
for the convenience of your readers.