#119 Lu. 12:58-59  SETTLING OUT OF COURT

Introduction:

    In the previous text Jesus spoke to the multitude about their
failure to recognize Him as the Christ.  He pointed out to them
that they had sufficient good judgment to read the signs of the
weather so as to know when it was going to rain and when it was
going to be hot.  However, they had not exercised that same kind
of good judgment concerning the coming of the Christ.  They had
failed to read the spiritual signs of the times so that they would
know that the Christ had come and that He is the Christ.
    In our text today Jesus speaks to the crowd and advises them
what to do in the event they should be carried to court for not
paying a debt.  His advice is:  Settle out of court.

I.  The wisdom of settling out of court

    What Jesus advises under these circumstances is to settle out
of court.  At least make every effort to settle out of court.  V.
58, "When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as
thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered
from him..." Jesus advised that before you ever get before the
judge that you should give diligence that you may be delivered
from him.  That is, you are to make every effort to settle before
you get to the judge.  It may be that he will give you time to see
if you can borrow the money from some other source.  It may be
that he will give you an extension of time and allow you to make
smaller payments.  It might even be that he will forgive a part of
the debt if you can come up with a sizable part of the money now.
I heard on the news the other day about one of the professional
boxers was forgiven several million dollars in back taxes by the
IRS in return for a sizable cash payment now of several million
dollars.
    In the supposed case in our text, Jesus does not promise that
the adversary will make peace and settle out of court.  But the
point that Jesus is making is that it will be well worth the
effort to try.  It is worth the effort to try because if he
carries you before the court and he shows to the court that you
really owe him this debt, he has an open and shut case against
you.  It is obvious which way the judge is going to rule.  The
judge is going to rule against you and then it is really going to
go hard against you.
    V. 58, "...lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge
deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into
prison."  In that day and time, the judge would cast such a man
into prison who had not paid his debt.  V.  59, "I tell thee, thou
shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite."
Once you were thrown in prison for not paying your debt you would
stay in jail until the debt was paid.  If some relative was able
and willing he could pay off your debt for you and get you out of
jail, but every last penny would have to be paid before you could
be released.  Jesus did not mention one of the possibilities under
the Mosaic law, but they were all familiar with it.  The
alternative was that one might be sold into slavery to pay off
his debt.  By his labor he would be credited so much per day
toward his indebtedness.  But this was not a desirable
alternative.
    In other words, if a case of this kind should be carried to
the court against you, it is a sure thing that you will lose the
case and receive a severe sentence.  But if you will make an
effort to settle out of court there is the possibility that you
may get of much lighter.  It will surely be lighter than if you
wait and go to court.  You have everything to gain by trying.  You
have nothing to lose.  If you don't try, it is a sure thing that
you will lose before the court.  You will be thrown in jail and
you will not get free until the debt is paid.


II.  The spiritual application

    Now in all likelihood, there was not a man in His audience,
who would not take the counsel of Jesus in this matter.  Just as
they had enough good judgment to read the signs of the weather and
know when it was going to rain and when it was going to get hot,
they also had enough good judgment to try to settle with their
adversary before the case would reach the court.  They would know
that Jesus is exactly right in this matter and they would make
every effort to settle out of court.  You would; wouldn't you?
    But would they exercise that same good judgment in their
dealings with God.  You see every one of them owed God a debt.
They owed God a sin debt.  Each and every one of them had sinned.
Each and every one of them had broken the laws of God and had
sinned against Him.
    Each and every one of them owed such a huge debt to God that
they could not possibly pay off this debt without going into the
prison.  The prison that they would go to is the Lake of Fire and
Brimstone.  And once they would enter the fires of hell they would
never get out.  They would never in all eternity stay there long
enough to pay off the debt and be set free.  They would be in the
fires of torment forever and forever.
    Now if one should wait until he stands before God in judgment
and his case is heard, that is just exactly what will happen to
him.  He will be cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.  It is
an open and shut case.  There is no way to win if he waits until
he is tried at the court of God.
    The only way in the world for a man to win in this situation
is to make peace with God before his case goes to trial.
Fortunately for the lost sinner, there is a way whereby he can
make peace with God and get his case settled out of court.  He has
a Kinsman who is both able and willing to pay his debt for him.
You see, God has sent His Son to this world to be born in human
flesh to be the Kinsman of every man.  Also, God has designed that
His Son, Jesus Christ, would go to the cross of Calvary and suffer
there sufficiently to Redeem every lost sinner in the world.
    It works something like this.  The lost sinner has sinned
against God and deserves to be punished for each and every sin.
Now He and God could get together and agree to let Jesus, his
Kinsman, to pay his sin debt for him.  So all he has to do is to
tally up all the sins that he has committed and how much suffering
is required and see if Jesus would agree to suffer in his stead.
    Of course, he cannot tally up all of his sins, because he
cannot possibly remember all of his sins.  They are far too
numerous.  But that is no problem, God has kept up with his every
sin and has a record of them all.  Also, knowing just how much
suffering would be required to settle his sin debt is no problem
because God knows that, too.  So the lost sinner does not have to
worry about that.  He can leave all that to God.  All he has to do
is to make his decision to turn this matter over to Jesus Christ,
his Kinsman, and trust Jesus, his Kinsman, to pay the debt for
him.
    So he has to pay a call on his Kinsman and ask His Kinsman if,
by chance, He will consider paying his sin debt for him.  So he
bows his head to the Lord and he talks to Jesus and he
acknowledges that he owes this huge sin debt to God.  He asks the
Lord Jesus to show mercy to him and he asks Jesus to please pay
his sin debt so that he can go free.  And much to his surprise, he
finds that the Lord is perfectly willing.  No matter how many sins
a man has committed, no matter how big the sin debt is, Jesus has
already suffered sufficiently on so that He is well able to pay
that debt for the repentant man.  So instantly the man's sin debt
is marked "Paid in full" and the man goes free.

III.  A question about the judgment of the Israelites

    Now the question is:  Would those Israelites have the good
judgment to go God and make peace with God before they are hauled
to court?  Will they have the good judgment to settle with God out
of court?  Will they turn to their Kinsman Redeemer and ask Him to
have mercy on them and pay their sin debt for them?
    Since we have the benefit of hindsight, we can very easily
answer that question.  Some few of them would have that much good
judgment.  They turn to God and seek to make peace with Him
without going to court.  They would try to settle with Him out of
court.  They would ask Jesus Christ, the Kinsman-Redeemer, to pay
their sin debt for them and set them free.  They would confess
their sin to Him and acknowledge that the charges against them are
just.  They would cast themselves on the mercy of the Kinsman-
Redeemer.  I say that some few of them would do this, because that
is what the Bible record reveals.  Some few of them did trust in
Jesus and Jesus saved their souls.
    But also, with the benefit of hindsight, we can say that the
vast majority of those Israelites would not have the good judgment
to settle with God out of court.  They would not go to Jesus, the
Kinsman-Redeemer and ask Him for mercy.  They would not ask Him to
pay their debt for them.  They would not trust in Him as the Son
of God and the Savior of the world.  They would not trust Him to
save their soul.

IV.  A question as to your judgment

    So now the question is no longer, "What would those people
do?"  Rather, the question today is, "What will you do?"  Will you
have the good judgment to see the danger that you are in?  Will
you have the good judgment to confess to the Lord your guilt
before God?  Will you have the good judgment to turn to God and
try to make peace with Him?  Will you have the good judgment to
call on Jesus, your Kinsman, and ask Jesus Christ to pay the sin
debt for you?
    Or will you go right on like you are to the Judgment and face
the consequences?  Will you take your chances in judgment knowing
that you are guilty before God?  Will you wait until it is too
late to settle out of court and there is an open and shut case
against you?

Conclusion:

    Let me get personal with you for just a moment.  I think you
know what would be best for you to do.  Don't you?  You know what
you ought to do.  Don't you?  But the question is, "Will you do
it?  Will you have the good judgment to do it?"  The only way you
can be sure that you will have the good judgment to turn to Jesus
and trust in Him is to do it now.  Will you do it?
    There may also be Christians here who know that they should
walk this aisle and turn their lives over to Jesus to serve Him.
If so, will you come?