R.C. Sproul

And Jesus' warning is hard.

Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Let's look at that again.

Jesus says that there is a necessary condition that has to be met here.

Unless indicates something that has to take place for a consequence to follow.

Unless A, B cannot occur.

or unless a B will occur.

And in this case, Jesus said, unless there is repentance, you will all likewise perish.

The only antidote to perishing at the hands of God is repentance.

So we can all look forward to the temple falling on us or our blood being mingled with the sacrifices unless we repent.

You know, it really gets hard when you realize that even if we do repent, temples can still fall on our heads in this world.

although the final tower will not collapse upon us, the tower of God's final judgment.

We will escape that.

And yet, if a person makes it safely through all of life, never has an automobile accident, never is in a plane crash or a train wreck, or never has the house fall upon their head, if they remain impenitent until their last day,

there will be a tower that will crush them and they will perish.

That's the hard saying of Christ.

And so I say to you, beloved, watch out for falling towers.

Surely we struggle with the kind of hard saying that we've looked at today.

Jesus is not being

insensitive or thoughtless or trying to be harsh with his hearers, but he does have to jolt them and jolt us into looking at things from the eternal perspective.