 But today we're in chapter 17. Let's begin reading together here in Luke 17 at verse one. I'll read verses one through six and we'll get into our study. Luke chapter 17, beginning at verse one, reading to verse six. Luke writes, then he said to the disciples, it is impossible that no offenses should come. But woe to him through whom they do come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you, shoot him. No. I'm sorry, I'm tired. And returns to you saying I repent, you shall forgive him. The apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. So the Lord said, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea. And it would obey you. And so as we begin this, obviously in verse one, we have to see a connection. How is verse one here in chapter 17, when he says it is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come. How does this connect with what he's been saying up to this point? So in order for us to get an idea of the flow of the teaching in as much as Luke wrote in such a way as to give to us insight into the ways of the Lord in a way that was organized and all we need to ask ourselves, what would he be pointing to and how come he begins at this point to speak about offenses and how that it's not possible that they do not come. And in order for us to understand that, we need to remember something about, well, the Pharisees, the Pharisees who he had been speaking to, especially as we look at it in chapters 15 and 16. So what is it that the Lord is saying here that is gonna lead us up to chapter 17? And the first thing you need to remember is how that throughout the gospel of Luke, when we've been introduced to this religious group called the Pharisees, that one thing that we have seen about this group is that they rejected people. They didn't love people. They loved things. They loved money. They didn't love more, but they didn't love people. And so throughout Luke, Luke has been pointing out how that these people, this religious group, these institutionalized people had actually a habit of rejecting people. We see that in chapter five. In Luke chapter five, in verse 30, it says their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? They had this attitude that they were better than other people. In chapter seven, we saw a story of a Pharisee by the name of Simon who had invited Jesus Christ to come and have a meal with him. And at that meal, we saw how a woman who was of that city had entered into the place that they were eating and had wept over the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and had knelt down and was drying his feet with her hair and anointing him and all. And we remember how that Simon spoke to himself in this way. A man, if you were a prophet, would know who and what manner of a woman this is who is touching him for she's a sinner. And so we've seen that they have problems. They have problems with the tax collectors. They have problems with those who don't follow the law the way they think they ought to. The sinners, they have problems with this woman who is touching the Lord Jesus Christ. And we saw in chapter 15 how they began to complain saying this man receives sinners and he eats with them. And so it's a common thing as you go through Luke to have this trait pointed out concerning these Pharisees, these religious hypocrites, in that they didn't love people. And so the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to illustrate and has been illustrating since chapter 15 concerning the hypocrisy of these people, these Pharisees. And in order to do that, remember with me that he gave a series of stories. He spoke concerning a lost sheep. He spoke concerning a lost coin. He spoke concerning a lost son. And the response of those who found the lost sheep coin and son and the joy that was experienced over having something that was lost that is now found. And then he spoke against there being a people who loved money and gave a story of the unjust steward which reveals the unfaithfulness that they have to the Lord God. And again, they responded by revealing their love that they had for money. And he continued on by saying, you guys have rejected John the Baptist. John the Baptist came in and is actually preparing the way for Messiah, but you rejected his ministry and rejecting John's message, you're rejecting the Messiah. And then he continues on and he says, and not only that, but you have a tendency of reducing God's word through your accommodation of sin. In order to sum this up, we looked last time together at the parable or the story of the rich man in Lazarus and Jesus was saying in that story that they like the rich man valued the things of the earth and as a result would be denied access to heaven. But the outcast, the one who had repented and trusted in God, that outcast would spend eternity with the Lord. This is all built obviously on God's word and the truth of his word and the promises of God. And so that's what he's been speaking about. And now he continues by speaking concerning the reality of offenses that do come. The Pharisees were very busy offending those who believed in Jesus Christ. They were the ones who were basically closing up heaven's gate, keeping people from going in. And so he's speaking about that here in chapter 17 when he says in verse one and he speaks to the disciples that's impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come. And so in an imperfect world, opportunity to stumble others or to be stumbled is always present. Outside of heaven, temptations will continue to exist and sin by its nature has a tendency of spreading. We know that when Paul was writing to the Galatians in chapter five verse nine, he said, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. It only takes a small amount of yeast to infect an entire lump of dough. Sin is that way. And it's impossible that sin not exist as long as human beings are on the face of the earth. There will always be opportunities to be tempted and to fall. And it is the nature of sin to spread. And so the opportunity to cause people to stumble is not restricted to Pharisees. It's something that every person has the opportunity to provoke somebody else to do. That's because both sinner and saint is equally vulnerable to sin. And because that's true, believers are to be on guard. You see, through God's grace and God's power, we can actually resist being an offense to somebody else. Because believers love God and because we love people, we can do all that we can with his power to keep from stumbling other people because even believers can cause people to stumble. The Pharisees most definitely do, but we can cause others to stumble too. And so we have to have an attitude of reliance on the Lord. And so he's speaking using the Pharisees as an example of those who will put stumbling blocks in front of people, hindering them from having a relationship with God. But at the same time, he would be warning us as believers not to be guilty of doing the same kind of thing. To be very careful that we don't cause other people to stumble. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32, he said to the church there, give no offense either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God. And so we have to be careful that we don't cause people to stumble. But in the case of unbelievers, they do sometimes set traps in order to destroy the walk of a believer. And all kinds of baits can be used, but they're always used with the intent of causing a Christian to stumble. And so Jesus is speaking here concerning that and he's saying that it is something that is going to happen, but they will not be held guiltless. That's why Jesus says woe to him through whom they come. You see, the Pharisees didn't want people to embrace Christ by faith. They believed that their religious system was the right and the true one. And so they would get upset if people actually rejected them in order to receive what Christ was offering. I see that not just in the Jewish religion during the time of Christ, that was represented here by these Pharisees. I see that as being common to this day. There's been many times that people have been in this fellowship and an invitation has been given and somebody has sensed that they need to get right with the Lord only to reject that invitation because it comes to my ears later on and I hear about it, where they will actually want to come forward and will be held back by somebody that they're with. I might have shared this with you not that long ago, but I do remember how a young woman in our fellowship years ago now heard the invitation and when I said, if you want to and need to get right with God, please come forward and a little, I didn't know this, I was told by an usher later on as she began to move to try and step into the aisle to come forward, her husband or her boyfriend who was seated with her began to fight with her right there in the pew in the back of the church and began to argue with her loudly enough for the usher to hear what was going on and he resisted her getting out and coming forward and that does happen. There's some who will say to you, you were raised in this church and you ought to stay in this church and sometimes the people who are offended by you wanting to come to Christ are members of your own family. They're members of your family who have their own religious persuasion and they don't want you to come to Christ. I remember a woman calling this church up and being angry, she said my son, I could handle my son when he was a druggy but I can't handle him as a Jesus freak. What are you guys doing to him? You're brainwashing him. I can handle him when he had problems. I can't handle him now. And she wanted him to go back into the world and go back to the alcohol and back to the drugs and this is a mother talking about her own son. She preferred him having a problem with alcohol and drugs overcoming here to church and getting right with God. I've seen that many times in my ministry, many times where people will resist you and they put a stumbling block in front of you, all kinds of bait, all kinds of traps to keep you from getting right with the Lord and that's what Jesus is speaking about here. It's impossible that no offense should come but woe to him through whom they do come. He says in verse two, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones. Faith in God is so important that one who stumbles a believer receives incredible punishment and that actually emphasizes the love Jesus has for those whom he calls his little ones and so what he's saying here is a warning, before you stumble a believer, it would be better for you to just drop into the sea. He's protecting his little ones here. He's speaking of those who have innocent childlike trust in him. Matthew gives something similar in Matthew chapter 18 that I think gives us some insight and I'm gonna cross-reference this if you'd like to turn to Matthew 18 for a moment. I think that is usage of the same kind of illustration helps us to understand something. Matthew chapter 18, verses two and three. In Matthew 18, verse two, Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them and said, "'Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted "'and become as little children, "'you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.'" So notice he's got this toddler there and he's using this child as a living illustration as he's there with this little baby. He says, this is how you're to be converted and become as one of these, as this little child. And if you're not, you won't enter into the kingdom of heaven. You know when I do dedications in all, they're a lot of fun, I really enjoy them and some of you were with us on Easter Sunday this last week and I dedicated my granddaughter, Sophie, but I call her Sophie, call her Sophs. And so my grandson Josiah, whom we call Si-Si, anyway, Josiah was here and something got into him and he decided he wanted to play the drums. I mean he was gonna go in there to try and play the drums because I let him do that. He'll be with me and he'll say I wanna play and I'll let him go in there and he was just, somebody told me he was, I didn't really see everything but he was having quite a time up here apparently and that's how kids are. That's how kids are, my mom was talking to me and she says, you know, honey, it's okay. She thought I was upset, I wasn't upset like I told her. I said, you know what, I don't have a problem with that, that's how kids are. Kids do that kind of thing and you know, and some parents get embarrassed but see, I'm the grandparent, I don't have to. I'll let my daughter get embarrassed and her husband and all, but children are very innocent and children are just rich in energy and they're very dependent and they have a tremendous amount of joy, they enjoy life. There's so many great things about them and so Jesus is speaking here and he says you need to be converted and become like one of these who are very trusting. Children are very trusting. I've noticed something about small children and two things really is they never forget a promise that you made and they're always willing to receive a gift, have you noticed that? They never forget a promise that you made. They'll say, aha, you said, you remember, you said, you know, when did I say that? You said, now don't you remember, I also said clean your room? No, you know, but you said, so they always remember promises and secondly, they're willing to receive gifts. I've never seen a child on Christmas say, oh no, I have too much. I just haven't seen that. It's always, where's one more? And if you offer them a gift, they're more than willing to take it. There are just so many things about children that you can see and so Jesus is speaking about this and he says you need to be converted, become as little children and if you don't, if you're not willing to receive my promises and enter in through the gift of life, then there's not gonna be any life in you and so he spoke concerning little children and all but in verse six of the same chapter here, Matthew 18, he says, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. And so little children, great value to Jesus Christ, people with childlike faith, great value. Now something interesting about children, also children from, you know, being a few months old, preschool up to preschool or so, man you gotta watch them constantly. You have to, cause they will get out of your sight as your moms and dads know in a heartbeat. I was here today, I'm in my office, I can hear the sound of little feet running and then I hear bang, bang, bang, knock, knock, knock but it's a little light tap so I know it's my grandson Josiah. So, you know, he comes to my door all the time but this time I hurried up and I opened the door and Josiah is there with his aunt with my daughter Anna. But Anna says, dad, I saw Josiah run by my window just now and what he had done is he had gotten away from his mom, Corinne, and it only took a second and he was gone out of her sight, running up the sidewalk, running over here, knocking on my door. You have to watch them as your moms know every moment. You have to have your eyes on them every moment because the second you take your eyes off them they're gone, they are gone. We know that. We also know that you have to watch them because they put things in their mouth. They will swallow anything. I told you about my nephew, Patrick, who was about two years old and Patrick, he would put things in his mouth. I mean, all the time and I went to visit my sister Madeline and Patrick was playing in the backyard and Madeline says, oh, you should have seen what Patrick just did, what did he do? She says, I'm here gardening and I turn around and he's chewing on something and I said, Patrick, what is that in your mouth? And he will not open his mouth. He just keeps chewing, chewing. She says, open your mouth. You know, it is, they don't want to, I'm not going to. She says, I finally forced my hand in there and David, I pulled it out and he had found a snail. He had found a snail and we didn't even know we were French and he found a snail. Escargo, they will swallow anything. They will put anything down their mouth and they will convince themselves that it's good. I was about five years old. We were watching cartoons, Popeye the Sailor Man. I don't know if any of you even know who that is. Popeye the Sailor Man, yeah, toot toot, right? And olive oil. Anyway, and I liked him and he ate spinach and I'd never eaten spinach in my life. And my dad, I still remember when I went to the store with my dad and there was a can and I said, is that spinach? And my dad said, yes. And so I took it off the shelf and I followed. I still remember doing this, following my dad all around and my dad says, we have to put that back son, you won't like that, that's spinach. And I still remember, I was five years old. I still remember saying, I want it, I want it. And I actually did that, I love it, I love it. My dad said, you'll hate that, you will not like that. Oh dad, I want it, so he bought it for me. And so I brought it home, it was my prize, I gave it to my mom, she cooked it and I got so sick. I hated it, I hated it. But you think you're gonna like, and sometimes people will have something put down their mouth that really isn't something they should have even though they'll argue and say that they really love it. And so part of the way that young believers in Christ are stumbled is through bad doctrine because they will swallow anything. And if somebody said it on TV, it must be true. And he opened the Bible and he said it. And he's got a lot of people that go to the church he's pastoring and he speaks in a lot of places and that's what the Lord is talking about. He's saying, you know, you can cause little ones to stumble. How do you do that? Well, one, the Pharisees don't love them. And then two, well he had already said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. They were lovers of money, not lovers of people. They loved attention, they liked to be given honor. They could stumble people in a variety of ways and Jesus said, and it's gonna happen. He said, but, he said, if somebody causes a child to stumble it would be better for them to be dropped into the middle of the ocean. When he speaks concerning the millstone and you can turn on back to Luke chapter 17, those of you who turned with me to Matthew. When he speaks concerning that millstone in verse two of Matthew 17, when he says it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, when we go to the city of Capernaum and those of you who are going with us to Israel next week, we will go to the city of Capernaum and while you're there in this ancient city, the city site of Capernaum, you will see a millstone. They have a millstone there, an exhibition of a millstone, it's an actual millstone. They weighed several hundred pounds. They're like very large wheels and they were used to grind and they would just go around a track like that and the 500 pound wheel would just crush the grain and all and that's what they used to crush grain and all and so what he's speaking about is it would be better for you to have this 500 pound weight tied around your neck and you drop to the deepest part of the ocean than to cause somebody who believes in me to stumble, that's a very strong word to the people there that he said that he should offend one of these little ones. So he goes on in verse three and he says, take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him and if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. Well, sin does occur, doesn't it? Sin does occur and when it does occur and you have been sinned against, Jesus is saying, be willing to reprove the one who sinned against you. I wanna devolve this with you. I want you to see this. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. That word rebuke means to reprove him or admonish him, to speak to him. In other words, be willing to address the sin. Be willing to deal with the one who has sinned against you. Be willing to confront the problem instead of running from it because in my life experience it's always been a lot easier to just not deal with it, just ignore it, just move on. Why have a problem with it? It's always been easier for me to avoid confrontation than it is to actually have it. Who likes confrontation really? I mean, who really, really enjoys it? Very few people. Most of us would just as soon just live and let live. Why have a problem? So if that person has offended me, if they've hurt me, I have a tendency of saying, no big deal. And you know sometimes, and I'll develop this with you, sometimes at that moment, instead of overreacting, getting angry, getting into the flesh, and then creating a greater problem, most of the time having an attitude of look at that really isn't that big a deal. It's a pretty healthy way to deal with problems. But at the same time, if I just avoid it simply because I just don't like to confront issues and things like that, and I have a tendency of running away, that's probably not the best way to deal with problems. Some people are in churches just like this. They have a problem with somebody in a church, this church, or their church, and instead of approaching the person and saying to them, listen, we need to talk because, you know, you offended me, you hurt my feelings or whatever, we just disappear. We just go someplace else and we start over again and never deal with the problems. We just, we can do that. Well, Jesus doesn't teach us to do that. Jesus actually teaches us to deal with it. Now, this is something interesting. You have to think of it like this. He's emphasizing something very important. He's emphasizing love because I want you to see when he says in verse three, and look at it carefully, if your brother sins against you, that tells me something. It's not talking about my brother Frank, my blood brothers. He's talking about a brother in faith, another person who loves him too. That's what he's talking about, right? He's talking about a spiritual brother or a spiritual sister, so let's think about that for a minute. If he's talking about a spiritual brother, there's something that is supposed to be bonding us together and keeping us together so that we work problems out together and that's something as love. So when he says to me, if your brother sins against you, he's talking about a family relationship. He's talking about what you do when somebody that you love very much has hurt you and I don't run from my family. I don't run away from my family. If one of my kids has done something that bothers me, I'm not gonna pack my bags and run away from home and I'm not gonna kick them out of the house either. As a dad or somebody who loves them or relative, we're gonna work this out. We have to because we're family and family stays together and so what we're supposed to do is love them enough to deal with problems. In Matthew 18, verse 15, Jesus said, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you gain your brother. But then again, instead of dealing with the problem, sometimes we begin to sin ourselves. We begin to gossip and we begin to complain against the person who hurt us and we tell everybody but the person who hurt us. And in Proverbs 10, verse 19, the writer says in the multitude of words, a sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. And so Jesus is talking about a love relationship between the offender and the offended and he says you're to rebuke or admonish this person and here this rebuke is actually regarded as an action of love. Now how can I do that? How can I approach somebody? Well, one, I need to remember I'm not perfect either. I know that and I need to remember that. And Jesus gives good insight in Matthew chapter seven and in terms of how my heart ought to be in Matthew chapter seven, verses three through five, when he says, why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye and look, a plank is in your own eye, hypocrite. First, remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. He's got sawdust and you've got a two by four and you're swinging your head around to look at him and you're banging him all over the head with your two by four and you're gonna help him get that speck out. Interesting thing about the speck and the two by four, they're made out of the same substance cut out from the same wood. You have the same problem. My sin never looks so bad until I see somebody else practicing it. I have a way of seeing it in other people but not in me, you see. And so if I'm gonna be used of the Lord to bring reconciliation, I need to have a spirit of humility and I need to have enough love to be willing to go through whatever the process is to heal the situation. And when I do address it, I need to address it with humility. One of the things that the Lord has taught me over the years as it comes to being reconciled is to be very quick to remember how you bring up the subject. How do you deal with it? And I can tell you, I've done this more times than I wish to admit to, but I will say something like, there's something that we need to talk about. I'm sorry that we even have to deal with this but it bothers me and we do need to talk about it. But I want you to clarify for me something because I think I have understood you to have done or to have said this. And if you did, we need to talk about it. If you didn't forgive me because I've been upset and hurt because I think that you did, did I misunderstand you? Did you say this? And if they say, yeah, I said that, so what? Then we can at least talk about it. I can say, well, listen, I have feelings and I was hurt. I'm sorry. I really probably am too sensitive. Forgive me for that. But at the same time, it's created a rift between you and me and I don't want that. I want us to be close. I want us to have a relationship. I want us to love each other and the Lord. I've done that many times. And it isn't easy. It isn't easy. But it also isn't easy seeing somebody you love very much absent from your life over a petty thing either, is it? That isn't easy either. I think you need to, as a matter of fact, scripture is teaching us, need to deal with these things rather than running from them. And it's never profitable for me to tell somebody else the problem I have with somebody else. The person I'm supposed to be talking the problem over is the one that I have the problem with in the first place. And so it's not gonna do me any good if I'm mad at Marie. It's not gonna do me any good to talk to her sister. What good is that? Her sister's gonna agree with Marie and then I'm gonna be mad at both of them. I'll talk to my mom. She'll take my side. But what we need to do is we need to understand that. Now, when you do take the time to love them enough to speak to them, notice what he says. He says, if your brother sins against you, rebuke him, if he repents, forgive him. So I have the responsibility of letting it go. I'm not to be a debt collector holding on to this and wanting to make them or force them to feel pain like I felt. When he repents, you forgive him. The word repent means to change his mind. It doesn't necessarily mean that he has to have an emotion. It doesn't mean that that person has to cry. It simply means that they admit their fault and they say, I'm wrong and I truly am sorry. Now, if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you forgive him. Now, he's talking about sincere repentance. This isn't just the insincere mouthing of words. This is true sorrow. And the point he's making is, is we are to be quick to forgive. We should have a tender heart towards a person. We should really love them. Jesus said, a new commandment, give I unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have loved one for another. Love is the mark of the believer and love is the mark of a Christian church. And working out problems is a mark of maturity. Now, as he's saying this, I want you to see how his disciples respond. Verse five, the apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. There's no way I'm gonna do that. Increase our faith. You're telling me that if somebody does something and I rebuke him and he says, I am sorry and then seven times later, in the same day, he keeps up over different things saying, oh, I'm sorry, oh, I'm sorry, increase my faith, Lord. It's tough enough to do it once, but to do it seven times to continue doing it over and over and over again, I can't do such a thing. It doesn't work that way out in life. I need more faith. I don't wanna struggle with these things here. So listen, if you're saying I need to do it, then this is what I'm gonna ask you to do. Instantly mature me. Give me the ability to do that without any problems. But I've discovered that no part of the way that you grow is by doing the difficult thing and not avoiding it and growing through it occurs because I obeyed the Lord. So when they're saying increase our faith, the Lord says, listen, verse six, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the seed and it would obey you. It's not that you need more faith. You need the right kind of faith. You need living faith. A mustard seed planted in rich soil when cared for grows and is fruitful. You need to have your life planted deeply in the things of the Lord. Because the more you spend time with the Lord and I can tell you this with absolute certainty, the more you spend time with the Lord, the more like the Lord you become and the easier it is to forgive others because a humility takes place when you spend time with God and you begin to see yourself for who you are. We'll see this in a moment a little deeper. But one of the things that the Lord tried to teach me and he's been teaching me for a long time relates to that. And I've shared this with you before, but it's one of those benchmarks, it's one of those altars that I will return to and review in my own life because it taught me something and that's when Corinne was about the same age as my Sophia, she was about, well even she was younger, she was less than a month old. And I was holding her because I had gone up into her little room there in our little apartment in Roland Heights and I had heard her crying and I've always been one of these dads and grandfather. You hear the baby crying and man, I drop everything on one of those guys, what's going on and you okay, it's happening, you know? And I heard her cry, it's all it takes and so I get her out of that bassinet and I'm holding her and as I was holding her, you know, and she's calming down, as I was holding her, I just had one of those dad moments where you look at the baby and you just go, I don't know how many of your dads know what I'm trying to say, just looking at that baby and I was just going, I love you so much. And you know, your heart can burst sometimes, it feels like oh, and I was talking to this little baby and I mean, you know, there she is with her eyes looking here and there and her fists all over, I mean, she's only month old, ugly as all, oh, ugly little thing. She looked just like me and as I was looking at her, and you know, just kissing her and holding her and just rocking her and calming her and my sister-in-law Rose came up the stairs into that little room there and as I was looking at Karene with that look, I turned and I looked up at my sister-in-law with the same look that I was giving to Karene, the same look, it just transferred, I just looked up and transferred my gaze, looked at her in the same way and the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. I've never forgotten. He said, if you were to look at me, the way you're looking at Karene, then you'll look at others, the way that you're looking at your sister-in-law. Just spend time with me, learn to gaze into my face and love me, you'll love other people. You've been asking, which I had been in Stillham, you've been asking for me to teach you how to love, how to have tenderness, how to have humility, how to have those things, spend time with me. Spend time, listen, when you get caught up thinking you owe me, you hurt me, you know, I'm entitled, when you have that mentality, the whole world's against you. You're never gonna have any peace. You're never gonna have any joy because everybody owes you something. I've always been hurt, I've always been used, I've always, and you've got that mentality, forget about it. But when you spend time with the Lord, and you'll see this in a minute, and you fall in love with the Lord, it helps you to see yourself for who you are. You see in verse seven, he says, which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he's come in from the field, come at once and sit down to eat. But will he not rather say to him, prepare something for my supper, agird yourself, serve me till I have eaten and drunk and afterward you will eat and drink? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him, I think not? So likewise, you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say we are unprofitable servants, we have done what was our duty to do. So humility is the foundation of forgiveness. Faith to forgive others is the result of seeing yourself as a servant and following God's command. Now when Jesus speaks concerning this servant, we need to know that he's not referring to a day laborer that had hired himself out for an agreed wage, he's referring to what the Greeks call the do-loss, the one who had been purchased and is in the actual possession of a master. This is one who devoted himself to somebody else's interest. This is one who gave himself voluntarily up to somebody else's will. So Jesus is saying, I see you as bond servants, you have voluntarily given yourself to me and I actually have purchased you because I am your redeemer. You have not hired yourself out to me, you are completely owned by me. So obviously it's a foreshadowing of his death on the cross because the Bible in 1 Corinthians 6.20 says you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which belong to God. And so since he belongs to his owner, that means the owner's concerns are his top priority. The servant is to perform the will of the master. That's how it works. In Psalm 40, verse eight, I delight to do your will, oh my God, your law is within my heart. Mark 12, 30, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And so if I am the voluntary bond servant of God and I have given myself completely over to following his commands, that teaches me something about the relationship I have with the one who owns me, Jesus who bought me. And so even though the servant returns from his duties and he's tired and he's hungry, he's still on duty. And the owner has a right, a right to expect continued service from the servants. The needs of the owner take precedence over the needs of his slave. Their personal needs are subject to and take a back seat to their owner's needs. And so what is he saying? He's saying serving the Lord is a continual calling, not something that you do when you feel like it. When you got saved, you were brought into a relationship with him that is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week relationship. That's what he's talking about. I went into the military, our company commander says, you're gonna assemble Saturday morning. We normally have Saturdays off. We have a company of over 400 men, many of whom are living off outside of the fort in private residences. They don't wanna come in on Saturday because we normally only work to five day work week. And so we assemble 400 of us and the company commander is standing in front of us and he says to us, you guys are angry, you're angry because I told you to get up and you have to be here on Saturday. What gives you any idea that you belong to yourself? He says, look at your uniforms, what color are they, they're green. Those uniforms are green because you are green. You are US Army, you are US government issue, you are government issue GI, that's what you are. I am your company commander. If I say to you, assemble on Saturday, you assemble on Saturday. If I say you work on Sunday, you work on Sunday, you are not your own, you belong to me and don't forget it. And that was the truth. I could rebel against him, I would have ended up in the stockade. He had authority and I was there for two years and I had to do exactly what he said, even if I didn't want to do it. Well, you know what? As a Christian, I voluntarily yielded myself to God. Voluntarily said, I want to be your servant. That's what Jesus is talking about. He's saying to us through this, he's saying, listen, when you said yes to me, it wasn't like a once in a while kind of thing. It's an all the time kind of thing. I'm married, have been for a long time and it's a 24 seven thing. I'm not just married when I feel like it. I'm married all the time. I'm committed to that voluntarily, to a relationship that is ongoing. And I have duties and responsibilities that relate to that. And no complaints at all about it because that's the nature of marriage. I'm a Christian. When I said yes to Jesus and I said, you're my Lord, he has full ownership of me, full right to tell me exactly what I'm going to do. The way that as I was growing up, my dad would say, my dad never said, go out and mow the lawn. My dad would say, go out and massage the lawn. He said, go massage the lawn. And I had to massage the dishes too. I had no say in that. I didn't have a say in that at all. He's my father, I'm the kid. He puts me up in his house. That room belongs to him. You know how kids will say, there's my room. When did you make a payment on the house? That's not your room. I'm letting you live in that room. And a woman in there cooking, isn't your maid? That's your mom. You know, that's how we think, isn't it? Or am I the only mean person in the room? I mean, that's how we think, that's the truth. Come on now. We're a family. There's a head in the family. And when the head in the family is making decisions, we the family go in that direction. Well, if that's true in a family, it's true in the family of God. And all Jesus is simply saying is listen. I'm telling you that you have to be careful because there are those who bring stumbling into your life. But you be careful that you don't stumble others. Now as a family, your brother may cause a stumbling in your life. He may hurt you. So instead of avoiding him and running away and licking your wounds and complaining to somebody else, go and speak to him. And as you address him concerning the thing that has been hurtful, he says, I am sorry. I am so sorry, you forgive him. You don't say, well, I'll think about it. Or you know, well, I may forgive, but I won't forget. No, you say, I forgive you. Now, he may do something else. And then something else. He may do seven different things in the same day. And he comes back saying, you know, we had that conversation. I want you to know, I am sorry. You forgive him every time. Then somebody increase my faith. There's absolutely no way I'm gonna do that. If he does it a second time, I wanna kill him. You gotta be kidding me. Listen, your faith has to be alive. It's a living faith. You need to be rooted and grounded in me so that the fruit of forgiveness will be budding from your branches. You need to understand that. Spend time with me. It's because you're my servant. And I give you orders. And even though you've been busy taking care of crops or taking care of the sheep, when you come into the house, I'm the boss. You voluntarily belong to me. And I don't sit there saying to you, oh, you poor thing, you're so hungry. Feed yourself. And I'll grab myself a bite to eat. You're on call 24-7. So if I need something from you when you're tired, well, you're still obligated to do it because that's how it works. And so when he says, does he thank, in verse nine, does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you've done all those things which you are commanded say, we are unprofitable servants. We've done what is our duty to do. Some things you do out of love that you can't be paid enough to do. Out of love, you do them. I don't enjoy changing diapers. That's a sin. I don't enjoy that at all. I avoid it as much as possible, but I did and will do that. Why? Because some things only love can get you to do. Some things only love can get you to do. Does the baby say thank you? No, they usually give you an opportunity to do it again, often. And you do it because it's what is right to do and you love them. Listen, love can provoke you to do things that you just don't want to do. Love can motivate you to forgive somebody who hurts you. Simply knowing who you are, a servant of the Most High God who revealed to us the depth of his love by giving his own son. If God forgives me and I am responsible for the death of Jesus Christ, and yet I came to him and I said, God forgive me for what I've done because of me, Jesus died, that brutal death. And God said, I forgive you. Then who am I to not forgive somebody who asks me? Who am I to say to that person, uh-uh, I'm not gonna forgive you. Who am I to do that? You see, if I'm not willing to forgive somebody, it's probably because I don't understand what forgiveness is. I may not have even experienced it in my own life. I am fully convinced that there are multitudes of people who think they're Christians who are not. They just think they are. Maybe they were raised in the church. Maybe they even serve in the church. I heard about a pastor who had been preaching sermons for over 40 years. A pastor who was preaching sermons for over 40 years. Who one day when he went up to give a message, realized during the message that he was unsaved and had been pastoring for 40 years as an unsaved man. He had never appropriated the grace of God in his own life. He knew how to talk about it, but he had never asked for God's grace himself. Isn't that amazing? But it's true. I gave an invitation in this fellowship and a young lady walked up to me after she had given her heart to Christ and she walked up and she said, she said, it was very difficult for me. She says to give my heart to the Lord because my father is a pastor that many people know in this area. She said, I've been going to church my whole life and I have never, today I realized I had never really given my heart to Jesus Christ. She said, I was raised in a Christian home and my father teaches the word. I just today realized I've never given my heart to Jesus Christ. Is it possible? Absolutely. Absolutely. And one of the ways that you can see whether you do know God is can you forgive those who hurt you? Can you say, of course I forgive you? Look what I did to the Lord. Who am I to tell you that I'm gonna hold this over your head? Are you kidding me? Of course I forgive you. But if we sit there saying, you know what? You don't know how important I am and how important my feelings are and all the pain you caused me. Oh no, you ruined me. Well, maybe we just haven't understood what forgiveness is. Because ultimately, God doesn't owe me anything but judgment, but it gives me his grace. The only thing I added to my salvation is the sin that Jesus Christ forgave me for. I'm a sinner in need of grace. I'm a sinner in need of forgiveness. And so, if somebody has hurt me, my response is to forgive. He forgave me. I'm his servant. I should forgive the one who hurt me too.