Luke chapter 17, verse 7. Luke 17, 7. This is a passage of scripture
that I have had a real, well, I just haven't understood it
until I've spent some time on it. And by the Lord's grace,
I believe I do now, I believe. I believe I see what the Lord's
saying, and as always, it's so simple. Once the Lord turns the
light on, it's so simple. Listen to this now, verse seven.
But which of you, having a servant, plowing or feeding cattle, whatever
a servant might be doing, will say unto him by and by, when
he has come from the field, go and sit down to meet. and will
not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup, and
gird thyself and serve me till I have eaten and drunken, and
afterward thou shalt eat and drink. Does he thank that servant
because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. I don't think so. So likewise
ye, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded
you, say. Here's what we're to say. And
think about this now. He's saying when you've done
everything I've told you to do. Everything. Which we ain't even
gonna do. But if we did, here's what we
need to say. We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. Now this conversation on this
particular line of teaching started way back in the beginning of
chapter 16, where our Lord began to teach the disciples concerning
unfaithful stewards. And remember there that He told
them, He told that parable, and then He told them that they were
going to be a failure. They were going to fail at stewardship. He said, when you fail, and all of us have been given
great responsibility as stewards of the grace of God, as ambassadors
for Him. We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We're servants of the King with
a message and with a responsibility and with duty. That word steward there is someone
given authority within a household to manage affairs, to take care
of some things, to get some things done. But it's important that
we remember now that we are spiritual stewards. Now, does that have
to do with some physical things too? You know, if the lights
go off and we can't pay the bills, are we good stewards? Well, no.
But it's beyond that. It's spiritual stewardship. And then, in 16.9, we're told
what is said in our text this morning. He said, when you fail,
what's going to happen to you then? And he told that parable
to get them thinking about that. When you fail, what then? Because you're not going to be
rewarded. It's going to take grace, isn't
it? If we're going to have a place to live, it's going to take grace. And that's what we're told in
our text. You are unprofitable servants. Now listen to me. The
word unprofitable in our text, it doesn't just mean you broke
even for me. It's not really good or bad.
It's bad. The word unprofitable means useless. You look it up. It means useless,
good for nothing. Now that sounds harsh. But that's
love is what that is. That's what we need to hear. What our Lord is saying is that
that unjust steward in chapter 16, and remember the word unjust,
he's talking to his disciples. He's teaching us what we are,
what our relationship is. The word unjust steward, it means
unrighteous of heart and life. So we are useless, good for nothing,
unrighteous in our hearts, and unrighteous in everything we
do. Pretty strong and pretty clear
throughout this whole two chapters. Now listen, when it was discovered
in the parable there that that man was a failure, that he had
not used the funds and and been responsible for his master and
had failed him. When he was cast out he had made
arrangements for his future. You remember that? You can read
all this again later but it wasn't honest and upright arrangements.
It wasn't anything that helped his master. It cost his master
money. But knowing that he would be fired for being a fool, for
being a failure, he thought about the future and how he might be
taken care of once he was fired. And in the parable, his master
at least commended him for that. He was shrewd enough to figure
out a way that he would be taken care of when I fired him. Then the Lord said in effect
to his disciples, now when you fail, where are you going to
go? Who's going to take you in? How
are you going to live? So you see the mindset, the line
of thinking he's setting them on here. Now in all of this,
the Lord is teaching them to be wise and faithful stewards. He is absolutely exhorting them
throughout all of this. And we can't read and go all
through chapter 16 again word by word, but it's important that
we see it in connection to our text this morning. He's teaching
them to be wise. He's not saying it's okay, you
know, not to even try to honor your master because you're going
to fail anyway. That is not the message of it. He's saying you
be faithful and wise. Listen to 1 Peter 4, 7. The end
of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. And above all things have fervent
love among yourselves. Can I pause there for a second?
Isn't that beautiful? Above everything else, no matter
what else happens, if everything crumbles around us, have fervent
love among yourselves. For love shall cover the multitude
of sins. We're not going to love each
other because we always do everything that pleases one another. Love
covers the evil, our stupidity, our pride, It covers that. Use hospitality to one to another
without grudging as every man hath received the gift. What
gift? What he just said. Being kind
and forgiving and love one another and all of those things. Even
so, minister the same to one another as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. So the message here is not just,
well, you're a failure anyway, so there's no use bothering.
He's exhorting us all through those parables and everything.
Be wise and faithful stewards. But when you come up short, understand there's no reward
for you for what you've done. Religion likes to talk about
that, but he just said in our parable, do you really think
the master is going to reward you for what you've done? Is
that what you want? Do you want God to recompense
you for your works and your thoughts and your words and your effectiveness
as a servant? Is that what you want? So this
sounds harsh, doesn't it? But this is love. You're not
going to get anything. You're not going to get any reward
from God at all for what you've done. Oh boy, that's bad. No, that's good. You're going
to get mercy and grace and glory in Christ Jesus. That's what
you're going to get. All right, so let's stay with
this line because it goes all through this now right up until
this is a huge context now. In Romans 12, let me let me read
this one to you. I beseech you therefore brethren
by the mercies of God. that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. We don't sacrifice a little time
here and there and sacrifice a little money maybe here and
there. I am a sacrifice. to the glory of God, that you
present your bodies wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. You've just done what you're
supposed to do. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through
the grace given unto me that every man that is among you not
to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. When
talking about presenting yourself Everything you are, everything
you have, everything you do is God's and it ought to be that
way. The first exhortation regarding
that is quit thinking so much of yourself. Shut that down. That's why he's talking to me
there. He's talking to me there. Quit thinking more highly than
he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath
dealt to every man the measure of faith. If you have anything,
God dealt it to you, like a hand of cards. Whatever hand you're
holding, you got it from him. Our Lord is teaching here to
exhort them now to be wise and faithful stewards. Luke chapter
12 is all about that. And if you remember, jot that
down if you want to study this some later. Luke chapter 12,
He taught them the same thing. But also, there are some very
important things as stewards, as servants of God, that we need
to understand. Our stewardship is not our hope. Our stewardship and service,
what it amounts to when you add it all up before God according
to His standard is a failure. Now He uses it for His glory
and in this world He gets glory out of that. That's the way He
does and we'll talk about that a little bit in a minute. But
you're going to stand in what you've done and what you are
before God Paul said, my best was lost. Well, our stewardship is not
our hope. Our service is not our salvation. We are failures. And our hope
is that the Lord, when we fail, will receive us anyway into everlasting
habitations. Now, how does that happen? That's
the question now. And then in chapter 16, next,
the Lord teaches that there are just two masters, God and Mammon. And everybody must and shall
serve one of the other and only one. You can't serve both. And
he told the Pharisees, you are they which justify yourselves. In other words, you serve in
yourself. When you serve mammon, you're serving yourself. Now,
why would you say that, Chris? Well, only the person that you
serve can say whether you're a just steward or not, right?
It's whoever you're serving. Don't ask a fellow worker whether
you're doing a good job. Ask your boss. That's the only
one. He's the one that told you to
do what you do. He's the one that reckons things. He's the one
that profits or doesn't. So he's saying you justify yourselves,
you're your own master. You have said in your own heart,
well I'm doing a good job. And they justified themselves,
but the master, the master condemned them. And what does that say about
them? We're not accountable to ourselves or anybody else, we're
accountable to God. And he says, you're useless.
And you know what? I'm fine with that. As far as my standing before
God goes, what I say, think, or do is useless. And that's perfectly fine with
me. Perfectly fine. Now then our Lord gives another
story and it doesn't seem to be a parable now when he's talking
about the rich man and Lazarus. He doesn't say here's a parable
it doesn't have the same language. It sounds like he's telling about
something that actually happened. These were people that existed
and at the end of Luke 16 there where he shows one very successful
man. I mean he must have really been
a go-getter. Rich and lived in a great palace
with a gate at the front of it. And then he shows one man who's
an absolute wretch, an absolute utter failure. A man who is reduced
to begging, he's unhealthy, he's useless, he's relying on others
for everything he had. But that absolute failure was
received into everlasting habitations. And the rich man, the successful
man, The one that did everything, you know, right in order to succeed
in this life. He woke up in hell. Do you see
the pattern as we go here? He woke up in hell. And in studying
that parable it becomes crystal clear why the rich man woke up
in hell and why that poor beggar woke up in the arms of the father
of multitudes. It becomes crystal clear. The
difference is one believed the word of God and one didn't. In talking about and discussing
the fate of that rich man's five brothers, we discover why the
rich man was where he was and why the poor man was where he
was. Abraham said, if you believe Moses and the prophets, in other
words, if you believe the gospel, You'll wake up in the bosom of
the father of a multitude. If you do not hear and be persuaded
by the gospel, by what God wrote, by what God said, then you will
wake up in everlasting torment. That's clearly the difference
in that text. Clearly. Moses and the prophets
are mentioned there. If they just believe Moses and
the prophets, it's going to be well with them. What did Moses
and the prophets say? In Luke 24, 27, it says, the
Lord Jesus began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. If you believe the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 17, at the beginning
of chapter 17, we have our Lord teaching them to take heed unto
themselves. After all, we are his stewards.
And what is important there? He's saying, take heed unto yourselves
now. What's important to the master?
What does he teach us as his stewards there at the beginning
of chapter 17? To build great buildings for his name? Take
heed to yourself now that you build great monuments and buildings
in my name. Let's build a big old cathedral,
you know, and put a bunch of religious relics in it. No, that's not what he said.
Take heed to yourself that you be a good steward of mine and
do miracles and get everybody excited. Nope, that wasn't it. What is it that he said? Now
you take heed that you're a good steward now of mine and here's
what you do. When your brother offends you,
forgive him. Is that enough? That's what the
Master says. That's what the Master said. And you know what else he said
about that? He said, take heed now. Take heed. Don't just say,
yeah I agree with that and then the next time somebody ticks
you off, go off on them or go fume somewhere. and be bitter
about it and cause division in the family of God. He said, when
your brother offends you, take heed now. Forgive him. And then he said something else,
and just keep on doing that. Keep on doing that. Next time
they offend you, forgive him again. This is the master now. He's talking about stewardship.
I wish he, I pray that he will impress this upon my heart. Just keep on doing it. And they said, Lord, increase
our faith. If we're going to do anything
for you, if we're ever going to do anything right, you're
going to have to do something for us. And that's true in everything
we do now. And he's going to get the glory
because of that. He's going to get the glory. When we've done
all of that, when we've forgiven until our heart just feels like,
isn't that the hardest thing in the world to do? It's gonna
kill me to forgive somebody. It just kills me. Doesn't it,
you? It just, oh, it just eats me
alive inside. And when I've done that 70 times
7, I'm to say this, I'm useless. I'm good for nothing. Then the Lord said this to them
in that same context, nothing is impossible to you if you just
have a little bit of faith. Now stay with me, it's the same
theme throughout every one of my last six or seven messages. It's been exactly the same thing.
And I want us to see all of that together this morning. And here's
what that looks like. If you just have a little bit
of faith, there's nothing impossible to you. And you remember we saw
what that looks like in Mark 9, 17 through 27, when that man,
his child, his son from a child, from a little toddler, He's been
possessed by a devil and it tears him and he jumps into fires.
We have to keep him from killing himself. He's so vexed with this
horrible demon. And the Lord said to him, He
said, I told your disciples and they couldn't do anything about
it. And our Lord said, Oh, you generation of faithless generation. And he said to that man, If you
believe, nothing shall be impossible to you. And do you remember what
that looks like? He said, Lord, I believe, help. Now some people read that, they
say, well, if you just had a little bit of faith, you could move
mountains. And they say, well, boy, you know, we just need to start
moving some mountains here. He said to that man, if you believe,
nothing shall be impossible to you. And that man worshipped
the Son of God and said, Lord I believe, help, help my unbelief. And then Christ Jesus the Lord
cast that devil out of that little boy, out of that young man. And
now he's a beautiful young man without any of that. He wasn't
jumping in the fire or in the water anymore. Our faith is all in Him. Our
faith unites us to Him who moves mountains. That man didn't do
anything in that text. Our Lord said the same thing
to him, didn't He? He said, if you believe, nothing
will be impossible. And then what did he do? He just
fell before the Lord and said, Lord, I believe, but I don't
believe much. I believe, but boy, I need your help. And then
the Lord Jesus Christ did everything for him. That's what he's saying
in our text. If you just have a little bit
of faith, it's not how much faith you have, it's who you believe. So if a mountain is moved, who
moved it? Simon Peter walked on water.
Who did that? You reckon? Faith connects and unites us
to Christ for whom nothing is impossible. And then we come
to our text. And listen to this, now nothing
is impossible to those who believe. I can do all things, Paul said,
through Christ which strengthens me. But, you see that word but
there at the beginning of our text? Verse seven, but. Here's what you need to understand.
Be good stewards. Be faithful and be strong in
the Lord. Endure hardship, Paul said, as
a good soldier of Jesus Christ. But understand something. Understand
this. But, and again, let's just acknowledge
it right up front that what's being taught in the next passage
here, seven through whatever we just read, is that you're
useless. You can move a mountain if God
gives you just a little bit of faith, but understand that in
the moving of this mountain, whether it's a mountain of sin
or any other kind of mountain, in our text, it's just talking
about the ability to forgive somebody. He's still talking
about that. He told them to forgive and they
said, Lord, increase our faith. And he's still talking about
in that same conversation. Here's what you need to understand
about your stewardship, about your service. in the accomplishment of whatever
is accomplished, you are involved because of God's purpose and
because he gets glory that way. But you are not needed. Look what he said now, when you've
done all that is commanded you. And he says that because that
should be our resolve. My result, I want to do everything
that Christ tells me to do, don't you? That's my result. Think about
that. Which part of what He says are you willing to ignore and
not act upon? Are you going to pick and choose?
Is baptism necessary? Theologians like to argue about
it. Is baptism necessary? Did He say do it? You think that's taught in the
Scripture to be baptized? If you believe on Him. If He said do it, then it's necessary.
Is public worship necessary? Well, I can worship the Lord
out fishing. Boy, that sounds great. I like to fish. But the
problem is the Lord said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together as the manner of some is. And when two or three meet
in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Is that necessary? What is it that our Lord teaches
us to do in His Word that you think is unnecessary? Let's make
a list. It wouldn't take long, would
it? But when you've done all of it, understand and confess. He says, say. You can say it in your heart,
but you say it. You confess it. He did not need you. He does not need you. He shall not need you. Isn't
that good news? You, whether you realize it or
not, and I suspect most of you do, you do not need a God that
needs you. You need one that doesn't. And
that's what we have by His grace. When you've done all of it, the
root word there, the root word for what we're talking about
there, you're unprofitable. That word in the Greek means,
what I said, useless and good for nothing. And it's from a
root word that's from a previous language or however they, I don't
know if it was Latin or whatever, I didn't look that deep into
it, but I know that the root word that that Greek word came
from is a compound word, and the first part of it is alpha,
the first letter of the Greek alphabet, A, alpha. And then the second part of the
word is needful. Now you think with me for a second.
When we put an A in front of something, why do we do that
in our language, in English? If we say something is atypical,
what does that mean? It's not typical. Arrhythmia means no rhythm. We are A-needful unto God. That's literally what this word
is saying. We are not needful as servants. That's not what service unto
Him is about. It's not about that. It's not
because He needs you. Thank God He doesn't need me. Why does God have us serve him
at all then? Well, clearly it's not because
he needs us. But listen to this, I think we
might get a clue from this. 1 Corinthians 1.26, you see your
calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, and yea, things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. That's the first thing. Nobody
glory ever in anything. Ever. God forbid that I should
glory save in Christ and what he did on Calvary. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdom, wisdom to do things
that are right, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Your righteousness, your wisdom,
all of that before God has nothing to do with you. You are useless. You are not needed. You're going
to stand before God now and you've got to be perfect. So what are
you going to look to? Your service, your stewardship?
Not needed. Not necessary. We stand in Him. We stand in Christ and only in
Him. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. I think that's why. I think that's why he lets us
serve him. Now we see this in the garden,
don't we? In the garden of Gethsemane. You remember this? And I was
going to have you turn there. I don't want to be long this
morning though, but listen. Jot it down if you'd like to look
at it again later. Mark 14, 31 through 41. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
and I talk about this I trembled to even say anything
about it because it's so mysterious and so wonderful. I don't want
to minimize it. I don't want to say anything
that would distract or confuse anybody about it. But it seems
to me the Lord began to bear our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane.
His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. And I don't
know but one thing that can cause that, and that's sin. He began to bear my sin, I believe,
in that garden. And he sweat great drops of blood,
it was crushing him. And he came, he would pray, he
prayed to God, Lord, if it'd be possible, let this cup pass
from me. And he went, his disciples were
a stone's throw away. And he said to them, watch and
pray, lest you enter into temptation. He knows that the enemy's coming,
they're coming. And he says, you watch and pray.
And he goes after he's prayed, and he goes to them, and they're
asleep. And he says to Simon in particular,
he said, Simon, couldn't you watch with me for one hour? For
one hour. I told you to watch and pray. Not for him, lest you enter into
temptation. And they were asleep. They were
all asleep. And he went again and prayed for a while. And then
he came back and they were asleep again. And he told them, watch
and pray. Watch and pray. The Spirit truly
is willing. I know you want to. He's the
one that made them want to. But your flesh is weak now. Don't
make provision for the flesh. Watch. You see how our text has
to do with that? Be faithful. Honor me. Do what you're supposed to do.
Not even for one hour you can't do that? But then he comes back
the third time and they're asleep again. They're asleep again. And you
know what he said? Sleep on. Sleep on now and take
your rest. It is enough. It's enough. Our failure is enough. Our total miserable weakness
and utter inability is enough. Because of Him and what He did. He did everything. And so when
we do nothing, which is what everything we do amounts to,
it's enough. It's enough. Our failure plus what he did
is sufficient to satisfy God himself and to save our souls. Now listen, again I want to exhort
us, do everything that God has given you instruction and sense
enough to do. All that he's taught us, forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is. Don't do that. Love one another. Forgive one
another. Pray without ceasing. Be good
and wise and faithful stewards of the grace of God. Watch and
pray all the time lest you enter into temptation. As you have
opportunity, do good unto all, especially unto them which are
of the household of faith. And when you've done it all,
when you've left it all on the battlefield, when you have spared
no blood, sweat, or tears in the service of the master, say
this, I am useless, and not needed and he is all. He is all. My part in salvation
is I need it and his part is he accomplished it. By his representative
life as my righteousness and by his substitutionary sin atoning
death as my redeemer. He accomplished all. And in the service of my King,
I am not needed. And I'm glad. I'm not needed. I'm included by His grace. And that's important too. Thank
God for that. Thank God we get to worship Him.
We get to, don't we? We don't have to. We get to.
It is a privilege in this life. And this is just going to happen
one time. And it ain't long, is it? It ain't long. We've got
a little while here to honor Him. To serve Him. To be thinking all the time,
how can I serve? And you know how He says do it?
You don't have to wonder, well how do I need to serve God? Let's
do something nice for one of my sheep. That's what He said.
Isn't that right? When you've just given a cup of cold water.
Somebody did that for me yesterday. He said, you've done it to me.
You've done that for me. You don't have to be looking
around, what can I do for God? Are you kidding me? Everything
you do ought to be for Him. What do you think this is for?
It ain't for me. It better not be. It better not be for you either.
Let's tear the whole thing down if that's what this is. I am included by His grace and
it is a privilege, not just a duty. You think I take care of my family
because it's my duty to do that? My works are utterly worthless
in regard to my salvation. All of them. Christ and what
he did is all my salvation. That's what he's teaching them
here. And I pray us. and being saved by His grace
now that He saved me as a believer, as a Christian in this world.
Nothing I do is meritorious. Christ is all of my righteousness
before God. And if I ever do anything for
Him, you know what I say all the time. I don't ever want to
stop saying it. If I ever do anything for Him, it's really
Him doing something for me. And you know that's right. He said in Matthew 20, 28, listen
to this. Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, He had a heaven full of angels to minister
unto him. You think he needs us to minister
unto him? Are you kidding me? Well, I'm just going to serve
Jesus. Really? He said, I came down here to minister. I didn't
come down here so you could do something for me. He came down
here to do something for us, and he did it. Is that what our
verse is teaching? He didn't come to recruit some
servants, you know, to do something for him. He came down here to
do everything for us. He gave Himself a ransom. The
price of freedom for a slave. He gave Himself a ransom. I'm going to read two passages
of scripture and I'll be through. Look at Acts 17. Y'all turn with
me. These are not in my notes. I
thought about this on the way over here. Acts 17 verse 22.
Listen to Paul teaching here. Acts 17, 22, Paul is teaching
to these godless philosophers and Greek wise men. Acts 17 and verse 22, then Paul
stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, you men of Athens,
I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. You
know what that word is? Religious. You're too religious. For as I passed by and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the
unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him I declare
unto you. Let me tell you about the God
that you don't know. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship
with men's hands. Now what do you think he mean
by that? I've thought about that before. Does that mean, you know, That
you don't raise your hands in worship or anything. Who would
want to call attention to themselves in the worship of God? But is
that what that's talking about? No, he tells us what he's talking
about by the next phrase, doesn't he? He's not worshipped by what
you do. He's not worshipping anything
you do. He's not worshipped with men's hands as though he needed
anything. What does God need from you?
Now let me turn it around. What do you need from him? Absolutely everything. Your breath,
your next bite of food, the next step you take, the energy you
have to hold your eyes open right now. Redemption. Grace. So you see why when he says,
do this, now do this, forgive one another. Oh Lord, increase
our faith. Lord you do something for me
and by your grace I'll do something for you. It's him doing it and
he don't need anything. Seeing he giveth. What are you
going to give him with your hand? He's the one that gives, not
you. One more scripture. Psalm 116. Psalm 116. Verse 12. Psalm 116.12, what shall I render
unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? Do you ever think
about that? We should, shouldn't we? Look
what God's done for us. I think every believer sits down
every once in a while and says, what could I do? What could I
do that might glorify God? Maybe I could do something. Maybe
I could be useful somehow in his service. I believe we should think like
that. What shall I render unto the
Lord? Look at all that he's done for me. What can I do for him?
And look at the next words. I will take. I'll take. I believe David sat
there and thought about this and said, what can I do for God?
And then he realized, this is what we do. You know
what glorifies God more than anything else, best I can tell
from the scripture now? It's his mercy and grace in Christ
Jesus in sending his son to shed his precious blood for sinners
like us. And part of that is he gives
us faith to lift up our hand and receive. That's what faith
does. That's all it does. It's not
active, it's passive. It receives. It doesn't give,
it doesn't do, it doesn't perform, it doesn't accomplish. Faith
just receives what God gives. Do you want God to be glorified
because of all of his wonderful works that he's done? I will take the cup of salvation. And how beautifully that's pictured
when our Lord, when the wine was poured in that cup, he said,
this cup is the new covenant. Isn't that beautiful? It's all
inclusive, isn't it? Not this cup pertains to the new covenant,
or this cup shows the new covenant. This cup right here, that which
it represents, my precious blood, is the new covenant. That by which we're taught of
God in our hearts, not just written in the law, but in our hearts.
He said, all right, this is the covenant now. I'll write it on
your heart. Now all of you are going to know
me. I'm going to reveal myself to you. This is the new covenant
without you doing anything. And I'm going to forgive all
your sins, all of your sins and iniquities while I remember. They're gone. They're gone. And he said, now you take this
cup, this is the new covenant right here, and drink all of
it. You want to do something for
God? Drink all of it. Just take. I will take. That's
what we do. In our relationship, that's what
we do. He gives and we take. And we don't even do that except
by His grace. That's Him giving. He gave us the heart to take.
May God bless us in this and teach us.