May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter 17, and we'll read verse 10. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 17,
and reading verse 10. So likewise ye, when ye should have done all
those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. As we consider words like this,
We perhaps wonder where we should begin. Well, I'm sure a good place to
begin with is the condition of ourselves, the condition as we
stand before God, and as we are indeed before God as sinners,
and bad sinners, deep-dyed sinners. And if we stand in that condition. And then the Lord speaks to us
and directs us, perhaps, in the terms of the last couple of verses
in the sixth chapter, the first of Corinthians, it will no doubt
put things in a right perspective. So the last two verses in the
sixth chapter of the Corinthians, that's 19 and 20, we read, what? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own, for ye are bought for the price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's." Now we will never
really therefore appreciate the meaning of this word and the
importance of these two verses in the Corinthians, unless we
come recognizing our condition before a holy God. And of course
the Apostle in this chapter, in the Corinthians, had really
outlined something of what the people were, the Corinthians
he wrote to. And of course we today, although and not physically,
Corinthians, are really no different. And he spoke to them, and he
said, know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God, and therefore if we are sinners of the earth, which we
are, and if we are therefore unrighteous, then the truth is
that we shall not inherit the kingdom of God, unless we have
the evidence that we are bought with a price. And he goes on
to explain those who are unrighteous. And he says, be not deceived. The devil will always try and
deceive us. Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves or mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, to inherit the Kingdom of God.
And you might think, well, I'm not one of those. And the Lord
says, and such were some of you. So it incorporates all of us.
We cannot say, well, I don't think that categorises me, because
it does. And then he goes on to say, but
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified, the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of God. Now if therefore we are sinners
of the earth and the Holy Spirit's convinced us of our condition
before a holy God and it is a wonderful blessing if that is so because
naturally we will not think we're very bad. Many people you may
speak to And they might acknowledge they're a bit of a sinner, but
they'll say, well, of course, I'm not very bad. Many people worse than
me. But when the Holy Spirit convicts
us, we stand before God as the sinner. It doesn't matter about
anybody else. We stand condemned before a holy
God. And then we come down to these
last verses and realize, as I read already, ye are not your own. There was a time when we perhaps
thought we were our own. We could choose our own destiny.
We could decide what we wanted to do. But when under the conviction
of the Holy Spirit of God, and when we are led to the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit, to realise therefore that we are no longer
our own, and why are we not our own? We are bought with a price. what was that price? The price
paid to forgive us of our sins, to take away our sins, was the
price of blood, was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the price that was paid. Now if we have this then therefore
before our minds as a background as it were, these words which
we read together this evening in the Gospel of Luke, it will
no doubt have a good bearing upon us as we consider such words. And let us never forget that
we are bought with a price. And the Apostle goes on to tell
us, therefore, because of that, therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. How important it is,
therefore, that our lives show forth the glory of God. And what
a blessing it is when that is so. So returning then to this
10th verse in the 17th chapter of Luke, where the Lord speaks
and says, so likewise ye. And of course, he's given the
example previously of a farmer saying to his labourer, well
go first of all and make a meal for me and then sit down yourselves
rather than say you eat first and I'll come afterwards. And
so the Lord then says so likewise ye when ye have done all those
things which I commanded you say we are unprofitable servants
we have done that which was our duty to do. I suppose we don't
like being told that we have a duty. We like to think that
we're a free agent and we can please ourselves. But when the
Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and not just trivial things,
but our gross sin, so that we stand before a holy God as the
sinner, Paul did that, you know. He stood before God as the sinner. He was indeed, in his own eyes,
the very worst person on the earth. And it's a good thing
when the Holy Spirit comes and convinces us that we are the
worst sinner on the earth. You may say, well, I don't think
that's true. I don't think that's possible.
Well, it is possible. And it is wonderful when the
Holy Spirit teaches us that and shows us that. And one of the
reasons why it does come home to us is this way. When the Holy
Spirit directs us to see that here we are, as it were, brought
up perhaps under the sound of the Gospel. turned away from
God, yet I followed the world, yet I followed the ways of the
world, and therefore we are utterly without excuse. We are a very
great sinner, because we have disobeyed God, because we've
not done those things which it was our duty to do. We followed
our own inclinations. We pleased ourselves. We haven't
pleased our God. We've gone about doing those
things which our flesh wanted to do. Well, what a blessing
it is then when, again, the Holy Spirit convinces us of the truth
of these words, that we are unprofitable servants. Now, first of all,
let me say this. All of God's people are servants. We are all servants. Because
if you look at it in this way, if we've been purchased, if we've
been bought, as we have if we're God's people, we are no longer
our own, we are a servant of the Most High God. You remember
that Joseph was purchased, wasn't he? And he was a slave, he was
a servant. He had to do those things which
he was told to do. He wasn't a free agent. And that's
so with a blessed, living family of God. If we are bought with
a price, we are no longer a free agent. We should recognise the
truth of it and be concerned, therefore, to be found doing
those things which the Lord commands us to do, the things which the
Lord directs us to do, and to realise, therefore, that these
things are our duty to do. And they should be a pleasurable
duty. Sometimes, perhaps initially,
when we're blessed by the Spirit of God, these things may seem
a little difficult, a little irksome to us, and we wish we
had a bit more freedom. The trouble is, we don't analyse
these things in the light of eternity. That's really the best
way to analyse things, is to weigh it up with regard to eternity. And that'll put things in a right
perspective. And so the Lord tells us here,
when you should have done all those things which are commanded
you, we may be tempted to pat ourselves on the back and think,
well, we've done pretty well there. We've done this and we've
done that. And we're perhaps pleased with
ourselves. And we think as though we've earned some credit with
God. My friends, there's no credit to be earned before God, because
the price has been paid for all our sins. And therefore, we have to come
and say, just like the Lord tells us here, we are unprofitable
servants. Whatever our position, whatever
we're doing, we are one of God's servants. we are to be found
serving him. You see there are those who are
called to preach the gospel, they are servants. There are
those who are called to hear the gospel, they are servants. Yes, you know, perhaps we don't
like to always consider these things, but it is as an important
situation to hear the gospel than to preach the gospel. We
are all to serve God. In hearing the Gospel, we're
not to come to chapel and waste our time and just hope for the
Amen and think all the things that we've done in the last week
or are going to do. You see, we're not serving God,
we're serving ourselves. And therefore the truth is that
we are very unprofitable servants. Our concern should be to be profitable
and in order to be Profitable, that means that we should show
forth the praise of our God. And we should show forth the
praise of our God by the work that he's done for us. And it
won't be a one-off occasion, it won't be something that will
happen and we think, well now I'm free, I can carry on and
do what I want to do. You and I will desire to be a
true servant, to serve the Lord. And yet, you see, when we've
done all the things, we recognise we've only done that which it
was our duty to do. We can never earn heaven. Never think that you can earn
heaven. The eternal life is a gift of
God. You and I receive the most precious
gift of eternal life. We can never earn heaven and
therefore it's good when the Holy Spirit shows us the truth
of these things that we are indeed unprofitable servants. The only
other occasion in the Bible where this word unprofitable occurs
is in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew where we read about
those three people who received ten talents, won ten talents
one five and one one talent they all receive talents and it's
so with the church of god the church of god the people they
all receive talents some more some less but whatever talents
we receive we are to trade with it we are to bring glory in god
with it and the person that had that one talent he went and hid
it in the ground and the lord said To him he was an unprofitable
servant. If the Lord's given us a talent,
let us not go and bury it in the ground. Let us seek to know
how to use it profitably. And when we have used it profitably,
we will very readily recognise that we've fallen short. We've
failed in so many ways. We will never be able to stand
and say, well, I've done that really well. You will if you're
not converted. You'll think you're doing very
well. But if the Holy Spirit has convinced you of your sin
and led you to the Saviour, you will see, really written over
everything that we do, however good it may be, we have to say,
failure. We failed. We are unprofitable
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. But you see, we haven't really
done as much as we could have done. We tend to limit the things that
we do, don't we? We tend to do so much and then
think, well, I've done that and I think that's enough and someone
else can now carry on and take this on. You see, we're really
burying perhaps the talent that God has given us. God does give talents to his
people and it's good therefore to use them wisely and to use
them for the honour and glory of God. Now in so doing we need
to come back to the opening remarks that I made with regard to the
wonderful words of the Saviour when he said that we are bought
with a price. And if we have a right appreciation
of the enormous cost of our salvation, and it is really good to just
sit down quietly and meditate upon what that really means. We weren't bought with a trivial
price. We weren't bought with anything
which is monetary in this world's currency. We were bought with
something far more valuable, exceedingly valuable, the blood
of Christ. Indeed the hymn writer says,
doesn't he, in that one line, invaluable blood, because you
and I cannot assess the value of the blood of Christ, because
the value of it has delivered our souls from eternal hell. Nothing else would satisfy the
holy and righteous demands of Almighty God. There was no other
good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock
the gate of heaven to let us in. Neither way. Look nowhere else and be humbled
to realise that the great God should have so gloriously condescended
to come into this world and stand in our place, to pay the punishment
due to us, which we could never pay. We are bankrupt. We have no ability to pay it.
All we can bring is sin, and in our best work, in our best
things, in our best thoughts, you'll find the sin there. You'll
find there's an element of pride. You'll find there's perhaps wrong
thoughts. And you'll have to come and stand
before God and say, yes, Lord, I am an unprofitable servant. It's good when the Holy Spirit
convinces us of that. It brings us then into a right
place. We're not then bolstered up.
We're not then proud of our profession. but we're proud of what God has
done and we desire to glorify his great and glorious name. Surely that must be the result
of the gracious work of God in our soul, that we are concerned
and rightly so to honour and to glorify our God, that one
who has done such great things. And as we ponder these things
to realise that all the things even that we've desired to do
in honouring him, we failed. We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. And so tonight have we much cause
to thank God and to praise Him. If He's brought us into a situation
like this to speak in such a way and be able to say we are unprofitable
servants, naturally we don't want to say that. We want to
think we're very profitable. We want to think we've done a
good job. We want to think people are thinking well of us and they're
commending us and saying what a great person we are. But as
you and I stand before God, such things sometimes will be not
pleasant. We won't want to receive them.
Because we know that in truth we haven't done as much as we
should. And we are unprofitable in it. And we shouldn't be receiving
accolades for that which we don't deserve. What a blessing when
the Holy Spirit therefore convinces us of such a situation before
Him and to bring us back to the great sacrifice of himself. This will do us real good. This will be a growth in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. How
often we perhaps, and I hope we do, I hope we do pray that
we may be blessed with that wonderful favour of spiritual growth. We
don't want to stand still. We don't want to go backwards.
We want to grow, we want to be fruitful in the things of God. And in order to be fruitful,
we need to realise in some measure how weak we are and how sinful
we are, and desire that the Holy Spirit would give us grace to
be fruitful in the things of God. And yet you see, in those
things, to be fruitful, yet you see we have to come and say in
those things, We are indeed unprofitable servants. We've only done those
things which it was our duty to do. The Apostle Paul in the
fifth chapter of the Galatians, he gives a little list of fruitfulness. It's classified as the fruit
of the Spirit. And it's important to realize
that he previously speaks about the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh. And now,
he doesn't say the fruit of the flesh. He says the fruit of the
spirit. And it is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live
in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be
desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."
That's a comprehensive statement, isn't it? And just perhaps speaking
to just one element of that, where the Apostle says, And they
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with their affections
and lusts. That'll be a test, won't it?
Of the reality of our religion. That'll be a test whether we
are thinking that we've done everything well. You see, to
crucify our flesh. And that really means to put
it to death. mortify and crucifixion of course
was and is the most painful death and to turn aside from those
things which please our flesh are difficult and that's why
these words are used crucifying a painful death but a death of
things that we perhaps are very fond of that we want to do And
we're very reluctant to give them up. But what a mercy it
is when we find the fruit of the Spirit is working in our
hearts, which enables us to turn away from the things which were
dear to us, the work of the Spirit of God. And yet, you see, in
that we still have to say we are unprofitable. Because we
haven't probably completely crucified. You may think, well I've stopped
doing this and I've stopped doing that, so far. But perhaps not
totally. And therefore there hasn't been
a real crucifixion, there's been a partial crucifixion. And that's why we have to come
and say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which
was our duty to do. that would be a blessing if we
are able to say before God that we have done those things which
it was our duty to do, even if they haven't been done as it
were to a hundred percent. But at least if we have the evidence
that the Lord has made us willing in the day of his power. Willing
in the day of his power to forsake such things which stand in the
way of our spiritual life, our spiritual blessing. The sins
perhaps which so easily beset us. And don't settle down under
such a temptation and say, well of course that's my besetting
sin and therefore allow yourself to continue in it. It's very
easy to settle down with an excuse like that. But you see, if we
do have, and we do have, besetting sins, sins which come upon us
very easily, and no doubt those besetting sins are different
to each one of us, at least in some way, and yet they are there,
and they are hard to crucify. It's very hard to get rid of
them, to turn our back upon them, And that's why we need the blessed
influence of the Holy Spirit to direct us to the suffering
Saviour. You are bought with a price.
I'm sure you see this is the greatest blessing and this is
the enabling blessing as we view what Christ has done for us.
And yet we are so obstinate and so awkward and so unbelieving
and so sinful and so wretched that we are unprepared to forsake
all and follow him. We are unprofitable servants. We've done that which was our
duty to do. And so as we ponder what this
means to us individually, I wonder whether we've walked this path
and whether we've come before God and said yes, Lord, I've
done those things which thou has commanded me to do, but I
just feel to be an unprofitable servant. Well, that's right,
and that's a good place, isn't it? That's a scriptural place
to be found in. And that will deliver us then
from boasting in our own ability, boasting in our own strength.
What would it do? It would enable us to boast in
what Christ has done. to redeem our souls. And that
surely must be the place of glory, glorying in the finished work
of the Saviour, not glorying in what we've done, what we've
been able to do, Although with no doubt we have been helped
by the Holy Spirit, and it's right to be thankful for it.
We should always be thankful for the help given by God to
do these things, but not to glory in them. We should only glory
in what Christ has done, and be thankful that he's enabled
us perhaps to turn our back upon things which at one time we rejoiced
in and rejoiced to do, rejoiced to be involved in. Rejoice to
think upon. What a wonderful favour then,
to have a God who is compassionate and looks upon us and does not
deal with us as our sins deserve. Earlier in this chapter we read
those wonderful words of the apostles when they came to the
Lord and said, Lord, increase our faith. You may think, well,
I don't think I'll ever be able to turn my back on such and such.
The Lord can increase your faith, enable you to walk contrary to
the things that the devil wants you to do. How easily we do follow
the devil. Remember he knows our weak points. Remember he knows what is our
besetting sin. And he doesn't forget. And he
keeps on prodding. And he keeps on thrusting. he keeps on endeavouring to produce
sin in our hearts, perhaps sin through our words. We are unprofitable
servants and so may we be concerned to be found serving the Lord
and willing to serve him in whatever situation the Lord has for us. I remember years ago I was working
with a a Christian architect, and he said to me, you know,
if the Lord told me that I must go and wash out the toilets of
the public conveniences every day, he said, I'm thankful I
would be content to do that. Seeking, willing to do that which
the Lord commanded to be done. Sometimes I think we're above
certain situations. Well, just remember the blessed
example of the Lord Jesus. What did he do? He washed his
disciples' feet. Yes, you might think, well, I'll
help somebody and I'll do this and I'll do that. And you might
commend yourself in your own mind for it. But are you doing
the menial things? Are you indeed washing the disciples'
feet? Are you helping them? in the
most menial situation? Or are you just walking in that
way where you are indeed unprofitable servants? And even, I believe
in that situation, whatever it may mean, you will have to recognise,
well perhaps I didn't do it quite as well as I should have done.
I didn't quite finish the job as well as I should have done.
I didn't perhaps go the extra mile I just stopped short. And therefore, we are unprofitable
servants. My friends, the Blessed Saviour
didn't stop short, did he? He didn't stop short. You think
of the wonderful example, and often think, if we need to have
any evidence of what we should do and say, just remember the
Saviour. Just remember what he did. how
he lived throughout his life. There wasn't a time when he suddenly
changed. He lived his life for the glory of his father. He did
his father's will throughout his life, however difficult it
was. And as, of course, we know that
he washed his disciples' feet on that Passover night, just
shortly before he was to suffer the agony in Gethsemane To be
crucified upon the cross at Calvary. He didn't stop. He didn't turn
back. And we have the wonderful prayer
to his father in Gethsemane. Father, if it be possible, let
this cut pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. He was a willing servant. And all my friends, are we willing
servants? We might look, we might think,
we may say, no, the cost is too high. The cost will affect my
life. The cost will affect what I do
and say. The price is too high. Remember what the Saviour did.
The cost was not too high for Him in order to redeem our souls. Are we thankful for it? Do we praise God for it? I hope
we do. And therefore, in our little
lives, do we have to come and say, yes, we are unprofitable
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. Well, my friends, may we be thankful
then that we have such a wonderful example who endured those, hiding
his father's face on the cross for those three hours, enduring
hell for us. Yes, my God, my God, why has
thou forsaken me? What a blessed example it is,
isn't it? What a wonderful example, and may we praise God for it.
And may we therefore be concerned in our lives today to be found
truly serving our Lord in whatever position that is. Whatever position,
boys and girls, those of us who are adults, teenagers, everyone. Are we serving the Lord? Are
we doing His bidding? Is He our Master? Is He our Master? Do we bow down before Him? Do
we come and say, nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done? Do we desire to be directed by
the Blessed Saviour? Do those things which honour
and glorify Him. Our lives should be for the honour
and glory of our God, not for the honour and glory of ourselves.
And so may we be able to come before our God and say humbly,
Yes, we've done those things. So likewise, when you should
have done all those things which I commanded, we still have to
say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do, and to thank God that he's given us help. He's
strengthened us. He has enabled us to do things,
but he's also enabled us to see our failure. He's also shown
us How we haven't done those things which we should have done.
We've been unprofitable. And to bow down before God and
especially then as we come back to realise the price paid for
our salvation. You are bought with a price.
May we therefore be concerned that we are serving Him every
day, every hour, every minute of our life. for the honour and
glory of our God, who so willingly died that we might live. Amen.