Alright, in that passage that
Brother Jim just read, Luke chapter 17, there's several lessons of
grace that the Lord teaches His disciples here. Some people read
this passage as if it's a set of sermonettes that are not really
connected, just different things thrown together. But they are
connected. These are all issues of faith. Believing God. And believing God is not just
mental assent. Faith includes knowledge. It
includes assent, agreement. But it also includes trust. Trust. Trusting Christ. Trusting Him
for all of salvation. It has to do with trusting Him
to know that He knows what's best for us. And what He tells
us to do and seek to do is right and good for all of us. And then
we come to these passages like this where there are some difficult
things, difficult commandments that he gives to us as the objects
of his love and mercy and grace. And we may not understand everything
about them and how to do them, but we know that if we believe
God, and that's the issue here, if we believe God, we'll serve
the Lord. We'll serve him with gladness,
not motivated by legalism. mercenary works, that is earned
reward, trying to get things out of God that we can get if
we do things for Him. But we'll serve Him because He
has freely saved us unconditionally in Christ and given us all things
because of what Christ accomplished at Calvary. And we realize when
we get into these things that it's just a reminder that if
Christ did not save us by grace. If He's not our righteousness,
if He doesn't save us and keep us and bring us to glory and
keep us together by grace, then none of those things would happen.
Because we are sinners saved by grace. As we look at this
passage, several things are brought out. He begins to deal with the
issue of offenses. He says it's impossible. That
means it's inevitable that offenses must come. What are these offenses
and what are they about? What does that word mean? And
then he deals with the issue of trespasses against each other. Forgiveness is the issue there.
And then he deals with the issue of faith. The apostles, verse
5, said unto the Lord, Lord, increase our faith. We all need
an increase in faith. Faith grows. There are degrees
of faith, but all faith is the gift of God. true saving faith. And all faith has one object,
and that is Christ and Him crucified and risen again. And then we
come to the unprofitable servant. That's an interesting passage,
isn't it? When we serve and do that which we're commanded to
do, we're still unprofitable servants. What does that mean?
I don't know if I'm going to get to all of that in one message. You know me. But I'll do my best. But if I don't, especially this
thing of the unprofitable servant, I think you know what that is.
It's just another one of the many passages that dispels the
religious myth of earned rewards in heaven. And we'll see that,
you know, it's kind of like the guy, you know, if you show up
to work on time tomorrow morning, I'm sure your boss doesn't come
in and just thank you and thank you and thank you and give you
a reward, does he? That's what you're supposed to
do, show up for work on time. It's that kind of thing, but
we'll see that. I've entitled this message, Forgiveness,
Faith, and Service. Forgiveness, Faith, and Service.
But let's deal with this issue first in the first two verses
here. The necessity and danger of offenses. The necessity and
danger of offenses. Verse 1, Then said Christ unto
his disciples, It is impossible, And that literally means it's
inevitable. This is something that we have to deal with. We
can't avoid it in the church. Can't do it. And it says, but
that offenses will come. The offense. And he says, but
woe unto him through whom they come. Now they're coming. We
have to deal with offenses. But oh Lord, don't let me be
the instrument of those offenses. Because listen to what he says
in verse 2, this is serious. He says, it were better for him,
that is that one through whom they come, it would be better
for that person that a millstone were hanged about his neck. You
know what a millstone is? You ever been to an old mill
and looked at the stone that grinds the wheat? It would be
better for that person that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
he cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these
little ones. Now that's serious shit. It's
almost like saying it would be better if that individual hadn't
been born. This is nothing to take lightly. And who are these
little ones? Is that the kids over here in
the nursery? No. I'll tell you who it is. It's
you. And me. That's the church. That's the
sheep of Christ. Somebody says, well surely that's
talking about new believers. Oh no. It's talking about old
believers too. Because you know, old believer,
you're still a little one in the eyes of God. You're still
one of His precious little children. You know what you are in the
eyes of God? You're a baby in Christ. Now, I know you're mature.
But you know what the nature of that statement is about being
a baby? Now, sometimes that word is used for an immature or new
believer. But sometimes it's used for all
believers in the sense that I'll tell you one thing about those
little babies in there. They are totally dependent on
Mom and Dad for everything. And you know, old believer, young
believer, middle-aged believer, you're still just as totally
dependent upon your Heavenly Father in Christ for everything
as you were when you first started. So this speaking of us, every
believer, every chosen, redeemed, justified, born-again child of
God, God's preserving us, But there's going to come offenses.
Now, what are these offenses? What's he talking about? Well,
now, that word offenses is translated in different ways in the New
Testament. What it literally refers to is back in those days,
they would make traps, and they would put a bait stick or a stick
inside the trap, and when the animal would come and go after
the bait, that stick would spring the trap. So this word offense
has to do with entrapment. Anything that traps you, Anything
that causes you to stumble in your daily walk. In fact, it's
translated stumbling stone in some passages. Sometimes in a
way that's a good way. Let me show you that. Look over
at Romans chapter 9. The same word here as in Romans
chapter 9. And here it's speaking of Christ
as being a stumbling stone. Look at Romans 9 and verse 31.
It says, "...but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
hath not attained to the law of righteousness." Israel, the
nation as a whole. Now think about this now. It
doesn't mean every individual in the nation, but it means the
nation as a whole, the majority. This is how they were characterized
as a nation. And they followed after the law
of righteousness. They were seeking to be righteous. before God. They were seeking to be saved.
They were seeking to be accepted of God, but they didn't make
it. They have not attained to the
law of righteousness. They did not make it. Now, why
didn't they make it? Verse 32, wherefore, means why?
Why didn't they make it? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. They didn't
make it because they were seeking to be justified before God, to
be righteous before God by their works. And listen, you do that,
you're not going to make it. There shall no flesh be justified
in God's sight by deeds of law. And here's the problem, they
stumbled at the stumbling stone. That's the same word in the essence
of the fences here. It says, first of all, what is
it to seek righteousness by faith? And what is this stumbling stone?
Well, look at it, verse 33. As it is written, Behold, I lay
in Zion, that's the church, a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. And whosoever believeth on him,
that stumbling stone is a him. It's a person. All right. Believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. Well, what is it to seek righteousness
by faith? It's to seek it in this him,
this person. And so he goes on in verse 4,
read verse 4 of chapter 10, we won't read the whole thing. It
says, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. To seek righteousness by faith
is to seek righteousness in Christ. In other words, it's like this,
it's simple. It's very simple now. God says
there's only righteousness to be found for sinners in Christ. By His blood, His righteousness,
His finished work on the cross. That's the only place you're
going to find righteousness. Now do you believe it? Then stop
trying to establish one of your own. Stop trying to get it by
your works. Because it can't happen. Now, those who don't
believe Him, you know what they do? They stumble over the stumbling
stone. Christ is a rock of offense to
them. And we read that in 1 Corinthians
1, in the opening. The Jews require a sign. The
Greeks seek after wisdom. But we who are called, you see,
Christ is the wisdom of God. And He's a stumbling stone to
the Jews. He's a stumbling stone to any
sinner who insists on attaining righteousness by their works,
if that's what you insist on. In other words, when you hear
the gospel of God's grace in Christ, and how God justifies
the ungodly, and how God saves sinners, and how a sinner is
made righteous before God, not by their works, but in Christ
and Him alone, being washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness. When you hear that message, if you walk out
of here today, insisting that you have some righteousness by
your works, then you know what you've just done? You've stumbled
over the stumbling stone. You've been offended. Christ
one time turned to his disciples when he was preaching the gospel
and he offended the Pharisees, they stumbled, and he turned
to his disciples and he said, blessed is he who is not offended
in me. And so if you believe this gospel,
if you believe in Christ, if you trust Him and rest in Him,
that's a gift from God. That's faith, which is the gift
of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That not of yourselves is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And where
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. So, in
that sense, Christ is the stumbling block. Paul used the same word
when he spoke of the offense of the cross in Galatians 5 and
verse 11. It's when we preach the cross,
when we preach, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. When I preach that my only righteousness
before God, my only salvation, my only hope is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, risen again. That's offensive to the sinner
who insists that he has righteousness by his words. You see that? Now
go back to Luke 17 now. But now there's other offenses.
And what he's talking about here is anything that any person would
put before a believer, any by way of doctrine, false doctrine,
by way of false practices, by way of rumor and innuendo, by
way of any kind of talk, by way of division or discord, anything
that a person would put in the way of a believer to cause that
believer to stumble in his walk or her walk of faith, walking
in the Spirit, walking in Christ, growing in grace and knowledge,
anything that would divide believers. And he says, they're going to
come. These offenses are going to be there. Why? Because we
live in a fallen world. And because we're in a warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit indwells
us permanently, continually, forever. But we still have the
flesh to contend with. That's why I say, Lord, save
us from ourselves. And these offenses are going
to come. One time the Lord spoke of heresies. You know, He said
there must need be heresies, that's schisms, divisions among
you, that they which are proved to God might be made manifest.
These are things that test our faith and display the glory and
grace of God within us. Do you want to know who's following
men and who's following Christ? Do you want to know that? I can
tell you right now who's following men and who's following Christ.
They who follow men are following men. They who follow Christ are
following Christ. We complicate it up because we've
got friends and family and loved ones that we want to give an
inch to. But the Lord doesn't do it in the Bible. Who's following
men? I tell you, those who follow
men. They follow men, they're followers of men. But those who
follow Christ, Christ are followers of Christ. And it's as simple
as that. But see, these offenses will
come. We can't avoid them. They're inevitable. That's what
that phrase, it is impossible, means. They are inevitable. These
are trials. These are tests of faith. They
don't create faith. Trials do not create faith, but
they test our faith. And what is the test? How do
we pass the test of faith? You know, say, well, I've got
to do better. Well, go ahead and try, and that's okay, but
that's not how you pass the test, the trial of faith. How do you
pass the trial of faith? You want a passing grade on that
one? The trial of faith? I'll tell
you exactly how. And that's very simple too. Just
keep looking to Christ. Look to Him as the author and
the finisher of your faith. That's the test, and that's the
passing of the test. If you come out of this thing
looking to Christ and following Him and resting in Him, you've
passed. It has nothing to do with your
abilities or your goodness or your supposed earning power with
God. It has everything to do with
the glory of God's grace in Christ. You see, that's one thing I learned
when I was in my days of rebellion, is that religion Humanity, we
just complicate it all up. We do, don't we? I mean, it's
just so complicated to us. You know, we've got to write
volumes of books about stuff like this. And the Lord can say
one word. There it is. There it is. He's the wisdom
of God, isn't he? But I'll tell you what, they're
coming. But Lord, Lord, keep me from being the instrument
of these offenses. You know, the Bible has nothing
good to say about a person through whom these offenses come. You
take those who sow discord among brethren. You know what the Bible
says? Proverbs chapter 6, it says God hates them. That's what
it says. And here it says it would be
better for that person that a millstone were hanged about their neck,
and they were cast into the sea, that he should offend, cause
to stumble, one of these little ones. These offenses. Well, here in verse 3, he begins
talking about forgiveness. Forgiving one another. Somebody
might say, well, how in the world do these two things connect?
Well, we're going to offend each other in certain ways. because
we're sinners saved by grace. We have to deal with one another
as a family, spiritual family, church family. Sometimes we say
things we shouldn't say, do things we shouldn't do. It's not in
the sense of offenses like causing us to stumble and divide, taking
our eyes off of Christ. But listen to what he says in
light of what he made clear here about offenses. He says in verse
3, take heed to yourselves. Now, it's kind of like what I
was saying there. Lord, don't let me be the instrument
of this offense. Take heed to yourself. Pay attention. Listen up here now. And then
he says, if thy brother. So now he's talking about family
here. This is a spiritual family. Those who have the same father,
the God of all grace, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the God who justifies the ungodly. The God who saves by grace. You
see, if your God saves you by your works, He's not the same
God as my God. You understand that? Those are
different gods. The God of the Bible, the true
and living God, does not save sinners by their works. He saves
by grace through Christ. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So
He says, if thy brother trespass, that's crossing the line. That's
what that sin is, crossing the line. Against you, against thee,
it says, rebuking. Rebuking. Now, the word rebuke,
I almost, I was listening to one message on this, and I almost
thought the guy was going to say, well, in the original Greek,
rebuke means clobbering. But that's not what it means.
Doesn't mean that at all. Don't clobber him. The word rebuke
means bring it to his attention. With a mind of recovery. With
a heart of correction. Out of love. And love is the
key here. This is love of the brethren. And notice here, he
says, rebuking. He doesn't say ignore it. And
he doesn't say go around acting like it didn't happen. Because
there's a problem here. We don't know exactly what problem
it might be or could be. We know by experience there are
problems, aren't there? There's always going to be problems. And it says, and if he repent,
forgive him. If he repent, forgive him. And
if he trespass against thee, now it doesn't stop there. You
say, well, that's settled, no. He says, and if he trespass against
thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again
to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Now there's
forgiving one another. And you look at that, and if
you're like me, I say, wow. I mean, wow. Peter asked it over,
I think it's Matthew 18, in the parallel passage of this, I think
he said, how many times? The Lord answered him, seven
times seventy, or seventy times seven, which means an infinite
number. There's no limit to forgiveness. There's no limit to it. You know,
let me talk to you about, and this is why I may not get to
the end of this message, because you get the passage, it's like,
listen, the blessing of forgiveness is an awesome thing. I mean,
it's an awesome thing. Sometimes we take it for granted.
I think about David crying in Psalm 32. Psalm 32, he said,
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Blessed is he whose
sin is covered, carried away. And he said, Blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputeth or charges not with iniquity. and
in whose spirit there is no God." What is he talking about there?
A sinner who is honest before God. You know, when God saves
us, He makes us honest. We're not perfect in ourselves,
but we're honest. And that honesty means this,
I know I'm nothing and I know Christ is everything. I'm just
being honest with you. I know I make statements up here
that may shock people sometimes about myself, but I'm just being
honest with you. Why stand up here and pretend
with you? Why should I lie to you about
me? Listen, I'm no better than you. I'm not. I feel like I'm worse than you.
I know myself. I know my thoughts. You don't.
But I'm just a sinner saved by grace. And if you know Christ,
we're equal in the sight of God. I have no more righteousness
or right to enter heaven than you do in Christ. And if we have
Christ, What more do we need? Isn't that right? But this blessed David, the king
of Israel, the man after God's own heart. And you know, we talk
about, we might say, well, David was a great stalwart of the faith.
And he wrote probably a third or half of the Psalms. We don't
know exactly how many. But let me ask you a question
and be honest. You don't have to answer out loud. When you
think of King David, what's one of the first things you think
of? Would you say his sin with Bathsheba? And his murder of Uriah the Hittite? Don't you think of that when
you think of David? And that's shame, really, you
know, you think about it. I mean, that's recorded in the scriptures,
and it's certainly something to be thought of. But I read
passages like when David wrote Psalm 130 in verse 3, Oh Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who would stand? I'll
tell you, this blessing of forgiveness is awesome. We should never get
over it. We need it daily. We have it
in Christ. But now let me tell you something.
I want you to think about this because it pertains directly
to this passage. God cannot forgive sin without
restitution. He cannot do it. There is no
such thing in the Bible as God just simply ignoring sin and
looking over it as if He says, forget it, it never happened.
That just doesn't happen. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter
9 and verse 22, and this verse is just An exemplary verse. There's many, many, many verses.
Let me just read you this one. He says, "...and almost all things
are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood
is no remission." Now that word remission means pardon, means
forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. God never, and He cannot forgive
sin. without justice being satisfied,
without restitution. Now, here's the problem. We,
who are the sinners, who need the forgiveness, cannot make
that restitution. You don't restitution, that's
payback. Payback. We can't do it. We don't have
the price to pay them back for our sins. That's why the scripture
represents us as nothing but sin, drowning in a sea of sin,
where sin abounded. That means overflowing us like
a flood. Every saint recorded in the Bible
at some point in time speaks like Daniel. When Daniel said,
I'm corruption, I'm nothing, I'm a sinner. And if God would
give me what I deserve, what would that be? It wouldn't be
forgiveness. It'd be death. It'd be eternal death. And if
God were to give me what I've earned at my best now, what would
it be? It would be damnation eternally. That's what David meant when
he said, in whose mouth there is no guile. You say, well, I
don't deserve that. No, you deserve worse. And I
deserve worse. So we cannot make the restitution. We cannot make the payment. Religion
won't do it. Getting baptized won't do it.
That's not payback. Tithing won't do it. Attending
the services won't do it. Giving to charity to the poor
won't do it. Should we do all those things?
Yes, but that's not restitution. That's not the payback. That
doesn't even come close. We cannot make it. But now here's
the good news. Here's the news we want to hear
if we've been convinced of sin. God has already made the payment
and received the payment in His Son. Christ paid it. Christ did it. Paul preached
that in Acts chapter 13 verse 38. Let me read that to you.
He was talking about the gospel as it's fulfilled in Christ and
how the law was fulfilled. And he says, Be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, Jesus
Christ, the God-man, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by Him, by Jesus Christ,
all that believe are justified from all things. You know what
that means? That means we're made right before
God, declared righteous before God from all things that would
damn us, from which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses, by works. By this man, through this man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we who believe in Him, we
are all forgiven freely and unconditionally in and by Christ. But restitution
had to be made. The freeness and the unconditional
part is towards us. I don't have anything to pay.
Ephesians 1 7 speaks of Christ in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. It's a gift. Colossians 1 14
speaks of Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Even that, you mean that's with
it too? Yes it is. Because he that spared
not his own son, how shall he not with him freely give us all
things? He gives it to us freely, but
now in Christ's case it wasn't free. He had to pay the price
of this forgiveness. Now let me say this, now back
here in Luke 17, he says, now listen to what he says now, this
is the scripture, and this is a good translation of this verse,
this is not something that's being added to by the translators,
it says, look at it again, verse 3, it says, take heed to yourselves,
if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent,
forgive him. Sounds like conditional forgiveness,
doesn't it? If he repents. What's the issue
here? Well, let me say this. Now, God
forgave us even before we repented. But not without restitution being
made. Not without restitution, not
without justice being satisfied in and by Christ, isn't that
right? God, and listen, didn't Christ
say, Father forgive them for they know not what they do? He
wasn't speaking about a repentant people there. And God the Holy
Spirit in the new birth, He brings sinners to repentance and then
that forgiveness by God freely given in Christ is revealed to
us. Revealed to our hearts, revealed
to our conscience, revealed to our mind. 1 John 1.9 says this,
if we confess our sins, he's faithful just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's not forgiveness
based on our confession. That's forgiveness that brings
about our confession. Well, aren't we to forgive each
other freely and unconditionally as God forgave us? Ephesians
4 and verse 32, listen to this, And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. Now, God forgave us freely, but
not without restitution. And I want to tell you something,
if you ever forget that part of it, you can forget forgiveness.
The only way God can forgive me is through Christ. Now, we're to forgive each other
in the same way, but there must, there must be restitution. And
it's not a payment for sins, it's not an atonement, only Christ
can do that. And God's forgiveness to us is
not conditioned on us, but it's not experienced by us in our
conscience until we repent, until we come to faith in Christ and
repentance. And Christ teaches here that
forgiveness was to be granted if the sinner repented, Not because
we're to withhold forgiveness, but because not all sinners repent.
Repentance may not occur, but when it does, we dare not withhold
forgiveness. And we're to be ready to forgive.
The point here is also that this forgiveness is to be conveyed,
verbalized, at the time the sinner repents. So make no mistake about
it. We're to forgive as we have been
forgiven. But there must be restitution.
And again, now what he's talking about here is not a payment for
sin. It's not me getting my pound
of flesh from somebody who's offended me. It's not in the
spirit of revenge. Or I want to see this person
humiliated, but it's in the spirit of love and recovery. And remember
that love and recovery. Well. Then we come to the reality
of faith then. How many times, he says, seven
times in a day. If he turns to thee and repents,
then forgive him. What if he does it again? What
if he does it seven times in a day? Keep going. Keep going. What does that say
about the person who does it seven times in a day? I don't
know. It doesn't say, does it? It's not written to them. It's
written to me. And it tells me to forgive. Forgive, forgive,
forgive, forgive, and forgive. Don't stop forgiving. Don't stop
it. You can't forgive with thoughts
of vengeance and thoughts of humiliation. That's not the way. It has to be in love. And so,
verse 5, listen to this. The apostles said unto the Lord,
increase our faith. Increase our faith. Now listen
to what the Lord says to him in verse 6 in response to this. This is interesting. He says,
and the Lord said, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
that's a small grain, you might say unto this sycamine tree,
be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the seed
and it should obey you. Lord, increase our faith. Well,
how much faith do you need? How much faith do I need? About
the grain of a mustard seed? That would tell a sycamore tree
to get up, uproot, and go into the sea. You know really what
this is? It's a mild rebuke to the disciples. Because, see, the problem in
this area of forgiveness is not the amount of faith that we have. The issue in this area and in
any area is, do we have faith? People are so worried about,
do I have enough faith? And that's the, you know, really
that's the product of false religion. Because they'll tell you, you
know, if you think positively enough and you believe it enough,
then it's going to come about. That's not scriptural at all.
We know faith grows. We grow in grace and in knowledge
of Christ. We want our faith increased.
I want more faith. But let me tell you something.
All faith, any saving faith, is the gift of God. Even that
small faith, like the grain of a mustard seed. I've quoted it
before, Ephesians 2.8, for by grace are you saved through faith. That's not of yourself. It's
the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. And let me tell you something.
Think about this. If it's a gift from God, how
great is it? Even if it's a little gift. Little
gift, big gift. You see, we measure things like
that, but Christ doesn't. It's not the issue of how much
faith you have. Two things. Do you have faith? And what is the object of your
faith? Or who is the object of your faith? That's the issue. And that's what he's telling
them. It's a mild rebuke, because it's not the amount of faith.
Do you believe God? And I'm going to tell you something,
to have this kind of forgiveness, you have to believe God. Because
it's not in us by nature. It's not the way we think naturally.
We think naturally if they, you know, do unto others before they
do unto you. That's what we think naturally.
When somebody does us wrong, why do we have such a warfare
in this area? I mean, think about it. I'm telling
you now, I do it too. I'm talking to me. I'm preaching
to me too now. I mean, I heard a preacher say
one time, well, forgiveness just comes naturally to us. Nothing
comes naturally to us. It's by the grace of God. What
comes natural to us is sin and vengeance and greed and all that
stuff. That's the natural man. We have
to fight. We have to war after the flesh
to engage in this kind of forgiveness. And you know what it takes? It
takes faith. How much faith? I don't know. But it's faith
that God gives. And he says, just as much as
a grain of mustard seed. You see, it's not how much faith
you have. It's do you have God-given faith?
And who's the object of your faith? Christ is the object of
faith. We believe God and in God through Christ. 1 Peter 1.21,
"...who by Him do believe in God that raised Him up from the
dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be
in God." Not in yourself and not even in your faith. Think
about it. Over here in Luke 18, you remember
when we were talking about this parable the unjust judge, and how we're not to seek vengeance
on people, but we're to leave it in the hands of God. In Luke
18, verse 8, the last part says, Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall he find faith on earth? You know, for us to
live according to the commands and the principles of God's grace,
it takes faith. We don't do it by nature. We
don't have it in us by nature. And that's the same thing here.
This kind of forgiveness is a gift of God. It's a gift of faith. Somebody said, how much faith
do you need to forgive another person? Here's the answer. As much faith as it takes to
believe that God has forgiven me. How much faith does that take?
Well, I know this. I know this, that all forgiveness
for a sinner like me is in and by Christ Jesus. And it's freely
given. It's not deserved. It's not earned.
So where does this faith take us? I'll tell you what, I'll
deal with this next week on The Unprofitable Servant. Here's
where this faith takes us. Don't sit around here and worry
and think and wonder, do I have enough faith to do this? You
know what it means? Just do it. Just do it. You say, but it's a fight. Well,
if it weren't, you wouldn't want to be around me because you're
perfect. Yeah, it's a fight. Just do it.
You know what that means? Believe God. Do you believe God? If you do, that's a gift from
God. All right. Where's...