And you have to be called to
it. There's lots of people that are sent. And one way that you
can tell that a preacher that's not being called of God, he doesn't
know the gospel. He knows lots of other things,
but he doesn't know the gospel. He doesn't know what it is to
tell and point people to Christ. really tell what the scripture
says. All they see in the scriptures is what men ought to do, instead
of what Christ has already done. We don't preach a message on
what we ought to do. We preach a message on what has
been done. And all of us feel often, I ought
to, I ought to, I ought to. But if we lived by what we ought
to do, we'd stay discouraged all the time. We'd stay defeated
all the time. And that's why I don't talk about
what we ought to do. I ought to be a better preacher,
but I'm not. I ought to be more dedicated,
but I'm not. I ought to be more committed,
but I'm not. So I have to do what the apostles
did, and I have to pray. I have to seek the Lord. And
if I spent my time this morning telling you what you ought to
do, all of you would leave here feeling guilty, down in the mouth,
saying, I'm going to change my way of doing. I'm going to start
doing better. I'm going to start praying more.
I'm going to start giving more. I'm going to start attending
services more. And if I dealt with you like
that, tell you how you ought to be out witnessing, how you
fail your families, How you failed your children. Don't witness
enough to them. Do all those things. But that's not what God
calls preachers to do. He calls us, and this is the
way you can always tell a God-called preacher. He's going to point
you to Christ. He's going to point you away
from yourself. Self is our problem. Christ is the remedy. Sin is
our problem. Christ is the great physician.
Weakness and inability is our problem. Christ is our sufficiency
and our strength. Ain't you grateful? That's the way it is, aren't
you? But here in verse 5, Luke 17, it says this, And the apostles
said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. Increase our faith. Anybody here would say that prayer? Lord, increase our faith? I want
you to notice who asked that and who prayed that. It says,
and the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. These wasn't just nobodies. These were apostles. These were
men specially called of God, equipped of God, used of God.
And when the last apostle, Paul, died, that was the end of the
apostles. No more apostles. They were special men, gifted
men, used of God in a particular, very powerful way. But it's the
apostles that made this request. And what an important, what a
needful request. Increase our faith. Increase
our faith. And you know, faith is a gift.
We're not born with it. It's not natural to us. I don't
care how many preachers tell men and women, you've got faith,
all you need to do is exercise it. Well, nobody's born with
faith. Not the faith that trusts God.
Not the faith that knows God. Not the faith that comes to God. Not the faith that commits itself
to God. Not the faith that casts itself
on Christ and Him alone. Not the faith that has Christ
as its only and sole object. Not the faith that looks to Christ's
blood and right. Men are not born with that. That's
a gift. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. What is it? It's the gift of
God. Gift of God. And I tell you,
the Scripture says over there in thanks to the Lord, it said,
all men have not faith. And so here's these apostles.
They said, Lord, increase our faith. Faith is the root and
foundation of salvation. And the Scripture said in Hebrews
11, 6, without faith, it's impossible to please God. People are trying
to please God. They want to please God. I spent
years trying to please God. And, oh, beloved, it's satisfying.
But he says, without faith, it can't be done. Without faith,
you can't please Him. Without faith, there's nothing
that He looks at about you. And, oh, beloved, and I'll tell
you this much about it. According to our faith will be
our peace, will be our hope, will be our strength, will be
our courage. And look over here with me in 1 John, Chapter 5.
Not only will it, according to our faith, will be our peace
and our hope, our strength, our courage, but also, beloved, it
gives us victory over the world. This world out here that's full
of trouble and heartache and sorrow, this world that's just
so negative, this world that's just so confused, this world
that has just bad news, you turn on the news, just one bad thing
after another. What makes us overcome this world?
What gives us the victory over this world that keeps us being
discouraged in an uproar about it? Look down in verse 4, it
says this, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world,
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith. What is it that overcomes the
world? Our faith. Our faith. And now, beloved,
there's degrees of faith. There's degrees of faith. Everybody
don't have the same faith. There's little faith. Our Lord
said, oh, you have little faith. And then there's great faith.
Our Lord said, I've not seen so faith, so great a faith in
all of Israel. There's weak faith, and there's
strong faith. And you know we're born babes.
I was trying to witness to somebody the other day and I was talking
to them and I was telling them about a little baby, you know.
And that's why our Lord said, except you become as little children,
you can't enter into the kingdom of God. And those little children
he's talking about are infants, babies. And babies, what can
a baby do for itself? It can't give itself life. It
can't clothe itself, can't feed itself, can't wash itself, can't
walk. A cult has no ability to do anything
for itself whatsoever. Someone has to do everything
for it. And our Lord said, except you
become as that, you can't enter into the kingdom of God. And
that's why He said, you've hid these things from the wise and
prudent and revealed them unto babes. And so, beloved, we're
born babies. We're born when God saves us
and regenerates us and gives us life. We're babies. Now a
baby has everything that they're going to have that they'll need
to grow up into a human being. They've got the same amount of
toes, fingers, eyes, ears. They've got everything they need
as an adult. And they start growing. And so
when a baby's first born, he don't have but very little thing. And he begins to grow. And we
grow in grace. And as we grow in grace, grace
grows in us. And as that first beginning of
faith, from faith to faith, as grace grows in us, the grace
of faith grows in us. And how does it grow in us? Faith
cometh by hearing. and hearing by the word of God.
And that's why we, that's what we are, we're telling babies,
where's your ear? Where's your nose? Where's your
mouth? And we tell them how to say mama, say daddy, say papa.
And that's what the Holy Ghost does to us. He starts teaching
us. And as he teaches us, we react
to that teaching in that month. And that's why they said here,
Lord, increase our faith, we're babies. And then, oh, look what
else they said over here about increased our faith. Look what
they done, said in verse 5, and the apostles said of the Lord,
and they went to the right person. They didn't get some prayer line
and say, Preacher, I want you to pray for me that God give
me faith. Give me faith to endure this, faith to overcome this,
faith to overcome that. No, no. They made the request
to the right person. They said, Lord, This word, Lord,
here is the same word as Jehovah in the Old Testament. This is
God they're addressing. Lord, increase our faith. He hasn't asked the right person.
He's the one who gives it to us. He's the one who gave it
to us, and He'll sustain it. He alone can cause it to grow.
Looking unto Jesus, the author, He's the one that began this
faith. He's the author of this faith. He produced this faith. And not only that, but beloved,
the Scripture says that He's the finisher of it. He'll be
the one to bring it to its completion, bring it to its final state as
we live with Him in eternity. Look at Ephesians 4 with me,
just a moment. Ephesians 4, 7. I'll show you what I'm talking
about here. He alone can cause it to grow.
He's the author of it. He gave it to us. And I'm certainly
thankful. For what faith I have, it may
not be much, but it's mine. The Lord gave it to me. It belongs
to me. I don't want yours, I just want
mine. You know, I know where I got
mine, where mine come from. You know, a lot of people have
faith that they were just passed on from generation to generation.
I was raised a Methodist, I'll be it, I'll die a Methodist.
I was raised a Baptist, I'll die a Baptist. I mean, I was
raised, you know, and I just, and they, and they have to pump
somebody else's faith. They have to, you know, I, I,
I, I look in these, uh, uh, uh, faith sometimes and in some Presbyterian
churches, the first thing they deal with in the morning is on
Sunday morning is some article of the, of the Westminster Confession. And then they'll go through that
and then they'll sing a little hymn and they'll all say, and
amen and amen. And so that's a hand-me-down
faith. They're living by somebody else's faith. Beloved, I don't
want to live by traditional faith. I don't want to pass down. I
want to live by the faith that God gave me. He gave it to me. It's mine. He gave me a portion
of it. I don't know how big it is, how great it is, how strong,
but it's mine. It belongs to me. Christ gave
it to me. Did He give it to you, some of
it? I can't share mine with you, Rodney, you know. But look what
he said here in Ephesians 4, 7. But unto every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Oh, I
don't know what measure he gave me. But I'll tell you what, it's
a measure He gave me. But oh, let's go back over here
to Luke 17. Why did they now ask our Lord
to increase their faith? What was going on that they said,
Lord, increase our faith? Well, start back up in verse
1. Here's the first reason they
said it. Then said He unto the disciples, It's impossible, but
that offences will come, but woe unto him through they come.
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these
little ones. So they said, Lord, increase our faith. Because,
beloved, they heard him say, you know, offenses are going
to come. It is absolutely not possible to live without offenses. And this word offenses means
to cause somebody to stumble. It means to cause somebody to
trip up. And that's what he says, and they say, Lord, when they
understand this, that you know these offenses are going to come.
And what he says, but woe unto them to whom they come. And I
mean, beloved, offenses are going to come, and we need faith. And
that's what they said, Lord, give us faith. Increase our faith
to bear these offenses that are going to come. And offenses,
and I mean, how many offenses do come to us over the period
of our lives as believers? Some things happen to us in our
lives that absolutely cause us to stagger. That absolutely hits
like somebody knocked all the wind out of you. When they told
Peggy, when she went in there, and they told her that you've
got an aggressive tensor, it just, I mean, the wind goes out
of her cell, my cell, and your cell. When we heard that, that
causes us to stagger. That causes us in awe, beloved,
and they cause us to stumble. But there are so many things
that happen. You see marriages, they go bad. People sit among
you and you enjoy their company, enjoy their fellowship, and then
marriages go bad. And you understand, oh my, it
causes you to stagger. How could this happen? How could
believers who claim to be believers, how can their marriages go bad?
And we hear about preachers quitting. And then you're looking at somebody
that you have confidence in, you've got utmost confidence
in, and you see them say something, do something, act a certain way,
and that causes you to stumble. And all we need faith to bear
offense is that we're going to be offended. There's lots of
things, and I hope by God's grace that I've come to the place.
Lots of things that happen among people that I know, even people
here, that'll cause you to stumble because it's an offense to you.
It's offensive to you. There's things that people say
and do that's offensive. And not only do we need faith
to bear offenses, but we need faith to not be an offense. We need faith not to be an offense
to somebody. We need faith, and God increased
our faith so we won't cause others to stumble. And I know I've done
this over the years. I have no telling how many people
I've caused to stumble, how many people I've offended, how many
people I've hurt their feelings, how many people I've caused to
say, well, I used to like that preacher, I used to think a lot
of him, but you know, and then, you know, not to cause other
people to stumble by our actions. Oh, God, help our actions not
to cause somebody to stumble. Watch what we say. Watch what
we do. Watch how we act when we're in public. Watch how we
act when we're around one another. Don't be so quick to be offensive.
Don't be so quick to take offense. And then, beloved, by our words.
You know, words. People say, and I read another
article, I'm going to put it maybe in the next word, but sticks
and stones. And they said, the fellow, I forget his name, who's
come up with this. Way back in 1800, sticks and
stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me. That's
not true. Words, words are like knives. And the Scriptures tell us, beloved,
that the tongue is a little member. I mean, it's a tiny member. But
all it sets on course, it sets on course a fire of hell itself.
And oh, beloved, and that's why we don't want to offend with
our words. And you know how easy it is to offend with a word.
If a man doesn't offend with a word, he's a perfect man. If
he's able to control his thoughts, he can control his whole body. And then, oh, beloved, oh, not
to be an offense by our character. Now, let me tell you something
here, and I'm going to get a little personal now. And I don't want
to offend you, I really don't, but I need you to get a little
personal. We often don't think that we can offend our families.
But we cause more offense in our families than we do anyplace
else. We offend our children. You know a husband think he can't
offend his wife, cause her to stumble? A wife think she can't
cause her husband to stumble? Father and mother think they
can't cause their children to stumble? But we certainly can. Can't we
do it? How many wives have been offended
by their husbands and cried? How many husbands have been offended
by their wives and left the house angry? Oh my, oh Lord, increase our
faith. Increase our faith. I've told
my children a lot of times when they were little and younger
and still at home, I've apologized to them several times for the
way I've acted, the things I've said and the things I've done.
Getting angry when I shouldn't have been angry. Popping off
when I shouldn't have popped off. But oh, we don't want to
be that way. Oh Lord, increase our faith.
We don't want to be guilty of offending one of these little
ones. They are your statue, you are
God's children. You belong to Christ. He bought you and paid
for you. He loved you before the world
began. Called you by His grace, separated you from His mother's
womb. Revealed Christ in you. And why in the world would we
offend one of these little ones? Would we hurt their feelings?
One of these little ones for whom Christ died? You know when
a little baby goes to crying and them tears start streaming
down their face, and they go to snubbing and crying and all
that, and somebody picks them up and tries their best to comfort
them to keep them from crying? Oh, honey, what are you crying
about? What have you heard about? What's going on with you? That's
the way we ought to consider every single brother and sister
in Christ. When we see them hurt, when we
see them with tears in their eyes, when we see them grieving,
oh, honey, what's the matter with you? Do our dead level best.
to give them some comfort. They're warning Christ for the
ones. Let's never hurt one of them. Let's just don't hurt anybody. But let's especially not hurt
one for whom Christ died. No wonder they said, Lord, increase
our faith. I want to be able to bear offenses,
and I certainly don't want to be in offense. And then look
what else he said here. Why they said, Lord, increase
our faith. Down in verse 3. Take heed to yourselves. If thy
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive
him. And if he trespass against thee
seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto
thee, say, I repent, thou shalt forgive him." We need faith,
and our faith needs increased so we should get forgiveness. Give forgiveness. And look what
our Lord says there in verse 3. First thing He said was, take
heed to yourselves. First thing He said, take heed
to yourselves. You know what's the way we do things? We take
heed to everybody else. Take heed to your ways. No, no.
He says, you take heed to yourself. You look at you. Start with you.
The scripture never ever tells us how everybody else is supposed
to treat us. It only tells us how we're supposed to treat everybody
else. And take heed to yourselves.
And this is not someone else. Take heed to yourselves. And
that's what we want to do. We want to always be concerned
about what somebody else is doing. But what about us? Take heed
to yourself. And then he says here, if thy
brother trespass, trespass. Now, first, he says a brother.
A brother trespass. And you know what trespass means.
When they go on property that don't, you know, people put up
no trespassing signs. Don't go here, don't go there.
When somebody trespasses, goes beyond what they ought to go
towards you. goes beyond where they ought
to go as what they say to you, how they treat you, how they
act towards you. And if your brother trespasses,
if he gets on your ground, ignores your signs, ignores your
property, your feelings, your word, your actions, your heart,
your... If a brother tries to... and
you go to him and you... and this word rebuke, it means
tell him. Say, you know what you just did?
Do you know what you just did? And he says, oh, I'm sorry. I
didn't realize it. I changed my mind. I shouldn't have said that. I
shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have acted that way. And repentance
is, I'll change my mind. I'll change my opinion. I'll
change what I think. And then he says, forgive me.
Forgive me. What do you do? You forgive him. You forgive him. Let me show
you something over here. Let me show you Colossians 3.12.
Let me show you this. Look in Colossians 3 with me,
just a moment. You know, charity, this is what I love about being
a believer. You know, men talk about sins, that they
can be an outward in that. But our sins have more to do
with our spirit and our attitude than it does with our words. And charity covers a multitude
of sins. And then look what he says here
at verse 12. Colossians 3.12. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, your holy and your beloved. Because God elected you, chose
you. And these vows of mercy means
you're very inward, you're very soul, you're very heart. Vows
of compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering,
watch it now, forbearing one another. That means more than
just putting up with somebody. You know, everybody can put up
with somebody for a while. But this is not just putting
up with somebody. We can all put up with somebody
for a while, can't we? We've put up with a lot of stuff
for a long time. But this is not just putting up with somebody.
Forbearing means that you actually take them the way they are, as
they say, warts and all. And you take them the way they
are, and you forbear with them. You actually have compassion,
you actually have kindness, you actually have bigness, and you
forbear with them. You love them, and you know that's
the way they are, and they're not going to change, unless God
does something for them. So you just forbear with them.
You don't just put up with them and say, well, I'll just put
up with it until it's over and done with. That's not what he's talking
about here. Wouldn't it be awful to have
to go through life just putting up with this one, putting up
with that one? Wouldn't it be awful if I put up with you and
you put up with me? You putting up with me this morning
for 45 minutes? And all forbear, beloved. Listen to this. And forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, you do the same thing. Now listen,
and above all these things, put on charity. That's the bond of
perfectness. Oh, that'll make your relationship
perfect. That'll make you... You're talking
about making things right. Bond. It binds you together.
Keeps you together. causes you to love one another.
Let me show you something over here in 1 Peter right quick.
Let me show you this. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 8. Here's one of them special verses
of Scripture. Look what he says there in verse
7. 1 Peter 4, 7. But the end of all
things is at hand. The end of life, the end of troubles,
the end of heartaches, the end of the world, the end of all
things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and watch
unto prayer. And here's the thing to do above
everything else you do. Above all things you do, have
fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover. A multitude of sins. Ain't that amazing? Ain't that
charity covers a multitude? I mean, you think, boy, I tell
you, I'm not going to put up with that one more time. Oh,
yes, we are. Yeah, we're going to do that.
And we're not going to say anything about it. We're just going to
love and we're going to cover it up. We're going to leave it
go. And back over here at Luke 17,
I want you to see this. We need faith to put up with
much and look over much. We really do. I know you need,
Lord, increase our faith that I may put up with the preacher.
He goes on and on and on, says the same thing over and over
and over. I know you need faith to put
up with much and look over much. But look what it says here in
verse 4. And if he trespass against thee
seven times in a day, you say, oh my goodness, wait a minute,
there's got to be an end to this business of forgiving. There's
got to be an end to this business of putting up with somebody.
There's got to be an end to this. There's got to be a time when
you just say, I ain't forgiving enough. The next time you do
that, I'm done with you. He trespasses seven times in
a day. Very often I'm after you seven
times in a day. That's what I'm talking about.
And I wish everybody had a marriage like her and I did. That's what
love does. I mean, when something's said
and done, it's done like that. It's over and done with. That's
what love does. It just covers it, don't it?
It's over and done with. And then look what He says. Seven
times in a day, turn again to you saying, I repent. What are
you going to do? There's no end to it. We just
keep on forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving.
And I tell you, not only that, You know when we'll quit forgiving?
When we no longer need forgiveness ourselves. I'm going to read
you a verse. I won't have you look at it.
I'll read it to you. I'll just read it to you. I may read this verse of Scripture
to you. It says, You know, we'll forgive
until we don't need forgiveness ourselves anymore. Be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Amen. And look back over here now again.
They said, Lord, increase our faith. When you talk about forgiveness,
we need, Lord, increase our faith. So that we have a tender heart.
We have a forgiving heart. And not only a forgiving heart,
but a forgetting heart. A forgetting heart. And look
at our Lord's encouragement to faith here in verse 6. And the
apostles said, the Lord increased our faith. In verse 6, and the
Lord said, he gives them some encouragement to it. And the
Lord said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you
might say under this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the
root and be planted in the seed. Oh my. Our Lord said, encouragement,
if you had faith, and look how he describes the faith and how
much the faith is. If you had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, Now, all of y'all plant mustard a lot of times,
greens in the winter. And you plant that mustard. How
big is the mustard seed? I mean, you can't hardly see
it. He said, if you had that much faith, just... He said, you could tell that
tree. And you know what? And he's not talking about little
trees. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about obstacles.
Something as big as a tree. You know, that's what he says,
you know, if you've got a, you know, you're trying to get a
moat out of a brother's island, you've got a cross-tie on your
own. And that's what he's saying here,
you know, you've got this great big tree in front of you, this
obstacle, and you can't get around it. You can't get over it. You can't climb it. You've got
something that you can't deal with, and it's so big, it's like
a huge tree, and you can't get up. You can't climb it. And if
you try to climb it, you fall back out of it, and you hurt
yourself. And he said in another place, you could say under this
mountain, be thou removed. And he's not talking about literal
mountains. He's talking about great obstacles that come to
us in our lives. Heartaches and sorrows and trials
and griefs and losses and crosses. And that's what he's talking
about. If you had faith, there's a grain of mustard seed. It's who the faith is in. It's
not the amount of the faith. It's if it's in Christ. They
went to the right place. And our Lord said, if you had
that faith, you had faith of a grain of mustard seed. You
say, I ain't got no faith. And you think I ain't got none.
Oh, He says, listen, and I'll tell you how many obstacles have
been in your way and things you've went through in your life and
said, Lord, there's no way I can bear this. I can't deal with
this. I'll never get through this. I can't handle it. There's just more than I can
bear. And yet, you do. The tree's gone, ain't it? The
mountain's gone, ain't it? Oh, bless His Holy Name. You
know how we do? We're right before the Master,
doing just like they did. Lord, increase my faith. I can't
deal with this. Lord, help my faith. I'm too
weak. I don't have the ability. I don't
understand this. I can't handle this. And we don't
voice this out, but we do it before the Lord. And what has
happened? The tree's gone. We don't have to climb it. No
danger of falling out of it. And the mountain's gone. You know, there's this old song
He used to sing all the time, Lord, this time You gave me a
mountain. That's all God gives His people. You know, everything's
relative. What might be an ounce to you
might to somebody else be just a molehill. It's according to what, you know,
God ain't going to give a baby a mountain. He's going to give
a baby just a little bitty obstacle he's got to get over, crawl over. But as you get older and you
start growing, you start getting bigger and bigger and bigger
and bigger and bigger, until like Abraham, the last trial
he had, take his son, the only son. You know, and I know dear, dear
brethren, dear preacher friends of mine, dear, dear men of God,
people that I love dearly and other people, that God waits
until they're old age and gives them some of their greatest trials. Live with somebody for 50 or
60 years and then you part with them. See people that you love wither
away. And watch them lose and get sick
and lose all their health. Walk and put your mothers and
your daddies and your sons and your daughters, those are mountains.
And you say, how did you get through it? You have faith with
grain of mustard seed. And they're all gone. Ain't they
gone? Ain't they gone? And ain't that
wonderful how the Lord increases our faith? And let me show you
over here in Mark. Look over in Mark with me real
quick. I don't mean to be taking so long. Look here in Mark with
me just a moment. Mark 9, verse 23 and 24. And what our Lord is saying to those who have
faith, all things are possible to him that believes. He said here in verse 23 of Mark
chapter 9, Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, he's talking
about his child and all that his child's going through. And
he can't do anything for his child. He asked the Lord to come
and do something for him. And our Lord said unto him, If
thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Now watch what this is, the first thing this father said. In a
straight way, the father of the child cried out and said with
tears, Lord, I believe. I really do. I believe, I believe. I come to you because I do believe.
I come to you because I've got a need. I come to you because
my child's in trouble. And I come to you, Lord, I believe.
I really, really believe. Help thy mind believe. All in
the same breath. I believe, Lord, I believe. Help
my unbelief. That's what these apostles said.
Lord increase our faith. You called us to face things
that we can't face. You called us to fulfill our
trespasses seven times for giving. That we're going to have offenses
and we're going to be in offenses. Oh Lord Jesus. Lord increase
our faith. Where do we get the strength
to bear the offenses? Where do we get the strength
not to be offensive? Where do we get the strength
at the same time to forgive those who offend us, to face the obstacles,
the trees and the mountains? Lord, increase our faith. It's got to come from above.
And let me hurry real quick. Now, back over in our text. That
took way too long. Here's another reason why we
say, Lord, increase our faith. He says in verse 7, But which
unto you? Which of you, having a servant
plowing or feeding, cattle, will say unto him, Thine by, when
he is come from the field, go and sit down to me, and will
not rather say, 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? Doeth he think that servant,
because he did the things that were commanded him, I try not,
I don't think so." No, he won't. So likewise you,
when you shall have done all those things which are commanded
you, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which are duty
to do." And what he's saying here is we need faith, Lord increase
our faith, for true humility. Now let me show you what he's
saying here. The servant worked. He did what he was told. And
when he comes in from the field, when he comes in from doing his
work, is the master going to say, now you deserve a rest now?
You go sit down, take life easy, and go sit down. But no, what
does he do? He'd say, rather, you make ready
for my suffering. You're my servant. You belong
to me. I'm the one paying you. You make
ready for my suffering. And you gird yourself. You clean up here and you make
supper and gird yourself and serve me. And when I'm through
eating and I'm through drinking, afterwards you can eat and drink.
Oh, I'll be loving. Then look what he says in verse
9. Does he thank that servant? He says, thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Because he did those things that
were commanded him, he's just done what he's told to do. Huh? By this shall all men know you're
my disciples. Why? Because he that loveth me,
what is he going to do? He's going to keep my commandments.
Now look what he went on to say here. Does he think that's servant
because he done what he was commanded to do? Huh? When your boss gives you your
paycheck at the end of the week, he says, thank you for putting
in those 40 hours. They call you in the middle of
the night and say, boy, you've got to come out. We've got this thing
going on over there. No, he don't think. He don't say, get out
of here. If you don't get out of here and get to work, he said,
I'll fire you. Oh, no. And then what he's saying
here, can we put our Master in debt to us? That's what he's
saying. He said, this fellow goes out and he does what he's
told to do. He goes out and he works in the field. He takes
care of the cattle. He does whatever he's supposed to do. And then
when he comes back, we're going to put the Lord in debt to us
now. Lord, I've done everything. I've worked hard today. I'm going
to rest a while. I'm not going to do nothing else.
I'm just going to rest a while. No, no. Can we put our Master
in debt to us? He owes us first, and we just
sit down? No, no. We'll not sit down until
we sit down in the marriage supper of the Lamb. And then look what
he says there in verse 10. So likewise ye, Now listen to
it, "...when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded
you, saying, You are unprofitable servants." Now, this takes something. It
takes some humility. This takes some grace. This takes
some faith to say, I'm absolutely no prophet at
all. Anything I've done is not profitable at all. I'm an unprofitable
servant. And that's what he says here.
He says, you've just done what you're supposed to do. You ain't
done nothing special. And that's what preachers want
you to do. They want you to make you do something special. You're
really special. God just can't do without you.
God thinks you're the greatest thing since electric light. You
know, God really needs you. He can't do these things without
you. He made mothers because He couldn't
be everywhere at the same time. Oh, listen. And how in the world
can a man call himself unprofitable no matter what he does? Lord,
increase our faith. We can't call ourselves unprofitable.
You know what we're going to do when we say something, do
something? Look at my light. I'm going to blow on it so you
can see it good and clear. Here's my trumpet. Did you see
what I just did? No, no, our Lord said when you,
and listen, look what He says here, when you've done all Anybody here done everything
that he knows to do? Have we all walked in the light
that we have? Perfectly? Completely? What are you going to say about
yourself? I'm an unprofitable servant. Oh, beloved, when you've done
everything, You've been commanded. We still have to say, Lord, I'm
no prophet. I fought the world. Lord, what
have I done for your glory? What have I done with a pure
heart? What have I done with a pure motive? What have I ever
done that honored you completely and perfectly? Do you see, beloved,
it's not how much we do. It's not even what we do. But
it's in what spirit we do. Cain and Abel, two brothers,
they both come to bring an offering. The Pharisee and the publican
come to offer prayers. But what a difference between
the two of them. Cain brought the works of his own hands, tried
to put God in debt to him. Abel brought blood. The Pharisee
come and bragged about all he had done and was going to do.
The publican smote his heart and breast and said, I'm a sinner.
Lord, have mercy on me. They all come. They come to the
same place, but there's a world of difference in the way they
come. A world of difference in their spirit and attitude. And
that's why He said we're unprofitable servants. And what a difference
between them. And I'll tell you this, beloved,
without Christ, without His blood and His righteousness, nothing
we ever said, nothing we ever thought, nothing we ever did
would be acceptable to God. But, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Listen now, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. Where are you accepted at in
Christ? What did you do? Nothing. He
did it all. To Him be the glory. Huh? That's it. That's it. We're unprofitable,
but He's not. We ain't done all things, but
He has. He has. Our Father, Our gracious God
in heaven, blessed be your holy, righteous, blessed, blessed name. Thank you for the day. Thank
you for the mercies. Thank you for the grace given
us in Christ. Thank you for the day of saints
of God and their attention that was given today. God bless the
word to our hearts, our understanding. Thank you, Lord. And Father,
I know every believer here today cries out, Lord, increase our
faith. I know we do. We ask you and
thank you in Christ's name. And as we gather to eat, bless
our time together. Thank you for every hand that
prepared the food, all the love and care that went into it. Thank
you for the love you put in our hearts for one another. We thank
you for it in Christ's name. Amen.