No Stumbling Blocks

Good evening, it's good to be with you tonight. Let's turn to Matthew 18 and read a portion of our text tonight and then ask the Lord to bless us. Verse 23 of Matthew 18. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat. saying, Pay me that thou ow'st. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.

So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called him, and said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. If you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother, their trespasses.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this wonderful portion of scripture, Lord, that teaches us how much we owe you. how it ought to be, that word ought in the text, Lord, we ought to forgive, we ought to be merciful, we ought to be long-suffering like you. And we know that's only true by the fruit of your spirit and by your grace enabling us to do so. And we pray for that, we desire that, we desire a tender heart. We desire to love one another as you've loved us. Give us that grace, Lord, and teach us tonight what that is, what the love of our Savior is, and what an enormous debt, an unpayable debt we owed, and yet you paid in our place, and cause us to adore you and worship you all over again for that precious blood that bought us. Thank you for every blessing, Lord. Be with us tonight. Teach us for your honor and glory. And in your precious name we ask, amen.

I do recall in this chapter that our Lord is talking about stumbling blocks. He's talking about impediments, something put in the way something hindering his people from coming to him, from knowing him, from following him, from being with him, from worshiping him, from just simply being one with him, anything that gets between us and Christ. And you remember he began by talking about our own flesh.

If your hand or your foot or your eye offends you, if there's something about you that stands between you and the Savior, it's got to go. It's got to go. Then he began to talk about the world, if anybody would drive a wedge, if anybody would distract, if anybody would hinder you in this world from coming to Christ. And he talks again about if they trespass against you, they'd be better off hanging a millstone around their neck and casting themselves into the sea, rather than offend, put a stumbling block in the way of, impede one of my little ones. Then he progresses on to talk about a brother, a brother in the church, a brother or a sister in Christ that offends, and how we're to deal with that. And he talks about the, what a thorough and forgiving way in which We're instructed to do that.

We're to go to our brother. And that's such a simple thing that is so often ignored. And we do something else than that. Just go to your brother or your sister and talk to them. Why is that so hard to do? If it's important enough, and we talked about it, if they hear you, you've gained your brother. So that tells us that this is a matter of gaining a brother or losing a brother. So it's important enough to go talk to them about it. Don't whisper it behind their back. Don't tell other people. Don't hold a grudge. Talk to them. Go to them and speak with them.

And then give them the opportunity to hear you, to understand, and to repent of the problem. And if that doesn't work, you take a couple of people with you that have probably noticed it too, or you tell them about it, and you go and talk to them with two or three witnesses, because the scriptures often talk about having two or three witnesses. In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let everything be established. And so you go and do that the second time, and again, space is given for repentance. And then in the situation where they're still obstinate about it, they're just, you know, they don't acknowledge that there's a problem at all, and yet it's a lose or gain or other situation, then it may be necessary for the whole church to know about it and to try to persuade the person regarding it.

I don't know that I've ever seen that happen. I don't think I've ever seen it go to that, but even then, Simon, in the middle of that teaching, asked the Lord Jesus Christ, how often? If they, well, we're told first, if they don't repent at that point, if they still won't hear everybody, then they've got to be cut off from the church for a time until such time that there's a change of heart But then the Lord starts talking about forgiveness. And Simon asked, you know, how many times? Say I go to him and he repents. But then a week later, something else comes up, you know, and I have to go to him again. And they say, you know, I'm an idiot. I don't know what I was thinking. I repent. I'm sorry. And they keep apologizing.

But how many times are you going to put up with that? When does that get old and you just write him off? And Simon, he probably thought he was being pretty generous. What if I forgive him seven times? Wow, that'd be something, wouldn't it? No. No, the Lord shot that down. That's not enough. That's not enough. 70 times seven, which seven is the number of perfection and 70, you look through the scripture, you see the numerology of it.

He's basically saying you don't ever stop forgiving. When has it ever been said that there's a limit to forgiveness? And then our Lord tells the parable that we just read. You've been forgiven so much, and yet our nature is to turn around. The Lord forgave us a huge debt. You notice the difference in amounts? And then we can't even forgive the smallest little thing that happens. One little thing comes up. And we got to get even somehow.

But the Lord just forgave us a massive debt. And he just forgave it. He didn't say, take your time paying it back. He said, consider it gone. Consider it gone. And listen, even when the Lord threatened the man that couldn't pay him, he said, I will sell you. And I'll get what money I can from that, from your possessions and all of that. And I'll restore. the debt.

But he was already a servant, so selling him to another owner, that wouldn't be a huge big deal. But that same servant, he sent his debtor to prison. He sent his debtor to prison over this thing. So he was cruel. Even in the administering of justice, he was cruel.

That's us by nature. And look, Here's the thing, when we read these three different situations in which we are not to allow a stumbling block to get in our way, ourselves, the world, or even another brother or sister in Christ, we would be the fools we were born to be if we focused on those procedures and missed the whole point of this message, and that is that nothing can be permitted to get between me and my Savior. This is the parable of the sower in a different form. What comes between us and the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the Lord said sometimes, you know, some seed falls on stony ground.

And Satan will come along. The birds will come along. And he told them later, that's Satan taking away the seed, the Word of God, and you don't even hear it. It never even sinks in at all. And you know what Satan's tactics are? It's not that he's standing around a big cauldron, stirring it, and it's got eyeballs floating in it and all this. You know what Satan's tactics are?

He just wants you to take care of you. He just wants you to not be cheated by God. He wants you to get everything you deserve. Don't you deserve a chance to be saved? Don't you deserve a chance? Isn't your good works worth something? Can't you decide for yourself what's right and what's wrong, instead of just taking the commandment of God at its face value?

It's all about you, you, you. That's why his number is 666. It's the number of a man. Satan's number, we have his number, don't we? It's man, man, man. He will brag on you. You'll go in a so-called church, and they'll brag on you, and they'll love on you, and they'll hug you before they even know your name, and they'll sign you up on a list, and you're part of the church, and we want you to be a member in good standing and all that, and everybody's all huggy and warm and fuzzy. Satan has taken the word completely out of that place.

There's no seed at all in there Nothing's ever gonna sink in because it's all about you you you And then it falls some of the seed fall on shallower They spring up quickly because that kind of ground warms up quickly in the spring. It'll be warmer faster than the deeper ground. So the shallow ground stuff springs up quick. If you plant some seeds in soil that deep, it'll warm up real quick in the summer and something will shoot up. But then, when the heat begins to come to the point where you need more nutrients to survive that heat. You need more water to survive that heat. That shallow soil is not going to hold any of that. It's not going to have enough nutrients in it. It's not going to hold enough moisture. And you're going to dry up, die. And that, our Lord said, is when you fall on shallow ground and the heat. What's the heat?

Well, it's afflictions. It's trouble. And it's simply To put it just as simple as I possibly can, it's when your religion begins to cost you something. When you're gonna have to come up with your own resources here without the help of God. It's all, you know, I've got a free will and I can do as I please and I have decided to follow Jesus. Yeah, that's gonna last a little while. And then the real heat's gonna come.

And it says not having anything, what's the word it uses there in the Parable of the Sower? Not having strength in itself. Not having any power in itself, any ability in itself. And we don't, we have none. It's gonna dry up and die. There it is. Something bad's gonna happen and we're gonna curse God instead of blessing him like Job did. Ever since Job blessed God after he lost literally everything, none of us have much of an excuse for cursing God for our lot in life. We never did anyway. If Job never lived, we wouldn't. Because everything we have is from God. And when he sends trouble instead of prosperity, he's to be worshiped just the same. Job was taught that, wasn't he? The Lord gave, and he took all of it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Well, then some of it fell on thorny ground. And thorns don't grow up in harmony with fruits and vegetables. They tend to choke out. They take all the nutrients and they wrap themselves around. and they mingle their roots with the good plants, and they take up all the nutrients.

And it's the cares of this world, our Lord said, the concerns of this world. And listen, we think of cares of this world, we think about affliction. No, that's the heat. The cares, the concerns of this world is not the bad stuff that this world brings, it's the good stuff that this world brings. Your concerns with the things of this world that you think are good, that's the thorns. That's the thorns.

And they will completely deplete you of everything good. And when you, you know, get on the dog-eat-dog ladder of this world's rat race, in the end, you're gonna find out you wasted your whole life. and never acknowledged God. Maybe you threw him a bone, maybe you gave him, you know, an honorable mention, you know. Thank you, Lord, for giving me all this stuff that I'm wasting all of my time earning. That's not glory, that's not glorifying the Lord.

So it's the concerns of this world, the stuff that gets you embroiled in something besides the only reason we're here. We have jobs because Christ is up. We have concerns in this world because Christ is up. He gave us everything we have, and it's for his glory.

It's not to be for anything else or anybody else. So the message of this whole chapter is not, okay, now we know what to do when somebody offends us. Okay, that's great, that's good, that's good teaching. But the point of the whole chapter is, nothing can be allowed to keep me from my Savior. Everything will try. Everything will try. Satan, afflictions, all these things will take us away.

I've seen bad things happen in families, and next thing you know, instead of being in the worship of God, where are you gonna go when something bad happens to you or someone you love? Are you gonna worship God in that, or are you gonna be bitter and disappear from the worship of God?

I guarantee you, 99% of the time, it's the second. And the only way it's ever the first one is by the grace of God, not the grace of God. Why would you want to be on your own? Why would you want to separate yourself from the family of God or the spirit of God or not seek God's face when there's a catastrophe, when there's a disaster in your life of some kind?

Well, we know the answer to that. Because we would do exactly the same thing if it wasn't for God's grace. And this is what we're being taught here. Don't let anything come in between. Not the heat, not the thorns, not the devil himself. If we're truly Christ, nothing can prevail. The gates of hell shall not prevail against his church.

But we're finding out, aren't we? We're finding out. We're never to take for granted anything, are we? Paul said, I don't count myself to have apprehended. I'm running at Christ as fast as I can. Still am still running to him just as fast as I can. And we're going to find out, aren't we? We're going to find out. Time will tell. Little heat comes, some thorns grow up. And time will tell.

Boy, that causes believers to search their hearts, to see if they be Christ's. That's what Paul taught us to do, is not to search to see if we're good enough, or search to see if we have enough spirituality in ourselves. He said to search your hearts to see if you be in Christ. That's all that matters if you be in Christ.

So we're to forgive 70 times 7 in verses 15 through 17 of our text, three times space is given for repentance. This is in the case of a brother. But let me just point this out for your consideration. The Lord says, woe to that servant who wouldn't forgive. But never in verses 15 through 17 or anywhere in that parable does it say, woe unto him who forgives too much. Woe unto him that lets it go too many times. Woe unto him that fails to treat someone as a publican when they ought to be. It never says that one time. Never says that one time.

There's a time when it's necessary, and the Lord gives us instruction in that, and he also gives us discernment in that. If it comes to the place where there's just no way anybody's gonna be able to worship apart from cutting them off, and that's what it talks about, cutting them off. Sometimes it could be a moral matter, it could be a personal matter, it might be a doctrinal matter.

Turn with me to Titus 3. Titus 3, 9. Titus 3, 9, but avoid foolish questions. I've been told a lot of times in my life there's no such thing as a stupid question, but God says there is. When it comes to the Lord, there's foolish questions, because If you're not asking the question, then you're asking a foolish question.

We're trying to find out who he is. That's their question. You remember why David said, I want to be in your temple. I want for the rest of my days, I want to be found in the house of God. You remember why? Two reasons to behold your glory. I want to look and see and adore and cherish him who is worthy of it. Who's worthy of it. This world is not worthy of it. The riches of this world are not worthy of it. I want to behold his glory. And remember the second reason? I want to inquire in his temple. I want to be there to find out more about him.

That's what this, foolish questions. foolish questions and genealogies and, you know, contentions and strivings about the law. And all of this can be done from the scriptures. It can all be done from the scriptures, every bit of that. You can come up with foolish questions about the scriptures. Was Jesus Christ a sinner? You think that's a good question? That's a stupid question. Quit asking it and quit trying to answer it. That's a foolish question.

And if you even have ever said anything to lead anybody to believe that, stop it. Make it clear. Every time you speak about what happened on Calvary, make it clear that in him was found no guile. There never was, there never has been, and there never will be. He is the eternal, sinless Son of God, and you got to make that clear. You may want to make something else clear too, but make sure you make that clear.

Unprofitable and vain. Is that why we come to worship the Lord and not get anything out of it? To be profitless and empty? That's what the word vain means. Empty. There's nothing there because it's not the gospel. Christ is all there is. If it's not Christ, it's empty. Okay, verse 10 though, a man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject. Even if it's a doctrinal thing and they're blaspheming God, still don't give up too quick. Don't give up. Don't give up on them.

They may be your brother. You know, let me, I'm going to shock you. I'm going to absolutely shock you to your core right now. Believers can make mistakes. Believers can mess up. They can be stupid. They can be idiots. They can say things that are hard. Well, that's shocking. knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself. It's his own words that condemn him, but after the first and second admonition, go to them and say, listen, that's not what we're hearing, that's not the gospel, that's not the truth, that's not who Christ is. Even when heresy is involved, there should be admonition twice.

And it can be corrected. I've seen that happen. It can be corrected. And it may not be. I've seen that happen too. But if they can be corrected, they should be corrected. And if not, then they're to be rejected. They're to be rejected. After the first and second admonition, reject them.

We're not going to have that here. We're not going to listen to it. We're not going to debate with you. We're not going to argue with you. You need to go find... And what an idiot. If you don't... We are. If you don't believe what's being preached, go somewhere else. Why wouldn't you want to sit and hear what your gospel is? Even though it's a false gospel, why wouldn't you want to hear that? What are you doing here?

What we have here is too precious, and that's a... That's one of the big lessons here, too. And it's because of the first one, because Christ meets with us here. Christ teaches us here. Where two or three are gathered in his name, there he is in the midst. And we commune with him, we hear from him, we hear of him. We find in him our all in all. We worship him. We attribute worthiness to him alone. We glory in Him.

All of our little problems in this world, this puts perspective on all that. When we hear of the Savior and how that we're in His hand, and He brings everything, He works all things after the counsel of His own will, and He works all things for good to those that love Him, because He loved them first. Look at 2 Timothy 2. I don't want to be long tonight, but I want us to to look at a few more passages of scripture.

2 Timothy 2.2, no, 2.17, I'm sorry, 2.17. And their word, verse six, you know, let's back up a little bit here. This is really good.

Verse 14, of these things, of the gospel, of the truths of Christ, put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit. Quit arguing over one word. What does this one word mean when the tens of thousands of words in the scripture all point to Christ and tell us who He is? Why would you settle on one word and say, oh, that changes everything? No, it doesn't. The message of the gospel is the same message that's on every page of the scriptures.

Quit striving over words. Is that unclear right there? Strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. It causes confusion. It causes stupid questions. Why is Christ a sinner? No, no, we're not going there. We're not going to even get to that point. We can't. It's too precious.

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, not dividing every single word and trying to make it say something it doesn't, but divide the word of truth. In other words, when you're, when you're, maybe you're caught on a word and you say, I wonder what that word means. Read the rest of the Bible and you'll find out what it means. but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat at this a canker of whom is Hamanaeus and Philetus." He wasn't scared to name names.

We don't want it to ever get to that point. But you know that's necessary when it's necessary. I've given you this illustration a lot of times. If I see a snake in our backyard, and I'm fixing to deal with it, and the kids are going out to play, I'm not going to say, children, be careful now. There's snakes in this world. No, I'm going to say, there's a snake right there.

Get in the house. He's right there. There he is. And I'm going to deal with him. I'm going to point him out. I'm not going to let anybody go near it. That's what Paul is doing right here with Timothy. Don't get near these people. Their word is like a cancer. It'll eat people alive who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some.

Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. See that the foundation depends on him, not us. It's not what we know, it's who he knows. Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. So you see here, when it is necessary, it's got to be swift, decisive, and clear as a bell. That's why the whole church has to know about it.

Well, where's those so-and-so? Well, you shouldn't have to wonder that. Here's why they're not here anymore. You shouldn't have to sit. Don't cause confusion. Don't start rumors and people guessing. It needs to be clear as a bell. And we pray to God that it never comes to that.

That's why Paul said in Galatians 5.12, I would that they were even cut off, which trouble you, if your right hand offends you, cut it off. Paul's saying, These people need to be cut off. They're like a gangrene, that's what that word kinker is, it's gangrene. Gangrene doesn't get better. You don't treat gangrene, you cut it away. Pretty sure that's still true. I don't think you sit there and inject stuff in a gangrenous ant, you cut it off still, as far as I know.

They certainly did in that day. God's people are to be comforted Encouraged, fed. This is our food and water. If somebody was trying to poison your food and water, how would you deal with them? Not a hard question to answer. You'd stop them. Stop them. False gospel destroys the comfort, the unity, the worship.

But if forgiveness is possible, If it is sought by the offending party, then it must be given freely, not to doubtful disputations, as Paul says in another place. In other words, if you forgive, you forgive. Well, we could go back to the same text Sunday morning, but let's go ahead and deal with verses 32 and 33.

Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because you desirest me. You begged me. He was a beggar. He was a mercy beggar. Shouldest thou not, thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee. This was the Lord's answer to Paul wanting to limit forgiveness to seven times.

Pretty strong answer. Pretty clear answer. Turn to Ephesians chapter four with me and we'll read through it. Ephesians chapter four. Verse one. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit. Even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Wherefore he saith, when he ascended upon high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness. of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned, Christ." You see, with all the beautiful language of unity and family and one body, there's the dark side here that's got to be warned against, protected against? Do we know the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we know the difference? Do we know when somebody's giving themselves over to lasciviousness? But the reason we do is because we've learned Christ and we didn't learn him like that.

Verse 21, if so be you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning the former conduct the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor For we are members of one another.

Be angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil." See all these things that come between and the warning, the devil, another person you think is a brother, your own wretched heart. No stumbling blocks. That's it, no stumbling blocks. And the point of that is, Everything we need and everything we want is a person. And there are things that would come between us, can't be allowed, can't be permitted, can't be tolerated. Satan himself now, and we don't win our battle with Satan. We don't win our battle with anything. We lose unless Christ is our strength.

Let him that stole steal no more, verse 28, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Not that he may lay it up in barns, like the rich, not that he might be, you know, wealthy and not have to work, that he may give, that he may have to give. What an opposite thing it is that our Lord teaches us than what this world teaches. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, verse 29, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

God help us. Don't let anything nasty, anything divisive, anything Destructive come out of your mouth. But that which is good. To the building up. And the ministering of grace to those that hear you. Do you know anybody like that? That just being around him is an encouragement in the Lord. Just being around him. But an indictment that is on me. And grieve not.

The Holy Spirit, verse 30. Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed under the day of redemption. But all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking. He put away from you with all malice. And be you can one to another. Tenderhearted.

Forgiving one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake. hath forgiven you." That's the definition of worship right there. Worship. When you speak, speak good things about Him. When you react to things, do so in a way that's honoring unto Him. We have worship services and then there's life. Life is worship too, if we know Him, it must be, it must be. You know, the Lord said, if you have a gift to bring to the altar, then of course it's speaking in the language of that time, but we know what that is, it's worship.

If you're coming before God with a gift, to offer thanks, to give worship, to serve Him, anything, and you remember that your brother has ought against you. It's not the other way around. It's not remember if you have a problem with somebody else, go deal with it. It's if you remember that somebody has a problem with you, go and be reconciled to your brother and then bring your gift. No stumbling blocks. not ourselves, not the world, not the devil himself, between us and Christ. That's pressing toward the mark right there for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. May we ever press by the grace of God.

No Stumbling Blocks

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

Comments

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

No Stumbling Blocks

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

Comments

More from Chris Cunningham

Related Sermons

Articles by Chris Cunningham

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book