I love Paul's reasoning with
Philemon. He says in verse 19, I've written
it with my own hand, I'll repay it, albeit I do not say to thee
how thou owest unto me, even thine own self besides. Now, Paul says to Philemon, you
owe me your life. I've entitled this message, A
Good Debt. A Good Debt. Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter eight? Verse twelve. Therefore, brethren, we are what? Debtors. And that debt we owe is not to
the flesh, to live after the flesh. A good debt. I don't know of anything that
I I dislike much more than feeling that I am in debt and owing money. It's oppressive to me. I don't
like to think like that, and I know you don't either. Freedom
is not owing anything, isn't it? That's true freedom. Now, only the believer is truly
free. And I mean truly free. I'm not
just talking about fiscally free. I'm talking about truly free.
We read in John chapter 8 verse 36, if the Son shall make you
free, you're free indeed. Not just talking about it. You're
truly free. And to be free is to not owe
anything. You see, if you have any sin
on you at all, you owe a debt that you cannot possibly pay. That is why hell is eternal. That's why it will never end.
The sinner can never pay his debt so that God's justice is
satisfied. That's why hell is going to last
forever. No man can ever pay his debt. But the believer has
no debt because the believer has no sin. Christ put away my
sin. Listen to this scripture. First
John chapter three, verse five. Says He was manifested, talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was manifested to take away
our sin. Now, did He do it? Did He do
it? He surely did. So, the next phrase
is, in Him is no sin. Now, you want to talk about free.
I don't owe anything before the holy law of God because I have
no sin. Christ put it away. He washed
it away. Not only do I have no sin, as
if that's not good enough, not only do I have no sin, I have
perfect righteousness before Him. Not only have I not done
anything wrong in Christ, I've always done that which is right. Everything He sees about me,
He's pleased with in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a wonderful
place to be? That's true freedom. That's liberty. Now, this is what we call grace,
what I'm talking about right now. Free grace. Grace as opposed to works. You
know, there are a lot of problems with salvation by works. Now,
salvation by works means salvation, some kind of salvation before
God that is in some way dependent upon something you do. If you
put anything that's dependent upon you, that makes it salvation
by works. Now, there's a lot of problems
with salvation by works. The first being you can't be
saved by works. By grace are ye saved through
faith. And that, nodded yourselves,
is the gift of God, not of works. That's plain speaking, isn't
it? Not of works, lest any man should
boast. As a matter of fact, Romans 9, 11 says the purpose of God
is this. Listen to this. Romans 9, 11.
The children. Talk about Jacob and Esau. Being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God, according to election, might stand. Anybody know the rest
of the verse? Not of works. That's God's purpose, not of
works, but of him that calleth. It was
said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob of a love that he saw, have I hated. Now, if salvation
by works were true, if somebody could be saved by their works,
then these two things would also be true. First, God would be
a debtor to you. Listen to this scripture. Romans
chapter four, verse four, to him that worketh is the reward,
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If your salvation is dependent
upon something for you to do and you do it, that would mean
God is your debtor. He owes you salvation. God's
not going to be your debtor. It's not going to happen. And. Second thing would be true
if salvation were by works. The only obedience God recognizes
is perfect obedience. And so if you're going to make
it in any way salvation by works, that means you have to be perfect
in every respect. If you mess up once, it's over
for you. Now, that's the way God is. He
demands absolute perfection. So salvation is any way dependent
upon your works or my works. We're in trouble. You see, salvation is either
all of grace or it's all of works. There's no in between. There's no hybrid of the two.
But how wonderful it is to be totally free. I love what Paul
says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. Isn't that wonderful? If you
can say that, nobody can lay anything to my charge. It's God
that justified me. Who is he that can condemn me?
It's Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God. Everybody who is free will understand
this. And this is true freedom, what
I'm talking about, isn't it? Perfection before God. Everybody who's truly
free will understand what I'm saying when I say this. This
freedom puts us under great debt. and great obligation, doesn't
it? And it's a good debt. Do you
remember the parable of the two debtors? Which debtor loved the
most? The one who was forgiven the
greatest debt. He is the one who loved the most. Now, this is a debt we're talking
about. We obviously cannot repay. And
we have no desire to be out from under this debt, do we? This is a debt. Now, all other
debts, I don't want to have anything to do with, but this is a debt
I want to stay under. Brethren, Paul said, we are debtors,
not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Now, in the Bible,
I see three different persons that the believer is indebted
to. First, God. I am a debtor to the Lord God,
to the Lord Jesus Christ, to God the Holy Spirit. I am a debtor
to God, and I'm in debt to other believers. And we're going to
see that from the scripture. I am in debt to other believers. I think of what Paul said to
Philemon when he said, you owe me your own self beside. You
reckon Philemon said, well, I don't want to have anything to do with
that. Of course he didn't. He knew he was. What I thought
about when I read that passage of scripture, I thought about
Brother Mahan. If he said, I want you to do
this, I would feel indebted to do it. I really would. I feel like I owe him my own
self in that sense. That's what I thought of when
I When I thought of that, we're in debt to other believers, and
we're in debt to this world to preach the gospel to them, as
we're going to see. Now, first, every believer is
indebted to God. And this is a good debt. This
is not the debt of feeling oppressed, knowing that I've got to come
up with some kind of works in order to please Him. No, I owe
a debt to His grace. I like what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
1-3 when he said, We are bound to thank God always for you as
His meat. And that word bound is we owe
it to God to thank Him for you. You know, I hear preachers say to
their congregation from time to time, they thank their hearers
for being there. I want to thank you all for being
here. Now, I'll be honest with you, I've got a real problem
with that. I just got a problem with that. I'm glad you're here. Don't get me wrong. And it's
an encouragement to me that you're here. I love seeing you here.
I want you to be here. So don't get me wrong, but I'm
not going to thank you for being here. Not going to do it. I do thank
God that you're here and that I'm here. And by His grace, we
want to be here. I thank God for that. But as
far as thanking somebody to come to worship God, I'm not going
to do that. It's our privilege to be here, isn't it? What a
blessing. Paul put it this way in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13. He said, We are bound. And that
word means obligated. We are in debt. We are bound
to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved Lord, because
God has from the beginning. chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Truly,
electing grace obligates us to give thanks to God. Now, if you're
a believer, if I'm a believer, this overwhelms me. God chose
me before I was ever born to be saved. Why me, Lord? Why me? I'll tell you one thing it does.
I see the freeness of this. No doubt. But it makes me feel
such a debt of gratitude to Him. He chose me. Election is not
something to argue about. It's a doctrine of divine praise.
We're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord. I am bound to thank Him. You know, when we talk about
the forgiveness of sins, What a blessing that is to have your
sins forgiven. Think of that. All your sins
put away, forgiven. But you know, the scripture presents
this as a debt that's forgiven. Forgive us our debts. Our Lord
taught us to pray as we forgive those who are indebted to us. Isn't it wonderful to be free
of that debt? And if I'm free of that debt, if he's forgiven
my sins, I'll tell you what, I feel like such a debtor to
his grace. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 17. Beginning in verse 7. The Lord says, but which of you,
Luke chapter 17, verse 7, but which of you having a servant?
plowing or feeding cattle. That's what he's supposed to
be doing. We'll say it to him by and by when he's come in from
the field, go and sit down to meet. And we'll not rather say
unto him, make ready wherewith I may suffer, gird thyself and
serve thee till I've eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt
eat and drink. Doth he thank that servant because
he did those things that were commanded him? No, I crown not. So likewise you, when you shall
have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are
unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. It is our duty to do that. Now, I've said before, I don't
want to do anything out of duty. I've said that before. But is
that a right thing to say? Since when is doing your duty
a wrong thing? Our Lord taught us at this time,
and that word duty has something to do with owing. It's the same
word that has to do with owing a debt. This is our duty. This is our obligation. Doing your duty is not a bad
thing. Now, serving the Lord Jesus Christ is a blessing. It's
a gift of grace, isn't it? You know, if you have faith,
he gave it to you. You know, if you have a desire to know him,
he gave it to you. You're aware of that. It's a privilege, but
it's also a duty. It's a debt I owe. Love so amazing,
so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. And here's an example
of what I'm trying to say. Duty. Now, let's take giving. Isn't it a joy to be able to
give cheerfully? God loveth a cheerful giver. Aren't you thankful when you
look at giving as a privilege and a blessing? You're blessed
in doing it. You're so thankful for the opportunity.
What a blessing it is to give. It's just wonderful. A cheerful
giver. That's literally a hilarious
giver. Someone who gets joy. He laughs
out of it. It's so enjoyable to give. It's
wonderful to be a cheerful giver, isn't it? Now, if you're anything
like me, you're not always a cheerful giver. You'd like to be cheerful every
time, wouldn't you? You'd like to give willingly every time,
but sometimes you just don't have that attitude, do you? Or
at least I'm not. I'm just speaking for myself.
Maybe some of you all are not like that, but sometimes... But you
know what? When I don't have that proper attitude about giving,
I still give just as much out of duty. Out of duty. It's my responsibility. And that's
true of every... Yes, it's a privilege. But it's
also a responsibility. Let me show you this from the
scripture. Turn to Romans 15. Verse 26. For it hath pleased
them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution
to the poor saints which are Jerusalem. It has pleased them
barely. They're happy to do this. They're
pleased to do this. They're giving cheerfully. It's
a wonderful thing. And what's it say next? They're
debtors. They are. Not only are they pleased
to do this, they're debtors. They are. For if the Gentiles
have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty
is also to minister unto them in carnal things. It's a duty. Now, is that bad? No, we see
it here in the Word of God. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. This is a debt. Verse I've got to find it. I've got
the wrong verse. Oh, yeah, you know, I do. 1 John chapter 2,
verse 6. He that saith, he abideth in him, ought, that word ought
is the same word he owes this. It's his debt to do this. He that saith, he abideth in
him, ought himself also to walk even as he ought. Now, what a
blessing. to abide in Him. That's a reference
to being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who are united
to Him ought or are under obligation to walk even as He walked. Truly,
to follow in His footsteps. Now, if you are called upon to
walk through hell, to follow Him, is that too much? You know it's not. Truly, we
are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. We're
debtors to God. And it's a good debt. You like
being in this debt, don't you? It's a good debt. And we are
also debtors or indebted to other believers. Turn to Romans 13. Verse 8. Well, let's start reading
in verse 6. For this cause, pay ye tribute
also. Pay your taxes. For they are God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore
to all their dues. Tribute to whom tribute is due,
custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Owe no man anything but to love one another. Now, here is a debt
we owe one another, and it's a good debt. To love one another,
a love that proves itself by actions. Let us not love in word,
but in deed and in truth. A couple of other scriptures
on this. Turn back to 1 John. Chapter 3. Verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, Because he laid down his life for us. And we ought. Because he laid down his life
for us. And this is how valuable the believer is to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ valued
Aaron Greenleaf so much that he laid down his life for him.
That's how valuable Aaron Greenleaf is. You know what? Because of
that, I'm to lay down my life for Aaron Greenleaf. That's how
I'm to love him. That's the command of this scripture.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his
life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion for him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth. Turn over to John 13. There is a whole lot of the Scriptures
about this good debt that the believer owes. Look in John chapter
13. Let's read verse 14 first. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet. And before we go on reading,
you think of the Lord washing your feet. He has. If I, then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet, you also ought, if you're due, to wash
one another's feet. Just because I've done it to
you, you are obligated to do it to one another. Now, is this
an ordinance? I don't believe so. Our Lord
tells us He's left this as an example. That's what he calls
it in verse 15. I've given you an example that
you should do as I've done to you. Now, let's read about this
passage. Let's read about this. This is such a glorious passage
of Scripture. Let's begin reading verse 1.
Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that
his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto
the Father, having loved his own which were in the world,
he loved him unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son
to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands, and that he was come from God and went
to God, he rises from supper, and laid aside his garments,
and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into
a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter.
And Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus
answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, Thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith
to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
he's clean every way. And you are clean, but not all,
for he knew who should betray him. Therefore, he said, You're
not all clean. He's talking about Judas. So after he had washed
their feet and taken his garments and was set down again, he said
unto them, Do you know what I've done to you? I bet they were
all amazed. Would you put yourself in their
place? And this is what is just overwhelming me right now. The
Lord's done this to me. He's done that. He's washed my
feet. He says, you call me master and Lord, and you say, well,
for so I am. If I've been your Lord and master,
I've washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example that you should do unto me as
I have, that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that sent greater than him that sent me. If you know these
things, happy are you if you do them." Now, here's reason
enough for me to wash your feet. He did. I don't need any other
reason. Here's reason enough for you
to wash my feet. He did. And nothing else really needs
to be said. You know, we get our feet dirty walking through
this world, don't we? Our feet get so dirty in this
walk. Wash my feet with the gospel.
I wash your feet by preaching the gospel to you. We're washed
by our encouragement in the gospel. You know, just seeing you here
is an encouragement to me. It washes my feet. Wash one another's
feet. No task is too menial. We're
to serve one another in love. We're actually indebted to forgive
one another. This is talking about our relationship with other
believers. We're actually indebted. It's my obligation to forgive
you. Now, you're going to offend me,
and I'm going to offend you. If I've offended you, you don't
have to raise your hand. I'll keep them down. If I've
offended you, this is a rhetorical question. I'm sorry if I have,
but you know what you're supposed to do? Forgive me, because I
asked. No, no, not because I asked. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. That's the only reason it's needed,
as he's forgiven me. I'm to forgive you. What if so-and-so
doesn't apologize to me? Well, they are. If you've been
somebody, you ought to say, I'm sorry. You really should. You
ought to come and humble yourself before them and say, I'm sorry.
I ought to do that every time I've been somebody. If I know
about it, I do. When I know I've done it. But even if that person
doesn't say, I'm sorry, I'm still to forgive, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven me. We're indebted to do that. Turn to Romans chapter 15. Verse 1. We then that are strong, ought. Now that word ought is we are
indebted. We're indebted. To bear the infirmities
of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us
please his neighbor for his good, to edification, for even Christ,
please not himself. But as it's written, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. That is our reason because
of what Christ has done. That's the only reason we need
to bear with one another's infirmities. Look at the way the Lord pleased
not himself. And just because he did whatever he does, that's
our reason. for doing whatever it is we do.
Turn to 3 John. I want you to look at these scriptures
with me, because I've never really thought of them in this light.
3 John. Now, John is talking about these
people that went out preaching the gospel, and we read in verse
7, because that for his namesake, they went forth taking nothing
of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive
such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Walter
and Cody Groover had gone down to Mexico. I got out that book
this afternoon. They put out a little book. Betty
Groover, she didn't put out a book. It was just for family. But she
was talking about the history of what they did. And it was
just for her family to see. They took five kids. down there
to the Yucatan, Mexico, five little kids on $200 a month support. You know, to preach the gospel
to those people, those people couldn't pay them to do that.
They were incapable of that. Now, we ought to support them,
to be fellow helpers of the truth. We ought to. And to not do so
is wrong, isn't it? We ought to help them. So we're indebted to other believers
in their enterprises to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And finally, we are indebted to all men. Turn with me to Romans
1. This is actually the verse of
Scripture that inspired this message. I was just reading this
passage of Scripture, and this just hit me like a ton of bricks.
Romans chapter 1, verse 14, Paul says, I am debtor, both to the
Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you there at Rome also. I'm a debtor to
all these men to preach the gospel to them. I don't care if they're
Jews. I don't care if they're Gentiles. I don't care if they're bond.
free, I'm a debtor to preach the gospel to these men. Now,
if somebody in this room came up with a cure for cancer, think
of all the pain and suffering and death that cancer causes.
If somebody came up with a cure for cancer, what if that man
decided to keep that knowledge to himself? That would be evil, wouldn't
it? That's all you can call it. That would be evil. Beloved,
we are debtors, you and I. We are debtors to this world
to preach the gospel to this world. In this town, in this
generation, we are debtors. Now, we can't save anybody. I
realize that. I can't save anybody. I can't
make anybody believe. I can't. There's not one thing
I can do to save anybody. I tell you what, I can tell the
truth by the grace of God. I can preach the gospel. Aren't
you glad somebody told you the truth? You sure are, aren't you? You're
glad. And you and I are indebted. Just like Paul. No less than
Paul was. He said, I'm a debtor. You think of the gospel the Lord
has revealed to you. The freeness of His grace. The
liberty that you have in Christ Jesus. And you and I are indebted
to preach this message to the world. May God give this church
special grace to be His witness in this generation. You're indebted.
When you go to work Tuesday, because you're off tomorrow,
you're called upon to be His witness in that place. Now, this
is a good debt, isn't it? A debt to God. for his grace. It's challenging, isn't it? I
want to be under this debt. I love this debt. It's the only
kind of debt I love, but I love being under this debt. I'm a
debtor to God for the riches of his grace. I'm a debtor to
his people. I'm a debtor to you. And I like
being in debt to you. I really do. I love being in
debt to you. And I don't want to be any way
else. And we are a debtor to all men to preach the gospel
to them that we have found so liberating. May God give us grace
to always be debtors in this sense. This is a good debt. Now,
to close, I've asked Kara to sing a song by Robert Murray
McShane entitled I Am a Debtor. That's going to be our closing
hymn and listen to the words to this song. This is a wonderful
song. When I stand with Christ in glory
Looking o'er life's finishes And until then, how much I owe
When I hear the wicked call and tills that fall. When I see that starting
tree on the fiery Deluge breeze, then Lord shall I hardly know,
but not till then, how much I owe. in a beauty not my own. When I see thee at the ward,
love thee with quenching heart, and, Lord, shall my folly know,
but not till then, how much I and not for good in me. Waking up from rest, Teach me what on earth to show
by my love. How much I owe. How much I owe.