Let's look together at Luke chapter
17, verses 5 through 10. And I want, by the Spirit of
God, through his word, to impress upon our hearts two
facts. They're facts that you know,
but facts that you don't like to face. facts that we as believers know,
but we don't like to deal with them. The first is this, our
faith in Christ isn't much. I believe, oh help thou my unbelief. The second is this. We are God's
servants. If we are believers, we have
willingly placed our necks under his yoke as his servants. And no such thing as a saved
man or woman who is not the servant, the willing servant of King Jesus. But our service to him when we have done all that we
ought to do is just the service of worthless, insignificant,
unprofitable service. Luke 17 verse 5. The apostles said unto the Lord,
increase our faith. You would think the Lord would
then give a real encouraging word, wouldn't you? Oh, you have
good faith, you've done so much, you've forsaken so much, you've
proved yourself so faithful. But he didn't. The Lord seems
to say it's a good thing that you pray like that. The Lord said if you had faith
as a grain of mustard seeds, I have a peppercorn grinder that
Brother Ron gave me several years ago. I like it. Grinds pepper
real good. It doesn't grind much. Grinds
it just the way I like it, coarse. The pepper I put on my rice or
my eggs in the morning is bigger than a grain of mustard seed. If you had faith, just a speck of it. And you cry,
Lord, increase our faith. If you had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked
up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it shall obey
you. But which of you, having a servant
plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, When
he is come from the field, go set down to me. And will not rather say unto
him, 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. Doth he thank that servant, because
he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye When ye 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. Now first, our text calls our
attention to our faith. Not the greatness of it, but
the insignificance of it. not the strength of it, but the
weakness of it. Our faith. And the text is speaking
of our faith in such a way as to show us that it's wrong for
us ever to put the emphasis on our faith. We live in an age when men like
to emphasize anything that makes men feel good about themselves.
And men want to flatter men. After all, people love to be
told something good and made to feel good about themselves.
And we can't come in church, you know, and pretend to believe
in salvation by grace and pretend to honor God and brag on men
doing too much. We sure as we can brag on their
faith. Let me tell you something just in case you might suspect
otherwise. Not one of us has faith worth
a thought of confidence. Not one. Thank God our Savior,
the object of our faith is perfect. Our acceptance with God is Him. What He did. Our faith did not
make atonement for our sins. Our faith does not give us acceptance
with God. Our faith does not justify us
before God. Our faith is not the source of
our peace and our comfort. Our faith is not that which gives
us hope. It is Christ, the object of our
faith, who justifies us, who is our righteousness, who is
our peace. Our security, our confidence,
is not in the measure, the degree, or the quantity, or the stability
of our faith. Our confidence, our security,
our assurance is in Jesus Christ the Lord whom we believe. I can't say this strongly enough
or emphatically enough. The fact is we all lack much
in this matter of faith. I want so much to believe God. And the fact is I can't think
of anything about myself that is more utterly abhorrent, more
dishonoring to my God, more contrary to the aspirations of my heart
than my utter unbelief. Our Lord said to his disciples,
as they were sailing through the storm, and they were terrified,
cried, Master, carest thou not that we perish? He said, how
is it that you have no faith? No faith. And I hear him say
to me, Don, how is it that you, of all human beings, how is it
that you Having known and experienced and tasted what you've experienced
and known and tasted, how is it that you have no faith? Oh, my faith must like all other
things be bathed in the blood of Christ and robed in his righteousness
and accepted of God because of him, or my faith is altogether
worthy of damnation. Yours too. Yours too. The disciples said, Lord, increase
our faith. Now let me remind you of the
context. I don't want to try to put words
in the mouths of these apostles who made this a prayer to our
God but it was a prayer that showed wisdom and grace. The context goes all the way
back to the beginning of chapter 15 where the Pharisees stood
back and looked as the Lord Jesus was standing around ministering
in the Republicans and sinners came and sat down with him and
were comfortable there and they Looked down their noses and pointed
their fingers and said that man Receives sinners and eats with
them And then the Lord began to rebuke the Pharisees He gave
the parable of the lost sheep the lost coin the lost son and
gave great emphasis on in that parable of the lost son on the
elder brother who was himself the representative of the self-righteous
Pharisees who looked down their noses on publicans and sinners
like the prodigal. And then he gave the parable
of the unjust steward and of the rich man and Lazarus. And
our Lord then opens the 17th chapter with instructions about
forgiveness. you be careful that you don't
offend one of these little publicans and sinners out here and you
be careful you be careful that as often as your brother offends
you you take no offense but forgive him forgive him and forgive him
and forgive him and forgive him and forgive him and forgive him
and forgive him and the disciple said Lord That's beyond us. Now, these things are too hard
for us. Increase our faith. Good prayer. If we will obey you, we must
believe you. If we will forgive offenses,
seventy times seven every day from the same man, we must have
faith. If we would not be as that self-righteous
elder brother in the parable, we must have faith. If we would
not be engulfed with the care of this world as the rich man
and dragged into hell by our imaginary righteousness, we must
have faith. If we would ourselves be as the
prodigal and flee to our father and cling to him, we must have
faith. Lord, increase our faith. Now
understand this. Faith is the root of the matter. Faith is the root of the matter. I call on you to believe on the
Son of God. Trust Jesus Christ the Lord. Cast yourself entirely upon Him. Upon the merit of His blood and
His righteousness. Lean wholly on Him for acceptance
to God or with God. You remember what our Lord said
to the man who was born blind in John chapter 9? He said, To
dust thou believe on the Son of God. Well, do you hear the question?
Do you believe on the Son of God? Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and must believe that he is the rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? Until that one question is settled,
no other question ought to ever come into your mind, much less
be pursued. Nothing else is significant.
Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Do you remember what
that blind man said to the Master? Now remember, the Lord had healed
him of his blindness. He was born blind. He got kicked
out of church because the Lord healed him of his blindness.
And he hadn't even believed yet. The Master came to him after
he'd been kicked out of church and said, Dost thou believe on
the Son of God? And he said, How can I? Who is he, Lord? that I may believe
on him. And the Lord Jesus said to him,
he that speaketh to thee. He said, oh yeah, I believe. Now I know who I'm talking to.
Now I know who you are, and I do believe. This is what the book
says. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. He that believeth, hath. Hath. The reason you believe
is because God's given you life. Oh but preacher I can't, I can't
say whether I believe or not. Oh yes you can. Oh yes you can. Yes you can. Well I don't believe
like I ought to. Oh no you don't. No sir, me either. But I read in the scriptures
of a woman who was pressed down with an issue of blood and for
twelve long years she had been unceasingly brought into constant
weakness, bowed down. She'd spent all she had on positions
of no value. They were all useless to her.
And finally she heard about Jesus of Nazareth, this one who is
the Christ, who had healed so many, who had done so much good,
who said he is himself the Son of God. And she said, if I could
just touch the hem of his garment, I'd be made whole. Unfit to come
to him. Legally wronged her to come to
him. She was unclean. She wasn't fit
for society. The law forbade her to come to
him. She had no right to come to him
except she had to have him. She had to have him or she's
going to die. And so she creeps through the
crowd with a trembling hand. She touched the hem of his garment
and immediately she was made whole. If that's faith, I've
got that. If that's faith, I've got that.
You see, faith is the hand that receives all God's blessings
in Christ Jesus. Faith is that which experimentally
unites us to the Son of God. This faith is not natural to
man. It's not something that rises up within man by nature.
It's not something that's a result of man's will. It's not something
that can be conjured up by a preacher. Faith is not something that men
communicate to one another. Faith is the gift of the operation
of God that comes to sinners by the revelation of Jesus Christ
in them. Faith is the result of what the
old preachers used to call Holy Spirit conviction. Turn to John
chapter 16. Let me show you. John chapter
16. Our Lord Jesus is giving his,
what's called his farewell address to his disciples. And he says
in verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient
for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. unto you. But if I depart, I
will send him to you. I will send him by virtue of
my accomplished redemption to you. And when he is come, he
will reprove. Now listen, the word reprove
means to convince. It's a far better translation.
He will convince the world of sin. Not everybody in the world. Not everybody in the world. And
it's not talking about convincing you that certain things are wrong.
Isn't it amazing how religious, irreligious people talk? Well,
I believe it's a sin to part your hair that way. Don't you believe it's a sin
for a fellow to wear shorts? I believe it's a sin for a fellow
to do a picture show. What right have you got to think
and determine what's a sin and what's not? What right have you got to make
that judgment? Since when do you decide what's good and what's
evil? The Holy Spirit doesn't come
to convince you of acts of evil. No, when you've broken God's
law, you know it. Your conscience declares it.
That's not what he's talking about. He's come to convince
you of your sin. Of what you are. And if he ever comes to you,
he will convince you of your sin. Matter of depravity, you might
not read the theology books and use the terms, but it won't be
a problem to you. He will convince you of your
sin. Because they believe not on me
and of righteousness. of righteousness, not how to
perform it, you can't. He'll convince you that you have
none, and not of the righteousness of God's character. Every man
knows that by creation. Everybody knows that God's righteous,
that God's holy. That's the reason your conscience
torments you all the time. What's he talking about? A righteousness
established by Christ the Lord. He alone is the man in whom righteousness
is found. of righteousness, because I go
to my Father, and you shall see me no more. I'm going back to
glory, and I couldn't if I hadn't finished what I came here to
do. I've brought in everlasting righteousness, and I'm going
back to my Father. You'll see me no more. And when the Spirit
of God comes on you, he'll convince you that I have accomplished
everything I came here to do, and of judgment, of judgment. Not judgment to come. There's never been a human being
who had reason. I'm talking about good sense.
Not even good sense, just a little bit of sense. There's never been
one who wasn't convinced of judgment just as soon as he was convinced
that something was different between good and evil. There's
never been such a thing. Oh no, judgment day is coming.
You know that. That's not a problem. That's
not a problem convincing anybody of that. But not for me. Judgment's finished for me. I'm
convinced. I am convinced. There is therefore
now no condemnation to my soul. Because Christ, by establishing
righteousness and putting away sin, has cast out the prince
of this world and he has no power and finds nothing in me. I stand
before God righteous. Justice is satisfied by the atonement
of our Redeemer. Faith in Christ is the essential
thing. But faith in Christ is far from perfect. Our Lord
next says, if you had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, you might say unto the sycamore tree, sycamine tree,
be thou plucked up by the root And be thou planted in the sea. Now wait a minute, wait a minute.
That's not possible. That's, who ever heard tell of
a tree being planted in the sea? That's not possible. That can't
be done. That's an impossibility. And
it should obey you. Oh, hear now. we have this wonderful
promise from God if you just believe a little bit and you
need a new Cadillac just believe God and it's yours that's not
what he's saying our Lord is using a proverbial statement
and the proverbial statement is just this our Lord is saying
if you believe God if you believe God Nothing is
impossible to you. Let's see if that's what he's
saying. Turn back to Mark 9.23. Mark 9.23. Jesus said unto him,
If thou canst believe All things are possible to him
that believeth. If thou canst believe, all things
are possible to him that believeth. Nothing shall hinder. Nothing shall stand in your way. Nothing shall stop. Nothing shall
prevent you. If thou canst believe, all things
are possible to him that believeth. Big sycamine tree standing in
your way. Got deep roots, been there a
long time. There have been nations tried
to move it and they couldn't move it. But if you believe God,
as you walk in the course of obedience to his will, and that
tree is in your way, just say to the tree, out, and it's in
the sea, go. Nothing shall be impossible to
him that believe it. Now let's bear the reproof, turn
to John 11. Lazarus is dead Martha and Mary sent word to
the Lord Jesus before their brother died said he whom thou lovest
is sick and the Lord Jesus said this sickness is not unto death
but for the glory of God and then Lazarus died well he didn't
really because you see believers never die believers never die
we just use the term and our Lord uses the term to accommodate
poor understanding of what it is for us to leave this world,
this body dies. Then Lazarus' body died. And
Martha and Mary were upset with the master, he came. And Martha
said to him, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have
died. And he said, don't you know your
brother is going to live again? He said, I know he's going to
live in the resurrection. And the Lord looked at him and he
said, Martha, honey, don't you understand? The resurrection's
not a doctrine. You're looking at him. I am the resurrection. I am the
life. And so he says, take me out to
the place where Lazarus is laid. And he said, take away the stone. And they, oh, well, by this time
he's stinking. Leave him alone. He's already
dead. And our master says in verse 40, Jesus saith unto her,
said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory
of God. Now Don Fortner, this is what
he says to you, if you had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, nothing would ever be a hindrance to you in serving
me. If you had faith just as a grain
of mustard seed, you would never be at a loss for power with God
to do his will in all things. If you just believe me, if you
just believe just a little, just a little, You'd see the glory
of God in his word. You'd see the glory of God in
redemption accomplished. You'd see the glory of God in
every display of providence. You'd see the glory of God in
the sickness of Lazarus, in the death of Lazarus, and you'd see
the glory of God in raising Lazarus again from the dead. If you just
believe, you'd see the glory of God emptying the graves around
you and you'd see the glory of God displayed in a mighty army
raised up as it was before Ezekiel, God's prophet, if you just believed. The reason we see so little of
God's glory and God's power and God's work in our lives is because
we don't even have faith like a grain of mustard seed. Thank God. Our acceptance with
Him is not determined by the measure of our faith, but by
the object of our faith. Now, here's the second thing. In the light of those things,
it is a wise, wise, wise thing that we ever cry out, Lord, increase
our faith. And we have greater reason to
do so because We are at best unprofitable servants. Our Lord
says, which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will
say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, go
sit down to me. I'm just anxious to give you
my rewards, and I'm anxious to show what good servants you've
been. Oh, I'm anxious to serve you. And will not rather say to him,
go make ready, wherewith I may suck, and gird thyself, and serve
me, till I have eaten and drunk good, and afterward thou shalt
eat and drink." Does the master thank that servant because he
did the things that were commanded to him? Does the master say,
well, boy, it's so good of you to do that. I really appreciate
it. Boy, it's nice of you. I thank
you. I don't think so. I trow not. So likewise you, when you shall
have done all those things which I commended you, say. This is what it says. You say. You say. Can you imagine how
easy it is to say this about you? That's not hard. How easy it
is to say this about all of us in general. That's not a problem.
But David, this is a problem. When you've done everything God
requires you to do, if that should ever happen, you say, we are unprofitable servants. worthless insignificant servants
who had benefited our master nothing. You say, you say, oh
what a heavy blow our Lord gives to self-righteousness. If we
would be his servants we must give up all claims to righteousness.
You can't serve him and hold on to your righteousness. You
can't serve him, you can't believe him, you can't trust him and
cling to your own goodness. That's not possible. The root
of all self-righteousness and pride is ignorance. Ignorance of ourselves, ignorance
of God, and ignorance of righteousness. The Jews go about to establish
their own righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness
of God that's in Christ, not knowing that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now
quickly, let me give you the lessons that are set before us
here, essentially. The first is this. It is ever
our responsibility, yours and mine, to obey our master's word
and will. We're his servants. 35 years
ago, I took my place right here and lifted my hand to God and
his people and the world and I said, I'm yours. I'm yours. If there was nothing else binding
me, it is my responsibility before God to serve Him all the time,
all the time. And when we've done everything
that He requires, if that were possible, if that were possible
and we did it, we should expect no reward for having done that
which is but our duty to do. After all, it's His matchless grace that's
made us His servants, isn't it? Huh? You're bought with a price. You've been redeemed with the
precious blood of the Son of God. He saved you by His grace. Now,
what are you going to weigh in the balances with that? What
are you going to compare with that? He's forgiven you all you
said. He's made you heirs of God and you're heirs of Christ.
It's just reasonable that we be His servants. To be His servant
means that we are His entirely. Lock, stock, and barrel. All
our time. All our strength. All our abilities,
all our possessions are His. That dear lady sitting there,
that's my wife. No she's not. She's His. He just let me have her for a
little while. Those babies we had around here this weekend,
that's my grandbabies. No, no, no, no, no, no. They're
his. He just let me have them for
a little while. They're his. And everything else, everything,
it's what it is to be his servant. And when we've done all that
he's commanded us to do, when our day of service in this world
is finished, We must acknowledge we are unprofitable servants. We have just done that which
was our duty to do. Now this word unprofitable, unprofitable
servants, far more significant than it appears. It means servants
who have benefited their master Nothing. Useless servants. Servants of no value. You couldn't pawn them off on
anybody else. Unprofitable servants. And that's the attitude of every
believer in his best deeds as he seeks to serve God walking
before him by faith. Now let me show you a contrast.
Turn over to Matthew chapter 25. Lord we are servants of no value I've never done anything fit for your acceptance much
less earning me a reward in heaven Lord I've never profited you or your
kingdom anything never unprofitable service But the master sees things another
way, doesn't he? His view is the right view. And our view is the right view. You see, we understand that everything
we do is polluted because we do it. Everything. Our faith is polluted because
it's our faith. Our love is polluted because
it's our love. Our prayers are polluted and
perverse because they're our prayers. Everything we do is
corrupt. It can't possibly reach to God
Almighty and be accepted of Him. It can't, except for one thing. We offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. by Christ
Jesus. So he looks upon our unprofitable
service, upon our insignificant unbelieving
faith, upon our worthless deeds of devotion. as being perfect
righteousness and perfect obedience through the perfect righteousness
and perfect obedience of his son. And in the day of judgment,
verse 21, Matthew 25. When the servant appears before
his Lord, his Lord said unto him, Well done Well done He's going to meet you before
wandering worlds He's going to say well done God Almighty Well
done Thou good and faithful servant. Amen.