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. 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, 1 John
chapter 3, verse 5. 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 you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of works. That's plain speaking. 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,
either 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 the 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 that 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 in any way depended
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 the God, 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. 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 besides. 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 work 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. 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've 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 II Thessalonians
2.13. He said we are bound And that word means obligated,
we are in debt, we are bound to thank God always for you,
brethren, the love of the 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 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,
will say to him, by and by, when he's coming from the field, go
and sit down to meet. And will not rather say unto
him, make ready wherewith I may suffer, gird thyself and serve
me till I've eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt eat
and drink. Does he think that servant, because he did those
things that were commanded him, No, I try 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. I said before, I don't want to
do anything out of duty. I've said that before. But is that
the 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, It's 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. And 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 whose 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 don't. 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 as you do. It's my responsibility. And that's
true. with a with a with a with a with
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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
action. 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 hath 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 one.
Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that
his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world into
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 girthed. 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
unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
he's clean everywhere. 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, he's washed my feet.
He says, you call me master and Lord, and you say, well, for
so I am. If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example
that you should do unto me as I've, that you should do as I've
done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant's
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'll wash your feet by preaching the gospel to you. We're washed
by our encouragement in the gospel. You're 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, have 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, if you've been somebody,
you ought to say, I'm sorry. You really should. You ought
to come and humble yourself before him 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, has forgiven me. We're indebted to do that. Turn
to Romans chapter 15. Verse one. We then that are strong, ought,
and 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 pleased not himself. But as it's written, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on thee. That is our reason because
of what Christ has done. That's the only reason we need
to bear with one another's impurities. Look at the way the Lord pleased
not himself. And we're just because he did whatever he does. That's
our reason for doing whatever it is we do. Turn to third, John. I want you to look at these scriptures
with me, because I've never really thought of them at all in this
light. Third, John. Now, John is talking about these
people that went out preaching the gospel and we read in verse
seven, 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 Gruber. They've gone down to Mexico.
I got out that book this afternoon about they put out a little book. Betty Gruber put out a 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. And they took five kids down
there to 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'd 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. There's not one thing I can do
to save anybody. But 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, I guess 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 finished story And Lord, shall I fully know,
and up till then, how much I owe? On the rocks and hills that fall When I see them start and
shrink on the And Lord shall I hardly know, but not till then,
how much I owe. Rest in a beauty not my own. When I see thee at the horn,
Love thee with a loving heart, Then, Lord, shall my life all
be known. But not till then, our child,
Chosen not for good it means waking up from rest to sleep to save your sight by His Spirit
sanctified. Teach me, Lord, on earth to show
by my love how much I owe. How much I owe.