Okay, now today in Luke 17, Luke
17, this is a very, very profitable message that we need to hear. I'm entitling the message from
what our blessed Redeemer, Our God, our blessed God and Savior
says unto us, God our Savior, He says unto us and to His church
and to His apostles, we are unprofitable servants. Look at verse 10 again.
Luke 17 verse 10, so likewise, when you shall have done all
those things which are commanded you, say, here's what we should
say, Look what we've done. Look what we've accomplished.
Here's what the Lord says, when you've done all that He has commanded
us to do, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which
is our duty to do. It is our duty. The whole purpose
of man is to serve God and to honor Him. We are unprofitable
servants. Now, what do you really Think
about yourself. What do you really think about
yourself? Does that word describe you?
Unprofitable servant. Now this is our Lord's estimation
of our service in the kingdom of God. When we've done all that
the Lord has commanded us to do. Remember now the Lord is
addressing his apostles. His apostles who said, Lord,
increase our faith. If the Lord says this, hard saying,
it's a hard saying. If the Lord says that of the
apostles, he's talking to the inner circle, Peter, James, and
John. If the Lord says this of the
apostles that were blessed of God, gifted of God, sent to preach
the gospel, if he says that of the apostles, you are, Peter,
you're an unprofitable servant. John, the beloved, John, you're
an unprofitable servant. Where does that leave us? Where
does that love me? Leave me. Now, what do you think
of yourself? What is your self-image? According
to the word of the Lord, we all think too highly of ourselves. Because we have that fallen sinful
nature, because of our self-righteousness before God, we always have low
thoughts of God left to ourselves We always have low thoughts of
God or no thoughts of God. The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God or no unto God. By nature, we have low thoughts
of ourselves and we always think high thoughts of ourselves, don't
we? You remember back here in chapter
16, just across the page, our Lord says to those Pharisees,
you are they would justify yourselves before men. But God knows your
hearts. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. We had in our Bible study this
morning in Romans 12 verse 3, "...for I say unto you through
the grace of God which is given unto me, to every man that is
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, unprofitable servants, but to think soberly according
as God hath dealt to every man, every believer the measure of
faith, the believer who has been given the measure of faith, The
believer says we are sinners before God. Those who believe
the gospel refer to themselves as sinners saved by grace. We are unprofitable servants. We are unworthy servants. We are unfit servants. We are ungodly servants. We are guilty sinners. I'm saying we are, I am. That's what the Lord says of
us. Now, our dear Pastor Henry Mahan
used to say this, I'm sure he still does. He would say, every
man is distinctly three people, three people. Those who others
think we are, those who we think we are, and those who God says
we are. Now, in our day in which we live,
it's all about building up self-esteem, is it not? I mean, that's what
they teach our kids in school. Think high thoughts of yourself.
I know in our day we all are told about building up our self-esteem. Well, his problem is he just
doesn't have much self-esteem. lifting up yourself to a high
pedestal of pride, and then worshipping yourself, that is the philosophy
of this ungodly world, including this ungodly religious world. The Pharisee, you remember, turn
one page over, the Lord spake this parable, Luke 18 verse 9,
unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and despised others. Two men went to the temple to
pray, one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood,
prayed thus with himself, God I thank you, I'm not this, I'm
not that, I'm not an alterer, an unjust, or even as this publican,
I fast twice in the week and give tithes of all that I possess.
He thought he was a profitable servant. Well, you know the end
of that story. That man went down to his house
condemned. because he trusted in himself
that he was righteous. To the believer, we always should
have a view of ourselves that God has of us. You see, the way God sees us,
that's the way we really are. We can, as believers, say with
the Apostle Paul, in my flesh, that is, in me, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. We can say with the Apostle Paul,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? Oh, I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. In our flesh dwelleth no good
thing. We can also identify with the
Apostle Paul when he says, I'm the less than the least of all
the saints. Or I'm the least of the apostles
because I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. Or as the
apostle Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. He's saying I'm an
unprofitable servant. So if the Lord says of us, we
are unprofitable servants, that the best service of the best
men are unprofitable, useless, worthless servants of no value,
no benefit, unworthy, the least of God's mercies, all flesh is
grass, all nations before him are as nothing, counted as the
dust of the balance, blow it away. Count it as a drop of a
bucket. When you pull a bucket up out
of the well and the bucket's full of water, do you worry about
the drop that comes off the bottom of the bucket? There's nothing
to you, isn't it? We're all but grasshoppers in
His sight. Man in his best state is altogether
vanity. The best righteousness we could
muster up, God did away with it, nothing but filthy rags. That's low, isn't it? I preached
us down low. That's as low as we can go. We're
at the bottom. We're at the bottom in the dust,
on the dunghill, smelly, stinky, rotten, slimy worms, unprofitable
servants. Now what does that teach us? That teaches us that in the matter
of salvation, salvation has to be of the Lord. That means that salvation has
to be all of grace. There's a remnant according to
the election of grace. That means that salvation is
all of God. It's God who saved us. If I'm
an unprofitable servant and I can bring nothing, add nothing, contribute
nothing, That means that salvation has to be all of God and all
of grace. Paul writes to young Timothy
and reminds him not to be ashamed of the gospel. For it is God
who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to God's own purpose and grace. That means that salvation is
all of grace, that salvation is all of God, and salvation
is all in Christ. Christ is all and in all. That
means that the Lord chose a people unto salvation before we had
done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has,
from the beginning, chosen you unto salvation. That means that
we are His servants who were bought with His blood. He chose
us by His grace, He redeemed us with His blood, He bought
us with His blood, washed us and justified us with His blood,
He redeemed us with His precious blood. If we are at our best
state, nothing in vanity, that means that salvation has to be
all of God, right? Secondly, let's consider this.
That brings us to consider who is the faithful and profitable
servant of the Lord. Would you guess who that would
be? Let's see if we can find out.
Turn back to Isaiah, and this time Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. That brings us to consider who
is the wise and faithful and profitable servant of the Lord. Isaiah 42 verse 1, Behold my
servant, whom I uphold, my elect, the Lord Jesus Christ is the
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. That word elect right
there is the first time that's used in Scripture. And it always
refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The elect of God are chosen in
Him. And whom my soul delighteth.
Oh, the Lord says of this servant of the Lord that he's not unprofitable. Oh, he said, I delight my soul
delighteth. I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth salvation. Salvation, judgment. Salvation
to sinners, Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, a smoking flax shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment unto truth, victory unto truth. He
shall not fail. Oh, he's a profitable servant.
He cannot fail. He cannot be discouraged. He
cannot be defeated till he have set judgment in the earth and
the isles, all places shall wait for his word. Now stay right
here in Isaiah 40, Isaiah 42, and turn your way on over here
to Isaiah 53, and we'll be there in just a minute. Who is the
one that is a profitable servant of the Lord? Turn back to Isaiah
42, I'm sorry. Turn back to Isaiah 42, then
go to Isaiah 53. Look what it says right here
in verse 21. Isaiah 42, 21. Behold, he said, the Lord is
well pleased for His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. That's what the Lord has done
for us. He said, I didn't come to destroy the law. I came to
honor the law of God. Who is the one who is worthy
of all honor and glory? Well, none but the Lord Jesus
Christ. We read in the revelation, worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, blessing, and power, both now
and forever. None but Christ. He is the only
possible servant unto the Lord in all his office. Now, Isaiah
53, 10, turn there. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand." You see here is a prospering servant of the Lord who is not
unprofitable. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many? My righteous servant shall justify
many for he shall bear their iniquities. He is our atonement. He's a righteous servant of God. He is the Christ of God anointed
in all of his office as prophet, priest, and king. Prophet to
reveal the Lord our God unto us. He's hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. He is our priest. What does a priest do? A priest
represents us to God. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ does for His covenant people. He is the Great High
Priest who obtained for us eternal redemption with His own blood. And He is our King to rule and
reign over us with all wisdom, all glory, and all power. Therefore,
we can rightly conclude that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's
righteous, profitable servant. If the pleasure of the Lord prospers
in His hand, He's the servant that we need. Right? Who accomplished
our salvation for us. Now, I want us to consider, thirdly,
for a minute, how God sees his people in Christ, the profitable
servant. How God sees us in ourselves,
we considered that before. Now, I want to, after considering
who is the profitable servant, who is that wise and righteous
and good servant, I want us to consider for a minute how God
sees us in Christ. The way he sees us in Christ,
that is the way we are before him right now. How does God view
us in him? What God says of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he speaks from heaven and says, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased, he says that of the Lord who
is our head and he says that of the body, his church. God
is well pleased with Christ and those who are in him. How does God see us in Christ?
Well, listen to these things. Ephesians 1, 6 says we are accepted
in the Beloved. Now, don't quote that. This way
we are acceptable. We are accepted in the Beloved
to the praise of the glory of His grace. It says in 2 Corinthians
5, 21 that God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's how God
sees us. He sees us righteous in Christ. He is the Lord our Righteousness. Do you remember over there in
Jeremiah 23.5 or 23.6 when he says He's the Lord our Righteousness?
And then over in Jeremiah 33.15 or thereabout, the Lord calls The Lord Jesus Christ, He calls
her, the church, redeemed, the Lord, our righteousness. That's who we are in Christ.
We are made righteous in Him. In the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is the faithful servant of the Lord, right? He considers us
faithful servants of the Lord in Him. That's the point I'm
making here, trying to draw a contrast. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. By the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. By the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. For by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified. Now it's a no-brainer to you
who believe the gospel. Upon whose faithfulness do you
want to be judged? Huh? Do you want to be judged
upon your faithfulness? or upon the faithfulness of the
one who God says is faithful, my just, true, and righteous
servant. Now, how does the Lord see us?
Accepted in the beloved, made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ,
being a faithful servant, having honored the law of God in Christ. How does the Lord sees us? How
does the Lord see us? He sees us with no sin. That's
how he sees us. He said their sin and their iniquity
will I remember no more. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all our sin. How does the Lord see us in Christ? Justified, cleared of all guilt. justified by His blood. How does
the Lord our God see us in Christ? In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Him you are complete. That's how God sees us in Him. I don't want to stand before
God in myself. In myself I'm nothing but an
ungodly, unworthy, unprofitable servant. I want to be found in
Christ. Oh that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. How does God see us? He sees
us as one with Christ. I in them and thou in me that
we may be made perfect in one. John 17. We are one with Christ. You see why it's so important
and vital to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the
fourth thing I want us to consider. The Lord instructs us that we
should always do, look back at the text, Luke 17 verse 10. So likewise, 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. The Lord instructs us that we
should always do that which is our duty as servants of God. What should we do? We should
serve Him. That's why in this parable, the
Lord gives the parable of that servant that came in from the
field and the master of the house was ready to sit down and eat.
He didn't tell that servant to sit down and I'm going to serve
you. No. He told the servant to serve
me. And then you can eat on your
own later. And that's exactly the lesson
the Lord gives us here. That is, what we owe unto Him,
we should always do our duty unto the Lord. That is, we owe
unto Him. That is what we owe unto Him.
What we are under obligation to do, what we must do and are
bound to do, that is giving Him all the honor and glory. It is only reasonable to serve
and worship the true and living God. To serve Him out of love,
giving Him all the honor and glory. Now I want you to turn
and read this with me. Turn and do. You want a rule
to live by? Here's a rule to live by. Turn
to Galatians 6, verse 14. Galatians 6, 14. We should always
do that which is right and honoring unto God. Not because, not to
be saved, but rather because we have tasted of the Lord that
he is gracious. Galatians 6, look at verse 14.
But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and
I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature as many As many as walk according to this rule, peace
be upon them and mercy upon the Israel of God. According to what
rule? God forbid we should glory save
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the rule that
we live by. We serve Him out of love, giving
Him all the honor and glory, worship Him out of reverence
in our heart, for holy and reverent is His name. The Father seeketh
such to worship Him in spirit and in truth as a servant of
the Lord. What a privilege it is to be
called a servant of the Lord. We are chosen by His grace. We
are bought with His redeeming blood. We are to feed the church
of God which He purchased with His own blood. We are constrained
and obligated to serve His purpose, do His will, and obey His Word. to forgive one another as he
has forgiven us, to love one another as he has loved us. But
if we are blessed to serve the Lord with a burning zeal in our
heart, a fervent desire in our heart and mind to honor him,
we are in ourselves and of ourselves, we are still yet unprofitable
servants. Now, thank God He loves us and
considers us and blesses us in Christ Jesus. We are still, if
we serve the Lord all our life with a burning zeal and a fervent
desire to honor Him and to worship Him, we're still unprofitable
servants in and of ourselves. We add nothing to His character,
do we? We bring nothing to the table,
do we? We contribute nothing to the
scheme of salvation. Salvation is all of God, all
of grace. To think otherwise is to be full of sinful pride
and self-righteousness. Now, what do you think about
yourself? We need Him, don't we? What do
you think about yourself? I'm a wretched, wretched, unprofitable
servant. That makes me to know that salvation
is all of grace. That makes me to know that I
must have one who is my great high priest to represent me,
who is a profitable servant unto the Lord, who is a righteous
servant of the Lord, who has honored the law of God for me,
who has put away my sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now what
you think about yourself has a whole lot to think about, what
you think about yourself has a whole lot to say about what
you think about God. What you believe is determined
by who you believe. I'm going to give you a couple
of examples of that. In the book of Job, Job said,
I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear. Remember? Wherefore? I abhor myself, I
hate myself, I'm an unprofitable servant, I repent in dust and
ashes. Isaiah, how about Isaiah? Blessed,
blessed servant of the Lord. What did he say about himself?
When Isaiah saw the glorious character of the Lord high and
lifted up, and those winged creatures said, Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty. What was Isaiah's response? Woe
is me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. He's saying,
I'm an unprofitable servant. Is he not? Isn't that what Job
is saying? He's saying when you've seen
Him as He is, what do you say of yourself? We are unprofitable,
ungodly, unworthy servants. How about Jacob? Jacob. had that encounter with the Lord
Jesus Christ and said, I will not let you go unless you bless
me. Remember what Jacob said, I'm
not worthy of the least of thy mercies and of thy truth. How about Daniel? Daniel, the
faithful servant of the Lord, said this, Daniel 10 verse 8,
he said, I was left alone and I saw this great vision and there
remained no strength in me for my comeliness, my beauty was
turned in me into corruption and I retained no strength. What's he saying? I'm an unprofitable
servant. That's what Job said. That's
what Isaiah said. That's what Daniel said. God
help us to think right thoughts about ourselves and right thoughts
about God and right thoughts about salvation. Now when you
see Him, who He is, thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
God for Him, for the wages of sin and death, But the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And it makes
you to rejoice with the Apostle Paul. Thanks be unto God who
has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It makes us to rejoice in him.
Turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. And we'll close
the message by reading this. God who was rich in mercy for
His great love were with He loved us. We were dead in sin, unprofitable
servants, but He made us trophies of His grace. Trophies of His
grace. Look at Romans 8, 32. He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, peril, or sword? As
it is written, we are As it is written, for thy sake we were
killed all the day long, we were counted as sheep for the slaughter,
unprofitable servants. Then all things, though, we are
more than conquered through Him that loved us. Now that's the
key. Through Him who loved us. We only love Him because He first
loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither
death nor life Angels, no principalities, nor power, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now thank God for him, because
in of ourselves. Now you take a good look at that
verse again. And I looked at this a long time. Luke 17, 10, so likewise when
you shall have done all those things which are commanded you,
say, now here's what we say of ourselves, we are wretched, miserable,
unprofitable sinners. The only way we can honor and
glorify God is to be found in Christ. We are unprofitable servants,
we have done that which is our duty unto God to do.