The Parable of the Two Debtors

Q: What does the Bible say about the Parable of the Two Debtors?

The Parable of the Two Debtors illustrates the concept of forgiveness and the varying degrees of love for God among His people. In Luke 7:40-42, Jesus tells the Parable of the Two Debtors, highlighting that both debtors owed a significant amount to their creditor. The key point is not the amount owed but the realization of their debt. This parable emphasizes that all sinners are in deep debt to God, regardless of perceived degrees of sinfulness. Christ's message is that love for God is proportional to one's awareness of their own sin and the forgiveness they receive. The one forgiven much will love much, indicating a profound understanding of God's grace and mercy.

Q: How do we know that we are all great debtors before God?

The Bible teaches that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory, making everyone a great debtor to Him. According to Romans 3:23, 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' This universal statement signifies that everyone, regardless of their actions, stands guilty before God. The key to understanding our status as debtors lies in recognizing the extent of our sin against a holy God. Since offending in just one point of the law equates to being guilty of breaking the entire law, we must understand that there are no small debtors in God's sight. All are in need of Christ's redeeming work and thus are great debtors in the spiritual sense.

Q: Why is understanding our bankruptcy before God important?

Understanding our bankruptcy reveals our need for Christ and emphasizes the grace of God's forgiveness. Recognizing our spiritual bankruptcy is fundamental to salvation. As the parable illustrates, the moment we acknowledge that we have 'nothing to pay' reveals our utter inability to earn God's favor. This realization leads us to seek Christ, as depicted in Matthew 9:13, where Jesus states that He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. This awareness fosters humility, helps us value forgiveness, and drives us to appreciate the grace extended through Christ's sacrifice. The greater our understanding of our bankruptcy, the more profound our love for Christ will be, as we recognize the depth of His grace in accepting us despite our unworthiness.

Q: How does knowing the cost of our redemption increase love for Christ?

Understanding the cost of redemption at Calvary cultivates a deeper love and appreciation for Christ's sacrifice. The knowledge of what Christ endured on the cross is fundamental to growing in our love for Him. As shared in the sermon, the depth of Christ's suffering, His vicarious atonement, and the magnitude of our sins all intertwine to help us grasp the true nature of grace. When we realize that Christ bore our sins and experienced the wrath of God on our behalf, we begin to see His sacrifice in a light that compels love and devotion. This heartfelt appreciation stems from recognizing that our salvation was not a trivial matter but came at an immense cost — His life for ours.

Q: Why is love for Christ not the same as just depending on Him?

Dependence on Christ doesn't equal love; true love stems from a heart transformed by knowing Him. The sermon emphasizes that merely depending on Christ for salvation is distinct from truly loving Him. Many might depend on Christ out of necessity, like a captive relying on their captor for food; however, this does not equate to an affectionate love for Him. True love arises when one recognizes the personal relationship and gratitude borne from understanding the grace extended to them. As believers grow to know Christ, their dependence transforms into immense love and devotion, leading them not only to seek Christ for their needs but to celebrate and cherish Him for who He is.

This parable is a parable, and
it has to be approached for what it is. It's a parable. It's a
parable our Lord used. It's a story he used to illustrate
a particular point. And it's a mistake, it's a severe
mistake to get bogged down and to try to make these parables
walk on four legs as a lesson in systematic theology. with
a direct application on every word. Now, some parables you
can almost do that, but this one you can't do it. And it's
a mistake to try to do it. I thought, well, I'll teach this
parable, start out a certain predator who is God, had two
daughters, you and I, and I got stopped right on that next phrase,
one owed him 500, one owed him 50, and I thought, ain't nobody
there that owes him 50. And I never met anybody that
owed him 50. And I don't believe there's anybody of those in 50.
I think they're all over the same thing. I think they're all
in heavy, enormous debt. I don't believe in any degrees
in this matter of sin against God. And that's where you get
bogged down when you try to make, and one of my favorite preachers
did just that. He took this parable, and he
had the drunk and the harlot and the profane swearer, a 500-pence
debtor, and he had some of these religious unbelievers in churches,
moral and full of so-called honesty and integrity, 50-pence debtors. I don't believe that at all.
If I was going to put either one of them in heavy debt, I'd
put that fellow in the church in heavy debt. And that harlot
and drunk out there doesn't owe him near as much, because our
Lord said, It'll be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment than for Capernaum, the church town. That's right. He said it'll be easier. It'll
be easier in the judgment for Tyre and Sodom than it will be
for Bethsaida or Capernaum, or these towns in which the greatest
light was shown and the greatest mercy given. So if you want to
talk about who the 500-pence debtor is, I'd say it's the man
who had the most light. in the most life. But you just
can't do it. You cannot make a story, a parable,
which our Lord intended for one particular point. That's what
He made the point. When He got through with it,
He turned to Simon and said, now which of these two men will
love him the most? That's what it's all about. That's
what it's all about. Our Lord is showing this. This
is what He's teaching. And you read it for yourself
and see what you come up with. You're perfectly free to do that.
I'm no authority. I'm a teacher, but I'm not an
authority. Paul said, I haven't arrived yet. I'm not perfect.
But I do know that that other interpretation won't hold water.
And I do know when you try to make any parable walk on four
legs and every word have a systematic meaning and a direct application
to the Word of God, you're already in trouble. Let it do what Christ
intended for it to do, and what he intends for this to do, he's
showing us, now listen to this, and here's the key to it, he's
showing us this, that there's a difference of degree in this
matter of love for God. Tell me which of them will love
him most. And there's the key right there,
most. These words show us that some persons love God more than
others love Him. That's exactly what Christ is
teaching here. Now all regenerated, all born
again, all redeemed people have a sincere love for God. There's
not anybody here who is converted, who is redeemed, that does not
love God. Who does not love Christ? Every
believer loves Christ. Every redeemed person loves Christ.
But not with the same degree of love. No, sir. Not with the same degree of love.
That's what our Lord is teaching here. This is the heart of this
whole parable right here. Which of them will love him the
most? And Simon said, well, the one
to whom he forgave the most, or the one who is most aware
of the forgiveness. And our Lord said, you've answered
right. He may be a blind man, but He does see that. He may
be a dead sinner, but He does see that. He answered the master
correctly. He said, that's right. And then
He gave him an example. This woman has been forgiven. She loves much. Now love is a
thing of life. Love for God is a thing of life.
I'm not talking about your love for one another now, but the
same thing applies. But love is a thing of life,
therefore it grows. Love's not a piece of iron, fixed
and settled and set, but love is like a flower. It buds, and
it grows, and it blooms, and then it comes to full flower.
And some love for God among believers is in the bud, some is in the
bloom, some is in the full flower. This is true of other graces.
This is true of faith. There's little faith, much faith,
great faith. Scripture teaches that. O ye
of little faith, woman, great is thy faith. Our Lord distinguishes
among the degrees of faith. I may not be able to walk the
wave with Peter, But I'll tell you this, I can reach out and
cry, Lord, save me or I'll perish. I can do that with Him. I can't
walk the ways, but I can do that. I may not be able to wish myself
a curse from Christ for my brethren like Paul did, but I can say
with Paul, I am what I am by the grace of God. Humility is
a grace of degrees. Faith is a grace of degrees.
What about joy? What about joy? Paul said, I
rejoice in the Lord always. What about peace? What about
gentleness? What about goodness? What about
kindness? What about temperance? All of
these are graces that grow. There are degrees of these graces.
There are men who are greatly humble before God. There's some
that still have a lot of starch in them. In God's good time,
he'll take it out. There's some who have strong
faith, there's some who have weak faith, but a pearl's a pearl
if it's that big or if it's that big. A diamond's a diamond if
it's small as a pinhead or if it's big as a golf ball, it's
still a diamond. And faith is faith depending
not upon the size of it, but the object of it. So love for Christ grows. And I'll tell you something we
need to check on, we need to determine that we understand
that dependence on Christ is not love for Christ. Somebody
here might get confused tonight and say, well, I love Him, I'm
dependent on Him for everything. That doesn't mean you love Him. An orphan boy can depend upon
an orphanage to supply his needs and not love it there. And a
prisoner can depend upon a warden to supply his dinner and supper
and not love him. And a person can depend on Christ
to be his savior from hell and to give him a home in heaven
and not love him. So dependence on Christ is not love for Christ.
Not necessary. Although love for Christ does
depend on it. And what we want to find out
is just what the Lord is asking Simon here, which of them will
love him most. I want to be among those who
love Him most. I want to be among those who
love Him. I want to be among those whose love for Him grows,
don't you? Well, I'm going to bring out
four things tonight that I believe God gave me. First of all, our
love for Christ. And I'm not talking about dependence
on Christ, I'm talking about loving Him. I'm not talking about Believe
in about him or believe in any of him. I'm talking about loving
him. And love for Christ grows in
degree, in proportion, in proportion to our knowledge of sin. That's
right. These men to whom this creditor
forgave their debt, they knew their debt. They knew what they
owed. They knew how enormous it was. They knew their inability. They
knew their debt. They knew exactly how much they
owed. They knew the severity of it. They knew the right of
the man to whom they owed it. They weren't, they didn't just
go off, a lot of people do this about sin and just dismiss it
and just act like it's not there. And just ignore it. No sir. They
fully knew what this debt was. Fully knew. They were aware.
And I realize that all men are not openly as wicked as they
could be. You know that and I know that.
You're not as wicked as you could be. You're not as wicked as you
would be if God left you alone. You're not as wicked as you would
be if the opportunity and desire occurred at the same time. You're
not as wicked as you could be if God turned you over to Satan
or even over to self. All men are not equally as wicked.
But there are no small debtors in God's sight. They're all great
debtors. For the Scripture says to offend
in one point of the law is to be guilty of what? All the law
of God. So everybody here tonight is
a debtor who is guilty of violating the whole law of God. Don't ever
be guilty of saying, well, I've never done this or I've never
done that. The Scripture says you have. Well, it's one thing
I've never done. No, there isn't. Now, in God's
sight, there may be some things you haven't done in the sight
of people, but in God's sight, you have run the whole course.
He says you're guilty of the whole law. He says all have sinned
and come short of God's glory. He says all we like sheep have
gone astray. He says in Adam all died, and
dead is David. There are not some people out
at Rose Hill who are almost dead, and some that are nearly dead,
and some that are not quite dead, and some that are fully dead.
Dead is dead. And I'll tell you, this thing
of sin ought to be considered not in the light of alcohol only,
not in the light of murder only, not in the light of blasphemy
only, but this thing of sin ought to be considered in the light
of what happened in the garden. And there the Scripture says,
we were in Adam seeking to dethrone God. This thing of sin ought
to be considered in the light of Calvary. There at the cross,
the human race cried, crucify Him. There before them is God's
only begotten well-beloved Son. Crucify Him. There before them
is holiness personified. Crucify Him. There before them
is God's gift to sinners, crucified. There before them is the pure
Son of the living God in perfect flesh, crucified. And every one of us are saddled
with a sin of unbelief. And the Scripture said it was
that sin that kept Israel out of Canaan. It was not the golden
calf, it was not murmuring against Moses, it was the sin of unbelief. They could not enter in because
of unbelief. And our Lord said, when the Holy
Spirit is come, he will convince the world of sin and of righteousness
and of unbelief. Judgment! Of sin because they
believe not on me. The heart is the seat of sin,
not the flesh. Turn to Matthew chapter 5, and
let's look at this. What I'm saying is this, you
grow in a love for Christ as you grow in a knowledge of sin.
What is sin? Now, I can't convince you of
the reality of sin, or the personality of sin, or the sinfulness of
sin, but God can't, and He'll use His Word to do it. I can't
bring you to the place where you cry with David, my sins are
ever before me. Or with Job, I hate myself. Or with Paul, O wretched man
that I am. Or with Peter, depart from me,
O Lord, I'm a sinful man. Or with Isaiah, I'm a man of
unclean lips. Or with John, I fell at his feet
as a dead man. I can't bring you that place.
And I'll tell you, if the Holy Spirit ever pleases, in His good
pleasure and in His sovereign will, If he's ever pleased to
let you, with the eye of your mind, look upon the exceeding
sinfulness of your sin, and the reality of your sin, and the
personality of your sin, you'll love Christ, but you won't until
you do. In Matthew 5, verse 21, you've
heard it said by them of old times, thou shalt not kill. Well,
we'll all agree with that. Whosoever shall kill shall be
in the danger of the judgment." We'll all buy that. But Christ
said, I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall
say to his brother Raka, or vain fellow, shall be in danger of
the counsel, and whosoever shall be so angry that he says, thou
fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. He didn't kill anybody,
but he did in his heart. He did in his attitude, he did
in his spirit. The hatred was there, the ill
feeling was there. And then our Lord went on down
to verse 31, or rather verse 27. You've heard it said by them
of old times, thou shalt not commit adultery, we'll buy that.
But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman or on a man
with intent, with desire, has committed adultery already in
his heart. Will we buy that? Then down here in verse 43, our
Lord said, You have heard it said by them of old times, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. That fellow ought
to hate his enemy. The Lord loves his neighbor,
that's our philosophy, but it's not so. But Christ said, I sinned,
you love your enemy. How many love your enemy? Bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for
them that despitefully use you. Instead of getting revenge on
somebody, pray for them. Well, you don't do that. That
you may be children of your Father which is in heaven. And in Matthew
15, he said, it's not that which goes into the mouth that defileth
a man, All the whiskey and iron and the howl poured down your
throat tonight wouldn't defile you one bit. No sir, not spiritually. It'd ruin you physically. But
I'll tell you, that feeling you have in your heart right now
towards someone else, that's what's killing you, that's what's
damning you. That's what's blocking your fellowship with God. That's
what's got you in the road to condemnation. That's the whole
story. That's right. We don't know anything about
that. Not a thing in the world, and that's the reason I say,
that's the reason it's so hard for us to love Christ with all
our hearts, is we don't realize what He saved us from. We don't
realize what we are. We don't know what sin is, people
in this generation, people in the pulpit. That's absolutely right. We've
got these different things here, Mark, and we just missed it.
We've missed it all together. No matter how drunk a man gets
tonight, no matter how long he lays out there in the gutter,
he ain't nearly in so bad a shape. And his heart's not nearly in
the danger of the judgment like that man who has envy or that
woman, jealousy and hatred and malice and all these things in
here. That's so. That ain't so, our
Lord sure told us to fear, because he said, it's not that which
goeth into the mouth that defile it, it's that which comes out
of the heart, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts and
murders and adulteries and fornications and hatred and jealousy and envy
and covetousness and all these evils of hell. That's the area
where Satan operates. He doesn't operate in the booze
joints and the red light district and those places. Those are not
his field of operation. His field of operation is in
spiritual, wicked, high places. That's where he operates. That
may not be popular, but so. Folks may not like it, but so.
It's so anyway, and that's the reason they didn't like the Lord.
They said, well, look at him. He's down there eating with those
publicans in Harlem. And he turned to that bunch of
religious folks and said, well, they'll go in heaven a whole
lot sooner than you will. That's right, he said, the publicans
and the harlots enter heaven before you. Well, look at that,
he's gone to be the guest of a man that's a sinner. He's the
friend of sinners. He wasn't advocating what they
were doing. But he's simply saying that they,
and he turned to those Pharisees and he said to his disciples,
now if your righteousness doesn't exceed theirs, you won't enter
the kingdom of heaven. And they were like our righteous
religious people today. They had it all fixed up. They
didn't do this and didn't do that and didn't do the other
and didn't go here and didn't go there. And they were all cleaned
up on the outside. They looked so good and holy
and righteous and pious. And Christ said their righteousness
is nothing but filthy, filthy, dirty, moth-eaten rags. That's
all. We'll grow in love for Christ.
as we've come to a real understanding of what sin is, and that's what
we're guilty of. Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.
All right, secondly, our love for Christ will grow in proportion
to our knowledge of our bankruptcy. Now look back at the text in
Luke 7. It says here in verse 42, and when, now, and when,
there's the word, and when, they had nothing to pay. There's a time when pardon comes,
and you know when that is? That's the time when self-sufficiency
goes. There's a time when Christ comes
to speak peace, and that is when that sinner comes to the place
and the time when he doesn't deserve it. That's right. Our Lord said, the Son of Man
has come to seek and to save the lost. Romans 5 says, Christ
died for the ungodly. When we were without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. Matthew 9, let's turn over there
a minute. Now this is something I preached on about two or three
years ago, and it's something we need to go over every once
in a while. Matthew 9. Look, if you will,
at verse 13. Matthew 9, 13, the Lord says, Go ye and learn what that means. Go learn what that means. Well,
let's turn back and see what he's talking about. In Matthew
9, verse 10, it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house,
behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and
with his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said to the disciples, why does your master eat with publicans
and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said,
David, behold, need not a physician. but they that are sick. Go ye and learn what that means.
And then he tells us what that means. He said, I will have mercy
and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. The Lord will not clothe me until
I'm stripped. The Lord of glory will not pardon
me until I'm guilty. The Lord will not heal me until
I'm sick. Nor will I call on him to heal
me till I'm sick. The Lord will not lift me till
I'm fallen. The Lord will not forgive me
until I've been brought by the Holy Spirit to the point of nothing
to take. It is absolute poverty alone
that sets the soul at large. As long as we can call one might
our own, we'll get no full discharge. But let our debts be what they
may, however great or small, as soon as we have nothing to
pay." Our Lord forgives us all. That's right. There were two
men owed him enormous debts, and when they had nothing to
pay, nothing to pay, I can just see them when they came before.
First of all, at home they realized. They sat down there and counted
up their assets, and they saw this enormous debt. Oh my, I
owe this man. What an enormous debt. I have
nothing. I have nothing. I just got to
go to him and tell him, and that's what utter inability will make
you do, make an honest confession before God. Came to the creditor
and he said, Sir, Lord, I owe you 500 pence. That's an enormous
debt. I don't have anything to say.
I'm broke. I'm absolutely broke. Utter inability will make an
honest confession, and our Lord said, if we confess our sins... He didn't say, if you confess
the world's sins or your neighbor's sins. He says, confess your sins,
our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive
us. I'll tell you something else. Utter inability will value forgiveness. The larger the debt, the greater
value is placed upon pardon. seeking Christ, seeking mercy,
like the publican who cried, God be merciful to me, a sinner.
The Pharisee had plenty to pay. All right, we'll grow in love
for Christ as we come to know what sin is and as we come, secondly,
to the place of utter bankruptcy. Now, thirdly, love for God grows
in proportion as we get a clearer view of what it costs to pay
our debts. That's so. How can I love Christ
more? Ask God to show you your sins. Ask God to reveal to you the
greatness of your sins. Ask God to bring you to the place
where you actually feel that you're the chief of sinners. Ask God, the Holy Spirit, to
bring you to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and I guarantee
you The more you are made aware of sin, the more you will love
the sin bearer. And ask God to show you your
inability. Don't ask God to give you humility. Ask God to show you your bankruptcy
and that will give you humility. Ask God to show you what you
are. You want to destroy pride? Ask God to reveal to you what
you are in His sight. Not what you think you are, what
your neighbors think you are, but what He knows you are. He
called Jacob a worm, a wiggling maggot. The person who loves Christ realizes
his utter inability to please God. In my flesh dwelleth no
good thing. But this crowning glory of love
for Christ will come thirdly with a realization of what was
involved at Calvary in our redemption. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plane. That's where it started. And
you, happy quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
where in times past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the Prince of the Fire and the Air, the
Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of
the flesh, in the lust of the eye, in the pride of life. But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us with pride. Oh, the love that blew salvation's
plans. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. He gave Christ. He gave the Holy
Spirit to call us. He gave Christ to redeem us,
the Holy Spirit to call us. He gave us repentance toward
Him. He gave us faith in Christ, and He keeps. His infinite sufferings, all
the mighty gulfs that God did span. He who knew no sin, believe
it or not, was made sin for us. All of my filth and all of my
guilt and all of my rebellion and all of my blasphemy and all
of my evil was poured out on Christ and He bore the wrath
of God for my sins. He became what I am that I might
become what He is. He who knew no sin was made sin
for me that I might have no sin. The sinless was made sinful that
the sinful might become sinless. He actually took my head. If
you want to love him more, go to Gethsemane's garden and behold
the bloody sweat. If you want to love him more,
go to the soldier's hall and watch as the crown of thorns
is pressed into his holy brow, and the cat of nine tails rakes
across his back, and the spittle pours down his face, and his
beard is plucked out, and the mocking and persecution. If you
want to love Christ, go to Calvary and see that he was hanging there
in your place, in my place. Christ did not die as an example. He did not die as a martyr. He
did not die as a failure. He died as a substitute. He took
my sins in His body on the tree. He was wounded for my transgression. He was bruised for my iniquity. By His stripes I am healed. He
died in my stead. That's right. You'll love Him. You'll love him, you'll love
his house, you'll love his book, you'll love his people, you'll
love his law, you'll love the mention of his name, you'll love
his praise, you'll love everything about him. Did you ever get to
Calvary? The closest most folks ever got
to Calvary is in a sermon. The closest most people ever
got to the Garden of Gethsemane is reading about it. The closest
most church members have ever gotten to that place of agony
and that place of suffering is walking down an aisle, shaking
a preacher's hand, agreeing to accept Jesus. That's the reason
they don't love Him. You love Christ when the Holy
Spirit takes you down into the dunghill where He found you,
and lets you look in that place where He got you, what you are
when He found you, and what you are now. You love him when he takes you
and shows you your empty pocket, your poverty, your bankruptcy,
when with the prodigal son you're sitting on the railing of the
pigpen, ragged and dirty and filthy, and you think, I don't
have anything. I'm going to my father, and I'm
going to say, Father, I don't deserve to be called a son, but
just give me a place of a hired servant. I don't deserve anything.
Most of our folks deserve to be sons of God, but this boy
didn't. He didn't deserve anything. I'll
tell you, when that father made him a son, his love for that
father increased immeasurably. And then our love for Christ
will increase as we go to Calvary and as we watch Him back. And
we realize that that's our place. That's our place. And then our
love for Christ will grow, last of all, in proportion to our
knowledge of the gift of eternal life. What exactly is this gift
of life, this unspeakable gift? Unspeakable gift. Well, you just
think about it, and you won't appreciate this if you don't
have some understanding of it. But do you realize that every
person for whom Christ died, that all of our sins, all of
this guilt before a holy God, every thought I've ever thought,
every word I've ever spoken, every deed I've ever done, all
of my sins, past, present, and future, are all forgiven? Do
you realize that? It says here, when they had nothing
to pay, He freely forgave them. And that's what Scripture says.
The Scripture says, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. No. That's what Romans 8.33 says. Who, who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? Who, who is he that condemns? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from how many sins? All sins. That's what Scripture
says. The only one who can forgive
a debt is the one to whom it's owed. And He's the one who forgives.
And our sins are affectionately pardoned, they're eternally pardoned,
they're pardoned because Christ paid for us. That's why He paid
for us. And not only are all my sins
forgiven, think of it, they're pardoned, they're forgiven, they're
under the blood. God said, I'll remember them
no more. I'll cast them behind my back. Now where the back of
God is, I don't know. Well, you find it, that's where
my sins are. Into the depths of the sea. I'll remember them
no more. That's what he said. And my name
is in the book of life. Now you think about that. Christ
said the disciples went out and the demons were subject to them.
They cast out some demons. They came back, you know, like
some of these divine healers of today. They're real excited.
They actually did something. They actually did something.
And Christ said to them, don't rejoice that the demons are subject
to you. Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. I tell you, Some people love
to see their name in the paper. They'd love to see their name
in who's who. They'd love to see their name engraved somewhere
on a marble stone. And I'll tell you this, the thing
that ought to thrill our hearts is our names are written in heaven.
And they'll never be erased. I'm an heir of God, I'm a son
of God, I'm a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Now you think about
that. When you talk about loving Him,
God is my Father. And He says no matter what happens
to me and about me, it's going to work together for my good.
He promised me that. He said all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are called according to His
purpose. And more than that, if I die right now, He's going to receive me to himself. I'm going to be with the Lord.
I'm going to behold his glory, enjoy his presence, and be just
like Jesus Christ. I'm going to be like his Son,
perfectly conformed to his image. If sin be pardoned, I'm secure,
and death has no sting beside. The law gave sin its damning
power, but Christ, my Savior, died, and with His spotless garment
on, I am as holy as God's Son." Well, you talk about something. You talk about rich. You talk
about blessed. Blessed is a man to whom God
will not charge sin. Oh, happy is that man. He might have an incurable disease. He might have a rags on his back,
he might have all the shortcomings of the least of the saints, but
you just think about it. To whom God will not charge sin,
he is happy. That's the greatest blessing
God can give. Who loves him the most? I'll
tell you who loves him the most. The person to whom he forgave
the most. And that's what it says right here. That man that's
been, he's been there. He knows what he is. He knows
what he doesn't have. That's right, he knows what he
doesn't have. Nothing to pay. He knows what Christ paid to
redeem him. Yes, sir. He's got a glimpse
of cowardice. He's got a glimpse of God's wrath,
God's judgment. A lady wrote to me this week,
a man and his wife. lady and her husband. They've
been watching the TV program. They want to know what the Lord
Jesus Christ meant in Gethsemane's garden when he prayed, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. And I'll tell you, I'll
tell you what it can't mean. It can't mean the cross, because
he, all the way through his life, he said, for this cause came
out of this hour. Satan tried to keep him away
from the cross, and his disciples tried to keep him away from the
cross, Everybody else tried to keep him away from the cross.
That's why he came, was to go to the cross, the hour was come.
That wasn't what he was praying. And then he always, everything
he prayed for, he got. He never prayed out of the will
of the Father. He and the Father won't. There's no way he could
have a conflict with the Father. There's no way he could ask something
that's not possible. Our Lord had a human body. Our
Lord had a human soul. And in that human body, in that
human soul, was an infinite, divine, eternal God who knew
all things. He knew men's thoughts. He knew
where the coin was in the mouth of the fish in the depths of
the sea. He knew what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree,
yet he had a human body. You see what I'm saying? And
when he came to Gethsemane's garden, he said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful even unto death. I'm going to die right here.
There's not going to be any Calvary. There's not going to be any cross.
I'm not going to get out of this garden." Because with that infinite divine
mind, he knew what hell was. He knew what sin was. He knew
what the wrath of the Father was. He was about to bear in
his soul, he made his soul an offering for sin. He was about
to take into his holy, immaculate soul our dirty, rotten hell. He was about to go to hell. If you and I knew what the judgment
of God was, and the wrath of God was, and what hell was, we'd
drop dead right now. There's no way you could stand
it. If you knew. You don't know, and I don't know.
We don't have the faintest idea. But if we knew what it was, if
we had the mind of Christ, if we could look into the infinite
depths of hell, and into the infinite wrath of God, and into
the infinite sinfulness of sin, and into the infinite separation
from a holy God, you wouldn't survive the next five minutes.
You'd drop dead. The fright of it, the shock of
it, the awesomeness of it would kill you. And that's what Christ
is saying. My soul is exceeding powerful under death. The blood
was running out the pores on His skin. That's how full of
anguish he was. His whole system was rebelling
against this meeting. His whole being was crying out
against this meeting. Not his will. Always do those
things that please my Father. It wasn't his unwillingness.
He said, you don't send me to that cross. I go there willingly.
I lay my life down. But he was saying, I'm not going
to have a life to lay down. This human flesh, this human
soul can't stand it. But if it be possible, my father,
let this cup, this cup, this present cup of agony pass from
me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. If this is the route, if this
is the direction, if this is what I must bear, then I bear."
But the angel came down and ministered to him. His prayer was answered.
His prayer was answered. And that man that loves Christ
most is a man that's got some kind of glimpse of what our sins
are and what our inability is and what Christ endured on our
behalf. And that man that can, like Paul,
for me to die is gain. I have so much to gain by dying,
to live with Christ and to die is gain. Our Father in Heaven,
we are grateful for the Word. We feel our insufficiency for
these things, our inability, our ignorance, foolishness, but
we want to learn. We want to learn because we want
to love. We want to learn because we want to be like Christ. We
want our resentment and our rebellion, our traditions and our customs
of religion to be destroyed. We want to be laid bare at His
feet as little children, just bond slaves of Jesus Christ.
We want to forget differences in denominational titles and
names. We want to be disciples at the
feet of the Master. We want to give Him His rightful
glory, His place of preeminence. We want Him to increase while
we decrease. We want to fall in worship. We
want to have a little time of communion with Thee. We want
to have a little time of fellowship with Thee. We want to be introduced
to those who love Thee, that we might know one another better,
that we might dwell together in a blessed, unbroken fellowship
and spirit of dedication to Christ. O Lord, may it please Thee to
visit with us in these days when so little of thy glory is revealed,
and so little of thy presence is manifested. But be pleased,
O Lord, to favor us, to favor us, if it be thy will, with thy
presence and with thy word and with thy gospel. For Christ's
sake we pray, amen. Lord, you come lead us in a closing
hymn here. Let's turn to hymn 125. Fan,
please.

The Parable of the Two Debtors

What does the Bible say about the Parable of the Two Debtors?

How do we know that we are all great debtors before God?

Why is understanding our bankruptcy before God important?

How does knowing the cost of our redemption increase love for Christ?

Why is love for Christ not the same as just depending on Him?

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The Parable of the Two Debtors

What does the Bible say about the Parable of the Two Debtors?

How do we know that we are all great debtors before God?

Why is understanding our bankruptcy before God important?

How does knowing the cost of our redemption increase love for Christ?

Why is love for Christ not the same as just depending on Him?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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