Luke 17:11-19

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11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”  Luke 17:11-19

While the Lord Jesus was traveling along the border of Samaria and Judea ten lepers cried out to Him for healing. Due to the contagiousness of leprosy, Lepers were avoided the most. This is why we are told in v.12 they stood at a distance. The Lord Jesus was their only hope and there was no other solution.

Leprosy is caused by a certain bacteria which attacks the nerves and skin. It anesthetizes the body's limbs so that feeling is lost. It starts with a pink patch of skin usually on the face. The patch spreads in all directions, causing the eyebrows to disappear. Then tumorous swellings grow all over the face and then begin to spread all over the body as the disease becomes systemic. Eventually, the body is eaten alive by the bacteria and the Leper dies.

The Jews and Samaritans would not normally live together, but misery loves company and all ten of these Lepers were outcasts. It is amazing how death frames up reality for us. In the face of death, we entertain the most important questions. These ten men cried out to the Lord Jesus for mercy. They knew He was totally in command of even disease and death, and they trusted Him to help them.

The word translated “master” in the Greek is epistats and is only used by Luke and only here is it used to refer to Christ. It was a word of honor. In fact, it is a word that speaks of someone who has notable authority and power.  

Today's text continues in v.14 with the Lord Jesus commanding the men to go show themselves to the priest, which in itself was an act of faith, for they had not yet been cured. When they turned to obey, they were completely healed. 

After their healing one would expect all ten men to run to the Lord Jesus with great gratitude, but only one did. And, he was not even a Jew. Perhaps the triple whammy of being an outcast Samaritan Leper was enough to produce the great outflow of praise from his heart for the Lord. Perhaps the others had not fallen far enough to see reality of their desperate need for the Lord as this Samaritan did. We really lack the understanding of how great a teacher our pain truly is.

After being healed the nine had no more interest in the Lord Jesus anymore. They got what they wanted out of Him and  now, they had no desire to worship Him. They did not see Him as God. They were declared clean by the priests, but this Samaritan man was declared saved by the Son of God! 

While it is wonderful to experience the miracle of physical healing, it is even more wonderful to experience the miracle of eternal salvation. These ungrateful nine illustrate the attitude of the Jews who wanted the miracles, but not the worship. 

The Samaritan man came back “praising God in a loud voice.” It would have been logical for him to have followed the other men and gone to the temple, but he first came to the Lord Jesus with his heart full of gratitude. 

In v.16 we read, "He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan." By coming to the Lord Jesus, the man received something greater than physical healing: he also received forgiveness of his sins, and a personal relationship with God, and an eternity in heaven. 

In v.19 we read, “Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” These were the same words the Lord Jesus spoke to the repentant woman who anointed His feet in Luke 7:50. 

When we truly encounter the Lord Jesus for ourselves, we will be His worshipers. When we do not encounter Him, we will walk away from Him right into an eternity in hell. And then, it will be too late to decide to be a worshiper of God. This is one of the authentic signs of the saved, a heart which longs to worship the Savior.

Luke 17:7-10

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7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:7-10 

The Lord Jesus, in today's text, illustrates why the Pharisees were so resistant to the Gospel. The Pharisees loved to be worshipped. The Pharisees loved the applause of people. They dressed a certain way and behaved a certain way to gain the slap on the back from others. I believe it was Max Lucado who said, "A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd."

In Luke 20:46-47 we read, "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely."

When God gives us position and influence and He uses us in the lives of others in a positive way, we run the risk of thinking more of ourselves than we ought. It's easy to think we are the impetus behind our success and we become arrogant about any spiritual progress we may experience.

So, the Lord Jesus addresses this with a story of a boss and his employee. The word used here is doulos, meaning a slave, which was the equivalent to an employee. But, in reality, this is an illustration of the believer and God. 

Now, this employee understood exactly what his job required. And he understood that more was not being asked of him than what was required by the job. So, no one would say to him, "Come along now and sit down to eat." Of course, He was on the job to perform certain duties and he was not to sit down and eat.

In v.8 we read, "Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?’” There was an agreed upon contract for pay from the employer for certain services rendered by the employee.

Then in v.9 we read, "Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?" It is understood that the employer is paying this employee for the job he agreed to do. And, no employee would expect special honor after fulfilling his normal and agreed upon duties. What was expected of him was the normal and agreed upon pay for the normal and agreed upon work for the day.

In v.10 we read, "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty." The religious leaders expected to be treated special by God and people. They lacked a proper biblical theology. They were in the habit of patting themselves on the back and thinking that God was really impressed with them. In fact, they thought God owed them some special favor when they had merely done what was expected of them.  

If we are honest and biblically informed, we instinctively know that we are unworthy servants. These religious leaders had allowed their self-centeredness to cloud their theology. When we lose sight of the Lord and we do not walk with Him daily, we lose sight of how wretched we truly are. 

Humble people reject honor. We know we're not in God's debt.  We know it is only by God's grace that we have been forgiven and we subsequently have a personal relationship with Him.  Never will we earn anything He gives us. We can not be that good, even when forgiven.

There are two extremes to avoid: obeying God because we have to, or obeying God to gain reward. Both extremes are seen in the attitude of the Prodigal's older brother who was miserably obedient, hoping his father would let him have a party with his friends.

We love God because He loved us first. And, He loved us while we were His enemies, while we were dead in our sins and trespasses. In response, serving Him is a delight, not a duty. We obey God because we love Him. And never do we imagine that we have served Him so well as to somehow have impressed Him and obligated Him to give us some special honor, as if He is in our debt.

The religious leaders did not understand total depravity which asserts that mankind, as a result of the fall, is not inclined or even able to love God as we ought. Rather, mankind is inclined to serve our own will and desires and reject God's rule in our lives. 

This explains why the religious leaders were so hard-hearted and unchanged. The greatest change agent in this world is God's grace, and this distorted understanding of our condition is what causes us to believe that we deserve. 

Of course, we know we do not deserve anything good from God. We do not deserve His kindness. It is through His kindness that He sent to us His Son. And, when we accessed that favor through His Son, He lavished upon us His grace. This is not in response to anything we have done or will ever do. No, it is all based upon the performance of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.

Luke 17:5-6

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5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. ~ Luke 17:5-6

The Lord Jesus, previous to today's text, had honed in on the greatest need and expression in the lives of all of mankind: LOVE. And, love is the key element in forgiveness. We would have expected the disciples to respond to the Lord Jesus teaching on forgiveness with the prayer, “Increase our love!” But they ask in v.5, "Lord, “Increase our faith."

The disciples asked Him to increase their faith because they knew it takes living faith to forgive. They naturally struggled with this new take on forgiveness and they were having a rough time processing it. Their request for more faith is their admission they did not think they could live that way.

The disciples were feeling the weight of this responsibility and they were honest about their weakness. They were not denying that they had faith, they were not sure they had what it took to be more forgiving.

True forgiveness always involves pain because somebody has been hurt and there is a price to pay in healing the wound. Love motivates us to forgive, but faith activates that forgiveness so that God can use it to work blessing in the lives of His people.

In v.6 we read, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you."

The mustard seed includes the idea of life and growth. The mustard seed is very small, but it has life in it and, therefore, it can grow and produce fruit. If our faith is a living faith, it will grow and enable us to realize God’s presence and power in our lives today. Forgiveness is a test of both our faith and our love.

Human nature, being what it is, will always be offensive. And, sin festers in such soil. God’s people must get into the habit of facing these offenses honestly and lovingly, and forgiving those who offend. George Herbert once wrote, “He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”

Now, on other occasions, the Lord Jesus used the mustard seed and the mountain illustration. In today's text, there was no mountain nearby. Here, the Lord Jesus is standing by a mulberry tree, so He uses it. He affirms the fact the disciples needed a stronger type of faith. But, even a small amount of faith in the God of the Bible is enough to live a life that is different than anything we have ever known before. The key is not the amount but the object of said faith.

The mustard seed is an herb and it's been used in the ancient Middle East for centuries. And, it was the smallest seed in the land of Israel, at that time. And, as tiny as it was, it grew disproportionately.

A typical mustard bush or tree grew to be be twelve to fifteen feet in height and in width.  And that's a lot coming from a tiny little seed. And so, the Lord Jesus is simply saying, "If you have mustard-seed kind of faith, growing faith, you could realize amazing things in your life." And, since the mulberry tree had roots that would survive for 600 years, to uproot it would be absolutely supernatural.

The point is simply this: When we trust the Lord Jesus, we will witness God doing things in and through us that is otherwise humanly impossible. 

In 2 Corinthians 12:10 we read, "When I'm weak then He is strong." We discover the inertia to live the type of life the Lord Jesus died to give us when we tap into His strength. What prevents us from doing this is it is through our weakness that we access God's strength. Who values our weaknesses? Our weaknesses are precious because they alert us that we desperately need Him and this is the best place for us to live.

Notice the Lord Jesus does not tell the disciples how to get more faith. He doesn’t give the disciples a discipleship plan, or even assign them a faith journey partner. They didn’t need more faith, they had all the faith they needed. What they needed was to be more convinced they needed more of God. When we come to the end of us, we truly discover the depths of God.

Luke 17:1-4

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1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” ~ Luke 17:1-4

After the Lord Jesus warned the religious leaders about the sin of loving money, He now turns to His disciples to teach us about loving people. This is the father's nature, to love those who have accessed His love through His Son.

Now, pride inaugurated sin. Pride was the sin that got Satan thrown out of heaven. Pride was the sin that got Adam and Eve thrown out of Eden. Pride is always the dominant force behind sin because every sin we commit is an act of personal rebellion against God.  

The answer for pride is humility. And, at the heart of the Lord Jesus' teaching ministry is the idea of humility overcoming our pride. Soren Kierkegaard once said, “The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.” 

In v.1 we read, "Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come." The Greek word translated "stumble" produced the English word “scandal.” Originally it meant a bait stick in a trap. When the animal grabs the bait, the stick is released, the trap is closed, the animal is caught. We live in a world of traps, a world where people are going to be offended.

In this context, the Lord Jesus is warning his disciples that it is inevitable that some would be caused to stumble by some expression of pride in our lives. “These little ones” in v.2 are young believers who are learning how to follow the Lord. 

In v.2 we read, "It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble." 

A "millstone" was used to grind wheat into flour. These stones weighed anywhere between a couple hundred pounds to nearly 3,000 pounds. It would take one to the bottom of the sea fast. The rabbis taught that drowning was for Gentiles, not for Jews. It would be better for you to be drowned, instantly, than to hinder the faith of a young believer. 

In v.3 we read, "So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” We must teach God's standard, but we don't want to cause others to sin. And, if our brother sins, we must gently rebuke them. The word "rebuke" means to reprimand with a strong warning. The warning is a reminder that sin is out to destroy us. This is most effectively done as we show the one being rebuked that we are for him.

In Matthew 18, we are given the process for this. If your brother sins you go to him. If he turns away from the sin, forgive him. If he doesn't repent, you take two or three with you. If he still doesn't repent, you tell the church and the whole church lovingly holds this one accountable. 

In Galatians 6, the Apostle Paul gives us four characteristics of the Spiritual man. The first characteristic of the spiritual man is he mends the broken. The picture of the broken here is of one who is trying to get away from sin unsuccessfully. Paul writes, "if someone is caught in a sin..." The picture that Paul is painting here is of one who is too slow for sin. The sin is faster and the one caught is being dragged down from behind. This one who is caught by sin is broken, bloody, and suffering greatly by the destruction of sin.

Now, the word the Apostle uses to describe the actions of the spiritual man is quite instructive. Paul uses the word "restore". The Greek word is to reset very carefully as a doctor would reset a compound broken bone. This word is also used of a fisherman who carefully mend a torn fishing net.

In Galatians 6:1, the Apostle describes how the restoration should take place: "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted."

This restoration is to be motivated by the Spirit, and done gently, watchfully, and humbly. Again, Paul uses the word "restore" carefully. It should come from one who realizes he is yet to conquer sin himself.

In Luke 16:4 we read, "Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them." The Lord Jesus issues this command because He understands the fact that even though we are born again, we still struggle with sin. Therefore, we will find that we and others do not overcome certain sins over night. There is a process involved in overcoming sin.

Also, our forgiveness must be complete. He uses the word seven here twice to illustrate there is to be no lack in our forgiveness of another, no matter how many times they sin against us. Our ability to forgive another has to do less with them and everything to do with how we understand God's forgiveness of us. 

When we choose to forgive, we choose to live. All forms of sin, especially bitterness, are destructive. When we forgive another, we free ourselves from the bondage that someone’s wrong has created in us. When we refuse to forgive, we’re living resentful, bitter, and angry lives. We rob ourselves of the full life that God intended for us to live. Refusing to forgive leads us into walking in the flesh, rather than walking by the Spirit. 

I close with an appropriate quote from Mark Twain. “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Luke 16:19-31

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19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”~ Luke 16:19-31

The Jewish religious leaders taught that if someone was poor he was cursed by God and if someone was rich they were blessed by God. But, their theology had no basis in the word of God.

In response, the Lord Jesus tells a story of a rich man who ends up in hell and a poor man who ended up in heaven.

According to v.14, the Lord Jesus is addressing the religious leaders who loved money. Their theology accommodated their wealth prosperity view. They rationalized having more money by teaching they were blessed by God. 

In v.19 we read, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day." This man dressed in luxurious purple  and fine linen clothes. The Tyrian purple came from a shellfish which was the most expensive at that time. This fine linen robe was made of the finest Egyptian cotton which was also the most expensive and the best. He also lived a luxurious life. 

In contrast, in v.20-21 we read, "At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores." 

The beggar, Lazarus, did not just have a little, he had nothing. He was destitute. And, he laid at the opulent gate of this rich man, covered with sores. He was probably paralyzed, and couldn't move. The sores may well have come from his inability to move. Even the dogs licked his sores.

This man had a longing in him due to his condition. The only attention he got was from the dogs!  And, these dogs were scavengers, and not domesticated. They roamed the cities, eating whatever they could to stay alive. And, the poor man was more desperate than the dogs. Yet, he had a longing within.

This is where our search for God begins, with these internal longings. And, if we get desperate enough, we will turn to Him. That is my story! My mom died when I was five and my dad when I was one month away from turning eighteen. And, my loss was the impetus to my search for God.

In v.22-23 we read, "22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side."

The poor man in the story had no dignity in this life, becomes dignified in death. And, the rich man who had dignity in this life becomes undignified in death. The rich man goes to hell, and the poor man goes to heaven. 

For the religious leaders who were listening to the Lord Jesus, this story was a complete stunner. This is the absolute opposite result of what they taught and believed. The rich man was illustrative of the religious leaders and the poor man was illustrative of those who cried out to God.  

The rich man was in “torment.” This is the same word that is used for the doom feared by the evil spirits in Mark 5:7 and the judgments God will send on an unrepentant world. If hell is the permanent prison of the damned, then hades is the temporary jail, and the suffering in both is very real. 

The Lord Jesus described this torment as darkness and fire and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. The believer who dies is immediately in the conscious fellowship and joys of the heavenly experience. The damned are immediately in the conscious experience of torture.

People ask, “How can a loving God even permit such a place as hell to exist, let alone send people there?” But in asking that question, they reveal that they do not understand either the love of God or the wickedness of sin. God’s love is a holy love, not a shallow sentiment, and sin is rebellion against a holy and loving God. God does not “send people to hell.” They send themselves there by refusing to believe on His Son. 

The tormented rich man is, in the story, allowed to look out of hell into heaven, across that impassable gulf for the sake of the point. Though in reality, souls in hell have no access to heaven; souls in heaven have no intrusion from the eyes of those in hell. 

For the sake of illustration, to help us understand that he understands what he’s going through, and he’s allowed in the story to understand what Lazarus is experiencing, and he cried out in v.24 and said, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.”

In his mind, this rich man is so superior to Lazarus that even though he’s in hell and Lazarus is in heaven, he thinks Lazarus is still his servant. He requests mercy to be brought to him by the very one to whom he refused to show mercy. He still thinks lowlifes like Lazarus are supposed to serve him, even in hell. 

He pleads for a drop of water in hell, giving us a picture of how bad hell is. It is so bad, those there beg for one tiny drop of water for relief. But it never comes. The water of this world can’t soothe an eternally tortured soul. But this is the terrifying image of hell. No relief and the sinner forever and ever and ever, never pleading for one tiny drop of relief, wants no crumbs for the poor man and now no drops for the rich man.

In v.25-26 we read, "But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."

The contrast could not be made clearer. Instead of going from abundance to faith in God, the rich man went from abundance to self-indulgence. On the other hand, as the Lord Jesus pointed out in the Beatitudes, the beginning of our story with God is that of poverty of spirit. The poor man is assumed to have turned to God, placed his faith in Him for help and that is why he is in heaven.

In v.27-28 we read, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment. The rich man desires that his brothers not end up in hell, so he requests for more information to be delivered to them. 

In v.29-31 we read, “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

The rich man essentially states the Scripture is not enough for salvation. But, if we do not hear the Scripture with our hearts, we will not be saved. Faith in the God of the Bible comes by hearing the spoken word of God (Romans 10:17). We can’t avoid hell just because we do not want to go there. We avoid hell by following the path of salvation revealed by Moses and the Prophets. And that path is the Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets and overcame sin and death by rising from the dead.

Luke 16:14-18

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14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. 16 “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law. 18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. ~ Luke 16:14-18

As we come back to Luke 16, the conflict between religion and the Lord Jesus is at its height. The conflict was pronounced because the Lord Jesus taught that His gospel is for the defeated, not the dominant. The Lord Jesus had been teaching His disciples, but the Pharisees had been listening, and they were "sneering" at Him which means they were “turning up their noses” at Him. 

The Pharisees loved money which was a symptom of their real problem. And, their real problem was their hearts were not with God. They professed to trust God, but they measured life by the priorities of this world.

The greatest enemies of God are those who are the most religious. The arch enemy of God is religion because the religious reject His truth and embrace themselves as god. They thought they were better than everyone else. Their pride tripped them up and muddied their vision for the Messiah.

Religion is steeped by impure motives, love of money, and personal gain. Religion is hostile toward the truth, because its foundation is built on mankind's ability to be good enough to earn their salvation. It is predicated on that which is false. the believer in Christ takes comfort in the fact that God's acceptance of us cannot be gained by our successes nor can it be nullified by our failures.

In v.15 we read, "He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight."

These religious leaders believed they were right in God's eyes through their adherence of certain rituals, standards, laws, ethical codes and traditions. They drove the people to focus on rituals and regulations. This, of course, is detestable in God's sight because man cannot be good enough to earn His favor.

In v.16 we read, "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it."

The main subject of all of the Old Testament is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The meaning of all the Scriptures is unlocked by His death, burial and resurrection. The law and the prophets announced the arrival of the kingdom of God. And, that did not discredit or destroy it, for in Christ, the law has been fulfilled. 

The Pharisees prided themselves in their faithful obedience to the law of Moses, but they were not prepared for the arrival of the Messiah and they did not receive Him of whom the entire Old Testament wrote!

In v.17 we read, "It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law." 

Having silenced the sneering Pharisees, the Lord Jesus then gave them a vivid description of what would happen to them if they continued in their covetousness and unbelief. 

In v.18 we read, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

The Lord Jesus brings up divorce and remarriage because the religious leaders were divided on the issue. Some of the Jews were very relaxed in their views of divorce and remarriage, while the others were very strict. 

The Lord Jesus was most comfortable when He was with sinners and tax collectors because they were honest and authentic in their sinfulness. The religious leaders, on the other hand, were different than the sinners and tax-collectors. The religious were dishonest and inauthentic and rude.  

The religious leaders were lovers of money, antagonistic to the God of the Bible, hostile to His word, promotors of a self-righteousness, and they sought honor from people. This is what set the religious leaders in contrast to the Lord Jesus look like.

On the other hand, the people who tend to be the most gracious toward others are those who know how badly they need grace. Grace always runs downhill, meeting us at the bottom, not the top. The way of the religious leaders says God will love us if we change. The gospel of Jesus Christ says God will change us because He loves us.

Herein is the difference. The Lord Jesus came proclaiming the good news because that is what it is ... Good News! It is good news because it remedies our impossible situation. We had no hope until He can offering us His free gift of forgiveness and salvation.

Luke 16:10-13

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10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? 13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Luke 16:10-13

The religious leaders had sold their souls to the wealth of this world, and the Lord Jesus uses the context to teach His disciples on the subject. When it comes to the investment of our lives, it is really an issue of the heart. Faithfulness is the hinge that flings open the door to real success. And, the lack of faithfulness is the precursor to the slamming of the door on such success. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. This is where we go wrong: when our hearts are influenced and led not by the Lord's heart but by the philosophies of this world.

The world is full of stories which testify that no amount of money, fame, beauty, success, or popularity is ever enough. The sad truth is that the higher we climb on the ladder of theses types of successes, the more disappointed we will be. But that doesn’t stop us from scrambling for the next rung.

Today's text begins in v.10 with, "If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities."

In v.10, the Lord Jesus juxtapositions faithfulness with dishonesty. If in small things we are dishonest, we can't be trusted with the larger things. Out of our hearts comes our essence. This is sometimes a painful discovery, and, our pain, in this context, could be God prying open our hearts to remove a gift of His that we have been holding on to more dearly than Him.

In v.11 we read, "And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?" These true riches are the values and godly characteristics of God's values. And, if God's heart is not winning over our heart in a given day, then we will not reflect His heart. The overwhelming focus of the Bible is not the work of the redeemed but the work of the Redeemer.

Our unfaithfulness to God's way of thinking and choosing causes us to miss what He has for us in certain situations. If we are being defined by God's heart, it will be reflected in what we invest in. If we uproot our idols and fail to plant the love of Christ in their place, the idols will grow back.

In v.12 we read, "And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?" All we have, really belongs to God. We are His stewards. We can be like the steward in the previous story in Luke 16:1-9 or we can be true to the heart of God. We will never be perfect this side of heaven but the goal is to be perfect in our conduct. 

The tragic irony of self-indulgence is that the more we waste what is God's on ourselves, the less the eternal will define us. The true riches are the eternal ones, the ones that will endure beyond time.  

In v.13 we read, "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money." 

Everything in this passage is predicated on the verb “serve” which is the verb form of the noun translated “bond-servant.” The Lord Jesus is describing slavery. He says, "No slave can serve two masters." The Lord Jesus is describing the obedience of the purchased slave. He is subtly pointing out the motivation of the faithful believer: we have been purchased by the death of the Son.

God will always lead us to embrace the solidity of eternity, this world will always lead us to be stunted by its fallenness. Money is neither moral or immoral. It is what we do with our money that determines whether it is moral or immoral. 

There is nothing wrong with being wealthy. But, we must understand that money is only an instrument that is used to further the kingdom of God by the life that has had an encounter with God.

Money is not given to us for our benefit only. God rarely blesses us with only us in mind. He always has someone else in mind. We were all born with two great needs: to be loved and to love. And, the ultimate is to love. But we can't love without being loved.

We cannot look at the Bible as if it were fundamentally about us. When we do this, we totally miss the point. The Bible is primarily about God and His activity in the lives of broken people. And, when we see His heart for us through our brokenness, we are put on the road to being defined by His loving heart. This is the road that leads to being the bond-servant of God.

Luke 16:1-9

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1 Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. 2 So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’ 3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’ 5 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons. 7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’ 8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.  ~ Luke 16:1-9

The Lord Jesus told 40 different parables recorded in the Gospels. These parables were designed to reveal the truth to the honest and to hide the truth from the dishonest. The parables of the Lord Jesus were confirmation of the religious communities rejection of Christ. 

At the same time, His parables were music to those who had come to the end of themselves and, as a result, had ears to hear. One out of three of His parables have something to do with money. The characters in today's story are realistic to mankind's fallen condition.

In v.1 we read, "Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money."

This story is placed here right after the story of the prodigal son because this manager was also a prodigal which means “wasteful.”  The son wasted his inheritance and this manager wasted the assets of his boss.

Many people owed this man massive amounts of money, and the manager of the accounts was woefully behind in collecting the money from them. The term “manager” means "law and house." This man had the law of the house. He was the one delegated the authority to act on behalf of the boss. He managed the land and the crops. He managed the assets.  

Well, this manager had been irresponsible with his bosses business, as noted at the end of v.1. He was "wasting his employer's money.” This word "wasting" is the very same word used to describe the prodigal back in Luke 15:13. This was not some kind of shrewd scheme to embezzle money, he was just being irresponsible. 

In v.2 we read, "So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired." The word “report” is the word from which we get the word “diabolical.” The report included a serious and legitimate slander against the man. Diabolos is the biblical name for Satan, who is the slanderer of mankind. This report of this man’s diabolical nature in the position of manager is being exposed. So, the boss calls him into the office.

Then the boss does a foolish thing. After telling him, “You're fired,” the boss wants an accurate record of this man's irresponsibility. He wants to know exactly what he’s done and he allows the diabolical man to finish the job and provide the report. 

After we fire someone, it is a good idea to let somebody else figure out the mess because if you put them back in the position, they’re not going to do you right. And, that is exactly what this manager did.

So, in v.3-4 we read, "The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.” 

This man is thinking of how to manipulate things so that he gets his due. So, he contacts all of the people who owed his boss money, and he decides to discount their debts to his boss. As a result, the boss is out of money and the manager has gained people who owe him favors.

The discounts are huge. In fact, in v.5-7, we have the specifics. One man owed 800 gallons of olive oil, he got a 50% reduction. Another owed 1,000 bushels of wheat, he paid with 800 bushels of wheat.

This is purely a shrewd way to hurt his boss in such a way that secures the obligation of all these people to this manager. The Lord Jesus is merely telling a story which is consistent to the way it really was. In the real world this is the way it really is, and the Lord Jesus is trying to convey reality. The manager is representative of the religious leaders.

In v.8 we read, "The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light." 

The Lord Jesus points out that this is a well-devised scheme. He points out that this manager took advantage of his opportunity. He worked the situation to secure his future on earth. 

Sinful people act to secure their own future in very clever and ingenious ways. They use the resources they have with shrewdness, whether honest or dishonest to secure the best future they can secure for themselves. This is how the world operates, this is descriptive of the religious leaders who had the most opulent houses in the neighborhood.

In v.9 we read, “Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.” 

Translation? This manager used what he had, his assets, the wealth to purchase dwellings for his future, his temporal future. That’s what the world does. Even though the religious leaders were wrong in their greed and irresponsibility, we can learn from their shrewdness.   

Our life on earth is very short. On the final day when life as we know it is over, we will discover how our lives impacted eternity for others. Endless personal accumulation in this world is meaningless. With regard to eternity, we don’t want to waste our opportunities. We are stewards of all the Lord has given us. God has given us all we have to impact this world with the eternally relevant truth that He is imparting to us now. 

As believers in Christ, we are stewards of the gospel message. God has committed His treasure of truth to us. We are wise to actively look for ways to gain a hearing with the unbelieving world, looking for opportunities to share the most important message that they will ever hear. Their eternity, in part, depends on it. Be heavenly minded, my friends, and earthly relevant with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 15:28-32

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28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ 31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” ~ Luke 15:28-32

The Prodigal came home, the father celebrated and the older brother was angry. And, in the older son, the Pharisees met themselves. They were angered by the the Lord Jesus' grace shown to known sinners. The religious leaders believed in righteousness and justice and holiness, yet they lacked a proper definition of each. According to their theology, there was no grace of God.

In v.28, the Lord Jesus uses the word "begged." The Greek word parakaleō means to come alongside to speak to, to come right alongside someone. The noun form of the word is used of the Lord for the Holy Spirit. God pleads with him, and he calls him to come into the experience of His love. 

In v.29 we read, "but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends."

The older brother had a master servant relationship with his father. And, since in his eyes he was perfect, having not disobeyed his father once, he made the most arrogant statement ever. In this one verse, we see why the religious leaders never turned to the Lord Jesus: they didn't need a savior. There is an amazing amount of self-deception being thrown out here in one verse. 

In the last sentence of v.29, "And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends." The older son is accusing the father of unjust favoritism. And, his father is nothing more than a slave master. The older brother probably wished the father were dead. He doesn't care about his father and now his father is wasting assets on this other son, a wicked son who by his own admission is unworthy. 

In v.30 we read, "Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!" He identifies his brother as "this son of yours." He wouldn't even say "my brother."

So, we've got a celebration going on with music and dancing and the younger son and the feast and it's just a high time of joy.  And out in the dark of the night we've got this horrific assault on the father by the older son. The Lord Jesus was picturing the religious leaders, they saw themselves as righteous, and they sat in judgment of God.

In v.31-32 we read, "31 His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!"  

Divine joy is released when one sinner repents and is reconciled. And heaven's joy will be released not just for the prodigal, not just for someone who's immoral and irreligious and blatantly sinful, but for secret sinners, the rebels, the religious, the moral, the hypocrites, the ones whose lawlessness is all on the inside.  

The younger son was overwhelmed by his sin and with his father's grace. Immediately he confessed his sin and he received instantaneously forgiveness, reconciliation, sonship, all the rights and privileges that the father had at his disposal to give. He entered into the celebration of the father's joy . That is eternal salvation. And, the joy in heaven will be for ever.

The older son who had experienced the same tenderness, kindness, mercy, and grace, reacts with bitter resentment. He attacks the integrity of the father. And his father makes one final appeal.  "We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!"

Everybody in Luke 15 experienced the joy of the Lord except the older brother. The shepherd, the woman, and their friends all experienced the joy of finding. The younger son experienced the joy of returning and being received by a loving and gracious father. The father experienced the joy of receiving his son back safe and sound. But the older brother would not forgive his brother, so he had no joy. He could have repented and attended the feast, but he refused, so he stayed outside and missed out on the eternal celebration.

Luke 15:25-28

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25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ 28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him. ~ Luke 15:25-28

The posture of the religious says: "Since I earn God's favor, everyone else has to earn it." They think they earn God's favor by being good and moral. The problem with this mistaken idea is: we can not be good enough to either earn or maintain God's favor. Both our justification and our sanctification are couched in God's grace.

In order to be right with God, we must have a personal relationship with Him. And, in order to make this possible, He came to befriend those who are honest about their hopeless condition. The honest, in their culture, were the outcasts, the inappropriate, those who had been rejected by religion. These were the one's who had failed so much, they had given up on their efforts to get it right.

In Luke 15, the Lord Jesus tells three stories to demonstrate just how this required relationship is initiated. Due to the fact that the Fall has alienated us from God, something had to be done outside of man in order for us to be brought into a personal relationship with God.

We have seen that the Prodigal son, while in pursuit of the life he thought would fulfill him, dropped to an all time low. His plans wore him out and left him destitute. And, it was out of this posture that he cried out to God. After crying out to God, this son who deserved a woopin', is introduced to the one who took the woopin' on his behalf.

In v.25 of our text, we read, "Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house." The older son, who represents the religious, had been out in the field that day working. And, astonishingly, his father hadn't told him anything about his younger brother's arrival. This is explained by the fact that just like the younger brother, this older son had no relationship with the father. Being out in the field was a metaphor for where he was in terms of the father. The younger son was in a far country, the older son was in a far field. Both were far off from the father. 

As the oldest son approached the house, he heard music and dancing. It is at this point that the religious leaders to whom the Lord Jesus is speaking connect with the story. The oldest brother represents them. They have a safe place in their souls for his approach to life.

In v.26-27 we read, "He asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’" 

The older son's heart should have been filled with joy, but it was filled with resentment. The outrageous conduct of both his younger brother and his father was more than he could stand. The seemingly foolish father had received his wayward son back into the family. To the older son, this was the worst because the father was using his resources to throw the party for the son who did not deserve it.

And so, in v.28 we read, "The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him." The older son had no love for his brother because he had no love for himself. And, he had no love for himself because he was trying to earn his father's love. This explains why he didn't rejoice that his brother had repented. 

In addition, the oldest son had no love for his father. He didn't share his father's response because he had not the father's love. Oh, the father loved him, but he received it not. This is a typical, religious hypocrite standing on the outside condemning the gracious work of salvation. Anger is the only emotion he feels. And, the religious leaders thought their posture was right.

The Legalist does not believe in grace. He does not understand acceptance that is not earned. He understands that free forgiveness is limited. He thinks, "If one does not appreciate forgiveness by producing good works, then that one does not deserve it."  

And so, the Legalist does not go into the party. And, what we have here is a public display of private hatred. He cannot enter into his father's joy because he lacks the infrastructure in his soul for this type of joy. And, the rebar of this joy is the love of his father. The Legalist is the person who hangs out at the house of God but he does not know the heart of God. This is the greatest deception that has ever invented and it is the characteristic of every false religion on the planet.  

Salvation comes only to those that are spiritually bankrupt, destitute, impoverished and fall on their faces as beggars before God because they have come to the end of themselves.

The older son shares his younger brother's former malady, he is also a rebel. Unlike his younger brother, he's not an outward rebel, he's an inward rebel. He's a secret sinner. He feels all the same lusts that his brother felt, but he hides them because legalism never changes our flesh. He covers up his real condition and never fulfills them because he is earning his father's blessing. And so he's driven by pride more than he's driven by baser things. But the base things are still there.

The religious are the hardest to reach with the gospel because in their minds, they don't need to repent. But, the Lord Jesus came to save sinners. He came to rescue those who have tried it all and have come up languishing. 

In the last part of v.28 we read, "His father came out and begged him." The Father seeks both the religious and the irreligious. The older brother missed in sharing in his father joy over the return of his younger brother. If we have no relationship with God, our ability to love others will suffer.

D. L. Moody was traveling in the highlands of Scotland. He saw shepherds keeping sheep and he noticed that the sheep were wandering away. So, he engaged one of the shepherds in a conversation.

The shepherd said, "There's a particular type of grass that these sheep will go after. It's very sweet and they love it. This is why they wander away, and sometimes they even jump down into the landing in a real steep place, ten or twelve feet below, in order to eat the grass." 

The shepherd went on to say, "Now, they can't get back up. In fact, they require a rescue operation. They isolate themselves by the jump and they eat the grass. And as their shepherd I leave them there. After a while, when they notice their plight, they start bleating, they crying out, but I leave them there. I wait till they've eaten all the grass. And I leave them there for days until they're so weak that they're going to faint." 

Then Moody asked, "Why do you do that? Why don't you just rescue them?" The shepherd responded, "Because, if I were to jump where they just jumped, I would scare them. Then they would jump out over the cliff and kill themselves. So I have to wait till they're so weak they can't jump. And then they just let me carry them and I lift them up and take them to safety." 

Sometimes, we have to lose a lot before we say, "I give up." And when we say, "I give up," the Shepherd says, "Ah, you're in the right spot." To which we respond, "Lord, I'm at the end of my rope." "Good, " He says, "Now I can rescue you. Let me teach you that your success at every level is dependent upon me."