"The Gospel of Luke (71): When Offences and Offenders Come July 28, 2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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of the book of Acts and today Pastor Jason will read for us Acts 22.

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And last week we considered the arrest of the Apostle Paul in Jerusalem.

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It was all in the purpose of God. God told him he was going to preach to kings, he was going to go to Rome.

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And so he was arrested and beat here in Acts 22.

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He once again recounts his conversion experience and then some more details as the ongoing conflict that he had with the

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Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. This was all arranged by the province of God to get him a free trip to Rome.

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And so we continue to read of this stage, latter stage of Paul's ministry.

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Acts chapter 22. Acts 22.

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Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you. And when they heard that he was addressing them in the

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Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said, I am a

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Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia, brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

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I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

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From them I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

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As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me.

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And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

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And I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

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Now those who are with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

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And I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.

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And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who are with me and came to Damascus.

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And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the

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Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight.

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And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, the

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God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

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For you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait?

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Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple,

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I fell into a trance. And I saw him saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.

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And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

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And when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.

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And he said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Up to this word they listened to him.

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Then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live.

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And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.

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But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a

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Roman citizen and uncondemned? When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, what are you about to do?

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For this man is a Roman citizen. So the tribune came and said to him, tell me, are you a

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Roman citizen? And he said, yes. The tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum.

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Paul said, but I am a citizen by birth. So those who are about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune was also afraid, for he realized that Paul was a

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Roman citizen and that he had bound him. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the

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Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet.

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And he brought Paul down and set him before them. Let's go to the

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Lord in prayer. Our Father, we thank you that you are a sovereign

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God and that your hand is over every circumstance. Even in this circumstance in Acts, where it seemed like the

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Jews had the upper hand, Lord, you were sovereign over all of these circumstances, and you used all of these difficulties in Paul's life for your glory and for his good.

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And Lord, we recognize that you and your hand of providence are still guiding us today, and we thank you for that.

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We thank you that we can entrust ourselves and our circumstances to him who judges justly, just as Paul, just as the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray that as we continue our worship through the preaching of the word, we pray for Lars that you would give him clarity of thought, clarity of voice.

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We pray, Lord, that we would hear the word of God, that we would hear it proclaimed, and that we would believe it, and that you would teach us how to apply it to our lives.

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We pray, Lord, that we would leave here with a greater understanding of your magnificence and your glory, and a greater responsibility for what we are to do.

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Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's turn to Luke chapter 17 today.

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We're making our progress through this gospel, and today is what, the 71st Lord's Day that we've addressed this third gospel?

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Luke 17, wow. This section of this gospel contains several teachings of our

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Lord Jesus to his disciples. It's very practical, straightforward.

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Our Lord took every opportunity to instruct his disciples on what to believe and how to live, and so as such, there's much that is practical for us here in these, well, ten verses

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I hope to address this morning. We are in need of instruction, for sin has rendered us ignorant of spiritual truth, and sin has blinded us to the way

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God would have us live in this world, his world, but because God loves his people, he instructs them through his son and what to believe and how to live before him among others, both among other

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Christians, but also before non -Christians in the world, and we have that kind of instruction for us here.

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We of course have a responsibility to order our lives according to the manner that he's instructed us.

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This is what people of faith do. This is what his disciples do, and so here's

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Luke 17 verses 1 through 10. Then he said to the disciples, it is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come.

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It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

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Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him.

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If he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you saying,

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I repent, you shall forgive him. And the

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Apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. So the

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Lord said, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea and it would obey you.

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And which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he's come in from the field, come at once and sit down to eat.

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But will he not rather say to him, prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk and afterward you will eat and drink.

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Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.

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So likewise you when you've done all those things which are commanded, say we are unprofitable servants, we have done what was our duty to do.

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The Lord addressed several issues in these verses that we just read. He gave warnings to those who would tempt his disciples to sin, verses 1 through 3a.

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He then instructed his disciples on dealing with sinning persons and he warned them not to have an unforgiving spirit, verses 3b and 4.

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He then said a word about the nature and power of faith, verses 5 and 6. And then he concluded his teaching session by giving forth this parable of the unprofitable servant, verses 7 through 10.

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So let's work through these. First, God's treatment of tempters to sin.

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Our Lord was instructing his disciples how to respond to various life situations. He tells them it would be their common experience to encounter people whose words or behavior draw others to sin.

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Jesus said it's impossible that no offenses should come, it's going to happen.

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Life is full of offensive encounters and experiences. Offenses happen in the home, in the workplace, in church, and always out in the world.

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Again, Jesus said it's impossible that no offenses should come. You won't be able to escape them in this world, in this life.

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And so here the thought is that you will commonly encounter stumbling blocks which would trip you up, that which would cause you to fall into sin.

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Now the ESV translation conveys this idea perhaps more clearly. It reads, and he said to his disciples, temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come.

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But the Greek word translated in the New King James Version means offenses, or more literally translated, of the cause of offenses.

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Now clearly from the context of the passage, temptation to sin is involved and that certainly the

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ESV zeros in on that emphasis, but the word itself is a little bit broader.

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It speaks about stumbling blocks. It's the same word as found in Romans 16 7 which reads,

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I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught.

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Avoid them. But again the context does suggest that our Lord was addressing occasions in which his disciples would face enticement to sin.

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The fact is there are many causes to sin that we face.

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Jesus first declared that offenses must come. Why must offenses come?

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Why must this take place? Well there are several reasons that offenses must occur in God's world.

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John Gill succinctly stated the reasons why Jesus made this statement. About the time that he delivered the above parable concerning the rich man and Lazarus, he repeated to his disciples what he had said before to them on the another occasion.

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It's impossible but that offenses will come. And then he lists italicized and emboldened his words, considering the decree of God, the malice of Satan, and the wickedness of men, the corruption both of their principles and practices.

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That's why offenses must come in this fallen world. And so Gill identified three reasons that offenses will most assuredly come.

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Let's consider briefly each one of these causes. First of all, however, let's emphasize it was in the decree of God.

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It is ultimately in the plan and purpose of God that we live out our lives in a world in which we must deal with sin and sinners.

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Of course God does not tempt you to sin, that is entice anyone to sin.

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That's not possible for a holy God and James specifically states that in his epistle.

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But God does test people and he does so frequently as to whether or not they will remain true and faithful to him or if they will yield to sin.

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God had decreed all that takes place in the history of his world including sin, tempters to sin, sin's consequences.

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Before creation God decreed all that would take place in the history of his world.

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It was a single infinite thought and purpose the decree of God even before he created anything.

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Our Confession of Faith states the matter well. God hath decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably all things whatsoever comes to pass.

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Yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein and nor is violence offered to the will of the creature.

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He doesn't force people to do these things they choose themselves but God oversees their choice.

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He decreed it to take place nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away.

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That's how God is not the chargeable author of sin he uses the devil and secondary causes rather than directly but rather established these secondary causes are established in which his appears his wisdom and disposing all things power and faithfulness and accomplishing his decree.

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Everything that happens in history is the working out of God's eternal decree and so is in the plan and purpose of God that sin entered prevailed through the history of the world.

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We should never think that sin had entered the world irrespective of the will of God. It's not as though God were absent or withdrawn from his creation and Satan slipped one over on him.

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Rather God works all things after the counsel and that word counsel means decree.

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God works all things after the counsel of his will. Arthur Pink challenged his readers in the opening words of his classic book

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The Sovereignty of God. Those readers who envisioned a different God than what is revealed in the

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Bible. Who is regulating affairs on this earth today God or the devil?

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Now would you answer that. What impression is made upon the minds of those men of the world who occasionally attend a gospel service?

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Who occasionally go to church? What are the conceptions formed by those who hear even those preachers who are counted as Orthodox?

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They're viewed as evangelical. Is it not that a disappointed God and that's an impossibility.

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God cannot be disappointed in himself. He's not affected by things outside of himself. Is the one whom

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Christians believe in from what is heard from the average evangelist today is not any serious here obliged to conclude that he professes to represent a

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God who's filled with benevolent intentions yet unable to carry them out.

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That he's earnestly desiring a blessing men but they will not let him. Then must not the average hearer draw the inference that the devil has gained the upper hand and that God is to be pitied rather than blamed.

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Good questions. Why would our good all powerful God decree all the evil that takes place in the history of the world?

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That's a question we perhaps are frequently asked. Maybe we ourselves ask that question.

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Why did God create his angels decreeing that a third of them perhaps would rebel against him and follow the devil in his rebellion?

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Why would God decree the fall of man and all the miseries that come forth from fallen man in the history of this world?

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It's because it was in accordance with the overall purpose of God in creating all things.

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All of history and all its wretchedness was ordained to take place in history by our sovereign

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God in order to display before the angels and all mankind his glory.

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That is the true nature of his being. That we might know him and who he is and what he is like.

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And so through the history of this fallen world that God decreed in eternity to create and rule.

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God has revealed to us and this too is expressed in our confession. The Lord our

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God is but one only living and true God whose subsistence existence is in and of himself.

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Infinite in being and perfection whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself.

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A most pure spirit invisible without body parts or passions and others you're not controlled by or affected by emotions like you and I are.

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Who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach on to. Who is immutable unchangeable immense eternal incomprehensible almighty every way infinite most holy most wise most free most absolute working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory.

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Most loving gracious merciful long -suffering abundant in goodness and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sin.

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The rewarder then that diligently seek him and with all most just and terrible in his judgments hating all sin and who will by no means clear the guilty.

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And so that's a wonderful description of who our God is and what he's like.

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We would not know or understand many of these attributes of our God if it were not for sin and its evil in his world and reading and watching

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God's dealings with this fallen world down through history. We would be impoverished with regard to our understanding who

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God is. God has decreed all that takes place in history to reveal himself to us that we might glorify him and enjoy him forever.

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We would be impoverished in our understanding of God and our knowing him if it were not for his dealings with this fallen world to defeat and judge sin and sinners and to redeem sinners through his son

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Jesus Christ. When you consider it it's a perfect world in which the glory of God is or will be displayed in all that transpires.

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It was due to God's decree then that Jesus could declare it's impossible that no offenses should come.

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We wouldn't know about the wisdom of God the mercy of God the love of God the power of God if it were not for his dealings with sin and saving us from our sin.

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This world is a stage in which God reveals himself and displays himself both to angels and to you and me.

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He's a sovereign God who decreed all that takes place and that's why we live in a fallen world and offenses must certainly come.

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Gil rightly said what answered the question why else must offenses come forth in God's world and it's certainly because of the malice of Satan.

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This is one of the secondary causes we alluded to earlier. We know that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one he is the prince of the power of the air the

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God of this age but the yielding of temptation to sin by our first parents their yielding to the devil's enticement was also in the purpose of God.

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Again God wasn't absent this serpent came in and and and caught God on a unattentive and unaware it was in the purpose of God and our confession states this our confession is a wonderful document that sets forth the truths of God's Word.

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Although God created man upright and perfect and gave him a righteous law which had been unto life had he kept it and threatened death upon the breach thereof yet he did not long abide in his honor.

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Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve and then by her seducing

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Adam who without any compulsion did willfully transgress the law of their creation and the commandment given to that the command given unto them in eating the forbidden fruit which

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God was pleased according to his wise and holy counsel to permit having purpose to order it to his own glory.

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So there's a clear statement in the confession of what we had just reiterated. The Apostle Paul wrote of why

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God raised up Pharaoh of Egypt to oppress his people Israel Romans 9 17 for the scripture says to Pharaoh this is what

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God declared through Moses to Pharaoh for this very purpose I've raised you up that I may show forth my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth and we could similarly say to Satan for this very purpose

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God raised you up that he may show forth his power in you that his name may be declared in all the earth same principle and so Jesus could say it's impossible that no offenses should come because of the presence and malice of the devil in God's world but then

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Gil rightly of course set forth the third reason that offenses must occur in God's world because of the wickedness of men and then he goes into some detail because the corruption of both their principles and practices the following people of the world as well as our own flesh have many ways to cause us to stumble to sin against God each of our foes is subtle in its ways the world affects us by providing an environment in which the opportunity to sin is always present it's easy to sin in today's world and many times we embrace unwittingly the world's values and ways of thinking were assaulted with it daily without being aware of it perhaps that we are being influenced and assaulted by it and then of course again aside from the world you have the devil he's a wily person who's subtle as a serpent slithering about quietly unnoticeably tricking us while unsuspecting he's wiser than you are or I am he's described as waiting in the shadows along our path as a lion waits to pounce on its unexpected prey and the devil is frequently a source of our temptation to sin he's the tempter but perhaps most troubling to us is our own flesh that is our own propensity to sin the desire to indulge in forbidden things and the best of Christians has that sin dwelling within him the ways in which we might be led to sin are many and the variety of ways in which we may be enticed to sin are equally numerous and so we can readily see what the

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Lord said in verse 1 is true temptations to sin shall certainly come our way there's no avoiding it but although the world our flesh and the devil are always present to lead us into sin often temptation to sin comes through people and that's what the

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Lord is dealing with here specifically through people about us and this is what the

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Lord is addressing more directly in these few verses the fact is many temptations to sin come through people about us when you study

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Scripture when you see a statement such as what is before us in verse 1 ask yourself questions and then to seek the answer to those questions from Scripture and meditate on them as you think on these things

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God will reveal himself in his ways to you and so ask yourself the question all right granted many temptations to sin come through people about us but in in what ways may people lead others to sin in what way may people lead me to sin well first people tempt us to sin due to their ways of thinking that influence and persuade us this is how the world affects us we hear others talk and how they view and assess various issues and if we're not resistant to their influence we're not informed and confront conform to God's Word then we'll be prone to embrace their attitudes and opinions about matters there's a worldview that permeates the world and we're sucked up in it and influenced by it unless we're attentive to it and shaped have our thinking shaped by the

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Word of God the Apostle wrote do not be deceived evil company corrupts good habits go talk to lot even though he was a righteous man and see what happened to him living in Sodom and his family our thinking will be shaped by hearing those we respect or admire and if they're thinking is contrary and opposed to the will of God we do sin when we embrace and act upon that thinking think of Psalm 1 we shouldn't be sitting in the seat of scornful we shouldn't be hearing and embracing the things that ungodly people teach us that is not the way of the wise man but the way of the fool according to the

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Word of God and this is why we should always be very careful regarding who we choose as our closest friends you will tend to become like the one you walk with walk with Christ you become like Christ walk with one opposed to Christ and before long you will be opposed to Christ as well

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Proverbs 13 20 he that walks with wise men should be wise but a companion of fools should be destroyed because we tend to be like those we walk with we have fellowship with and then secondly similarly people tempt us to sin by their permissive behavior as we observe them but we see people allow and indulge for themselves we will tend to excuse in ourselves we're never as bad as they are or so we think we're in this way tempted to sin we should be very cautious that our behavior is not a cause of leading others to sin

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Jesus said woe to that person through whom temptations come and Paul wrote to the

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Christians at Rome the church at Rome he's all this not to put a stumbling block or cause to fall in our brother's way it's a great sin to lead or cause others to sin against God and then of course people tempt us to sin by their direct enticements when we yield to them the tempter may come to us in a direct manner like the strange woman of Proverbs 7 she used her words to entice the young man to sin remember

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Proverbs says Solomon said he should have listened to his own counsel that the adulterous seeks the valuable life the devil can make even you or me look attractive to an adulterous be on guard she flattered him she offered him the opportunity to sin and she suggested to him that he could sin without discovery without consequences and that's all it took for the young fool to yield to her the temptation to sin may also come to us indirectly through a movie a magazine or the sensual dress of those who pass by day by day and through the

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Internet which we welcome into our own homes and televisions incredible and so people tempt us to sin by direct enticements and people tempt us to sin by their offenses against us if we react to them the temptation to sin may come in the way we react and respond to those who mistreat us this is one of the most effective and damaging ways in which the devil seeks to destroy your soul and so when we're maltreated we want to respond perhaps in a number of ways sinful ways we may sit in the way we try to remove ourselves from the cause of pain sometimes people are hurting so much they purpose to escape their pain even if it means violating the will of God to do so how many times

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I have heard the justification for a Christian to divorce because of the desire to escape the pain of a relationship and if and when the pain comes from one and authority there'll be a temptation to sin by murmuring or perhaps rebelling against God -appointed authority it wouldn't be very hard to find reasons to discredit me or one of the elders from our responsibility and and authority that God has given us each one of us are easy targets there's something there that can be found that would justify discrediting or dismissing us or we may sin in the way we retaliate against the offender the desire to get even or to see we just want to see justice done we want to see the other would get is do this is a powerful motive that leads people

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Christian people to transgress God's laws there's sometimes a desire even a cry for justice when continual or repeated pain is inflicted on us by others and we feel that injustice has been done to us and so we long for that person to reap the consequences to suffer a measure of the pain that he's inflicted on us on me and we sin when that is our desired attitude when we want to retaliate we're to desire mercy for that one as God had mercy on us mercy triumphs over justice or we may sin when we refuse to trust the

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Lord with these matters we in effect want to be the judge to determine what and how the offender will receive is just recompense and in this way we usurp

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God insisting on avenging ourselves when vengeance is the exclusive right of God not yours or mine for we know him who said vengeance is mine

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I will repay says the Lord and we sin when we long for our pound of flesh to get even or pay back no sin committed in history is going to go undealt with it's either dealt with on the day of judgment and eternity in hell or thank

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God it was dealt for us on the cross by Jesus Christ but every sin is dealt with by a just God in a just manner in his own time and so we may say it also when we refuse to forgive the offender the

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Lord deals with this matter in the next few verses of Luke 17 when we fail to respond to our offenders as the

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Lord instructs us we do sin even though the offenses came because of the guilt of others we are responsible for God respond in a biblical fashion well we see adverse to that there are dire consequences for the person who would cause the

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Lord's little ones to sin Jesus said of the offender it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea and he should offend one of these little ones what is implied is that the judgment of God will be so severe on that one who leads little ones into sin it would be better for his life to end before he leads them into sin you see that he's not saying that the millstone around your neck is the fitting punishment for leading a little one to sin he's saying it's better if you die rather than continue to live and lead little ones into sin that's a serious serious statement

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I heard Marshall wrote Jesus is saying admits that there are bound to be causes of sin in the world but men are morally responsible if they act as such it would be better for them to die before they commit such an offense than to do so and then suffered divine judgment divine judgments going to be far worse than a man being tied to a millstone and cast into the sea and so be very careful that you're not a cause to others to become tempted to sin things that cause people to sin are bound to come but woe to that person through whom they come the

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Lord refers to little ones well who are these it's probably referring to disciples as little ones ones who are for whom he's concerned the idea of little suggests vulnerability and defenselessness and he's watching over them and he takes it to heart when people abuse his disciples the

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Lord is purpose to avenge all his little ones can you imagine the rage and retaliation you would impose upon anyone who harmed one of your little ones one of your children the

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Lord will avenge those that are led into sin by others and of course however regarding little ones we can think of children it's a metaphor perhaps of children but we can think of little children literally as well and in these days they are great unspeakable crimes against little ones in our world the open border down south hundreds of thousands of children are you know taken and I won't go into detail you can imagine it but they're being marketed shipped all over this land and all over the world and the

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Lord Jesus is what God is watching it all and they're building up wrath against the day of wrath when it's poured out upon them the

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Lord's wrath is unquenchable against all the offenders of these little ones but he has the same view of those who would lead his disciples astray from him who lead them into sin and so what

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Jesus is saying it'd be better for you to die right now than offend or be a stumbling block to persons tomorrow the threat that our

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Lord gave toward offenders might include persons of different kinds of offenses there will be great wrath against persecutors there around those who injure injure even in the least degree

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Christ little ones whether in words or actions and so doing these offenders discourage and dissuade disciples from serving or obeying

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Christ from doing their duty the Lord will avenge himself on those persecutors but it also applies as we've already alluded to seducers those who twist and corrupt the truth of God's word thereby troubling or confusing minds of his disciples or they entice his disciples drawing them away to follow them and their aberrant teachings and that happens frequently as well and the internet is certainly filled with such enticements by the way our

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Lord's warning may also apply to those who are scandalous in their words or behavior under the claim to be

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Christian they nevertheless live scandal scandalously and thereby weaken and sadden the hearts of God's people their guilt is great and God's judgment on them will also be great and so there's a need to watch oneself respecting these things again

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Jesus is talking to his disciples Jesus had take heed yourselves he's saying to you individually take heed yourself about these matters how careful we should be respecting these matters we should be watchful of ourselves for there are tempters all about us take heed to yourselves do not yield to their enticements in any of their forms avoid them make known verbally to them your commitment to live to honor

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God's Son and his word be willing to receive their rejection Peter wrote of what what many of us have experienced therefore since Christ suffered for us in the flesh arm yourselves also with the same mind for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men but for the will of God for we've spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the

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Gentiles when we walked in licentiousness lust drunkenness revelry drinking parties abominable idolatries in regard to these they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead and I imagine memories come into your mind my memory comes into my mind of a fella

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I went to college with and was drunk with for a year and then we're I went home and was converted and Norm Thurston found me where I was working in a grocery store of course he wanted to go out and party and I didn't know what to tell him

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I said I can't do that he got this puzzled look on his face he was really troubled by that what's what's going on I learned later of course he talked to some of my former friends so he got religion and you know he really

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Mary ruined them that's what my brother said regarding me after I was converted

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Mary ruined them they didn't credit Christ they credited her but you know

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Peter speaks about that they speak evil of you because you don't run with them like you formerly did second we should be watchful of ourselves that we not be tempters to others leading them to sin so watch yourselves we should be watchful of ourselves that we are not tempters to others as the commentator

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William Hendrickson wrote though it's impossible to eradicate temptations by God's grace it's possible to prevent oneself from belonging to the company of the tempters may we not be them and then to disciples treatment of sinners we read in verses 3b through 4 if your brother sins against you rebuke him if he repents forgive him if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you say and I repent you shall forgive him in other words it's not to be any limit to the one to extending forgiveness if they repent and so after warning as disciples of those who would lead them into sin

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Jesus next addressed the means to recover or restore those who have fallen into sin perhaps due to the influence of the offenders and in doing so our

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Lord tells us how we're to act toward those who maltreat us if your brother sins against you rebuke him the disciple has the duty to admonish an offender so that he does not remain guilty of sin but has opportunity to repent the willingness to forgive that is inherent in the admonition is to be limitless

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Matthew Henry expressed the meaning of these verses you are commanded by upon his repentance to forgive him and to be perfectly reconciled to him if he repent forgive him forget the injury never think of it again much less upbraid him with it and though we do not repent you must not therefore bear malice to him nor meditate revenge but but he do it not at least say that he repents you are not bound to be so free and familiar with him as you've been if he be guilty of gross sin to the offense of the

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Christian community he's a member of let him be gravely and mildly reproved for his sin and upon his repentance received into friendship and communion again this the

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Apostle calls forgiveness well what does the

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Lord say first we were to seek the restoration of the brother who falls into sin this is done through confronting him with his sin rebuke him one of the things

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I appreciated about German society while living there was the willingness of people to speak directly one to another correcting in appropriate behavior they didn't hesitate doing that granted this tendency reveals itself in some extreme forms and attitudes that are not always correct and appropriate

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Mary was cleaning the windshield of our car out on the curb one day and an elderly

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German lady quite frail quite small stopped and scolded her went on and on in German Mary didn't know what she was saying but she finally figured it out the old woman was scat scolding her because she was cleaning the windows in the

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Sun and it was gonna leave streaks and so she felt the responsibility to call her and I remember the first winter we there it snowed terribly through the night we had about a foot 18 inches of snow and I was looking at a map in my car

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I started the car was warming it up because I had to drive there was knock on my window and you know and so it was a guy who came down out of his apartment across the street walked across the street through the snow knocked on my window turn off your engine in German all right and you know

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I looked at him he's been doomed cough Americana you know he's Brecon Nick Deutsch you know and and he said in perfect English shut off your engine we don't do that here and is because you know the

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German government determined that an engine warms up in 35 seconds anymore is wasting gas and polluting the air but this was just their nature they would confront you for what whatever they perceived was was errant and I saw this played out repeatedly in the

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German society but in another sense there's a way in which that might preserve their culture I remember the account that there were about a half a dozen or eight young teenage boys at the train station and again this a little old

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German lady came up and rebuked them openly because they were cutting up and she didn't think it was safe on the platform well in America those you know six young guys probably would have thrown her on the track but they all immediately stopped and and sat down and they responded to this old woman because there's a sense of authority this was back in the 90s things have changed because the influx of people from all over the

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Middle East and Eastern Europe but there's there there's a you know a culture and I think that culture is probably more similar to what the biblical culture was than what our culture is in America many times we don't rebuke others when we should because we are all too passive and want to be nice and really what we're doing is betraying our lack of love in our failure to follow our

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Lord's instruction and so generally sin goes unconfronted even in our churches but we're trusted with this responsibility our

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Lord said if your brother sins against you rebuke him and elsewhere Paul wrote brothers if someone's caught to send you who are spiritual should restore him considering yourself lest you also be tempted relation 6 -1 and so we should be willing to be rejected if it comes to that but we must seek to recover our brothers and sisters in Christ from their sin but it should be pointed out that this instruction of Jesus is specific as to how to deal with someone who has sinned against you personally you're to go to him directly and confront him with his behavior too often we go to others not involved and spread the news of that guy's offense toward me we tell us he offended me the pastor offended me when you you know when you people talk to one another you laugh oh that's funny when

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I say something I wonder what he meant by that you know and you know

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I've got a real dry sense of humor I tend to and and I learned when we moved to Germany you can't do that where where English is a second language they don't pick up on dry sense of humor

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I had to cut that out for years but sometimes people don't pick up on that you know that there's some kind of deeper hidden meaning it every little nuance of word that I think or say or the one of the elders and that's just not the case you know we're we're human beings and then it gets circuit well

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I did you hear you know consider what the pastor said to me you know and rather than just coming to you what you know what did you mean by that you know we should go directly to the person who offends us on the other hand let's point out of course a society to become all too sensitive in these days we become hypersensitive and we tend to read an offense and everything

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Spurgeon once said a proud man is quick to imagine insults and that's certainly true and there it seems like there are many who are sinfully proud within our society you're trying to find pride in any and every aberrant kind of behavior imaginable and today there are people suing others and people are being fired from their workplace because they fail to refer to someone with his preferred pronouns absurdity the

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Christian on the other hand is one who loves others and believes others therefore the Christian who's in his right mind is not to be easily offended

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Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 13 love is patient and kind it's not arrogant or rude love does not insist on its own way it's not irritable or resentful love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things and so when a

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Christian is sinned against he should assume he's not been sinned against intentionally until it becomes patently obvious you can't draw any other conclusion he gives the benefit of the doubt well

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I'm sure that she acted or reacted to me in a manner because of the strain that she must be under there must be something really going on or she would have never said that or acted that way to you give the benefit of the doubt to your brother and sister in Christ you assume the best of them not the worst and in this way we may see the realization of the verse love hides a multitude of sins well what happens when one has sinned against you and you've taken the biblical step confronting him about it and he responds to you favorably in humble acknowledgement well you forgive the offenses of those who repent you're then to put the matter aside you never to make it an issue again forgiveness here means that you will no longer allow that offense to be an issue between you

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God says if you of the Christian I will remember your sins no more that doesn't mean

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God forgets them that's impossible God cannot forget anything he's omniscient when he says

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I will remember your sins no more he's basically saying I'll no longer take your sin in consideration with regard to our relationship

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I'll remember forget it it's forgotten I'll remember your sin no more and that's what we're to do rather than harbor resentment we are to set it aside and so Christians should be of a forgiving spirit willing to make the best of everybody to make all about them easy forward to extenuate faults not to aggravate them and they should contrive as much to show that they have forgiven an injury as others to show that they resent it and here's an important matter the

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Lord says if you repent forgive him some say since he's not repented I need not forgive him but I'm justified in remaining and bittered toward him that would of course be sinful others say

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I'm supposed to forgive him and express that forgiveness whether or not he repents of sin that's wrong too you were to forgive in your heart everybody who sins against you no matter the offense whether he repents or not but you're only to forgive the offender directly that issue so that it's no longer a barrier in that relationship if he or she repents of the sin

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Jay Adams once wrote of this principle suppose you've read in a Christian magazine that you should forgive others even if they fail to repent of their sin and then he says this an unbiblical teaching that you will frequently encounter and you do all the time you try it but the one you forgive laughs at you and jumps all over you for suggesting there was something to forgive in the first place you wonder why things went awry well this gesture on your part was supposed to clear the air but it didn't so you go back to scripture and restudy the question perhaps consulting some books that will help you find out what the biblical teaching is you learn that you must forgive in your heart and hold no bitterness against another person but you were to maybe you were to you may grant forgiveness only when the other person professes repentance you cannot promise and forgiveness is essentially a promise you cannot promise

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I will remember your sins against you no more if in the future it's possible that God may require you to raise the matter in obedience to his command to tell one or two others or even the whole church in the process of church discipline so failure to successfully utilize the idea which in this case you wrongly thought to be true acted as a check and drove you back to further study the matter thus your discernment was sharpened by the incident this is in a book that he wrote about acquiring discernment as a

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Christian and so if a person does repent you grant forgiveness and from that time onward the offense has become a non -issue never to be brought up again my grandfather's family was full -blooded

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Swede and I don't know if it's typical of the Scandinavian personality maybe it is but offenses seem to have occurred easily in my grandfather's family and then those offenses were held long feuds there seemed a great deal of long -held bitterness between family members my grandmother told me the story of a falling out that my grandfather had with his brother -in -law my grandmother's brother and it had the makings of a real feud but they made amends and what they did when they made peace was that they went to a wall in the house held hands and they each took turns hammering a nail into the wall and there the nail stuck and that nail was a symbol that the issue was over between them and that nail was a reminder that the issue would not be brought up again and this is somewhat the same kind of thing that occurred when there were difficulty between Jacob and his father -in -law

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Laban we're not going to read the passage because of the time but basically the father -in -law thought

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Jacob stole his two daughters and all of the goods and whatnot and so Laban and his servants chased them down and caught them down in the mountains of Gilead and they made peace and they had a had a meal together with God present they made peace with one another but it says that they built a pile of stones and this pile of stone became a memorial to them that they had settled the matter between them and from that moment on there's peace between them kind of like that nail in the wall now we're not advocating setting up a stack of stones or pounding a nail in your kitchen wall but the point is that we should make every effort to resolve conflicts to where both parties see and acknowledge the problem is over and then seal it in such a way between them that it'll never be brought up as an issue again this is how we're to deal with matters what are you to do if the offender does not respond to you the

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Lord doesn't give instruction here on that matter the assumption is perhaps that if it's one of his disciples that has offended he will respond in humble repentance after all this is the nature of a child of God he desires to clear himself of offenses a spiritual man one who's experienced

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God's grace is responsive to rebukes and is cut to the heart when he perceives that his behavior has been a cause of difficulty to another he loves righteousness and truly loves the brethren and the thought of being a cause of difficulty a stumbling block to another causes grief to his soul if he's thinking rightly on the other hand one who refuses to heed rebuke and receive instruction may indeed be given evidence he's actually a stranger to God's grace what if a person will not hear you follow the instructions of Matthew 18 if he's in the church church discipline what if a person keeps sitting against you has no intention of changing well first the greatest danger is you becoming embittered you need to give the whole matter to God who judges rightly and wait for him to vindicate you and second you may thereafter avoid that person perhaps a relationship is not possible with a person who will not respond to your efforts of correction or third what if that person is a member of your own family you cannot simply walk away that's a good question and and if that's an issue come and see me we'll talk about it verses 5 and 6 of chapter 17 we have the power of faith expressed we next read of the disciples making a request of Jesus and the

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Apostle said to the Lord increase our faith and the Lord said if you have faith is a mustard seed you shall say to this mulberry tree be pulled up by the roots be planted in the sea and it would obey you these verses are very difficult to interpret if you take them in context where they're connected with verses 5 and 6 you'll come to one conclusion if you see it separate from verses 5 and 6 you might come up with another conclusion if there's no connection between verses 5 and 6 what went on before the response is maybe they're just asking increase our faith however if there is a connection with the previous verses another conclusion can be drawn and so again if the words are not connected the disciples simply asking about faith in general

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Lord teaches how to increase our faith this would be similar to what the disciples said earlier in Luke 11 1 or teaches to pray teaches to have greater faith and greater faith is good much preferred to little faith the

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Lord answered them by telling them of the great power which was available to them if they but possessed a little bit of faith if your faith was just the side of a mustard seed little tiny if however the words are connected with what was said before in other words in response to Jesus is teaching that there's no limit to forgiving repeated repeating of repenting offenders they exclaimed

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Lord increase our faith then we can see quite another interpretation of these words if that is a case and I think it probably is the

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Lord is teaching this they asked Jesus to increase their faith so they might be able to respond to their offenses as he had just instructed them and Jesus essentially responds it's not an issue of how much faith you have it's an issue of obedience the

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Lord's commanded you to forgive if someone who repents rebuke him and forgive him

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Lord increase our faith you don't need faith to do this you just need to obey what

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I've told you if one is to view the Lord is simply responding to a request for instruction about faith it's it's hard for me to see how the

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Lord answered their question I do not think he was telling them that the measure their faith was currently smaller than a grain of mustard seed and they had to increase it to the sides of a mustard seed in order to see great things happen perhaps

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Jesus was saying you have enough faith now if you have faith like the grain of a mustard seed you can do whatever

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God calls you to do if he wants you to move a bowl mulberry tree by faith it's going to happen in other words the issue is not so much how much faith you have but you know the

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God in whom you have faith in is all important and then we have in conclusion this parable of the unprofitable servant which of you having a servant plow entertaining sheep will say to him when he's come in from from the field come at once and sit down to eat and that's a rhetorical question saying none of you would do that but will he not rather say to him prepare something for my supper gird yourself serve me till I've eaten and drunk and afterward you will eat and drink does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him

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I think not and that expression I think not was probably not original with Luke I don't think it's in the

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ESV probably should not have been there scribe probably included that the rhetorical question demands that kind of response but it was probably not original with Luke I think not so likewise you when you've done all those things which you are commanded say we are unprofitable servants we've done what was our duty to do obedience is our simple duty obedience is not some great commendable feat you know the

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Lord's not going to congratulate you one day you've gone all your life and you never robbed a bank congratulations you know

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God doesn't do that it's our duty it's a sin to do otherwise obedience does not put

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God in debt to us we are unprofitable servants even when we've done our duty we haven't added anything to God we haven't given anything to God he's not indebted to us we brought no increase to the

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Lord so that he's indebted to us we don't hold out our hands

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I've done this therefore God therefore give me again you know memories flashed my mind when

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I was 21 22 years old I'd work off all weekend bus route 12 hours on a

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Saturday working the federal projects Sunday all day long afternoon running buses we'd pick up four or five hundred kids preaching by the time if I got back in time for Sunday night church

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I was beaten worn out but somehow I thought to myself after that was over at night now

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I should pray because the Lord's really gonna bless me now because I've been so diligent this weekend serving him

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Oh mercy again complete in conflict with what this parable is saying

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God is not obligated it would have been sinful to do otherwise if the opportunity and ability was there here's a good lesson for relationships just because you do your duty and your family does not mean you have the privilege to make demands on others about you the husband shouldn't have the attitude

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I'm the head of my household I deserve it demand a little respect we're gonna do it my way you owe me and the wife should not have the attitude

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I've slaved all day around here I've done I've done my my duty and now it's my turn to be served

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I've earned some recompense here no it would have been sin for either of them to done any less and so we can state the principle a relationship is maintained on fulfilling one's responsibilities that relationship a relationship is torn down through expecting and demanding fulfillment of rights and expectations the other of the other person in that relationship that is such a common characteristic of a husband and wife in conflict the husband's accusing the wife of not fulfilling her responsibilities and the wife is accusing the husband of not fulfilling his responsibilities they're really demanding you know you're not serving me instead of a spirit the

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Lord has called me to be a servant as a husband to my wife and to my family or the wife the

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Lord's called me to be a servant to my husband and to my family because it's the

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Lord's will and I'm going to delight in doing that the fact is obedience does not put

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God in debt to us we're unprofitable servants even when we've done our duty we've brought no increase no benefit to the

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Lord so that he's indebted to us that doesn't of course deny God that he rewards faithfulness he does but it's not because he's obligated to it because he's gracious to do so and we've seen this play out over and over again well have we've wandered far from our text this is the kind of thing that not only we have to be taught but we have to be retaught these matters and reminded of them repeatedly and it would seem because there are so many offenses that come in our dealings with the world and dealings with people in the church and dealings with even in our own family that these these opportunities arise continuously are we going to respond as the

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Lord Jesus has prescribed for us may he give us grace to do so may he renew the right spirit within us that we would want to do these things and you do it in faith because it's necessary pleasant you'll want to but because it's the right thing to do and it's the way of blessedness isn't it it's always blessed to do what the

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Lord wills and there's always consequences when we fail to do so and so may the

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Lord help us help us to be better Christians and more consistent in our relationships and our dealings with sin and sinners and with ourselves let's pray thank you our father for your word thank you

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Lord Jesus for the practical instruction help us to take these matters at heart our God help us to address the situations that we encounter in life in a biblical manner

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Lord spare us from bitterness we pray harboring resentful feelings a desire for retaliation or hardship or difficulty for those that may offend us we pray for mercy for them as you've shown mercy to us we pray that our

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God that we would love our enemies that is be loving toward them as you are always loving toward us in reconciling us to yourself through Jesus Christ our