(Luke) 42 - Encouraging Faith — Ed Miller

To Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. We're in the bottom section of what we are calling the teaching of the Son of All Mankind. For the sake of analysis, we've divided this great teaching ministry all the way from chapter 9 now, and it'll go through chapter 18, the first 10 verses of 18.

And we've divided it up into topics. I won't review all of those topics, but we've come to the final topic, the topic of salvation. As I understand it, this topic begins in chapter 14 and goes all the way to chapter 17, 10.

So we're right at the end of that great topic. We looked at chapter 14, what does salvation mean to man? And then we looked at chapter 15, what does salvation mean to God? And then we looked at chapter 16 last time, the heart, the core of salvation is relationship.

You know, the Pharisees, they were all involved in the rules and the external, but they didn't get that relationship. That brings us this morning to the end of that great topic on salvation, and we're calling it the climax of salvation.

Faith as the Human Side of Salvation

Chapter 17, 1 to 10. That's sort of the bottom. Let me answer the question right up front in case I run off on a rabbit trail and get lost on the way and you say, well, what was that all about? Well, I'll tell you right up front.

There's a double answer to what we call the climax of salvation. From God's point of view, viewing it from heaven, the answer is grace, the grace of God. That's the climax of salvation. But then if you come down to earth and you look at it on the human side, the answer is faith.

On our side, it's faith. On God's side, it's glee. As I read from chapter 17 and we look at the first 10 verses, and he said unto his disciples, it is impossible but that the occasion of stumbling should come.

Woe to him through whom they come. It were better for him if a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

Take heed to yourself, if thy brother sin, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him. And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times turn again to thee, saying I repent, thou shalt forgive him.

And the apostle said unto him, Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say unto this sycamore tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.

I'll leave the parable that follows and we'll read that in another connection. Now to get the impact of Jesus' comment in verses 1 and 2, we need to identify who does he mean by one of these little ones.

Is he talking about children? Is he saying a woe to him that offends little children? I think that's included, but I think there's a spiritual side. Now listen as I quote the sister reference in Matthew.

In other words, Matthew tells the same thing Luke tells, but Matthew adds one little phrase that identifies the little one. Listen as I quote Matthew 18 .6. But whoso shall cause one of these little ones who believe in me to be offended, it were better for him that a millstone were tied about his neck.

So who are the little ones? And the answer is the little ones are those who believe in him. The little ones who believe in me. In other words, Christians are little ones. You believe in the Lord, you're a little one.

Do I believe in the Lord? I'm a little one. Little ones are those that have faith in the Lord. Now he said it's inevitable that stumbling blocks are going to come and trip up little ones. Trip up those who believe in the Lord.

But woe to them, he says, through whom they come. Now in the context, what is a stumbling block? Now I'm not looking for an illustration, because we can go to Corinthians and all and have a lot of illustrations of stumbling blocks.

But what's a definition of a stumbling block? And in the context I think it's this, anything that discourages the faith of a little one. That's what a stumbling block is. If in any way I discourage your faith, I've been a stumbling block.

If you discourage my faith, you've been a stumbling block. Anything that hinders faith is a stumbling block. The Lord Jesus comes to this climax of the message of salvation. It's not surprising on the level of earth that he homes in on this great topic of faith.

See nothing blesses God more than having little ones trust him. I mean that's what it's all about. He just wants little ones to put their faith in him. A glance please at verse 2, 17 -2, and see what a powerful picture of speech this is.

It were better for him if a mill stumped his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of the little ones to stumble. Now let me show you a couple of things from that passage that show what a powerful figure of speech it really is.

In the original language, you don't see it in the English, but there's actually two different words for mill stone. One of the words is, it refers to a hand held mill stone. The women would use it, children would use it in the home to grind up the grain.

And it was not all that heavy. I suppose it weighed as much as a cinder block or something, but it was a small mill stone. And then there's another Greek word that describes the big mill stone that was so large, with the big stones would be tied to it, mules, and they would have to go around the surface.

That's the Greek word that he's using. That mill stone, what a powerful figure of speech on your neck. But to have him use this animal-drawn mill stone, probably 80 or 100 pounds at least, tied around your neck, that's just a powerful figure of speech.

And then in verse 2, to add to the figure, he says, it's not only that you got that thing tied around your neck, but then you're thrown into the sea. I wouldn't want to be thrown into a pond with a cinder block tied around my neck.

I just can't imagine what he's getting at. What a powerful expression. This heavy mill stone tied around your neck and drowned in the sea. And Matthew makes it even stronger. Because Matthew in chapter 18 says, not thrown into the sea, but into the depths of the sea.

So here you have someone thrown into the middle of the ocean with this huge, to make it even stronger in verse 2, now that's a terrible picture. I don't know what registers in your mind, but having that big old thing tied around your neck and taken out into the middle of the ocean and then just thrown overboard, I can't imagine what the alternative is.

If that's then the alternative, you just get to see what a strong figure of speech. Now if drowning that way is to be preferred over whatever woe he has in his mind, you can imagine what that woe must be.

And what's the effect? Isn't that precious? Some little woman, somebody discouraged somebody's faith. And that so upset God. Because somebody discouraged, trusting the Lord, he said it would be a lot better for that man to have a mule drown his neck.

He'd be taken out into the middle of the ocean and drowned in the depths of the sea. That would be better. And so you see what a powerful passage that is. Now this passage, there are many passages in the Bible.

Some make minor contributions to your life. Some make major contributions to your life. Some haven't touched you yet. Hang in there. God will deal with you in terms of all of his words. This passage has made a major contribution to my life and ministry.

Because it helps me to understand how God feels about little ones who trust in him. As you know, when I teach, I try to avoid controversial issues. One reason, of course, I don't have the answer. But another reason is I want to encourage faith.

And I think sometimes dealing with those controversial issues, that discourages faith. And I try to give common denominator truth. And I ask the Lord to help me be a unifying influence in the body of Christ rather than a dividing influence and so on.

I ever want to encourage little ones to trust Jesus. And I always ask the Lord to help me with that. If in any way I can help you trust Jesus, that's my heart. That's really what I want to do. Someone says the most important thing you can do when you teach is to give sound doctrine.

Well, I hope I give sound doctrine. But that's not the important thing. You can have sound doctrine until you're sound asleep. You can have sound doctrine in an academic way so that you know all the right answers and you miss the Lord.

The main measure of my teaching is not, is it sound doctrine? Did I present all the points? Did I use good illustration? Did I relate it to all the other truths? Did I give the balance of truth? That's not what I look for.

To take a forward trusting of the Lord Jesus. And I think that's what this passage is all about. What good is it to take this, for example, chapter 14, to say this is how salvation applies to man. Chapter 15, this is how salvation applies to God.

Chapter 16, this is the heart of salvation. What good is it to know if you don't trust Him? And so that's the whole point. We've got to trust Him. And so as He comes to the end, He puts the spotlight on the importance of childlike faith.

I honestly pray as we gather together week by week, that that's one of the things God accomplishes for you and me. That we all go forward in childlike faith. That's one of the main reasons we gather together.

Forgiveness and the Danger of Discouraging Faith

Now glance, if you would, at verse 3 and 4. He's not just going to give a truth and leave it unapplied. So now He's going to apply it. Take heed to yourself. If thy sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.

We're told to be a stumbling block for the little ones. Then He gives a practical illustration of one way to discourage faith. The way to discourage faith, and it's a powerful illustration, is by an unforgiving sin.

If you offend me in some way, of course, it's a sin to offend. It's a sin to be offended. I'm not to cause stumbling, but I'm not to stumble. If you offend me and then you ask for forgiveness, I don't give it.

I've discouraged your faith. And it's better for me that a millstone were tied around in the depths of the sea. That the use of the number seven in this verse is probably symbolic. Forgive seven times.

In other words, take it to be literal. If it were literal, that would be a great thing. Someone comes and sins against you seven times in the same day. To forgive, well, six minus one. That would be a hard thing.

But probably this is that number used in the sense of completeness. You get that same idea in Matthew 18 where you get that parable. Remember Peter came to the Lord Jesus. How often shall I forgive? You know, the rabbis used to teach, or four times.

That's what the rabbis taught. How often should I forgive? Three or four times. Well, Peter thought that he was very magnanimous by adding it together. And so he took the three and four and added it. He said, how often, Lord?

Seven times. And then the Lord said, seven times seventy. Now, he wasn't saying 490. He was saying an unlimited number of times. And over and over you'll see that number seven meaning just an unlimited thing.

Let's look at it in its weakest form to get the point of it. Let's take it literally. I speak as a fool, but let's just say that it's literal. It's not a figure of speech meaning an unlimited number of times.

Let's say before breakfast about me. I'll use myself because that way I won't get in touch. Spread rumors about me and said that I have been unfaithful to Lillian. Two people I love in the universe. I'll tell you.

One is the Lord and one is Lillian. The Lord doesn't have a lot of preferences about a lot of things. Lillian does. And so since I don't have to please him on certain things, he said, I don't care. And Lillian said, I care.

So I have to go with her. But if that rumor came, oh, that would hurt me. And then he came and said, I've done this and I want your forgiveness. I might say, well, you know, it's under the blood and I'm going to trust God to give me grace on this and it's okay.

Let's say an hour later he did it again and he starts spreading that rumor. And then he came back to me and said, you know, I started spreading that again and I just want you to forgive me. I might bite my lip and my tongue to a stump and I'd probably say, all right, you know, don't do that anymore.

And then just before lunch, I heard that he called up to spread that thing in the paper. And then he came back at lunch and said, you know, I did this again. Would you please forgive me? You can take care of that.

That's only four times. That's not seven. I don't know about you. That's not in me to forgive that many times. And that's only literal. Uh, imagine if he did that thing all day long and then kept coming back, say, please forgive me, please forgive me.

Be in my heart to do that. And it wasn't in the disciples heart either. Uh, what Jesus was actually saying is if somebody sins against you a thousand times a day, every day of the week of the year, every month increased our faith.

Well, you can understand why they said that. Uh, what an impossible standard he sets before them. Uh, they saw the impossibility of what Jesus was saying. And so they said, increase our faith. I need more faith, larger faith, stronger faith, increased faith.

Now, if we're going to understand the heart of what God is saying, we need to understand this next part about the mustard seed. If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and be cast into the sea.

Why did Jesus give this illustration? See, at first it looks like he's saying, uh, you need mustard seed faith. I don't think he's saying that. I don't think he's saying you need mustard seed faith, uh, so that you can work miracles.

He's not saying pray for mustard seed faith. The reality is that faith is not the issue. Uh, what he's saying is this, you're asking for increased faith. Don't answer, just say it. Have any of you ever thought or prayed, Lord, increase my faith.

I need more faith. I need stronger faith. I'm so weak in faith. I did that for years. You realize the Bible teaches that faith does not grow. Faith does not increase. Faith does not get stronger. Uh, in every case where, uh, someone asks for faith to be increased, there's a mild rebuke by the Lord.

And what he's saying in effect is this, faith is nothing. That's why a mustard seed faith will do. Because faith is nothing. The important thing about faith is the object of your faith. What are you trusting?

A little faith lays hold of a great Savior. And it's the object of your faith, uh, to forgive an unlimited number of times. Boy, I need faith for that. No, you don't. You need God for that. I don't need faith for that.

I need God for that. And a little faith. Faith doesn't do impossible things. Faith lays hold of God who does impossible things. And then God can do the impossible. Uh, my mother used to have, uh, these blockages.

She's very generous. She passed that on genetically so that we have it too. But she had these blockages in her legs and all how she had such pain when she walked. She just hardly could walk at all. Uh, but she would go up seven flights of stairs before she would take an elevator.

Uh, she had this claustrophobia or that's what we think it was. But the way she would express it is, I don't trust elevators. I don't trust elevators. So what does she need? More trust. She's as safe as the elevator is safe.

You're as safe as what you trust. She didn't need more faith. A little faith would have done it. Uh, she had other problems than that. Uh, one of my daughters, Kathy, I think some of you know Kathy. Uh, she, she can't stand an airplane.

She trembles. She does not enjoy the trip. The whole time she's just in terror. And, uh, when it lands, when it takes off, when it's going, when it hits an air pocket. And, uh, does she need more faith?

She doesn't need more faith. She's as safe as the airplane is safe. What's your trusting? Uh, let's say there's ice and a pond freezes and that ice will hold a hundred pounds and two hundred pounds it would take for me to walk on ice that holds a hundred pounds.

All the faith in the world is not going to help. If I had all the faith in the world, I'm going to sink because your faith is only as strong as the object in which you trust. Now, here's an amazing thing.

God has called me to encourage your faith. You know how I have to encourage your faith? Encourage your faith away from your faith, the object of your faith. The worst thing you can do is trust your faith.

A lot of people have faith in their faith. If I have more faith, if I have more trust, I like that Francis, uh, Habergail in that wonderful poem she wrote, uh, commit your faith to him and trust to him your trust.

And you got to just give your faith over to the Lord because it's Christ that we need to trust. Faith too was the secret of living the Christian life. And if I had more faith, then I could do more impossible things.

But faith is only great as the object in which you're trusting. In verse six, he uses this illustration of the mulberry tree commanding this tree to be uprooted. That's an impossible thing. Say, if you had only that much faith, you could go to a mulberry tree.

Now, do you have that much faith? I think you do. Say, be uprooted and cast into the sea. Another illustration talks about casting a mountain into the sea if you had that much faith. Say, it doesn't look like much faith.

I tried it, it doesn't work. I wonder if you have tried it. You know, secretly when nobody's looking, sometimes you apply these things, you know, you go out there and cast into the sea. Nobody's looking and so nobody knows.

But you try to be spiritual and apply those things. Uh, the point is this. He gives this parable. Look at verse seven. Which of you having a slave, plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, come immediately, sit down and eat.

Will he not say, prepare something for me to eat. Properly clothe yourself and serve me till I've eaten and drunk. Afterward, you eat and drain. He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?

So you too, when you do all the things that are commanded, say, we're unworthy slaves. We've done only what we were expected or what we ought to have done. His point is, it's the nature. That's his nature.

That's what he's supposed to do. And it's the nature of faith to lay hold of those impossible things in Christian life. Poor Lillian, what she went through as God began to try to teach me some of these things.

But I used to always run after by-products and run after power and run after gifts and run after faith and all that kind of thing. Because I didn't know all I needed was Christ. And if I have Christ, I have peace and I have power and patience and faith.

It's unscriptural to pray for those things. What we need is a greater vision of the Lord. I love to illustrate this with that woman who reached out and touched the hem of the garment of the Lord. You feel it.

Touched the hem. You probably wouldn't even notice it. It would be imperceptible. He didn't have a lot of faith. Jesus touched his garment. The point is, how sensitive is Jesus? He felt that. He felt that.

And the point of all of this is, Jesus is so sensitive. When you come as a little one and put your faith in him, he's the great Savior. And he's the one that can do it. Verse 10, when you do all that's commanded, you say, we're unworthy slaves.

Let's say literally. Let's speak again as a fool. Let's say somebody did sin against me seven times, as I suggest. And then seven times in a row, I said, I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you. At the end of the day, say, boy, I really did something.

I forgave that scoundrel seven times in a row. And look what he did to me. God is saying, after you have done everything that you're supposed to do, then just say, I'm unprofitable. That was expected of me.

That you're supposed to love the Lord your God. Let's say you did that. After you've done that, you say, I'm unprofitable. That was what was expected. Let's say that we could go to heaven and go up to an angel that has never sinned.

He's probably been up there a billion years. He's never sinned. And I were to suggest to that angel, because you have never sinned, you deserve to be in God's holy heaven. That angel would take his wings and cover his face and look at me in horror.

He would think that I'm blaspheming, suggesting that he deserves to be there. That angel would say, I'm an unprofitable slave. I'm only doing what I was created to do. I don't deserve to be here. You see, we can't merit with God unless we can exceed duty.

If you can get beyond what you're expected to do, let me give you your duty as your father in heaven. If you could do that when you're done, say, I'm an unprofitable slave. That's what's expected of me.

We can't exceed duty. We'll never deserve heaven. And so we deserve hell. And that's where the mercy and the grace of God comes in. But we can never exceed duty. One of the greatest enemies, I think, of humility is success.

Terrible thing. If you're successful, it doesn't have to be, but sometimes it is, because it makes you think you've done something. Makes you feel spiritual. You realize the missionary does not deserve to be on the mission field.

And the pastor doesn't deserve to be in the pulpit. And I tell you, the privilege I've had these six years coming here, I don't deserve the privilege to share Christ with you week after week. Just unprofitable service.

See, impossible things in my life. I'm going to have to trust God to do it. Now to make this practical, tie the illustration in with the application. See, the illustration is uprooting a sycamore tree or a mulberry tree and throwing it in the ocean.

That's the illustration. The application is having a forgiving spirit. What does it take for me to forgive somebody who's sinned against me? Well, I say me, I mean us. Any Christian. See, naturally, I don't know about you, naturally, I'm vindictive.

If somebody does something against me that, you know, it rises up and there's vengeance there and the spirit, and I carry a grudge. In the Christian game, forgiving is deep-rooted in my nature. I can't forgive and forget.

And you know the Bible doesn't actually tell you to forgive and forget. It tells you to forgive and remember no more. That's not the same as forgetting. It's not bringing it up again. Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Jesus did not forget. He just willed not to remember. And God calls us to will not to remember. But I have an unforgiving spirit naturally. What does it take to uproot that thing and cast it into the depths of the sea?

See, that's his point. He's saying it is impossible. Now faith lays hold of Christ. If you had faith, you could take that thing, uproot it, and cast it into the sea. I can look to Jesus and say, Lord, this moment I'm trusting you to uproot that unforgiving spirit.

Pull it out of me and cast it into the depths of the sea. That is my only hope for a forgiving spirit. And it's your only hope for a forgiving spirit. Ah, you say, I need more faith. No, third seed, size faith will do.

But make sure the object of your faith is Jesus. That's why to encourage your faith, I ask the Lord to help me show you how trustworthy Jesus is. That's why we keep talking about the Lord. That's why we keep focusing on him because I know he's the object of your faith and he's the object of my faith.

The Ten Lepers and Obedience from the Heart

So from God's side, the Lord Jesus. Now let me just introduce this next section and then we'll wrap it up. This section goes all the way to chapter 19, 28. And what it is, it's the end of the Parian ministry, the teaching ministry of our Lord.

And what he does now is he summarizes, and he sort of drives them home, it's the clincher section of the teaching ministry of the Lord. And it's not surprising that he begins with the story of the ten lepers.

Because their story illustrates responding to all that we've heard of his teaching. His teaching on prayer, his teaching on missions, his teaching on discipleship, his teaching on salvation. How do we respond to all of that?

And Luke, by the Holy Spirit, lays out these great eight stories that give the response to this entire ministry. Verse 11, I think you're familiar with this wonderful came about while he was on the way to Jerusalem.

He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a certain village, ten leprous men stood at a distance, met him. They raised their voices saying, Jesus Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourself to the priests.

Came about as they were going, they were cleansed. He had been healed, turned back and glorified God with a loud voice. His face at his feet, giving thanks to him. Jesus answered and said, were there not ten cleansed, but the nine.

Turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner. And he said to him, rise, it has made you well. The first outworking of redemption, or the first response to the teaching ministry of Christ. It's not surprising to me he used leper.

I won't develop it again, we've touched that before. Leprosy is God's great picture of sin. The leper was never healed. He was only, he was cleansed. He cleansed the leper, because it's a picture of sin.

This wasn't only a leper, it was a Samaritan leper. We don't know today, in the New Testament days. This was a terrible thing. See, the Samaritan was sort of a half-breed, half-Jew and half-Gentile.

And the Jews, remember in John 4, Jews had no dealing with the Samaritans. When Herod built the temple in Jerusalem, or enlarged and beautified the temple, at the same time, he built another one on Mount Gerizim.

Sort of a rival temple for the Samaritans. Remember the woman at the well said, which temple should we worship in? One thing we get out of this is, this is a message to the priest. You can see his heart, because he's ready to change religion.

He's ready to go and show himself. A tremendous turning here. Now, in verse 14, this gives you the key to understanding this passage. Jesus said, go show yourself to the priest. Understand that. Not maybe understand the reason for that.

The reason is in Leviticus 13 and 14. Nobody in the Old Testament that was a Jew ever applied that passage. The priest, he'd have to do some research. They'd say, we're here. And you'd say, why? They hadn't applied that in 4 ,000 years.

They didn't know what to do with that passage. The reason they went was not to get cleansed, but to prove they were cleansed. There was a lot of tests they would go through as evidence that they had been healed.

And they would go through the hair, and they would go between the toes, and they would check everything. And by the way, all you got to do is trust Christ, and you watch people start examining your life.

They'll go through your hair, through your toes, and they'll try to find something about you. But that's just a picture. So, the reason Jesus said, go show yourself to the priest, prove you have heard this thing misapplied so many times.

I hear it for a Thanksgiving message. Alright, it's Thanksgiving. Now, let's turn to the Ten Lepers. Give me a break. These were lepers. You tell me they weren't thankful. They were cleansed. There was no cure for this.

Cut off from society. Cut off from their families. Cut off from the temple. I can't believe in a million years that those nine were not thankful. They were certainly thankful. And the point is not one's thankful and the others weren't thankful.

They were thankful. The point is that there's a difference between obeying God in the spirit and obeying God in the letter. You know, you can do the letter of the thing. Jesus said turn the other cheek.

I could turn the other cheek and have vindictiveness in my heart. I missed the point. Turn the other cheek is a non-retaliatory spirit. That's the point of that. It's like the mother in church said to the child, don't stand on the pew, sit down.

And then the child was up again. Sit down. And the child was up again. And then so she forcibly put, sit down. And the child said, I'm standing up in my heart. That's the spirit of it. And you can do it on the outside and miss it.

Now, let me tell you their story. As far as their theology, we know nine of them were Jews. We know they knew enough to believe Jesus would have mercy on them. Use your imagination. They're on their way to obey God.

Go show yourself to the priest. To the priest. And on their way, it doesn't tell us how advanced it was. My imagination goes, I think fingers grew back and noses came back and all. I just think they were cured of advanced stages of leprosy.

But now here they are and they got a problem. They're on the way obeying Jesus. Go show yourself to the priest. All of a sudden they're healed. He said, go show yourself to the priest. There's no way I'm turning back.

Because if I disobey him, I might get that leprosy back. And I'm going to the priest. That's what he said to do. And the other nine agreed. He said, yeah, we better obey God. They were thankful, all right, but they got to obey God.

He sat down and came back. He said, I don't know about all of that. All I know is I got to fall down. He healed me. I've got to thank Jesus. That came back. What was the command? Give proof that you're healed.

When he fell down at the feet of Jesus, when he began to worship, when he gave a loud voice of triumph, he was giving evidence. Went away, but they only did the letter of the thing. They obeyed, but just on the outside.

And when the one came back, Jesus said, where are the nine that come back? He said, well, but they're obeying you. To make this practical, let me just, and show you what a summary nature this end is. Let me mention five simple principles, and I'll just sort of rattle them off.

Jesus Intends His People to Obey

Five observations about this story that summarize redemption. Number one, I've already mentioned it, but let me give it again. Jesus intends lepers to obey. You can see that when he, you can almost see his heart.

Where are the nine? I was sort of glad the leper didn't judge. He didn't answer that. He never gave an answer. Where are the, you know what he would have said? That's where the, he said, go show yourself to the priest.

He said, where are the nine? Told them to do. And you could see the disappointment in Christ because he expected them to obey from the heart. Here's the second principle. Does Jesus intend for all ten to return?

Even of the Christian, not necessarily one out of ten, but only a remnant, only a handful, resembles disobedience. That's an amazing paradox, but think about it. Picture yourself, if you didn't know this whole story, and you were just sort of, and these lepers come by, and you're on the side of the hill.

You hear them talk. They stop, they just got cured. They just received this wonderful healing. And they're discussing it. And one says, Jesus said, go show yourself to the priest. The other one said, that's what he said.

It was clear. He told us, go show yourself to the priest. And the one said, I don't care what he said. Don't you think they're doing what Jesus said? And they're obeying. And the one, he shouldn't do that.

He's in trouble. Resembles disobedience. And the more you start responding to Jesus with your heart, you're going to be misunderstood. You're going to be misunderstood. I remember when my Christian life, I was such a legalist and doing everything he said.

And when I crashed in my life, God began to dawn on me, and I just fell at his feet. And I just worshiped the Lord. And one of the things that did was, I saw the stupidity of everything else I was involved in.

And all of a sudden, people looked at me and said, he dropped out of this, and he dropped out of that, and he's not doing this. I remember I was teaching at a church down here, and I suggested, there was this dear family.

They should have been at the Little League game with their son, I think, instead of prayer meeting that night. And so I suggested that from the pulpit. I just said, you know, some of you are coming to prayer meeting, and I think you should be watching your kids play Little League instead.

And the deacons got on my case pretty bad. But they misunderstand. I'm not saying don't. I'm saying once you see Christ, your whole secular world becomes spiritual, and everything becomes spiritual, and you're misunderstood.