Luke chapter 17. Jesus said to his disciples, it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him. The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted into the sea and it would obey you. Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep will say to him when he has come in from the field, come immediately and sit down to eat? But will not he say to him, prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you may eat and drink? 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 which are commanded you, say, we are unworthy slaves. We have done only that which we ought to have done. When he was on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, 10 leprous men who stood at a distance met him and they raised their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourself to the priests. And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, were there not ten cleansed? But the nine, where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, stand up and go. Your faith has made you well. Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Nor will they say, look, here it is, or there it is. For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. And he said to the disciples, the days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it. They will say to you, look there, look here. Do not go away and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, They were being given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out, and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place. One will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other will be left. And answering, they said to him, where, Lord? And he said to them, where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered. As we pick up in our journey through the Gospel of Luke together, you may have noticed in the reading right from the outset, Jesus said to his disciples, if you remember from the previous weeks, we've gone back and forth, Jesus conversing with his disciples and with his Pharisees sometimes to both of them, but typically Luke has told us who he was directing the conversation towards. For the majority of chapter 17, he is speaking directly to his disciples. You may have noticed in the reading, and we will note it when we get there, in verse 20, the Pharisees, who are listening in as Jesus talks to his disciples apparently, ask him a question about the coming of the kingdom. But by and large, we are being given front row seats to the life and teaching of Jesus. Luke is revealing for us the teaching and the instruction of Jesus for his people. I wanna split our time today, looking at the entirety of the chapter together that we noted in the reading into three specific sections. First, forgiveness and faith. In the first 10 verses and in the next nine verses, healing and gratefulness. And then finally, verse 20 to the end of the chapter, the coming kingdom. Forgiveness and faith, healing and gratefulness, and the coming kingdom. Forgiveness and faith. He said to his disciples, it is inevitable, inescapable. There's no way we can avoid it. Stumbling blocks are going to come. There are enough temptations in the world without you being one. That's Jesus' word to us. He goes a bit further. Woe to you, and we should hear it quite personal. Woe to you if you cause temptation or stumbling among others. The seriousness is emphasized in verse two with the better option. You know what's better for you than causing someone to stumble in temptation? Having a millstone hung around your neck and being thrown into the sea. That's better than. It's hugely serious. Some of you may not know what a millstone is. Some of you younger people may not know. I assume most of you More mature folks would know. You see them around, people don't use them anymore for what they were created for, but oftentimes they are yard decor. Sitting out in front yards, we noticed one last night. Sitting on Highway 8, people use them. They're massive concrete wheels. Hole in the middle, they used to be used to grind meal. That, A few hundred pounds tied around your neck and you thrown into the sea. You can imagine how fast you would be to the bottom. That's better. That's better for you than leading someone into temptation and causing them to stumble. We cause others to stumble by our behavior, by our speech, by our attitudes. We cause others to stumble by the things that we do. We cause others to stumble by the things that we do not do. We can cause others to stumble by the things that we say. We often cause others to stumble by the things that we do not say. We cause others to stumble by the way that we do the things that we do and the way that we say the things that we say them. We oftentimes unfortunately also cause others to stumble by the way that we do not do the things that we should do or the way that we do not say the things that we ought to have said. The cause to stumble, the reason for the stumbling is due to our discrediting of Christianity. By our conduct, we discredit Christianity because our actions, our lives, the things that we do and say don't match the profession of faith. The Bible is clear. This is how a Christian acts and speaks and conducts himself. And when we don't do that, it is a blight on Christ and on Christianity. Listen, the world may not be well informed about our gloriously divine doctrines, but they are well-versed, very well-versed in conduct and speech and attitudes. And when we sin or cause them to stumble, it is a serious matter. We're familiar with King David. and his greatest fall into sin. Nathan comes to him, 2 Samuel 12, 14. By this deed, by what you've done, your laziness, your adultery, your murder, you have given occasion, Nathan said, to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Or the Apostle Paul quoting Isaiah in Romans 2.24, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Consider the oft quoted 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Verse 32, give no offense. either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. The one who loves his brother abides in the light, the apostle that Jesus loved writes. And there is no cause for stumbling in him. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. J.C. Ryle writes, an inconsistent Christian is daily doing harm to souls. His life is a positive injury to the gospel of Christ, which is why Jesus says, woe to him through whom the inevitable stumbling blocks come. Woe to you, he says to us, if we're making it easier for others to sin. Or woe to you, he says to us, if we're making it more difficult for others to be godly. This is immense responsibility from Jesus laid at our feet as his disciples. It's true, and you're probably thinking this already, the cross of Christ will always be an offense. That is true, but we must strive in our lives not to increase that offense with our carelessness. It's true, lost man who is unregenerate, who does not know experientially the grace of God, he will not love the gospel. But there is no sense in him being totally disgusted with it, primarily due to our pitiful inconsistencies. In fact, Jesus continues here. Be on your guard, he says. He gives us some helps. some specific requirements in discipleship of how to function in the world in order not to be pitiful inconsistencies, in order not to be stumbling blocks, in order not to be unnecessary offenses to other people. He offers them in two brief points. First, rebuke. Second, forgive. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if stopping there and pausing causes delight in you, read on quickly. And if he repents, forgive him. There's remarkable balance. in these responsibilities. Because the willingness to freely forgive frames the rebuke rightly. Not only do not cause your brother to sin, but rebuke him when he does and forgive him when he repents. Now imagine trying to rebuke your brother for something that you precipitated. So the requirement is not to offend him initially, so that when he sins, hopefully, by the Lord's grace, that sin he wasn't led into because of you, so that you're not having to go acknowledging that. You imagine the shame of rebuking him in order to be obedient while at the same time acknowledging, I'm actually the one that led you into this sin. But this rebuke, this reprimand, this love that Jesus commands here must not be judgmental. Paul writes to the church at Galatia, if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. Or writing to the church at Ephesus, Speak the truth in love. Always speak the truth. No exceptions. And always, without exception, do it in love. So this rebuke, it's not timidly, but courageously. It's not proudly, but humbly. It's not harshly, but compassionately. It's not impulsively, but prayerfully. And it is not judgmentally. but gently. But the only danger is not unloving judgmentalism. There's another danger, the opposite danger, the danger of not saying anything at all. So if man-fearing cowardice is our method of operation, than we are by not saying anything to our brother who is in sin. We're actually saying, you know what? Your sin really doesn't matter all that much. It's not that big of a deal. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And when he repents, forgive him. The only The only appropriate response to someone sinning, especially against you, is forgiveness. There's not another response. There is not another option. You cannot imagine the number of people who outright refuse this. All sorts of excuses. But this, but that. Go with me to Calvary. Jesus, minutes before breathing his last, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing. Forgive them. Stephen, in Acts 7, being stoned to death moments before breathing his last breath, do not hold this sin against them. as he sees Jesus standing, waiting to receive him into glory. Do not hold this sin against them. It's not a far stretch for us to see the connection between the forgiveness that Stephen offers the young man standing beside the coats named Saul, in the moment of his stoning death and Saul being radically transformed and forgiven by God. The final prayer of forgiveness from the mouth of dying Stephen results in the Apostle Paul's conversion. God never refuses forgiveness to the repentant, ever, ever. Like a good physician who continues treating the patient for the illness or the ailment until they are completely healed, God not only continues to forgive, but here, through the mouth of our Lord, commands us, if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him. The apostles, as you might be right now, were overwhelmed at the responsibility that Jesus had just laid at their feet. They recognized, which hopefully by the Lord's grace we recognize as well, a complete and utter inability to accomplish such a large task. They recognized that it was due to their lack of faith, and so they cried out Increase our faith, Lord. And Jesus' response is quite amazing. Essentially saying this, you only need a very, very little bit. The tiniest bit imaginable is enough to forgive. Because if there's anything that Christians should understand, it's forgiveness. Therefore, an unwillingness to forgive is a very concerning mark in the life of a professing Christian. At the end of the Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount, if you forgive others, Jesus said, for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. An unforgiving spirit is a sure mark of an unforgiven heart and life. An unwillingness to forgive exposes the lack of being freely given. And Jesus continues here. It's the kind of place where we would like to continue to camp out work through our hearts and our lives. And I trust that the Lord will use the scriptures and his spirit in each of us to do such a thing. But he continues teaching, which of you having a slave plowing or tending will say to him when he's come in from a long day in the field, come on, sit down and eat. A servant would never expect that to happen. A servant would never expect to be thanked for doing what he was expected to do. In fact, to offer thanks for something that ought to have been done acknowledges a doubt about the likelihood of that person doing their expected duty. So the thank you is actually saying, you know, I really didn't expect you to do that. Now this is foreign in our culture, I realize, but it wasn't foreign in the first century culture and there are cultures in the world today where it still exists. Most of you know I've spent significant amount of time in Ethiopia and it is one of those cultures where this reality still exists. If you're in a coffee shop and you order a coffee and they bring it and put it on the table, if we are across the street here and that happens, we say thank you. It is very taboo in their culture to do that. Because what you're saying is, you know, I really didn't expect you to do it. I did not expect you to do what you were supposed to do. So they would say what amounts to, okay. And that's it, and it feels rude for us, okay? Our culture's the one that's wrong, not everybody else's. The point here in these few verses is that God does not owe us anything. That's the point that Jesus is making. We can never put God in debt to us by our service to him. He is never, in the slightest bit, moved by our obedience. Our best work, nor all of our good works combined, can suffice for any merit at all with him. So you too, verse 10, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, we are unworthy slaves. We've done only that which we ought to have done. So you can imagine this. Let's go back and connect it. It's a bit of a hard break between six and seven. I understand this, but you can imagine some of the disciples who are saying increase our faith, but while at the same time thinking, you know what? This really, really bad thing happened to me one time, and you know what? I forgave them. I don't even hold it against them. Why is Jesus being so strict about this? Why is he not taking the time to acknowledge my goodness and the right which I've done? This is why. We're only unworthy slaves. We've done only what we ought to have done. Would we not all be better off if we didn't constantly long for significance and acknowledgement for merely doing what we were created to do? That's the point Jesus is making. In fact, rather than expecting acknowledgment and appreciation for doing what we ought to have done, he goes on to show that actually the pattern should be a life of gratefulness and thankfulness being expressed to God because anything that we have received is mercy. Anyone even here this morning I wonder if it's crossed your mind. Even if you're not a child of God, you have known nothing but mercy. Nothing but mercy. So Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, verse 11. He began this trip back in chapter nine. He was determined to go to Jerusalem, chapter 9, verse 51. His face is still set in that direction. He's ministering and teaching all along the way, and Luke is recording it for us. And here he's between Samaria and Galilee, and that's the first point that we see of clear delineation or distinction, a distance being pointed out. Samaria and Galilee. They were very different. They were separated. As he entered the village, ten leprous men stood at a distance. Here's another point. They're distant from him. There's a distinction between the unclean and the clean man of Christ Jesus. He was obviously known throughout all of the area with the teaching and the miracles that he had been accomplishing. These leprous men knew that Jesus had previously shown pity to help and shown the power to heal. And so they cry out, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And in Luke chapter five, when we see Jesus touching the leper there in order to heal him. Here, he doesn't even get close to them. He simply commands, go and keep the law. In essence, is what he says to them, go show yourself to the priest. That's what was required in Leviticus chapter 14. The priest had to declare them clean. And as they were going, they were cleansed. Jesus, with the power to speak the words, not even the words, you've been healed, but to give the command to go to the priest, knowing that when they got there, they would be clean. The path for these 10 lepers of unhesitating obedience was one of blessing, and the same is true for us. The path of unhesitating obedience is always, always one of blessing. Now one of them, verse 15, he realized, I'm clean. And he's amazed, so amazed and grateful that he turns back. He goes back to Jesus, giving thanks to him, and Luke points out, Another distinction, this one who came back was a Samaritan. The first century Jew couldn't imagine anything good being said about a Samaritan. And here Luke says, one turned back, fell on his face at the feet of Christ, giving him thanks. And by the way, he was a Samaritan. Your faith has made you well. Now, think back with me to Luke chapter 9, when Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem, and we're on that trip with him now. If you remember, the next city they were coming to, this is verses 53, 54, was Samaria. He sent a few people ahead to make plans for them to be there for a few days, and they refused him. And that bigotry from Samaritans is met with forgiveness from Christ. And he heals him, physically, initially, and spiritually, finally. The one with the most distance to begin with, the one who was cut off and who was cast out is the one who eventually draws the most near. All alienation removed, all separation severed, all distance done away with, all barriers broken down, the kind providences of Christ here healing these lepers so that, so that they might return to Him. That's why He healed them. Yet the majority of them spurn the kindness that he showed them. Basking in the benefits of leprosy being healed and wanting nothing to do with the divine physician who blessed them. The one who gave them what we might call a new lease on life. They were granted a few more good years, not realizing or responding to what Christ was actually and ultimately offering, not just a few good years or a new lease on life, but a lifetime of delight and bliss with him, an eternity of sins forgiven. not just leprosy on the outside being cured, but the wickedness on the inside, that being forgiven for those sins and being given new life on the inside as well, and not just on the outside. They were merely healed of their leprosy so they would live a little bit longer. And they had the privilege of coming to Christ and having their faith make them well for eternity. They only walked close enough to yell, Master, Jesus, have mercy on us. And once they were healed on their way to the priest, they continue walking, what we might say, right out of the life and ministry of Jesus. Which begs the question for us, because we're not here to merely see their mistakes. and pretend that we wouldn't have done the same thing. This question is worth considering. What kindnesses from Christ have you or are you currently spurning? What kindnesses is he showing you? And you continue to walk. Having received a few blessings, you're content, you're close enough, you're in the same village, you saw him from a distance. What has the Lord accomplished or orchestrated in your life so that you might return to him? He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, you know, having determined their appointed times, thus our appointed times, and the boundaries of our habitation, that they, read we, might seek God and find Him. God is orchestrating every single circumstance and issue in your life for this reason, that you might come to Him, that you might return to Christ. Every blessing, every situation is so that you might respond in faith and repentance to the one who loves you and gave himself for you. It's often mentioned in commentating about this passage of the one leper responding that he was the only one who was grateful. It is true that he was the only one who was grateful or thankful, but it's because he's the only one who was a Christian. It is necessary that we are grateful and thankful, and it is impossible that if we truly know him that we wouldn't be. And it should be applied to every aspect of our lives. We see it applied to prayer in Philippians 4-6 when Paul's writing to the church there. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. With thanksgiving. For folks who have been genuinely forgiven of sin and who recognize what they deserved apart from the mercy and grace and love of Christ, it is impossible to live unto Him or to approach Him in any way apart from thanksgiving and grateful hearts. Gratefulness, one old writer said, is a flower that will not bloom apart from the root of humility. You realize that, right? A lack of gratefulness, a lack of being thankful for what we have in Christ is a result of assuming that we deserved it. But if humility is at our core and we recognize that we deserve no good thing apart from Christ, we can't help but show gratitude. Ingratitude flows from a life that expects that God owes us something. To this grateful Samaritan, Jesus says, stand up and go, your faith has made you well. And you too can be well by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Pharisees, who obviously it appears just want to change the subject for obvious reasons, We're asking Jesus, when is the kingdom of God coming? They make their seemingly unavoidable appearance here. They want nothing to do with Christ, but we find them everywhere he goes because he had this contagious personality. It's as if they knew that they needed something from him, they just never wanted what he had to offer. In these final verses, verse 20 to the end of the chapter, the coming kingdom from two different perspectives, initially from the Pharisees briefly, and then Jesus turns to his disciples in closing. When is the kingdom coming, they ask? It's in your midst, Jesus answers. It's a unique way to say you've already missed it. For the most part, it passed you right by. You didn't have eyes to see. The right question would have been, how can we ready ourselves? Or what can we do to be ready? Jesus points out the kingdom is not to be merely observed. The kingdom is not coming with signs to be observed, but to be lived in. It's in your midst, acknowledged, experienced. This kingdom, the kingdom of Christ, is known by the presence of the king. Of course the kingdom was in their midst. The king was standing in front of them, and they're asking the king, so when does the kingdom come? Christ exhibits far more patience with the Pharisees than we tend to have with fellow believers. He then turns back to his fellow disciples who are standing there that he's traveling with, and he said to them, regarding this kingdom that the Pharisees have brought up, the days will come and you'll long to see the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They'll say to you, look there, look here, do not go away. Listen, do not run after them. Jesus is saying, the kingdom is among you because I'm the king. But in a very real way, the kingdom is still coming in another aspect. There is a present reality to the kingdom because the king was there, but there is a future reality to this kingdom as well. In His first coming, Christ was made sin for us. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. In His second coming, however, Christ will appear, Hebrews 9, 28, without reference to sin, completing, bringing to completion the final salvation of His people. And it's not going to be the coming of a kingdom the way that you might have read about in the ridiculous fiction, where people don't realize they're writing fiction. But there will be no questions about the coming of this future kingdom. No, and look at verse 24. Just like the lightning when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the son of man be in his day. Can you imagine being out on a dark, stormy night, clouds roll in, no more starlight, no more moonlight, a burst of lightning from one end of the horizon to the other, and you going to someone and saying, you know, I think it might be storming. There's no need for that. There'll be no questions. We won't need proof text from the scriptures trying to make all kind of puzzling things fit about timing. There'll be no announcement on the evening news. It will be gloriously displayed in unmistakably majestic fashion for all to see. So unmistakable that even these blind Pharisees will not miss it when he comes again in his glory. But, verse 25, First, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. So though the kingdom of God was among them, the kingdom in a very real sense was still coming. And it would not come finally until the king became a suffering servant and was rejected by his own. He came into his own and his own received him not. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. Again, we don't read in Genesis, the early chapters of people wondering of whether or not it's raining outside. No one was questioning whether fire and brimstone were falling from heaven in Sodom. There will be no question when the Son of Man returns. And again, Luke in a very real way continues this distinction that he is making and he gives these Old Testament illustrations for our benefit, for our application, the days of Noah, the days of Lot. Now if we were to take a poll right now and I were to ask you, why did the judgment of God come during the days of Noah? And why did the judgment of God come during the days of Lot? I would guess that you would give some answers like, People's hearts were only evil always, quoting from Genesis 6, or the wickedness of sin that was so prevalent in the days of Sodom. But it's interesting to note that Jesus does not say or even allude to that the wicked indulgence in sinful activity contributed in any way to their lack of preparedness. He doesn't allude to the height of their wickedness being the cause for the judgment of the flood or fire and brimstone. In fact, according to Christ, it was their complete preoccupation with the normal activities of life, eating and drinking and marrying and buying and selling and planting and building. They were involved in normal, everyday activities that are not bad, obviously. And in verse 27 and verse 29, it says the same thing. The flood came and destroyed them all. fire and brimstone came from heaven and destroyed them all. And then a little reminder, one who was not destroyed, but who made a good start getting away from the coming destruction. Remember Lot's wife. It was no different for those in the days of Noah and those in the days of Lot and Lot's wife. They had the same end. And if possessions and preoccupations are a primary part of your life, then a pillar of salt is your probable end. If anyone had the possibility of escaping the coming calamity, it was Lot's wife. She, along with her family, had been warned by angels from heaven. Her husband was making his way out of the destruction. Her children were with her at her side, escaping the coming condemnation. But she, in a moment of hesitation, longingly looks back and is turned to salt. She, now, serves as a beacon for us to avoid preoccupation with earthly things at all cost. We ought to avoid preoccupation with earthly things. Even from a distance, she didn't stay in the city and try to keep her stuff safe and with her. She looked from a distance longing for it and lost her life as a result. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it. If you want your stuff, you lose your life. And whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you on that night, Jesus says, wrapping this up, there'll be two in one bed and one taken and the other one left. There'll be two women grinding at the same place. One will be taken, the other will be left. Two men in the field, one will be taken, the other will be left. Oftentimes when people read these verses, We read it and assume because of the context and culture in which we've grown up with Christianity, we assume that this is a picture of the rapture of people being called up. It's not that at all. It is the final distinction being made. We've seen this distinction being pointed out throughout. The ones taken here were not taken to heaven. They're taken to destruction. Look at verse 37. The disciples, answering Jesus, said, where, Lord? Where were they taken? He said to them, where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered. They're taken to where the vultures gather. Now it's a bit of a mysterious statement and a really difficult one for us to wrap it all up and close on, but we know this. We know where vultures gather. It's a place of death, where it's too late for anyone who is there to respond. This is where this final separation ended. This is where those in the days of Noah, who died in the flood, ended up. Those in the days of Lot, along with Lot's wife, who looked back, ended up. And it's that place where we end up if we don't respond in faith and repentance toward God in Christ. It's where the nine lepers who experienced a greater physical blessing potentially than any of us in here have ever experienced and failed to respond and return to Christ. Again, all that God has done in your life as an individual, in our lives collectively, was primarily so that we might return to Him and accomplish the purpose for which we were created, to honor Him, to glorify Him with our lives. And He accomplishes that by forgiving us. freely forgiving us in Christ. Let's pray. God, there is none like you, holy, righteous, altogether lovely, so kind and gracious, loving, wonderfully merciful. We thank you God for your word, for the promises of forgiveness in Jesus, and for the warnings of forsaking that free offer. We pray God that you would cause the truth of this text, as it is in Jesus, to bring about glorious eternal effects in our lives.